Graham Glover

graham

Rev. Glover is an LCMS Active Duty US Army Chaplain currently living in DC and working at the Pentagon. A servant to God and Caesar, Graham is interested in how Lutherans and Roman Catholics ought to understand their relationship 500 years after the Reformation, and why the American political model is ripe for its own reformation. Always eager to debate theology and politics, Graham isn’t afraid to stir the pot and even kick it over when properly motivated!

Read Graham’s contributions here.

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1

David Anders on April 29, 2014 at 3:57 pm
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Dear Rev. Glover,
I read your recent post on “Why Protestants Need the Pope.” i appreciate your ecumenical spirit. I am a Catholic who also feels that “Catholics need Protestants” in a certain sense. I am a convert to Catholicism and I see first hand how many Protestant converts have enriched the Church with their spirituality and especially with their knowledge and love of Scripture.
I participate in an ecumenical dialogue online named “Called to Communion.” We explore those issues that unite and continue to divide us. I would invite you to come check out the site (which is more focused on Calvinists than Lutherans, but what-the-heck!) Thank you again,

David Anders

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  Graham Glover on April 30, 2014 at 3:24 am
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  David, thanks for the note and the invite. I’ve occasionally read things on “Called to Communion”. I’ll need to return and engage in the dialogue. I certainly appreciate your desire for increased dialogue. It’s what I seek to do on a myriad of issues in my weekly column on this website and something that happens regularly in the Chaplain Corps. See you around on the web!
  
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  JcArr on December 14, 2014 at 9:31 pm
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  Protestanism is the trojan horse. But it’s OK, we are in God’s hands , and that is where we should be.
  
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Ray Pastora on April 29, 2014 at 8:44 pm
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I would argue that Protestants led me back to the Church. What the Church needs is more Catholics with Protestant zeal for the Gospel.

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  Graham Glover on April 30, 2014 at 3:24 am
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  Ray, your comments remind me of the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus!
  
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Harlan on May 1, 2014 at 9:15 pm
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It was God working through my non-denom girlfriend in college who tested my Catholic faith and brought me back. I believe we all need a little grace of humility with love and concern for our neighbor to help us open our ears and see the truth or else we’re no better then the idols we crafted. It takes His Love and intellectual honesty to speak Life and receive it.

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josemaria626 on June 25, 2014 at 1:57 pm
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Thank you, Reverend Glover, for your insistence that Protestant Christians rediscover their heritage of being reformers rather than revolters. This century and the last have borne much ecumenical fruit, and persons like yourself willing to challenge current and comfortable notions have pushed the universal Church closer to visible unity.
If you have not already ready it, you may be interested in a book called “Visible Church, Visible Unity” by Ola Tjørhom.
Full disclosure – yes, I am another former Protestant who sought and received full communion with the Catholic Church.

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  Graham Glover on July 2, 2014 at 6:12 am
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  joemaria626, thank you for your comment. I completely agree with your sentiment and pray that blogs like this can help facilitate what our Lord desires, unity among all His faithful. As we both seek to serve Him and His Church, may the Holy Spirit be with us!
  
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Leonard C. Johnson on June 30, 2014 at 1:23 pm
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FWIW, in my opinion, one might deem the liturgical format offered in the Lutheran Service Book (LCMS), or perhaps only the variant of same that pertains to the Sacrament of the Altar (communion), to be our “Mass,” noting that Webster’s defines the Mass as the Eucharistic rite of the Latin church No useful or “spiritual” purpose is served by sanctifying a particular language, IMO.
Leonard
The above comment I shared w. my pastor, Rev. Tim Beyer, and chmn of my congregation’s Lay Ministry Board (i.e. Elders), a close friend and frequent exchanger of facts and opinions.

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  josemaria626 on July 1, 2014 at 10:17 am
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  Hello, Leonard. I apologize if I am butting in on a comment you were making directly to reverend Glover, but I wonder if you could expound a bit on your stance on liturgical languages. Christ Himself, in His time, worshipped in an older, sanctified Hebrew, and spoke Aramaic conversationally. The Eastern Churches have long used Greek and Old Slavonic as liturgical languages, and the Western Church, for the most part, has used Latin.
  
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Paul Haynes on December 18, 2014 at 5:39 pm
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How do you celebrate holy communion on a daily basis. If Lutheran Christians could do the words of institution it could be done daily at home

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  Graham Glover on December 18, 2014 at 5:57 pm
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  Paul, I don’t. My article on celebrating the Mass daily is a call for the parish. Although a Lutheran pastor, I am currently serving as an Active Duty US Army Chaplain and do not have my own parish/congregation.
  
  Lutheran Christians however would not celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar at home, as the Eucharist is properly celebrated at the local congregation with the local pastor presiding. (Obviously shut-ins or home-bound members are brought Holy Communion by the pastor.)
  
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Josemaria626 on January 17, 2015 at 6:11 am
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Father Bass, at the risk of being too tangential, do you mean “conservative” as in “conservative on the American political spectrum” or “conservative” in a sense that the word has not previously had as in “obedient to the magisterium , and thus to Christ, in both belief and action.” If it’s the latter, “orthodox” would seem to be a much more apt term. I know “conservative” Catholics who don’t believe Francis is the pope, and others who have no moral problem with torture. These may be conservative, but they’re far from orthodox.

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  Fr. Frank on June 15, 2015 at 9:25 pm
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  Yes, Josemaria, orthodox is the far better term. Politically, given the positions of both major parties, I personally think “A pox on both their houses.” Glory to Christ our King, Sovereign Lord, Head of the Church, and Bridegroom of the Mystical Body, His Bride, purchased by His blood.
  
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Fr. Frank Bass on January 17, 2015 at 8:23 am
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Yes, certainly “orthodox” is the better term. Thanks.

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Fr. Frank on January 18, 2015 at 1:42 pm
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I’m new to this site and having trouble navigating it, I guess. Is there a way to contact pastors by private email? I feel bad for having put my mom’s business out for all to see. I thought I was sending a private email to Pr. Graham and the other pastors who share this site.

Thanks!
Fr. Frank

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Fr. Frank on January 18, 2015 at 9:34 pm
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Um, as Madea would say “Hellerrrrr?”

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Graham Glover on January 19, 2015 at 6:19 am
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Fr. Frank, I can be reached at revgbg at gmail dot com. Look forward to hearing from you!

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John J Flanagan on June 10, 2015 at 8:55 pm
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Graham, as an ordained Lutheran minister of the LCMS and a chaplain, I cannot understand why you felt the need to advance this idea of reconsidering the Papacy for the sake of “unity?” I think, perhaps, instead of pushing the rest of towards your spiritual folly, why not just leave the LCMS and join the Roman Catholic Church? There you might feel more “unity” as you follow whatever ecclesiastical decision the existing Pope determines to be appropriate. I read more Internet comments from Lutheran pastors these days, and while ELCA ones are usually just about affirming homosexuality, illegal immigration, social activism, and lesbian Bishops, the LCMS commentaries are getting a bit over the top as well. I do not know what is happening. I wonder in what direction the LCMS will go in the future. As for me, if things continue to be so fractious, I can visualize myself leaving the LCMS to find a Lutheran church which is rooted, firmly planted, and able to remain simply a faithful body of Christ.

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  John J Flanagan on June 10, 2015 at 8:57 pm
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  Please excuse my opening sentence. I am not a Lutheran minister or a chaplain. I meant to refer to Graham, as this is what his bio says.
  
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  Graham Glover on June 11, 2015 at 5:44 am
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  John, on one level I can appreciate your comments. I certainly do push the envelope on many topics near and dear to Lutherans. But even with this week’s article, I challenge you to tell me specifically where my posts or comments are in violation of our Lutheran doctrine. I never said submit to the pope at the expense of our Confessions. I never said the papacy is more important than theological integrity. I just make an argument that the office of the Bishop of Rome is ideal for unity and theological integrity. I pose the question to solicit commentary, and in the process, I pray, refine all of our theological acumen.
  
  Honestly, I think every Lutheran should ask themselves on a regular basis why they are not Roman Catholic. Rome is from whence we came and continues to shape who we are as Lutherans. Remember, Luther never wanted to leave the Church (unlike the other more radical reformers that followed him). This obviously got a little hard when he was excommunicated. But it is Luther’s spirit to stay within the Roman Church that drives me.
  
  Have I considered “Swimming the Tiber”. I’d be lying to you if I said, “No.” But if you see the article I wrote earlier this year, which was hyper-linked in this week’s article (“Why I Remain Lutheran”), I think my words speak for themselves.
  
  Perhaps I am a bit over the top at times. This is why I appreciate people like you to bring me back down. But I’ll keep pushing. And you keep pushing back. And together, we’ll do this wonderful thing called “theology”.
  
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    Fr. Frank on June 28, 2015 at 7:05 pm
    
    Dear Pastor Glover,
    As a RCC presbyter, I can assure you that we accept you as brothers in your sincere love and worship of our redeemer in the Sacrament of the Altar. Our problem with Fr. Luther is not so much with theology as with philosophy. The love of the modern world that dare not speak its name: Nominalism. In our opinion, it is Nominalism that has given you a Nestorian Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar. You yourselves cannot agree for certain when He is “gone” but insist that only pastors can administer the Sacrament to the homebound, just to make sure He’s there. Ironically, this is an even higher doctrine of the sacrificing priesthood than we papists hold. I love reading your articles! As St. Thomas More said, “May we meet right merrily together in Heaven!” But . . . We’re right! lol
    
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Jason Edwards on June 15, 2015 at 9:56 am
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Rev. Glover, I loved your article about Lutherans reconsidering the papacy. I was raised Presbyterian and then spent a little time as an Episcopalian before entering full communion with Rome in 2007 and for me the papacy was one of the “easy” things to accept on that journey – and for the reasons you cited. I think an outstanding document to cite would be “From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017.” I think your views are very much in line with the mindset of many who see the divisions within Christianity as something to mourn instead of celebrate. I think Catholics and Lutherans have made a lot of progress over the past 50 or 60 years and, although there is still work to be done, none can deny the work of the Holy Spirit as our communions work at reconciliation. All the very best to you and your ministry and I hope God continues to bless you and yours.

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  Graham Glover on June 15, 2015 at 12:38 pm
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  Thanks for the reply Jason. I couldn’t agree more with you statement that: “Catholics and Lutherans have made a lot of progress over the past 50 or 60 years and, although there is still work to be done”. Reconciliation may never come before our Lord returns, but we are called to work for it, and I pray it does happen, for all our sake.
  
  The Lord be with you as well!
  
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Robert Sledz on June 24, 2015 at 4:31 pm
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I am a Catholic apologist of an almost 60,000 member forum on Facebook. I would really like you to take part as I have 2 administrators on it from the LCMS too. I think th8d discussion could be very productive. My number is 847 504 9180. Btw, Mr Anders has a PhD and is a Calvi,ist convert.

RJ

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  Graham Glover on June 25, 2015 at 4:37 am
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  Robert, you can reach me at revgbg at gmail dot com
  
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Daniel Anderson on April 21, 2017 at 8:31 pm
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I read your post on the protestant problem of authority. I went through that journey of trying to understand it myself. I was a Presbyterian seminarian at the time. The results of that journey was my family and I converting to catholicism. You can read my story if you are interested. It’s at http://www.thisourjourney.com
I’m by no means trying to convert you. I just thought you might like to hear how one former protestant tackled that question.

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  Graham Glover on April 21, 2017 at 11:03 pm
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  Daniel, thanks for the note and glad you read the post. There’s been some great dialogue in the comments. Look forward to reading about your experiences on the website.
  
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The Jagged Word

Graham Glover

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