Gottesdienst Spies Are Everywhere

Well, it doesn't really rise to that level of intrigue. A student anonymously sent me the outline used at CSL's new monthly (or maybe it's biquarterly) small group meetings which occur in lieu of chapel on a given Tuesday. Since it came to me anonymously, I'd appreciate it if any of our CSL readers could chime in below in the comments to verify that this is in fact what is being used. At any rate, it's not a "secret" document, or at least it shouldn't be: the LCMS at large is paying for this and has oversight of the seminaries, so folks have a right to know what's going on.

I had a chance to ask Prof. Gibbs about this doing away of chapel every once in a while when he was down at our SID pastors' conference. He said it arose from a campus-wide study of Life Together a couple of years ago. Thus I quipped that it was quasi quasi-monastic: an imitation of Bonhoeffer's imitation of the lighter side of monastic life.

Sigh. Wouldn't our future pastors be better served by learning the church's worship from Lutheran Service Book? Isn't this teaching them that corporate worship can just be replaced by small group study? Or perhaps that small group study really is the same thing as gathering corporately to hear Christ's called and sent minister preach the Word?

And those are just some of the problems you think of before you even read this. . .

S for Scripture

Read the Lesson. Note, highlight, or underline words or phrases from the text that catch your attention. When you are done, look for a verse or phrase that particularly caught your attention, and write it below:

O for Observation

What do you think God is saying in this verse? Paraphrase and write this scripture down in your own words below:

A for Application

Personalize what you have read, by asking yourself how it applies to your life right now. Perhaps it is admonition, forgiveness, deliverance, instruction, encouragement, revelation of a new promise, or corrections for a particular area of your life. Write how this scripture can apply to you below:

P for Prayer

This can be as simple as asking God to speak this Word to you, interceding for others

in the basis of this Word, or seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance to live out this Word in

faith. Prayer is a two way conversation, so both speak to God and listen to God’s voice through His Word! You may write the prayer(s) out here:

On the President's Part Time Job

Father Matthew Harrison, President of the LCMS, just received a call to serve as assistant pastor at a local St. Louis area parish. Such things don't happen without a little prearrangement - so what does this decision by Fr. Harrison mean?

Overall, I think it is a positive development. It is a loud signal of two things. First, his desire to take a churchly approach to administering the LCMS. Second, it is the latest chapter in Fr. Harrison's obvious affinity with the early history of the LCMS (See: At Home in the House of My Fathers).

It is this second point that contains a potential negative aspect to this new part time job for the president. It was once common in the Missouri Synod to say that a "clergyperson without portfolio" (In Dr. Scaer's felicitous phrasing) was not really a clergyperson. That once you didn't have a call to a parish you were not rite vocatus, could not administer the Lord's Supper, ceased to be a minister.

This is nonsense and I have already been somewhat disappointed by analyses of this new part time time job that have called on AC XIV. Father Harrison received his call to serve the church in the process that culminated with his ordination and included his seminary education, examination, and election to the pastoral office.

Your ordination marks the end of the path of the church making you rite vocatus. Everything after that is detail work.

So let us congratulate both Fr. Harrison and the parish that will gain his not inconsiderable pastoral service on a part time basis. And let us hope this portends a churchly approach at the purple palace. But let's not return to that unfortunate theology that would insist that he wasn't rite vocatus this past Saturday.

+HRC

Octoberfest Review

If you weren't in Kewanee this past Sunday, Monday, and/or Tuesday, then I am sad to tell you that you missed the Best Octoberfest Ever. It's hard to summarize two hours of conversation, four hours of presentation, and a sermon from Prof. Scaer - but he brought the house down. The main attraction at Octoberfest is really the gathering of good pastors - what an encouragement to drink a beer and converse with these guys! Next year, do what it takes to get to Kewanee. And watch for more regional gatherings. . .especially in the Kansas City area.

Finally, like all the sermons in the back of CJ, this Octoberfest had Three Main Points.

* Scaer: Serve the congregation for the sake of Christ, not Christ for the sake of the congregation.

* The liturgically minded Gottesdienst Crowd (tm), to a man, marry far above their station.

* That new guy from Iowa East with a buzz cut is a MENSCH.

+HRC

Poll on Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament

We had some more discussion on the practice of reserving the Sacrament of the Altar last week and part of that discussion turned toward us all wondering just how widespread the practice is. The poll this week will at least let us know how widespread the practice is among the readers of this blog.

October is also the season for pastoral conferences - so don't forget to sign up for the best pastors' conference of them all in Kewanee!

+HRC

Update on the Pastor Glut in the LCMS

With the new administration in the LCMS, there seems also to have come some forthright speaking from the top on the actual level of need for new pastors in the LCMS.

COP Secretary Rev. William Klettke, president of the New Jersey District, reported that, as of September, 209 LCMS congregations were calling sole pastors; 33, senior pastors; and 33, associate or assistant pastors. He also reported 203 congregations with temporary non-calling vacancies and 395 with permanent non-calling vacancies.

As a frame of reference, Klettke also listed the numbers for September 2007: 349 congregations calling sole pastors; 58, senior pastors; and 83, associate or assistant pastors. That same month, there were also 418 congregations listing non-calling vacancies, compared to the total of 598 in September 2010.

In 2007, the report did not distinguish between temporary non-calling and permanent non-calling vacancies, Klettke said.

"There is not a lot of mobility these days," said LCMS First Vice-President Rev. Herbert C. Mueller Jr., referring to the report and the state of the economy. He also added, "This is the lowest number of calling congregations that I remember and the highest number of non-calling congregations."

The COP's next meeting is Nov. 16-17 in Nashville, before the 2010 Lutheran Church Extension Fund Fall Leadership Conference there.

Please note, the pastoral labor market is about 40% tighter than it was just three years ago.

If you are planning on going to seminary, have a back up plan. No one can guarantee that you will come out of the seminary - which for almost all students means lots of debt, and for many students means great family disruption - with gainful employment. If anyone tries to tell you that of course you will get a call, that it will all come right, that a pastoral shortage is just around the corner - he is simply wrong, or daydreaming, or a liar: and it's you and your family who will have to reap the consequences, not the fellow with the rose colored glasses.

If anyone tells you that we are headed for a time when guys just need to plan on being "worker-priests," please refer him here. A worker-priest situation is a sad necessity for far too many pastors today. Woe betide the fellowship that seeks to turn a sad necessity into a chosen pattern of ministry against a Dominical command.

+HRC