Aardvark Alley: Building a Lutheran Presence; Part 2

For all would-be, new or shy bloggers, Lutheran or not, the Aardvark gives great advice for developing and furthering your blog. Here's a little sample of his advice:

No Blog Is an Island

If you want to reach others, it helps to join with others. The easiest way is through some form of blogrolling. You'll notice that the Alley has a rather large blogroll. This is intentional; if we were all professionals, I'd call it professional courtesy. I don't read all the blogs on my Confessional Lutheran blogroll every day, but I do keep an eye on them. I list them not because I agree with everything they say in total, but because we are theological brothers and sisters and because I've learned to trust the output to be interesting and edifying. You may favor certain blogs over others; this is fine. Give them top billing or a bright color scheme in your blogroll. But don't forget to list some of the others who are plugging away, making their own contributions to Lutheranism in cyberspace in their own way. Especially, consider reciprocal links whenever possible.

Reciprocal blogrolling is the backbone of increased readership.

Part One

Part Two

Madre's Missive: Just give Jesus a chance...

Madre is at the LCMS Symposium in Fort Wayne, IN this week. She reports from an excellent presentation on the doctrine of justification. She writes...

Give Jesus a chance. He died for the opportunity.

Now there's some bad bumper-sticker theology. Literally. It's a bumper sticker I saw that has been stuck in my mind since Saturday night.

I'm sitting here at the Fort Wayne Symposia listening to some really great presentations on Justification and it's mind-boggling how different the Lutheran doctrine of Justification is from what other denominations teach. Some people, like most American Protestants, that we are saved when we recite the oh-so-Biblical "sinner's prayer" and take Jesus up on His offer and invite Him into our hearts. Read on...

Extra Nos: A Religion to Make Us Happy?

I've been getting to know a very good blogger (i.e. posts things that interest me!), Mr. L.P. Cruz keeps the blog, Extra Nos: it is outside us. Be sure to read Extra Nos: A Religion to Make Us Happy? While there, check out his investigations into Lutheran doctrine.

Cranach: Christianity and culture with a Lutheran Twist

Shamelessly stolen from one of my favorite bloggers, Glen of Territorial Bloggings:

A most hearty welcome goes out to the newest member of the Worldmagblog family to come online, the Cranach blog!

The Cranach blog is an offshoot of the Cranach mailing/discussion list. Per the “about” section on the Cranach blog’s main page,

Lucas Cranach was a good friend of Martin Luther’s, who became a great artist. He was also a businessman who ran a pharmacy and the printing shop that published Luther’s translation of the Bible. He was also something of a politician, who served on the Wittenberg town council and for awhile was mayor of the city. As a layman who lived out his faith in his various callings, Cranach embodies the Reformation doctrine of vocation. In the spirit of Lucas Cranach, this blog will discuss issues of Christianity and culture with a Lutheran twist.

Cranach is a good mailing/discussion list, but I’m really looking forward to the blog! Dr. Veith is an amazing intellect, and has written a boatload of great books, so I’m anticipating that Cranach will be a hugely beneficial addition to the blogosphere.

Check it out!!!

What You Do, Do Quickly: I'm Always the Last to Know.

A new, apparently anonymous, blog-keeper has emerged with posts near and dear to my heart. What you do, do quickly, is the blog. S/he has burst out of the gate quickly with some great posts.

I'm Always the Last to Know. speaks to the odd dilemma of appearing to be a member of a sect merely for sticking to your guns on doctrine.

"I just found out that I am a member of a sect. Not just one person, but two people told me that Confessional Lutheranism is a sect. One was a nominal Baptist, the other was a Lutheran pastor. This news surprized me at first. I've been a Lutheran all my life. My family is Lutheran on one side as far back as we can count. Did Mom and Dad know? How long has this been going on?" Read on...


What befuddles me about the Evangelical world (as defined by Ted Haggard of N.A.E.) is that they alternately embrace a wide variety of doctrine (calling it "true" diversity), even to the point of conflicting doctrine, yet lay a title of sect upon people who attempt to stand firm on doctrine. This contradiction certainly was partly responsible for me leaving the Evangelical world after twenty years.

Bored and Embarrassed Lutherans is another good post on the reverse problem of poorly catechized Lutherans falling to the temptation to abandon their spiritual hertitage.

"We've all seen it: Lutherans playing Evangelicals. These bored Lutherans worship like evangelicals and preach like evangelicals. Inevitably they start believing the anemic moralism of non-denominationalism." Read on...

Praying for Worthy Woman...

I have just learned this morning that confessional Lutheran woman, blog-keeper and wheelchair user, Lisa aka Worthy Woman, lives just north of Houston, TX. She stopped posting yesterday afternoon around 3:30 pm. I can only assume that she has evacuated. She's got lots of friends and family and they had been keeping a close eye on the weather, so I will assume the best for her. However, these must be scary days, if not downright inconvenient, for anyone living in the south!

Worthy Woman

The masks God wears

All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government--to what does it all amount before God except child's play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things. --Martin Luther, "Exposition of Psalm 147" from Masks of God blog

Our pastor and his wife recently buried their young son. During his four short months on this earth, struggling to overcome a heart defect, his parents kept on online journal. One entry, made on a more hopeful day, struck me deeply:

We are so thankful to see God working and to see Him hiding Himself behind the vocations of cardiologist, neurologist, anesthetologist, surgeon and nurse. Doctor is one of the masks God wears.

This young pastor also wears a mask of God, and his wife as well. Even in their deep and utter grief, though they were both emotionally and physically near exhaustion from the death of their sweet firstborn son, God's love could be seen beaming through in their eyes, their smiles and their touch. They were not spiritually exhausted; they were reaching out to all of us, hugging everyone and reminding us of the joy of salvation that sweet Hugh has now obtained through Jesus' death on the cross.

I had never seen a pastor at the funeral of one of his own. I had never been at the funeral of a baby nor a child. Now, I don't base my faith on what my eyes have seen and I can't believe in God just because of how my pastor and his wife gave clear account for the joy that is in their hearts; but seeing them doing so confirmed what I already knew to be true through the witness of the Holy Spirit. God has provided a clear and joyous salvation from this fallen creation - where little boys are born with heart defects- through the atoning sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. He has prepared a place for all who believe this is true. As if that wern't good enough, God has also sent his Holy Spirit to plant the seed of faith in the hearts of all who are washed in the waters of Holy Baptism and to grow and strengthen the faith of all who hear His Word preached and partake of Holy Communion. My pastor taught me this and he didn't run from it when his own little son died. Pastor and wife are one of the masks God wears.


During this last week, I have struggled fruitlessly on my own to defeat the evil plot of a computer programmer who has used his God-given talents for understanding numbers and computer programming to trick people, steal their money and corrupt minds and souls. He or she is faceless and nameless to me, but not to God. He is wasting his talent and rejecting God's urging to come to Him. Just when I was ready to give up, I was led by my ISP provider to a young man who also has great God-given talents for understanding the same things as his evil counterpart. He uses those talents to continually learn more about viruses and trojans and hackers. He freely gives his time for no pay to companies in exchange for learning more. To date, he has spent three hours straight on his phone dime, doing the work of a entry-level computer support person while also searching for an elusive hidden trojan virus. Sure, he is compensated in others ways and hopes to one day invent a little device to clean your machine in five minutes! But, he's got a long way to go and on his way he has helped countless numbers of people rid their machines of trouble and get back to work. Computer programmer,"geek", forensic network specialist are also masks God wears.

Pastor Snyder recently posted about the new Lutheran Carnival and the confessional Lutheran blogosphere: Ask the Pastor: Lutheran Carnival III and Beyond. He wrote:

"Lutherans are among those rare few who realize that even when we talk of “ships and sails and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings,” we also are talking theology. While I’m pretty sure that there will be plenty of theologizing from blogging pastors I’d be interested not only in lay theological perspectives about jobs, careers, marriage, and other vocational areas, but also reading some of the “daily grind.” Many of the bloggers I read, including Love and Blunder, Kiihnworld, and Pastor Steve Billings let me see much of their hearts and their theology through windows opened into the “ordinary” in their lives."

Yes, pastor mentioned me in his last sentence and it really touched my heart, but that is NOT why I am mentioning his post. Blogs have been taking a bad rap lately, especially among out own. That deeply saddens me because writer/blog-keeper is also a very honorable vocation. I began writing not thinking that anyone would ever read. I wrote to make sense of my life and faith. About two months after starting my blog, I did a random search for confessional lutheran blog, thinking I would find nothing. With great surprise and delight I clicked on The Random Thoughts of a Confessional Lutheran and my world changed. From that blog, I discovered so many others, Confessing Evangelical and Bunnie Diehl were among the firsts and are still my favorites, although I've met so many more fellow saints since then. For the first time in months I realized that I wasn't alone in coming to the Lutheran confessions. Now how else would I have found other confessional Lutherans to strengthen my faith - mutual consolation of the saints, as the wise Wildboar once wrote.

Writing about my very ordinary life through the lens of my faith in God has helped me to be able to be able to more easily give account for the joy that God placed in my heart. And I'm not talking about blogging, I'm talking about my everyday REAL life. Writing about my faith is helping me to be open about my faith to others. I used to save my "Christian comments" for fellow Christians; now I can more easily leave God in His rightful and natural place in the world and include Him in my conversations with people. I attribute my ability to account for the joy to God; His Holy Spirit has planted it in my heart. I do believe that He also expects me to find and know good preaching, so that I learn more and practice saying and writing it down.

To you, dear reader, and to all the established, burgeoning or just-learning writers who decide to keep a blog, I thank you. Blog-keepers also wear a mask of God. I can't possibly begin to name those of you that have blessed my faith and my life, but I will try: Pastor Snyder, Rob and Devona, John, Bunnie, Scottius Maximus, Daniel, Elle, Dan, Glen, Bob, David, Jason, Floyd, Mutti, Brian and Matt, Pastor Steigemeyer, Chris W., Prof. Chris, Terrie, Vicar Lehmann, Michael and Timotheos, Pastor Brandos, Pastor McCain, Rev. Klages, Ron and Erica, Twylah, Josh S., Wildboar (wherever you are), Suzi and Tim, Monergon and Theophorus, Worthy Woman, Rick, Michael S., Rev. Chryst, Minister2B, Maria, Webcritter and Mr. Critter, and the many others that I've probably missed (probably because you don't have an RSS feed. If your name isn't here, email me and I'll ADD it! I've thanked you before and I'll thank you again for sharing your life and vocation through your blogs. It is a blessing to me. God be with you today and always!
.

Lutheran Jargon: vote for the most dangerous telepreacher

Minister 2B has a blog! I just discovered it and would like to highlight it here. Be sure to vote on which telepreacher causes you the most concern: Lutheran Jargon My vote was for Robert Schuller, hands down!

New Blog: Lutheran Carnival

This is a great idea that was just waiting for two souls to take on the task. Daniel and Elle are up to the task, thankfully. A carnival, from what I understand, is a parade of essays on a certain topic or from a certain point of view. I've never been brave enough to participate in the famous Christian Carnival for fear that my thoughts would be rejected because of my adherence to scripture in the tradition of Martin Luther. This carnival is designed for Lutherans:
Your submission may be on any topic as long as it is written from a confessional Lutheran perspective and should be your best, favorite or otherwise notable post from from the previous week.
I can't wait to participate! Thanks to Daniel and Elle for helping to solidfy the renaissance of Christian writing, albeit through a keyboard. Read more here: Lutheran Carnival

Preachrblog: Issues, Etc. radio program on Lutheran bloggers

Preachrblog posts on Issues, Etc's recent program on Lutheran bloggers. I recently discovered this program. Coming from the ELS, it is amazing to me to think that a synod would have their own radio station, but the Missouri Synod is that big. I plan to go through the show's archives and find shows of interest to me.

It was fun to hear the voice of Pastor Scott Steigemeyer, author of Burr in the Burgh blog. I suppose that is the first time I've heard the voice of a blogger (except for the voices of Northern Alliance Radio Network bloggers!). I don't know Sandra Ostopowich, author of Madre's Missives blog, but she had some good comments to make also. I was confused and disappointed to hear the show's moderator, Todd Wilken, take a cynical tone toward bloggers. I suppose the bad bloggers among us has colored the view of some people, but I think that blogging is here to stay and that the responsible ones will continue. Whether you blog in a magazine format, a diary format or as an apprentice writer, I encourage you to continue! Be responsible, always accurately research your topic and remember that real people read your comments (maybe even the person you think you are secretly writing about). Read the post here: Preachrblog

Ask the Pastor!

I've highlighted posts by Pastor Walter Snyder who keeps Ask The Pastor blog. He's added more and more great posts and this blog is on my list of favorite spots to read. Pastor Snyder does a great job of responding to questions in a clear manner without dumbing down the answer. I am thankful for Ask The Pastor.

Here's a list of his most recent and intriguing posts:

• Confessional and Orthodox Lutheranism
• Lutheran and Baptist Compared (Briefly)
• Non-Proverbial Proverbs
• The Book of Life
• Binding Demons
• Resurrection, not Reincarnation
• Satan Cast from Heaven
• The Unforgivable Sin
• Logos
• Contemporary Application of Revelation’s Church Letters

Ask the Pastor: Premarital Sex, Living Together, Ceremonies, and Marriage

This is just too good to leave on Pastor Synder's blog. I'll post it here, too! We humans are very sexual and, in certain moments and situations, we can come up with the darndest and creative excuses! This post is funny, sad and helpful all in one.

Q: What Scriptures say to refrain from sex — not adultery or fornication, as one has to be married to commit these sins — between those who love each other and intend to marry? I can’t find anything against sex between two who love each other and are monogamous.

Q: Does having sex before the ceremony make it wrong? Do you become married in a spiritual sense when you have sex for the first time? Is the real seal on the marriage the first sexual experience, and not the ceremony itself?

Q: Is it a sin to have sexual relations with someone if we’re both not married? My mother and I are having a heated discussion about this. I am 51 years old; my husband passed away 2 years ago. I don’t intend to marry again. I want to be faithful to the Lord but to have complete abstinence seems a little old-fashioned to me.

Q: Could you tell me about sex before marriage? I’ve been racking my brains for ages with this issue; I know it's wrong but I want to be with my partner like that and I want to be a Christian. We aren't planning to get married for a long time, and I don’t want to wait that long to be intimate with him again. Can I still be a Christian?

Q: I have fallen in love with a woman I want to marry. She loves me as well. Previously, we had spent the night with each other in the same bed several times. After deciding that this may be a practice frowned upon by God, we were contemplating either living under the same roof without sexual relations and without sleeping in the same bed (in other words, as roommates) until the marriage.

Q: I asked my love to marry me and she accepted. Our parents agree. The problem: I cannot be with my wife for two years since she lives overseas. We met while she was in America for school. Before she returned home I proposed. At this point we became one, not through intercourse but through love. I’ll see her only once again before being able to wed her legally. But in heart and soul we are already in wed lock. My question is, if a man and a woman commit to marriage in all aspects of mind, body, heart, and soul, is intercourse a sin at this point?

For the answers, read here: Ask the Pastor: Premarital Sex, Living Together, Ceremonies, and Marriage


I'm also posting the answers here, just in case.

A: Adultery is marital infidelity. Fornication is general sexual sin. including consorting with prostitutes, homosexuality, or moving from sex partner to sex partner, with or without marriage.

A general implication is correct: Ceremony doesn’t make a marriage. Commitment establishes the relationship. Yet Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:16, “He who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her. For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’” Consummation seals the commitment. Thus, both a public declaration and a private action are part of marriage.

Sex defines and determines with whom you are “one flesh.” The commitment of your sex organ is final, no matter who your partner. Thus, you are, in God’s eyes, married when you have sex with another. One questioner specifically mentions monogamy: Monogamy means “one marriage” or “one marriage partner.” The Bible establishes no particular religious or civil rite and many governments recognize “common law” marriages, wherein living together, having sex, or merely representing themselves as husband and wife legally bind a man and a woman.

When a man and woman engage in sex without publicly representing themselves as married, they lie about their relationship. This happens among young people who may not be ready for the legal commitments or who want to maintain parental support while indulging their sexual desires. It also includes older people who live together without a public declaration or ceremony or a state license. They may do this so as to not lose pensions or possessions.

Paul wrote, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be enslaved by anything. (1 Cor 6:12)” Married is married and single is single. There is no trial period, no “test drive.” There is no benefit, rather loss, in dallying with another outside a lifetime commitment. Be married or be single — but be truthful. Without the public confession of unity and commitment to remain united, it is easier for one or both partners to enter the relationship casually — then to throw it away just as casually.

It isn’t easy to be one flesh with one person: Commitment and focus are difficult to maintain even when bound by vows, witnesses, and laws as well by sex. Secret or private relationships are even harder to sustain, since you lack the benefit of the support of family and society. For the young man wondering about beginning the sexual relationship before the vows, God said, “A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24)” Until ready to live together, man and woman should remain apart.

To the couple wondering about living together without sharing a bed and without sex, I ask first of all if you think that you can resist the temptations of proximity. Then consider your public testimony: What will the world assume about your shared living? What witness will it give about the Christian life? “Abstain from every form [appearance] of evil,” Paul advised (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Even if an action isn’t wicked, can it be interpreted as such by an outside observer?

One questioner knows that “it’s wrong” to have premarital sex, then wonders if she can do so and still be a Christian. Certainly, all Christians remain sinners. However, sinning with knowledge and intent is different from succumbing to temptation due to the weakness of flesh. In Matthew 4:7, Jesus referenced Deuteronomy 6:6, saying, “It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Wilfully doing wrong dares God to withhold judgment.

Finally, sex only within the marriage is very “old-fashioned”: God fashioned it in the “good old days” of Creation, introducing it when He introduced Eve to Adam. His plan for those wanting sex remains simple: Be and stay married to one person. Depending upon laws, customs, and the like, the shape of the wedding may vary. However you promise yourselves to each other, consider what is legal in society and what is right by God’s Word. Does a secret relationship that you’ll “someday” reveal to others truly “honor your father and your mother”? Does wanting the state to not declare your relationship a marriage mean that, deep down, you don’t consider it a marriage, either?

“Flee from sexual immorality ...” said Paul, for “the sexually immoral person sins against his own body ... [which is] a temple of the Holy Spirit within you.... You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Cor 6:18-20)” Glorify God openly, honestly, absolutely. Compare who you are with whom God desires you to be. Marriage — especially Christian marriage — testifies to the world about Christ’s relationship with his Church (see Ephesians 5:15-32).

Declare your intent to each other and to the world, make your promises, then live according to them. Christ did not take a secret bride when He claimed the Church as His own. The Church does not secretly worship Christ. Nor is Christ honored by men and women taking secret wives and husbands. His commitment was absolute, even through crucifixion and death. That same death forgives our sexual sins and restores us to live in integrity from this day forth, until death parts us.

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version™, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

To Ask the Pastor, send email to askthepastor@xrysostom.com.

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of the book What Do Lutherans Believe.

Theomony : An inquiring mind wants to know...

I really enjoyed this thread by Monergon on Theomony blog. Mon writes:

Okay, let's say I'm a new Lutheran (I am) and let's say I still have a lot of Reformed pals (I have) and occasionally we have conversations that vary from low-key to rather intense over areas of theological disagreement (we most definitely do).

In light of this "scenario" what would be *your* answers to the following related questions:

1. When taking into consideration the bondage of the will, how is man able to believe the Gospel and put his faith in Christ?

2. Can a man reject the call of the Gospel and if so, how?

3. At what point does the Holy Spirit indwell a person?

Read on for an interesting thread of comments: Theomony

The First British Lutheran Blog Ever - ancient archives discovered

So I was doing a search for a book I read recently called Bible Difficulties. It was an old book that I found in our church's library, but it has disappeared. I did an online search for it and found a link to Chris Williams' blog from a year and a half ago. Apparently, at one point, he wrote all the time! I especially enjoyed his posts from February of 2004 and plan to dig through his archives some more. Of course, this isn't news to some of you, but I feel like I just discovered a little buried treasure. I hope this is encouraging to Chris, as he decides where and if to attend seminary.

The First British Lutheran Blog Ever

Styria: Thy Will Be Done

Styria of David creates with Legos;
God with Logos blog writes an interesting post on prayer. He asks:
Sometimes I wish I had been raised Lutheran, or at least Christian. Maybe I would at least know how to pray, and have the discipline to be 'Christian' in all these other things. Good habits. Instead, someday, with my face deeply flushed and my voice quivering or inaudible, I'll probably have to learn them in front of my wife. That's fun to look forward to; the anticipation is already warming me. How will I set a good example for the children I want?

After 40+ years as a Christian, I can't say that can utter a decent prayer any better than David. I have learned to use Luther's prayers in our hymnal. I am trying to memorize the evening prayers with my kids; they are quite sufficient for me!

In the evening, when you go to bed, you are to make the sign of the holy cross and say: "Under the care of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen."

Then, kneeling or standing, say the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer. If you wish you may recite this little prayer as well:

I give thanks to you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have graciously protected me today, and I ask you to forgive me all my sins, where I have done wrong, and graciously to protect me tonight. For into your hands I commend myself: my body, my soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Then you are to go to sleep quickly and cheerfully.

Piper pipes in on "What is an Evangelical?"

Glen Piper adds three excellent posts to the current hashing of Michael Horton's article "What is an Evangelical" and the several blogs discussing it right now. Great posts, Glen!

What is an Evangelical?
...the fact that they’ve co-opted the word “evangelical” is a pet peeve of mine. As “evangel” means “good news,” then “evangelical” means (roughly/loosely) “person of the good news.” In fact, “Evangelical” was a favorite descriptor of Luther & the Reformation fathers. This is why you will see so many older Lutheran congregations with the word “Evangelical” in their formal names. The co-opting of the word by the Methobapticostals is a relatively recent phenomena, and one that is quite sad & frustrating for true, orthodox, Evanglicals. Read on...

There is no such thing as dead orthodoxy
In a recent comment thread over at Love & Blunder, someone made a comment about the danger of “dead orthodoxy.” This bothered me, and after a little bit of pondering/thought, I figured out why. There’s no such thing as “dead” orthodoxy. Orthodox, in the theological context, means “right teaching” — how could “right teaching” be dead? Read on...

Christians and Shame
Ok, a bunch of recent postings in the blogosphere have coalesced in my mind, and are about to emerge…
In some previous postings, I’ve referenced recent entries by Theresa (Be Strong in the Grace) and Rob (Love & Blunder) that dealt with the question of “What is an “Evangelical?” These two blogs were, in turn, influenced by discussions over at Beggars All. These three blogs (six bloggers total, I believe…) share a common shared history within the Reformed/Arminian morass that is contemporary American “Evangelicalism” (aka: “Methobapticostalism"). Read on...

Introducing Beggars All blog

There is yet another confessional lutheran blog in the blogosphere. Please check out Beggars All. It is written by three men, Rob, Mike, Karl. They explain their joint blogging purpose:

1. The name of this blog is "Beggars All", which is an allusion to the last words of Martin Luther: "Wir sind Bettler, das ist war!" ("We are beggars all. That is true.") In what ways can you and I say, with Luther, "That is true!"

2. Then let's outline our own strange experiences with American Evangelicalism. Why have we both been made, by God's grace, Evangelical refugees?

Please read My Father's Day by Rob. It is a very touching story of father and son. (warning: strong kleenex/crying at work alert!). Mike writes an interesting commentary on the Navigators and his experiences with them. Also read, Does the Church have a Sanctuary?. I think Karl must manage the commentaries.

Beggars All was recently highlighted in Bunnie Diehl's blog, as an Ablaze story of the week, and prompted numerous comments by her readers.

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

This new blog, Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, will be my new morning devotions for a while

It bills itself as daily meditations on the sanctoral calendar and lectionary as found in the Lutheran Service Book. The writer describes himself as Contra Mundum.

I am nothing but a simple Lutheran seminarian and vicar. Join me on my pilgrimage through the daily lectionary. May the Holy Spirit stengthen our faith as we meditate upon His Holy Word.

I highly recommend this blog, if not for the outstanding artwork alone.

I've noticed lots of interesting rants in the Confessional Lutheran blogosphere regarding the Emergent Church concept, so as follow-up reading, check out "Why the Lutheran Church is a liturgical church." and the discussion on same at John's Confessing Evangelical blog (see his post, "The Medium, the message and the Divine Service.") Also interesting reads are Rob's latest posts on the emerging church concept on Love and Blunder blog: Church: The rules have changed; Emerging E*CA; and An Emerging Question.