Soaked, Scrubbed, & Washed in Christ’s Blood
When your pastor says “Amen” at the close of his sermon, are you soaked in Christ’s blood?
Rev. Steven Cholak wrote a blog post for Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary in April 2008 about pastors soaking their flock with Christ’s blood as they preach Christ and the forgiveness of sins. It is a short essay I reread frequently, but recently found that it is no longer available on the seminary blog. Pastor Cholak has graciously given me permission to repost his essay here.
Christ (or lack thereof) in the Sermon
If your church uses the 3-year lectionary from Lutheran Service Book, you heard the gospel lesson from Matthew 13 which began “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.” Alas, sometimes the treasure is so hidden that it doesn’t even really make it into the sermon.
If you are a frequent listener of Issues Etc., you probably have heard Todd Wilken do sermon reviews of the likes of Joel Osteen and Rick Warren and some good Lutheran pastors (with some good sermons). Todd provides a “3 Step Plan” for diagnosing a sermon and adds a bonus 4th Step.
The Hammer of God – The Pastoral Attitude
In my previous post I shared a snippet of the Hammer of God related to the communion liturgy. In the first novella we find a pastor who is maturing in his vocation. Savonius begins as a reluctant academic, but eventually ends with a better understanding of Law and Gospel and how he applies/preaches this to the flock.
Soaked in Christ’s Blood
Over at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary,
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