Doctrine

What is happening when we celebrate the Lord's Supper? Is Jesus inviting us to His table, to dine upon food that He's providing, or do we initiate the meal ourselves, retracing important events of that evening as a reminder to ourselves of what we intend to do? Are the powers involved in the Lord's Supper comprehensible by the human mind, or are they beyond us? Who is really bringing the word to the element, and when does this happen?

A number of fellow ELS pastors and I have been troubled by certain practices and the underlying doctrine that we have observed among conservative Lutherans. Instead of arguing about what has been said or done, I'd like to have a discussion about the doctrine, as we find it originally in holy scripture and also in our Lutheran confessions.

Last week I was on my way to Portland, and settled on a talk radio station where the dominating theme is liberal politics. At one point, someone was ranting against the usual things, like "corporate" interests and the death of mother earth. Amongst all that, she said something that interested me. She said that people need to wake up and smell the risk of theocracy.