Extras

Don’t Call Me Pastor — by R. W. Dahlen — August 27, 2007

While I was growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, Zion Lutheran Church of International Falls, MN, was served by a man we knew as Reverend Evans. A battlefield call to ministry in the trenches of France in 1918 led him to seminary. From the lumber camps of the 1920s, through the Great Depression, and on into the baby boom following the Second World War, three generations came to call him “Reverend.” Some have even suggested his bride called him Reverend when they got up in the morning...

A Primer on Lutheran Hermeneutics — by Roy A. Harrisville III — August 30, 2007

A Lutheran approach to Scripture has certain necessary components. They are: the priority of Scripture, Christ as the center of Scripture, law and gospel, the plain sense of Scripture, the power of Scripture, and the inspiration of Scripture...

Reforming the Daily Office: Examining Two New Lutheran Books — by Philip H. Pfatteicher — August 31, 2007

The creation of Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as I understand it, was generated by the convergence of two factors. One was the fervent desire on the part of a relative minority in the church to end the use of masculine pronouns (“he,” “him,” “his”) to refer to God. The other was the increasingly serious financial situation of the church’s publishing house, Augsburg Fortress...

Small Catechism Preaching Series — by Sarah Wilson —

Through the Catechism in 12 weeks! This particular series ran from September through November 2007. Each Sunday specifies which portion of the Catechism to read and OT, Psalm, NT, and Gospel readings for the day.

Bulletin: Commandments 1-3 — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulleting with readings and prayers for Commandments 1-3.

Bulletin: Commandments 4-6 — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for Commandments 4-6.

Bulletin: Commandments 7-10 — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for Commandments 7-10.

Bulletin: 1st Article of the Creed — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for the 1st article of the Creed.

Bulletin: 2nd Article of the Creed — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for the 2nd article of the Creed.

Bulletin: 3rd Article of the Creed — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for the 3rd article of the Creed.

Bulletin: Lord's Prayer Intro, 1st and 2nd Petitions — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for the Introduction and 1st and 2nd Petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

Bulletin: 3rd, 4th, and 5th Petitions of the Lord's Prayer — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

Bulletin: 6th and 7th Petitions and Doxology of the Lord's Prayer — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for the 6th and 7th Petitions and the Doxology of the Lord's Prayer.

Bulletin: Confession and the Office of the Keys — by Sarah Wilson —

A foldable bulletin with readings and prayers for Confession and the Office of the Keys in the Catechism.

Small Catechism Preaching Series — by Sarah Wilson — November 08, 2007

Free and downloadable! A schedule for preaching through the Catechism in 12 weeks, plus bulletins that you can easily alter to suit your own parish's needs.

Bulletin: Communion — by Sarah Wilson —

This bulletin has lessons and prayers revolving around the theme of Holy Communion in the Small Catechism.

Bulletin: Baptism — by Sarah Wilson —

A printable, foldable bulletin with readings to accompany Baptism in the Small Catechism.

When the Gospel Excludes — by Sara Gausmann — February 05, 2008

“There is nothing new under the sun”: Ecclesiastes tells it the way it is. I don’t know how often I have thought of a “new” program to try in my congregation only to learn that it had been done before. Sometimes people tell me flat out; other times either they’ve forgotten, or are trying not to hurt my feelings, so I learn on my own by leafing through bulletins or coming across council minutes of years past...

Commending the Lenten Discipline — by Sarah Wilson — February 01, 2008

For some of us a Lenten discipline is as automatic and essential as presents are at Christmas—with perhaps some of the same pitfalls of familiarity as well. Done rightly, it is a good and honorable practice. Commending it to the folks in the parish, though, is a little trickier, especially when it is new and unfamiliar. This is the letter I hand out to my parishioners the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday to encourage them to give it a try...

Ash Wednesday — by Clint Schnekloth — February 06, 2008

On this Ash Wednesday, let us take these words of Isaiah to heart, trust in Christ as the authentic Word, the Word that should guide all the words we speak to each other and to God. Let us turn from our sin, repent, and seek Christ's forgiveness...

Lively Stones - The Catechetical Approach of Berthold von Schenk — by Berthold von Schenk — February 11, 2008

What is the relationship between Confirmation, First Communion and Baptism? In the introduction to Lively Stones, his parish Catechetical program, Berthold von Schenk, 20th century pioneer of liturgical renewal, offers a spirited assessment of contemporary Lutheran catechetical practices and proposes a Baptismally based, sacramentally oriented approach…

The Best-Kept Secret in the Christian Church: Senn on Lutheran Identity — by Dave Poedel — April 30, 2008

A number of years ago, while teaching a course in human anatomy and physiology at our local community college, a student in her early 20s approached me and said, “It is so cool that you are a pastor and my professor! What is even cooler is that you are the pastor of a black church.” Somewhat taken aback, I replied, “Thanks, but what makes you think that my congregation is made up of African-Americans?” She said, “Well, you know, Martin Luther King and all that.” This is a true story! And to this day this episode causes me to ponder our identity as Lutheran catholic Christians. There have been numerous attempts to define Lutheranism from a doctrinal, ethnic, or sociological point of view. Too often, Lutheranism ends up being the best kept secret in the Christian church.

Meanings of Music — by Amy Schifrin — May 28, 2008

What sort of meanings can music have or convey? Are there inherent, even fixed meanings in the grammar or structure of a musical composition, the ordering of sounds apart from anything extra-musical? Does music acquire meanings (for those who hear or make it) through the extra-musical associations of its functioning in a given culture? Text, time and place, timbre, velocity, volume, virtuoso performer: can such things determine an understanding of what music means or what music can do? ...

Lutheran and Wesleyan Pilgrims on the Catholic Way — by William P. McDonald — September 01, 2008

Experience isn’t everything, but it matters to Methodists, at least after Scripture, tradition, and reason, so I begin autobiographically. I am perhaps the first United Methodist minister to be formally installed as pastor of an ELCA parish, St. Paul’s, in Vonore, Tennessee. I am Methodist, quite simply, because I was baptized, confirmed, and brought up in the ways of Wesleyan righteousness: warm heart, enlightened mind, and social conscience. For the commitments those terms name, I am grateful. It happened that a family down the street, whose large yard was a neighborhood playground, were Lutheran. They unwittingly managed to pique my interest in their church, and it wasn’t long before I was splitting my time between Trinity United Methodist and Faith Lutheran in my hometown of DeLand, Florida...