The convention's opening day of floor business adopted eleven items and defeated none, most by voice or by ninety-plus percent. The single real fight was over the Commission on Worship.
Following the motions for Omnibus A and Omnibus B, there were approximately ten amendments offered to pull one or another overture out of the omnibus resolution Some of these overtures were conservative in nature, others liberal, and others neither. It was pointed out by the parlimentarian that no discussion was allowed for such motions. Each individual motion was then defeated by a 4-to-1 to 3-to1 margin. Finally, for each omnibus resolution, someone called the question and there was a chorus of "Second"s.
The prevailing mood among the delegates appear to be one of avoiding adding more resolutions to the agenda. There was even a call to shorten the number of seconds a delegate was allowed to press the button to vote, which Chairman Harrison said would be done in the following days.
I noted that (the reluctance of the floor to even come close to pulling resolutions out of Omnibus — esp. B — purgatory) as well. I’m not sure exactly why/what motivates the floor to be reluctant, but there is a time/reality distortion that can happen on the floor (likely born in no small part from the stress that comes with anticipating battles) that feeds into the desire to just get to the next break.
At some level, I attribute it to the bureaucracy’s desire for calm & order (e.g., Pres. Harrison saying the quiet part out loud at one point, when the question on Omnibus B got called & precluded any further efforts at pulling resolutions relating to suffrage back to the floor, resulting in loud clapping by the floor, and Matt’s “clapping inside”…), combined with an agenda that intersperses much fluff, and delegates who aren’t always prepared to do actual business & debate. And let’s not discount the reality that there are actually about 3-4 synods — based on varying levels & views of lex orandi/lex credendi — represented amongst the delegates…
But, at least it’s interesting (and somewhat darkly entertaining) to watch play out…
The mood is clearly tilted to "let's just plow through Today's Business and call as many Resolutions for a final vote as possible to prove our productivity." This year proves more than ever that the Convention format is no longer fit for purpose.
The reinstitution of the commission on worship concerns me quite a bit. Anecdotally, my congregation has still not fully recovered from the transition from TLH to LSB. The liturgical habits of the laypeople have been disrupted. This is not a condemnation of one or another, but an observation that major changes create confusion and divide generations. If the commission exists to promote and perpetuate the best of what we already have then I am all for it.
I am curious, is there any indication as to the composition of the commission and what we should expect from their work?
I wonder if the composition of the commission is going to be the next battleground. Oversight into what is happening in the synod's Sunday morning services is clearly needed. Things have moved so far from what used to be the norm. When one lives in a large metropolitan area and can only find a few churches that use even the historic liturgy, there is clearly a problem.
That would at least be more honest than using other issues as a proxy! I heard that President Harrison will be deciding mostly who is going on the commission, so it might not be too bad,
If there is a new Commission on Worship, I sure hope the people on it are faithful, Confessional Lutherans, who understand our doctrine and are willing to work to do something about all the perversions of our doctrine in worship music in LCMS congregations all over our USA.
If anyone can provide a good argument that the following lyrics are perfectly confessional, then I will change my mind about this particular example, but my impression of it is that it is pure decision theology. I thought the reason I trust in God is because Jesus lived, died and rose to save me from my sins, and He gave me His gift of faith through the work of the Holy Spirit, not because I sought the Lord and it seems like he heard, and he answered, but hey, what do I know? If these lyrics are decision theology, the problem is this is being drilled into the heads of young and old in at least one LCMS congregation in the Pacific Southwest District, and that District President has no concern about this.
Pastor Kind’s publication looks like a good resource. If only more LCMS Pastors were interested in these type of worship resources, but the truth is, most of them in our geographic region would not even consider making use of this publication, or encouraging the people under their spiritual care to do so. In fact, many of them would go out of their way to avoid it.
Following the motions for Omnibus A and Omnibus B, there were approximately ten amendments offered to pull one or another overture out of the omnibus resolution Some of these overtures were conservative in nature, others liberal, and others neither. It was pointed out by the parlimentarian that no discussion was allowed for such motions. Each individual motion was then defeated by a 4-to-1 to 3-to1 margin. Finally, for each omnibus resolution, someone called the question and there was a chorus of "Second"s.
The prevailing mood among the delegates appear to be one of avoiding adding more resolutions to the agenda. There was even a call to shorten the number of seconds a delegate was allowed to press the button to vote, which Chairman Harrison said would be done in the following days.
I noted that (the reluctance of the floor to even come close to pulling resolutions out of Omnibus — esp. B — purgatory) as well. I’m not sure exactly why/what motivates the floor to be reluctant, but there is a time/reality distortion that can happen on the floor (likely born in no small part from the stress that comes with anticipating battles) that feeds into the desire to just get to the next break.
At some level, I attribute it to the bureaucracy’s desire for calm & order (e.g., Pres. Harrison saying the quiet part out loud at one point, when the question on Omnibus B got called & precluded any further efforts at pulling resolutions relating to suffrage back to the floor, resulting in loud clapping by the floor, and Matt’s “clapping inside”…), combined with an agenda that intersperses much fluff, and delegates who aren’t always prepared to do actual business & debate. And let’s not discount the reality that there are actually about 3-4 synods — based on varying levels & views of lex orandi/lex credendi — represented amongst the delegates…
But, at least it’s interesting (and somewhat darkly entertaining) to watch play out…
The mood is clearly tilted to "let's just plow through Today's Business and call as many Resolutions for a final vote as possible to prove our productivity." This year proves more than ever that the Convention format is no longer fit for purpose.
The reinstitution of the commission on worship concerns me quite a bit. Anecdotally, my congregation has still not fully recovered from the transition from TLH to LSB. The liturgical habits of the laypeople have been disrupted. This is not a condemnation of one or another, but an observation that major changes create confusion and divide generations. If the commission exists to promote and perpetuate the best of what we already have then I am all for it.
I am curious, is there any indication as to the composition of the commission and what we should expect from their work?
The LCMS devotion to musical civil wars is on another level. Another new hymnal is an extravagance at this point.
I wonder if the composition of the commission is going to be the next battleground. Oversight into what is happening in the synod's Sunday morning services is clearly needed. Things have moved so far from what used to be the norm. When one lives in a large metropolitan area and can only find a few churches that use even the historic liturgy, there is clearly a problem.
That would at least be more honest than using other issues as a proxy! I heard that President Harrison will be deciding mostly who is going on the commission, so it might not be too bad,
If there is a new Commission on Worship, I sure hope the people on it are faithful, Confessional Lutherans, who understand our doctrine and are willing to work to do something about all the perversions of our doctrine in worship music in LCMS congregations all over our USA.
If anyone can provide a good argument that the following lyrics are perfectly confessional, then I will change my mind about this particular example, but my impression of it is that it is pure decision theology. I thought the reason I trust in God is because Jesus lived, died and rose to save me from my sins, and He gave me His gift of faith through the work of the Holy Spirit, not because I sought the Lord and it seems like he heard, and he answered, but hey, what do I know? If these lyrics are decision theology, the problem is this is being drilled into the heads of young and old in at least one LCMS congregation in the Pacific Southwest District, and that District President has no concern about this.
“I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.
That’s why I trust Him.
That’s why I trust Him.
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.
That’s why I trust Him.
That’s why I trust in God….”
Here's one of Pastor Kind's projects that I use and have benefited from:
https://lutheranbreviary.wordpress.com/
Pastor Kind’s publication looks like a good resource. If only more LCMS Pastors were interested in these type of worship resources, but the truth is, most of them in our geographic region would not even consider making use of this publication, or encouraging the people under their spiritual care to do so. In fact, many of them would go out of their way to avoid it.
Is this in LSB or some other worship supplement that your church uses?