Posts tagged as:

ministry

Post-Palin/Biden Debate Diversions

October 3, 2008

Mark Hemingway, in Socialism in the Treasury Chest, observes that if you think the bailout is a good idea, “you may well be an idiot.” R.R. Reno is no idiot, even if he does support the bailout. He’s wrong, but nevertheless has some good things to say about greed over at First Things. Matthew Harrison [...]

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A couple pictures from yesterday

July 21, 2008
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Great day

July 20, 2008

This morning, my congregation honored the tenth anniversary of my ordination by having Chaplain Jonathan Shaw take my Bible Class, and Chaplain Matthew Franke preach the sermon; he preached on the blessing of the office of the ministry from 1 Cor. 3. I was privileged also to baptize a little child, Olaf Francis Emblem, son [...]

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Holy Orders

July 19, 2008

It seems a lifetime ago now; ten years ago today, I was ordained into the office of the holy ministry, at Bethel Lutheran Church, in Du Quoin, Illinois. It was a wonderful place for me to be, and I have often regretted leaving after only three years for Immanuel (which, in many ways, is an [...]

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Independence Day Diversions

July 4, 2008

Pastor Benjamin Harju reports on a Lutheran church (albeit not LCMS, ELCA, or WELS) distributing consecrated Goldfish crackers during the communion. Former parishioner and now fellow pastor David Juhl revises some advice on praying for pastors. Pastor Juhl also reproduces an ultra-brief history of how Lutherans came to adopt a Roman Catholic lectionary from the [...]

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Seeing People as Sinners

June 21, 2008

From Eugene Peterson’s The Contemplative Pastor: The word sinner is a theological designation. It is essential to insist on this. It is not a moralistic judgment. It is not a word that places humans somewhere along a continuum ranging from angel to ape, assessing them as relatively “good” or “bad.” It designates humans in relation [...]

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Qualities of a Good Preacher

June 2, 2008

I came across this quote attributed to Luther; not sure of its veracity or source, but I like it. It sounds like something from the Table Talk: Around 1530, Martin Luther expounded the qualities of a good preacher and contrasted those qualities with those of a preacher as the world would have him. First, as [...]

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Maintenance OR mission?

April 15, 2008

Wise words from Andrew Pfeiffer: The terms, ‘maintenance’ and ‘mission’, have encouraged an unfortunate polarisation. Mission always involves maintenance. Maintaing the faith, passing on what we have inherited, is essential if mission is to be Christian, built on the foundation of Christ and the apostles. Feeding the faith of the congregation God has called together [...]

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The Pastor's Sin of Pessimism

February 13, 2008

Rev. Todd Peperkorn, in a post “The Ordinariness of Preaching” that resonates all too well with me, provides a wonderful quotation from Hermann Sasse. What especially struck me is the line I have put in bold: “The humble preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the simple Sacraments are the greatest things that can [...]

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Lambs amidst Wolves

October 18, 2007

Happy St. Luke’s Day! Last night at Evening Prayer we read the Gospel for today, St. Luke 10.1-9, where our Lord says to the seventy-two, “Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” I had always taken that as a kind of prophecy of the suffering the preachers of the [...]

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