Luther the Musician
More good stuff…
From a recent column by UPI’s always informative Uwe Siemon-Netto:
Just in time for the new church year, which will begin this coming Sunday, the first Advent, the traditionalist party in America’s worship war has introduced a new gun against modernist insurgents.
This is a great article about the new 4-CD compendium of Luther’s musical compositions, from CPH. Anytime I can read an article written by Dr. Siemon-Netto, in which he writes about Luther and quotes Rev. Paul McCain, I’m a happy camper!
The Rev. Paul McCain, interim president of the publishing house, proposes comparing this light religious fare with the heavy-duty caliber of, say, “Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice,” the first congregational hymn Luther ever penned.
This paragraph alone makes me want to run right out & get the CD set! Music with theological heft & substance — no 7-11 “praise choruses” need apply!
I’m looking forward to getting a copy of this set soon, and I encourage you to pick one up as soon as you can.
Also, props to Beggars All, for bringing this to my attention.
-ghp
Pure Word and Sacrament
One charge that often gets leveled at orthodox Lutherans is that we are obsessed with doctrinal purity. Usually, this is paired with the strawman that is the false dichotomy between doctrine and mission. This false dichotomy really burns my toast, as it is so blatantly wrong & disingenuous as to defy reason & belief. How can you have real mission without true, solid, doctrine? You can’t have evangelism without the evangel! But I digress slightly…
The great 20th-century Lutheran theologian, Herman Sasse wrote the following regarding the necessity for pure Word & Sacrament:
“Perhaps the church of coming ages will be the first to understand what service the church of the Lutheran Reformation has performed for the whole of Christendom by this untiring testimony in doctrine and life: The Sacrament can be rightly administered only when the Gospel is purely taught, and the proclamation of the Gospel can remain pure only where Christ’s Sacrament is rightly celebrated. Just as continued celebration of the Sacrament keeps the church’s proclamation from ending up as mere doctrinaire theology, so likewise constant care for pure doctrine must protect the celebration of the Sacrament from sinking into cultic mysticism and magic.
Word and Sacrament, Gospel and Lord’s Supper belong indissolubly together, because Christ the Lord is present in them and throught them builds his church on earth in divine omnipotence and love. This he does neither through the Word alone, nor through the Sacrament alone, but through both together.”
This is good stuff. I thank God that I have been exposed to it and, thus, led by the Spirit to Christ, and ultimately, to the Father.
I found this quote in The Lord Will Answer: A Daily Prayer Catechism, available from Concordia Publishing House. This book is a wonderful resource for daily devotions, as well as for increasing your familiarity with Luther’s Small Catechism. Good for families and individuals. Highly recommended!
-ghp
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