Life, times, and musings of a seminarian & family
Vicar Christopher Gillespie
Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost
Saginaw, Michigan
Trinity 8 - Final Sermon of Vicarage (July 13, 2008)
Text: Matthew 7:15-23
Tags: wolves sheep shepherd
Women to give birth at 100 within three decades - Telegraph
Women aged 100 will be able to give birth within three decades as infertility is eradicated, scientists have predicted.They foresee a world where every female of any age - from childhood upwards - could successfully conceive.
The best way to teach people the liturgy isn’t fancy bulletins, tab inserts, but…
steadfastlutherans.org » More on Screens
The best way to get people to sing is to surround them with all sorts of other people who are singing. Every decent choir director knows that. You surround the weak with the strong and they become strong. So in the divine service; if you consistently sing the same liturgical pieces, then, in time, everyone will be able to sing - the old, the young, the uninitiated and the partially initiated, the seeing, the blind, the shepherds and all the heavenly host.
I tested this thesis over the last month or so of vicarage. I didn’t bother with my hymnal. I know Divine Service 3, DS2, and Matins by heart. Who needs the hymnal? I wonder if anyone noticed I was just holding my hands reverently and singing the song of the church? No one said anything.
Tags: liturgy
thinking-out-loud: Is Friendship an Office or Station in Life?
Coming off a year where both Anne and I were more limited in our friendships, I appreciate Rev. Stuckwisch’s musings on the nature of friendships, what they are, where they come, are they a calling, and the like. I urge you to read his post over at “thinking out loud” for a wonderful exposition.
Tags: friendship, office, station, vocation
Vicar Christopher Gillespie
Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost
Saginaw, Michigan
Trinity 7 (July 6, 2008)
Text: Mark 8:1-9; Romans 6:19-23
MP3 Audio
Dear Christian brothers and sisters,
Tags: daily bread, food, Holy Communion
Now, as promised, my generous uncle has sent an excerpt from the autobiography I mentioned in the last post. This is really scary stuff, folks. Read it closely, listening for similarities to the current scene.
From the autobiography of my GGG Grandfather, Rev. Johann Heinrich Werfelmann (1827-1905):
A number of posts popped onto the web today, recalling their grandfather’s church. We’ve been told that our church is not our grandfather’s church. Is this a call to change for the better or a reflection of negative change and a restoration of the old? We are told that times have changed so we must change for the Gospel to be preached effectively. But lets back up and see whether our our grandfathers church was different than our own.
I’d provide you with an excerpt from the pastor of my past. Unfortunately his autobiography is packed up. Maybe I can convince my uncle to send me an electronic copy? I’m not sure if he’s a great great uncle or grandfather. In any case, the content is vivid in my mind. He laments the kind of catechesis he received. His “Lutheran” pastor was a higher-critic. He denied the inerrancy of the scriptures. He promoted Christian living over the one ministry of Word and Sacrament. He did not properly distinguish between Law and Gospel. And all this from a “lutheran” in America shortly before the creation of the Missouri Synod. From his writings, the church of his day is similar to ours and the the ancient church. The church hasn’t changed but struggles with the same age-old heresies of pietism, gnosticism, and rationalism.
I spent a better part of the morning with Pirate Christian Radio playing on my computer while I worked away at various tidying tasks from vicarage. In addition to Issues Etc., which is back by the way on the air, there are a number of good shows in the mix including God Whisperers, White Horse Inn Classics, and Fighting for the Faith. With a number more programs coming in the future, this is shaping up to be a significantly better offering that the typical “Positive and Encouraging” Christian radio.
S.M. Hutchens has a terrific post on teaching, modernism, and music eduction. He sees an irony that all of the modern eduction ideals haven’t been applied to music education. With music ed there is still right and wrong, good and bad, proper and improper. The teacher is still the authority and the path still fixed.
In a nice twist, he parallels this “traditional” style of teaching to the work of the midwife. Having had five children at home and the last two with midwives, the example resonates with me. The midwife is the “traditional” teacher of birth. She knows the right path but does not foist her mind upon the mother. She allows the mother-to-be to cultivate and find the growth of mind and soul needed to deliver a child. She is a mentor but not an lehrer.
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