News
Congratulations to Rev. Dr. Maxwell E. Johnson
I just returned home from the 2025 Institute of Liturgical Studies (ILS), held at my and Kent’s undergraduate alma mater, Valparaiso University. It was my honor to introduce the recipient of the Christus Rex Award, Max Johnson, pictured (center) with ILS Director and VU Campus Pastor Jim Wetzstein (left) and moi (right). Max, like Phoebe named in Romans 16:2, “has been a helper of many and of myself as well.” Early in my graduate school days, Max encouraged me to boil down my master’ thesis to article length and helped get it published. Thirty some years later, he graciously agreed to write a foreword for Kent’s and my forthcoming book, Journey to Jesus.
The book is now available for pre-order! Click here for the link.
Field Trip to Explore Multicultural Ministry
We (Kent and Rhoda) will be presenting the opening plenary address at Concordia Seminary’s Multiethnic Symposium, May 6-7, 2025. Our concern to have concrete, firsthand data coalesced with the desire of a pastoral team in Springdale, Arkansas, to have outside “consultants” visit and make recommendations for strengthening congregational faith formation across generations. It was a match made in heaven and came to pass through the work of the Holy Spirit and a generous grant from the Mid-South District of the LCMS.
On Saturday, February 22, we arrived in Springdale and received a warm welcome from Pastors Adam Gless and Brandon Martin, who serve the bilingual Salem Lutheran Church. During our four-day visit we worshipped with the congregation; broke bread with congregational members; attended Bible studies and faith formation gatherings for adults and for youth and their parents; and interviewed a variety of members.
And yes, there was time for relaxation and fun, as the banner photo and gallery of photos indicate. Those who know Kent will not be surprised to see him under the banner of Rendezvous Junction Brewery. A thoughtful colleague, he made Adam and Brandon aware that my beverage of choice is wine, that, according to the Psalmist, “gladdens the heart” (Ps. 104:15). The bartender “poured”—squeezed is more accurate—a generous glass of rose from the “dregs” of the bladder of the (un)boxed wine. One can see the seriousness with which each of the guys approached the flights of beer as they hunched over the beer rating apps on their cellphones. As we parted after a sumptuous breakfast Thursday morning, the four of us gave thanks to God for our time together; we pray our research will be a blessing for the people of Salem Lutheran and for the church at large.
To learn more about our findings, we recommend attending the Multiethnic Symposium. Click for more information.
Banner photos by anonymous, friendly person at table next to us at brewery. Gallery of photos by Rhoda Schuler.
Christmas Greetings from Kent & Rhoda
Christmas greetings to our subscribers from the Annual Meeting of the North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL), which we both started attending in the late 1990s as graduate students. This year’s gathering is at our Alma Mater, Valparaiso University, where worship at the Chapel of the Resurrection fostered in both of us a love of graceful and grace-filled liturgy. Attending NAAL is a time for scholarly discussions with other academics and practitioners as well as a time to enjoy the fellowship of others who share our conviction that liturgy is not an end itself but the primary means through which the faithful encounter Jesus Christ in the proclamation of the Gospel (in preaching, liturgy, and song) and through participation in the sacraments.
Here we are at our Alma Mater! In between Kent and me is Noel Snyder from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Noel and other staff at CICW have reviewed our book manuscript, so over dinner and adult beverages, we had a lovely chat about the long process of our research (funded by CICW) and the writing of our book, now in the hands of our publisher, Wipf & Stock. It will be part of a CICW series on Christian worship.
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Banner photo (by Rhoda Schuler, June 2024):
Adoration of the Magi, textile; back yoke section of a cope in the Cathedral Treasury, Cologne, Germany.
A Conversation with the Co-Authors of “Lay Me in God’s Good Earth”
This week Rhoda interviews Kent and his other research partner and co-author, Dr. Beth Hoeltke, about their book Lay me in God’s Good Earth. The authors discuss how they got drawn into the topic of natural burial, the Christian lens of the book, and the expansive approach of the book, which encourages pastors and lay Christians to think proactively about end-of-life decisions as well as funeral practices.
To view this four-minute video, you must be logged into a Google account.
In addition to seven chapters, the book includes numerous resources for those interested in exploring the various facets of natural burial:
- A burial planning guide
- Cost comparisons for natural burial, conventional burial, and cremation
- Resources about caring for the body at home and for burying naturally
- A list of state funeral boards and licensing agencies for the District of Columbia and 48 states; Alaska and Hawaii are listed with “No state funeral board.”
The book is published by IVP; click here to order the book!
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Banner image: Modern mosaic depicting Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene, and other women preparing Jesus’ body for burial as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus look on. Wall mounted inside the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.
Photo by Rhoda Schuler, March 2023.
New Book on Green Burial and “the Art of Dying” by Burreson & Hoeltke
The package arrived a couple of weeks ago; clearly, it was a book, but I had no recollection of ordering a book from IVP. It was with great delight that I discovered I had received a pre-publication copy of Lay Me in God’s Good Earth: A Christian Approach to Death and Burial, by Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke. I took a photo and texted it to Kent, saying “It just arrived!!”
The authors write, “With this book, we hope you will consider the route of natural burial, which can provide intimate care of your body both before and after death” (3); they conclude the introduction lamenting that “the church has largely lost its ability to teach the art or theology of dying” (5). Both theological and practical, this book seeks to do both. Chapter 2 lays the theological foundation for natural burial by emphasizing the Christ’s resurrection as the foundation of Christian hope and linking the resurrection of the body to God’s promise to renew creation.
Kent and Beth critique both the commercialization of the funeral industry and the move toward “the spiritualization of Christian funerals and burials”; the antidote is recovering “a living eschatology and faith in the hope of the resurrection and eternal life” (61).
They provide a clear articulation of the four “core practices” of natural burial (21-22):
- Elimination of embalming
- Burial in a biodegradable casket or covering
- No use of vault in the burial
- Burial in ground that encourages natural decomposition and return to the earth
Most helpful are these encouraging words: “Engaging even just one of the four core practices … moves toward practices that reflect a Christian understanding of death and resurrection” (24).
Later chapters discuss appropriate Christian funeral practices, encourages family involvement with the body after death, and lays out options for “walking alongside our loved ones in the final journey that leads to death” (115). A lengthy appendix provides “A Burial Planning Guide” (161-179).
Lay Me in God’s Good Earth is accessible to lay readers and is written to break down the barriers in our culture that has made open discussions of death, dying, and funeral wishes verboten topics.
Banner Image:
Fresco depiction the resurrection of Christ, Sv. Sava, Serbian Orthodox Church
Photographer: Orjen, 16 June 2009
By Orjen – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7085844
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Resurrection_Fresco_Saint_Sava.JPG
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship: Grants Program
A month ago, this email from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship landed in my email box, asking that I “help us spread the word about this opportunity.” It may be too late for our readers to consider applying for a grant that is due June 15, but it’s not too early to start the grant process for the fall deadline, October 15. Here’s the text of the email from CICW:
We are excited to remind you about the
https://worship.calvin.edu/grants/
Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program
This thoughtful and vibrant program is for Teacher-Scholars and Worshiping Communities based in Canada and the United States, and seeks to foster, strengthen, and sustain well-grounded public worship.
The next due date for grant applications is June 15, 2024.
We encourage you to consider applying.
We welcome grant proposals on a wide range of Christian worship practices, especially proposals related to universal design, cultural engagement, preaching, baptism, and the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper.
Kent and I had two fantastic experiences as grant recipients of CICW. The CICW grants team is eager to work with congregations, Christian universities and seminaries, health care facilities, and scholars to support the public worship life of the Church. The CICW website has all the criteria upfront, gives access to the complete grant proposal requirements, and the online grant form is very user-friendly. One can write a portion and save the work over weeks and months.
We give thanks to God for our friends at CICW!
Workshop Opportunity in Cleveland Area
We are pleased to share with our readers information about an upcoming workshop led by the Rev. Dr. Adam Filipek, which is part of Concordia Seminary’s Faculty Led Workshop series. Dr. Filipek shares our passion for adult faith formation and partnered with us for our online conferences in 2020 and 2021, serving as a breakout session leader twice. We’ve also featured his book, Life in Christ, Rooted, Woven, and Grafted into God’s Story (CPH, 2023) on this blog.
Title: Faith Formation in a Nominally and Post-Christian World
Date: June 10 – June 12, 2024
Location: Faith Lutheran Church, Mentor, Ohio (greater Cleveland area)
Program cost: $150.00
Registration deadline: May 27, 2024
When the church speaks of “Christian formation,” we tend to speak of a classroom setting: Sunday school, Confirmation class, adult instruction and Bible study. Such a perspective runs the risk of treating the Christian faith as primarily intellectual. When that happens, the church can easily be equated with a K-12 school. Many have a mindset of, “When I have learned everything I need to know, then I can be done with church. Like school, I can graduate, move on and never return.” But the Christian faith is not something we simply learn, regurgitate, graduate and move on from. In this workshop, participants will explore how narrative catechesis can be used to cultivate a love of the one true God and a desire to dwell with Him here in time: weekly in the Divine Service and daily in our respective vocations and in eternity where we “appear with Him in glory” and dwell with Him forever.
To register, click here.
For more information, click here.
Greetings from Seattle: Annual Meeting of NAAL
Kent and Rhoda are taking a week off from blog posting to attend the Annual Meeting of the North American Academy of Liturgy. It is a great opportunity for us to engage with other scholars in the field, to read and discuss papers on liturgical topics written by colleagues and offer feedback on works-in-progress, and also to read published works by members within and outside of the Academy. As the photo shows, there’s also time for socializing. Both of us have been attending NAAL since we were in graduate school. Here’s a brief quotation from the Vice President’s address we heard on Tuesday evening:
Both historical and ethnographic liturgy have built in guardrails to prevent me from assuming the cultural or temporal other is totally unlike me; both also hinder me from making the other too much like myself. Rather, the third space of liturgical studies schools me in cosmological encounter. Here I meet others who, like me, find transcendence in liturgy, but in practices that I find unfamiliar or distasteful. I also meet those who are deeply unlike me but find transcendence in practices that move me too.
The presenter, Dr. Kimberly Belcher from the University of Notre Dame, set the stage for thoughtful and respectful conversations in this academic setting. We are grateful to be part of NAAL, which has both nurtured and challenged our thinking and scholarship.
“Visioning Lab” at CSP this Week
We are pleased to announce that 10 people are currently attending our Visioning Lab, “From Font to Table: Welcoming the Stranger into Christ and Congregational Life” at Concordia University – St. Paul (CSP). We are thankful for the partnership between Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and CSP that made this event possible, especially Erika Bennett, Director of Continuing Education at the seminary, and Jane Wilke, Director of Church Relations at CSP.
We’re sharing a few photos of the group, which includes pastors, commissioned ministers, and laity among the participants; they have come from Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and New York.
If you cannot see the pictures, open the email message in a web browser.