PD2 - When Necessary Use Words - Hans Wiersma

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Welcome!The Practice Discipleship Initiative

January

20, 2013

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Introducing…

Dawn TrautmanLutheranLifeCoach.com

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The Practice Discipleship Initiative

ELCA Youth Ministry NetworkThe ELCA & its Youth Gathering

SynodsPartner Organizations

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7 Webinars1.“Faith Formation in a Missional Age”2.“If Necessary, Use Words”3.“Theories of Culture”4.“Working Together in Solidarity”5.“Inculturating the Gospel”6.“Dog Eating Chicken”7.“Going Public”

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Introducing…Dr. Hans WiersmaAugsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesotaaugsburg.edu

If Necessary, Use Words

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“When Necessary, Use Words”?

Verbum Dei Theology for Right Now

a Workshop of the ELCAYMNet Practice Discipleship Initiative

with Hans Wiersma

Augsburg College, Minneapolis MN

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Crypt of St. FrancisAssisi, Italy

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The original St. Francesco Mission (aka Mission Dolores) after the 1906 Quake

Go Niners!

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The Simpsons“Homer the Heretic”

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This will probably get more

play if I say it’s by St. Francis.

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“No brother should preach contrary to the form and regulations of the holy Church unless he has been permitted by his minister … However, all the brothers should preach with their deeds.”

—Rule of St. Francis, 1221 version

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Preach the Gospel at all

times.If necessary, use words?

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What is better? That

I should spend my

time in prayer or

that I should go around preaching?

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1. Backlash against political agenda

2. Later starts

for marriage and family

3. Less need for commun

ity locales

4. More health, wealth, security

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“[The Internet is] a religion destroyer as much as anything else we’ve ever seen—open access to information, the ability to prove your pastors wrong, the overwhelming number of atheists who make their case online…how is that not a force to be reckoned with?”

—Hemant Mehta

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To “outsiders,” the Church is:

• an organized religion with a political agenda

1.judgmental and negative

2.dominated by males and an oppressor of females

3.homophobic4.arrogantly claims that

all other religions are wrong

5.full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

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QuizTime!

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Question 1: According to the Augsburg Confession (art. V, German text), in order that we might obtain justifying faith, what did God do?a. Institutum est ministerium docendi

Evangelii et porrigendi Sacramenta.b. Gott hat das Predigtamt eingesetzt, das

Evangelium und die Sakramente gegeben.c. God instituted the office of preaching, giving

the gospel and the sacraments (English translation).

d. Du, du, liegst mir in Herzen; du, du, liegst mir in Sinn…

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Question 1: According to the Augsburg Confession (art. V, German text), in order that we might obtain justifying faith, what did God do?a. Institutum est ministerium docendi

Evangelii et porrigendi Sacramenta.b. Gott hat das Predigtamt eingesetzt, das

Evangelium und die Sakramente gegeben.c. God instituted the office of preaching, giving

the gospel and the sacraments (English translation).

d. Du, du, liegst mir in Herzen; du, du, liegst mir in Sinn…

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FOR DISCUSSION

Do we need to rethink what the preaching “office” is?

Can “giving the gospel” mean more than Words only, in much the same way that the Sacraments are more than words only?

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Question 2: According to the Augsburg Confession (Art. 6), the faith produced by giving the Gospel is…

a. not yet fully formed.b. needs to be proven by doing good works.c. should yield good fruit or is bound to

produce good fruits.d. irrational, foolish.

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Question 2: According to the Augsburg Confession (Art. 6), the faith produced by giving the Gospel is…

a. not yet fully formed.b. needs to be proven by doing good works.c. should yield good fruit or is bound to

produce good fruits.d. irrational, foolish.

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FOR DISCUSSION

What is the difference between a faith that “should” produce good fruit and a faith that is “bound” to produce good fruit?

(Note: Augsburg Confession, Article Six, makes clear that “good fruit” means “good works.”)

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Question 3: According to Luther’s Large Catechism, “the reason we take such care to preach on the catechism frequently” is

a. to impress it upon our young peopleb. so that it may penetrate deeply into their

mindsc. so that it may remain fixed in their

memoriesd. Wait. What? We’re supposed to preach on

the Catechism frequently?

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Question 3: According to Luther’s Large Catechism, “the reason we take such care to preach on the catechism frequently” is

a. to impress it upon our young peopleb. so that it may penetrate deeply into their

mindsc. so that it may remain fixed in their

memoriesd. Wait. What? We’re supposed to preach on

the Catechism frequently?

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FOR DISCUSSION

•Isn’t it time to proclaim clearly that the Catechism is concerned with more than just what one thinks or says but also what one does?a.Can the same be said of the Catechism’s other sections (Creed, Prayer, Sacraments)?b.By neglecting catechetical preaching, have we truncated the original Lutheran vision for the preaching office and for teaching the gospel?

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Question 4: According to Luther’s Small Catechism, what are believers redeemed and set free for?a. To become Franciscans.b. To belong to Christ.c. To live in Christ’s Kingdom.d. To serve Christ (in ever-lasting

righteousness, innocence, and blessedness).

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Question 4: According to Luther’s Small Catechism, what are believers redeemed and set free for?a. To become Franciscans.b. To belong to Christ.c. To live in Christ’s Kingdom.d. To serve Christ (in ever-lasting

righteousness, innocence, and blessedness).

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FOR DISCUSSION

•Has the Lutheran teaching of justification by faith (or any other teaching of justification) emphasized what believers are saved from or what believers are saved for?a.What kind of changes would you like to see in our pulpits so that the hearers of Lutheran sermons will be taught about “freedom from” as well as “freedom for”?

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Verbum Dei =

Word of God.

What Does This

Mean??

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THESIS ONE

We can learn much from the fake St Francis Quotation. AND we can learn much from the real St. Francis.

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THESIS TWO

If the Lutheran understanding is that good fruit (good works) are bound to follow the faith that results from preaching, perhaps we can also say that “actions that preach” follow “words that preach.”

Furthermore, there is also a way to understand that words that preach follow actions that preach.

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THESIS THREE

We have a great resource for how to live lives that “preach”: it’s called the Small Catechism (esp. the Ten Commandments section).

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THESIS FOUR

Not only should we enhance our understanding of the preached Word, we should also enhance our understanding of the preaching office.

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Be Doers of the Word and not merely hearers.

—James 1:22

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Be Hearers of the Word and not merely doers.

—a Lutheran Take on James 1:22

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Thoughts…Questions…Reflections…

Hans Wiersma Dawn Trautman

Please type your questions or comments into the question box on your screen. We’ll try to

get to as many of them as we can.

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Recording of this Webinar

www.practicediscipleship.org

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Workshops Live at the E

www.elcaymnet.org/extravaganza

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Next Practice Discipleship Webinar

Guest: Dr. Nathan FrambachFrom: Wartburg SeminaryDate: February 3, 2013Time: 3pm Central TimeTopic: “Theories of Culture”

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Next 3rdTuesday ConversationGuest: Dr. Andrew RootDate: February 19, 2013Time: 1pm Central TimeTopic: Taking Theology to Youth Ministry

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Thanks!

January

20, 2013