Der Lutheraner Returns – In English!

Pastor Joel Basely is Associate Pastor at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Dearborn, Michigan. In his “spare time” he translates the works of German theologians such as Luther and Walther into English, and has set up his own publishing company called Mark V Publications.

Recently, Pastor Basely has begun sending out free biweekly copies of C.F.W. Walther’s first publication Der Lutheraner, whose initial publication was on September 1, 1844. These copies are translated into English, and formatted to look identical to their original German counterpart. Accompanying each emailed pdf edition of Der Lutheraner is a cover letter which provides a very insightful commentary on that particular edition, as well as hyperlinked references for topics covered in the paper. I highly recommend subscribing. To subscribe, send your name and email address to Pastor Basely here. Pastor Basely will send you the back issues as well as the current issue so you’ll be up to date. You can also check out the corresponding facebook page.

The book Ebenezer, published in 1922, had this to say about Der Lutheraner:

Modest as was the appearance of the newcomer in the field of Lutheran journalism, there nevertheless was something about Der Lutheraner that differentiated if from other Lutheran church-papers of that day; something that at once attracted attention and called forth comment, favorable or otherwise. But what must have struck the reader as the most distinctive feature was the authoritative and decided tone in which it spoke on matters Lutheran, the firm stand it took in defense of pure Lutheranism, and the intrepid courage with which it proposed to attach error wherever found, whether with the sects or among the pseudo-Lutherans.

To give you a sense of the writing contained in Der Lutheraner, here’s a portion of the third issue, in which Walther discusses the reason for using the name Lutheran, rather than just Christian, or Catholic, or Reformed, Evangelical, Protestant, or Methodist – as timely today as it was then:

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Coming to Bloomington?

The Congress on the Lutheran Confessions is being held in Bloomington, Minnesota April 21-23. It is sponsored by The Luther Academy and The Association of Confessional Lutherans. I’ll be heading up to attend, so track me down if you’re going to be there.

The speakers include Rev. Dr. Holger Sonntag, Rev. Glenn Huebel, Rev. Rolf Preus, Rev. Fredrik Sidenvall, Dr. Gene Edward Veith, Rev. Matt Harrison, Rev. Dr. David Scaer, Rev. Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, and Rev. Dr. K. Detlev Schulz. This year’s topic is “Confessing the Faith in Light of the Lutheran Confessions." I hope I’ll see you there.

The Great Liturgy of the Church Revives

Professor John Pless from his paper "Hermann Sasse and the Liturgical Movement," who in turn is quoting Hermann Sasse:

Wherever the pure Gospel comes, there the great liturgy of the true church revives. And wherever men seek genuine liturgy they cannot avoid facing the question, "What is the Gospel?"

LCMS President and VP Nomination Results Released

You've heard the phrase "the handwriting is on the wall".... I've been told no Synod President has ever won without receiving a majority of the nominations.


As reported today by The Reporter Online:

Official Notice
Nominations for President and Vice-Presidents

The nominations process for the offices of President, First Vice-President, and other vice-presidents of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod has been completed.

Of those receiving the highest number of nominating votes for the office of President, the following have given their consent to serve if elected:

Matthew Harrison -- 1,332

Gerald Kieschnick -- 755

Herbert Mueller Jr. -- 503

Carl Fickenscher II -- 5

Daniel Gard -- 3

Of those receiving the highest number of nominating votes for the office of First Vice-President, the following have given their consent to serve if elected:

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A Sacramental Theology

Quoting from Pastor David H. Petersen’s article “A Sacramental Church: A Call for Reformation” in the Trinity 2009 issue of Gottesdienst:

Dr. Norman Nagel is reported to have once quipped that the LCMS is not truly a liturgical church, but simply a church with a liturgy. We might say the same thing of the Sacraments. We aren’t so much a sacramental church as we are a church with various means of grace, with Sacraments. Our theology isn’t sacramental. It is scholastic, a collections [sic] of lists and categories and ways that God might work or interact with us.

This sort of confusion abuses the gifts of God by trying to hold them equal. In communist style we equalize by lowering everything to the lowest common denominator and running after bare minimums. Christians who come to the Mass “for the sermon” miss the point of the sermon, which should, ideally, lead to the Sacrament. This is not to say that one gift is better or more necessary than another. Each gift has its place and time. Each stands in relation to the other. None is a substitute for another or stands alone. They all serve together to bestow the fullness of grace. For all the gifts of God flow from Christ, and Christ, our Lord, is one. To divide the Sacraments is tantamount to dividing Christ.

The Lord creates faith and makes for Himself a people by Holy Baptism. He absolves the baptized in the Holy Absolution and preaching. He then gives Himself to them and joins them to Himself in the Sacrament of the Altar. We misunderstand and misappropriate these things when we try to understand them separately or as avenues of grace rather than as grace itself. When they are seen together, as our life in Christ, the Holy Communion is obviously the center of our faith. This is not because it is greater than the other gifts God bestows, but because it is where the Lord Incarnate comes to us and enters our flesh in His flesh.

The ceremonies of the Mass indicate something of high points and distinctions. The Lord comes to us in the reading of the Bible, preaching, and in the Absolution. So also does He come to us in His crucified and risen flesh in the Holy Communion. We stand for the reading of the Holy Gospel because the Gospels contain the very words and actions of our Incarnate Lord. This is not a confession against the rest of the Bible. Instead it is a confession of the significance and centrality of the Incarnation. To place the Lord’s Supper in the highest position ceremonially and theologically is like standing for the reading of the Gospel. It is not a confession against the other gifts. It does not lower them or dismiss them. It simply recognizes and confesses the centrality of the Incarnation. This is how God has loved and saved us in the Son. This is the fulfillment of all prophecy, the culmination of history and creation. Thus does the Holy Communion have more elaborate ceremonies than preaching or the reading of the Scriptures. So also it should have a more central place in our theology and piety.

photo credit: Loci Lenar

This is Embarrassing

It’s really embarrassing when it’s left to a non-Lutheran to point out the less-than-Lutheran practices of a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod congregation, but that’s what’s happened in this case.

I took a trip to Ship of Fools, a non-denominational website that includes a plethora of offerings in the way of things churchly. The Ship’s editor, Simon Jenkins, states that “our aim is to help Christians be self-critical and honest about the failings of Christianity, as we believe honesty can only strengthen faith." On board the ship are an online community, religious headlines, features and projects ranging from the satirical to the theological, regular columnist articles, and other miscellany including a “gadgets for god” section with items worthy of inclusion in The Museum of Idolatry.

Ship of Fools also has a feature called the “Mystery Worshipper,” described thusly:

Since ancient times (ok, 1998), Ship of Fools has been sending Mystery Worshippers to churches worldwide. Travelling incognito, they ask those questions which go to the heart of church life: How long was the sermon? How hard the pew? How cold was the coffee? How warm the welcome?

They seem to have a large stable of Mystery Worshippers, all of whom answer the same set of questions about the church they’ve visited. I read through quite a few of the reviews, mostly reviews of Lutheran churches. I didn’t detect any sort of agenda among the reviewers, and they generally offered matter-of-fact responses that were both insightful and sometimes humorous. First time visitors often offer observations and annoyances that the regular crowd no longer notices.

One of the Lutheran churches visited was an LCMS church in Troy, Michigan. This is a big church with “a splashy 1000 seat (plus) venue,” “served by five ministers (all male) and a support staff of nearly 40 employees.”

To set the stage, here are a few of non-Lutheran Mystery Worshipper Angel Unaware’s comments on his or her visit to the “family life center”:

How full was the building?
160 souls in the 1000 (plus) seat worship center.

Did anyone welcome you personally?
No one greeted me before or after the service. Mercifully, the service started almost as soon as I was seated.

Was your pew comfortable?
Very comfy and plush cineplex-style upholstered theater seats. They must have busted their budget for these beauties.

How would you describe the pre-service atmosphere?
Quiet. Empty. Three cameramen were practicing swiveling their cameras about. It was so abandoned that I consulted my bulletin twice to make sure I was at the correct place at the correct time for worship. Soon the praise band warmed up, and then vocalists began to sing the prelude – or rehearse for the service, I wasn't sure which.

What books did the congregation use during the service?
Bible verses were projected up on a screen, as were all the songs, karaoke-style, over photos of seagulls, sunsets, ocean waves and bedewed roses. Even with such appealing graphics, though, no one around me participated in the singing.

What musical instruments were played?
Piano, digital keyboard, guitars, and two percussions sets (one encased in a plexiglas “fishbowl”). A large, amplified choir, all dressed in street clothes, stood behind the musicians.

Angel Unaware also reports that the pastor wore khakis and a silky, open-necked camp shirt. At this point I’m beginning to wonder if this is one of the mega-churches that the LCMS uses to discover its “best practices” for church growth. This is also where the story takes a really sordid swing to the non-Lutheran side of the tracks. Our reviewer continues:

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A Satisfactory Explanation for Begotten

I’ve never read a really satisfactory explanation for the word “begotten,” as in the Nicene Creed’s “begotten, not made…,” until recently. Pastor Wil Weedon cited J.N.D. Kelly’s book Early Christian Creeds on Issues, Etc. a while back, which I just happened to have on my shelf, and from which this discussion is derived.

In 325 A.D. there was a Church council held at Antioch, not long before the Nicene Creed was written. The purpose of the Council was to fill the vacant see of Antioch, but while they were there they also condemned the Arian heresy by writing this statement, now informally called the Antiochan Council’s creed. Kelly mentions that “possibly they were aware of Constantine’s determination himself to settle a controversy which was becoming a festering sore in the Church’s body [the Pelagian controversy], and wanted to anticipate by a fait accompli any chance there might be of the imperial decision going the wrong way."

Around the turn of the 20th century E. Schwartz discovered the manuscript containing the creedal document, which was written in Syriac. He translated it back into the original Greek, and the following is a translation of the Greek retroversion into English. The applicable portion that contains the mention of begotten reads:

…And in one Lord Jesus Christ, only begotten Son, begotten not from that which is not but from the Father, not as made but as properly an offspring, but begotten in an ineffable, indescribable manner, because only the Father Who begot and the Son Who was begotten know (for ‘no one knows the Father but the Son, nor the Son but the Father’), …in a way which passes all understanding or conception or reasoning we confess Him to have been begotten of the unbegotten Father, the divine Logos, true light, righteousness, Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour of all.

So there you have it. A completely understandable explanation for begotten that clears the whole thing up. Scott’s paraphrase: “Only God knows how the Son was begotten, so we need not trouble ourselves with understanding it, because we can’t understand it.” What a relief to have that figured out! Or that's the simplified version anyway. It's of course important to have some inkling of what begotten, monogenes in the Greek, means, but we'll never be able to totally grasp the concept this side of heaven. Which makes the Antiochan creed's explanation rather refreshing.

When I bought my copy of Early Christian Creeds quite a few years ago the book was out of print, and I paid a lot of money for it. Mine is a discard from the Houston Public Library. Apparently the good people of Houston weren’t all that interested in doctrinal details. Fortunately the book is now back in print, and you can buy the paperback version for a mere $42.70 at Amazon. Pretty pricey for a paperback, although it’s 656 pages long.

For your edification I’ve typed out the entire Antiochan creed, found on pages 209-210 of Early Christian Creeds:

Click HERE to continue reading >>

He Is Risen!

Hebrews 7:23-8:13

   ²³ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, ²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. ²⁵Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
   ²⁶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. ³ For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. ⁴ Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. ⁵ They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." ⁶ But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

⁸ For he finds fault with them when he says:

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
       when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
       and with the house of Judah,
⁹ not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
       on the day when I took them by the hand
       to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
       and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
       after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
       and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
       and they shall be my people.
¹¹ And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
       and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,'
for they shall all know me,
       from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
       and I will remember their sins no more."

¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Be Not Far from Me, for Trouble Is Near

Psalm 22

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn.
A Psalm of David.

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
       Why are you so far from saving me,
       from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
       and by night, but I find no rest.
³ Yet you are holy,
       enthroned on the praises of Israel.
⁴ In you our fathers trusted;
       they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried and were rescued;
       in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
       scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
       they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
⁸ "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
       let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"
⁹ Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
       you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
¹⁰ On you was I cast from my birth,
       and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
¹¹ Be not far from me,
       for trouble is near,
       and there is none to help.
¹² Many bulls encompass me;
       strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³ they open wide their mouths at me,
       like a ravening and roaring lion.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
       and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;

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A Lamb Without Blemish

Exodus 12

    ¹ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶ and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
    ⁷ "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. ¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

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