The need to focus on Lutheran piety

An interesting article on how an LCMS congregation that has experienced the “flavor-of-the-day” when it comes to contemporary worship can return to a church that practices historic Lutheranism.

Here is the path that can be followed.

1 – The pastors & the elders need to agree to a vision as to how the congregation should worship and then uphold that ideal as they move toward that goal, teaching and encouraging all the way.

2 – Over the course of about three years, the following changes would be made:

a. put up a cross as a focal point for worship. (“Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I’ve come”.)

b. move the altar to a more clear & central location, add a pulpit, and a font. These are the three basic pieces of furniture found throughout Christian history around the world.

c. have the pastor at least wear a collar. Garments evoking Revelation can come later when the congregation is more catechized.

d. using the existing musicians, introduce more Lutheran hymnody to the congregation via the LSB Guitar Edition; CPH’s Hymns for the Contemporary Ensemble; and other resources.

e. teach the congregation that because they are in Christ, their song is the song of Christ, and so we heed what Paul teaches us in two of the few specific instructions about worship we receive in the NT: “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”. Follow this by introducing Psalm singing in styles that are consistent with the existing way the congregation sings and with the musical vocabulary of the P&W band. These are available from many resources, including, GIA, OCP, and Liturgy Solutions.

f. teach the congregation about the Spiritual songs. what is ‘spiritual’? “Of the Holy Spirit” (according to Norman Nagel). What songs are “of the Holy Spirit”? Easy – the songs elsewhere in the Bible: the Canticles. The Magnificat, for example is a “Spiritual Song”. The liturgy is full of Spiritual songs, and so introduce them to the congregation. Perhaps one a season until they have learned enough Canticles do do a complete Divine Service.

It’s a plan that takes time to implement, but it also a plan that appears to be solid.  The catch is that a congregation has to recognize that it has strayed when it comes to worship.

Only then can the true focus of worship return to where it should be:

on where Christ gives us His cross-born gifts through the Office of the Holy Ministry: the font, the altar, and the pulpit.

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• Liturgy – Response to Forgiveness (exegete77.wordpress.com)
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Palin: Eliminate all energy subsidies

Hmm looks like Wisconsin 8th District Congressman Reid Ribble isn’t the only Republican who thinks all energy subsidies should be on the table.

Seems presumptive Presidential candidate and former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin agrees.

Asked Tuesday whether she supports the federal subsidy of ethanol, an always critical issue in the presidential nominating cycle, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went one step further and called for the elimination of all energy subsidies.

“I think that all of our energy subsidies need to be relooked at today and eliminated,” Palin told RCP during a quick stop at a coffee shop in this picturesque town tucked into the south-central Pennsylvania countryside. “And we need to make sure that we’re investing and allowing our businesses to invest in reliable energy products right now that aren’t going to necessitate subsidies because, bottom line, we can’t afford it.”

…

“We’ve got to allow the free market to dictate what’s most efficient and economical for our nation’s economy. No, at this time, our country can’t afford the subsidies. Before, though, we even start arguing about some of these domestic subsidies that need to be eliminated — should be — we need to look at ending subsidies and loans to foreign countries and their energy production that we’re relying on, like Brazil.”

Related articles

• Sarah Palin wants to terminate all energy subsidies, including ethanol – Los Angeles Times (news.google.com)
• Palin: End all energy subsidies (politico.com)

GAB delays …

when it comes to reviewing the recall petitions against Democrat State Senators.

GAB announced on Friday that it would need to delay consideration of petitions against Democratic Sens. Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie, Jim Holperin of Conover and Dave Hansen of Green Bay because election staff needed more time to review the Democratic challenges to the petitions. Staff Counsel Shane Falk said staff worked significant overtime during the holiday weekend to complete their review of the Darling petition before focusing on the petitions targeting Democrats, which had more complex legal issues.
…

The board proceeded after GAB director Kevin Kennedy recommended they move forward with the petitions against GOP senators. Kennedy said the move would provide a fuller record when they ask a circuit court for an extension on the remaining three petitions.

The result at least from a public relations standpoint, is a look of partisanship and bias.

Eric McLeod, attorney for the conservative petitioners, said the board was in violation of a court order to finish their review of those petitions by June 3. He said that the board either needed to adjourn without considering the three petitions against the GOP senators or to consider the petitions against Democrats as planned.

“This is simply unacceptable,” McLeod said. “The GAB is designed to be a non-partisan agency and any implication of partisan bias in the work that it does should be of great concern to the members of this board.”

It also led to a call by organizers of the recalls against the Democrat State Senators for the head of Government Accountability Board to resign.

This move angered residents attached to the efforts to recall Democratic senators David Hansen of Green Bay, Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie and Jim Holperin of Conover, prompting them to call for Kennedy’s resignation Tuesday.

But it’s not only the decision to postpone the vote that has some residents angry. They’re also upset the delay could bump back the recall election date for Democratic senators.

…

Orville Seymer, director of field operations for the Milwaukee-based Citizens Responsible for Government, or CRG, Network, said the GAB’s actions are unfairly and purposefully affecting the momentum of each party heading into the recall election dates — the Democrats in a positive way; the Republicans in a negative way.

The CRG Network is a conservative-leaning grassroots organization involved in, among other things, recalling Democratic senators who fled the state in an attempt to prevent the necessary quorum for the Senate to vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining bill.

“It is a big concern that the recall elections for the Democratic senators could be held after July 12,” Seymer said. “It all goes back to momentum.”

Dan Hunt, a Pleasant Prairie resident who led the recall effort against Wirch, agreed two election dates would not bode well for Republicans.

“I thought they (GAB staff) were non-partisan,” Hunt said. “But this proves they are not.”

Kennedy scoffed at the criticism.

“We are the referees,” Kennedy said. “The referees in any situation are going to be criticized…that comes with the territory. The board simply said ‘We recognize that there are political sensitivities.’ But they also recognized that the staff approached this in an unbiased and non-partisan manner, as they are charged by statute and as is the way they have exhibited themselves.”

The only problem is with Kennedy’s explanation is that it doesn’t pass the smell test.

Related articles

• Uh oh: Wisconsin board ratifies six recall elections against GOP – but delays ruling on Dems (hotair.com)
• Wisconsin: State Panel Delays Certification of Recalls Against Dem Senators, Citing Fraud Allegations (news.firedoglake.com)

Kloppenburg concedes!

In a move that likely surprised many, State Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg announced today that she will not challenge the April 5 election results in court.

Kloppenburg made the concession at a Madison news conference just more than a week after the state’s Government Accountability Board reported that the final count showed Prosser with 7,006 more votes – a thin margin but one unlikely to change. She said she had called Prosser on Tuesday morning to congratulate him and say she would not seek to challenge his victory in court.

“It would serve no purpose to bring a suit with insufficient legal basis. That is not the kind of lawyer that I am,” Kloppenburg said.

So almost two months after the election it can be said that incumbent State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser has run re-election to another ten-year term.

Kloppenburg said flatly Tuesday that “David Prosser has won this election.” She said she had made her decisions first to seek the recount and then to concede without consulting with union leaders or anyone else outside of close confidants.

In doing so, she said she had never considered seeking to delay Prosser from taking office or considered the court’s cases, which could include a legal challenge to Walker’s union bargaining bill.

Congratulations Justice Prosser!

Related articles

• Kloppenburg Concedes (freedomeden.blogspot.com)
• Breaking: Kloppenburg concedes (hotair.com)
• Wis. Supreme Court challenger concedes defeat (seattletimes.nwsource.com)