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August Workshop on Adult Faith Formation

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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
Leaders: Dr. Kent Burreson and Dr. Rhoda Schuler

In this video, Dr. Kent Burreson speaks about our upcoming workshop at Faith Lutheran Church in Huntsville, Texas. We are excited to have the opportunity to meet in person with pastors on the topic of adult faith formation.

To register for the workshop, click here:
https://concordiasem.regfox.com/prof-insights-2022-burresonschuler-in-huntsville-tx

 

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Image: Baptismal Pool at Deir Semaan, the Monastery of St. Simeon Stylites, 5th century
Location: NW of Aleppo, Syria
Photo by Rhoda Schuler, 2006

Council of Nicea

Rich Ritual: Forming What We Believe

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Since Kent completed the “Ritual Journey” series in May, we’re now offering a series of videos from our first virtual conference on adult faith formation (way back in October 2020) that explores the power of ritual in daily life and the Christian tradition. These excerpts are from our address to open the conference, titled “Treasures Old and New: Putting Vintage Wine in New Wineskins.” The section on ritual in this address was introduced with these words: “Researchers bring their own biases to their work, and … we [Kent & Rhoda] confess that ritual is a ‘beverage of choice’ for both of us.  Ritual studies make some sweeping claims about the power of ritual; I’ll share a few.” This video begins with our first claim: “Ritual has the power to shape what people believe.” Since we’ve just celebrated the Feast of the Holy Trinity this past Sunday, this example from history is appropriate to that feast day. This excerpt is about 2 minutes long.

Rituals

 

Image:  First Council of Nicaea

Baptism

Rich Ritual: Creating Identity and Forming Community

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Since Kent completed the “Ritual Journey” series earlier this month, we’re now starting a series of videos from our first virtual conference on adult faith formation (way back in October 2020) that will explore the power of ritual in daily life and the Christian tradition. These excerpts are from our opening address at the conference, titled “Treasures Old and New: Putting Vintage Wine in New Wineskins.” The section on ritual in this address was introduced with these words: “Researchers bring their own biases to their work, and … we [Kent & Rhoda] confess that ritual is a ‘beverage of choice’ for both of us. Ritual studies make some sweeping claims about the power of ritual; I’ll share a few.” This video begins with third claim: Ritual creates identity as it forms people into community. This excerpt is about 3 minutes long.

Image: Baptism at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois; used with permission.

Christ the Center

Christ at the Center

This week’s excerpt from the virtual conference held in June 2021, Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving , again features the Rev. Dr. Scott Bruzek, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois, in conversation with the Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, The Bronx, New York.

Dr. Bruzek begins by contrasting the shared liturgical traditions of their respective congregations with their very different contexts. Dr. Taylor, after a concrete example of love through listening and an excursus on “hat theology,” replies that Christ, who embodies the love of the Father, is the center of parish life in both congregations.

If you have enjoyed the recent video excerpts, savor this one. If you have missed the written blogs about rituals, you can anticipate the return of that genre next week.

This excerpt is about 7 minutes long.

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About the Image:

prodigal

Our Heavenly Father Wants All His Children Home Again

This video excerpt features the Rev. Dr. Scott Bruzek, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois, in conversation with the Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, The Bronx, New York, at the virtual conference held in June 2021, Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving. Their conversation, in which they discussed formation through liturgy and community in their respective congregations, is rich with wisdom.

This excerpt begins with a question posed by me, the moderator, about how each congregation is an inviting community. Pastor Bruzek responds first with the allusion to the Prodigal Son (“Our heavenly Father wants all his children home again”). Pastor Taylor picks up on the Prodigal Son language as well, reminding us that “we [Christians] all know what it is to feel loved.” For those who do not, the community can become the place where those who feel unloved have their “minds transformed” by the loving embrace of the community. This excerpt is about 6 minutes long.

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About the Image, Return of the Prodigal Son

  • Artist: Eddie Nyagweta, Independent Sculptor, Zimbabwe
  • Location: Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park, Cumberland, Ontario, Canada
  • Attribution of photo (cropped for use here): Dmitri Lytov, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
  • https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Humanics_29.jpg
PeterPaul resized

Jesus’s Preaching and Teaching: Model for Apostles and All Preachers

This video excerpt features Reverend Timothy Droegemueller, pastor of Living Faith Lutheran Church, Cumming, Georgia. Pastor Droegemueller, in conversation with Reverend Daniel Eggold, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Lafayette, Indiana, presented at the virtual conference held in June 2021, Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving. Their conversation, in which they discussed their practices of preaching and teaching, was titled “Faith That Comes through Hearing: Teaching and Preaching Christ.”

In this excerpt Pastor Droegemueller discusses what differentiates Jesus’s preaching from his teaching. The former is a “good report” (“not a Bible study”). Jesus’s teaching method is “to go into the gold mine of Scripture,” and then test the Twelve “with questions and answers.”  Both are ways of “sounding down through the ears.”

As Pastor Dreogemueller says, the Apostles preach and teach this way as well. What better time to highlight teaching and preaching than these days between two major feasts of Apostles—celebrated across denominational lines—the Confession of Peter (January 18) and the Conversion of Paul (January 25). The excerpt is about four minutes long and worth watching for Pastor Droegemueller’s down-to-earth conversational style.

Tim


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About the Image: Icon of Saints Peter and Paul

  • Artist: Konstantinos Paleokapas
  • Date: 1640
  • Location: Karakallou Monastery Mount Athos, Greece

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Konstantinos_Paleokapas_Saint_Peter_and_Paul.png

Jesus_Hominum_Salvator_by_Andreas_Ritzos_(Byzantine_museum) new ratio

Baptismal Identity: Dying and Rising

This video excerpt again features Reverend Daniel Eggold, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Lafayette. Pastor Eggold, in conversation with Reverend Timothy Droegemueller, pastor of Living Faith Lutheran Church, Cumming, Georgia, presented at the virtual conference held in June 2021, Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving. Their conversation, in which they discussed their practices of preaching and teaching, was titled “Faith That Comes through Hearing: Teaching and Preaching Christ.”

In this excerpt Pastor Eggold speaks of the core question of his preaching: What in us needs to die? With Ash Wednesday less than seven weeks away, we pray that those following our blog may find some inspiration in Pastor Eggold’s wisdom for the coming season of Lent.

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About the Banner Image:

  • Jesus Hominum Salvator by Andreas Ritzos
  • Origin: Island of Crete
  • Creator: Andreas Ritzos
  • Date: 15th century

Depictions of the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Descent into Hell are combined in the initials of the abbreviated Latin inscription I(esus) H(ominum) S(alvator) (Jesus Saviour of Mankind), the emblem of the Franciscans. The Crucifixion is represented in the first two letters. In the letter S are depicted two successive scenes with the Risen Christ: The Anastasis, the Byzantine version of the Descent into Hell with the raising of the dead and the Western version of the Resurrection with Christ triumphant rising from the tomb…. The composition, unknown in either Byzantine or Western iconography, must be a creation of the Cretan artist Andreas Ritzos. This unique and original subject of the I H S is one of the most important examples of Italo-Cretan painting and shows the artist’s familiarity with Western painting, as a result of the conditions prevailing in Venetian-ruled Crete in the 15th century. The icon is, possibly, the one mentioned in 1611 in the will of the noble Andreas Kornaros, who was a member of an old Veneto-Cretan family and a prominent scholar. If the identification of the icon is correct, Andreas Kornaros had bequeathed the icon in an important individual in Venice, emphasizing its importance.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_Hominum_Salvator_by_Andreas_Ritzos_(Byzantine_museum).jpg