Colleagues, I got my come-uppance this past Sunday. A prominent ELCA pastor introduced me to a friend of his after the Sunday service of the congregation he pastors as: “Ed Schroeder, heresy-hunter.” That was a surprise. [Marie thought she should’ve told him that “‘Gospel-sniffer” was more accurate. By then it was too late. Win some; lose some.] A …
Gnosticism and Legalism
Colleagues, ThTh #423, the posting 2 weeks ago, “Tranquebar Tercentenary Celebration – Ziegenbalg Arrives in India 1706” concluded: “Whether in goatskin [Ziegen-balg] or camelskin [John the Baptist] the real legacy was the same: ‘Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.’” After I shipped it off, I kept thinking about that last sentence. …
A Second Look at the Gospel of Mark—Midway in the Year of Mark
Edward H. Schroeder St. Louis, Missouri The Currents issue that led us into Mark’s Gospel for the 2005–2006 church year (December 2005) did not do full justice, in my opinion, to the Good News—the really “Good” and the really “New”—that Mark wants us to hear as he teases us to follow his opening words: “The beginning of …
The St. Louis Bonhoeffer Conference, July 19-21, 2006
Colleagues, My first thought was to start this post with a different focus. As Hezbollah rockets continue to rain down on Haifa, and the Israelis continue to retaliate throughout Lebanon, I checked a topographical map of Israel and Lebanon to get some clarity. When I zeroed in on Haifa, I got more than I wanted. Haifa is at …
First Lutheran Missionary in India–Arrived 300 years ago (July 9, 1706)
Colleagues “Lutheran Missionary’s Legacy Hailed at Tranquebar Tercentenary Celebrations in India Seminar, International Consultation, Look at Past and Post-Modern Mission Challenges” That was the headline on the press release coming from the Luth. World Federation on Tuesday. Here is the full text. GENEVA, 18 July 2006 (LWI) Tribute was paid to the legacy of the first Protestant missionary …
A Sermon Commending Repentance
Colleagues, “Summertime. And the livin’ is easy.” So goes one of the American classics in George Gershwin’s opera PORGY AND BESS. Well, it really was not “easy” at all in the hardscrabble life of Porgy and Bess alongside Old Man River–even though “the fish were jumpin’ and the cotton was high.” But for this pensioned retiree, white …
Talitha Kumi in the Cuckoo’s Nest
Colleagues, I was asked to be guest preacher on July 2 at an ELCA congregation here in St. Louis. Not because I’m noted for “Fourth-of-July” homilies, but because the pastor, with away-from-home holiday already booked for the nation’s 230th birthday, was desperate to find anybody who would say yes. So I said it. But I didn’t know what …
The Holy Gust on Skid Row–But Hardly a Surprise
Colleagues, Brian Heinrich has been on these cyber-pages before. [Try “Brian” on the Crossings website internal Google engine to see how often.] He’s the “street priest” of the Lutheran Urban Mission Society [LUMS] on the seamy “East Side” [=Skid Row] of Vancouver, British Columbia. Brian’s a native Canadian, Seminex-grad (’83), my Teaching Assistant at that time in …
American Society of Missiology, Annual Meeting 2006
Colleagues, This past weekend for the umpteenth time I was north of Chicago at Techny Towers (RC retreat center) for the annual meeting of the American Society of Missiology [ASM]. I want to tell you about the weekend. There are 400 or so members in the ASM. They span the ecumenical denominational rainbow. The society was consciously crafted …
Cross-winds at Pentecost
Colleagues, All the “paid pastors,” and the intern too, at Bethel Lutheran (St. Louis) were attending our ELCA synod assembly on Pentecost last (June 4). So Sunday service leadership was handed over to two goldie oldie retirees, octogenarian Karl Boehmke (celebrant) and 70-something Ed Schroeder (preacher). We added 40-something Sherman Lee to make a troika, and (while …