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...

A Lutheran Responds to Altar Calls — by David C. Drebes — December 01, 2008

It’s something I can’t quite come to terms with. Is it a source of shame? No, I don’t think so. And yet, I’ve been cautious about sharing this particular tale of a holy experience. You see, I, a life-long Lutheran, encountered the Holy Spirit at an altar call...

Advent Poetry — by Harvey S. Mozolak — December 08, 2008

INTO THE SEASON poetry by Harvey S. Mozolak

Becoming the Church in Tanzania, Part 2 — by Faustin Mahali — March 08, 2009

The formation of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanganyika in 1963 came as a result of the already existing Federation of the Lutheran Church in Tanganyika. In areas where more than one mission society was active, there existed joint mission boards that oversaw assistance plans for developing the work of each synod. The collaboration of these mission societies, despite diversities in their theologies and administrative systems, paved the way towards a united Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Moreover, the nationalistic ideas of unity for an independent Tanganyika challenged the regional churches to form one united church...

Glenn Stone, 1928-2009 — by Karl-John Stone — June 13, 2009

The Rev. Glenn Charles Stone, of Jackson Heights, NY, died Saturday, June 6, 2009, after living 23 years with cancer. Born June 13, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, he left high school early to attend the University of Chicago on a full scholarship, graduating with a degree in geology. During college, he felt God's call to ordained ministry, and graduated from Augustana Theological Seminary, Rock Island, IL. Ordained June 15, 1952 as a pastor in the Augustana Lutheran Synod (a predecessor church body of first the Lutheran Church in America, then of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), he was installed as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, New Hyde Park, Long Island, NY. He earned the Master of Sacred Theology degree from Union Theological Seminary, New York City, in 1960, with his thesis on “The Use of the Sacrament of the Altar,” and began assisting at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Roosevelt, Long Island, while also serving other specialized ministries, primarily in publications and teaching. In the 1960s he taught at Our Saviour’s Lutheran High School in the Bronx, worked at the National Lutheran Council, and served as editor of The National Lutheran, in New York City. In 1969 he was called as founding editor of the journal, Lutheran Forum, also in Manhattan, and served for many years as executive director of its publisher, the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau; this is the editorial ministry for which he was best known...

Going Postal — by LF editors — June 13, 2009

Those of you who are enjoying your newly-arrived Summer 2009 issue of Lutheran Forum may wonder what on earth happened to the Hebrew words that appear in the current Old Testament article, "Going Postal." Let us be the first to say: responsibility for the garbled Hebrew lies with the editorial staff, not with the author, and for this we apologize both to Dr. Goodine and to our astute readers. And if we may be so bold, please do the author the honor of reading her article from the PDF link below, which now has the correct Hebrew in it...

Going Postal in Judges 19 — by Sarah Wilson —

Elizabeth Goodine's OT article in the Summer 2009 issue.

Crisis in Zimbabwe — by Pastor Herbert Moyo — September 07, 2009

A pastor of the ELCZ tells the story of being "Hungry, Sick, and Dying in Zimbabwe" in the fall issue of LF. But a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the case of rampant political corruption and horrifying violence. Here are some pictures of what God's children are suffering in Zimbabwe...

Zimbabwe photos — by Sarah Wilson —

to go with crisis in Zimbabwe post

The Empty Crib — by Howard Olson — September 16, 2009

As a young couple of 19 and 23 my wife, Louise, and I went to Tanzania in 1946 to serve as Lutheran missionaries. We were stationed at a remote, but beautiful, area called Kijota. The nearest Americans lived 20 miles away as the crow flies, and 50 miles by road during the rainy season. We did not experience loneliness because of the warm hospitality of our African neighbors. Yet we desired the enrichment our lives would acquire if we were more than just husband and wife alone...

The Lutheran Constellation — by Bp. James F. Mauney — September 22, 2009

There has been a full moon in the sky these past days, which has made it a bit more difficult to notice the vast array of stars in the heavens. I remember as a Boy Scout learning the patterns and stories of the different constellations. Some were constellations with all large, bright stars. Some constellations had several strong, bright stars, and several lesser, faint lights, but the point was that they gathered in a cluster that made them a unique presence in the firmament of God. For instance, the Big Dipper, with its seven large stars, is part of Ursa Major, twenty stars and a Greek myth to go along with it. As I am getting older, I have to tell you that it is getting harder and harder to distinguish Ursa Major in the heavens. It feels like I am losing the stars one by one, even some of the brightest ones...

A Response to the LCMS "Theses on Worship" — by Phil Secker — October 29, 2009

The “Theses on Worship” adopted unanimously by the LCMS Council of Presidents of the LCMS on September 19-22, 2009, after two years of study and discussion, has both strengths and weaknesses.

The Lutheran Churches of India — by Peter Vethanayagamony — December 15, 2009

India is home to the oldest Lutheran body outside Europe and North America. One-third of all Asian Lutherans live in India. Thanks to the commitment, labor, and investment of Europeans and North Americans, Lutheran churches have put down deep roots all over India and thrive today as a vibrant Christian communion. This survey is an attempt to paint a big picture of Lutheranism in India today, building on the story of Lutheran missions to India in the Winter 2009 print edition of Lutheran Forum. Lutheranism is spread out all over India, encompassing several ethnic and linguistic groups, the oldest being the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church. Today Indian Lutheranism is organized into eleven autonomous church bodies under the banner of the United Evangelical Church in India. We will begin our quick overview of this communion with the southernmost part of India...

The Elusive Lion and the Shepherd — by Howard Olson — November 05, 2009

In this second excerpt from his memoirs, missionary to Tanzania, Howard Olson, provides a picture of life in 1950s Africa.

The Earlier St. Martin — by Bruce Wilmot Adams — November 11, 2009

St. Martin of Tours, as he became known, was born in Sabaria, the capital fortress town in Pannonia (now Hungary) in the year 316. It was a period when the vast straggling Roman Empire stretched from the tip of northern Britain to Spain, from North Africa to the Middle East, to the southern banks of the Danube and Rhine rivers. The blood-letting of Christians under the despotic emperor of Rome, Diocletian, had ceased five years before Martin’s birth. His father had risen through the ranks of the Roman army to become a military tribune. Both of Martin’s parents were committed pagans, even selecting to name their son after Mars the Roman god. But what appeared to be the impregnable strength of the Roman Empire was displaying signs of inward decay. Inflation was starting to undermine the economy; with the impending danger from the horde of Vandals massing on the eastern frontiers of the Rhine. Both intimated ominous threats to Roman power and stability...

______, Justice, Jazz — by Matthew D. Musteric — November 20, 2009

The theme of the 2009 ELCA National Youth Gathering in New Orleans was “Jesus, Justice, Jazz.” However, early on what began to concern me and several friends who attended was that the first one in the list, Jesus of Nazareth, seemed noticeably absent by name in the mass gatherings, particularly from many (though not all) of the speakers chosen to headline the events...

Christmas Break — by Sarah Wilson — December 23, 2009

Dear readers, we'll be taking a break from the web for Christmas, and we hope you will too. We wish you a peaceful and blessed celebration of the Word made flesh. See you after Epiphany!

Thank You — by Paul Sauer — December 21, 2009

Dear Friends, It is that time of year. As the book closes on a turbulent year for American Lutheranism, we are grateful that you have journeyed through this difficult time with us here on Lutheranforum.org. We hope that you have found the commentary and postings timely and enlightening, but also challenging and thought-provoking as we seek a way forward for our Lutheran churches that is both evangelical and catholic

Pietism According to Bo Giertz — by Eric R. Andrae — January 25, 2010

The influence of Bo Giertz (1905-1998) on the American scene has been such that some have even taken to calling themselves “Giertzians.” What are the marks of a “Giertzian” confession of the faith? American Lutheran scholar Clifford Ansgar Nelson noted already in 1950 that Giertz “has a profound appreciation of the high-church liturgical movement as well as of low-church evangelicalism. If one should characterize the type of piety which is most congenial to his spirit, it would be as a broad evangelical orthodoxy”...