At the end of his book Faith Shaping Ministry, on the basis of Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” Paul Hoffman writes, “Our treasure lies buried deep within the waters of baptism where Jesus himself unites us to a death like his and graciously raises us in a […]
Over the last four class periods, our catechumenate class has had the opportunity to converse with two of the pastors—Pastor Dan Eggold of Grace, Lafayette, IN and Pastor Tim Droegemueller of Living Faith, Cumming GA—who were involved in our catechumenate grants and with Dr. Schuler. The conversations surfaced numerous characteristics that shaped a vision of […]
We will be leading this workshop (in the Prof Insights series sponsored by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) from July 5 – 7 at Concordia University – St. Paul. Registration is open now. From Font to Table: Welcoming the Stranger into Christ and Congregational Life Veteran pastors and commissioned ministers of parish ministry are well aware […]
“Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, by God’s grace, is a praying community of service that receives, teaches, celebrates, and shares Christ Jesus.” That is the mission statement for Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, “on top of the Bronx” in NYC. Redeemer, under the pastoral leadership of Bishop Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor and the diaconal leadership of Deaconess […]
As we proclaim Christ is risen and transition into the joy of the paschal season, so our blog transitions out of our series on the Period of Mystagogy into a five week series of reflection on teaching the catechumenate. I (Kent) have just started a 7 week half-semester course on the adult catechumenate and Christian […]
Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathering in my name, I am there among them” (Matt 18:20). Christians trust these words as we gather week after week, year after year in churches across the planet, in buildings grand and modest; in homes where Christians are few; in open-air, roofed structures in temperate climates. […]
Historically, the post-baptismal period of mystagogy was a time to instruct the newly baptized in the “mysteries,” that is, the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, which the elect/candidates had experienced for the first time at the Easter Vigil. Today’s context, where the full Divine Service is open for all to attend and baptisms occur throughout […]
Our current focus for the weekly blogs is the period of mystagogy, the final stage in the catechumenal process that encompasses the Easter Season when the neophytes—those incorporated into Christ by baptism (and those returning to their baptism through a rite of remembrance) at the Vigil—continue to gather weekly and reflect on ways in which […]
To couch this in the language of George Lindbeck, we in the LCMS are thoroughgoing cognitive-propositionalists. Our catechetical instruction and formation proceeds out of the (often unexamined) assumptions of the Enlightenment that the primary means of formation go through our heads. The catechumenate calls us to give attention to the variety of ways in which […]
Preaching throughout the season of Easter should be mystagogical, especially in a congregation that has a catechumenate. What does that mean? It means that throughout the Easter season the preacher should proclaim the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection of Jesus as seed of the renewal of all creation and the life of the world. […]