Intrepid Lutherans
A blog by and for Confessional Lutherans of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

  • Daily Prayer and Meditation Resources
    Below is a portion of a pastor's newsletter I just delivered to my congregation. In it, I offer some resources for prayer and meditation at home. The suggested devotional format includes the Daily Lectionary from Lutheran Service Book, and since the Bible readings start over on Ash Wednesday, I thought this was the perfect time to introduce it. The suggested Psalms, however, are my own suggestions, based on the Daily Lectionary and the Psalms assigned for the Sundays in the historic lectionary. The portion of the Small Catechism we're beginning with follows our Sunday School plan, so...

  • Shrove Tuesday
    A Brief History of “Shrove Tuesday”

    Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the last day of what was once called “Shrovetide,” originally a three-day period before the beginning of Lent. Eventually, the previous Thursday through Saturday was added to make a full week.

    The word “shrove,” is from the Anglo-Saxon “to write down,” or “prescribe,” as in to prescribe a particular penance after confession. Shrovetide itself is the English equivalent of what became known in the greater part of Southern Europe, and eventually the Americas, as the “Carnival.” Strangely enough, this word, in spite of wild...

  • Imposition of Ashes
    Dear Christian Friends,

    The Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent marks the beginning of this season of the Church Year. Lent is the Christian's forty-day journey with the Lord to the cross and tomb, preparing for the joyous celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. The forty days are reminiscent of several biblical events: Moses' stay on Mt. Sinai at the giving of the law, Elijah's fast on his way to the mountain of God, and Jesus' forty-day fast at the beginning of His ministry, among others. The forty days are counted backward from Resurrection Sunday. Since all regular Sunday worship...

  • LCMS President Matt Harrison before a U.S. House Committee hearing today
    I can't speak highly enough about President Harrison's words today before a House committee (with several hostile voices on it) regarding the recent HHS Mandate. Below is the best video of the speech I have available at the moment. His entire performance over the course of the meeting was stellar. Thank God for him. It's a good day to be Lutheran, whether WELS or LCMS.

    Here's the link to Youtube.

     

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    Dear Reader, while many have declared resonance with us, many more are still considering it. We invite you to Stand With...

  • A refreshing church growth strategy: Get smaller and die
    One of our readers kindly referred us to this stimulating article in the Huffington Post from a few months back.

    From the article, If pressed about my church's growth strategy, I usually say it is to get smaller and die; to continually decrease the amount of time, resources and energy we spend trying to have the ultimate church experience, and to spend more time actually being faithful. Nowadays, faithfulness —not success— is our only metric. Success is about "doing." Faithfulness is about "being," and it's really hard to measure.

    While many Lutheran churches spend...