Faint Praise for Gaba

Name the WELS church - not Grace, but another Church and Money Changer operation.


west59wy (http://west59wy.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Gaba Does Grace, Milwaukee - Home of Fuller-traine...":

Deacon Gaba's comments are perceptive both for what is said and what isn't admitted.

First, is his critique of liturgical vestments, posture and bearing. It reminds me about what a certain LC-MS blogger pastor commented after viewing archived filmed footage of the dedication of the St. Louis seminary. Said blogger was struck by how the celebrants were attired in business suits, i.e. Gaba's "liturgical ineptitude." He was thankful for how far the LC-MS had come since that time. I conclude he meant chasubles, collars, albs, stoles, capes, copes, hose and a hundred other types of ecclesiastical foppery. That being said, the WELS, even when it tries to be "liturgical"--for example, "Grace church" which prides itself in its liturgical expressiveness--comes across with all the aplomb of a hillbilly's mullet.

On the other extreme, is the sector of the LC-MS with which Deacon Gaba is apparently so enamored. That can only be indentified in terms of Romanizing tendencies, chancel prancing, and ridiculously arcane codicils of rubric interpretation which direct the way the pastor is turn, genuflect, and land a triple axle. It's the sector from which Rev.Fr.Dr.Sir.Esq.Pr. Fenton, he of Gottesdienst fame, like others before (sic - missing pronoun) jumped to swim the Bosphorus. However, there is something to be said (sic - missing word) the DG's observation about a church operating a coffee shop. I suppose it is, in principal, no different than the combination oil and lube/coffee shop which recently opened up down the street. Whatever it takes to get 'em in. And some believe people can't see that for what it is? Give me a break!

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GJ - Those who refuse to police themselves will find themselves examined closely. Any discussion of WELS should begin with Valleskey becoming seminary president after endorsing Fuller Seminary's doctrine in the gushing tones of a schoolgirl smitten by Johnnie Depp or the sainted Michael Jackson. Just as bad - Huebner was elected Number Two in WELS after spending his entire career promoting his alma mater, Fuller Seminary. The Soul Cafe coffee shop is just one example. His "parish consultant" scams are another. WELS cannot condemn what they love so dearly, what the ELS silently approves while claiming confessional status.

Gaba is a wee bit too Roman for me. I highlighted the remarks which were right on target.

Missouri is going Roman as a solution to 30+ years of Fuller promotion. I do not see one form of Enthusiasm as superior to the other.

Liturgical worship is still a concern. As I mentioned in the latest sermon, youth meetings at my LCA church consisted of learning a service from the hymnal (Vespers, for instance) and singing hymns. We also had progressive dinners and other social events, but never a dance at church. The annual youth service was limited to youth leading the historic liturgy. No one even suggested Rock N Roll, even though we were in the Elvis to Beatles generation. No one imagined going to church to be entertained.

We had Swedish egg coffee because Salem was a Swedish Augustana congregation. That also meant an abundance of Swedish pastries, which I took for granted until I lived in non-Swedish areas.

Gaba noticed that Huebner has introduced a number of Reformed elements into the Sunday service, not to mention the Moneychanger's cafe. Huebner is a Church and Money Changer - no shock there.

Gaba's criticisms are not nullified by his extreme Romanism. The disgust many Lutherans feel about Fullerism is the prostitution of the Sunday service:

1. The lack of Holy Communion comes from the effort to turn worship into a recruiting service. The sacrament offends non-Lutherans, so the sacrament is made scarce - like the Confessions.
   
2. Introducing the Scripture lessons is derived from the Reformed view of the Word. Huebner has mocked the efficacy of the Word in print, but has never been disciplined. Instead he has been rewarded for his union theology. The people in the pews are idiots, according to the Reformed Fuller Seminary view. They need the Word of God explained to them before it is read. Calvin would grin in approval.
   
3. The coffee shop is a felt-needs gimmick, like free coffee and cookies at the bank. Reformed methods are all gimmicks. Add gimmicks to the Lutheran Church and it becomes Reformed because the motivation is pure Enthusiasm. At Victory of the Movie Theater (WELS), visitors are given a drink and a snack as they enter the service.
   
4. Mocking Gaba's extreme high church tendencies does not rescue WELS from the charge of promoting and rewarding false doctrine. Huebner, Valleskey, Jeske, Kelm, Bivens, Sorum, and Olson are prime examples of WELS Orthodoxy equaling Fuller/Willow Creek apostasy.

The Intrepids have been looking at the elements of a Lutheran worship service. I would favor anything from the range of very simple liturgical services to incense and lace, as long as the Word of God is proclaimed in its truth and purity. Because we are in a confessional crisis, we must avoid appearing Reformed or Roman. I appreciate Gaba's effort in visiting Grace and reporting. It would take a SWAT team to get me into Grace, so the eyewitness account has spared me another day of agony.