Gottesblog

Because if your Lutheran pastor gets to his final shut in call of the day and realizes he is a few pieces of altar bread short in his Mass kit, he can ask the chaplain if he has some spare Cavanagh 1 1/8" in the sacristy.

We don't abolish the Mass, but keep it religiously. That's what we claim in our Confessions. We are not sectarians. Not in doctrine, not in liturgy, not in ceremonies.

Everybody loves to give advice. It makes one feel important. It also lets one think of oneself as an expert, tell stories of one's success, etc. I know this because I am a chronic advice giver. I am the stereotypical, Deborah Tannen-studied male: if you complain to me I will offer you advice to fix your problems. I assume that is why you are complaining.

I've mentioned before how working as an assistant editor on CPH's new Gerhard volumes (Theological Commonplaces) has been a real eye-opener, especially to the sad fact of the inadequacies of our own MDiv doctrinal theology education. Most every question we are asking today, most every controversy we are beating each other over the head with, has been thoroughly handled by Gerhard four centuries ago.