Article on which the Church Stands or Falls

The Article on which the Church Stands or Falls By Karl Wyneken Matthew Harrison, recently elected president of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, foresees big things ahead for his denomination, thanks to the unrest in Christendom being created by one hotly debated issue. The issue is homosexuality, resulting in discord and division in some denominations that…
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Quietism in Missouri

By Arthur Simon Thanks to my father, I became aware at an early age of the reluctance within the LCMS to question the status quo regarding social justice. The scandal of racial prejudice and segregation within both church and nation were special concerns of my parents. Then when my brother Paul was first elected to…
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The Remnant

By Robert Schmidt The election of Matt Harrison and his conservative comrades have left LCMS moderates concerned about the future of the Synod and their place in it. Conversations are resuming with the Wisconsin Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Opposition to gay marriage and clergy are put forward as defining issues for the church…
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Naming the Devils

By Robert Schmidt Tho’ devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us We tremble not, we fear no ill, they shall not overpower us. This world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as he will, He can harm us none, He judged; the deed is done; One little word can fell him.  …
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God’s Gifting

By Carol Schmidt The following is a sermon by LCMS pastor, Stephanie Zimmerman. She is perhaps your great-granddaughter, or a young woman who is presently studying at one of the Concordias. She is an ordained LCMS pastor who is preaching on some future Pentecost Sunday. And this is one of many such sermons being preached…
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On Jon Nelson

Submitted by Robert Schmidt FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES When Jon and Juni Nelson celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, they amended their wedding vows with this caveat: “Whoever leaves the marriage first has to take all the children.” All 14 of them. The last time the Rev. Nelson, a longtime civil-rights and peace protester, was arrested, his…
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Lutheranism

By F. Dean Lueking In an unguarded moment recently I agreed to write this article on a subject of no small scope. Unguarded, I say, because I’m writing this piece by the seat of my pants while out of the country and away from needed resources for references and documentation. Of necessity, then, I must…
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Fear

By David Domsch Lutherans have a long and complex relationship with fear.  Luther was famously fearful as a young man – fearing that no matter how hard he tried, he could never be sure that he was living up to what God expected of him. In a very real sense, the Reformation is a direct result…
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Remembering Wayne Saffen

By Eugene Brueggemann Wayne Saffen is one of those unsung heroes in a lost cause whose contribution to that cause was worthy of note. The lost cause was defending the Missouri Synod and its St. Louis seminary from the swarm of cultural and theological conservatives who triumphed at the Denver convention in 1973. He was…
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Graham-Dixon’s Caravaggio (Review Article)

By Matthew Becker This past year marked the 400th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest painters of all time, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), not to be confused with the person whom Caravaggio sought to surpass in artistic greatness, namely, the more well-known Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). While I had learned of Caravaggio…
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