Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Essay in Touchstone on Baptism
Here is the beginning:
Water means danger and death. At least in the Bible it does. Water in the Scriptures is often a thing of great peril, even an enemy of God. It is the deep, the sea, the raging storm, the waves that imperil the ordered creation. The Psalmist says that the floods lift up as in rebellion. They lift up their voice and their roaring (Ps. 93:3). The seas must be rebuked by the Lord's mighty word. Only he can shut in the sea (Job 38:8). He must keep the sea in its limits. The seas and the deep have great power and fury.
This rage threatens to overcome God's people. The deep is filled with chaos and disorder. Water can stand for death itself. Psalm 18 pictures the terrors of the grave as a great, overwhelming flood: "The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me" (18:4–5). In Psalm 69, David cries out "Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me" (69:1–2). But for the Lord, "the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us" (Ps. 124:4). The Psalmist begs for rescue "from the many waters" (Psalm 144:7).
Read the rest here.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Eating Squirrel Brains in the City...
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Doxology retreat and consolation and the value of residential seminary
I attended the first leg of the Doxology Center's year long series of retreats and reflection and training.
There was much to digest. I am still thinking pondering and putting it into practice what I learned.
But at this point what was the most refreshing and valuable to me was the collegiality and consolation and supportive atmosphere Doxology is able to foster among the pastors who attend. As much as the leaders ( Dr. Senkbeil and Yahnke) have much expertise and experience to offer, their greatest gift seems to be in creating a place where pastors can lay down their burdens for a moment, to be refreshed by the Word, to consider theology together and the challenges of serving the church but to do all that in the company of friends.
So much of pastoral ministry these days is suffused with competition and results and doing and producing. Much of this we pastors foist upon ourselves. At Doxology one is able to let down the guard. To confess. To tell the truth. To see in the eyes of the brothers pastors those who are going through the same struggles and work and frustration and joys and happiness and weariness in the office.
In one way Doxology reminded me of seminary, residential four year seminary. What is so crucial about being at the seminary is not just learning theology, it is not just getting to know facts and doctrines and techniques. One could presumably do that alone by oneself. It is learning such things in the company of others, worshipping together, discussing, praying, eating together, sharing struggles and drinks and families and smiles all in the context of intensive worship, prayer, classrooms, and churchly practice. In this vein, Doxology is like a short three day return to the seminary.
Doxology gives you skills yes. Doxology gives you competencies and new knowledge, yes. But at the heart of it is fellowship, brothers supporting one another in prayer and word and worship.
There was much to digest. I am still thinking pondering and putting it into practice what I learned.
But at this point what was the most refreshing and valuable to me was the collegiality and consolation and supportive atmosphere Doxology is able to foster among the pastors who attend. As much as the leaders ( Dr. Senkbeil and Yahnke) have much expertise and experience to offer, their greatest gift seems to be in creating a place where pastors can lay down their burdens for a moment, to be refreshed by the Word, to consider theology together and the challenges of serving the church but to do all that in the company of friends.
So much of pastoral ministry these days is suffused with competition and results and doing and producing. Much of this we pastors foist upon ourselves. At Doxology one is able to let down the guard. To confess. To tell the truth. To see in the eyes of the brothers pastors those who are going through the same struggles and work and frustration and joys and happiness and weariness in the office.
In one way Doxology reminded me of seminary, residential four year seminary. What is so crucial about being at the seminary is not just learning theology, it is not just getting to know facts and doctrines and techniques. One could presumably do that alone by oneself. It is learning such things in the company of others, worshipping together, discussing, praying, eating together, sharing struggles and drinks and families and smiles all in the context of intensive worship, prayer, classrooms, and churchly practice. In this vein, Doxology is like a short three day return to the seminary.
Doxology gives you skills yes. Doxology gives you competencies and new knowledge, yes. But at the heart of it is fellowship, brothers supporting one another in prayer and word and worship.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Mary was the temple of God not God of the temple
The role of the church like that of Mary, is to conceive and bring new children into the world. Ambrose (Expos. in Lc. 2.7)
Mary was the temple of God not God of the temple. Ambrose (Sp. Sanct. 3.80)
Mary believed and what she believed was done in her; let us too believe that what was done in er might benefit us. Augustine (Serm. 215.4)
“Mary is more blessed for grasping faith in Christ than for conceiving his flesh; the maternal relationship would not have profited Mary had she not borne Christ in her heart more happily than in her womb.” Augustine (Sanct. Virg. 3.3)
All cited in Ferguson, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
The LCMS, Rev. Blitz and Confederate guerilla "Bushwhackers"
On Oct. 5, 1862, after trudging through the rain to baptize twins at the home of the town blacksmith, Rev. Franz Julius Biltz was enjoying supper with the blacksmith’s family and some guests. Suddenly, shouting, cursing men on horseback surrounded the house. Bushwhackers—Confederate guerillas—took Biltz and 10 others hostage.
The bushwhackers killed or wounded six of their hostages. Biltz lost only his overcoat, his watch, and some money before he was set free. When he returned home later that night, he found his home had been ransacked. His wife and children stood outside, crying and praying.
The bushwhackers killed or wounded six of their hostages. Biltz lost only his overcoat, his watch, and some money before he was set free. When he returned home later that night, he found his home had been ransacked. His wife and children stood outside, crying and praying.
Thursday, August 09, 2012
From her inception, The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod has been a church focused on mission
From the Lutheran Witness:
A Church Body that Would Teach
by Albert B. Collver III and Timothy C.J. Quill
From her inception, The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod has been a church focused on mission. Few churches were engaged in mission work at the time, leaving such work to mission societies. But in the mid-19th century, the LCMS recognized the central role the church had in missions and stated in her constitution that the extension of the kingdom of God was one of the reasons for the formation of a synod. While the first four decades of the LCMS' mission work focused on Native Americans, European immigrants and African Americans, the Synod had an eye toward foreign mission work, even if she initially lacked the capacity to carry it out.
In 1893, the Synod in convention resolved to form a foreign mission board and to begin work in Japan. The Sino-Japanese war and other factors delayed the work, but it did not diminish the Synod's desire to work in foreign missions. Out of these mission efforts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the LCMS founded her first partner churches.
India
The LCMS became officially involved in foreign missions when Theodore Naether and Franz Mohn were commissioned as missionaries to India in 1894. They were instructed to go to a part of India where the Gospel had not been heard, rather than going where others already had laid a foundation. Their work began as a combination of witness and mercy, focusing on orphanages, boarding schools and hospitals--each providing opportunities for the study of Scripture and the preaching of the Word. Within 30 years, a seminary was built to produce Indian pastors.
And today, although less than 3 percent of the people in India are Christians, President Samuel, the leadership of the Indian Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) and the IELC's 125,000 members continue to work diligently to maintain a Lutheran identity and to reach out to the 1.2 billion people of India.
Read the rest here.
A Church Body that Would Teach
by Albert B. Collver III and Timothy C.J. Quill
From her inception, The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod has been a church focused on mission. Few churches were engaged in mission work at the time, leaving such work to mission societies. But in the mid-19th century, the LCMS recognized the central role the church had in missions and stated in her constitution that the extension of the kingdom of God was one of the reasons for the formation of a synod. While the first four decades of the LCMS' mission work focused on Native Americans, European immigrants and African Americans, the Synod had an eye toward foreign mission work, even if she initially lacked the capacity to carry it out.
In 1893, the Synod in convention resolved to form a foreign mission board and to begin work in Japan. The Sino-Japanese war and other factors delayed the work, but it did not diminish the Synod's desire to work in foreign missions. Out of these mission efforts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the LCMS founded her first partner churches.
India
The LCMS became officially involved in foreign missions when Theodore Naether and Franz Mohn were commissioned as missionaries to India in 1894. They were instructed to go to a part of India where the Gospel had not been heard, rather than going where others already had laid a foundation. Their work began as a combination of witness and mercy, focusing on orphanages, boarding schools and hospitals--each providing opportunities for the study of Scripture and the preaching of the Word. Within 30 years, a seminary was built to produce Indian pastors.
And today, although less than 3 percent of the people in India are Christians, President Samuel, the leadership of the Indian Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) and the IELC's 125,000 members continue to work diligently to maintain a Lutheran identity and to reach out to the 1.2 billion people of India.
Read the rest here.
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
My Issues Etc appearance on Laurence, Deacon and Martyr
Third Century Deacon and Martyr Laurence – Pr. Greg Alms, 8/8/12
Sunday, August 05, 2012
Amish Evangelism Model
2. Have a lot of babies.
3. Retain those children in their faith when grown.
4. Result: Double population every 20 years or so.
From here .
But according to this, they also have a lot of birth defects.
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
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