LSB Pastoral Care Companion

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LSB Pastoral Care Companion

• Wyoming District Pastoral Conference
• Casper, WY
• 8-10 October 2007

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The Agenda and Pastoral Care Companion

• LSB Agenda
• LSB Pastoral Care Companion

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From the Introduction to LSB Agenda

• Pastoral care is the spiritual care given by
  those placed in the pastoral office using the
  means that God has given that sinners might hear
  the gospel (ACV). The primary handbook for
  pastoral care is the agenda, which contains the
  rites that the pastor uses in his work. The rite
  of Ordination makes explicit what it is that the
  pastor is to do. The candidate pledges
  faithfulness to the Scriptures as the inspired
  Word of God and declares that the Lutheran
  Confessions are his own because they are in
  accord with the Word of God. He promises to
  perform all the duties of his office in
  accordance with these Confessions. Inquiry is
  made of the ordinand Will you faithfully
  instruct both young and old in the chief articles
  of Christian doctrine, will you forgive the sins
  of those who repent, and will you promise never
  to divulge the sins confessed to you? Will you
  minister faithfully to the sick and dying, will
  you demonstrate to the Church a constant and
  ready ministry centered in the Gospel? Will you
  admonish and encourage the people to a lively
  confidence in Christ and in holy living? The
  agenda provides the rites that are vehicles for
  this faithful ministry in various stages and
  situations of life (LSBA, viii).

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Foundational Assumptions

• The Agenda is the handbook for pastoral theology
• The Agenda/PCC rites are an extension of the
  Divine Service
• There is a necessary distinction with ordinary
  and extraordinary pastoral care
• The language of pastoral care is biblical,
  catechetical, and liturgical
• Every pastor is either a witting or an unwitting
  ritualist (Kleinig)
• The rites of the Agenda/PCC make public
  confession of Gods truth
• Pastoral care necessitates the proper distinction
  of the law from the Gospel

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The Pastors Preparation for Pastoral Care

• The pastoral care of the pastor
• Pastors Prayers of Preparation

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The Use of Scripture

• The lectionary
• Texts for specific situations

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Praying the Psalms

• Luther "Hence it is that the Psalter is the book
  of all saints and everyone, in whatever
  situation he may be, finds in that situation
  psalms and words that fit his case, that suit him
  as if they were put there just for his sake, so
  that he could not put it better himself, or find
  or wish for anything better" (AE 35256).

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Praying the Psalms

• Bonhoeffer "All the prayers of Holy Writ are
  summarized in the Lord's Prayer. They are taken
  up into its immeasurable breath. They are not
  made superfluous by the Lord's Prayer but they
  are the inexhaustible riches of the Lord's Prayer
  just as the Lord's Prayer is their crown and
  unity. Luther says of the Psalter, 'It is so
  permeated by the Lord's Prayer and the Lord's
  Prayer by the Psalter that one can understand
  very well one from the other and that they
  happily harmonize" (quoted in Carl Axel Aurelius,
  "Luther on the Psalter" Lutheran Quarterly
  (Summer 2000), 198-199).

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Praying the Psalms

• On the use of the Psalms for "lament," see Oswald
  Bayer "Although the full, uninterrupted praise
  of God's goodness, with which we praise God
  without affliction and temptation, will only
  happen at the end, the praise of God is
  nevertheless assumed in some way in every lament.
  If God could not be praised at all-be it even in
  tears-then humanity would not be able to lament.
  At least, there would be no address for its cry
  of lament. The lament would be without direction
  or orientation it would be an aimless and only
  self-related lamenting and sooner or later fall
  silent. Lament directed to God is always related
  to past and future praise" -Oswald Bayer, "Toward
  a Theology of Lament" in Caritas Et Reformatio
  Essays on Church and Society in Honor of Carter
  Lindberg edited by David Whitford (CPH, 2002),
  218.

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The Use of Prayer in Pastoral Care

• Both ready made and ex corde
• The traditional structure of the collect guides
  the pastors prayer (1) address (2) rationale
  (3) petition (4) benefit (5) termination

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Content of the Pastoral Care Companion

• Services and Rites (from the LSB Agenda)
• Resources for Pastoral Care
• Other Resources

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Resources for Pastoral Care

• Pastoral Pointers
• Psalmody
• Additional Psalmody
• Readings
• Additional Readings
• Prayers
• Hymns