Congratulations. I know it hasn't actually been easy for you to stay in the battle either, with the serious blows Satan dealt early on. Oh, Satan loves using the church to do his dirty work. Keep up the good work. Din Bror i Kristus
Congratulations on five years in the OHM. Your good ministry extends well beyond Gretna. This blog has been a light and a blessing to me and many others.
Hey Larry, Congrats! Made it longer than me. I have had to start over. :)
On another note: I saw something curious in these pics. Before being ordained into the orders of the LCMS you were wearing a stole, but doing so as an ordained deacon would. When would you consider our diaconal ordination in the LCMS to have taken place? (Or am I missing the symbolism?) I hadn't heard of anyone in the LCMS, as a seminarian being ordained into the office, wearing a stole like a deacon before being ordained.
There have been a few of us in the LCMS who were ordered as "male deaconesses." Contrary to LCMS conventional wisdom, diaconal service and works of mercy are not off-limits to men. I consider them to be integral aspects of the pastoral ministry, and I believe it would be a good and fitting thing if we, as do several of the churches with which we share communion, revived the ordained diaconate - both apart from, and on the way to, priestly ordination.
Peter Marth and I were diaconally ordered when we were installed as "vicars."
Deacons Muehlenbruch and Gaba were ordered into the diaconate apart from serving as "vicars."
I filled in once at a congregation where the "elders" were styled "deacons" and vested as such. How they were ordered (or if they were ordered) I don't know.
I was ordered into the diaconate on Aug 3, and it will be six years ago next month.
Thank you. Satan has attacked all of us for sure - lay and clergy. He continues to lurk and stalk, but our Shepherd beats back his assaults, Deo gratias!
Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteI know it hasn't actually been easy for you to stay in the battle either, with the serious blows Satan dealt early on. Oh, Satan loves using the church to do his dirty work.
Keep up the good work.
Din Bror i Kristus
Congratulations on five years in the OHM. Your good ministry extends well beyond Gretna. This blog has been a light and a blessing to me and many others.
ReplyDeleteHey Larry,
ReplyDeleteCongrats! Made it longer than me. I have had to start over. :)
On another note: I saw something curious in these pics. Before being ordained into the orders of the LCMS you were wearing a stole, but doing so as an ordained deacon would. When would you consider our diaconal ordination in the LCMS to have taken place? (Or am I missing the symbolism?) I hadn't heard of anyone in the LCMS, as a seminarian being ordained into the office, wearing a stole like a deacon before being ordained.
Dear Bryce:
ReplyDeleteThanks.
There have been a few of us in the LCMS who were ordered as "male deaconesses." Contrary to LCMS conventional wisdom, diaconal service and works of mercy are not off-limits to men. I consider them to be integral aspects of the pastoral ministry, and I believe it would be a good and fitting thing if we, as do several of the churches with which we share communion, revived the ordained diaconate - both apart from, and on the way to, priestly ordination.
Peter Marth and I were diaconally ordered when we were installed as "vicars."
Deacons Muehlenbruch and Gaba were ordered into the diaconate apart from serving as "vicars."
I filled in once at a congregation where the "elders" were styled "deacons" and vested as such. How they were ordered (or if they were ordered) I don't know.
I was ordered into the diaconate on Aug 3, and it will be six years ago next month.
Dear Bror:
ReplyDeleteThank you. Satan has attacked all of us for sure - lay and clergy. He continues to lurk and stalk, but our Shepherd beats back his assaults, Deo gratias!
Dear Past Elder:
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. It would be a great pleasure for you to visit Gretna some time.