tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post9052968533711821996..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Another good one from On Religion by Terry Mattingly Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-78526022161328598972012-08-29T11:18:40.538-05:002012-08-29T11:18:40.538-05:00As to what you wrote about church size, amen. The...As to what you wrote about church size, amen. The only thing left to say to those who worry about size is stop worrying. Remember the Concordia Theological Seminary motto, in English, “preach the Word.” So long as Christ’s doctrine is preached in the liturgy that Christ’s apostles and patriarchs established, let Christ, the Lord of the Church, worry about those things.<br /><br />The term Lutheran "distinction" or "distinctiveness" is starting to worry me. Let me be the first to admit that before Lutheran distinction became popular I was jumping on that dime. It is not because I am smart as much as that I came from so far outside Lutheranism that I saw divine wisdom to which those born in Lutheranism are blind. However, the distinction should be a secondary topic. As you so correctly put it, Christ's message by Christ's means. When these are compared to what is being touted by "them other guys," we find areas of difference. Those differences are the Lutheran distinction. Except that they aren't Lutheran: they are Christ's that are Lutheran only because we alone are proclaiming it. This is a point at which the sub-text under everything we say about Lutheran distinction should be “soli Deo gloria.” Gnesio Hamartoloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09674555555018468447noreply@blogger.com