The Nihil Rule

  What Your Church Gave Up When It Gave Up Hymnals — Expository Parenting Ministries Recommended by a friend...  I really enjoyed this article and thought it offered some food for thought to confessional Lutherans. The article starts out talking about the development of contemporary worship and the so-called 'worship wars.' We Lutherans may be tempted to pride at this point.  To the best of my knowledge no WELS parish uses smoke machines and each one has at least a basic Gospel message. But the extreme deviations in other denominations - whether in contemporary worship or social views - gives us cover to deviate ever so slightly and maintain the cloak of orthodoxy. In worship, we can decide to worship from a bulletin - so convenient for our guests - or implement screens, child care during worship (shudder), Pastors in skinny jeans and Pastors with a guitar slung around their back. Maybe your Pastor retained vestments, but under the cover of extreme Liberal churches t...

We previously discussed Wauwatosa theologian  John Schaller's take on Lutheran education , and Wauwatosa appreciator Travis Berg's take on American foreign policy , now it's time for J P Koehler to chime in with a few concise sentences that get to the heart of the matter. From his excellent "Sanctification is not Hurrah" translated in serial in Faith-Life magazine (quote appears in Vol XXIV, No. 9, pg 13, 1951): "When much clamor is made in the school fight about the efficiency of the American state-school rearing and about our American statecraft in general, then to a great extent that does not correspond with the truth. It isn't true that our American political exertions contribute to the welfare of the world , or to our people themselves. It isn't true that the irreligious public-school training can be of any special blessing to our people . It isn't necessary to enlarge on that here. Anyone among us who doesn't recognize that or hasn't...

“This union [of divine and human natures] took place for us men and for our salvation and was directed toward the work of redemption and the rule and priesthood of the Messiah. For since the redemption had to take place through the suffering and death, the human nature was necessary. And since the serpent’s head had to be crushed by divine power through death, the divine nature was also necessary in the person of the Redeemer. It pleased God that for our comfort our assumed nature might be employed for the work of the kingship, the priesthood, and the lordship of Christ . . .” -Martin Chemntiz, The Two Natures in Christ, trans. J. A. O. Preus (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971), 71.

 

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. "  

  "It is a pity and dreadful cowardice when a person sacrifices the good ancient church customs to please the deluded American sects, lest they accuse one of being papistic!"  ( Essays for the Church , 1:194)

Today we'll look at a  private YouTube video discussing the potential restructuring of the Council/Elders and committees at St John's in Lewiston, MN. Apparently, a similar model has been employed at Trinity in Waukesha, WI and Good Shepard in Holmen, WI. Rev. Jon Hein was involved in consulting for this change. When the upper echelons of Synod are involved, it's best to pay attention, as it is likely coming to a church near you. The cat is let out of the bag six minutes in:  "while recognizing the doctrinal principles of the roles of men and women in the Church, be able to encourage, or at least allow, much more interaction and understanding from our women in our decisions and the ministry we are doing here. We are recognizing the challenges we have in front of us [implied: lack of men to fill roles] and really want to emphasize the partnership that Christ emphasizes in working with men and women." I'm curious where they find the proof text of Christ emphasi...

 

(stock image from wels.net) Shared from a friend on Facebook... It looks like Good Shepard Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has closed their Early Childhood Education (ECE) center  (aka Early Childhood Ministries (ECMs)) due to "rising costs and worker shortages" even after receiving $360,000 in COVID money . Having worked for a small business during and post-'ronatide, I can empathize. I have a heart for the folks out of a job. The WELS is very high on ECM's. Let's consider a frequently asked question article on ECM's Q: It seems there is a growing trend toward early childhood programs in general. What are the contributing factors to this? Holman: “One factor is the changing dynamics of society. In a typical home today, it’s more common that both parents would be seeking employment outside the home, which often leads to the need for childcare.” So the WELS sees the Gospel as conforming the mores of society,  “Another factor is the research that ...

While the meme contrasts the style of Evangelical prayer with the style of a Roman Catholic prayer, I think the same comparison can be drawn with extemporaneous prayer and liturgical prayer - prayers written hundreds or thousands of years ago and prayed throughout church history to this very day, connecting the modern Christian with his predecessors in the faith. We have these prayers embedded in the Liturgy and found in various prayer books, for example Starck's Prayer Book . While there is room for prayer from the heart, we know that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Just as we look to the solid words of Scripture and its explication in the Lutheran Confessions, we can look to the solid prayers of Scripture and the saints who went before us. Words that have been tried and tested and found to be true, then and now. "I didn't like it. Not at first. I do not think I am all that unusual in my opinion either. Starck's prayers...

"The people become weary of the Word and suppose that it will endure forever. When a good beer is available at a certain place, everybody runs there without delay, knowing that the supply will not last long. This commodity is not to be had every day; therefore, people get it while it is to be had. If it could be obtained for a long period of time, our appetite would become surfeited, and the beer would not be prized. But here we assume that the Word will remain with us always, although, in fact, it stays and endures but a short time before it is gone. If you do not accept it gratefully and reverently, you will soon be without it. And once the Word is gone, the time will come when you would fain be pious and be saved; you will want to obtain God’s grace, forgiveness of sin, and heaven. But all will prove futile. You will not find grace, forgiveness of sin, life, and righteousness. All will be under condemnation, even your best works." Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 23: Se...

The Rev. Rolf Preus had an excellent article entitled " Wisconsin and Missouri: Overcoming Our Differences " in the Spring 2023 edition of Christian Culture Magazine . A brief excerpt: "The WELS is right. God’s Word cannot be bound. The ministry of the Word is given to all Christians, male and female, young and old. The gospel and sacraments are efficacious because of their inherent power, not because of who administers them. The ministry doesn’t empower the means of grace; the means of grace empower the ministry. Wisconsin is right when she says that Christ gave the office to the whole Church and to every individual member of the Church. Wisconsin is right when she says that the efficacy of the Word is not dependent on who preaches it, but on the Word itself. Wisconsin is right, and Missouri should say so. Missouri is right. Missouri is right when she says that Jesus personally instituted the pastoral office. It was Jesus who established this office when he put the firs...

    "Any theology that begins with its first principle that 'God doesn't care'? You are off on the wrong foot, because the God who cared to the minute detail - otherwise you would die, in the Old Testament - is the same God with the same principles and the same expectations for worship." -Rev. Dagan Siepert, Liturgical Mystagogy and Ritual Space . 

The Northwestern Lutheran Vol. 82 No. 7, pg 32 (wisluthsem.org) We've discussed the fruit of the vine previously ... WELS seminary professors seem to have a penchant for playing fast-and-loose with the verbiage whereas our Lutheran confessors and the sainted Adolph Hoenecke affirm with all certainty the Biblical truth that it's grape wine, my dudes. If you can't read the graphic, the question is "Our congregations permit people who have a problem with alcohol abuse to receive grape juice rather than wine at the Lord's Supper. One member objects because the Lutheran Confessions mention only wine in references to the Lord's Supper. What is the right thing to do?" Brug's response, read-and-react format: Because grape wine was used at the Passover, the church has used wine for the Lord's Supper. Scripture, however, does not specify "wine" but "fruit of the vine" as the elements used. It has, therefore, been the Lutheran practice tha...

 A quote from Rev. Dr. Aaron Moldenhauer in his article Peace Under the Cross: Peace in the Theology of Martin Luther  from the Reformation 2023 issue of Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology (Vol XXII, No. 4) "Luther's theology of grace and his new perspective on life as seen through the cross have long been condemned for quietism. If life in this world is necessarily full of trouble, the argument goes, then the Christian will do nothing to attempt to correct evil or injustice. Accordingly, the fear is that Luther leaves people resigned to suffer any type of injustice that disturbs the peace without working to end the injustice. Such a critique should be taken seriously."  Rev Moldenhauer goes on to show that in Luther's practice he advocated for temporal peace in both praise and critique of civil authority.    

Contemporary worship – WEL FAQ The following quotes are the content of the above linked WELS FAQ entitled "What is the WELS view on contemporary worship styles?" followed by my commentary. We recognize that God has not prescribed how we are to worship him. (sic) This is an interesting claim. It is true in the sense that God was very particular in the prescribing the worship of the Old Testament. Meticulous, even! But we don't have a New Testament book that mirrors say Leviticus. But  we are not Marcionites , so we can draw insights from Old Testament worship to guide our own. And the New Testament describes what worship consists of: Continuing steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in prayers (Acts 2) The choice of the word "prescribed" is an interesting one since the prescriptive/descriptive dichotomy is often used against the Book of Concord: namely, that Article XXIV of the Augsburg confession, where we sta...

(skip ahead to 31m48s) Rev. Braaten asks: "So does the fact that in recent year I mean recent years probably the last 10 20 years, the Resurgence of kind of Luther's theology or Theologian of the Cross, does this play into this at all in terms of kind of thinking like the Theology of the Cross is a Theology of losing, and a Theology of failure? Does that play into this at all in in terms of discussing or focusing solely on the failure of Christian and not the new obedience?" Rev. Surburg replies: " I think that's a good observation because obviously to speak about what Christians are going to do sounds like a Theology of Glory even though it's an entirely biblical one. I think there probably is, it has contributed to a hesitancy to speak what Christians actually do you know this is ultimately a matter of are you going to speak the way scripture speaks, [like] Paul in in Romans and Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians and first Thessalonians, very frequentl...

The October  WELS Connection  featured one of the "100 in 10" new mission plants in  Kronenwetter, Wisconsin . Let it be known that this blog has no opposition to new mission plants in the United States! I know it can be sexy and exotic to talk about mission plants overseas with new people and languages but as Dr. Koontz has pointed out many times, our own countrymen need Christ as desperately, and they are properly our neighbors. I commend the synod for focusing on our native lands even if the messaging is a little disingenuous (our regular cadence of mission plants is roughly 5 per year, and we have plans to shut down and consolidate older congregations - the net result will not be 100 more churches in the synod in 10 years, just 100 'different' churches. More on that in a future post digging into the statistical reports of the synod). The issue I take with what I saw in the WELS Connection is the approach to developing their congregational plan. The group in Kronen...

Talk About Preaching - Return to Wittenberg 2023 - YouTube "Where has Lutheranism lost its soul? We have theories about ideas that don't serve our people in salvation today. Or we believe in a God who's far away and we say 'Theology of the Cross' to keep Him safe. It's okay. We just suffer. It's just what we are. It's the Theology of the Cross.  Or you can repent! Sometimes ... I mean to be sure, Job his lesson is "I don't know" and God's lesson is "well, actually I was fixing it for you." So again even there, right, it's always good that you've heard me say it yet optimism election the doctrine of election is the doctrine of "it's going to be better" which means optimism is the Christian position! And if you find yourself hearing news and speaking words that are sarcastic or sardonic or cynical guess what, you just abandoned your hope because you trusted in the world and its story. The Bible gives you a...

 

Critical Theories - Sunday, August 13, 2023. - YouTube An excellent presentation by Rev. Andy Mueller at Beautiful Savior, Las Vegas (WELS). You should really watch the whole thing, but I'll pick off some of the high points. Rev. Mueller starts by correctly identifying Critical Theory as being spiritual and not simply political.  "Critical Theory is an ideology: that is, it is a belief system. It is a false religion which views everyone and everything through the lens of oppressor and oppressed. It is a false theology hidden in plain sight, conspicuous within domestic, academic, civic, economic, biologic and anatomic (in other words, health care) and sadly even sacred arenas." In further defending his view, Rev. Mueller articulates clearly that overlapping with politics does not make something purely political (and thus - to some Lutherans - do be dismissed as solely dealing with the left-hand kingdom). He also points out how several of their luminaries, including Antonio...

  MN District Lutheran Teachers' Conference Agenda More Social and Emotional Learning in the WELS: Three speakers at the MN District Lutheran Teachers' Conference have SEL in their bio's and agendas. First up is keynote speaker Kayte Gut. Ms. Gut's work was previously referenced  regarding implementing SEL into WELS Early Childhood Ministries (ECMs). Her bio shares that "In 2020, she received her master's degree from MLC in educational administration with a focus on early childhood programs. She wrote her thesis on social and emotional education in WELS early childhood programs, highlighting the importance and impact social and emotional education has on the children in our WELS ECMs." Next we have Paul Bernabei, co-owner of  Top 20 Training . Their tagline? "A Social and Emotional Learning Company"  Finally we have Dr. Rhoda Wolle who is advertising her Christ-centered SEL curriculum , "Thrive Time." Rhoda is a product of the WELS and ...

"Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians. They received the word very eagerly and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these things were so." -Acts 17:11

Rev. Burnell Eckardt had a fantastic article entitled " The Leaven of 1517 " in the Reformation 2023 print edition of Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy (Vol. 31, No 3). They found it fit not to keep it behind the print paywall and the link above is the article as it stands in the print edition. I highly recommend reading the article to understand the issues found in the 1517 organization. I wanted to note that the WELS has its own connections to 1517.  First, the WELS Lutheran Leadership Conference has 1517 as a Bronze sponsor for its most recent conference.: Second, the podcast " Let The Bird Fly " is hosted by 1517 Podcasts, and the 1517 logo is incorporated into their webpage logo: Their podcast description includes (I imagine, not under their control) advertising for 1517, suggesting you check out the other 1517 podcasts Which would include (ELCA and noted antinomian) Steven Paulson's "Outlaw God" .... And this doesn't include the m...

First, Rev. Ramirez: "The theology of the cross is not a theology of loserdom!" Next, Rev. Hess:"...sometimes we use the theology of the cross as a cover for the fact that we buried our talent in the dirt..." Both episodes are well worth your time, and both Rev. Ramirez and Rev. Hess are worth a follow on the social network formerly known as Twitter.

Scriptural Considerations for Just War Doctrine - Rev. Travis Berg - YouTube "America's authority ends at the boundaries of its nation..." Fascinating point by the gentleman in the blue shirt: "Not to get in the way of God and the justice He might be executing on a nation that deserves the tyrannical rule. When we go in there and try to rectify everything, we are meddling in God's own justice. But not only are we meddling in His justice against a nation, we also end up meddling in God's providential mercy towards certain minorities within a nation, and we see that when we see the injustice of Saddam Hussein, for instance, when we punish him, what happens to those who, although the live in a nation being punished by God, they had a niche in the status quo. But when we went in there and destroyed him, then those Christians began to be persecuted. As we violated God's justice against that nation, we also undermined God's special protection of His own....

Honored Sir, This morning I received your worthy letter, written on the 19th of the month. In your letter you ask for my opinion on whether it is advisable to introduce the singing of Getty songs in a Lutheran Divine Service. May what follows serve as a helpful reply to your questions: No, this is not advisable, rather very incorrect and pernicious. 1. Our church is so rich in hymns that you could justifiably state that if one were to introduce Getty songs in a Lutheran Divine Service this would be like carrying coals to Newcastle. The singing of such songs would make the rich Lutheran Church into a beggar which is forced to beg from a miserable sect. Two hundred years ago a Lutheran preacher might well have been forgiven this. For at that time the Lutheran Church in our country was as poor as a beggar when it comes to song books for Lutheran children. A preacher scarcely knew where he might obtain such little hymn books. Now, however, since our church itself has everything it needs, i...

Rev. Michael Holmen translated John Schaller's article " The Fight for the Christian School as a Fight for the Christian Worldview " which was originally published in the Theologische Quartalschrift,  Vol. 7, 1910, pg. 204-221. This is a fantastic article that provides a glimpse into the mind of theologians of the prior century and shows the zeal we seem to be lacking today for Christ and His Church.  Schaller starts by defining the only two worldviews that exist: the Christian worldview and it's inverse the anthropocentric worldview. As Christ said in Matthew 12:30 "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad," so Schaller contrasts the two worldviews in the context of education: It is therefore important in our circles to be crystal clear: the public school, as it is among us, is not grounded in the godly worldview, does not advocate for it, and therefore can only produce its opposite.  Schaller goes on to explai...