Freddy Finkelstein's Blog: Dedicated to True Christianity and Confessional Unity in the Visible Church; to Conservative Morality, Free-Market Capitalism, and political Liberty in Society; and indebted to the collected wisdom of Western Civilization as it has, by the Hand of Providence, been empowered to derive, preserve and/or otherwise carry these ideas and teachings through the past two millennia, into the present, and, Lord willing, to project them into the future.
Foundational to the perspectives I maintain is my Christian Faith: though I am a wretched sinner, destitute of merit before a perfectly Righteous God, this same perfectly Loving God has given me the gift of Faith, by which I lay hold of and appropriate to myself the objective promises of His Word -- that through the perfect life, suffering and innocent death of His Son, Jesus Christ, I have been reconciled with God by His work, my sins are forgiven, and I bear the Name and perfect Righteousness of Jesus Christ before my Heavenly Father. I am Justifed, by God's Grace, alone, through the Faith He has given me, alone, as a result of the work of Jesus Christ, alone; and God's Word, alone, assures me of this. Thus, I am a Christian, of the Lutheran Confession.
I am also a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. Partly personality, mostly the result of study and life experience, I know a little about many things, a lot about a few things, and strive to be a conscientious student in all things. I am not a crowd follower, having been weaned off the opinions of others at a young age. Thus I hold what opinions I do because I am convinced they are correct, and therefore worth having.
Full Funding of Ministerial Education and Missions It was reported on Wednesday that the Floor Committee on Finance had developed a Budget Option C, retaining full funding of both Missions and all four Ministerial Schools, and would be presenting that to the Convention, Thursday. I quote from an observer:
I am more than happy that the floor committee on finance kept the full funding of the four ministerial education schools and the full funding of world and home missions, both with some minor exceptions in both. The delegate of the finance committee with whom I was in contact agreed well in advance of the convention that the complete ministerial education and mission budget had to be retained to the exclusion of all else. Now I just hope it passes on Thursday.
Indeed, on Thursday morning, after hours of debate, the resolution to accept Option C, which sought, instead of Options A and B, to target cuts in administration, travel, and in areas that could be most easily replaced once funding became available, passed. One commenter in the budget debate stated it well (and I paraphrase): "If we lose MLS, have no illusions, we will never get it back again. The cost is too great." A prep-school is not easily replaced. The message sent by the Convention was clear: Let's have no more talk of closing schools.
Synod-wide Theological Study Given evidence of declining theological acumen among the laity, and an apparent growth in disunity in doctrine and practice as a result, the Ad Hoc Commission recommended a Synod-wide study of Theology, to address both Doctrine and Practice. The Ad Hoc floor committee presented a resolution to accept this recommendation, and it was passed by the Convention. This study will come directly from the Seminary to the congregations. Suggested studies over the next four years includes:
Efficacy of the Means of Grace (not methods)
Vocation, Church, and Ministry (i.e., everyone is not a minister in the context of the congregation, but are ministers in the context of Vocation)
Care of Souls (Church Discipline, dealing with error in the congregation)
The Sacramental Life (not just the Gospel in the Word, but the Gospel in the Sacraments)
As background, this resolution seems to follow from the January meeting of the CoP, to charge the Ad Hoc commission to study these issues, as follows:
5.D.03 Establishment of "non-traditional" ("new style") congregations. We feel that the underpinnings of this "non-traditional" type of worship cannot be ignored. We also feel that the issue is extremely complex and will take great care to be careful to walk the "narrow Lutheran road" between legalism and ignoring and failing to admonish where practices are contrary to or a danger to the principles of gospel proclamation and the efficacy of the means of grace. We move that an ad hoc committee be convened that can study and address this issue and produce a study document that can be shared with circuits and also congregations for study and careful evaluation of practices in worship, sacraments, outreach, organization, music selection, etc. Motion carried.
Board for Parish Services "restructuring" Also on Thursday, the Board for Parish Services was reduced from Board status to Council status, now reporting to the Council of Presidents (CoP). It is no longer an official area of ministry in WELS.
This is a good thing. The BPS had been a real and growing concern among Confessionals in WELS, as it had been staffed over the years principally by known Church Growth advocates, had designated itself as the Board having "primary responsibility for carrying out the goals of the Synod's Mission-Objectives-Vision Statement" (according to Manthey's Fifteen Years under the MOV), and in the execution of this responsibility, had, since the early 1990's, been associated with the dissemination of CGM materials directly to WELS congregations and had directly advised WELS congregations according to CGM principles. In addition, there is currently a strong connection between the former BPS Administrators and the controversial group "Church & Change".
Constitutionally and organizationally speaking, this resolution brought the functions of the former BPS under the jurisdiction of the District Presidents, who are responsible for Doctrine and Practice in their own districts, making the new Council of Parish Services accountable to the District Presidents for the materials and advice they disseminate to the congregations. In addition (as I understand it), this resolution strips authority from the CPS to issue Divine Calls to Administrators (consultants) who serve it, placing that responsibility where it belongs, with the CoP.
Perish Services has been totally decimated. Rather than a Board with an Administrator and a Chairman and decision making power, with many sub-boards and sub-administrators, Perish Services now consists of only 3 sub-administrators who report to the Conference of Presidents and are called by the CoP.
President Schroeder slapped them down for trying to go around his authority and destroyed them and their support of the CG movement. Now there's not much left of Perish Services, and what is left can't do a thing without the CoP knowing about it.
Indeed, the BPS advocates complained bitterly during deliberation, especially regarding the loss of power they would suffer by being made a Council, and changes were made to accommodate their reasonable and pragmatic appeals. But in the end, the intent of the Ad Hoc committee, which recommended elimination of BPS, was honored by the Convention.
President Schroeder Wallops the Church Growth Movement On Monday morning, setting the tone of the Convention, Synod President Mark Schroeder issued his report. The first 42 minutes, or so, were directed specifically at the Church Growth Movement (CGM) in our midst, along with Contemporary Worship (without naming these things or naming individuals), emphasizing Scripture and the Confessions, and of maintaining a unified Lutheran Identity under them. He delivers a blister-boiling spanking to advocates of CGM. IMHO, his report (at least the first 42 minutes) is well worth a congregational study. Rick, another WELS layman who maintains a blog called Light from Light, offers an excellent summary of SP Schroeder's address. So rather than duplicate his work, I'll send you to his blog (above), while providing the embedded video, below:
The text of President Schroeder's report can be downloaded, here.
Professor Brenner Continues the Walloping... If you enjoyed SP Schroeder's Report on Monday, you'll certainly enjoy Professor Brenner's Convention Essay, Christ's Love: The efficacy and power of the Means of Grace, that was given Tuesday morning (click this link to view his presentation). It was the first of two Convention Essays covering the Synod theme, Christ's Love, Our Calling. The undercurrent of this entire Convention, from the standpoint of its execution, very strongly seems to address the errors of CGM, which have been creeping in over the past three decades. Following Schroeder's rather direct walloping of CGM positions on Monday, Brenner continues this walloping in his Essay. Here are some brief summary notes:
The text of Professor Brenner's essay can be downloaded, here.
The Holy Spirit does not work immediately, but mediately, that is, through Means.
No one will be saved apart from the use of the external Word -- the Word spoken or read.
The preaching of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments are the only Means through which one can come to faith and remain in faith.
The Means are always and exclusively efficacious, even though the Holy Spirit may be resisted, whether we see evidence of their working or not. This is how God works, mediately. When God works immediately (i.e., Creation of the World), He cannot be resisted.
Sometimes the proclamation of God's Word leads to visible decline in numbers. Examples: Elijah's flight (he thought he was the only one left) and Jesus' abandonment by all but the Twelve as a result of his hard teaching. Sometimes the proclamation of the Word brings about dramatic increase. Example: Pentecost, and the Baptism of 3000 in one day. Faithfulness to the Word of God, and maintaining the centrality of the Means of Grace, not an increase in number, is the measure of success for Lutherans.
This gets us about halfway through the Essay. Thesis 8 of Brenner's Essay begins at about 44 min:
The Means of Grace cannot be made to be more effective by anything that we do (including outreach programs, contemporary worship, blah blah, etc.)
In a culture of American pragmatism, where Advertising, Marketing, and Business Models are seen to be the means to success, Christians are tempted to think that the Gospel is a product to sell, rather than a powerful message to be proclaimed. Sectarians confuse these methods with means.
"Does it work?" is not the question a Lutheran asks regarding methods.
The Means of Grace work supernaturally, but not magically. The Word must be correctly handled, the Sacraments rightly administered. This requires training.
Finally, after the Essay, from the Q&A section, at about 88min, listen particularly to the final two questions:
What do you say about selling a specific culture of the congregation in order get visitors, in order that they may hear the Word and benefit from the Means of Grace? Answer: Advertising to inform the community where you're located is one thing, other than that, we are not selling anything!
Likewise, the last question/statement by Rev. John Bucholz: When faithful Word and Sacrament congregations struggle to grow in the face of sectarian neighbors whose numbers seem to skyrocket, we are tempted to ask, "What are they doing?" Don't. The Means, and only the Means, are central.
Rev. Jonathan Schroeder raises even more Blisters... Finally, on Wednesday morning, Rev. Jonathan Schroeder, a known and vocal advocate of Confessional Worship in the WELS, presented his Essay: Our Calling: Christian Vocation and the Ministry of the Gospel. This was a fabulous essay, and I supply my copius notes, from the video presentation, below:
Calling is not about what we do, but about what God gives us.
Our Calling comes through Means
Lutherans rely on the Means of Grace in our Outreach and "Inreach" because the Word and Sacraments are the only tools that the Holy Spirit has given His Church to open the heart of man.
No program or method or personality can work faith in sinful man's heart. Only the Holy Spirit through the Gospel can do this.
The Call is Universal and Efficacious
Only the Call, which is issued only through His Means, induces a response [not methods].
Our Calling before the World (to be His Mask) -- the "Doctrine of Vocation":
(Summary) The false teaching of works-righteousness in the Roman Church taught that those who devote their lives to Good Works in the name of the Church are by definition closer to God. And those who do Good Works beyond those expected of every Christian must be even better. Sacred life was better life, in God's eyes, that Secular life. At the time of the Reformation, only Monks, Nuns, and Priests had "Vocation" or "Calling." The Roman Church taught falsely that their lives were more Godly and therefore more valuable.
[Note: We see this teaching at work today in the false ideas used to coerce "programs," or to compare individuals and congregations by "Outreach" or relative involvement: i.e., certainly, folks who give themselves to such service are more Godly...]
But this is not Lutheran. In returning the biblical Doctrine of Justification to the Church, the question of how man becomes righteous before God also changed the meaning of Vocation. Only the righteousness of Christ makes us righteous before God. Thus, being saved by Grace Alone, man's Vocation is a Calling to a life of Sanctification within his Divinely assigned sphere of life. There is no need to be dedicated to a life of Sacred Service before God in the Church (i.e., in modern Evangelical terms, no need to quit your job and start a Ministry in order to serve God better). As St. Paul says, "stay in the Calling in which you were called." All Vocations are equal in God's eyes. All are Priests. All have a Calling. All have been Called. All are Called to Good Works before the World in the context of Vocation, not to get to heaven, but because that is where they are going.
Questions regarding purpose and dignity (i.e., referring to "Purpose Driven" drivel) exist because of a lack of Calling (i.e., Vocation is not being taught, so the false teachings of "purpose-driven-ism" take its place). Life without God has no purpose (meaning that the man without God must go find purpose, and that those who are compelled to go find it, are not fully resting in His objective promises...). But with God, all of Life has purpose -- the same purpose.
Our Calling for the World (to be His Church):
The Church is a Chosen People, a body of Priests and Kings. The calling or purpose of the Church is to declare the praises of Him Who called them out of darkness into His wonderful light; that is, to Herald or to "publish abroad" the excellence of His achievements. God's intent is that through the Church His manifold wisdom should be made known unto the world.
The Church is the mouth of God (in distinction to individual Christians, who are the mask of God in their Vocation).
Through the Church and the Office of the Holy Ministry, God deigned to let humanity participate in His plan of Salvation.
Our Calling (or "purpose") as a Synod is no different than that of the Church:
To Keep the Word (pure) for the World To Share the Word with the World
-or-
to extend and conserve the True doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
We cannot do one at the expense of the other; we cannot do one and leave the other undone. We keep the Word that we might share it, we share the Word that others may join us in preserving it. They feed each other.
This gets us to about minute 56, where direct application to WELS really begins with the Muelhauser story:
Muelhauser had serious outreach credibility, having preached his way across Europe, suffered persecution, was imprisoned, and yet continued preaching, and was eventually sent to the New World in the name of the Gospel.
Such is, indeed, our heritage and part of our culture in WELS.
But this is not our priority: a motto of Outreach over everything misses the dual directives in the Church's Calling.
While Muelhauser certainly thought of himself as a Lutheran, he did not think of his Confession as binding on him or his Church (Lutheran CGM advocates seem to think the same thing). His fault is not that he prioritized that sharing of the Word, but that he did so at the expense of Doctrine. [Muelhauser was a Pietist, and a willing Unionist, who "saw the Confessions as nothing but paper fences"]. Bading and Hoenecke corrected this, subsequently leading the WELS into Confessionalism.
Early on, because of Muelhauser's unionism and heterodoxy, Bading approached the Missouri Synod regarding membership with them instead, but was encourage by them to stay in the WELS, to raise the standard of Doctrine and Practice in our Synod. This is exactly what happened, as our dedication to Confessionalism, under the eventual leadership of Bading and Hoenecke, rose to that of Missions. Under Bading, Koehler, and Rheim, the Northwestern Conference of our Synod was responsible for the establishment and growth of Confessionalism in our Synod [hence, the names "Northwestern College" and "Northwestern Lutheran." How interesting it is that these names were abandoned under the recent leadership of CGM advocates, in favor of names reflecting a "Muelhauserian Outreachiness"...].
Most significantly, this turn to Confessional Lutheranism meant that the Synod would cease unionistic practrices with the Reformed [while "Muelhauserian Outreachiness" would have us worship with Andy Stanley and join groups like the Willow Creek Association (Search page for Lutheran) or the PurposeDrivenChurch (choose WELS as Denomination)].
The reason we are a Confessional Lutheran Church Body is because our Calling as the Church of God is "to go and make disciples of all nations, by baptizing and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded us." Mission zeal for going does not give license to fail to teach.
The early Synod sought to establish Schools because they realized that as Confessional Lutherans they needed more than just workers for the harvest field, they needed Confessional Lutheran workers. A new commitment to being a Confessional Lutheran church led them to eventually abandon the German Mission Societies that provided workers, Gratis, for a system that would cost the Synod a great deal of money, but would provide the right kind for workers for the mission field.
The outside attacks calling attention to the motley character of the Synod's clergy in their practice gave emphasis to the project of establishing a ministerial education program. The Synod's growing commitment to the Confessions engendered a commitment to Ministerial Education. Confessional commitment means commitment to training Confessional Lutheran workers because our calling to both share the Word and keep the Word. They needed to be approved to rightly handle the Word of Truth.
The experience of "Going and Growing" (a recent CGM slogan in the WELS) taught our fathers the importance of a Ministerial Education system, that it was the best way to train those workers to fulfill both directives of the Church's Calling.
The Church that goes to the entire World but does not teach everything God has commanded us, fails Jesus' litmus test for discipleship, "If you hold to my teachings you are really my disciples." Mission zeal without sound doctrine is mission work that is slowly loosing hold of the one tool that opens hearts. No methods, no programs, no people skills can convert sinful man, only the Word of God. Mission zeal without doctrine is destined to falter.
Listen to comments from Rev. John Bucholz from Tempe, Arizona @~80:30: "I really appreciated your thought ...how does God deal with us by His Holy Spirit through the Gospel? He slays us ...One way or the other He's either going to kill me eternally in Hell, or He is going to kill me in Baptism and raise me a new creature... [addressing a misunderstanding or misapplication of Vocation, Bucholz continues] When I say to somebody in my congregation, 'I'd like you to serve the Lord by serving on Church Council,' or 'I would like you to serve the Lord by mowing the lawn at Church,' or 'getting involved in the ministry of setting up chairs,' what I have really expressed is a flawed understanding of Christian Vocation. And I think that we need to be very careful that we don't fall into the trap of thinking that doing something 'churchy' or doing something at the congregation is serving the Lord, or that doing evangelism is serving the Lord, when in fact the mother changing a child's diaper or putting food on the table, or a man who goes to work, and works nine-to-five [Ja! If only!] to bring home the bacon for his family -- all of those things are an expression of the Vocation that we have been given. I think that we need to strengthen and reinforce that."
Of major concern is the future of our Synod's ministerial education system. In addition to over 300 Lutheran Elementary Schools (LESes) and around 25 Area Lutheran High Schools (ALHSes) run by congregations throughout our Synod, the Synod proper runs two prep-schools (Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS) and Luther Preparatory School (LPS)), one ministerial college (Martin Luther College (MLC)), and one theological seminary (Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (WLS)), solely for the purpose of training future called workers.
The WELS is the last Lutheran church body in America to support a prep-school and ministerial college system, and it is precisely this system which is in jeopardy. Current economic conditions, reportedly in combination with two decades of diverting funds away from ministerial education into missions (much of which seems to have been traced to optimistic spending according to principles of the Church Growth Movement), has left our current ministerial education system financially unsustainable. The immediate future of MLS will be decided at this years' convention.
But not unrelated to the immediate future of MLS is the near and long-term future of MLC, a significant proportion of whose student body comes from MLS, and thus of our Synod's future doctrinal integrity, stability, and unity, resulting from the loss of our prep-school(s) and possibly our ministerial college.
Some propose that our ALHSes can take up the slack, but this is ignorant in my opinion. Our ALHSes are mostly progressive/constructivist schools that prepare students for secular college and careers, which (by my limited observation and discussions) essentially rest on the pedagogical foundations of Dewey (Naturalism/Progressivism) and, in the case of modern epistemological learning theories, an ideological foundation rooted in Post-modernism (Constructivism). This follows the trend observed in schools of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS), which prior to WW II provided an exclusively Classical education to all students -- and this despite Dewey's "Educational Revolution" of the early 20th Century. Following WWII, however (and for as yet unexplored reasons, I gather), LCMS schools, and apparently following them, those of the WELS, slowly abandoned the Classical models that served Western Civilization and the Church for so long, until, by the mid-70's, Synod teachers were being prepared according to almost exclusively Progressivist models.
Today especially, the mission of the prep-schools is incongruent with the mission of the ALHSes, as is the sort of education required of a future pastor with respect to what is offered by the ALHSes. Confessional Lutheran Pastors require a Classical, not a Progressivist, education. While technically not classical schools, our prep-schools, with their emphasis on language and the Humanities, approach this ideal, which prepares future pastors from the foundation of Western Civilization, having itself found much of its life and longevity from the Church -- from two-and-a-half millenia of devotional creativity and intellectual excellence, compounded. Indeed, as intimated by C.P. Krauth (in Ch. IV of his Conservative Reformation), when he describes the church catholic as the outflowing of 2000 years of Christian faith and practice into the present, and as that which projects it into the future, the utter necessity of well-educated Pastors, fully trained in the Great Western Tradition (read, Classical Education), is fundamental and paramount; those without such rigorous training are not fit to be Pastors, because they are incapable of effective catholicity.
It is simply ridiculous, in my opinion, to presume that a Classical preparation can be provided in Progressivist schools, in the context of a "Pastor's Track;" more so is the notion that a prep-school education provided in two schools can be reproduced over 25 times in the ALHSes at a cost savings, while at the same time maintaining consistency and integrity. The substantial difference in Classical pedagogics, from those of modern Progressivism and Constructivism, makes the "shared areas of content" between schools separated by these educational paradigms impossible to reconcile -- both in terms of their curricular requirements as well as the the preparation and experience required of their teachers. The loss of the prep-schools, in my opinion, would, in this day and age of plummeting educational standards, be catastrophic.
The pragmatic financial concern related to our ministerial education system is accompanied by other financial concerns, such as the reduction of Synod staff, the recall of missionaries, and the defunding of mission congregations. The undercurrent to all of this, if I read it correctly, is realizing the damage wrought by ~30 years of influence from the Church Growth Movement in our Synod, and resulting concerns regarding the integrity of our Synod's unity in doctrine and practice.
In addition to the Convention Website, the convention can be viewed live, here. Also, an excellent overview of the issues can be found on Light from Light, a blog maintained by another WELS layman. In addition, Ichabod has been (and will continue to be?) hosting daily threads on the Convention, which I intend to follow, as time permits. If the Ichabod threads do not continue, at least read the documents he has collected under the "WELS 2009 Convention Packet" heading on the left column, especially those documents beginning with the "Koeplin Paper" through item six "About the Corky Koeplin Essay" for a broader and historical view of some of the issues being faced today.
If you are like me, a Lutheran layman who is tired of enduring the offenses
of anthropocentric worship practices,
of broad liturgical experimentation,
of a decaying Lutheran hymnody,
of ever loosening fellowship standards,
of the use of females in authoritative capacity, whether as lectors, or as "music/worship ministers," or used in any Representational capacity during the Divine Service, whether visibly placed in the chancel area, or elsewhere,
of pastors who abandon their pulpit and wander around waving their arms during the sermon, or who otherwise put on a show for their audience,
of weak preachers who are too timid to authoritatively preach Law & Gospel, and prefer instead to "give talks" or "share messages," as if to primary-school children (including the use of power-point presentations as "felt-boards and glitter" for adults, in display of the insufficiency of the spoken Word) ,
and generally,
of any execution of the Divine Service that is not purposefully calculated to represent the distinctiveness of our Lutheran Confession,
then you may be interested in the following service, which, in my business and vacation travels, I find myself making more and more use of:
This is a directory of Confessional Lutheran Congregations from various Lutheran church bodies throughout the world (including some WELS, ELS, LCMS and others), that have publicly committed themselves to Confessional worship practice -- namely, use of the Historic Liturgy (for an explanation of the Lutheran Liturgy, click here for Part 1 of a series of posts devoted to this topic). By being listed on this registry, these congregations have implicitly confessed what a growing number of us layman have come to recognize: unity in practice has evaporated to such a degree -- even among those Lutheran church bodies that claim strong doctrinal unity -- that a standard other than Synodical membership is required to predict a congregation's practice.
Such is true for myself, as well. As a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) -- a Lutheran church body which claims agreement in all matters of doctrine and practice (as Scripture and the Confessions enjoin us) -- I have found over the past couple years, particularly as my business travels have become much more extensive, that the Sunday morning drive to the local WELS congregation has become increasingly miserable, as, having no idea what to expect anymore, I anxiously wonder, With what form of innovation or offense will I be confronted this time? .
While being listed on this Directory, itself, does not cover all of the issues I list above (and there may be other issues), I am satisfied that, for those congregations which meet its criteria, there is a high likelihood that most other manners of offense will also be absent. Here is the criteria for being listed in this Directory (from their website):
• The congregation must be committed to the exclusive use of the Historic Liturgy of the Church, not an order of service unique to a Sunday or congregation. The order of service must have catholic flavor; that is, the congregation celebrates the Mass in accordance with Article 24 of the Augsburg Confession. This criterion is intended to exclude congregations which use what is commonly called a “contemporary service.” This directory is not intended to provide service times of “traditional” worship for congregations which use a variety of liturgies. If your congregation prints out the entire order of service from The Lutheran Hymnal or Lutheran Worship each week, this does not qualify as a disposable order of service. In my opinion, it may be a waste of time and paper, but it does not disqualify your congregation from being listed. A disposable order of service would be a special order of service provided by the synod or agency of the synod or one written by the pastor (or church musician). Also, “Creative Worship” would be a disposable order of service.
• The congregation must practice Closed Communion. On the debate whether the proper term is “closed” or “close”, refer to Rev. Dr. Francis Pieper. In his Christliche Dogmatik (St. Louis: Concordia, 1920), Dr. Pieper writes: “Auch die apostolische Kirche praktizierte nicht ‘open,’ sondern ‘closed’ Communion.” [The English words appeared in the midst of the German text.] In the English translation Christian Dogmatics (St. Louis: Concordia, 1953), this sentence is rendered “Neither did the Apostolic Church practice ‘open’ communion (vol. 3, p. 381)”. The words “sondern ‘closed’” were left untranslated.
• The congregation must pass the “fussy-family test.” I want to be assured that, if my family attended any service at your congregation, at least the liturgy would be Lutheran so my family won’t give me grief for taking them there. This means real liturgy, Lutheran hymns, no “praise choruses,” no “song leaders,” and no women lectors or communion assistants.
Yes indeed, as I gain experience with the wide variety of worship that is available in my church body, I've come to appreciate the phrase disposable order of service (from bullet one, above).
Having grown up a charismatic, and having spent 30 years in the throes of false worship among Charismatics, Pentecostals and pop-church Evangelicals, the danger of their methods cannot be more clear to me. For myself, offense is not necessarily found in the single visit itself, or in one service that may be off-kilter, but in what these aberrations represent concerning the certain future of congregations which first grow accustomed to them and then habitually practice them, and in what this means for the individual souls of those who trustingly rely on failing Pastoral leadership, whose function it is to Shepherd, or guide and protect, their flock in the name of Christ. Their methods draw attention away from the efficacy of the Word alone, from the Holy Spirit's work through the Means of Grace, and, consistent with their theology, places increasing trust in man's work through which the Holy Spirit's work is thought to be augmented. Use of their methods leads to conflict between confession and practice, to confusion, to uncertainty, and in the end to disaster and ruin, as faith is taught by practice to turn inward and dwell on the subjective, rather than remain focused on the objective promises of Christ. This happens as the succession of practices, which incrementally and simultaneously remove the Marks of the Church from their centrality and deprive Christians of the Means of Grace, invariably do so in favor of anthropocentric priorities that are at the heart of the heterodox teachings from which these practices spring. As Walther so aptly states, "it is soul-murder." For my family, this means that as Priest of my home, I will not permit my children to be exposed to these practices, certainly not as if such practices are normative or acceptable from a Confessional standpoint, and will actively avoid congregations that engage in them.
1. Oh that I had a thousand voices To praise my God with thousand tongues! My heart, which in the Lord rejoices, Would then proclaim in grateful songs To all, wherever I might be, What great things God hath done for me.
2. O all ye powers that He implanted, Arise, and silence keep no more; Put forth the strength that He hath granted, Your noblest work is to adore. O soul and body, be ye meet With heartfelt praise your Lord to greet!
3. Ye forest leaves so green and tender, That dance for joy in summer air; Ye meadow grasses, bright and slender; Ye flowers so wondrous sweet and fair; Ye live to show His praise alone, With me now make His glory known.
4. All creatures that have breath and motion, That throng the earth, the sea, the sky, Now join me in my heart's devotion, Help me to raise His praises high, My utmost powers can ne'er aright Declare the wonders of His might.
5. Lord, I will tell, while I am living, Thy goodness forth with every breath And greet each morning with thanksgiving Until my heart is still in death; Yea, when at last my lips grow cold, Thy praise shall in my sighs be told.
6. O Father, deign Thou, I beseech Thee, To listen to my earthly lays; A nobler strain in heaven shall reach Thee, When I with angels hymn Thy praise And learn amid their choirs to sing Loud hallelujahs to my King.
The Lutheran Hymnal Hymn #30 from The Handbook to The Lutheran Hymnal Text: Ps. 126:3 Author: Johann Mentzer, 1704, cento Translated by: composite Titled: "O dass ich tausend Zungen haette" Composer: Johann B. Koenig, 1738 Tune: "O dass ich tausend"
As many of you may be aware, my family enjoys and seeks out the uplifting influence of the Fine Arts for their highly cultivated ability to carry and effectively communicate weighty themes. Musically, this means that we favor what is referred to as “Classical Music.”
Last week, I featured a collection from our favorite choir: Dresdner Keuzchor: Legendary recordings. Most of the recordings in that collection are from the Late Renaissance and Early Baroque periods, and fall in the Sacred genre. More importantly, seven of the ten disks in this collection were filled with recordings of music that was composed for use in the context of Lutheran Worship, and were recorded by a choir that regularly sings them in the context of worship. I also posted definitions of the various periods in Classical Music. If you are unfamiliar with these periods, a review may be helpful.
Anyway, this week, I am featuring a Sacred Choral piece from the Classical period: The Creation, by Franz Josef Haydn. Though his name sounds German, Haydn was an Austrian, a Roman Catholic, and a prolific composer in the era of the Enlightenment. Not known principally as a composer of the Sacred genre, he composed this work late in life – as if, it strikes me, he was trying to do something good for God before he died (perhaps he thought he could earn his way into heaven...). It is quite good. While this work was originally composed by Haydn in German, the late Robert Shaw, a highly respected conductor of seminal importance in the revival of choral repertoire in America, translated the work into English. This recording is considered to be a definitive English-language performance.
Perhaps you've noticed that I made use of the term “performance” in reference to a Sacred work. Why the word "performance" and not "worship?" This is a troubling fact that I wanted to point out. Its use is necessary because, even though the majority of works in the Sacred genre were intended for use in the context of the Divine Service, worshipers no longer sing them; rather, performers, obsessed with the genuine artistic quality and musical integrity of these Sacred choral works, are the ones who continue to sing them and to keep them alive – and even these secular performers are quick to admit how well these musical compositions complement their lyrical content. It is a sad fact, in my opinion, that we Christians need to take our lessons in this regard from such performers, many of whom may likely be unbelievers, rather than have the privilege of realizing it for ourselves in our own worship. Where has the excellence gone?
In relation to this, I mentioned above that this particular work was from the Classical period. Last week, I defined this period as that "which roughly corresponds with the period of the Enlightenment, and like the Enlightenment is a reaction against religious and emotional themes, and tends to be expressive of an intellectually inspired utopianism, particularly of human dominance over nature." So what is a "Sacred work" in a period that exists partially in reaction against religion?
First, unlike nearly all Sacred works of the Baroque and Renaissance periods, many sacred works of the Classical period were meant to present religious texts to secular audiences in the context of the concert hall, not the Divine Service. Many settings of the Mass were composed during this period for this purpose, and such is true in the case of Haydn's The Creation. This doesn't mean, however, that all such works were stripped of religious value and presented merely as art or entertainment – and this is certainly not the case in Haydn's work. The manuscript of this work is littered with notes to the musicians, ascribing all praise and glory to God and reminding them of Whom they represent as this piece is "performed"; and throughout the remainder of his life, Haydn was quick to point to this work as his testimony of God's work as he publicly gave credit to God on many occasions and endeavored to direct the attention of his audiences heavenward.
Second, while the texts of this work come directly from Genesis and Psalms, following the order of their presentation in the account of Creation from Book VII of Milton's Paradise Lost, the composition is measured in a way that does not deliberately excite religious sentiments. This is typical of Enlightenment perspectives which sought to divorce human sentiment from matters of truth – to wisely avoid subjective criteria in the assessment of the objective. Instead, the composition serves to accentuate the coherence of revealed religious truth with objective observations of Natural Law. The product of human emotion it generates results from the affirmation this manifest coherence produces.
Indeed, as an example of this, during the pre-concert lecture of a recent performance of this piece that Mrs. Finkelstein and I attended, the lecturer – a Roman Catholic priest and Professor of Music at a local Catholic University – emphasized Haydn's regard for and use of Natural Law in his composition of The Creation. In the Aria, Rolling in Foaming Billows, Haydn makes use one of the most powerful images of God conceived in the Enlightenment mind: that of an Intelligent Designer, of a "divine clockmaker," whose pendulum is the certain rhythms of the massive and mysterious ocean. Haydn found great comfort in this image – the testimony of God and of His creative dominion found in Nature – and creates the musical image of the surf rhythmically building and crashing against the shore.
Though we are divided on several vitally important points of doctrine (such as the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, and the authority of Scripture), we Lutherans do share with the Romans a recognition of the validity of Natural Law (derived from General Revelation). Though it is distinct from Divine Law (spoken in Special Revelation), Natural Law is cited in Scripture as that which leaves mankind without excuse regarding the existence of God and of His power and dominion over all creation:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things... (Rom. 1:18-23).
General Revelation, while sufficient to show the existence, power, and perfection of God, while sufficient to suggest that humans are sinners and are thus indebted to God, is insufficient to show the true depth of man's depravity and helplessness before a perfectly righteous Judge, and does not even begin to suggest the only certain remedy of our terminal condition before God: the Gospel of Jesus Christ – that Jesus Christ, as True Man and True God, lived perfectly under God's Law, and while deserving no punishment, yet took upon Himself the sin of mankind, paid the penalty of man's sin on the Cross, and by His resurrection now promises that through faith our sins are forgiven and that we bear His perfect righteousness before God. General Revelation does not communicate this. Rather, only Special Revelation, the revelation of God's full message to Man in the Holy Scriptures, communicates to us the reality of our desperate condition and the Good News of the Gospel.
While some would be quick (and quite correct) to point out that, true to Enlightenment ideals, the use of Natural Law can be used to affirm Christianity merely on the strength of human intellect (which makes Scripture the servant of human reason, rather than reason that of Scripture), I would suggest that works such as this can be, and ought to be, appreciated by true Christians not only on the basis of it's texts, not only on the superb artistic quality of its composition and performance, but specifically in the fact that it reverently affirms for those who hear it what the Scriptures say: that the God of Creation is real, that His Creation testifies of this fact, and that the Creation account found in Special Revelation is the account of this Creator, Whose Creation testifies of Him.
The WELS is the last Lutheran church body in America to support a prep-school and ministerial college system, and it is precisely this system which is in jeopardy. Current economic conditions, reportedly in combination with two decades of diverting funds away from ministerial education into missions (much of which seems to have been traced to optimistic spending according to principles of the Church Growth Movement), has left our current ministerial education system financially unsustainable. The immediate future of MLS will be decided at this years' convention.
But not unrelated to the immediate future of MLS is the near and long-term future of MLC, a significant proportion of whose student body comes from MLS, and thus of our Synod's future doctrinal integrity, stability, and unity, resulting from the loss of our prep-school(s) and possibly our ministerial college.
First, unlike nearly all Sacred works of the 
