Why This Pastor is So Cautious

October 05, 2020 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

We’re all sick of it. But I don’t have a choice on being cautious.

And Then It Was Worship.

August 27, 2015 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

I don't get liturgical dance. Don't get me wrong, I like different kinds of art in worship services, but my experience with liturgical dance is that I don't usually understand it. My wife, on the other hand, has been a competitive dancer. She's introduced me to the FOX show, So You Think You Can Dance. Enjoyable as the show is, there was one dance this season that surprised me.

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...

Universal Marriage

July 12, 2013 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

Its probably time for me to open up to the hating. I'm going to reflect on marriage. Regardless of your opinion, you probably won't like what I write unless we've already had conversations about marriage. I do not mean to offend you.

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.

In Defense of Church Absenteeism

April 26, 2013 by Eric Bodenstab in Reflection

This will break the line of thought I've been developing, but in an effort to get some interblog conversation going, I want to respond to a blog post from a colleague. Click here to read it. I would normally do this in the comments section of his blog, but given what will be my rambling response to his reasonable thought, I need more room. Of late, I've experienced several people, often pastors, complaining about lack of attendance at church. I give Frank credit for looking to some reason rather than just venting, but I think we as church need to look harder at both ourselves and the changing culture of the United States.

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.