A Lutheran You Should Know

Paul Gerhardt Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676)

Gerhardt wrote 123 German hymns a hundred years after the Reformation, writing lyrics to the music of others. He also translated and set Latin text, giving us “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” (German), one of my favorites. He is regarded as one of Germany’s finest hymn writers and poets.

Gerhardt wrote his music in a spiritual crucible. The Thirty Years War delayed his ordination until 1651, and he made his living as a private tutor. His unwillingness to compromise his faith, rejecting Calvinist double predestination and affirming that Christ died for all people, cost him his job as diaconus (deacon) for over a year. Three of his children died in infancy, and a fourth in childhood. When he lost his wife, all that remained was a six-year-old who was continually sick. Despite his personal disappointments, he remained tender and avoided despondency, taking refuge in his poetry and hymns.

Some of his hymns are listed at Cyberhymnal. More Information can be found at Hymns and Carols of Christmas, Wikipedia, and LCMS Cyclopedia.


On to the Carnival!

False Start Horn+Swoggled starts us off with Carnival Mixup Frustrates Worship Leaders where contemporary worship leaders receive the False Start for teaching kids anything but Jesus. The hijinks continue as “progressive” pastors seek to adapt Todd Wilken’s radio show for the unchurched masses in Too Many Issues, Not Enough Et Cetera?
Illegal Block Mrs. Terrible Swede in Journalistic Jargon throws an Illegal Block flag on herself as she details her feelings that she wasn’t using her God-given gifts. In God’s Good Stewards, she details leaving her newspaper job to use her interpreting skills for church work.
Interference If he had not submitted this himself, I would have posted it anyway. Pastor Peterson discusses Pious Words on his Cyberstones blog. With a long string of comments he discusses the Interference involved when words with evil connotations are used to describe good things.
Holding Brian Braatz: Nonpareil (link dead) reports the holding of cats above humans by university students in “Meow”. They are cute cats. :)
Encroachment “Centering Prayer”, a practice once reserved for Buddhists, is encroaching upon the world of Christianity. In Praying Off Center, Pastor Stiegemeyer of The Burr in the Burgh and Issues, Etc. (See July 27) fame reminds us of the dangers of seeking God without the Cross.
No Score The Terrible Swede posts The Beichtspiegel - An Original Lutheran Tradition. This Mirror for Confession really takes the heart to task. The text by Martin Luther shows even the most pious human that he or she is still a sinner in this world and earns no points with God. Such knowledge lends perspective as to the magnitude of forgiveness in Christ.
Safety Vicar Lehmann at Drowning Myself Whenever I Can offers us an Audio Carnival Double. His sermon for Trinity 25 was broadcast on KFUO-AM. In addition, he offers a meditation of Hobbits and Judeans-good writing.
Time In Kelly of Kelly’s Blog gives us pictures and details of her church’s Reformation Party and the Morden Craft show in Manitoba. It seems the Mennonites were quite surprised at her liturgical artwork!
Too Many Players Attending a Wednesday service some time back, I saw my first service performed by a Lay Minister. I question the practice, as it seems to counter the Confessions. Discussion has been both quia and non-quia. :) On a lighter note, Pastor McCain announced the CD “Listening to Luther”. I wrote a post containing MP3 samples of the six hymns of the catechism on the CD. Good stuff, the kind that jars one’s memories.
Personal Foul On Aardvark Alley, Pastor O.A. details the Unnecessary Roughness visited upon a sparrow that knocked over some dominoes in The Netherlands and follows it with the Gospel, all in A Sparrow Falls. A Nation Still Gone to the Birds continues the discussion and adds an element of macabre humor involving sparrows as endangered species and Wal-Mart.
Safety For All Saints Day, Theresa arrived at her church in need of grace. She declared her sins, received absolution, was strengthened by the proclamation of the Word, and received forgiveness and strength through Holy Communion. Her pastor offered her A Wedding Story, woven together from scripture. Her blog, Be Strong in the Grace, also reacts to Thomas Morton’s observations about people’s reliance on feeling saved as an indication of whether or not they actually were, in Thomas Merton and me…because it’s all about me!
Too Many Players Random Dan in Random Thoughts of a Confessional Lutheran continues his discussion on Lutheran and Catholic Differences, highlighting things people of either side may not have known.
Reset the Clock In This is my life… and I miss the small stuff, Andrew of God is the Pilot mulls over the opportunities to serve our neighbor that we miss as a result of waiting for a life change, such as college graduation.
Interference In Christian Troubles, Pastor Walter Snyder of Ask the Pastor examines the mistaken impression that becoming a Christian will take away all of a person’s problems. Ask the Pastor also deals with the interrelationship of the Trinity and the implications of the incarnation involving the Son asking that the cup be taken away from Him in Jesus and the Father’s Will.

Drafted!

These posts weren’t submitted, but I drafted them anyway because they were good. These are both first-round picks:

Interference This person may be a menace to society—in a good way. Deaconess Carder writing in Quicunque vult… shares one of her many humorous stories from her classroom in Mississippi. In her entry, Jacob Covers the Crack of Doom, a girl enters the formerly all-boys class, changing the atmosphere in a similar fashion to when girls started working in the oilfield.
Point Scored Already the winner of an Aardie, Whether a psychopath, too, can be saved from Amor Et Labor answers the question in four main schools of Christian thought.

Who’s Next?

Delay of Game The disgruntled world citizen at Full Throttle & an Empty Gas Tank hosts Carnival XII. I had inadvertantly knocked him back two weeks in the schedule.

Thanks to all who contributed!


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