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.

Ah, they arrived today. I wondered if CPH would remember my order from some time last summer. They did.

Two copies of the second edition of Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. They are wonderful. Now I have a copy to read at both churches and at home.

Now, I thought the first edition was good, and I hope CPH didn't lose track of me as a purchaser. It's possible my copy was part of a group order for members at Grace, so I may have to request that the "update" materials be sent to my new address. But at least I already have the second edition to enjoy.

I've read some of the introductory material. Two thumbs up so far. The timeline will be more fun to read than you might think. I noticed something about the first known batch of scotch made in Scotland. That was included only for reference and interest, I'm sure. It scores both ways.

What I'd really like to do is dive into the 52-week, daily reading schedule. It's really just Monday through Friday, not daily. That leaves me with extra time to write blog posts about the week's readings. I intend to do that on the church blog, Confession and Life so that the posts might be used in our printed newsletter too. I will welcome comments and cross-blog chatter on these topics. If anyone else would like to join in on the same reading schedule (beginning Monday), it could be the basis for some good doctrinal discussion.