Lutheran Carnival LX

Welcome to Lutheran Carnival LX, bringing you the best (in my humble opinion) posts from the Lutheran blogosphere over the two weeks, as well as commentary and a little-known Lutheran or church father.

Blogging as Vocation

In God at Work by Gene Edward Veith, Jr., the author reminds us that vocation is how God takes care of all his creatures. One interesting point he makes is that the the call of a vocation has two active parties: the person who is serving the call of course, and the employer who makes the call. One can't work unless someone actually has a job opening.

In light of this, is blogging a vocation?

There are certainly enough workers. WordPress.com reports nearly 1.6 million blogs at the time of this writing. Blogger has millions of their own. There are also independently hosted blogs such as NR.

There are enough readers on the internet, but certainly not enough to making blogging a paying vocation. The New York Times has recently made its TimesSelect authors free again. Google Ads cuts its first ad revenue check when a person makes $100. My blog has had ads since April, and I haven't made enough to get a check yet. The price per view just doesn't generate the revenue. Except for the monster blogs that get hundreds of thousands of hits every day, or those bloggers who get hired to write full time, blogging isn't a method where God takes care of the blogger through the provision of income.

Yet there are other ways God takes care of his children through blogs. A blogger writes on topics he thinks is important. Commenters leave their messages in return. They can be merely comments of affirmation or disgust, or they can lead to discussions on their own and provide information. I think we can all say that comment spammers are not fulfilling their vocation.

Some feel that blogging is an exercise in vanity. Possibly, but you aren't the judge of whether your blog is vain. You might actually have something worthwhile to be said. If you think some things must be said but don't have any idea how people might take them, post pseudonymously, at least for a while. See what kind of response you get. You might get support from Hamel, IL, or Emma, MO, or Conroe, TX. You might also get comments from Houston, TX; Williston, ND; or Columbus, OH. Depending on the timing, those all might be just me. Take what you can get. ;)

So blog. Comment. Support the causes of bloggers if it is within your means and desire. Definitely check the Lutheran Carnival site for examples of Biblical and confessional writing. Your visits and your submissions here make this site worthwhile. Don't forget to link to the carnival, either.

For a future Lutheran Carnival, I'd like to request that someone use Claus Harms. Too much of his stuff is in German for me to do it, but he looks like a cool guy. I was surprised C. P. Krauth hasn't been done yet, so here he is:

C. P. Krauth: American Repristinator

Charles Porterfield Krauth was born in 1823 in Martinsburg, Virginia. He attended Gettysburg College and Luther Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in 1841. He served congregations in Maryland, Virginia, the Virgin Islands, and Pennsylvania.

Krauth in 1861 began editing The Lutheran, a theological journal dedicated to restoring the Book of Concord in Christian life. The state of American Lutheranism was such that some of Krauth's teachers in seminary believed the Book of Concord was wrong on the Real Presence and baptismal regeneration. Krauth taught that Lutheran teaching was not merely a break from Roman Catholic doctrine but a return to the first principles of the Word of God.

The repristination of Lutheran doctrine led to a schism in American Lutheranism, in which the churches of the confessional revival left the General Synod. The new General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America founded its own seminary, and Krauth was the first professor of systematic theology.

Krauth wrote the Akron-Galesburg Rule, which established rules of pulpit and altar fellowship. It stated that only Lutheran pastors could occupy the Lutheran pulpit, and only Lutheran communicants could come to the Lord's table in a Lutheran church.

C. P. Krauth died in 1883.

Source: Wikipedia

You can find what Krauth had to say about the role of error in the church here.

Start the Posts!

The Rebellious Pastor's Wife had a late edition to the previous carnival. In The Power of Assumption, RPW reflects on the assumptions that we make about people based on the little amount of time we actually see them. Some of these assumptions can be quite hurtful, and this is why we should take Luther's advice to speak well of our neighbor and explain everything in the kindest way.

In one of the relatively few appropriate uses of the D-word, Pastor Paul Siems at Not Alone wrote, Damn! Why can't I stop? A recurring insurmountable sin can cause use to question the reality of our identity as a child of God. Such "big" sins are really blessings in disguise, for they show us our Sin-Fullness, from which only God can deliver us. Pastor Siem's second post, And Who Is My Neighbor?, uses the Good Samaritan parable to show us what legalism can look like and to show us the Good Neighbor who befriends us all.

Newly installed pastor Jay Winters returns to his blog and gives us another post in his Emerging Lutheran series: Quality of Life. Pastor Winters responds to someone's concerns about why we should be worried about the next life rather than living this life to the fullest. Winters uses Romans and one of the tools in the Lutheran toolbox, "now and not yet," to show us the next life will also be a human life, but a perfect life, for eternity.

The acerbic House, M.Div., laments on Christians who don't read enough Bible to know that the Jewish God is not the same as the Triune God. In Israel is not a country south of Syria, he notes the Jewish rabbis who don't want Christians intruding upon their Feast of Tabernacles.

Aardvark Alley finally introduced another round of bloggers with its BBOV Update: Long-Awaited, Much Anticipated. This cycle of posts also included a number of commemorations, including that of Wenceslaus, Kniže of Bohemia, who's better known by most as the "Good King Wenceslas" of caroling fame.

Mrs. T. Swede has launched a new blog detailing the orthopedic problems she has had with her feet. Beautiful Feet exists to lend comfort to those seeking it. On her older blog, Journalistic Jargon, the kinder, gentler side of the Terrible Swede duo uses her confirmation verse to tell us not to be afraid, "For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Pr. Charles Lehmann offers a discussion and a sermon. In Rhetoric and Preaching, he notes that society has left Aristotle's desire to argue for the truth, whereas today people are trained to argue back and forth for sides. For Sunday, he preaches a sermon on forgiveness and the temptation to perform "spiritual accounting."

Ask the Pastor first commented on the good habit of regularly Updating the Blogroll and referred to some of the benefits all confessional Lutheran bloggers gain when our links are exchanged. From technical, he moved to philosophical and theological, musing upon the question, What's the Use of Lutheran Blogging?

Finally, I offer Citizen as Vocation, in reaction to Dr. Gene Veith's excellent book, God at Work.

Summoned to the Carnival by Third Party

Pastor William Weedon posted a banquet address given by Todd Wilken at the SID Pastoral Conference. Wilken postulates that some of the things we do in church are because we believe the caricatures others make of Lutherans. One of the newer Lutheran bloggers, Pastor Randy Asbury, cites the Wilken address and provides his own comments.

Deaconess Emily Carder delivers a blog entry titled, Commanding Obedience. In it she teaches her kids about the creation of the world. Most intriguing is her assertion that when Christ gives us a command, he also gives us the means to fulfill that command.

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you might appreciate Pastor Rick Stuckwisch's reaction to the Expecto Patronum spell. The cry for help from an external source has Christology hidden in it.

Next Time...

The blog House, M.Div. has dibs on Lutheran Carnival LXI. Pray for mercy. :)