tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post2262477180761386951..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Who is our guru?Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-6479730458900181532017-08-28T16:04:37.016-05:002017-08-28T16:04:37.016-05:00One individual's own made-up definition of &qu...One individual's own made-up definition of "open communion" works only for oneself. Thus its rejection by Lutherans or Lutheran church bodies should be no surprise.<br /><br /><i>“Open Communion”</i> [is] <i>the admission of individuals to the Sacrament with minimal or no concern for Baptism, repentance, faith, self-examination, or <b>unity of confession</b>, is intolerable for any who take seriously that our Lord gave the Supper only to his disciples (Matt 26:20), Paul’s plea that a church be of one mind or judgment and without division (1 Cor 1:10), and his insistence on self-examination and discerning the Lord’s body (1 Cor 11:27-28).</i> Excerpted from the December 11, 2014, LCMS CTCR "<a href="https://www.lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=3285" rel="nofollow">Guidelines for Congregational, District, and Synodical Communion Statements</a>," which was approved for study and discussion by 2016 Convention Resolution 5-15. <br /><br />The "unity of confession" is contained in the doctrine of closed communion. When no public confession, such as in confirmation, is made or even required for a communicant member of a Lutheran congregation, especially a LCMS congregation, then the rational for any catechesis disappears and the concept of being identified as a member of that Lutheran congregation evaporates.<br /><br />The 1983 CTCR Theology and Practice of the Lord’s Supper contains the following description [p. 21]: <br /><br /><i>"The practice of Close Communion is prompted by love and is born of the heartfelt conviction, on the basis of Scripture alone, that we must follow Christ's command. This means refusing the Lord's Supper to those whose belief is not known to us."</i><br /><br />To no surprise, this has been explained in previous posts with references, <a href="http://pastoralmeanderings.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-data-of-experience-against-dogmatic.html?showComment=1499607179853#c7477144036939352282" rel="nofollow">here</a>, <a href="http://pastoralmeanderings.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-data-of-experience-against-dogmatic.html?showComment=1499607276992#c458103236806049608" rel="nofollow">here</a>, <a href="http://pastoralmeanderings.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-data-of-experience-against-dogmatic.html?showComment=1499607416155#c9222298614791558716" rel="nofollow">here</a>, <a href="http://pastoralmeanderings.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-data-of-experience-against-dogmatic.html?showComment=1499607508502#c7498347479824436458" rel="nofollow">here</a>, and <a href="http://pastoralmeanderings.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-data-of-experience-against-dogmatic.html?showComment=1499648713250#c5761436935230505940" rel="nofollow">here</a>.Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-49709940189502363722017-08-28T11:14:26.440-05:002017-08-28T11:14:26.440-05:00Someone older and wiser once told me, "The co...Someone older and wiser once told me, "The confessional Lutheran church will never fall because we have the strongest confession." It was not spoken in arrogance but in humble acknowledgment that our church fathers strove to align all doctrine with scripture and to address the errors of other church bodies.<br /><br />The CofE/Anglicans have, in contrast, many confessions, or no confession, so far as I can tell. They have no anchor. They approach the 39 Articles ala carte, picking and choosing by congregation or small church body to which they will subscribe. Thus it becomes a church built on the whim of the pastor/leaders of the church and is nothing more than a swaying reed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-60770111667264909762017-08-28T10:56:50.338-05:002017-08-28T10:56:50.338-05:00Dr Strickert,
Paedocommunion is not "a versi...Dr Strickert,<br /><br />Paedocommunion is not "a version of open communion." When a child is communed who is not confirmed and is younger than the customary confirmation age, that child is a baptized member of an LCMS congregation. "Open communion" means communing those who are not members of an LCMS congregation, nor of a congregation with whom we are in altar and pulpit fellowship. A congregation's children are members of the congregation. Therefore, communing them does not constitute "open communion."<br /><br />I understand and respect the arguments against early communion in the LCMS, and I don't care to argue for or against it on this thread. But whatever the problems are with early communion, "open communion" is not one of them.<br />Chris Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03220498656377282715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-17592467671595119642017-08-28T07:29:51.224-05:002017-08-28T07:29:51.224-05:00And on top of all that some LCMS pastors push for ...And on top of all that some LCMS pastors push for "early (pre-confirmation) communion," a version of open communion, and on some blogs have bragged about how young an age a pre-confirmation child has been communed.Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-58768130218932622262017-08-28T07:03:14.182-05:002017-08-28T07:03:14.182-05:00Anonymous, Take it one step further. The Catechi...Anonymous, Take it one step further. The Catechism itself says it it to be taught by the father as head/priest of the family. Pastors should be receiving students into catechism class who are well prepared by parents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-33225391973356107972017-08-27T19:27:30.331-05:002017-08-27T19:27:30.331-05:00The neglect of catechesis in the LCMS began when p...The neglect of catechesis in the LCMS began when pastors started giving<br />the task of teaching 7th and 8th grade confirmation to other people.<br />They no longer wanted to teach Confirmation classes and jobbed it out<br />to Elders, Sunday School Teachers, and other parish laity. This is a sad situation for the local congregation. Pastors should be willing and able<br />to teach with energy their confirmation classes. There are no excuses. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-1157250084022510682017-08-27T14:49:45.217-05:002017-08-27T14:49:45.217-05:00We need to be Christ centered, Gospel centered, Bi...We need to be Christ centered, Gospel centered, Bible centered. Luther said many things, and not everything was instructional, but he did stick close to the word of God. We need no guru in the LCMS, but rather we need more preaching pastors who actually prepare their Sunday sermons with care, deliver them with enthusiasm, and actually teach from the Bible. Some of today's contemporary pastors are too casual, too worldly, too superficial, and unprepared to stand before the congregation as God's ordained servants. I do not think the seminaries are doing a good job of teaching, and of culling unsuitable candidates. This is where our focus should be today.John Joseph Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06596324816480709495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-65811425948446019562017-08-27T13:11:22.776-05:002017-08-27T13:11:22.776-05:00In addition to the Antichrist, one of the last peo...In addition to the Antichrist, one of the last people to rely on for trustworthy information about the Reformation and Martin Luther is someone incardinated into the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and his July 12, 2017, column, "<a href="http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com/2017/07/cranmer-ancient-fathers-and-ordinariate.html" rel="nofollow">Cranmer, the Ancient Fathers, and the Missal</a>."Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-84671677811804855752017-08-27T09:15:26.953-05:002017-08-27T09:15:26.953-05:00The foundation of Lutheranism is:
1. Word alone
2...The foundation of Lutheranism is:<br /><br />1. Word alone<br />2. Grace alone<br />3. Faith alone<br />4. Christ aloneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-86087821618497011192017-08-27T06:40:18.006-05:002017-08-27T06:40:18.006-05:00That quote is nonsense since the Book of Common Pr...That quote is nonsense since the Book of Common Prayer borrowed heavily from Luther's Litany.Ted Badjehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03220879004715648795noreply@blogger.com