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A Conversation with the Co-Authors of “Lay Me in God’s Good Earth”

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This week Rhoda interviews Kent and his other research partner and co-author, Dr. Beth Hoeltke, about their book Lay me in God’s Good Earth. The authors discuss how they got drawn into the topic of natural burial, the Christian lens of the book, and the expansive approach of the book, which encourages pastors and lay Christians to think proactively about end-of-life decisions as well as funeral practices.

To view this four-minute video, you must be logged into a Google account.

In addition to seven chapters, the book includes numerous resources for those interested in exploring the various facets of natural burial:

  • A burial planning guide
  • Cost comparisons for natural burial, conventional burial, and cremation
  • Resources about caring for the body at home and for burying naturally
  • A list of state funeral boards and licensing agencies for the District of Columbia and 48 states; Alaska and Hawaii are listed with “No state funeral board.”

The book is published by IVP; click here to order the book!

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Banner image: Modern mosaic depicting Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene, and other women preparing Jesus’ body for burial as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus look on. Wall mounted inside the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.

Photo by Rhoda Schuler, March 2023.

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“Just doing” Small Group Bible Study

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As promised in last week’s blog, we’re hearing again from Pastor Eggold about the catechetical gatherings of those in adult formation at Grace Lutheran Church; in today’s video he describes the African or Lambeth method of Scripture study in detail.

I confess that after my first exposure to the African/Lambeth method, I was not 100% on board with it; my own preference for Bible study leans academic, toward biblical exegesis that informs my understanding for today by shedding light on a text’s meaning in its original historical context. There seemed to be little room for this more “scholarly” approach to Scripture study in the African/Lambeth practice. But if you listen carefully, you’ll hear the many ways which Pastor Eggold lays an exegetical foundation for the Gospel text before the small group study begins.

This video is six minutes. You must be logged into Google drive to access it.

In case you missed some, let me summarize the ways Dan Eggold lays a firm, Lutheran exegetical foundation:

  • Exposure to the Gospel text before the Washed and Welcomed gatherings
    • On Fridays the church sends out homework that catechumens are expected to do. This single sheet includes space for the catechumens to record questions they had as they read the text, to engage the text with their imagination, reflecting on what they “would … have seen, or heard, or felt?” And to write down “For this week: I want to remember … I want to put my faith into action by …”
    • On Sundays Participants attend worship, hearing the Gospel text read and the Word broken open in Pastor Eggold’s sermon.
    • After worship some also attend the Sunday Bible Class, which deliberately is a lectionary-based study during this part of the church year, taught by Pastor Eggold.
  • During the Washed and Welcomed gatherings, which follows worship and Bible study
    • As the fellowship meal is wrapping up, Pastor Eggold draws on the sermon he preached that morning to “help them make the transition to the small groups.” They hear again what a theologically trained Lutheran pastor has gleaned from the Gospel text.
    • Pastor Eggold writes the questions to which the people respond after the third reading of the text, a question that “is linked to the life of the church,” that calls for a real-life application of the text.

The catechists, as facilitators, keep the participants on track and draw them out in the discussion that follows the readings, silence, and responses. But the primary “teacher” of the faith is Pastor Eggold, whose careful work lays a foundation that is centered in the life, ministry, and saving activity of Jesus Christ.

Danny and Rhoda cyan

The Role of the Catechist: Facilitating Bible Study and Prayer

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I recently had a conversation with Pastor Daniel Eggold about his experience introducing an adult catechumenate at his current parish, Grace Lutheran Church in Lafayette, Indiana. Key to his vision was doing—not talking about—Christian practices. As he said, “Instead of talking about Bible study and the importance of it, we just do it; instead of talking about prayer and the importance prayer, we just do it.”  

Here’s Pastor Eggold describing the catechist as facilitator of the “doing” in the weekly gatherings while he also unfolds the sequence of catechumenal gatherings from early January through Pentecost. This video is under three minutes. You must be logged into Google drive to access it.

In this second video (one and half minutes), Pastor Eggold describes how the catechist prepares the candidates and catechumens to pray for one another.

“It’s incredibly simple,” he says, but not quick. Pastor Eggold reported on the 18-month incubation process:

  • First, he said, he spent about six months reading widely about the topic, both current publications and classic texts.
  • Only after immersing himself in the theology and practice of an adult catechumenate, was he ready to introduce the topic to a small group of members from the congregation.
  • Their enthusiastic response was immediate, but it was another year of working together, training them for various roles, and integrating the catechumenal process with the parish calendar before the adult catechumenate started.

In next week’s blog, Pastor Eggold will explain how the catechists facilitate “just doing” Bible study in their small group.

The King OT NT Adams church

New Resource for Adult Faith Formation through Preaching and Liturgy

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Life in Christ: Rooted, Woven, and Grafted into God’s Story is a new resource from Concordia Publishing House by the Rev. Dr. Adam T. Filipek, pastor of Holy Cross and Immanuel Lutheran Churches in Lidgerwood, North Dakota. In this video, Pastor Filipek speaks about his approach to articulating the Gospel of Jesus Christ—both in the book and in his preaching. He advocates for a narrative approach with an emphasis on typology as way to connect Old Testament stories with the fulfillment of God’s salvation through Christ in the New Testament. Also central to his approach is connecting that story of salvation in Scripture to “the story” of the hearer, so that people in the pew experience the “for me” of the biblical narrative.

In this video of four minutes, Pastor Filipek provides examples of this narrative approach. You must be logged into Google to view the video.

To read some reviews of the book, Life in Christ: Rooted, Woven, and Grafted into God’s Story, and for information on ordering it, click here.

Stained glass window: From Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lidgerwood, ND; for more information on the church’s windows, click here.

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Introducing Ritual to the Hesitant and Suspicious

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Slow Walking Series

Pastor Dan Eggold (to the left of the Pascal Candle in the photo) from Grace Lutheran Church, Lafayette, Indiana discusses some “stealth practices” he has used to introduce ritual at Grace. This video is under five minutes long and worth your time. He begins introducing ritual with the youth confirmation and has now included ritual practices via “baby steps” into their adult faith formation process as well.

You must be logged into Google to view the video.

Remember: you must be logged into Google to view this video.
Remember: you must be logged into Google to view this video.

Sources named by Pastor Eggold in the video:

Welcome to Christ: Lutheran Rites for the Catechumenate (Augsburg Fortress, 1997)

The Lutheran Study Bible (Concordia Publishing House, 2009); https://www.cph.org/p-11334-the-lutheran-study-bible-hardback.aspx?REName=&plk=0&Lk=0&rlk=0

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Delight Rather Than Duty: Transformation of Congregational Culture

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Slow Walking Series

This is the second (of three) video interviews with the Reverend Daniel Eggold, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Lafayette, Indiana. A few weeks ago, Pastor Eggold talked about the three ways in which the adult faith formation process at Grace has transformed his preaching: his sermons are more intimately connected to the biblical text; the sermons connect the text to the vocations of the people of Grace; and his preaching has a greater emphasis on the corporate nature of the church and life of the church, rather than about the life of the individual Christian.

In this week’s video, Pastor Eggold discusses how Washed and Welcomed, as the adult catechumenate is called at Grace Lutheran, has transformed the culture of the congregation. As he says, “we do not need more members; we need more disciples.” Instead of merely handing over a box of offering envelopes to “new members,” new disciples are asked in what way God has gifted them to serve others in the world and at Grace congregation.

This video is five minutes long; you’ll want to watch through end so that you hear one of the best examples of a transformed congregational culture.  Reminder: You must be logged in Google to view it.

Danny
Bible

Surprising Transformation

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Slow Walking Series

Kent and I have written and spoken and quoted others about the transformative power of an adult faith formation process for individuals and for a congregation committed to making such a process central to their mission. In today’s video the Rev. Daniel Eggold, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Lafayette, Indiana, speaks of three ways in which the adult faith formation process in his congregation has transformed a key aspect of his pastoral ministry: preaching.

This video is about five and half minutes long, and the great content far outweighs the poor visual quality of the recording. You must be logged into Google to view it.

Danny

 

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Photo by Leon Brooks

Image from Public domain images website, http://www.public-domain-image.com/full-image/objects-public-domain-images-pictures/books-public-domain-images-pictures/holly-bible-book.jpg.html

This image file is in public domain, not copyrighted, no rights reserved, free for any use, … without the prior written permission and without fee or obligation.

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Life in Christ: The Goal of Narrative Catechesis

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Slow Walking Series

This is part 2 of my video conversation on adult faith formation with the Rev. Dr. Adam Filipek, pastor of Holy Cross and Immanuel Lutheran congregations in Lidgerwood, North Dakota.  In this excerpt, Pastor Filipek references the key scriptural texts emphasizing the presence of God that serve as turning points in the biblical narrative. I quote here from Pastor Filipek’s notes sent to me before our conversation:

 … catechesis is no longer simply “teaching people about Jesus,” … but rather employs a coherent, unified, grand-sweeping biblical narrative of God’s salvific work in Christ, while simultaneously situating and incorporating an individual’s life into the larger context of this ongoing salvific narrative in a way that cultivates a love of the One True God and a desire to dwell here in time: weekly in the Divine Service, and daily in our respective vocations; and there again in eternity: where we “appear with him in glory” and dwell with him forever. In other words, catechesis should “form Christians” to live their lives in Christ.

This video is about five minutes long. You must be logged into a Google account to view it.

Pastor Filipek’s book on adult faith formation, Life in Christ, will be published by CPH in June 2023. We hope to interview him again to discuss his book when it is available.

Narrative Catechesis

You must be logged into a Google account to view this video.

 

Photo: “The King,” one of the windows at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lidgerwood, North Dakota, juxtaposing an Old Testament with New Testament narrative to highlight the presence of God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Artist: Darla Ruger, http://www.sgofargo.com/index.html

Girolamo_Genga_-_St_Augustine_Baptizes_the_Cathechumens_-_WGA08533

“Virtual” Partners with the August Workshop

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Treasures Old and New: A Workshop on Adult Faith Formation

What: A Continuing Education opportunity sponsored by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

When: August 15 to 17, 2022

Where: Faith Lutheran Church, Huntsville, Texas

Cost: $140.00

Registration deadline:  August 1, 2022

For additional details about this workshop, we invite you to watch this video as Kent and Rhoda provide information on the “virtual” pastoral partners, who will share their wisdom via Zoom, and about the contextual nature of an adult faith formation process.  

This video is about four and a half minutes long. Multi-tasking is encouraged, if that’s what it takes for you click and watch/listen!

Reminder: you must be logged in to Google to view this video.
Reminder: you must be logged in to Google to view this video.

 

To register for the workshop, click here:

https://concordiasem.regfox.com/prof-insights-2022-burresonschuler-in-huntsville-tx

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Image: St Augustine Baptizes the Catechumens

Artist: Girolamo Genga (1476-1551)

Location: Accademia Carara di Belle Arti di Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy

Girolamo Genga, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Girolamo_Genga_-_St_Augustine_Baptizes_the_Cathechumens_-_WGA08533.jpg

Missione degli apostoli (parete di sinistra)

Details about the August Workshop

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Treasures Old and New: A Workshop on Adult Faith Formation

What: A Continuing Education opportunity sponsored by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

When: August 15 to 17, 2022

Where: Faith Lutheran Church, Huntsville, Texas

Cost: $140.00

Registration deadline:  August 1, 2022

For more details about the content of this workshop, we invite you to watch this video as Kent and Rhoda describe the stages of an adult catechumenate, its value in this post-Christian age, and details of the interactive and experiential learning for this workshop.

Warning: This video is six and a half minutes long. Multi-tasking is encouraged, if that’s what it takes for you click and watch/listen!

Prof Insights

Reminder: you must be logged into Google to view the video.

 

To register for the workshop, click here:

https://concordiasem.regfox.com/prof-insights-2022-burresonschuler-in-huntsville-tx

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Image: Fresco in Bishop’s chapel located in Cortona, Italy, depicting the mission of the apostles

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