FW: A Great Tool To Help You Understand the Formation Of Lutheran Synods In America!

 

Wow…   Feed: Steadfast Lutherans Posted on: Friday, September 27, 2013 8:16 AM Author: Pastor Matt Richard Subject: A Great Tool To Help You Understand the Formation Of Lutheran Synods In America!   I attended the same Lutheran congregation for 20 years (CLBA), until I went off to college .  In college I began attending a small Association Free Lutheran Church.  Several years later I found myself serving a small country church for my field work experience in seminary.  This country church had its roots in the old United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America.  Now, I find myself leading the liturgy in the vicarage status at the LCMS church in my home town. Why do I share this with you?  I share it with you because I was relatively unaware of all the different strains of Lutheranism for the first twenties years of my life.  After leaving for college, I found myself introduced to several new strains of Lutheranism, thus causing me to realize that there were/are a plethora of Lutheran Synods/Denominations in America. If you are like me, this realization may have caused you to ask, "Where did they all come from?"  In asking this question though, I must caution you that it is fairly difficult to derive a simplistic answer.  Indeed, the history of Lutheranism in America is a fairly complex story.  It is complex due to the various immigration waves, the different historical geographical locations where Lutherans culminated, and, of course, some language barriers. Thankfully, I recently came upon an incredible diagram that has helped me in understanding the historical formation of Lutheran Synods in America.  It is a graphic that I obtained from one of my colloquy classes this summer at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.  This graphic was put together by David Herald.  It is an extremely nice visual that gives a bird's-eye view to the formation of Lutheran Synods in America.  It was a blessing to me and I hope it is a blessing to you in understanding the formation of Lutheran Synods in America.  Enjoy this tremendous resource! CLICK HERE for the "Formation of Lutheran Synods in America" PDF Sheet.   View article...

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FW: Contemporary but not modern...

 

Consider…   Feed: Pastoral Meanderings Posted on: Sunday, September 29, 2013 5:00 AM Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters) Subject: Contemporary but not modern...   In pursuit of that which is edgy and new, churches have silenced the organ, piano, and other instruments with more history in favor of praise bands whose sound and instrumental complement mirror what younger folks experience in their own musical preference.  The only problem with this is that the praise band itself is a throw back to a previous era.  The usual mix of bass, drums, guitar, keyboard, and song diva seem positively out of date to those whose music is primarily digital -- Ipod, Iphone, or DJ. This from Michelle Boorstein of The Washington Post: And to people younger than 30, the drums and electric guitars of the contemporary rock that dominates much of American Christianity are not only not edgy, "but for them, it's like singing hymns," [DJ Hans] Daniels said. "Why does the music you worship to and jam out to have to be completely separate?" As always, the issue is how far are we willing to go to reflect that which is "in" at the moment?  The praise band was, in the beginning, a sanctified sound that harkened back more to the folk tradition of Peter, Paul, and Mary than rock and roll.  It made baby boomers like me happy for a time.  Perhaps it still appeals more to that cross section of people than to the younger crowd.  None of these are ready to hear the sound of heavy metal in worship, neither are they ready for rap or any other of the more modern musical genre.  Yet, in the quest to be contemporary, why stop with one age or generation at all? Strangely enough, the most diverse sound in church on Sunday morning is the sound emanating from the Hymnal.  In my own congregation, we enjoy a mix of hymnody that may include plainsong chant and a text from the first three centuries of Christianity along side a Reformation chorale, an English hymn, a Protestant gospel hymn, ethnic music from China, Africa, or other places, as well as hymnody from living hymwwriters and composers.  Even more strange is the fact that the tonal resources of the pipe organ and a creative musician on the bench can give each of these a credible sound that respects the source while making it possible for a diverse assembly of ages, races, cultures, and backgrounds to join in congregational song. Perhaps most telling is the comment from an 81 year old member:  "I like the music more than I did last year," she said.  Last year?  Just how often does the sound of the church's song change in that congregation? And does it include an homage to the past or is yesterday relegated to the garbage pile in the pursuit of that which is ever new? See what happened when we let "Kum by yah" move into the pews? View article...

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Received for Review

 

Thompson, John J., Annotator. NIV Worship Together Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. 1267 Pages. Cloth. $34.99. www.biblica.com www.zondervan.com (P)

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Received for Review

 

Hawn, C. Michael, compiler and editor. Foreword by John L. Bell. Preface by Pablo Sosa. New Songs of Celebration Render: Congregational Song in the Twenty-first Century. Chicago: GIA, 2013. 460 Pages. Cloth with audio CD. $42.95. www.giamusic.com (LHP)  Tice, Adam M. L. Stars Like Grace: 50 More Hymn Texts. Chicago: GIA, 2013. 128 Pages. Spiral. $19.95. www.giamusic.com (H)  Gathered for God. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Sheet music: $18.50. Audio CD: $16.95. www.giamusic.com (LHP)  Haas, David. We Are Not Alone: Hymns, Psalms and Songs for Eucharist and the Hours. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Sheet music: $26.50. Booklet of Reflections and Prayers: $9.95. Audio CD: $16.95. www.giamusic.com (LH)  Alonso, Tony and Marty Haugen. The Lyric Psalter: Revised Grail Lectionary Psalms (Year A). Chicago: GIA, 2013. Spiral music: $25.00. Audio CD set: $39.50. www.giamusic.com (LH)  Lowenberg, Kenneth. Gregorian Preludes for the Liturgical Year. Chicago: GIA, 2013. 47 Pages. Paper. $25.00. www.giamusic.com (LHP)  Joncas, Michael. God of All Beginnings: Liturgical Music for Choir and Assembly. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Sheet music: $20.00. Audio CD: $16.95. www.giamusic.com (L)  Cry Out with Joy: Responsorial Psalms, Gospel Acclamations and Universal Prayers for the Liturgy of the Word (Christmas, Triduum, Solemnities, and Other Celebrations). Chicago: GIA, 2013. Spiral sheet music: $33.00. Audio CD set: $25.95. www.giamusic.com (LH)  Cry Out with Joy: Responsorial Psalms, Gospel Acclamations and Universal Prayers for the Liturgy of the Word (Year A). Chicago: GIA, 2013. Spiral sheet music: $33.00. Audio CD set: $25.95. www.giamusic.com (LH)  Cheppponis, James. Mass for the People of God (Choral Accompaniment Edition). Chicago: GIA, 2013. Paper. $4.50. www.giamusic.com (L)   Bell, John L. The Truth that Sets Us Free: Biblical Songs for Worship. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Sheet music: $14.95. Audio CD: $16.95. www.giamusic.com (H)  Tate, Paul A. Seasons of Grace, Volume 5. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Sheet music: $20.00. Audio CD: $16.95. www.giamusic.com (LHP)  Lawton, Liam. Eternal. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Sheet music: $20.00. Audio CD: $16.95. www.giamusic.com (LHP)  Stuempfle, Herman G., Jr. The Song of Faith Unsilenced: Hymns, Songs and Carols. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Spiral. $21.95. www.giamusic.com (H)  Blest Are Those Who Mourn: Music for the Order of Christian Funerals. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Paper. $3.95. www.giamusic.com (LH)  Schrock, Dennis. Handel's Messiah: A Performance Practice Handbook. Chicago: GIA, 2013. 111 Pages. Spiral. $16.95. www.giamusic.com (LHP)  Lawton, Liam, with Theresa Donohoo. Catholic Irish Classics. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Audio CD. $16.95. www.giamusic.com (H)  My Lenten Prayer: Morning and Evening Prayers for People on the Go. Chicago: GIA, 2013. Audio CD set: $25.95. www.giamusic.com (LH)  Lectionary Psalms: the Revised Grail Psalms (As Found in Lead Me, Guide Me Second Edition). Chicago: GIA, 2013. Audio CD set. $29.95. www.giamusic.com (LH)

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Closing Issue 7.3 and Opening Issue 7.4

Michaelmas: Closing Issue 7.3 and Opening Issue 7.4 This post will mark the last entry in QBR 7.3, Apostles' Tide, and the opening entry in Angels' Tide, QBR 7.4

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Received for Review

DeYoung, Kevin. Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013. 124 Pages. Paper. $11.99. http://www.crossway.org/books/crazy-busy-tpb/ (LHP) Grudem, Wayne and Barry Asmus. Foreword by Rick Warren. The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013. 399 Pages. Paper. $30.00. http://www.crossway.org/books/the-poverty-of-nations-tpb/ (LHP unsol) Chapell, Bryan, General Editor. Dane Ortlund, General Editor. Gospel Transformation Bible. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013. 1904 Pages. Cloth. $39.99. http://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv-gospel-application-bible-hccase/ (LHP)

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FW: An Unlikely Reformer....

 

Peters on Sasse…   Feed: Pastoral Meanderings Posted on: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 5:00 AM Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters) Subject: An Unlikely Reformer....   Hermann Sasse suggests that Luther was the most unlikely candidate to be Reformer of the Church.  Erasmus had the right pedigree, the right education, and the right perspective.  Luther had none of these.  He was not a child of the enlightenment but remained very much a product of his age. He was no radical (in spite of those who paint him such) but conservative and careful.  He was no systematician seeking to organize God and tie up all His loose ends (that was Calvin).  He was no theoretical thinker philosophizing his way to truth (that was Erasmus and perhaps Calvin).  He was a man with his own personal struggle that coincided with a window of opportunity that catapulted him from obscurity into the center of Christian history.  Not a hero or a cultural warrior or enlightenment man but obedient rebel, Luther was the surprise of God's hand at a time when the Gospel was covert instead of overtly the center of the Church's proclamation and life. The paradox of the wrong man become the right figure, proclaiming the paradox of the justified sinner in but not of the world, this is Luther and this is the Lutheran Reformation. Christianity Today had an article by Sasse (1967) that noted "the Renaissance...must be understood as the great secular countermovement against the attempt of the Middle Ages to build a Christian world. This attempt, like all similar ones in later times, ended not in the Christianization of the world but in the secularization of the Church. The world did not become Church; rather, the Church became world. The Reformation was in its deepest nature an attempt to save the Church from that destiny." As is often the case, people try and make the Reformation responsible for too much or for the wrong things. Luther's great regret was, of all things, the open door the Reformation would provide for those who were determined to undermine and deny that catholic faith of Scripture, creed, and tradition.  The Lutherans were cautious and careful, keeping so much that others wondered why Luther would not go where, according to their logic, one must go in renouncing all that was in order to begin anew.  Luther was no Calvinist with a bizarre sacramental quirk.  Lutherans were confident that even with all the layers of distortion and distraction, the Gospel was there where baptism killed to make alive and bread and wine set apart by His Word to feed the heavenly life to mortals.  Yet they were compelled by the errors that had clouded the air and prevented the Gospel from being the pure breath of the Church to address them as true servants of Christ. As we approach the 500th anniversary of the 95 Theses, there will be many different pictures of the Reformation and of Luther.  Most of them will contain a glimmer of truth even though it will be hard for those remembering not to overstate the small truth until it confuses and overwhelms the greater truth behind the Reformation.  Luther was a man in keeping with the past and not some first of a whole new breed of theologians. His cause was to restore what was lost or obscured and not the demolition and rebuilding of the Church on a different foundation.  Luther did not see this as man's grand shining moment to display once for all the divine endowment but could not escape the total depravity of man after the fall and the total reach of God's grace to come to Him in our need, to declare us forgiven and righteous through the merits of Christ's death, and to open to us a new door of tomorrow in the promise of our own resurrection with Christ to the joyful and blest reunion eternal. Luther and Erasmus, the Reformation and Humanism are neither friends nor friendly opponents but irreconcilably opposed.  Indeed that is the disappointment of the Radical Reformers.  They sniffed around Luther looking for an ally and found him disappointingly catholic. That is the disappointment of the humanist who hopes to find in Luther the renaissance man but finds instead a sinner with no hope but the grace of God in Christ.  That is still how many in Lutheranism today try to define our Church -- from the ELCA to the LWF -- the pesky past of Scripture and tradition have given way to the so-called "new" work of the Spirit in everything from ecumenism to sexuality to feminism.  Unsure of the historicity of the past, the Gospel has become to them principle instead of event and yet they do not realize that unless it is fact and all factual, it has nothing whatsoever to offer the world except an empty hope.  Sadly, too many in Missouri, Wisconsin, and the ELS find Luther also too catholic and have become more comfortable with the Reformation squeezed through the cloth of American Protestantism than with the staunch and adamant claim of the Lutheran Confessions that this faith is no novelty but that which is true, catholic, and authentic. Sasse has it right in Here We Stand and it would not be a bad starting place if Lutherans read him again to rediscover what the Reformation was and was not, who Luther was and who he is not.  Then, just maybe, we might be able to see Lutheranism apart from the wandering eyes that look with longing to mainline Protestantism or to evangelicalism while disdaining the treasure of the obedient rebel who bequeathed to us a reform thoroughly catholic and evangelical.  In this case the truth is much better than the legend.  God help us to remember that as we lift up Luther and try to explain him and the Reformation to the world.  We do not get many chances to do so... View article...

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FW: SALE | The Lutheran Study Bible

From: Concordia Publishing House Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 10:29 AM Subject: SALE | The Lutheran Study Bible   Order The Lutheran Study Bible for your church, home, or school. It's all about Jesus, in every way, for you!   Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.           All 19 print editions of The Lutheran Study Bible now on sale! Sale ends September 30, 2013.                     Concordia Publishing House 3558 South Jefferson Ave St Louis, MO 63118 Copyright © 2013 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.

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Received for Review

 

Countdown Commemorative Medallions to the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation (Dr. Martin Luther; Luther Caught in a Lightning Storm; Luther Becomes a Monk; Luther Travels to Rome; Luther Receives Doctor of Theology Degree; Luther's Tower Experience). Delhi, NY; American Lutheran Publicity Bureau 2011-2013, projected through 2017. Prices vary from $1 to $18 each. http://alpb.org/martinluthermedal.html (LHPN) Jenson, Robert W. A Large Catechism. Delhi, NY: American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 1991, 2013. 72 Pages. Paper. $6.00.  http://alpb.org/catechism.html (P) Braaten, Carl E., Editor. Preaching and Teaching the Law and Gospel of God. Delhi, NY: American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 2013. 174 Pages. Paper. $14.00.  http://alpb.org/preachingandteaching.html (LHPQ) Wilcock, Penelope. 100 Stand-Alone Bible Studies: To grow healthy home groups. Oxford, England: Monarch Books, 2013. 233 Pages. Paper. $19.99. www.lionhudson.com (P) Hill, Kathryn Ann. To You It Has Been Given: The Parables of Jesus in Picture and Verse. Fort Wayne: Lutheran Legacy, 2011. 100 Pages. Paper. $13.95. www.lutheranlegacy.org (HQ) Corzine, Jacob and Bryan Wolfmueller, editors. Theology is Eminently Practical: Essays in Honor of John T. Pless. Fort Wayne: Lutheran Legacy, 2012. 272 Pages. Paper. $16.95. www.lutheranlegacy.org (LHP) Gerhard, Johann. Translated by Elmer M. Hohle. Edited by Heidi D. Sias. Postille: Sunday and Main Festival Gospels, Parts III and IV. Fort Wayne: Lutheran Legacy, 2012. 388 Pages. Paper. $19.95. www.lutheranlegacy.org (P)

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FW: What happens when need is replaced by something else...

 

Peters…   Feed: Pastoral Meanderings Posted on: Saturday, September 14, 2013 5:00 AM Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters) Subject: What happens when need is replaced by something else...   At some point in time we stopped talking about the NEED to go to church, to receive the Sacrament, to witness God's mercy to those who do not know it, to bring your children up in the faith starting with baptism, and to steward God's gifts guided by faith...  We stopped talking about the NEED of the Christian to do these things we began trying to make the DOING of these things attractive.  When we did this we automatically made it appear that asking them to worship on Sunday morning, to receive the Sacrament of the Altar regularly (weekly at minimum), to raise your children in the faith, to witness the Gospel in word and action, and to faithfully steward God's gifts was a burden.  When we stopped appealing to the fact that these things are the right things to do, we began trying to make these things appealing, winsome, and rewarding to those who did them. We NEED to be in Church.  Worship is not an optional extra but the basic and essential part of the self-discipline of Christian life.  It matters not whether worship is exciting, fun, rewarding, etc...  Worship is needed.  I need it.  I need to hear the voice of the Pastor absolving me.  I need the counsel of God's Word preached to me (the full counsel of Law and Gospel).  I need to commune, to eat the Body of Christ and to drink His blood.  I need the koinonia of the Lord's house, people, and table.  This has nothing to do with pleasing the Pastor or bolstering weak statistics or any personal self-serving desire or want.  It has everything to do with NEED.  I must have it.  Or.... I will die.  Christ's life will wither in me until I am a shell of a person, empty of life, of forgiveness, of hope, and of grace. When I was a child, my mother called us to the table to eat.  It was no invitation.  It was a command.  It was not to please her but for my own sake.  I could not be left to my own devices as to whether or not I wanted to, had something better to do, or would grab something on my own later.  I had to be there.  Jesus is not some passive character who waits for us to awaken to who He is and what He brings.  He calls us.  He sends forth His Spirit through His Word.  He seeks us out to bring us together with those who also share His name by baptism and who believe in Him.  He draws us to Himself -- not for Him or His vanity or His pleasure -- but because we need Him.  He gives us what we need or we will DIE! I am sick and tired of trying to convince people it is worth it to them to come, trying to impress them with what could happen if they did, or trying to make it so special they will want to come.  If it is not enough that Christ is here with His gifts that we NEED or we will DIE, what can I do or say that would be more than this urgent cause to lead them to come.  Either I have to be there or it does not matter anymore.  For if I no longer feel the need to be present around the Word and Table of the Lord, is there any faith left in me?  Any of Christ left in me?  I fear that we have given in and made relevance and reward new categories for being in the Divine Service and have turned the whole thing on end.  I have often complained of those who missed worship and then asked "Did anything special happen?"  Only to be told, "Nah, same old, same old."  Really?  We have to make it "special" to convince people it is worth going?  No.  We need to be there, we must be there.  That is the reason.  Nothing less.  I must be there and receive His gifts of grace... or I will DIE!  (Maybe not instantaneously but the long, drawn out, death of those who do not even realize they are dying!) View article...

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Hymnody and Pulpit Review: Herberger

 

Herberger, Valerius. Translated by Matthew Carver. The Great Works of God Parts One and Two: The Mysteries of Christ and the Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-15. St. Louis: Concordia, 2010. 401 Pages. Paper. $44.99.  https://www.cph.org/p-23379-great-works-of-god-set.aspx (P) Herberger, Valerius. Translated by Matthew Carver. The Great Works of God Parts Three and Four: The Mysteries of Christ and the Book of Genesis, Chapters 16-50. St. Louis: Concordia, 2011. 513 Pages. Paper. $44.99.  https://www.cph.org/p-23379-great-works-of-god-set.aspx (P) "All Theology is Christology" is proved once again by this set published by Concordia, translated by Matthew Carver, and authored by pastor, author, hymnwriter, and "Jesus Preacher" Valerius Herberger. Herberger (1562-1627), a Lutheran pastor in Fraustadt (now Wschowa), Poland, at the turn of the seventeenth century, preached through the books of the Old Testament from Genesis through Ruth, producing devout meditations on the Scriptures. "These he regarded rather like the linen cloths that wrapped the infant Jesus in the manger, and traced his Lord in every little wrinkle" (from the translator's preface). Two Book Set Includes: The Great Works of God Parts 1 & 2: Genesis 1-15 The Great Works of God Parts 3 & 4: Genesis 16-50 Pastor Valerius Herberger (1562-1627) served St. Mary's parish church in Fraustadt (now Wschowa) Poland during the most difficult days of the Counter-Reformation when a royal decree ousted the congregation from its building in 1604. As a deacon and preacher in the congregation for nearly forty years, Herberger left us a remarkable example of biblical interpretation, application, and sincere devotion.   Matthew Carver, MFA, is a translator of German and classical literature. He resides in Nashville, TN, with his wife Amanda, where they pursue interests in art, orthodox Lutheran theology, liturgy, and hymnody. (Publisher's Website)       Christ is the focus of this two-volume Genesis Commentary, expertly translated by Matthew Carver. His translation style and hymnological expertise is a great fit for Herberger's writing style, exegetically rich like Luther, and also personal and rich with Bible connections like Gerhard. (Our review of Carver's translation of Walther's Hymnal: http://lhpqbr.blogspot.com/2013/03/lhp-review-classics-old-and-new.html.)   I loved Herberer's intoductory dedications, pithily quoting Bernard, how he parallels the passion of Christ with Joseph, Isaac, Jacob, and the other patriarchs, and a section on Adam and Even and Holy Matrimony that is comforting, instructive, and timely today.   We'd love to see more from Herberger/Carver. The Great Works of God was completed through the book of Ruth. Perhaps Concordia would consider adding to this set?   Order your set today at a bargain price!   Save over 40% Pay only $49.99 for the set. (Retail Value $89.98) Use promotional code LGW on checkout screen to receive your discount! The Rev. Paul J Cain is Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming, Headmaster of Martin Luther Grammar School, Yellowstone Circuit Visitor (LCMS Wyoming District), a permanent member of the Board of Directors of The Consortium for Classical and Lutheran Education, Wyoming District Worship Chairman, and Editor of QBR.

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FW: Seeking Errata for The Brotherhood Prayer Book (+ last day of the sale!)

From: Emmanuel Press Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 5:58 AM Subject: Seeking Errata for The Brotherhood Prayer Book (+ last day of the sale!)       Trouble viewing this email? Click here to view it online.       A Call for Errata · Our September sale has brought unprecedented sales of The Brotherhood Prayer Book, to the point where we now need to print another run of books sooner than anticipated. · With this next print run, we are planning to add errata as an appendix in order to list errors that appear within the text. We have chosen not to actually fix the mistakes since an adjustment in the text could affect pagination and make these new books less compatible with the current copies. It is therefore most helpful that this new print run be exactly the same as previous ones with errata appended at the end. Once we have compiled the list, we will also list these errata as a free download on our website. · For those of you who have found mistakes, please email them to us by September 30 so that we can make as complete a list as possible. **Today is the last day of our September sale! Visit our website to save up to 35% on all books.                      © 2013 Emmanuel Press All rights reserved. Template created by Dominique Elkind

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FW: Trying to be something you are not...

 

Peters…   Feed: Pastoral Meanderings Posted on: Friday, September 13, 2013 5:00 AM Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters) Subject: Trying to be something you are not...   My parents oft dashed my delusions of grandeur by saying "you have champagne tastes on beer money."  When that did not work, they would tell the most embarrassing stories about me.  It is a tactic they still do.  I do not blame them, in fact, I find myself following their example with my own children.  It can easily be mistaken as merely the delight of seeing someone squirm on the hot seat but it is truly the voice of wisdom reminding me to be who I am.  I thank God for those who still bring me painfully down to earth when my ego inflates me. It seems to me that we live in a time when being something you are not is epidemic.  Men act like children or adolescents in our modern world.  They eschew responsibility and seem addicted to the past pursuits of their pubescent lives -- thinking that drinking craft beer, wearing brand name clothing, buying top brands of latest technology, and dominating World of Warcraft or some other video game is the same triumph as loving a wife, parenting a children, going to work everyday, caring for the home, protecting the family, and being the spiritual leader of that family.  The world needs men to be men.  Nothing more and nothing less. Women act as if not needing anyone is the greatest achievement of all.  The modern day ideal is the self-sufficient woman who has career first, maybe a kid (with the help of a sperm donor but not a man), economic success, freedom to live as she chooses, and who makes all her own decisions.  She complains that men are not men today but she does not need or want a man so she is content to play with boys as toys.  She has become as hard, emotionally distant, and brutally conniving to get what she wants as were the stereotypical men she hates but she does not see it.  She farms off her children to day care and indulges them.  The world needs women to be women.  Nothing more and nothing less. The Church fears that being the Church is either out of style, irrelevant, or not fun and so the Church acts like she is not the Church.  She eschews the things of God to be prophets of pleasure and self-fulfillment, she teaches self-help instead of the Word of God, and she worships at the same god of happiness as the folks around her.  She chooses to act as an orphan even though she has a family, a lineage, and a history.  She listens to polls like politicians but she has no time to listen to the voice of God in His Word.  She mimics the skeptic's mind about the things of God, Scripture, and tradition but has bought into the fad truths of identity defined by sexuality, of values that shift with the sands of time, and of a today that defines hope as optimism, eternity as the time you wait to get what you want, and heaven as your best life now.  The world needs the Church to be the Church.  Nothing more and nothing less. I could go on...  You get the drift.  We need men man enough to repent and kneel before Him who was incarnate to bring new life to those captive to death.  We need men who are man enough to show up on Sunday morning to meet the God whose gifts are forgiveness, life, and salvation, in, with, and under the preacher's voice, the splash of water, and the taste of bread and wine.  We need women willing be women, to show the nobility of a submission borne of love, to extend love and care to their children as a holy calling noble and pure, and to make the home a center of faith, hope, and love.  We need women and men who live joyfully in the interdependence of lives made one in which God blesses this creative love with children who are raised in the Church to know the Lord.  But... first we will need the Church to be the Church.  Not some marriage between what we want to be and who we are but the Church.  Not some Champale that promises to bridge two very different things but who we are. We are trying too hard to be what we are not.  How much harder can it be to be what we are?  The Church is not a self-help group or a personal affirmation society or the provider of interesting entertainment.  The Church is the body of Christ for the sake of the head who is Christ.  When our teaching, congregational life, and worship remember this, the fortunes of a Church living in fear will be transformed.  When we call men to Christ-like love as the men God has called them to be, women will delight in responding to that love with their own love and then the family will be set free from the tyranny of desire and pleasure to be the domain of the Lord.  We have gotten where we are trying to be what we are not.  What have we achieved?  An empty shell of a structure of church and home so filled with problems that believe the prophets of doom who tell us we are dead.  If we were who we are, we would know better.  God's creative order has not been set aside but His people redeemed to live within the holy estates with contentment and peace.  God's Church will endure and the gates of hell shall not prevail.    View article...

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FW: The Liturgy of Baptism & The Daily Prayer Offices Series

 

Listen…   From: Issues, Etc. [mailto:issuesetc@charterinternet.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 11:19 AM Subject: The Liturgy of Baptism & The Daily Prayer Offices Series     Dear Friend of Issues, Etc., Greetings in the name of Jesus. We know that many of our listeners have enjoyed our past in-depth series on "The Historic Liturgy" with Pastor Will Weedon, director of Worship for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  We have recently concluded two more series: four interviews with Pr. Weedon on "The Liturgy of Holy Baptism" and eight interviews on "The Daily Prayer Offices." These two series delve deeply into the history, practice and theology of the Church's liturgies of Baptism and Prayer. You can listen to these two series in their entirety by clicking here.  Thanks for listening. Wir sind alle Bettler,   Todd Wilken, host Issues, Etc.   Lutheran Public Radio | PO Box 912 | Collinsville | IL | 62234

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FW: Great Stuff — Ten Questions to Lead Your Church Social Media Strategy

 

Consider…   Feed: Steadfast Lutherans Posted on: Thursday, September 05, 2013 3:24 PM Author: Norm Fisher Subject: Great Stuff — Ten Questions to Lead Your Church Social Media Strategy   Given that BJS promotes New Media, here's good information for a church as it thinks about how it needs to expand into social media. This was found over on ChurchTechToday.com. This was obviously written for the business world and modified slightly, some of the points have "church" instead of "business":   It is one thing for the church to know about social media and tweet randomly or to post a link on your Facebook page, and a whole other thing for you to actually take the time to actually come up with a working strategy. Your church needs to understand that a target is necessary, goals are established to achieve, and everything is written down so that everyone involved is on the same page. To make your church's own social media strategy, we came up with ten questions for you to answer as you put together your social media strategy and a brief description to further explain why we asked that question. Do not breeze past this part, this is what can make your social media process a success or a failure: What is the purpose of your organization, blog, or product? Social media is a great tool,but you need to know who you are and what you are going to be putting out there before you press forward with social media. Maybe you are investing too much in social media when you do not even know what the mission of your company is. Defining this is simply a good business practice. What will be the purpose of using social media? You need to know why you are using each specific network, otherwise you will not have direction with your tools. Know what the end goal is of using these resources. If it is simply to market, then define that. But realize that social media has the ability to do more than simply getting out the details of your company. You can create a brand, community, and place to get the opinions and other resources from your viewers. Who is your audience? If you are a local company in a small town, Facebook may be the perfect place for you. If you are a large church in a big city, you may need to make sure you are present in several networks. Defining this allows you to not waste too much time in the wrong places. This may also take some researching on your part. Survey your current customers as well as new ones. How many resources are you going to put into social networking? Will you be paying someone to do this or doing it yourself? How much time to do you want to invest in this a day, week, or month? Will you be advertising these networks at church, in promotional flyers, on your website? Are you up for putting a little money down to promote your company or product? All of these need to be answered to be efficient. How will you be measuring your success? Will you use a web app like Klout or SproutSocial or simply use the built in analytic tools with Google or Facebook's Insight? If you simply rely on the number of fans or followers, you will miss the mark. How are others who have a similar company mission doing social media? If you know of others doing with social media, you may be able to incorporate better strategies and find new seasonal objectives for your social media accounts. Do the legwork and you will benefit from it. How will you know that you have succeeded or failed after a time? The prep work for our strategy is done, now we need to write down how we can measure this success. Do you want your followers to go somewhere to buy something? Are you intended to have them see your blog? Or maybe you simply want us as followers to see how brilliant you are, great. Come up with at least five goals. Are those goals, highlighted above, specific and measurable? Simply saying that you want to get more viewers is not a good strategy. How many more? Wanting to get retweeted five times a week is okay, but being more specific by stating that you want to be retweeted five times a week of at least 1,000 new people is better. Are those goals clear and realistic? If you are new to social media, do not expect to see your website blow up. At the same time, saying that you want fifty new people to see your website does not define if you want them to see an aspect of the website, your blog, or to interact with your featured products you are selling. Make sure your strategy is clear. How are you going to adjust if you do not succeed with these goals? Are you okay with having lower expectations or putting more resources into it? Failure in the short term does not mean failure in the long term. In fact, that may be what you need to achieve success. But if you create a presence in the social media networks and then abandon them, you have done WAY MORE HARM than good. It is better to not have a social media presence than to have one that shows you do not care. BONUS  QUESTION: What challenges do you foresee with social media? Will there be a learning curve for you or do you need to bring on a consultant to help define things for you? Are you committing too much time to this that it affects the product itself? Are you presenting a good brand? View article...

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