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On his way back to Rome from his Portugal/Fatima Shrine journey, the Pope noted that there will be no female priests and no same-sex marriage in the Roman Catholic church because those actions are not Biblical.  Agrees with the LCMS confession, not the ELCA adventure.

For those fretting fitfully over the yet to occur LCMS Convention, a little advice by G. K. Chesterton from "Charles Dickens" via Alan Jacobs today:

"Do not sneer at the time when the creed of humanity was on its honeymoon; treat it with the dreadful reverence that is due to youth. For you, perhaps, a drearier philosophy has covered and eclipsed the earth. The fierce poet of the Middle Ages wrote, 'Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,' over the gates of the lower world. The emancipated poets of to-day have written it over the gates of this world. But if we are to understand the story which follows, we must erase that apocalyptic writing, if only for an hour. We must recreate the faith of our fathers, if only as an artistic atmosphere. If, then, you are a pessimist, in reading this story, forego for a little the pleasures of pessimism. Dream for one mad moment that the grass is green. Unlearn that sinister learning that you think so clear; deny that deadly knowledge that you think you know. Surrender the very flower of your culture; give up the very jewel of your pride; abandon hopelessness, all ye who enter here

For those fretting fitfully over the yet to occur LCMS Convention, a little advice by G. K. Chesterton from "Charles Dickens":

No secondary credit to Alan Jacobs for including this in today's newsletter? 

Good Idea, added it, TY Aletheist!  (do you want tertiary credit citation as well?)

For those fretting fitfully over the yet to occur LCMS Convention, a little advice by G. K. Chesterton from "Charles Dickens" (*via Alan Jacobs):

"Do not sneer at the time when the creed of humanity was on its honeymoon; treat it with the dreadful reverence that is due to youth. For you, perhaps, a drearier philosophy has covered and eclipsed the earth. The fierce poet of the Middle Ages wrote, 'Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,' over the gates of the lower world. The emancipated poets of to-day have written it over the gates of this world. But if we are to understand the story which follows, we must erase that apocalyptic writing, if only for an hour. We must recreate the faith of our fathers, if only as an artistic atmosphere. If, then, you are a pessimist, in reading this story, forego for a little the pleasures of pessimism. Dream for one mad moment that the grass is green. Unlearn that sinister learning that you think so clear; deny that deadly knowledge that you think you know. Surrender the very flower of your culture; give up the very jewel of your pride; abandon hopelessness, all ye who enter here."

^{*Edited to give an "assist" to Alan Jacobs, TY Aletheist}

For those not familiar with the current Missouri Synod system of elections, once a Synodical President has been chosen by national vote prior to the national convention, the selectee chooses five of the twenty highest vote-getters for First Vice President, and that becomes the First Vice-Presidential ballot.  President Harrison has selected his five choices from the twenty top nominees who agreed to let their names stand (this means some of the nominees did not agree to stand for election).  The First Vice-President will be elected at the national convention.  Here are his choices:  Allan R. Buss, Christopher S. Esget, Jamison J. Hardy, Peter K. Lang, Richard L. Snow.
Rev. Lang is the incumbent.

Dave Benke

I don't know in this instance, Dave, perhaps you do, but this could also mean that all nominees agreed to stand for election and that the President could pick only five of them for the First Vice-President ballot>  Do you know?

Meanwhile, back at the Convention: Rev. Matt Harrison was elected to a new term as President of the Synod on the first ballot:
https://reporter.lcms.org/2023/harrison-elected-to-fifth-term/

I thought I logged onto the ALPB Forum Website, but apparently reached Babylon Bee in error...

The link is to one of Tim Keller's last works, an 83 page compedium of 4 articles addressing his understanding of the Decline and Renewal of the American Church, why and what to do about it, for your consideration:
https://rpc-download.s3.amazonaws.com/Quarterly-Tim_Keller-Decline_and_Renewal_of_the_American_Church-Extended.pdf?button

ELCA Pastor compares treatment of Nashville shooter to the treatment of Jesus on the Cross:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/transgender-pastor-compares-marginalized-nashville-shooter-jesus-crucified
"The pastor also compared how transgenders were treated in the U.S. to the Holocaust and Japanese internment camps later on in the message".

This was apparently an Easter season sermon. 

Interesting study of the sources for and history of the Epiphany by Ian Paul in Psephizo:
https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/is-the-epiphany-myth-or-reality/

Thank you moderators for turning the Forum to a more OT correct version of text without punctuation marks and for many no paragraphs as this is refreshing although I am still awaiting the return of thees thous and probably very nontraditional full civility.

It is understandable that those of us who have reaped the benefits of patriarchy might feel a little offended and put upon when it is clear that things are changing.
The fact that we feel put upon and offended indicates that we have not fully understood the offense on the other side.

You didn't only reap the benefits of patriarchy, you embody the patriarchy.  And, every culture throughout history, of every tribe and nation, has a patriarchy (except for a very few that delude themselves into thinking that they are a matriarchy...).

Welcome to the new patriarchy, same as the old patriarchy...

Pastor Morris, you are too literal. I thought that in context my words would be read as an "as if" statement. Acting "as if" Jesus was their campaign manager. (But they do contend the have the only true Word of God.)

Whataboutism:  From Merriam-Webster, that added the word to its dictionary in 2021:
"Whataboutism gives a clue to its meaning in its name. It is not merely the changing of a subject ("What about the economy?") to deflect away from an earlier subject as a political strategy; it's essentially a reversal of accusation, arguing that an opponent is guilty of an offense just as egregious or worse than what the original party was accused of doing, however unconnected the offenses may be.

The tactic behind whataboutism has been around for a long time. Rhetoricians generally consider it to be a form of tu quoque, which means "you too" in Latin and involves charging your accuser with whatever it is you've just been accused of rather than refuting the truth of the accusation made against you. Tu quoque is considered to be a logical fallacy, because whether or not the original accuser is likewise guilty of an offense has no bearing on the truth value of the original accusation.

Whataboutism adds a twist to tu quoque by directing its energies into establishing an equivalence between two or more disparate actions, thereby defaming the accuser with the insinuation that their priorities are backwards." (N.B.: emphases added)

Let the seller beware...

Perhaps many have built, are building, or are looking for their "Ark" in the face of these strange times.
An interesting secular thought process on the confused signals being foisted upon us that are for some producing what the author has named "Ark-Head": https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2022/09/29/ark-head/
The 'Ark-Heads" in much of the church seem to have few responses beyond "embrance the zeitgeist, the gestalt" and little based upon the Gospel.

[Religious leaders who have no king but Caesar will shrug, say their hands are tied and reluctantly just go with the new reality, while those who dare not call thing what it is will naturally laud these rulings which require everyone to pretend (at least officially) that two men are husband and wife.]

This is part of an article I wrote for FL eight years ago after the Obergefell ruling. I've put in bold the parts I think relate well to the First Things article on David French. I remember what little feedback I got on the article being surprise that I suspected Evangelicals would prove unreliable.

....However it came to be, the fact remains that it was a long fought but ultimately resounding victory for progressives, decay being progress of a sort. And to those for whom everything is reducible to power struggles, victory by bogus judicial fiat counts the same as any other. As athletes say, a win is a win. Religious leaders who have no king but Caesar will shrug, say their hands are tied and reluctantly just go with the new reality, while those who dare not call thing what it is will naturally laud these rulings which require everyone to pretend (at least officially) that two men are husband and wife. But American churches in line with historic Christianity on this issue increasingly find themselves in a new and foreign context.

So what will happen in and to the LCMS as a result of this new context and what should we do about it now that we've (possibly) forgotten how to be strangers in a strange land? Allow me to offer first two predictions and then two prescriptions.

First prediction: this will not unify the LCMS. I know, I know, going way out on a limb there. But there is always the idea floating around that becoming an embattled minority will galvanize people who share a cause to put aside other differences. At first it may seem like this will happen in the LCMS; the various camps will rally together around a common identity as torch-bearers of traditional marriage. And that may seem to be happening for a little while, but it won't last. I truly hope I'm wrong on this (stranger things have happened, I readily admit), but I think Evangelicals will soon go wobbly and this cultural change will, given enough time, simply provide another stage on which the same LCMS play is enacted.

The men I know who are married to other men are husband and husband.

As more folks within the Evangelical (and LCMS) camps have friends and relatives who live together without marriage or marry a same-sex partner, many will find ways to accommodate them. In a similar way, a generation or two ago, conservative churches accommodated divorced and remarried folks; or folks who married outside the faith, e.g., Lutherans who married Roman Catholics. What had been seen as forbidden, or at least discouraged, had become acceptable (or at least tolerated) rather than ostracize friends and family.

"What has been seen as..." is an obvious observation that does not address the issue at hand.  Thanks for participating.