Let’s Talk About the Bible and the Law

June 15, 2018 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

This will not be a lectionary walkthrough. This is a response to how politicians are abusing the Bible, Christian theology, and history.

Sending Calling Ministry

February 24, 2014 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

It's convocation time again, and like most convocations, I come up with ideas I need to write through during the sessions. Two jumped out at me as rather important, but now I need to figure out why...

This is the End

July 01, 2013 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

...at least of Chapter 3. As I begin to editing of my third chapter, the systematic theology that I carry as a framework into my congregational research, reflection on which will then drive me back into my systematic theology, I thought it fitting to post the end of the chapter.

Using Which Use

May 16, 2013 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

One of the classic Lutheran debates is the number of uses of the law. Rather than try to weigh in on that topic, I want to show that the connection between vocation and worship does not send Christians into the third use (if there is one), but instead sends us back into the first use. But for the sake of clarity and the argument below, I should take a moment and clarify what these uses are.

Imaginative Relational Worship

April 24, 2013 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

Now that I've dissed the human practices of baptism and prayer to emphasize relationship and action as faithful expressions of vocation, I need to deconstruct the lurking dichotomy before it leads to a misunderstood autolaborological or morphological fundamentalism. If my thinking is on a solid trajectory, which will have to prove out, then the connection between the actions of vocation and the practices of worship meet in the relationships of baptism and prayer that expand imagination for discernment. Said (hopefully) more clearly, our worship practices shape our imaginations for seeing and hearing how God is calling us to help our neighbor.

Hello, Vocation. How Are You Today?

April 16, 2013 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

After an encouraging set of conversations with Marc Kolden and Dirk Lange (nerd squeal), I finally caught the cold that's been going around here for a while. As I'm on the mend, I thought it time to being piecing together vocation and worship, the task Kolden sees as the most daunting theological element of my argument. This post will look particularly to vocation, as a setup for the next post on worship.

Lent Schment

February 13, 2013 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

As we begin Lent, it seems appropriate to mention spiritual discipline, but not the one you decided to do this Lenten season. Chances are that unless you picked an actual spiritual discipline, what you do probably won't amount to much. And if you did pick a spiritual discipline, its probably a reflection of your desire to withdraw from the world to avoid its harsh realities. Its amazing how the old person in us distorts what would otherwise be reasonable to a self-serving goal.