Below is a translated excerpt from August F.C. Vilmar’s “Textbook of Pastoral Theology” (Lehrbuch der Pastoraltheologie) from 1872. Vilmar was an influential figure for the Lutheran Confessional movement in 19th century Germany. His remarks on congregational song are insightful and … Continue reading
This past Sunday our churches observed the Epiphany of Our Lord. Epiphany has a fixed calendar date of January 6. As I would guess a sizable majority of our congregations do not have a yearly festival service on Epiphany, this … Continue reading
Having been to a good number of circuit meetings and pastors conferences in my ministry by now, I often hear pastors make a distinction when discussing cases of casuistry. They may talk of a person who was “well catechized” or … Continue reading
One word increasingly lost on our culture today is fornication. It has a simple definition, the voluntary sexual intercourse of two persons who are not married. Fornication is condemned in the Bible, and thus the word carries a stigma in … Continue reading
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity August 31, 2014 “The Historical Gospel” 1 Corinthians 15:1-10 Click the link below to listen to audio of this sermon. http://christforus.org/Sermons/Content/2014/Christ%20for%20Us%209-7-14.mp3 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which … Continue reading
Parts 1 and 2 of this series “How to Catechize Children” are probably most important. They lay out a catechetical method and plan and should get most families on their feet. Once families get on their feet with this, they … Continue reading
In Part 1 of this series “How to Catechize Children,” I laid out the method of catechesis. It is simply question and answer. You ask the questions. Your children give the answers. It really isn’t more complicated than that. In … Continue reading
In recent years much headway has been made in emphasizing how the Small Catechism is a book for the home. It had been that Luther’s words “As the head of the family should teach them in a simple way to … Continue reading
Sometimes I get the vibe that Lutherans are dissatisfied with their own devotion and piety, as if it were too narrow or restricting. It makes me think of a phenomenon I’ve seen in our hymnals in several places – the … Continue reading
Throughout my twenties, I remained unmarried. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I was able to pursue my education without other distractions. Serving a parish as a single man had a lot of advantages too. I was able to devote … Continue reading
We all know pastors can be a bit mystifying sometimes. Growing up in a small congregation with fairly high pastor turnover, that’s what I thought anyway, no matter which pastor it was who was serving us at the time. They … Continue reading
I remember when I was a boy how my mother received a small gift once from a friend. It was a keychain. On the keychain was a little electronic music box which played “Amazing Grace.” My mom never used it, … Continue reading
After my parents, one of my heroes of the faith growing up was a man named Frank Knoll. Growing up at Immanuel Lutheran Church outside of Radium, MN in the 80s and 90s, Frank was a good role model for … Continue reading