The Heart of the Matter
It seems simple enough in retrospect, but it was one of those light-bulb moments this past week, which has made something rather obvious to me now.I had the opportunity to share a pleasant and productive conversation with an older colleague for a couple hours, which dealt generally with worship matters and managed to meander here and there. Personal conversations that actually take place in person have a way of doing that, and it's great. It means that one has the chance to discover things he wasn't even looking for. That was sure enough the case for me on this recent occasion.I've insisted for years now that the so-called "worship wars" are missing the mark in th

Non sum dignus.
This is worth a thousand words of commentary - but I am not up to the task.

The Sermon as Love Song
At the Symposium on Catechesis this past June in Sussex, Wisconsin, the Rev. Dr. Richard Stuckwisch , Gotteseditor, made some observations about what he wanted in the sermons heard by his grown children who are now married and living in other states. I find this to often be the case: Stuckwisch speaks and I think it about it for months.What I remember is that he said he wanted his children in parishes that enjoyed liturgical preaching. I asked him what that meant, what is "liturgical preaching?" He said something like: "Liturgical preaching is lectionary-based, tied closely to the church year, and aware of its surroundings in the lit

Pope Finally Accepts AC VII
Or something like that. Recent news that the Vatican is opening a wide door to Anglicans dissatisfied with the crumbling of historic Christianity in that communion includes this paragraph: Preserving Anglican traditions, such as mass rites, adds to the diversity of the Catholic Church, [CDF head Cardinal Levada] said. "The unity of the church does not require a uniformity that ignores cultural diversity, as the history of Christianity shows," he said. "Moreover, the many diverse traditions present in the Catholic Church today are all rooted in the principle artic

STS Invitation
Today Gottesdienst sent out about 200 sample copies to members of the Society of the Holy Trinity (STS), something we've been meaning to do, and prodded to do, for about the past year. These folks appear to have a deep interest in the Lutheran liturgy, so we figured they really ought to be Gottesdiensters like us.So if you are a member of the STS, you can expect your free copy to arrive sometime in the next two or three weeks (Standard mail often takes that long), with an invitation to subscribe.Anyone else interested in becoming a Gottesdienster? Don't feel left out! Request your copy