Preachrblog

Since I have stirred up some interest by my comments about the interfaith neighborhood prayer meetings here in Racine, I thought I would share this article by Rev. Daniel Preus. It's a couple years old so I had to dig up and dust if off a little. But it's still worth a read. It expresses well the concerns of Confessional Lutheranism with the dangers of syncretism and unionism. Here are some excerpts from it: As Christians, we gladly submit to both these truths: 1. We are to proclaim the Gospel unashamedly to everyone who will listen and 2. We cannot worship together with those whose worship is directed to any god other than the Triune God who alone is Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier and who alone is God in the true sense of the word. There was a day when it was much easier to hold these two truths in the proper balance. To those who know the Scriptures well it should not be difficult today either. But the postmodern world in which we live has severely complicated life for us ...

Our neighborhood around the church here has been in quite an uproar lately after a shooting. Someone was trying to break into a car, and the owner of the car shot him in the back and killed him. Something like that. Anyway the paper has run with the story and the ELCA church down the street has hosted a “town meeting” type of thing with local residents and police (which I understand also degenerated into a screaming match – with some punches thrown). Well now comes the suggestion, this morning, that a neighborhood prayer group be formed to answer the violence in our neighborhood . Sounds like a nice enough idea, right? But read a little closer. Who can be against such a gathering? This pastor, for one. Me. What a lie the Ba’Hai religion is based on, that “we all worship the same God”. Nonsense. Anyone with but the shallowest understanding of what different religions teach knows this cannot be the case. For instance: Islam’s great motto, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his...

Is it a violation of our fellowship principles to guest-blog at the site of an aspiring preacher who "wishes he were Lutheran"? Read here , as the Preachrboy ascends the pulpit of the Cubicle Reverend to share some thoughts on what makes a church "healthy".

I also wear the hat of Webmaster for our Congregation's site , and have recently added a page of " Articles and Resources ". It includes various documents either produced by or used by our congregation, and may be of use to you in yours!

In another example of a pastor over-stepping (mis-stepping) his authority, a Washington State minister is advocating an unusual form of protest against software giant Microsoft. The issue seems to be Microsoft's support for a gay-rights bill in the state. "Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond... wants supporters to buy one or two shares over the next few months, then sell them May 1." Even if it would work, which the article says it won't, this pastor is out of line. Pastors - preach God's Word, but stay out of the Left Hand Kingdom!!!!

NBC has cancelled the controversial series, "Book of Daniel". Now we'll just have to be happy with "Desperate Housewives". Ho-hum.

Pastor Borghardt (of Bloghardt's Reflector ) has posted "8 Myths About Confirmation". I will paste them here, but please visit his site for comments: Eight Myths about Confirmation Here are eight false thoughts or statements that I've heard in my short time as a pastor. There are tons more. These are the ones 1. "I have a right to be confirmed." - Confirmation is a church rite, not a right given to all kids when they reach a certain age. Being taught everything our Lord mandated is not easy, it's very difficult. It takes study. It takes commitment. It even takes memorization. They are given to hear the Gospel. 2. "Confirmands today can't memorize." - Yeah, they do. They can. They just don't want to. They memorize passwords, the lyrics to their favorite songs, facts for school, and even phone numbers. The question is not, "Can youth memorize?" but, "Will they?" 3. "The material is boring" - My youth never...

Epiphany 3, “Life Sunday” – January 22nd, 2006 Jonah 3:1-5, 10 “A God of Life” I. Introduction – There are many aspects of the true story of Jonah that are worth thinking about. Most of us know the Sunday School basics – that God called Jonah to preach, Jonah ran away, and ended up as “fish food”. God then had the fish spit Jonah out on dry land – safe and sound (if a little smelly) – and renewed his instructions for Jonah to go and preach. That’s where our Old Testament reading picks up today. What many forget, or never learn about the book of Jonah is the reason WHY Jonah was so reluctant. God was calling Jonah to preach in Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian empire. And Jonah knew full well these were not nice people. I have often called them the “Old Testament Nazis”. The Assyrians were notorious for wartime atrocities, including rape, pillaging, torture, and even cutting open the bellies of pregnant women. Jonah knew that if he was sent to Nineveh, and preached God’s word, a...

Twice this week I have received emails from friends or family that were forwarded from another source, and made a claim that seemed somewhat suspicious to me. In one case, the person said, "I don't know if this is even true, but I thought I would pass it along anyway." I have found a most useful website: TruthOrFiction.com (and added it to my links on the left). It's a neat little site that works well for all sorts of hoax-busting, especially of the forwarded email variety. Check it out.

One of the insights I gained from our Blogger Conference here in Ft. Wayne was the importance of one's blogroll. I hadn't considered the impact of these on search engines. Before, I only listed my very favorite blogs on the sidebar (for simplicity). But thanks to Pastor Snyder of "Ask the Pastor" , I understand better the benefits of linking to others. So in that spirit, I have updated my sidebar to include not ONLY my favorite blogs, but the entire listing of Confessional Lutheran blogs found on Pastor Snyder's site.

I have arrived in Ft. Wayne for the Symposium. My first one this year, I am only staying fot the first part (the exegetical symposium). Seems like it will be a good time. Last night was the very first "Confessional Lutheran Bloggers Conference", in which we heard from speakers: Pr. Walt Snyder, Pr. Eric Stefanski, Dr. Gene Veith, and Technophile Jason Evans. It was some good discussion, but there could have been more attendees! Look for the online recording of the event to come out soon.

Epiphany 2 – January 15th, 2006 John 1:43-51 “Found, Known, Believed” I. Introduction – This week and next, our Gospel readings find Jesus very busy calling disciples to follow him. Next week, we have the fishermen- Peter and Andrew, James and John. This week, Phillip and Nathanael. I think these accounts are not only familiar to most of us, but they are near to our hearts. We can relate to them, because Jesus calls us to follow him too. And our following is often very similar. As we see the disciples following, as we think on our own following, and as we see the key words in this text, we see that following involves some finding, some knowing, and of course, believing. But maybe not the way we think… II. Found In the first couple of verses, there’s a lot of “finding” going on. First Jesus finds Philip. Then Philip finds Nathanael. Then Philip tells him they have found, essentially, the Christ! But as enthusiastic as Philip was, as eager to go and tell and share his great ne...

Here is an MP3 of myself and Richard, one of our Elders performing the hymn "Treasured by the Virgin Mary" that I wrote. The lyrics can be found here . That's me singing the higher part (melody). The instrumentation for the piece was written by his son, Jonathan. Accompanying us were Jonathan on violin, Samuel on Cello (his sons), and his wife Susan on keyboard.

This AP story ran on the front page of our local paper: Debatable -- Should protests at funerals be banned? (excerpt): MILWAUKEE - Some of the people who attended Sgt. Andrew P. Wallace's visitation weren't there to remember the fallen soldier. Instead, the members of a Kansas-based church said his death was God's revenge on a nation that accepts homosexuality, and they carried signs that read "Thank God for dead soldiers." I sent the follow comments to the Opinion Page Editor: I write regarding the front-page story on Monday, January 9th about the Westboro Baptist Church protesting at the funerals of soldiers. Whether or not such protests should be outlawed by the government, or how they should be restricted may be a debatable question. But what is not debatable is that common decency condemns such inappropriate protests. Christians are taught to speak the truth, but to do it in love (Ephesians 4). Rev. Phelps and his associates are notorious for their unloving, ...

The Baptism of Our Lord – January 8th, 2006 Mark 1:4-11 “The Voice from Heaven” I. Introduction – A few words about Epiphany… It’s one of those words we don’t use around the water cooler. Epiphany means “appearance” or “manifestation” or “revealing”. It is the post-Christmas season in which the church dwells on just who it is that has appeared among us. Throughout the Epiphany season, we will be progressively unveiling more and more about this Jesus. Today as we read of Jesus’ Baptism, we hear the voice from heaven, which says, “This is my son” . At the end of the Epiphany season, we find ourselves on the Mount of Transfiguration, and again the voice declares, “This is my son.” What a wonderful way to summarize the meaning of Epiphany. Book-ended by the voice of God. The actual day of the Epiphany of our Lord, celebrated on January 6th, is also known as the Gentile Christmas, and we recall the star that brought the wise men to worship the Christ-child. We modern worshippers of the Chri...

Like the Jeopardy category... Here's a few of the interesting links I have run across in the past few weeks: Do Islam's Ideas Incite Violence? Quite an interesting collection of quotes from the Koran, as well as some rather humorous ones from the Ayatollah Komehni. Ken Collins' Web Site . A Disciples of Christ minister who has been a presence on the web for quite some time. He has an interesting collection of articles which are meant to appeal to a wide-range of Christians. The article that I first stumbled on was this one , about why clergy should wear clerical collars. Some good stuff here! Some nice image resources: The Ecole Initiative Google Images Search (Yahoo has one too) - be sure to set the filter on these! Wikipedia's entry on the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod . For those who don't know, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Which has its pros and cons.... They also feature some interesting articles from time to time, like th...

This is a response to some of the comments in my ongoing discussion with Bob Waters regarding the Left Hand (LH) and Right Hand (RH) kingdoms… In my way of thinking, pastors do hold some LH authority, but it is not what I would call a "proper" authority, rather, an "alien" one. Another way of looking at it, might be, that pastors are accorded RH authority by virtue of their divine call, while any LH authority is that which is voluntarily accorded by the congregation. For example: When it comes to the teaching/preaching of the Gospel (RH kingdom), the "buck stops here" so to speak. I suppose when it comes to second and third use of the law, the same applies. The second use of the law, showing our sin, should always be with an eye toward the Gospel. Likewise there can BE no third use without the Gospel. But would our discussion so far indicate that when it comes to the first use of the law as curb, the pastor’s authority is more coram deo than coram ho...

Once again, I draw your attention to the blog of Bob Waters, Watersblogged!, where he and I have been discussing principles for the government's punishment of wrongdoers. Pastor Steigemeyer, at Burr in the Burgh , has a related story about a child rapist who received a ludicrously light sentence. I won't say too much more about these issues here, but encourage you to take a look, especially at Bob's very thoughtful comments...

According to this report , 2 students were expelled from a WELS/ELS Lutheran High School in California on the suspicion they were lesbians. The school is now being sued for damages of over $25,000. Christianpost.com also reports on the story .

Ran across THIS interesting blog entry .... Wow. Edit: Ran across this later entry too ... she takes it even further!

Read it here... Churches Blessing Ipods Purpose Driven Field Billy Graham License Plates and more...

Check out this post and the ensuing discussion over at Watersblogged!

Lutheran Carnival XIV is up at "Intolerant Elle"

Our local paper recently ran this story, "To Snip, or Not to Snip?" The article itself focuses mainly on the health aspects of the procedure, and declining rates of circumcision, especially among Hispanics. I thought about this today as we celebrated the Circumcision of Our Lord (according to the official CPH rubrics) So what about it, Lutherans? Any thoughts on the practice? I have two girls and haven't had to decide... but I would lean toward it if I had a boy. Good enough for Jesus, Abraham, and so many others... why not good enough for our children? Not as a law. But if disease isn't an issue, as the article suggests, what would be the pros and cons?