tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post1188886743227309229..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: A dust up. . .Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-37720365638392755882014-05-18T23:02:01.051-05:002014-05-18T23:02:01.051-05:00One does not have to give a written contract to on...One does not have to give a written contract to ones parents to make up the bed every morning and pick up ones toys if one is already doing that.<br />This leads to the assumption that if a single class at a single seminary had to add an additional Covenant to all get along nicely to their ordination vows that a significant percentage of that class must have had greet difficult getting along nicely.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-70242091108932740352014-05-05T13:23:50.987-05:002014-05-05T13:23:50.987-05:00Will this "Pinky-Swear Covenant for Candidate...Will this "Pinky-Swear Covenant for Candidates for the Ministry" be repeated next year at the CSL Service of Praise with Assignment of Calls?<br /><br />Will the officials at CTS be pressured to include a "Pinky-Swear Covenant for Candidates for the Ministry" at their Service of Praise with Assignment of Calls?<br /><br />Will next year's candidates at each of the seminaries be allowed to write their own Pinky-Swear Covenant and then vote on the one they like best?<br /><br />Inquiring <i>Schwarmerei</i> will want to know.Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-81623322385154057312014-05-05T10:13:45.714-05:002014-05-05T10:13:45.714-05:00
The seminarian who added this promise stuff had ...<br /><br />The seminarian who added this promise stuff had to be supported by the higher ups. He is just the front man so that any criticism looks like critics are picking on a nice young man.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-55626488458687470572014-05-04T14:35:11.050-05:002014-05-04T14:35:11.050-05:00For sure, "...it is not necessary that human ...For sure, "...it is not necessary that human traditions or rites and ceremonies, instituted by men, should be alike everywhere." (AC 7) However, how does one interpret/apply that "everywhere"? Does it apply to an individual congregation, a circuit, a district, our colleges, our seminaries, our synod? Also, what is permissible and what is beneficial are not always the same. What is a doctrinal 'adiaphora' may not necessarily always a practical or beneficial one when it comes to promoting a spirit of unity in the bond of peace. Without questioning the best intentions, is it wise for one of our seminaries, apart from the other, to publicly innovate and employ such an additional ceremony of human origin, which lacks the official recognition and acceptance of us all, you know, as ones who claim to be walking together as 'synod'? In short, quite aside from adding to our official ordination rite (thereby running the risk of subtracting from what we already have), not to mention 'covenant' language and rationale with all its potential freight of bad theology, just the fact that such a ceremony pertaining to the ordering of the church's ministry was publicly employed, is not the way of synod, at least one that is being true to the meaning of the word. No different than if one were to add or subtract from one of our creeds, for one to question the benefit of such--even if it could be shown to be doctrinally correct and practically beneficial to all-- should not be condemned but commended.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-92095193220569709922014-05-04T00:24:36.436-05:002014-05-04T00:24:36.436-05:00I am thinking that some of those who signed the le...I am thinking that some of those who signed the letter asking for Todd to be investigated are some of the same who believe that CoWo is the way to go; that the liturgy is too old to attract people to worship. I speak from having heard several of them speak at pastors' conferences.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-16972865421042218552014-05-03T20:35:28.998-05:002014-05-03T20:35:28.998-05:00I was listening to an old podcast of Issuesetc the...I was listening to an old podcast of Issuesetc the other day. I don't know how old it was, but Mike Horton was the guest. Horten said that the constitution was holding some Presbyterian denomination together. Wilken answered that the Concordia plan was holding the LCMS together. Horten rejoined, "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One Insurance Plan."<br /><br />So, yeah, they have to extract promises from them to stay in the synod. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-60904875989130741432014-05-03T11:20:53.661-05:002014-05-03T11:20:53.661-05:00Rev. Todd Wilken's Bare Bulb column, "Wel...Rev. Todd Wilken's Bare Bulb column, "<a href="http://thebarebulb.com/2014/05/02/well-that-escalated-quickly/" rel="nofollow">Well, That Escalated Quickly</a>," has the details including a link to the the new "Pinky-Swear Covenant for Candidates for the Ministry," appears to be part of the Call Day 2014 Ceremonies at Concordia Seminary, which is conducted as required by LCMS Bylaw 2.9. <br /><br />The "Pinky-Swear Covenant for Candidates for the Ministry," which was written by Seminarian Matthew Warmbier, who will become a pastor in the Northwest District, is included in the <a href="http://callday.csl.edu/callprogram2014.pdf" rel="nofollow">Service of Praise with Assignment of Calls" Folder</a>, p.8. There's no indication that a candidate's qualification was dependent on publicly committing to the verbage of the Covenant itself.<br /> <br />Rev. Wilken's <b>entire</b> <a href="http://thebarebulb.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/myquestion.jpg?w=497&h=123" rel="nofollow">Facebook question</a> asked, "<b>Why are we extracting promises from newly called men in addition to the ordination vows?</b>"<br /><br />And for that question 32 LCMS pastors wrote to the President of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the LCMS Presidium, and all the District Presidents of the LCMS with accusations that Rev. Willken:<br /><br />1. "impugned the character of these men and undermined the churchmanship they sought to nurture." <br />2. "shows little such commitment" <br />3. "discredits the very intention of these seminarians to honor Christ who is the singular head of the body." <br />4. "put[s] the worst construction on their words" <br />5. "violates the very heart of Christ who prays in the hour of His death for the singularity of heart among those for whom He dies."<br /><br />And then these 32 pastors close with the statement, "We must be careful how we speak, for we are called to speak nothing less than the Word of God and the gospel of Christ – the holy Christian and apostolic faith."Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-67334726183204087672014-05-03T10:10:58.946-05:002014-05-03T10:10:58.946-05:00Sounds to me like the same old left vs. right deba...Sounds to me like the same old left vs. right debate. It also sounds like the promotion of unity over truth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-52551196576596003882014-05-03T09:44:36.081-05:002014-05-03T09:44:36.081-05:00Wow. That *is* restrained, especially for Brother ...Wow. That *is* restrained, especially for Brother Todd. Such a reaponse is overdone, to put the best construction on it.Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07322307218829558622noreply@blogger.com