We pray:

We pray: O Lord, God of truth, Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. You gave Your servant Jerome delight in his study of Holy Scripture. May those who continue to read, mark, and inwardly digest Your Word find in in it the food of salvation and the fountain of life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Jerome was born in a little village on the Adriatic Sea around the year A.D. 345. At a young age he went to study in Rome, where he was baptized. After extensive travels, he chose the life of a monk and spent five years in the Syrian desert. There he learned Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament . After ordination at Antioch and visits to Rome and Constantinople, Jerome settled in Bethlehem. From the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, he used his ability with languages to translate the Bible into Latin, the common language of his time. This translation, called the Vulgate, was the authoritative version of the Bible in the western Church world for over 1,000 years. Considered one of the great scholars of the early church, Jerome died on September 30, 420. He was originally interred at Bethlehem but his remains were eventually taken to Rome.

Here is a beautiful quote from one of his works:

“I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find. Christ will not say to me what he said to the Jews: You erred, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.

Therefore, I will imitate the head of a household who brings out of his storehouse things both new and old, and says to his spouse in the Song of Songs: I have kept for you things new and old, my beloved. In this way permit me to explain Isaiah, showing that he was not only a prophet, but an evangelist and an apostle as well. For he says about himself and the other evangelists: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news, of those who announce peace. And God speaks to him as if he were an apostle: Whom shall I send, who will go to my people? And he answers: Here I am; send me.

No one should think that I mean to explain the entire subject matter of this great book of Scripture in one brief sermon, since it contains all the mysteries of the Lord. It prophesies that Emmanuel is to be born of a virgin and accomplish marvellous works and signs. It predicts his death, burial and resurrection from the dead as the Savior of all men. I need say nothing about the natural sciences, ethics and logic. Whatever is proper to holy Scripture, whatever can be expressed in human language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of Isaiah. Of these mysteries the author himself testifies when he writes: You will be given a vision of all things, like words in a sealed scroll. When they give the writings to a wise man, they will say: Read this. And he will reply: I cannot, for it is sealed. And when the scroll is given to an uneducated man and he is told: Read this, he will reply: I do not know how to read.

Should this argument appear weak to anyone, let him listen to the Apostle: Let two or three prophets speak, and let others interpret; if, however, a revelation should come to one of those who are seated there, let the first one be quiet. How can they be silent, since it depends on the Spirit who speaks through his prophets whether they remain silent or speak? If they understood what they were saying, all things would be full of wisdom and knowledge. But it was not the air vibrating with the human voice that reached their ears , but rather it was God speaking within the soul of the prophets, just as another prophet says: It is an angel who spoke in me; and again, Crying out in our hearts, Abba, Father’, and I shall listen to what the Lord God says within me.” — Jerome’s Commentary on Isaiah (Nn. 1.2: CCL 73, 1-3)

To this day, the Roman Catholic Church is in deep error regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary. But how did the cult of Mary arise and develop? The great Lutheran theologian, Hermann Sasse, had a way of explaining things in a very clear and understandable way. He put his finger on it when he wrote:

“The Marian cult was the Christian replacement for the cults of the great female deities, which played such a great role in the life of pre-Christian pagan humanity. These were the cults of the holy virgins and divine mothers, the Babylonian Ishtar, whose cult had already forced its way into Israel, the Syrian Queen of Heaven, the great mother of Asia Minor, the Egyptian Isis, whose favor in the west is testified to by the long use of the name “Isidor” among Jews and Christians. But unfortunately it was not only a Christian replacement for a pagan religion, it was likewise a pagan religion in Christian guise. The Marian cult is the last of the great cults of a female divinity, which made its way from the Orient into the Roman world, since in the second Punic War Rome had adopted the cult of the Magna Materof Asia Minor. The triumph of the veneration of Mary in the Christendom of the east and the west is based upon the fact that in it lives genuine, deeply religious paganism—for all paganism, which is really genuine, is deeply religious—the religion of the natural man. The natural man is religious. For religion is of the essence of man. This does not mean that man has the correct relation to God. It is precisely as a religious being that man is an enemy of God, the real God. For his religion is indeed the attempt to lay hold of what is God’s, to make a God in a way that pleases him. In the natural religion man forms God according to his desires, his needs, according to his image. But such an idol is, however, the image of the female deity. The woman as virgin, as wife [Gattin], as mother becomes the image of God, as the natural man constructs it. The mother is the original image [Urbild] of mercy. Thus in Hebrew the word “rechem,” [mhr] which originally designated the womb, signifies “mercy,” even the mercy of God (e.g. Isaiah 63:15). Thus it happens that in the pagan religions the deities of mercy are conceived of as mothers. The only deity of the ancient Greek-speaking world of whom the word “agape” was used, which word in the New Testament designates the love of God, is Isis. In the Holy Scriptures the mercy of a mother is expressly ascribed to God the Lord: “I will comfort you as a mother comforts her son” (Isaiah 66:13; compare 49:15). And in the Bible where the relationship between God and his faithful is described as the archetype of bridal or marital love, there God is the husband and his people, his church, the wife (Hosea 2:20; Ephesians 5:23ff.; Revelation 21:2; 22:17).

“The natural man of all ages, however, perverts God’s order. Because he does not acknowledge God as the Lord, and would rather make God subject to him, thus the need for a feminine deity is of the essence of the natural, fallen man. If we may venture to say so, the veneration of Mary rests on this fact. From a purely human perspective, or to judge on purely aesthetic grounds, the veneration of Mary is one of the most beautiful things in the Christian religion. Are there any more “beautiful” hymns than the Marian hymns like those of the German middle ages? Is there anything more poetic than the Marian prayers of the Roman Catholic Church? What profound poetry is found in the Marian legends, especially in the legends which form the basis for the dogma of the assumption of Mary? How beautiful is this death in contrast to the crucifixion of Jesus, or the martyrdom of the apostles! Distraught with longing for her divine Son, she died in the presence of the apostles. Her body was buried, but transfigured to glory and borne upward to heaven. Here all the terror of death is overcome, here there is nothing more of the physical torment and God-forsaken-ness of the death by crucifixion. It is death in complete blessedness. No, it is no longer death at all, just as this life was no longer the life of a sinful man. The departure of Mary is the fulfillment of a perfect life. It is the apotheosis [deification]of the man who rises above the angels into a divine life. What Christ is in Arianism, the first of all created things which rises to divinity, that is Mary in Catholicism. Is it an accident that the classic text of Arian Christology, the passage regarding the pre-existent sophia(Proverbs 8:22ff.) has become one of the most important Marian lections (8 December and 8 September), and has lead to the treatment of Mary as the heavenly wisdom? If Arianism is the Christology of Greek paganism, is it then an accident that the deeply rooted desire for the divine man—in distinction from the God-man—in Greek paganism, created the apotheosized man in Mariology after the defeat of Arian Christology? Here lies the most profound essence of the Marian cult. Here lies the secret of the power which the veneration of Mary has over men. Christians who have come out of the Catholic Church to Protestantism, without having overcome the paganism which is still rooted in Catholicism, through a fundamental conversion, will never lose their homesickness for Mary. And the modern man, who is no longer a Christian, may well appreciate the Marian cult. Indeed, he has an open or secret longing for it, though he radically rejects the Christian faith. The conclusion of Goethe’s Faust is characteristic of this.”

Hermann Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors XVII, trans. M.Harrison

You learn something new every day.

The other day Norm Fisher, my chief engineer for this blog site and several others, notified me that Amazon appears to have two “Concordia” editions for sale in Kindle format. I took a quick look and simply chalked this up to the never ending confusion that is Amazon’s web site when it comes to getting editions, copies, formats correct. But then yesterday I took a closer look and realized that in fact the entire Concordia edition of the Book of Concord, the complete Reader’s Edition with all annotations, notes, illustrations, indexes, glossaries and all the pictures, including even the full color plates is now available as an eBook in Kindle format.

I have only the Kindle eReader, so it only displays things in black/white, but I loaded the Reader’s Edition into Amazon’s web based cloud reader and, voila, there you go: full color with all the plates, and ditto on my iPhone using the Kindle App.

I assume anyone who has the Kindle fire has full color viewing options as well, and those using the Kindle App on their iPads, etc. here’s a link to the Reader’s Edition in Kindle format, which you can purchase for only $16.49.

Seems the more deeply we are able to look into the created universe the more amazing it becomes! Here’s the latest image released by the Hubble Telescope team, showing an amazing variety of galaxies and “other things” in the deepest reaches of the universe that we have been able to look. I suspect there’s even more amazing things to be found. God must chuckle at our puny little efforts fully to grasp the reality of his creative power. Click on the image to get the largest version of it I could download from HubbleSite.org

Everytime I see an image like this and read about it, Psalm 8 pops into my head:

8 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

It often seems that when a person who has been a part of Evangelicalism/Reformed traditions/Calvinism becomes frustrated and weary of forms of worship that are rather hollow and lack much by way of rich artistry and visual images, or when they recognize that they are hungry for a genuinely sacramental life by which they can experience the very “up close and personal” contact with the Creator of the Universe who does give Himself in the bread and wine of the Sacrament — (phew, long sentence, sorry!) — they often think they have to run over to the Eastern Orthodox Church, or to the Roman Church.

As much as Evangelicals/Reformed/Calvinists love to talk about Luther, it is the really “Lutheran” bits of Luther that they seem to want to overlook and even push away; namely, Luther’s firm commitment to the Biblical means of grace: the Word and the Sacraments.

[Now, if we can only help Lutherans understand and appreciate the right treasure that is their spiritual birthright and stop hankering after the flesh pots of non-denominational Evangelicalism! Another post there.]

Dr. Gene Edward Veith, himself a convert to Lutheranism, and author of one of the most influential books that lead many to Lutheranism, titles, The Spirituality of the Cross, shared this “testimony” from a person coming out of a Protestantism heavily influenced by Calvin, who thought he had to go over to Rome or elsewhere, but then he discovered Lutheran spirituality and theology. Here is Dr. Veith’s post:

Daniel Siedell is a Christian art critic and curator, the author of God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art. In a recent post on his Patheos blog Cultivare, he describes how frustrated he became with evangelical and Reformed scholarship on the arts, leading him to turn to Catholic and Orthodox theologians. But then he discovered Luther and Lutheranism, who were not at all the way he had assumed. McCain note at this point: I’m going to post all of Dr. Siedell’s post from his blog:

“Modern and contemporary painting is the heart of my theology of culture. It is not the kind of cultural practice, however, that receives any positive attention from evangelical cultural theologians and critics, for whom art is irrelevant at best and harmful at worst. But painting is much more than meets the eye, as both the tradition of icon painting within the church and the history of modern art outside the church testify. But a theology of culture that cannot offer a positive account of the arts in practice—not in theory—is ultimately deaf to the diverse and unexpected sounds of grace in the world.

“While finishing my doctoral dissertation and teaching modern art at a state university in the mid-1990s, I read Francis Schaeffer’s Art and the Bible and H.R. Rookmaaker’s Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, and I was shocked. Their conclusions about modern art  bore no resemblance to the work I had devoted years of my life to understanding from within the history and development of modern art.

“In response to Schaeffer and Rookmaaker, I began to develop a more robust theological account for my interest in modern and contemporary art, which didn’t begin in the seminar room but where I live my professional a life as an art critic and curator: face to face with a work of art in an art museum, gallery, or studio. My goal was not to develop a “theology of the arts” that gets “applied” like a cookie-cutter to particular works of art or hovers abstractly in the ether, but to give a theological account for my interest in and love for particular artifacts of an especially despised and misunderstood cultural practice, which as an evangelical, I had been called to serve. One of the results was God in the Gallery (Baker Academic, 2008), in which I moved outside the operative Reformed worldview framework, which I found too limiting, toward the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions of the faith, to bring a more robust aesthetic, sacramental, and liturgical mindfulness to modern and contemporary art.

“The outlier in my aesthetic evangelical resourcement was Luther, whom I had simply lumped into the Protestant tradition as a “pre-Calvinist” and a “post-Catholic,” shaped as I was by the biases of Catholic and Reformed interpreters, and art historians like Joseph Leo Koerner, who blamed the Reformer for a privatized, relativized, and disenchanted Protestant faith. But things changed when my family and I became members of a confessional Lutheran Church (LCMS), and I discovered through the weekly practice of the preached Word and Sacrament, that Philip Cary is right: Luther is not quite Protestant. And for the sake of enriching evangelical cultural thought, that is a very good thing, as even Reformed historian Mark Noll observed in his classic essay, “The Lutheran Difference,” published in 1992 in First Things. But, unfortunately, as Kevin DeYoung admitted last summer, Luther and the Lutheran tradition remain virtually unknown to conference-circuit evangelicalism.

“Although I practiced the Christian faith in the Lutheran tradition for almost eight years, it was not until I encountered Luther, liberated from a confessional tradition that had domesticated it and non-Lutheran thinkers who had distorted it, and interpreted through sensitive readers like the Hamann scholar Oswald Bayer, Steve Paulson, Gerhard Ebeling, and Gerhard Forde, that he came alive for me, presenting to me a Luther I never knew. And a Luther evangelicalism desperately needs.

“What I discovered is a Luther whose thought offers fertile ground for a desperately needed re-evaluation of evangelical approaches to art and culture, from his understanding of the distinctions between the letter and the spirit; law and gospel; theology of the cross and theology of glory; the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world; the human being as simultaneously sinner and saint; God hidden and revealed; and nature and grace. In addition, in his revolutionary understanding of vocation and through his emphasis on the sacramental nature of the preached Word, Luther opens up space to think freely and creatively about modern art, without expectations for what art should look like. For Luther, it is not what we see, but what we hear from paintings, when the bullets are flying, when push comes to shove, as we live and feel the pressure of life and the strained relationship between God and neighbor.

“And so I find Luther a welcome and helpful companion on visits to art museums and art galleries, especially when I am confronted by work that looks different, that frustrates my expectations, and distracts me by its strangeness. Luther is teaching me to wait in faith, and listen, with  love.”

Recently, I noticed an article arguing for the “fair use” of foul language, by Christians. Yes, you read that correctly. According this point of view, the use of profanity, obscenity and vulgarity is acceptable, in certain circumstances, depending on a person’s intention, and depending on the context

Apparently some are even under the mistaken impression that using foul language is part of what it takes to prove you are no pietist, as if such behavior is even some sort of evidence of your credentials as a steadfast Lutheran. What a tragic contradiction of God’s Holy Word. It is simply foul play with foul language.

God’s Word is quite plain regarding these matters:

“Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” (Matthew 10:17-20)

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5:1-4)

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. (Colossians 3:8)

It is undeniable that foul language appears in our minds and on our tongues and in our mouths far too often. But this is not to be celebrated, excused, or explained away, nor should we be trying to find ways to “nuance” the clear texts of Sacred Scripture to somehow make ourselves feel better about it.

This is a matter of God pleasing and God-honoring behavior, to which we are called, in Christ.

Can anyone really, honestly, say as they reflect on the words here that have been proposed as being “ok” in some circumstances, that their use is faithful to God’s word given to us through St. Paul?

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Phil. 4:8

And let us also keep in mind the warning of James:

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4

Dear Lord, guard my thoughts and my words. In your word you tell me: “The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.” (Proverbs 10:32). Forgive me for my sinful speech and language. Cleanse and pardon me for the sake of Christ Jesus my Lord and help me always to honor you with my words. Amen.

Coming….Spring 2013. Here is a sampling of what people are saying about it:

This book paves a path back to the roots of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod which was blocked until now for all those who are not able to read and understand German. But this book is more than just a historical remembrance of what has been long time ago. It also shows that Lutherans of our days sing for a good part the old hymns which have been sung by the forefathers of the 19th century, yes even by the Lutheran Church of the centuries before. Finally this publication is of great value because it enables readers to rediscover hymns which are – for different reasons – not in use anymore. They are now able to join in words and melodies which may sound unfamiliar in the first moment but make accessible experiences and testimonies of Christian faith which may be underemphasized in our days.
—Prof. Dr. Christoph Barnbrock
Professor of Practical Theology, Lutherische Theologische Hochschule Oberursel (Germany)

Walther’s hymnal, originally published in 1847, shaped the theology, graced the liturgy, and fostered the spirituality of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod almost from its beginnings, but did so in the German language. Until now English-speaking Missouri Lutherans have been unable to appreciate the significance of this collection of hymns, which, when it first appeared, was a pioneering anthology that sought to undo layers of editorial re-writing and truncation and give the texts in the language and length their authors gave to them. Matthew Carver has opened the closed door and provided English translations for all the hymns in Walther’s hymnal, and many are translated for the first time.
—Robin A. Leaver
Yale Institute of Sacred

Music Matthew Carver has performed an extraordinary service to the English-speaking spiritual descendants of C.F.W. Walther, the first LCMS president. Through the compilation of existing translations and his original translations of the remaining hymns, Carver has made it possible for us to experience one of the most significant resources that shaped the piety of those first generations of Saxon Lutherans. Walther’s Hymnal will serve not only as a rich devotional resource for our time but also as an impetus for future hymnwriters as they add to our rich heritage.
—Dr. Paul Grime
Concordia Theological Seminary

This resource is a wonderful packet of “Heirloom Seeds” for all who wish to learn more about the spirit and song of the Lutheran confessional revival of the nineteenth century. Those who study and sing the hymns in this collection will be treated to an experience of living theological and liturgical history which give a glimpse into the faith expressions of those who passed a lively confession to us. This will be a welcome addition to the library of all who appreciate the Lutheran chorale, and for composers who are searching for “new” texts to inspire musical settings for use in the church, school and home.
—Rev. Prof. Dennis Marzolf, (MDiv, MM)
Music Department Chair Bethany Lutheran College Mankato, MN.

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” The literary productivity of C. F. W. Walther is absolutely astounding. Of all the Missouri Synod presidents, I suspect only Franz Pieper (1899–1911) came anywhere close to Walther. Excluding Pieper, our venerable first president’s output exceeds all the rest combined. That Walther turned his precious time and laser-like attention to the production of a hymnal at the very outset of the Missouri Synod’s life, demonstrates that orthodox Lutheranism has orthodox worship in its very DNA. Thanks to Matthew Carver, we now have Walther’s hymnal, which guided the life of the Synod through its German-speaking period—six decades blessed with exponential growth. And much more than that, the core German hymnody that Walther thought a Lutheran hymnal ought contain has been preserved largely intact to this very day in Lutheran Service Book. That the Synod should have maintained Walther’s deep convictions regarding freedom in matters of worship, while so broadly adopting similar practice through hymnals, is testimony to his Lutheran genius.
—Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison
President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

I feel so blessed to live at a time when there is a true rebirth of interest in the classic treasures of Lutheran orthodoxy: deeply Biblical, richly satisfying works on theology and beautiful devotional writings. Concordia Publishing House continues to play a major role in making available treasures such as devotional writings from Johann Gerhard and now his great “Theological Topics” series of books on all aspects of Biblical theology. There are new volumes of Luther’s writings coming out, along with a new, fresh edition of his great Church Postil underway [it is fantastic!].

There are new much improved editions of C.F.W. Walther’s classic works on Law and Gospel and Church and Office. The writings of the great 20th century Lutheran theologian, Hermann Sasse, are being translated by President Harrison and we are, at present, working on the complete collection of his Letters to Pastors.

The writings of Martin Chemnitz are available now in English, in a matched set, bringing the great work of “The Second Martin” to life again. His great work on a church order for Braunschweig is underway. We have the beautiful devotional works of the “Jesus Preacher” Herdberger now available and underway. And that’s just a snapshot of what’s going on at Concordia Publishing House. But wait, there’s more! Others are engaged in the noble task of bringing treasures into English.

The challenge/problem here is to make sure work is not being needlessly duplicated, and to that end, my colleague, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mayes, is maintaining an ever growing list, or catalog, of ongoing translation projects. I encourage you to become familiar with it and if you are aware of projects underway, please make sure the translators concerned add their work to this list. To see the full list of translation projects, click here. The list is organized by the last name of the first writer or editor who created the work. Entries are placed after the author’s name in alphabetical order according to title. When the work is anonymous, it is listed alphabetically according to title. We invite you to email your information to Sarah.Steiner@cph.org.  Information will be updated as available on a quarterly basis.

Our Professional and Academic Book Team has developed a web page to share information about translation of Lutheran materials. We invite translators of Lutheran materials to email information about their projects so that scholars and readers may see what translation work is in progress and what work has been completed. This will allow broader coordination of translation efforts and research. Projects do not have to be published by or under consideration for publication by Concordia Publishing House in order to be added to the list. Please present information about your project as follows:

Author(s) [if multiple]. Source title in original language. Title in English. Precise edition information. Translator(s).

Here are some of the titles currently being translated:

CALOV, ABRAHAM (1612–86)
Exegema Augustanae Confessionis. [Exegesis of the Augsburg Confession.] 2nd Edition, 1665. Dinda, Richard, trans.

HERBERGER, VALERIUS (1562–1627)
Das Himmlische Jerusalem. [The Heavenly Jerusalem.] Leipzig: Ernst Bredt, 1858. Carver, Matthew, trans.

PETERS, ALBRECHT (1924–87)
Kommentar zu Luthers Katechismen, Bd. 5: Die Beichte. Die Haustafel. Das Traubüchlein. Das Taufbüchlein. [Commentary on Luther’s Catechisms, v. 5: Confession and Christian Life.] Peters, Albrecht. Edited by Gottfried Seebass. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993. Trapp, Thomas H., trans. Concordia: St. Louis, forthcoming 2013.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE.

I read on another Lutheran web site a proposal that people give The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod a “grade” based on how well they believe our Synod is measuring up to its objectives, as stated in our Constitution. An interesting excercise, but one that, in my view, usually leads to a lot of self-pity and whining. It’s always easy to sit back and play armchair quarterback and criticize “those guys” or “the Synod.” In fact, it gets to the point that some people have seemingly made a career out of lambasting “LCMS, Inc.” and perpetually whining and complaining and finding fault. Not helpful.

I think a much more helpful excercise that would probably actually produce something by way of positive results, instead of the typical online gripe session, is if each pastor and rostered church worker in the Missouri Synod, along with every member congregation and each lay member of each LCMS congregation were to carefully study each of our Synod’s objectives and then evaluate how they are, personally, in a real and practical way, supporting the objectives of our church body within their area of influence, calling and vocation in life. How about it? Care to give it a try? You don’t need to share your “grade” for each objective, unless you want to.

Here are the objectives, go ahead, think each one over and give yourself a grade for each one.

How well are  you, personally, supporting each objective and/or implementing each one to the greatest extent that you can in your own personal life? It’s actually a very fun, interesting and helpful excercise. So, go for it!

Article III – Objectives

The Synod, under Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, shall:

1. Conserve and promote the unity of the true faith (Eph. 4:3–6; 1 Cor. 1:10), work through its official structure toward fellowship with other Christian church bodies, and provide a united defense against schism, sectarianism (Rom. 16:17), and heresy;
2. Strengthen congregations and their members in giving bold witness by word and deed to the love and work of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and extend that Gospel witness into all the world;
3. Recruit and train pastors, teachers, and other professional church workers and provide opportunity for their continuing growth;
4. Provide opportunities through which its members may express their Christian concern, love, and compassion in meeting human needs;
5. Aid congregations to develop processes of thorough Christian education and nurture and to establish agencies of Christian education such as elementary and secondary schools and to support synodical colleges, universities, and seminaries;
6. Aid congregations by providing a variety of resources and opportunities for recognizing, promoting, expressing, conserving, and defending their confessional unity in the true faith;
7. Encourage congregations to strive for uniformity in church practice, but also to develop an appreciation of a variety of responsible practices and customs which are in harmony with our common profession of faith;
8. Provide evangelical supervision, counsel, and care for pastors, teachers, and other professional church workers of the Synod in the performance of their official duties;
9. Provide protection for congregations, pastors, teachers, and other church workers in the performance of their official duties and the maintenance of their rights;
10. Aid in providing for the welfare of pastors, teachers, and other church workers, and their families in the event of illness, disability, retirement, special need, or death.