Synod

As it turns out, the two memorials sent in by Bethany and Concordia churches (both of which I serve) are half of the memorials scheduled to be considered by the 2007 convention! Wow. Maybe that means they'll receive some serious consideration. I hope they do.

You may fear the effects of the longer memorial, because it calls for a change in the status of the PMW, as a step toward restoring a God-pleasing spirit to our doctrinal conversation. The change would "demote" the PMW from an adopted statement to a study document. You might fear that this would be the first step in dismissing the PMW altogether. That is not my intention, nor even a necessary outcome, in my opinion.

I wrote a little piece for our church newsletter that bears repeating. It helps to explain why our churches use the historic liturgy, instead of making stuff up as we go along. The reasoning is borne out, in my opinion, by a certain experiment conducted in the subway of Washington D.C. If we were to move away from the historic liturgy, then we ourselves stand to be the biggest losers.