People in the Missouri Synod, Texas District, and Pilgrim’s Circuit #14 often speak of our “walking together” or our “not walking together”, and they speak that way with good reason, for the English word “synod” to a large extent has as its basis the idea of “walking together”. The Missouri Synod is not alone in using the English word “synod” to refer to a particular “council” of the various units of the Church (see, for example, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, s.v. “Council”). And, the English word “synod” itself goes back to a Greek word for a group traveling together that is used in the New Testament only in Luke 2:44, when the 12-year-old Jesus’s parents left Him behind in Jerusalem, having supposed Him to be in their “synod”.
The pastor’s article in the January 2023’s issue of our parish newsletter The Pilgrimage anticipated the first Special Congregational Study linked on this page by asking the question “How are we walking together in the Synod and the like?” That article’s “answer” to that question was to some extent reiterated and expanded in that first general study, with brief consideration of three particular examples, that the article promoted. And, the discussion in that study led Pilgrim’s leaders to plan a series of more-detailed studies on a greater number of particular examples where the congregations of the Synod, District, and Circuit do not appear to be walking together. The working list of seven examples is evident in the following list of studies, with each study’s date and, when available, links both to handouts and to audio and video files of their two parts.
In general, the “Walking Together” Special Congregational Studies are planned for after Pilgrim’s “Fifth-Sunday Meals”. The format of each study is, Part 1, an initial presentation allowed to proceed relatively uninterrupted, followed by a break and Part 2, a comparable or longer period of open discussion, with each whole study, from beginning to end (not including the meal), expected not to exceed two hours. Pilgrim’s leadership holds that they can reasonably expect the congregation’s membership to attend such a two-hour study what amounts to about once each quarter. And, we all pray that God blesses our efforts in His Name!
- “Walking Together” (overview) – 2023 January 29
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video - “Church Usages/Liturgy & Hymns” – 2023 April 30
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video - “Law and Gospel” – 2023 July 30
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video (video ends just before hymn ends) - “The Sacrament of the Altar” – 2023 October 29
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video - “Unity and Fellowship” – 2024 February 4
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video - “Ministry” – 2024 June 30
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video - Public Condemnation of Public Sin – 2024 September 29
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video - Ecclesiastical Supervision/Dispute Resolution – 2024 December 29 (tentative)
Handout Part 1: Audio or Video Part 2: Audio or Video
The August 14, 2022, Special Congregational Study titled “What does it mean to be a member of the Body of Christ?” to some extent precipitated the January 29, 2023, “Walking Together” study listed first above. The handout and audio and video files for the August 14, 2022, study can be found under the title “What does it mean to be a member of the Body of Christ?” on Pilgrim’s Adult Bible Studies webpage.
The banner graphic at the top of this page and the corresponding slider graphic on the front page were composed by Katy Myers, whom we thank for her work, using an image associated with Luke 2:44 (c) Good News Productions International and College Press Publishing, used by permission through www.freebibleimages.org. The corresponding image in the grey widget-area at right also is a version of that same base image.
