My Kind of Lutheran (about me, remember?)

Published on by D. G. Hart

First they gave us Martin Luther, then Garrison Keillor (okay, that one was indirect), and now Hans Fiene (thanks to our confessional Lutheran correspondent from Texas).

You do have to love Christians who can be this orthodox and this funny. Mind you, I wouldn’t let Hans near the pulpit of our congregation, though he is welcome to receive the Supper (as long as he is baptized and a member of the LCMS). But Lutherans have an extra appreciation for the folly of Christian existence. Must have something to do with the folly of the cross.

20 thoughts on “My Kind of Lutheran (about me, remember?)”

  1. That’s one of my favs and leaves me in stitches! Does this mean the curmudgeonly LCMS-ers and vinegary OPC-ers have even more grounds for hallway fellowship shenanigans?

    A bit of trivia: Hans Fiene is the LCMS pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, one of oldest churches in Denver, Colorado. Denver is blessed with an equally crazy, fun LCMS pastor, Bryan Wolfmueller, of Table Talk Radio fame (Everyone’s Favorite Lutheran Theological Game Show) , and a beloved podcast of the Confessional Outhouse blog of Reformed persuasion. It appears that Table Talk has almost as much back-and-forth fun with the Calvinist listeners as you do with the Lutherans here. 😉

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  5. Hey! – wait a minute! – wait a minute! she mirthfully splutters… don’t take the fun out of this lark! Pray tell… when did you trade in your vinegary stripes or when did we trade in our curmudgeonly spots for mere mortal respectability in the hallway? Tru-dat!?! 😉

    P.S. And, yes, I have a bad case of silliness – the pollen count is still high here.

    P.S.S. Nate and Zrim – ain’t life fun? 😉

    P.S.S.S. John, I happily defer to the masters in Lutheran fun and excellence. We haven’t even mentioned Cwirla and Donofrio of God Whispers renown. Why not thoroughly confuse pietists about what it means to be confessionally Lutheran orthodox?;)

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  6. I like the hallway bit. If the hallway ‘doesn’t count’ and must make room for numerous personality sorts, much less varying, but protestant creedal belief systems, why can’t we make fun of the somber, serious and gushing alike? I like it.

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  7. I suppose it would be good to at least attempt to try to redeem Cwirla and Donofrio just a tad. The are both wonderful confessional LCMS pastors in southern California who are as serious about doctrine as they are wacky fun with their humor. Mission accomplished? My best guess is that there isn’t a pietist left within a 100 mile radius of their churches?

    http://www.godwhisperers.com

    Anywho… welcome to the Lutheran room of the house. 😉

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  8. Sean,

    I don’t mean to give the wrong impressions – we are serious, well-mannered, and pious in church and other such places. We just love to rattle the pietists cages – if that makes sense?

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  9. Lily,

    You are truly shameless for exposing Cwirla and Donofrio- they are the best kept secret in the Lutheran Church. Almost as funny as Rossow in Naperville, Illinois.

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  10. Rewease da secwet weapin!

    Do you suppose we such remind anyone about the fine print at the bottom of our job description in the Kingdom of God?

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  11. P.S. – Pastor Rossow is a hoot. There are oodles of Lutherans who take the command to ‘be glad and rejoice’ just a little too seriously? Nah…

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  12. Craig Donofrio is my mom’s pastor. Whoa
    I just read my mom’s pastor’s name on one of my favorite blogs. Whoa

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  14. Re: the folly of the cross

    FWIW: After reading some of the recent debates on several other Reformed blogs over pietism yesterday, it seems best to not remain silent. Generally speaking, it appears that an important difference between our communions is that Lutherans have judged pietism, found it wanting, and rejected it whereas the Reformed have not. Our confessions cannot be used to support pietism whereas the Reformed confessions can be used to support pietism. We believe Christ outside of us and for us is primary not Christ inside of us. We see the imputation of Christ’s righteous as central to the Christian life and it keeps our eyes upon the cross not on ourselves. Our glory IS the folly of the cross whereas the pietist’s glory is their sanctification (subjective experiences/evidence of self-improvement). Because we extol the folly of the cross and that God’s glory is revealed in the cross, we are seen as antinomian, dead orthodoxy, apostate, or other such terms. We know we cannot pull off the Christian life for we know we cannot ‘be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.’ Our glory is in Christ not our spiritual improvement. We glory in the Giver not the gifts.

    I have noticed what appears to be the redefinition of words going on in order to not judge pietism. The boundary lines are being moved. Apparently moralism is no longer a negative word for the law/morals must be preached therefore moralism is not necessarily bad – there is now good and bad moralism. Pietism is no longer a negative word for piety must be practiced therefore pietism is not necessarily bad – there is good and bad pietism. Most disturbingly, the confessional polemics against pietism have now made it necessary to redefine confessionalism – there is now a good and bad confessionalism. The historical awareness of how pietism/revivalism wears different disguises/faces in each era also appears to be in the process of being redefined. As far as I can tell, all of these redefinitions are being made in order to protect pietism from being judged for what it is – fellowship appears to be more important than doctrine. There appears to be no theology of the cross that would call a thing what it is and end the dispute.

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  15. Joseph, Keillor was brought up in the Booth Brethren, one of the the Exclusive branches of the Brethren movement, which he has long since left behind. He did a really interesting interview in the Brethren Archivists and Historians Network Review 2:1 (2000), pp. 34-39, about his religious background. His mother’s family, the Denhams, came from Glasgow to America in 1905, and was already attached to the Brethren movement by that stage. He’s still fascinated by dispensationalism, apparently, and has a prophecy chart framed on his wall. He says, in the interview, “I talk about Lutherans as a device for talking about the midwestern character,” and suggests that he “may have given them some Brethren tendencies.” And he says in the interview that he was then attending worship in an Episcopal Church. Finally, remember one character’s statement in “Wobegon Boy”: “I grew up among pietists. I know how they kill the spirit.” The stuff of comic genius!

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  18. A bit of trivia update:
    A few months ago, I accepted a call to River of Life Lutheran Church in Channahon, IL. So I’ve come back to my midwest roots, though I do miss the folks back in Denver, including Rev. Wolfmueller, who is one of my greatest friends in the world.

    Thanks to all of you for watching!

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  19. Pastor Fiene,

    Please forgive my belated reply. Many thanks for your delightfully fun videos – they have been a real treat to watch. I hope you will continue to make new ones. And congratulations on your new call! I’m sure you will be greatly missed in Denver. May you, your family, and new church be richly blessed in the years ahead. 😉

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