Tag Archives: lutheran

Martin Luther on the Church Fathers on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist

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“Of all the fathers, as many as you can name, not one has ever spoken about the sacrament as these fanatics do. None of them uses such an expression as, ‘It is simply bread and wine,’ or ‘Christ’s body and blood are not present.’ Yet this subject is so frequently discussed by them, it is impossible that they should not at some time have let slip such an expression as, ‘It is simply bread,’ or ‘Not that the body of Christ is physically present,’ or the like, since they are greatly concerned not to mislead the people; actually, they simply proceed to speak as if no one doubted that Christ’s body and blood are present. Certainly among so many fathers and so many writings a negative argument should have turned up at least once, as happens in other articles; but actually they all stand uniformly and consistently on the affirmative side.”

-Martin Luther

Two ELCA Lutherans Join the Church!

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Being ex-ELCA myself, it pleases me greatly to hear of other converts.

" In August, The Layman Online published a story about a warning by Carl E. Braaten, one of the nation’s leading Lutheran theologians, to the president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America."

"In the article, ‘Leading Lutheran scholar: ELCA’s liberal drift causing ‘brain drain’ from denomination,’ Braaten lamented the exodus of Lutheran scholars and ministers from the mainline Lutheran denomination to the Roman Catholic Church. He expressed his dismay over the direction the ELCA in strong words, including ‘heresy,’ ‘pious piffle,’ and ’empty body.’ He warned that the denomination was on a ‘trajectory that leads to rank antinomianism.’"

"Braattan said his departed colleagues were ‘convinced that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has become just another liberal protestant denomination. Hence, they have decided that they can no longer be a part of that. Especially, they say, they are not willing to raise their children in a church that they believe has lost its moorings in the great tradition of evangelical (small e) and catholic (small c) orthodoxy (small o), which was at the heart of Luther’s reformatory teaching and the Lutheran Confessional Writings. They are saying that the Roman Catholic Church is now more hospitable to confessional Lutheran teaching than the church in which they were baptized and confirmed. Can this possibly be true?’"

"On Oct. 9, the Rev. Tom McMichael of Hope Lutheran Church in Lynden, Wash., cited similar reasons for his resignation from the ELCA to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. ‘

"On October 9th, Pastor Tom McMichael resigned his ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, after seventeen years of ordained service. He and his wife will soon enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. Here is the letter he sent to his congregation. Please keep Pastor McMichael, his family, and Hope Lutheran Church in your prayers."

Catholic and Lutherans in Communion?!

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The pastor of my sister’s ELCA church said in a sermon that very recently an agreement
was reached between the RCC and ELCA allowing members of each to share each other’s
communion. I haven’t heard of any such thing. Have any of you? Have I missed the
biggest ecumenical news story of the year somehow? A Google search seems to confirm
my immediate suspicion that the pastor is grossly misinformed. Can anybody shed
more light on this?

The Posting Heard Round the World

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Five hundred years before a post on a blog could have national and global impact,
Martin Luther made a primitive posting on a door. The Church has been reeling from
this event’s consequences ever since.

Recently, someone suggested to me that Luther was only asked by the pope to recant
48 of his 95 theses. Does anybody know if this is true? If so, which theses were
acceptable and which were not? I wonder how events might have played out if Luther
had chosen to be less defiant.