Harrison for President

The LCMS is blessed to have a large number of faithful men who would be capable of leading the Synod. The three men who will appear on the ballot for President of Synod at the end of this week are all long-time servants of the church, who would put their sincerest efforts into the position. Each is a man of faith who chose to enter the service of the Church even though his talents could have brought better pay and lower stress in the secular world. They all deserve our thanks. 

It almost goes without saying that I support Rev. Harrison in his reelection and will be voting for him on June 11th (voting is open June 11-14). He recently spoke at one of our Gottesdienst conferences and has been a supporter of reverent worship for his entire career. So why bother with an endorsement like this in print? Two reasons. 

First, I want to encourage like minded electors, pastoral and lay, to take the time to vote. If you've been paying attention to your inbox this week, you will know that they are efforts in various corners to support one of the other candidates. Every vote will count and there are 2700 fewer voters registered than there were in 2013. Apathy is always bad for the incumbent. Please vote!

Second, the most crucial topic at this convention is the resolution to fold the licensed lay deacon program into routes that lead to call and ordination. This is a pivotal issue. President Harrison supports it, along with both seminary faculties. Yet, the CSL seminary president, who is also on the ballot, does not publicly support his faculty in this regard. And the other man on the ballot has forthrightly and publicly opposed the plan to bring the LLD program to a godly conclusion.

The fact that Rev. Harrison stands with the seminary faculties in saying it's time to bring the LLD program to a close and thus bring the Synod's practice in line with AC XIV while the other two candidates oppose the plan, makes this election a referendum on AC XIV and the necessity of a call to the Office of the Ministry. 7300 pastors and laymen will have the opportunity to cast their ballot in this referendum at the end of this week. If you are an elector, I hope you will demonstrate your support for AC XIV by casting your ballot for Rev. Harrison. 

Teach us, Augustana! - Now with Classes I and II

The Rev. Fr. Gaven Mize, pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC, lecturing in a live video streaming series on worship: "Teach us, Augustana!" (An Introduction into Catechetical Aesthetics in God's House).

This is outstanding stuff!

Note the dates:

(all classes streamed live on Facebook, 6:30 pm EST).  Look for the link on Pastor Mize's Facebook timeline.

May 3 (this video below) - Salvation History and the Liturgical Line
May 17 - (this video below) - With Angels and Archangels/How the Feast is Prepared
May 31 - What in the World is Happening Here?  Liturgy and Architecture Working Together

Note: Augustana has a YouTube channel that you can subscribe to.

President Harrison addresses the 2016 Gottesdienst, St. Louis (Hamel) Conference

LCMS President Matthew Harrison speaks regarding the LCMS 4-06A Task Force and licensed lay deacons leading up to the Synod's convention this July.

You can view the other presentations from this conference by visiting Gottesdienst’s YouTube channel.

Another Successful Conference Concludes, and a Video Project Begins

The crowd at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hamel hovered around 100 guests, and by all accounts our second Gottesdienst -- St. Louis event, "Removing the Asterisk: Restoring an Unconditional Subscription to AC XIV in the LCMS" was a great success (even if we don't have any photos -- yet).

Pastor Jason Braaten delivered a stellar review of the history of the Missouri Synod that got us to this point, seeing uncalled and unordained men serving as "pastors," disregarding the 14th article of the Augsburg Confession.

LCMS President Matthew Harrison addressed the assembly early in the afternoon, detailing the importance of this issue, and why it matters. His participation, as well as the participation of several other Synodical representatives, made the event all the more informative and helpful to the attendees, a great many of whom are delegates to the upcoming convention.

Pastor Heath Curtis then helpfully, frankly, and carefully led the guests through the recommendations of the task force appointed as a result of the 2013 LCMS convention, to be reported at the next convention, to be held in Milwaukee this July. In short, the task force is recommending an end the the licensing of lay men to carry out the functions of the ordained ministerium, though with care to see to it that those who are currently in those situations be led to be examined, called, and ordained. The LCMS is also recommending that funding be appropriated to help these men and their parishes toward those ends.

Your humble scribe then presented a paper providing a Biblical case for the importance of ordination, stressing also a key ingredient in the task force report, that of the three parts of the 'rite vocatus' (regular call) mentioned in AC XIV, viz., examination, call, and ordination, "none is negotiable or unnecessary."

Two periods of discussion were allowed, and the discussion seemed lively and edifying.

The conference was accompanied, as are all Gottesdienst conferences, with opportunities for worship. Chief among them was the Divine Service. Due to a generous grant from the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, we were able to videotape the service, and we are pleased to announce that we are now in the midst of carrying out at last our plans to move forward with the production of a training film for seminarians and pastors. So while we don't have any photos of the event, we expect to have some video coming your way in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned.

Gottesdienst Conference on AC XIV draws closer...

We are making final preparations for our conference on May 17th. Please see the post below and get your registrations in. Our hosts in Hamel, IL (40 minutes north of St. Louis) are very gracious, but the conference space can only hold so many - so don't delay in reserving your spot. And remember: 2016 LCMS Convention delegates will have the registration fees waived.

+HRC