Augustana L.C. Festival of Worship

Augustana Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC hosted a great one day conference Saturday, November 12, 2016 in the beautiful nave of the church.

Augustana's pastor Father Gavin Mize is a great friend of Gottesdienst, having been published in both the print journal and online.  The narthex of Augustana has a stack of Gottesdienst for parishioners to pick up.

Pastor Mize opened the conference with an introduction: 'Parameters of Presentations and Liturgy According to Catechetical Aesthetics":

The next presentation, "Revolution Versus Revolution": Christ at the Center was given by Gottesdienst editor the Rev. Larry Beane:

The keynote address of the conference, "The Sacred Manger: Reverence for the Incarnate Word", was given by Gottesdienst editor the Rev. Dr. Richard Stuckwisch in two parts:

The Festival concluded with a Divine Service, a commemorative Mass of St. Jonah the Prophet, which Pastor Mize streamed live via Facebook:

The sermon was preached by Pastor Beane:

As a bonus, the following morning, Dr. Stuckwisch preached at the Sunday parochial Mass at Augustana for the 26th Sunday after Pentecost:

Thank you to the delightful and faithful people Augustana Lutheran Church, who provided Southern hospitality and cooking along with making this conference happen free of charge. Thank you to Pastor Mize for leading this wonderful event that taught, in word and by example, the concept of catechetical aesthetics in the context of the Lutheran liturgy!

A Festival of Worship in Hickory, NC

Though not an official Gottesdienst event, two of our editors will be speaking.  For more information, contact Father Gaven Mize by email or Facebook.

8th Annual Augsburg Confession Conference!

What better way to spend Reformation Day weekend?

Join us October 30-31st, 2015, for the 8th Annual Conference on the Augsburg Confession with the theme: "The Intersection of Confession and Culture". We intend to work through challenging contemporary issues to better understand how to approach them through the lens of Scripture and the Confessions. You'll have the opportunity to:

• Learn from lectures presented by Dr. Peter Scaer of Concordia Theological Seminary,
• Engage with the topics via break-out sessions and a panel discussion, 
• Participate in three worship services, and; 
• Enjoy fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ!

Registration is free for all students & seminarians and $10 for all others. Registration includes dinner, breakfast, lunch and of course, gemütlichkeit. The conference will be held at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in the heart of the historic German Village in Columbus, Ohio. Invite friends, family and pastors - we look forward to seeing you there!

Register now at augustanasociety.com! 

Conference: Gottesdienst - St. Louis

A one-day conference: Marriages and Weddings

Tuesday, June 30th, 2015

St. Paul Lutheran Church (Hamel)
6969 W. Frontage Rd.
Worden, IL  62097

Featuring from among our editors

Rev. Fr. Larry Beane, MDiv
Rev. Fr. David H. Petersen, MDiv, STM
Rev. Fr. Heath R. Curtis, MA, MDiv
Rev. Fr. Jason Braaten, MDiv
Rev. Fr. Burnell F. Eckardt Jr., MDiv, STM, PhD
Rev. Fr. Mark Braden, MDiv, STM


Schedule

8:30 - 9:00 am - Registration / Coffee & Donuts
Holy Absolution available

9:00 am - Matins
9:40 am - Welcome
9:45-10:30 am - "The Two Shall Become One": A Theology of Marriage
   Fr. Larry Beane, Online and Departmental Editor
10:45 am - Holy Mass

12:00 pm - Lunch

1:00 - 1:45 pm - "What God Hath Joined Together": A Theology of Weddings
   Fr. David Petersen, Departmental Editor
2:00 - 2:45 pm - "On the Dissolution of Marriges"
   Fr. Heath Curtis, Online Editor
3:00 pm - Panel Discussion - The Gottesdienst editors
3:45 pm - Vespers
4:30 pm - Gemütlichkeit


Lodging - On your own.  Recommended:

The Innkeeper Motel,
401 E. State St., Hamel, IL  62046
(618) 633-2111  www.innkeeperinn.com


Registration

$25 (Payable to Gottesdienst)

You may email the following info to b.f.eckardt@gmail.com with "Gottesdienst" in the subject line, and you may pay the registration fee in advance, or when you arrive.

Title & Name
Parish
Email
Address
City, State, Zip
Phone

Your sectional preferences (please select two):
   Pre-Marital 'Counseling'
   Divorce & Remarriage
   Planning the Wedding
   Having Children and Raising Them

Babysitting requested?

A Tale of Two Conferences

By Larry Beane

The LCMS is quite a diverse church body when it comes to things like conferences.

By way of example, here are descriptions of two upcoming conferences that will be happening shortly, less than one month apart, both of which will include speakers and worship services.

The first example is one of the official district conferences to be held this month (September).

Three of the four main scheduled speakers are pastors.  One of the three is a Lutheran, and his presentation is first.  His topic will be: "Toward Effective Ministry in Transitional Times" and is described as follows:

"Living and serving in God's grace in these changing times involves balance, clarity of purpose and values as well as personal and organizational health.  This time will be interactive, informative, and hopefully a time of introducing you to introspection and possible life ministry changes during this conference."

The two remaining ordained speakers come from outside the Lutheran tradition.  The first is a senior pastor of a Baptist congregation in Virginia.  He is the author of Bod4God: Four Keys to Weight Loss and Get off the Couch.  He is also the creator of the Losing to Live Weight Loss Competition....  The media has labeled him 'The Anti-Fat Pastor.'"  One has to wonder if he'll be attending the "Taco/Nacho/Chicken Wing Buffet (enough to call it dinner)" that includes "free beer, margaritas and sangria/wine."

Next up will be a pastor representing Cornerstone Fellowship, who is going to speak on "rediscovering a New Small Church filled with hope, passion, and innovative spark of the Holy Spirit."

The "opening worship" is not described other than that it will be held at a local parish, while the "closing worship" will be held at the resort where the conference will take place.

***

Less than a month later, another conference will take place, not a district function, but rather an annual congregational event.

The keynote speaker will be a Lutheran seminary professor with degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham.  He is the "author of volumes 12 (Lord's Supper) and 13 (Eschatology) of the series Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics.  His topic will be "The Blessed Sacrament in the Theology of Wilhelm Loehe."  There will also be a discussion on "the rubrics and significance of the Mass from the Preface to the Nunc Dimittis."

Like the other conference, there will be food, including a banquet featuring "brats and beer" and an "after the party party" at the pastor's home.

This conference will likewise include worship services, and will open with "choral vespers" and will include "mass" on the next day, as well as a "low mass" and "vespers" on the final day of the conference - all held in the sanctuary of the parish.

If it is true that diversity is our strength, the LCMS must be one of the mightiest church bodies on the planet.

Annual Conference on the Augsburg Confession

Attention Gottesdienst Crowd!  Although this is not a Gottesdienst event, it is certainly Gottesdienst-friendly.

Annual Conference on the Augsburg Confession

Celebrate Our Lutheran Heritage
October 31­ November 1, 2014
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
219 E. Church St.
Marion, OH 43302
740­375­0599
www.gethsemane-­lcms.org

Conference Schedule
Friday, October 31st
6:30 p.m. Reformation Divine Service
7:30 p.m. Presentation by Rev. Dr. Roland Ziegler
8:30 p.m Gemutlichkeit

Saturday, November 1st
8:15 - ­8:50 Registration and breakfast
9:00 All Saints Divine Service
10:00 Keynote Address ­ Rev. Dr. Roland Ziegler
11:30 Lunch
12:15 First Session ­ The Rev. Terry Cripe
1:00 Second Session ­ The Rev. Brett Cornelius
1:45 Public reading of the Augsburg Confession (Articles I­ - XXI)
2:15 Q & A with presenters
2:45 Responsive Prayer (Itinerarium)
3:30 Gemutlichkeit

+++ Register online with PayPal at gethsemane-­lcms.org +++

Name_____________________________________________
Address___________________________________________
Phone_____________________________________________
Email______________________________________________
Home Church________________________________________

$20 per person or $30 per couple

Mail to:

Conference on the Augsburg Confession
℅ Deacon Joe Greene
6460 Twp Rd 49
Lexington, OH 44904
(419) 362­1065
libertyfarmer@gmail.com