The Fort Wayne Seminary publication used to be Called to Serve. The lead
article of the October 1999 issue of Life of
the World is now titled, "Called
& Ordained" by Rev. Chad Bird.
The front cover shows what appears to be four seminarians, in chasubles and albs, two
holding candles, one holding an open Bible, and the fourth with properly placed thumbs and
open raised palms reading the Bible from the aisle between the pews.
The purpose of this beautiful 24-page magazine with 30 glossy photographs is to
generate interest from prospective students for the ministry and support for the Seminary.
Why do they think that such a photograph described above or another showing the proper
placement of hands near the communion elements on the altar or another full-page color
shot of the proper grip on a processional cross will attract students to the Seminary?
What is the intended market profile here?
The second paragraph of the lead article states: "Raised eyebrows and wrinkled
foreheads, however, are the characteristic reactions to the suggestion that the office of
the Holy Ministry is also a priestly vocation whose occupants may rightly be called
priests."
According to 1 Peter 2:9 every baptized child is a priest of God. Doesn't that make
every honorable vocation a priestly vocation? However, in order to be a pastor, a
congregation must call a priest of God into the Office of the Ministry. Why has the
emphasis shifted from Seminary graduates seeking calls from congregations to whether or
not the pastors should be called priests? In other words, so what!
If Fort Wayne wants to emphasize the reality of the pastoral office why, not show a
Circuit Counselor running a call meeting as a room full of Voters looks over the names of
the candidates, on one of whom they will confer the pastoral office. Calls don't grow on
trees. They go to qualified candidates with or without chasubles.
The article goes on to compare the Old and the New Testament Priesthood. The first
sentence under "Conclusion" reads: "The priestly character of the New
Testament ministry is rooted in and flows from the priestly office of the One who speaks
and acts through those called and ordained."
I disagree. Christ speaks and acts through the Word and Sacraments regardless of the
faith or faithlessness of the pastor. There has been a shift here from the pastor properly
being an ambassador to an emphasis on the pastor as God's conduit endowed with the
spiritual attributes of the priestly office of the Holy Ministry. Is the author implying
that the pastor receives spiritual gifts when he receives the sacrament of ordination?
President Wenthe correctly defines the problems of consumerism and market driven
manipulation energizing the Church Growth Movement in his opening message. But has Fort
Wayne over-reacted by stressing veiled sacerdotalism as the antidote to Wal-Mart theology.
There is an excellent article in the magazine titled, "The Gospel Ministry in the
Lutheran Confessions." However, stressing that "everything must be done in
love" does not suffice as a substitute for the specific articles of a congregational
constitution.
Their students seem to have the proper grip on the processional cross, the proper
stance in front of the open Bible, and the proper positioning of the hands by the
communion elements. Have they also been instructed on the proper form of an LCMS
congregational constitution and the need for Voter supremacy in all LCMS congregations?
Are they aware of how to deal with the Voters who "called and ordained" them and
the importance of practicing Walther's Church and Ministry in every LCMS
congregation?
Yes, the Church Growth/ PLI barbarians are at the gate. The COP unanimously endorses
and funds Dr. Norbert Oesch's "Pastoral Leadership Institute" without approval
of the LCMS Convention. With this support the COP has laid down its cross and many of its
members are in real danger of eternal damnation. They have traded the work of the Holy
Spirit for the mammon of statistical results in the Church of Christ. The St. Louis
Seminary President has endorsed PLI and has placed his own soul in jeopardy.
Has the chaos at the ramparts caused Fort Wayne to give up Walther's Church and
Ministry and Voter supremacy as the only acceptable polity in the LCMS?
The question is, who does the calling and ordaining and what are the duties of those
called and ordained to the people who called and ordained them? If I have misread their
publication I'm sure Fort Wayne can defend itself by simply saying that Walther's Voter
supremacy is the only polity it endorses and teaches to its students. Such an affirmation
would illuminate the slightest hint of sacerdotalism.