The Lutheran Centrist

ELCM Welcomes "New" Member Congregation and Pastor

2011-09-09T18:57:00.004-05:00

ELCM is pleased to welcome our newest rostered member congregation, Old Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and her pastor, Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Metzger. Old Zion has long been a friend of ELCM,and voted to join our mustard seed synod earlier this year. Tracing her roots to 1742, Old Zion is one of the oldest continuing Lutheran congregations in the United States, and was at one time served by Rev. Dr. H.M. Muhlenburg, often considered the "Father of American Lutheranism."

Old Zion still to this day worships in both English and German. English services are held each Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with a German service at 11:15 a.m.

Pastor Metzger was ordained in 1980 by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS). He started his ministry as a parish pastor in Albert Lea, Minnesota before joining the faculty of Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota, where he taught for 25 years. Pastor Metzger then resigned from the ELS ministerium to accept a call to an ELCA congregation in Joliet, Illinois. He became the Pastor of historic Old Zion in 2009, and joined the ELCM Ministerium roster earlier this year. Old Zion then re-affirmed their call to him by extending him a new call as an ELCM rostered pastor.

Pastor Metzger was formally installed as Pastor at Old Zion and Old Zion was formally received into ELCM Membership during the Sunday morning worship service at Old Zion on Sunday, August 28th. Despite poor weather conditons due to Hurricane Irene, a faithful, hearty band of members and friends of Old Zion were present. Rev. Roy A. Steward, President of ELCM, was present to formally receive the congregation into ELCM membership, preach the sermon, and install Pastor Metzger as the ELCM pastor of the congregation.

ELCM now has two of the oldest continuing Lutheran congregations in the United States with Old Zion (1742) and St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, New York (1760).

ELCM continues to receive contacts from pastors and congregations interested in a Centrist Lutheran alternative. Any pastor or congregation interested in exploring membership in ELCM is encouraged to contact President Steward at revroy@elcm.org.

"Unlikely Preachers of the Gospel" A Sermon on Acts 9:10-19 and Luke 23:32-43

2011-08-10T15:28:00.004-05:00

What follows is the manuscript of the sermon that was preached by The Rev. Christopher Martin during the Vespers service at the 2011 ELCM Triennial General Conference on Friday, July 29th, 2011. It is a message that speaks to small congregations and small church bodies such as ours and reminds us that God indeed will work through us to bring the Gospel to the world.

In some high schools, each year, there are often polls conducted in which each person in the class is voted most likely to do something, and then that slogan would be put by your picture in the yearbook. Some of them are serious like “Most likely to become successful in business” because they were good in business courses or “Most likely to win a Heisman trophy” because they were awarded a football scholarship to a top Division I football program, while others are more light hearted like “most likely to get as far away from here as possible and never return” if you went to a small, rural high school like I did. My high school didn’t do those in our yearbook, but if they did, because I was more introverted at school in those days, you probably would not have seen “most likely to preach a sermon at a church convention worship service” next to my picture then, or even in my days as a pre seminary student several years ago at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Over the last few days as I have been pondering the lessons you just heard read in anticipation for stepping into this pulpit to proclaim the truth of God’s Word to you as a synod in convention, I have found that these are some readings that really suit us well, whether its for the pastors here, lay delegates from our member congregations, or guests and observers from other synods who are wondering “what is ELCM really all about?” because these are texts that have a LOT to say to us as we go about our work as a synod.

Let’s start with the preacher we meet in Luke’s gospel. It’s Good Friday. There are three men who are there, hanging on crosses, outside of the city on a hill locals call “Golgotha” meaning “Place of the Skull”. The physical eye simply sees an execution going on, three men who deserve to die because of crimes they have committed. Any cries of innocence by any of the men are going to fall on deaf ears at this point. But the thing is, one of the men is innocent. One of them is without sin, yet is accepting the punishment of the sin of the world. One of them is a King. He is God’s Son. Yet, no one is saying so. The religious leaders, the ones who claim to speak for God? They are the ones who set up this whole sham in the first place and if anything, they’re glad that soon, this Jesus will be out of their hair for good and people will eventually forget about Him. The crowds below instead of signing their praises, are mocking Him, demanding that He come down from the cross. It seems that no one will see Him for who He truly is, the sinless Son of God who is atoning for the sin of the world.

Except for one man. Unlike Jesus, he has spent his life breaking commandment after commandment. Instead of living a life in service to his fellow man, he has simply taken, without a second thought of the consequences. With him, there is no protest, he is guilty as charged. He hears the other criminal taunting Jesus, demanding that He save him. And it is at this point, God calls someone to proclaim His Word that day to the crowd assembled there. “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” (v.41) He then turns to Jesus and says “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”, to which Jesus responds “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (v.42-43)

Where even the ones who were charged with proclaiming God’s Word drop the ball, God will not simply stand by and not have His saving Word proclaimed. He instead calls a criminal, the least likely person there that day, to point everyone to the work of Christ at the cross, and to have Jesus speak His Word of forgiveness by assuring the repentant thief that “today you will be with me in paradise” saying to Him “Today, your relationship with God has been restored because of what I am doing here at this cross. You may suffer death, but you will live forever with me because I am atoning for your sin and will rise again so that you may have new life! You are forgiven. You are mine!”

The other unlikely preacher is a man we know very well. You know him as St. Paul. But at the time of our text in Acts, he is known as Saul. Persecutor of Christians. A man headed from Jerusalem to Damascus with one mission in mind: find any who belong to “the Way” arrest them, and lead them bound in chains back to Jerusalem where they will likely be executed for proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. At the point where tonight’s lesson picks up, Ananias, a disciple of Jesus who is in Damascus, is told in a vision to “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul,” (v.11). While the Lord continues with his instructions, one would imagine considering Ananias’ response that this is where he quit listening. “Uhm, Lord, excuse me? Saul? You want me to go look for Saul? Don’t you know who he is? Don’t you know he stood by and approved as they stoned Stephen to death? And don’t you know what He’s done to your people in Jerusalem, and what he is going to do to them here?” Yet what does the Lord say in response to Ananias? “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (v.15-16) While Ananias couldn’t see it at the time, God had plans for this man named Saul. After Ananias approaches him and lays his hands on him, Saul’s eyesight is restored, he is baptized, and when he goes into the synagogue, he is now proclaiming Jesus is the Son of God, the savior of the world. And everyone was shocked at the message he was proclaiming, and would proclaim for the rest of his life.

Indeed, both the criminal at the cross, and the man formerly known as Saul are two men who’se resume’s at the time they were called to proclaim Christ would say “You don’t want that guy preaching in your pulpit!” Yet, in both cases, God used them to proclaim His saving word, not just to the people who heard them speak that day, but throughout the centuries as we hear them speak to us through His Word yet today. And their stories of their calls into the ministry have quite a bit to teach each one of us.

We live in a day and age where “Bigger is better”, and that has spilled over into the world of religion probably a lot more than we are aware of. Larger churches are considered successful, where their attendance numbers and bank accounts are used to decide how successful their ministries are. People flock to hear preachers that point them to having an easy, successful life in this world filled with money, good health, and wealth beyond their dreams. Even church bodies that boast large number of member congregations and baptized members are often viewed as the ones who are doing God’s Work properly.

And it’s very easy for us in such a small body as our Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium to get discouraged. Compared to most of the Lutheran synods in our country today, we’re a tiny mustard seed. Many of our congregations are not very large. In some cases, our pastors are having to serve two or three churches. Many would look at ELCM and say “why are you still holding forth on your own? There’s no way God could use you to do things for His kingdom.”

And yet, we look back at our lessons for tonight. We see the two unlikely preachers who are used by God to proclaim His saving Word then. We see how a thief as he is being executed acknowledges his sin, repents, and asks for Jesus to have mercy on him, and we hear our Lord say to Him “Today, you will be with me in paradise!” We see how Jesus calls a man who openly persecuted those who called upon the name of Christ, and uses Him to bring the good news of the Gospel to others in all different places during his ministry. In both cases, God reaches out to open sinners, men who ignored His word of Law and did what suited their desires at the time, spoke His Word to them, led them to repentance of their sin, forgave them, and called them, as unlikely as they may have been, to speak His life giving Word to the world.

And the same thing happens today. It starts with us pastors. We’re not super human. We’re sinners just like you. We’re people who need to hear the warnings of God’s law, turn to Christ in repentance and faith, and hear the sweet news that our sins are forgiven because of what Christ has done for us at the cross and at the empty tomb. Every single one of us is an unlikely preacher, in that God has called us, despite our sins, despite our shortcomings, despite our failures, to proclaim His life-giving Word to people in our congregations, in mission settings, in our daily lives, and to the world.

But it’s not just pastors who do this work of sharing the Gospel. It’s also true for the lay people in our congregations, too. You confess on a regular basis that you are sinful and unclean, that you have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, and you hear in God’s Word that Christ has atoned for all of your sin and that you are a redeemed, forgiven child of God! Thus, you, too, are an unlikely preacher when you share the word of Christ with a friend, a neighbor, or a co-worker. When you do this, you are like the thief on the cross or the former persecutor, Saul. You have been one who has been forgiven of your sin and set free to share that message of Christ crucified with others in your various vocations.

And for us as a little Mustard-Seed synod, the world would look at our size, and the size of many of our congregations, and wonder “what can God possibly do with you?” And the truth is, we don’t have a lot of the resources the larger Lutheran church bodies have. We don’t have an established system of colleges and universities or seminaries. We don’t have our own summer camps. We don’t have a large gathering of delegates or a huge congregational base. And as a result, a lot of folks when they are looking at options for their church will simply pass us by, thinking “there isn’t anything good that can come of our membership in ELCM” and we might even wonder “Why are we still here on our own, why don’t we just merge with someone else?” But again, look back at our readings for tonight. God used unlikely men, men who were not wealthy, or prosperous, and used them to further His kingdom. Look at the early church on the day of Pentecost. They simply had God’s Word and His Sacraments, and the Lord continued to add to their number. We have what’s necessary to continue to proclaim Christ to people in our communities, our nation, and the world! And that’s all that matters!

Now does that mean it’s going to be easy? No. There’s going to be suffering along the way. For the criminal on the cross, did his suffering end after he pointed to the truth of who Jesus was and what He was doing? No. At the end of the day, he was dead. He would suffer much pain, and probably was ridiculed by others for daring to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. For Saul, who would later be known as Paul, would his life be any easier as the great missionary? No. He would be imprisoned. Friends would turn their backs on him. He would be beaten. In some places where he would preach, he would nearly be stoned to death. And eventually, he would suffer death. But in both cases, both men knew that their message they proclaimed would not always be popular. They knew they would suffer in this life. Yet, in the end, they knew that because of what Christ had done for them, the suffering they endured in this life was nothing compared to what was to come.

And likewise for us as individuals, in our congregations, and as a synod, we may never have an easy time in this world. As we strive to remain faithful, we will be mocked and ridiculed for our faith. We will be considered insignificant or out of touch for daring to proclaim Christ crucified for the sins of the world. We may see tremendous growth at times in our congregations and in our synod, and other times, we have what President Steward refers to as “winnowing times” where what we preach is not popular, or some may decide to no longer walk with us in our congregations or in our synod. But no matter what happens, we have hope. We know that our suffering, whatever it may be, will have an end, and when that day comes, we will never know suffering again. And it’s all because Christ has lived for us, Christ has died for us, Christ has risen for us, Christ has forgiven us, and Christ has given us new life in Him!

Indeed, whether it’s me, Saul, or the thief on the cross, we are unlikely preachers of Christ But in a way, it was fitting to have this theme from God’s Word before us this evening, because it reminded each of us through God’s Word that He has a mission for us. That He has called us as a church body to remain steadfast in His Word, to proclaim the good news of Christ in season and out of season, and that He will use our little mustard seed synod, as unlikely as it may be, to proclaim His saving Gospel to the world! Thanks be to God that He uses us for that purpose for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Rev. Christopher Martin is Pastor of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg, PA, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Big Cove Tannery, PA, and Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Mercersburg, PA. He is the editor of "The Lutheran Centrist."

A Statement on Marriage

2011-08-04T12:26:00.004-05:00

The following statement on marriage was adopted by unanimous consensus at the 2011 Triennial General Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America (ELCM). The statement, originated by The Rev. Christopher Martin, is now considered to be the official stance and policy of ELCM.

"As a Lutheran church body that holds Holy Scripture to be the sole rule and norm of faith and practice, it is the belief of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America, it's subscribing rostered member congregations, and its subscribing rostered pastors/licensed ministers that Holy marriage is between one man and one woman. (Genesis 2:24-25, Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:2-9). Thus it is the official policy of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America, its subscribing member congregations and subscribing member pastors/licensed ministers to conduct weddings, blessings of civil marriages, or renewal of vows ceremonies for heterosexual couples only. It is further the official policy of our Denomination, congregations, and pastors/licensed ministers that our church buildings and grounds are not to be rented out to same sex couples seeking these rites by the pastor of another church or another person authorized by the respective state or Commonwealth to conduct such ceremonies."

4th Triennial General Conference

2011-08-01T11:16:00.003-05:00

The 4th Triennial General Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America (ELCM) was held on Friday, July 29th and Saturday, July 30th at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Duncansville, Pennsylvania. Our little mustard seed synod was well represented at this Triennial. It was a joy to see so many new faces join us as our congregational base has more than doubled since we last met in 2008.

Highlights of the two day conference were numerous. The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Isaacs, Pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, New York, gave several outstanding Power Point presentations on a variety of topics. The Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Metzger, Pastor of Old Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania presented a fine talk on the debate on Consecrationist vs. Receptionist view of the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Nina Tedeschi, organist for Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Duncansville, Pennsylvania and Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, presented a wonderful organ recital during Saturday morning's session.

We accomplished a great deal in the business sessions of the conference. The General Conference unanimously adopted a statement on marriage that was presented by The Rev. Christopher Martin, Pastor of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania. A "Memorandum of Understanding" was also adopted that will define relationships with non-ELCM congregations that wish to call ELCM member pastors to serve their churches. This document was drawn up based on past experiences of several of our pastors that were "loaned" for service to non-ELCM congregations in need of pastoral service.

We were nourished through Word and Sacrament throughout the Triennial General Conference with a service of Word and Sacrament on Friday morning at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Duncansville. The Rev. Roy A. Steward, President of ELCM and our host pastor, serving as liturgist and celebrant at the Sacrament of Holy Communion, The Rev. Russell N. Burr, ELCM Dean of the Ministerium, as Lector, and The Rev. Stephen Whitten, Pastor of Morning Star Lutheran Church, Mt. Jackson, Virginia delivered the sermon based on Matthew 6:24-35 with a theme of "Don't Worry". On Friday evening, a Vespers service was held at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg with President Steward serving as liturgist and The Rev. Christopher Martin, Pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Big Cove Tannery, and Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Mercersburg, PA, preaching a sermon on Acts 9:10-19 and Luke 23:32-43 under the theme "Unlikely Preachers of the Gospel".

While we are still a relatively small configuration, ELCM has shown significant growth in the last Triennium. We pray that God will continue to bless the ministry efforts of our tiny, Centrist, mustard seed Synod in the coming three years as we seek out new ways to proclaim the Gospel of Christ Crucified to North America and the world!

Triennial General Conference Presenters and Topics Announced

2011-07-08T10:18:00.003-05:00

The Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium of North America (ELCM) has announced the topics of presentations that will be given at different times throughout its 4th Triennial General Conference July 29th and 30th, 2011 at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1320 Route 764, Duncansville, Pennsylvania.

The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Isaacs will be the main presenter at this year's General Conference. Dr. Isaacs will be presenting on the following topics: "The 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible", "The Challenge that Islam Poses to Christianity", "A Crash Course in Austrian Economics for the Christian Citizen", and "Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Lakeville, Connecticut, June, 1939: The Decision to Fight Hitler". Dr. Isaacs will also present a slide show of photographs taken during his 2010 trip to the Holy Land after the evening meal on Friday, June 29th. Dr. Isaacs has served as Pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, New York since 1996. In addition to his pastoral duties, Dr. Isaacs serves as an adjunct professor at several area colleges. Dr. Isaacs and the St. Paul's congregation joined ELCM in 2000.

The Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Metzger will give a presentation entitled "The Confessional Lutheran Debate on Communion-Consecrationist vs. Receptionist Views." Dr. Metzger has served as Pastor of Old Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since 2009 and he and the Old Zion congregation joined ELCM earlier this year. Prior to coming to Old Zion, Dr. Metzger served pastorates in Albert Lea, Minnesota and Joliet, Illinois and for over two decades was a member of the faculty at Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minnesota.

The Rev. Paull E. Spring of State College, Pennsylvania will also be present to bring greetings to the ELCM on behalf of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) and Lutheran CORE. Bishop Spring will also speak on his observations on the situation facing Lutheran congregations in North America today. Bishop Spring was elected as the first Bishop of the North American Lutheran Church when that body was constituted in August, 2010.

The ELCM Triennial General Conference is the "legislative body" of the ELCM. It consists of each voting member congregation and each voting member pastor. Decisions are made by "Consensus in light of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions."

Visitors are welcome to attend the General Conference as observers, especially pastors and congregations looking at alternatives to their current denominational affiliation. If you are interested in attending as an observer, please contact ELCM President, Rev. Roy A. Steward, at revroy@elcm.org or by telephone at 814-943-4609.

4th ELCM Triennial General Conference

2011-06-28T14:31:00.004-05:00

The Fourth Triennial General Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America (ELCM) is scheduled to be held Friday, July 29th and Saturday, July 30th at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Duncansville, Pennsylvania, the site of ELCM's organization in 1999. The Triennial General Conference will begin on the 29th with an opening worship service at 9:00 a.m. at Faith, Duncansville, and will end with a picnic supper and closing session of the General Conference on Saturday evening, July 30th at Barley Evangelical Lutheran Church, rural New Enterprise, PA.

Our featured presenters this year are Rev. Dr. Mark Isaacs, Pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, New York and Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Metzger, Pastor of Old Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. St. Paul's and Old Zion are two of the oldest continuing Lutheran congregations in the United States and both congregations have ties to Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, the Father of American Lutheranism, with Muhlenberg having served as Pastor of the Old Zion congregation. Rev. Paull Spring, Bishop of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) will be present on July 30th to bring greetings to ELCM on behalf of NALC.

More details and a full schedule of events will be posted in the coming days.

ELCM would welcome guests and visitors to attend the Triennial General Conference as observers, especially pastors or congregations that are interested in ELCM as an option. For more information, contact ELCM President, Rev. Roy A. Steward, at revroy@elcm.org

ELCM is now on Facebook!

2010-10-12T19:36:00.003-05:00

ELCM now has a presence on Facebook. Come visit us there at the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Evangelical-Lutheran-Conference-and-Ministerium-of-North-America-ELCM/159932157369921

Welcome Morning Star Lutheran!

2010-09-14T11:49:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, August 1st, 2010, the congregation of Morning Star Lutheran Church of rural Mt. Jackson, Virginia voted unanimously to join the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America (ELCM) as a voting member congregation. The congregation invited ELCM representatives to visit their congregation earlier this year for an informational session with Rev. Roy Steward, ELCM President, and Rev. Christopher Martin, pastor of the three ELCM congregations in the McConnellsburg, PA area making the journey to meet with the Morning Star congregation. Morning Star becomes the 4th congregation to officially join ELCM this year, with the congregations of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish in Fulton and Franklin Counties in Pennsylvania having been received into ELCM membership in March.

While the Morning Star congregation is our newest member congregation, it has had ties to ELCM for a while. Current ELCM Ministerium Dean and ELCM Military Chaplaincy Enabling Officer, Rev. Russ Burr, was Pastor of Morning Star from 1998-2000. In January of 2010, another ELCM Pastor, Rev. Steve Whitten of Harrisonburg, Virginia agreed to serve Morning Star Lutheran Church after the congregation had voted to leave the ELCA. Rev. Whitten continues to serve Morning Star as their Pastor since the vote to join the ELCM.

Morning Star Lutheran Church will be formally received into ELCM membership this fall. Contacts continue to come into ELCM offices from congregations and groups of people looking at forming new mission congregations. If your congregation or group is looking into alternatives for your denominational membership, you are encouraged to contact ELCM President, Rev. Roy Steward, or an ELCM Pastor or congregation near you.

Congregation Spotlight: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Big Cove Tannery, PA

2010-07-09T13:48:00.007-05:00

The subject of our congregation spotlight is one of our newest member congregations, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Big Cove Tannery, Pennsylvania. While new to ELCM, this country church has been proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of rural Fulton County for over 160 years.

Lutheran worship services were first held in the Big Cove Tannery area in the Connor School House, just outside the village. At a meeting held December 22nd, 1849, a Lutheran congregation was organized at Big Cove Tannery. The group named their new congregation "Mt. Pisgah Lutheran Church" and had 19 charter members. The Rev. William Kopp of St. Paul Lutheran Church in nearby McConnellsburg, who had conducted services in the area that led to the organization of the new church, was the first pastor of the Mt. Pisgah congregation.

The original congregation didn't seem to prosper well in its early years, as there are no parhocial records of the congregation for the years 1850-1874. We do know that the congregation was served by the Pastors of St. Paul Lutheran Church in McConnellsburg during this time.

In its early years, the Big Cove Tannery congregation did not have a house of worship of its own, so services were conducted in the Connor School House in Ayr Township near Big Cove Tannery. In 1871, under the leadership of Rev. Philip Doeer, the congregation built a new house of worship directly across the road from the school house. This church building is still in use by the congregation today, although it has been enlarged and improved over the years.

In 1874, under the leadership of Rev. Joseph R. Focht, the Big Cove Tannery Lutheran congregation was reorganized with 21 members, and the name of the congregation was formally changed to St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

Since that time, the St. Paul's congregation has grown and become influential in the life of the community and surrounding area. It has made numberous improvements to the church building as kerosene lamps gave way to electric lights, new floors, new pews, new carpet, stained glass windows, and a new organ, Christian and American flags, and other appointments have been added to beautify the sanctuary. A bell tower was added to the front of the church, and a religious education building to the back of the church, water from a well across the road, and a renovation of the old school house have added to the material assets of the church through the years.

In 1999, the St. Paul's congregation celebrated her 150th anniversary with a special service on Pentecost Sunday, May 23rd with lunch following at the School House Pavillion.

Through its entire history, St. Paul's has been in a parish arrangement with St. Paul Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg and has shared its pastors with St. Paul. Since 1932, Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Little Cove has also been a part of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish. The longest pastorate at St. Paul's was that of The Rev. Dr. David R. Hoover, who served the parish during his entire ministry from 1945-1983, and upon his retirement, continued as Pastor Emeritus until his death in 1991. Through the years, several seminary interns (Vicars) have assisted the Pastors of our parish, in addition to seminary students from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg who have assisted the pastors on Sunday mornings on various occasions.

St. Paul's was orginally a part of the General Synod, and then became a part of the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA) when that body was organized in 1918. It remained a part of the ULCA until that body particpated in a merger that resulted in the creation of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1962, with St. Paul's, along with her sister congregations of the parish, becoming a part of the LCA's Central Pennsylvania Synod. In 1988, the congregation became a member of the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and it's Lower Susquehanna Synod as the result of another merger of church bodies.

On Saturday, December 12th, 2009, the congregation, along with its sister congregations of the parish, met for a joint Vesper service at the Fulton Theater in McConnellsburg, following which a special meeting of the congregation was held. At this meeting, St. Paul's, along with the other two churches of the parish, voted to join the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America (ELCM) as a voting member congregation, and extended a call to The Rev. Christopher W. Martin, an ELCM rostered pastor, to serve the parish as its pastor. St. Paul's was removed from membership in the ELCA by action of the Lower Susquehanna Synod Council at their meeting on February 20th, 2010, and St. Paul's was formally received into ELCM

membership during the installation service of Pastor Martin on Saturday, March 20th, 2010.

St. Paul's worships on Sunday morning at 8:45 a.m. The congregation uses the First Setting of Holy Communion from the Lutheran Book of Worship as its weekly liturgy, with the sacrament of Holy Communion celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of each month and any major festivals. Sunday School classes are also held weekly at 10:00 a.m. with classes for young children, and also for adults, with the adult class led by lay volunteers of the congregation. St. Paul's also provides many gifts to organizations and individuals, including the sick, fire victims, flood victims, Lutheran World Relief, World Hunger, the Fulton County Medical Center, Operation Christmas Child, the ELCM, and the Salvation Army being some of the recipients of our activity.

While St. Paul's has a proud history, this little country church has a bright future as it continues to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to rural Fulton County and the world.

ELCM Congregational Profile: Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg, PA

2010-06-17T08:19:00.003-05:00

The subject of our next ELCM Congregational Spotlight is on our youngest congregation, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Yet, it's story is intertwined a bit with that of another Lutheran congregation.

Several years ago, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) had a mission congregation in Hollidaysburg, named "Our Savior Lutheran Church". The little mission congregation purchased 5.8 acres of land in a prime residential area on Frankstown Road in Hollidaysburg, and erected a small multi-purpose facility there. The original building had white siding, and consisted of a sanctuary/fellowship hall multi-purpose room, a kitchen, restrooms, an office, library, and classroom. In its last years, the Our Savior congregation was served by a retired WELS pastor who would commute from the Pittsburgh area. Eventually, due to a lack of active membership, the mission effort was abandoned by the Wisconsin Synod and the property put up for sale.

In 1992, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church was born in nearby Altoona as an independent Lutheran congregation. Faith's initial membership included 40 individuals from an LCA/ELCA background and the congregation called Rev. Roy A. Steward, former pastor of First Lutheran Church, Altoona (ELCA) to serve as the congregation's pastor. Faith Lutheran met for its first three and a half years in rental facilities in Altoona, first in a hotel conference room, then at a community center. In 1993 and 1994, the congregation planted a daughter congregation, which came to be known as Barley Evangelical Lutheran Church, in an old one room stone church located near the village of Baker's Summitt that had been home to the former St. Paul Lutheran Church, which had dissolved in 1981.

In October of 1995, Faith Lutheran purchased property in Duncansville, just south of Altoona, that included a block warehouse which was renovated into a beautiful church facility. As the congregation continued to grow, there was a desire to expand the Duncansville facility and make it more visible as a church to the community, but the price of additional land needed and for the planned expansion to the existing property proved to be too much for the congregation, but the congregation soon saw that when God closes one door, He often opens another for mission opportunity in His kingdom.

Faith Lutheran was then offered the property on Frankstown Road that belonged to the now dissolved Wisconsin Synod mission for a relatively low price. Faith Lutheran purchased the Frankstown Road property, and began using the facility for occasional evening Vespers services, church dinners, social functions, and other events. Both the 7:45 and 11:00 a.m. Sunday services continued at the Duncansville location until such time as the Frankstown Road location could be expanded and used for regular Sunday worship.

In 2005, the Allegheny Township aquired property on Frankstown Road that had belonged to a Jehovah's Witness congregation. The former Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall building, a well maintained facility, was offered for free to the Faith Lutheran congregation by the Township board on the condition that Faith Lutheran made arrangements to have the building moved off of the original property within a one month time frame. Faith Lutheran was able to move the building off of its original foundation and move it to their Frankstown Road facility. A new foundation and basement was constructed and the new building was moved onto its new foundation, and attached to the existing multi-purpose facility. The interior of the former Kingdom Hall building was completely renovated into a Lutheran sanctuary. Pews were donated to Faith Lutheran for their new sanctuary by an area church, the existing organ, altar rail, altar ware, and pulpit from the Wisconsin Synod mission were used in the new sanctuary, while a member of Faith Lutheran built a new altar, pulpit, baptismal font, and flower stands for the new sanctuary. The existing facility was renovated to enlarge the kitchen and add a roomy entrance and hallway between the social room and the sanctuary.

Upon the completion of the new full church facility, Faith Lutheran made the decision to move the Sunday morning 11 a.m. worship service to the Frankstown Road facility, with the goal of having the 11 a.m. worship service attendees become the core to form a new congregation at Frankstown Road. The Duncansville facility is still used as a preaching point for the congregation and continued to maintain its 7:45 Sunday service each week. The Faith Lutheran, Hollidaysburg congregaton is a part of the three point General Parish that includes Faith, Duncansville and Barley, New Enteprise.

Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg has seen quite a bit of activity by the Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium (ELCM) since the property was aquired by Faith Lutheran. It hosted meals for the 1st ELCM Triennial General Conference in 2002, a Ministerium Meeting in 2004, the opening Vesper Service with Holy Communion and Three Sessions of the 2nd ELCM Triennial General Conference in 2005, (all before the new sanctuary addition was completed), the ordination of Rev. Alfred Banquer as an ELCM Pastor in 2006, all sessions of the 3rd ELCM Triennial General Conference and the ordination of Rev. Christopher Martin as an ELCM Pastor in 2008.

Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg currently worships each Sunday morning at 11 a.m. and uses the Service Book and Hymnal, Setting Two for its liturgy each week. The Sacrament of Holy Commuion is celebrated at all Sunday services. Occasional Wednesday evening Vespers services are also held at the church at 7 p.m. All in the area are invited to experience Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg, Lutheranism the way it was, an a viable option for the future!

ELCM Informational Meeting

2010-06-03T13:43:00.003-05:00

An ELCM Informational and Introductory meeting will be held on Sunday, June 6th, 2010 at Morning Star Lutheran Church, rural Mt. Jackson, Virginia. There will be a covered dish dinner at 5 p.m., followed by the introductory and informational meeting at 6:30 p.m.

The Rev. Roy A. Steward, President of ELCM, will be present to discuss ELCM and answer questions. Also in attendance will be Rev. Christopher Martin, Pastor of three ELCM congregations in the McConnellsburg, PA area that recently joined ELCM, as well as Morning Star's pastor, Rev. Stephen Whitten, an ELCM rostered Pastor. Some lay leaders from our ELCM member congregations in Pennsylvania will also be in attendance to visit with those who are interested in learning about ELCM from a layman's perspective.

For more information, see Morning Star's webpage.

Congregation Spotlight-St. Paul Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg, PA

2010-04-22T09:41:00.004-05:00

This week's congregational spotlight is on St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg, PA. While St. Paul is one of the newest member congregations of ELCM, it is the 2nd oldest congregation in ELCM, and our oldest congregation in the state of Pennsylvania.

St. Paul has the distinction of being the first church organized in McConnellsburg. On May 7th, 1798, double lots 107 and 109 were deeded as a gift from Daniel and Mary McConnell to Lutheran trustees Vandle Ott, Philip Coleman, and George Humbert for a Lutheran congregation. Mr. McConnell was the founder of McConnellsburg. The first church building in town was erected by the Lutherans on these lots in 1801. It was originally a log structure, and was later weatherboarded and painted red. It was a two story building with an upstairs gallery, the high pulpit was along one of the long walls of the building, with benches surrounding the pulpit on three sides.

The St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church was officially organized as a separate Lutheran congregation in 1804. The Rev. John Ruthraff was the first pastor, serving the congregation for 10 years.

In 1848, under the pastorate of Rev. William Kopp, the original log church building was replaced with a substantial brick church building on the same site. This building is still in use by the St. Paul congregation today. The cornerstone was laid on September 16th, 1848, and the completed house of worship was dedicated on October 12th, 1849. In later years, an office/education unit was added to the building to increase its use for ministry in God's kingdom.

The congregation has been in several parish arrangements through the years with Lutheran congregations at St. Thomas, Fort Loudon, Mercersburg (perhaps Greencastle), Big Cove Tannery, and Little Cove (St. Mark's and Mt. Zion). The current parish arrangement with St. Paul's, Big Cove Tannery dates to that congregation's organization in 1849, and with Mt. Zion, Little Cove in 1932. The longest pastorate in the history of the congregation is that of Rev. Dr. David R. Hoover, who served the parish from 1945-1983, and upon his retirement was named Pastor Emeritus, an honor he held until his death in 1991.

The congregation was originally a part of the old General Synod, and held membership at times in the West Pennsylvania Synod and later the Allegheny Synod. In 1918, it became a part of the United Lutheran Church in America, and in 1962, the Central Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America. In 1988, the congregation became a member of the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

In December of 2009, the congregation, along with the other two congregations of the parish, voted to join the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America (ELCM), and call The Rev. Christopher Martin, an ELCM rostered Pastor, to serve the parish. Pastor Martin was formally installed and the congregation received into ELCM membership on March 20th, 2010. The congregation was removed from ELCA membership on February 20th, 2010.

St. Paul continues to serve the people of McConnellsburg with an active Word and Sacrament ministry today. Worship services are held every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m., with the sacrament of Holy Communion offered the 1st Sunday of each month. The congregation uses Lutheran Book of Worship's "Holy Communion, Setting One" as its weekly liturgy, and uses hymns from both Lutheran Book of Worship and With One Voice. The congregation recently reactivated its choir who provides a special anthem once per month. The Willing Workers keep the congregation busy with fundraising activities, a monthly free dinner outreach on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, and other dinners and activities.

St. Paul has a fine past, but a promising future now that they are an ELCM member congregation.

Martin Installed at McConnellsburg Parish

2010-04-03T16:39:00.005-05:00

The Rev. Christopher W. Martin (center of photo) was installed as the Pastor of the congregations of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish, McConnellsburg, PA during a special service of Word and Sacrament on Saturday, March 20th, 2010 at 4 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg. The Rev. Roy A. Steward, President of ELCM, (Left in Photo) officiated at the Rite of Installation and preached the sermon, while Rev. Russell N. Burr, ELCM Ministerium Dean, (right in photo) also participated in the service. Special piano music was provided by Mrs. Lindsay Martin, wife of Pastor Martin.

During the service, President Steward formally received the congregations of the parish, St. Paul Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Big Cove Tannery, and Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Little Cove (Mercersburg), as member congregations of ELCM.

Pastor Martin began serving the McConnellsburg parish on January 24th, 2010. He had previously served ELCM as Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa and Adjacent States and Assistant to the President of ELCM from 2005-2010. He continues to serve ELCM in the same role for Pennsylvania and adjacent states with his move to McConnellsburg. He also had served as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa from 2007-2010 under a Contract Call arrangement, as Our Saviour's was not an ELCM member congregation.

The congregations of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish have been in a three point parish arrangement together going back to the 1930's. They come out of the former United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA) and Lutheran Church in America (LCA) strand of Lutheranism. With their joining ELCM, it doubles ELCM's congregational base in the state of Pennsylvania, and contacts continue to come into the Office of the President from others who are wanting to explore ELCM Membership.

If your congregation is interested in exploring membership in ELCM, please contact President Steward or an ELCM pastor or congregation in your area.

Welcome New ELCM Members!

2010-03-13T10:07:00.005-06:00

ELCM is happy to welcome three congregations into ELCM membership. The congregations of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish, which include St. Paul Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg, PA, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Big Cove Tannery, PA, and Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, rural Mercersburg, PA, voted at a special meeting in December to unite with ELCM and to call an ELCM Pastor, The Rev. Christopher W. Martin, to serve their parish as the Pastor.

Because of their action to call an ELCM Pastor and to join the ELCM, the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the ELCA at its Synod Council meeting on Saturday, February 20th, voted to remove the congregations of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish from ELCA congregational membership.

The three congregations of the parish will be formally received into ELCM membership during the installation service of Pastor Martin on Saturday, March 20th, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg.

With the addition of the McConnellsburg Parish congregations, ELCM's presence in the state of Pennsylvania has doubled!

Lay leaders or Pastors who wish to explore membership in ELCM are invited to contact ELCM President, Rev. Roy A. Steward at revroy@elcm.org or an ELCM congregation or Pastor in your area.

Some Christmas Thoughts

2009-12-24T19:02:00.004-06:00

It is Christmas Eve as I write this post. I am doing so not from my church office between services as I had originally intended, but from my computer at home. The reason is a winter storm is passing through western Iowa tonight and tomorrow, forcing us to cancel Christmas Eve and Christmas morning services. This is the first time I can ever remember having to cancel Christmas services, either as a Pastor, or going back to my youth growing up.

As I've talked with some of my parishoners about the decision to cancel services, I have heard more than one note "it just won't seem like Christmas without a Christmas Eve service." I find myself agreeing with that. Although we will celebrate the festival of Our Lord's Nativity on Sunday, it just won't be the same.

For many in our world, they have chosen to leave Christ out of Christmas altogether this night. While this year it's a forced choice for me to not be in the Lord's house, gathered around Word and Sacrament to celebrate this Holy Festival, I am already finding myself wondering what is Christmas without Christ? Why would someone deliberately take Christ out of Christmas? Perhaps it makes sense that our secular world wants to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", because Christmas is just too empty without Christ?

Yet while I cannot bring the Christmas Gospel to the people of my congregation from the pulit this night, I am comforted and find a reason to be joyful this Christmas knowing that story is for me. That Jesus Christ came into this world through the womb of Mary and was born in that stable for me. That His ultimate destination was the cross, where He would suffer and die for the sins of the world, my sins included, and He would rise again to give me the gift of eternal life. No winter storm can take that joy away from me. No person can take that away from me.

If you are reading this post, wondering where your Christmas joy is, look no further than the baby in the manger. Look into His eyes, and with the eyes of faith, you will see your Savior staring back at you. The greatest Christmas gift ever given, a gift that never breaks, wears out, or comes in the right size. A gift that keeps on giving.

Merry Christmas to all, wherever it finds you!

-Rev. Christopher Martin is the ELCM Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa and Adjacent States. He also serves as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa.

"The Necessity of Sound Teaching" A Sermon on Christian Education

2009-09-16T11:55:00.003-05:00

Editor's Note; I preached this sermon on Sunday, September 13th at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa for the congregation's Sunday School Rally Day service. The text is 2 Timothy 4:1-5. While it refers to the Our Saviour's congregation, it does reflect well on all churches and for the ELCM as a whole. I offer the manuscript here for your personal reading and edification.-Rev. Christopher W. Martin

One of the things that we put a great deal of importance on in our American society today is education. We encourage our kids to "stay in school" and to do well in school. We now also live in an age where most of our high school graduates go off to college, or some type of specialized education in order to get the kind of jobs they want. Where a couple of generations ago, it was still somewhat more common to view graduation from high school as a noble goal, but not necessary to make a living, today, times are different. We don't make as big of a deal about 8th grade graduations as we once did.

Now let's imagine for a moment that you had a child in school, and they were in Math class. Early on, we learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. One of the basic rules of math that doesn't change is the fact that 2+2=4. You would assume that if on your child's math test, they answered 2+2=5, they'd fail the rest, right? What happens if you don't teach your child that 2+2=4? Well, if that child grows up to be an engineer, I don't think I would want to be on a bridge they designed, in case their math was wrong. Disastrous things can happen to us if we don't learn those basic things, right?

Today is Sunday School Rally Day, or as I have termed it, Christian Education Rally Sunday, a day where we mark the resumption of our Sunday School and Confirmation programs, and that some of our adult Bible Study activities are resuming as well such as the Thursday evening Men's Bible Study. Have you ever wondered why this is so important, that we set aside a Sunday in September every year, and that we give out Bibles to our pre school age and 3rd grade age children? Do we do this simply because "That's what we've always done"? This morning, we're going to learn from a young pastor the necessity of Christian education in the parish. We're going to see what our responsibilities are in this endeavor, and it is my hope and prayer that once we are finished, you too will understand the necessity of sound teaching.

Our sermon text for today is from 2nd Timothy. 2nd Timothy is one of three epistles that we have termed the "Pastoral Epistles", because they were letters that were written specifically for young pastors, giving them some practical advice and warning as they go about their ministry. In fact, to remember this, the chapel at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, a place that is charged with the task of preparing pastors, is called the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus. During his missionary journeys, St. Paul had established a Christian congregation in the city of Ephesus, and once he left, he placed a young man in the congregation named Timothy into the pastoral office of the congregation there. Paul wrote two letters to this young Pastor to help him in his ministry. Paul actually writes this particular letter to Pastor Timothy behind bars, in prison, believing that this letter will be his "farewell letter" if you will, to his young co worker in the Gospel.

In the text we have before us today, young Pastor Timothy is being encouraged to do the following: "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (v. 1-3)

Paul has several instructions for Pastor Timothy in his ongoing ministry, instructions that will also guide our Christian Education programs in this congregation. The first is this: "preach the word, be ready in season and out of season." This falls right in line with Jesus' "marching orders' for the church in the Great Commission in Matthew 28 where He tells the church on earth: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (28:19-20a) Here, Jesus says "teaching them to observe ALL that I have commanded you." Not just "the parts that are popular." Thus, Paul is encouraging Timothy, and you and me, to continue to proclaim all of God's Word. And here, Paul's comment about proclaiming it "in season and out of season" means that there will be some times and places where what we preach will be extremely popular, and other times, not so much. Just look at Paul's own ministry. Some places he'd preach and there'd be so many converts, a new congregation could be planted in that place, like what happened at Ephesus. Other places, Paul would preach, and the people there would nearly stone him to death.

Today, we face a similar situation. What does that mean to proclaim everything in God's Word? It means we preach the Law. It means we show in God's Word where our true standing is apart from Christ. It means sometimes, we are pointed out specific sins of thought, word, and deed. This fall in Confirmaiton class, and also in adult Sunday School, we are learning the 10 Commandments, and as we learn them, we discover rather quickly how we are not able to keep God's law perfectly, which is what He requires of us. Then, when we allow this word of Law to show us out sin and our inability to save ourselves, we point people to the cross. We show them that where we couldn't save ourselves, that Jesus Christ has saved us by His perfect, sinless life, His sacrifical death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension into heaven to be with us always. We show people that there is no sin too great that the blood of Christ cannot cover. That's the wonderful news we have been given, and that's the message we are to proclaim in Sunday worship, in Sunday School, Bible Study, through music, confirmation class, everything that we do as a congregation is to be Christocentric, or Christ-Centered. The cross is at the center of our theology, what we do and say in this place about God.

The great temptation, however, is to take Christ out of the center, and put ourselves there. And there are several ways we do this. This is why Paul warns Timothy to be ready to preach the Word in season and out of season. In my newsletter article a few weeks back, you heard me comment about recent actions by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly that were not in conformity with the Word of God, and I commented that we may be in an era where it may not always be in season to preach the Word. One of our society's great trends that has infultrated the church is the idea that we need to affirm the individual, and we need to ignore God's word of Law, and immerse people in the Gospel. And there are a LOT of pastors and teachers out there, many even bearing the name "Lutheran", that are seeking to do just that. But what happens if that' all we teach here? If we don't tell you what you need to be saved from, then at some point, the line of thinking goes, "hey, I'm not that bad of a person. I'm a pretty good person. God has to like me because I feel good about myself. I don't need this Savior stuff, I don't have anything I need to be saved from." And once you get into that mindset, then Jesus is no longer your Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil, and you've just been stolen right out of the kingdom of God by the wolf in sheep's clothing called self-righteousness. These are the folks that Paul describes as having "itching ears", wanting to hear what their ears want to hear, wanting the focus of worship, Sunday School, and everything else in the church to be about them and how good of a person they are, instead of what Christ has done for them.

Let's go back to that illustration of 2+2 I used earlier. In our schools, if a child is convinced that 2+2=5, do we just let that child pass elementary math, believing that answer is right, because we don't want to give that child a bad self image by correcting him or her? No. If you let that child believe that 2+2=5, they're going to have a LOT of problems later on as they continue in math, because their false belief that 2+2=5 will completely destroy their chances of succeeding at math. Likewise, when we fail to use God's Word to reprove, rebuke, and exhort the young and old of this congregation, out of fear of offending someone, or out of a desire to see our congregation grow in numbers, we've set them up for spiritual failure, which is a lot worse than believing that 2+2=5.

So, Sunday School teachers, what is going to be your priority this year? The same mine is as your Pastor. Paul tells young Pastor Timothy in verse 5 of our text "As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evanglist, fulfill your ministry." For you, that means work hard at learning the lessons you ill teach your children each week. Look for portions of God's Law, and what He requires of us in that lesson, and how we don't live up to it because of our sinfulness. Then, point the children entrusted to you to the cross. Show them that because of what Jesus did there, they are children of God and will one day inherit the gift of eternal life. I can't stress that enough! That means study your lessons carefully, and when you get to a difficult part that is hard to understand, don't be afraid to come and ask another teacher or myself. Pray that your students will have their minds always opened to the Scriptures. And don't get discouraged if you don't think you're getting anywhere. Some days the kids will bge more receptive than others. In a way, it's a lot like preaching. Some sermons I preach here are extremely well-received. Others, not so much. But when your teaching is from the Word of God, and the Word of God alone, God will be with you, using you to be His instrument in His saving plan for the children of the congregation.

But these words aren't just for Sunday School teachers, they are words that guide all of us. With 2009 being our Centennial year, we've been taking the opportunity to look back at the last 100 years. And we've been able to see how from humble beginnings, God has used this congregation as His instrument to bring His Word to the people of Audubon and surrounding communities. Sometimes,t he preaching that has taken place from this pulpit has been in season, and we saw many people come through these doors. At other times, the going hasn't been as easy, with some folks walking away when a particular teaching from the Word of God didn't suit their itching ears. And now, as we look to the future, the same will hold true. The success of this congregation won't be in numerical results, which always change based on outside factors that are sometimes out of our control; the success of this congregation will be measured in how it goes about "Fulfilling its ministry." And how well we proclaim Christ Crucified to this community.

That's why I can't stress enough why it is so important for us to be a Christ-Centered Church. Where we put Christ and the Cross at the center of all our activity. Not ourselves, not our itching ears, not our feelings or emotions. But Christ and His Word! Each week, we are so blessed to be able to have Christ come into our presence here and through His Word and the Sacraments offer us the gifts He won for us at the cross. Gifts we can't find anywhere else and certainly not within ourselves.

Education in the Word of God is a lifelong experience. It is extremely important in our lives as Christians, and in our life together as the body of Christ in this place. I would encourage each and every member of this congregation to take that education seriously, not just for the children of this congregation, but for all of us. As we go about this year of Christian Education, let us keep these words to a young Pastor in mind. Let us be ready to preach the Word in season and out of season. Don't let yourselves get swept away by the latest fads or ideas that take the message of Christ crucified away form the center of our proclamation. Don't let your itching ears get the best of you. But remain steadfast in the Word of Christ. Take every opportunity you have to read it, hear it, study it, and share it. Because a church that does that, is a church that is fulfilling her ministry. May God grant that to us for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Rev. Christopher Martin is the ELCM Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa and Adjacent States. He also serves as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa.

Congregation Spotlight-Barley Evangelical Lutheran Church, New Enterprise, PA

2009-08-19T16:46:00.006-05:00

The subject of this week's Congregation Spotlight is Barley Evangelical Lutheran Church of rural New Enterprise, Pennsylvania. While the current congregation is still relatively young, it's history reaches back considerably.

In 1792, Nicholas Barley and his family settled in what became known as "Morrisson's Cove" near the village of Roaring Spring. Mr. Barley was instrumental in the building of the first log Lutheran church in the area. Later, a 2nd Lutheran church was built near the site of the Potter Creek Cemetery and was organized in 1812. In 1842, plans for a third and new place of worship were being made to replace the former churches, but a dispute arose between the Potter family and the Barley family. Thus, that year, two new churches were built: St. John Lutheran Church of Potter Creek, and St. Paul Lutheran Church of Baker's Summit. St. Paul was built on land donated by the Barley family.

The cornerstone of the St. Paul church was laid on June 10th, 1842. The Rev. John Ellinger officated and eventually became the first pastor of the congregation. The church was built of brown stone at the cost of $2,000. The congregation became part of the parish known as the Martinsburg charge. The congregation had 24 confirmed members at the time of its organization, and had grown to 60 by the following year.

12 different pastors served the congregation between 1842 and 1879. The church building itself was rededicated November 11th, 1900 when it was renovated and a bell tower was added. A bell was not aquired for the tower until 1930.

The last full time Pastor to serve the St. Paul (Barley) congregation died in office in 1976. From that point on, the ocngregation was served by Vice-Pastors and Sunday worship was led by a variety of seminary students and lay preachers.

At the 135th anniversary of the St. Paul congregation in 1977, the active confirmed membership was 35. In 1981, the St. Paul congregation, by then a member of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), disbanded. The Synod office wanted to demolish the stone church. However, the remaining members formed the Barley Association as a non-profit corporation and elected a board of trustees to maintain the church building. Between 1981 and 1992, an annual Homecoming service was held in the church, along with an occasional wedding or funeral, but otherwise, the church remained closed. It seemed as if active Word and Sacrament ministry was over at the Barley church.

In 1992, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in nearby Altoona as an independent Lutheran congregation. Some residents of the area near the Barley church building made the occasional trip to Altoona to worship at Faith Lutheran, and indicated to Faith's Pastor, Rev. Roy Steward, that they would love to worship with Faith Lutheran on a regular basis, but felt the distance would prevent them from doing so. Pastor Steward then set out to find a place to offer worship services for this group. Knowing that the beautiful Barley church was not being used, he sought a meeting with the Barley Assocaition Board of Trustees. He met with them in November of 1992, and presented his and Faith Lutheran's vision of replanting a traditional, moderate conservative Lutheran Church in the area. The Trustees greeted the plan with enthusiasm, and asked only for a small upkeep remuneration for the group to use the Barley Church as a preaching point.

The new mission effort launched with a Christmas Eve worship service on December 24th, 1992. This was the first time in 12 years a Christmas Eve worship service was held in the Barley Church. 34 people attended this service.

Regular Sunday services at Barley resumed the first Sunday in January, 1993. The weather was severe that winter, but a faithful band, averaging 7-9 people, attended the weekly services. By Easter, the weather began to break, and average attendance had doubled. By September, it had doubled again. A large number of these folks had been members of the orginal St. Paul congregation who either were not attending church anywhere or were at loose ends since the closing of their church. For the first three months, singing of the hymns was unaccompanied and the liturgy was spoken, yet by the grace of God, the little congregation grew and was strengthened with each passing month. For the first 16 months, the congregation operated as a mission extention of Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Altoona.

By Easter, 1994, the charter of the new Congregation was opened, and the Barley Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized as a separate congregation. A constitution was adopted that had been modeled after Faith Lutheran's. The congregation extended an official call to Pastor Steward to serve them, and a joint parish arrangement was made with Faith, Altoona, which continues to this day. The congregation was notified of its approval of incorporation by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on October 12, 1994.

Barley originally intended to make application to join the American Association of Lutheran Churches (TAALC), which Pastor Steward and Faith Lutheran had belonged to, but at the June, 1994 TAALC convention, Pastor Steward, with the affirmaiton of the congregation, withdrew Barley's application as a result of what they perceived to be TAALC's confusion over its own identity. The congregation, along with Faith Lutheran and Pastor Steward, became an active participant in the formation of the Lutheran Ministerium & Synod-USA (LMS-USA) the following year.

Barley joined Faith Lutheran and Pastor Steward in withdrawing from membership in the LMS-USA in 1997 when it became clear that the LMS-USA experiment had not ensured a polity emphasizing consensus agreement in light of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. They viewed LMS-USA as a body that was intent upon ignoring the original organizational principles and agreed upon constitutional understandings by going in a more ultra-conservative direction without acheving consensus among all pastors and congregations, a developing sense of clergy dominance, and a subtle hierchicalization among the clergy, that appeared to head toward the system the congregations and pastor sought to leave behind in the ELCA and TAALC.

In September of 1999, delegates representing Barley and Faith Lutheran, along with Pastor Steward, met at Faith Lutheran's Duncansville facility to organize a new Centrist-Lutheran church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium (ELCM). Pastor Steward was elected ELCM's first president. The Barley congregation is an active member of ELCM, and hosted a salad luncheon and the afternoon session of the ELCM Triennial General Conference in July of 2005.

Pastor Steward continues to serve Barley, in addition to Faith Lutheran, Duncansville, and the newest congregation in the general parish, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. The congregation worships each Sunday morning at 9:30 and uses the Service Book & Hymnal. SBH's 2nd Setting is the liturgy that is used, and the Sacrament of Holy Communion is celebrated on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. Barley's story is one of encouragement for small congregations that are pressured to close their doors, or for congregations that have closed. Pastor Steward is willing to share Barley's story with others who might be interested in re-planting a centrist moderate middle conservative, liturigical Lutheran church.

Congregation Spotlight-Faith Lutheran Church, Duncansville, PA

2009-07-16T14:40:00.008-05:00

Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church is the subject of our first congregational spotlight. In November of 1991, a group of 40 people from an ELCA congregation in Altoona, Pennsylvania met in the meeting room of the RWaffle King Restaurant in Altoona to organize a new independent Lutheran congregation. A constitution was adopted, interim officers elected, and a beginning date was set to be synonymous with the final date of the pastorate of Rev. Roy A. Steward at First Lutheran Church, Altoona, PA. On January 5th, 1992, the new congregation, named Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, held its first worship service at the Ramada Hotel in Altoona. That day, the congregation affirmed a call that was extended by Faith's interim board to Pastor Steward to serve as the first pastor of the congregation. Faith Lutheran held services in the Ramada for its first 3 1/2 months before moving to the Becky Sheetz Community Center in Altoona, where they rented space for the next three years. The worship space would have to be set up and taken down each week.

Yet, despite being in rental facilities, an opportunity came for Faith Lutheran to plant a daughter congregation in an unused stone church building 20 miles from Altoona. This effort led to the establishment of the Barley Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is in a General Parish arrangement with Faith Lutheran to this day.

In October of 1995, the Faith Lutheran congregation was able to purchase some property in Duncansville, just south of Altoona. On this property was a three year old warehouse facility. The congregation went about the task of renovating the warehouse into a church building, and the congregation moved into its first church building in February, 1996, although finishing work had not yet been complete. The finished church was dedicated later that year. It has since served as a worship and preaching point of the General Parish. As the congregation began to feel the need for larger facilities, land aquisition costs at the Duncansville location prevented the congregation from expanding their current facility, but through the generosity of several families, Faith Lutheran was able to aquire at minimal cost 5.8 acres of ground in a great residential location 4 miles from the Duncansville church in Hollidaysburg. The property was the site of the former Our Savior Lutheran Church, a failed Wisconsin Synod mission effort. A small building was already on the property which consisted of restrooms, office space, a library room, and a sanctuary/fellowship hall. For several years, the Frankstown Road facility was used for fellowship, midweek Vespers services, and other events, but both Sunday services remained at Duncansville until 2006, when an existing building that had belonged to a Jehovah's Witness group was moved onto the site, and renovated into a Lutheran sanctuary. The new church facility was dedicated Reformation Sunday, 2006, and the 11 a.m. Sunday worship service was moved to the Frankstown location to be a core group to launch Faith Lutheran, Hollidaysburg, PA as a third congregation in the General Parish.

Early in her history, Faith Lutheran was a member for a trial period of the Association of American Lutheran Churches (TAALC), but withdrew after a strong Charismatic influence was seen in TAALC. Faith and Barley were two of the founding congregations in the Lutheran Ministerium & Synod, USA (LMS-USA), but withdrew from that group due to a perceived ultra conservative direction many in LMS-USA wanted to take.

On September 7th, 1999, at the Duncansville location, the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministeirum (ELCM) was born, with Faith and Barley being the two charter member congregations. The Faith, Duncansville location hosted not only the constituting convention of ELCM, but also has hosted the main worship service of the Triennial General Conference of ELCM in 2002 and 2005. ELCM's registered corporate offices are at Faith, Duncansville.

Rev. Roy Steward has served as Faith's pastor for her entire history.

Faith Lutheran, Duncansville currently hosts worship each Sunday at 7:45 a.m. with the Sacrament of Holy Communion offered each Sunday. The congregation uses the Service BOok & Hymnal, and uses its' Setting Two of the liturgy in all Sunday services. At times, a 10 a.m. Matins service with Holy Communion is held at Duncansville on Wednesday mornings.

A Spirit Filled Confession of Faith

2009-05-31T15:23:00.002-05:00

The following is a sermon on Acts 2:1-21 that I preached on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Audubon, Iowa. It was also Confirmation Sunday at Our Saviour's. I offer this sermon for your edification this week!-Rev. Christopher Martin

"A Spirit Filled Confession of Faith"
by Rev. Christopher W. Martin
Text: Acts 2:1-21

This morning we have two very important things going on as a part of our worship service. The most obvious is that today is Confirmation Sunday. For the last two years, Jake, Samantha, Ethan, Elizabeth, Emily, Miranda, and Lexie have gone through careful instruction with me in the basics of the Christian Faith. We’ve used the doctrine of the Scriptures as taught in Luther’s Small Catechism as the basis for our instruction. During that time, you have had to search the Scriptures, and learned about the faith that you will confess as your own today. It’s a big day! In some cases, you have friends and relatives that have traveled a long ways to be here for this service today. But, as you have heard me say several times, today is not graduation from church.

While Confirmation Sunday is a big day in the life of the Lutheran congregation, that’s not the only big event we remember today. Today is also the Day of Pentecost. It’s the day we sometimes call the “Birthday of the Christian Church.” In our reading from Acts 2 and the Gospel reading from John 15 and 16, we hear about the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the fulfillment of it in Acts. This morning, we’re going to look at that first Pentecost, and discover why it’s such a big deal to us today, and why that event can give our confirmands a lot of confidence as they go out living their lives in the Christian faith today.

Pentecost seems to be one of the days of the church year that a lot of Lutherans don’t seem to know what to do with. We know it’s one of the few times in the church year that the liturgical color is red, and that it has something to do with the Holy Spirit, tongues of fire, and strange languages, but beyond that, we don’t really seem to know what to do with it. Not only that, but we also have those who look at us and say that we don’t talk enough about the Holy Spirit, that what we believe, teach, and confess is dead, that we’re not “alive” like other churches seem to be. It’s a day that can bring about what I call “Lutheran shame”, and we decide it’s easier to just not talk about Pentecost, or what happened on that day. Well this morning, we are going to talk about Pentecost, and we’re going to talk about the Holy Spirit, but we’re going to see how the Holy Spirit truly works, and what it has to do with our confirmands, and with us.

Well, to start off with, let’s discover what the Holy Spirit’s work is. It has been 10 days since Jesus had ascended into heaven. Just prior to His ascension into heaven, Jesus told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to be Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. They spent that time together, devoting themselves to prayer and meditating on the Word that Jesus had given them.

Then it happens. A sound of a rushing wind filled the room where the Disciples were. Now that’s a pretty extraordinary event! But there’s more. Next, tounges of fire descend over the disciples heads. Now that’s pretty impressive, needless to say, it’s going to grab a LOT of attention.

This is all taking place at the Jewish Pentecost festival, which was one of the major festivals Jewish men were expected to return to Jerusalem for. So you have devout Jews from every tribe and place in the city. Historical records apart from the Scriptures tell us that at such times, the population of Jerusalem would swell to several hundred thousand, sometimes perhaps over a million. What’s important to note is that these men are devout Jews. These are people who have been well educated in the Word of God. They know everything there is to know about the coming Messiah, except for one thing: His name.

This sets the stage for what happens next. The apostles come out, and start speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. In other words, the disciples come out, and they start speaking other known languages. Languages that they had never spoken before. Now any of you who have ever tried to learn a foreign language will know that it takes YEARS before you can really master another language, let alone the different dialects that there are. My brother spent a semester studying at Oxford University in England as part of his business degree program at Waldorf College, and he told me upon his return that it was extremely difficult to understand the people in Oxford, England, because they had a British accent, and also had different words for different things than what we would use in rural Iowa. Yet here, the Disciples come out, and they’re speaking in foreign languages they had never spoken before, and so well, that the Jews who where there were saying “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” It’s obvious something big is going on! They’re telling the good news about Jesus to all of these people in the language that they can understand! This isn’t the kind of “speaking in tongues” that you’ll sometimes hear folks of a Charismatic or Pentecostal background talk about. Here you have Scriptural evidence that “tongues” refers to speaking in known languages that hearers can understand.

In the midst of all of this, Peter gets up and starts preaching a sermon. He tells them that what is going on is the fulfillment of a prophecy in Joel, and points them to Jesus, the one that they had put to death, was the long awaited Messiah. Later in the chapter, we’re told that Peter’s audience is cut to the heart by the preaching of the law, and ask what they are to do. Peter tells them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and that this gift was for them, and their children, and for all who were far off, everyone whom the Lord would call to himself. And then, we’re told that 3,000 people were baptized and added to the church that day, and that they continued to gather around the apostles’ teaching, and the breaking of the bread, in other words, they gathered around the preaching of the Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion on a regular basis. And that the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved!

Talk about quite a day. You can just read into the text a lot of fervor and zeal in those early Christians. That had to have been an exciting day to be a part of! After all, 3000 people heard the Gospel preached to them in their own language, believed, and were baptized. To give you a point of comparison, if we averaged 30 baptisms a year in the 100 years that Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church has been around, we’d finally get to 3,000. And this all happened on Pentecost in one day! When we compare that, life at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church seems to be pretty dull compared to that, although we’ve had quite an exciting weekend here with a wedding yesterday and confirmation today. Because of that, we’re led to despair sometimes, and wonder if we have the Holy Spirit like other churches do. So, do we have the Spirit at Our Saviour’s? Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to work?

Well to find the answer, let me ask you a couple of questions. What are we missing from that day of Pentecost? Well, we didn’t have a loud rushing wind fill the building this morning. And, as I look out at the congregation, I don’t see any tongues of fire dancing atop anyone’s heads, and I doubt you’ll see that when our confirmands publically confess their faith in the Rite of Confirmation. What do we have? The furniture you see in the front of this church will give you that answer. You see the pulpit and lectern, where the Word of God is read from and proclaimed to you, telling you that we have the Apostles’ teaching, the Word of God, that is read and proclaimed. You see the Baptismal Font, telling us the same baptism that was given to those 3,000 people that day is given here. And, you see the altar, where we receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, where we receive the body and blood of our Lord.

Now if you ask me, we have what’s necessary to forgive sins and give eternal life, we have Word and Sacrament. You see, when something big happened in God’s plan of salvation in the Bible, He kicked it off with something special: at the crucifixion, darkness covered the land, the temple curtain was torn in two, and the earth shook. At the Resurrection, the stone was rolled away. Here at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised the disciples would come in the Gospel reading arrived, its announced with the rushing wind, tongues of fire, and the gift of languages. Those things didn’t give forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. God’s Word, Holy Baptism, and Holy Communion do. Those are the means that the Holy Spirit worked through to bring people to faith, and to strengthen the faith of those who already believed.

So could it be? Could it be that what we’ve been doing as Lutherans who believe the Old and New Testaments are the inspired, infallible Word of God, and that the Word, attached to water in Holy Baptism and bread and wine in Holy Communion, without all the gimmicks and fads attached to them, is exactly what those early Christians in Acts 2 were doing? Could it be that the problem isn’t with the Scriptures, or the doctrine that these young people have come to learn in Luther’s Small Catechism, but that the problem is with us, in wanting to squelch the Spirit’s work by our own emotions, ideas, or activity, looking for the Spirit in places He has not promised to be found?

But wait, some of you might say, 3,000 people were baptized after one sermon, without having to spend two years of careful instruction with the Pastor studying the doctrine of the Scriptures! Something powerful had to be going on! Well, let’s put that into proper perspective. Pentecost was a major Jewish festival that would bring many Jewish men into Jerusalem. Historical record apart from the Scriptures tell us that Jerusalem’s population would swell to up to one million or more during such times. Not only that, but the text tells us these were devout Jews, men who were well schooled in the Word of God, they knew everything there was about the Messiah expect one thing, his name. Now, if you do the math, if we have 1 million devout Jews in the city at Pentecost, and 3,000 of them hear the message proclaimed to them in their own language, and they are baptized, then that means 3 one-thousandths of one percent of the Jews in Jerusalem heard the message, believed, and were baptized. If you were to talk to a supposed church growth expert today with a statistic like that, they’d call the Pentecost event a failure.

For you confirmands, today it is going to be easy to promise that you will remain faithful in the Christian faith. But, the tough part happens the moment you walk out of that door. Statistically speaking, half of you will eventually stop coming to church in your high school years. You’ll find the allure of sports, late Saturday nights with friends, or other things in the world to be more important than being strengthened in your faith in church where Christ is present with His gifts of Word and Sacrament. You’ll be tempted with this sin and that sin, and have the world tell you that what you learned in the Bible isn’t really relevant anymore. Go ahead, do what you want, God doesn’t care. You’ll be tempted to look for God in places He hasn’t promised to be found. You’ll be tempted to turn your back on Word and Sacrament because they’re not flashy, or entertaining in the eyes of the world. But, there’s a great danger in that! When you ignore these means that the Holy Spirit promises to work through, you are setting yourself up for the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh to tell you that you don’t need that forgiveness stuff. And eventually, you will have starved out your faith, resisted the work of the Spirit, and given up the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation for the chains of sin, death, and the power of the devil. Don’t do that! Stay in the Word!

But that plea isn’t just for our confirmands, it’s also for all of us at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. Don’t go looking for the Spirit in places He has not promised to be. Sometimes, we’re tempted to fall into this thing I call “Lutheran Shame”, in that we’re led to believe that our doctrine and practice isn’t all that exciting, and so we go and look at other churches, and see what they’re doing that seems more alive, and want to adopt their methods without first going to the Word of God to find out if they are scriptural or not. We’re often tempted to believe that the Spirit won’t work through these means, like He did in the early church and try to come up with our own methods to cause the Holy Spirit to want to come and work. When that happens, we forget that the Holy Spirit works through means, that He has promised to work faith through the Word and the Sacrament when and where He wills. There are times and places where mission work is slow, and other times and places where it is fertile. Paul sometimes would preach, and have several converts, while other places, he would nearly be stoned to death. The history of our congregation even tells us such is true. It took 26 years from the time Pastor Kristian Anker of Elk Horn first started coming to do mission work amongst Danish Lutherans in Audubon to the time a congregation was formally established and a resident pastor was called. 26 years of sporadic services, and pastors coming from out of town to establish a congregation here. Some would have given up, but those early Pastors and Christians in this area knew that the Holy Spirit works through the means of Word and Sacrament, and in God’s timing, a congregation was planted from those seeds that were planted during that time. Don’t get caught up in a statistical report, or a dollar sign to measure a church’s mission. We’re called to measure it by if that church or mission is proclaiming the Word of God in its truth and purity, and if the Sacraments are being administered to the Word of Chirst, and let us repent when we use any other means to try to bring about the work of the Holy Spirit.

During pictures this morning, to try to get the kids to smile, one of the parents told the kids to say “No more Wednesday afternoons with Pastor Martin.” While your confirmation instruction ends, as I have told you, your life of hearing the Scriptures preached to you is only just beginning. I want to encourage you to continue to allow the Spirit to point you to Christ through the Word and through the Sacraments. Continue to come here on Sunday mornings, be fed through God’s Word and Sacraments, where the Spirit will convict you of your sins, and point you to Christ crucified, who through His life, death, and resurrection, has won forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation for you. Continue to read your Bibles at home, come to High School Sunday School this fall, I know Lee Nielsen would LOVE having you there and he’s got a lot of great things to teach you from the Scriptures. Don’t be afraid to come by my office and ask me the tough questions. We’ll sit down together, and find the answers in the Word of God.

And for the rest of us, the Day of Pentecost is a challenge for us to remain faithful to the doctrine we have learned from the Scriptures. Be encouraged in that being a church that remains faithful to Word and Sacrament ministry, is being an Acts 2 type of church. Be encouraged in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is at work here. Even though the means may not be that flashy, we have the promise from God’s Holy Word that the Spirit is here, through the Word, through Holy Baptism, through Holy Communion to convict us of our sin, and to point us to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and to either bring us to faith in Christ, or strengthen our faith in Christ. What could be more exciting than that? May God grant that to us for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

-Rev. Christopher Martin is Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa and is also ELCM Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa & Adjacent States.

Memorial Day Meditations

2009-05-25T08:17:00.002-05:00

What follows is the homily I preached at the morning devotional service at the Salem Lutheran Home in Elk Horn, Iowa on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25th, 2009. The text is Luke 18:35-43 is the appointed New Testament reading for the day from the Treasury of Daily Prayer. As always, it is a joy to bring God's Word to the residents and staff of the Salem Lutheran Home!

As many of you know, today is Memorial Day. It’s a day we set aside in our country to remember those who served in our armed forces and passed away, especially those soldiers who gave their lives so that we could live in a free country. If you go to a lot of the local cemeteries, you’ll see the graves of our soldiers marked with little American flags, and larger flags that surround the cemetery.

Unfortunately, for most people, Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer vacation season, and it becomes a day for going to sporting events, having an outdoor barbecue, camping trip, or some other activity, without stopping to give thanks for those who have given their lives so that we can enjoy the freedoms we still have in our country.

Freedom is something we as Americans treasure. It’s a word that means so much to us. But on this Memorial Day, I want to remind you to not only remember those who have fought, and given their lives for our freedom, but also to remember what real freedom is for the Christian, namely freedom from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

In the Gospel reading I chose for today, Jesus is healing a blind man. Jesus comes to Jericho, and there’s a blind man sitting along side of the road, begging. In a way, you could say that his blindness was a prison for him. Anytime we lose the ability to do something, it robs us of some freedom, we’re not able to do some things that we enjoyed doing anymore because our bodies won’t allow us to do that. Not only that, but the fact that this blind man is begging outside of the city gates tells us he’s also trapped in poverty. Unable to support himself, he’s forced to rely on the generosity of others to meet his basic daily needs. And he probably heard a similar reaction to those who went before Jesus who told him to be silent when he cried out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Indeed, this is a man who would love to be free from his current condition, but on his own, is unable to be free. He can’t make himself see again and be free of his current life.

Jesus sees this man, He sees this blind man’s lack of freedom. Instead of passing him by as those in front of Him did, he asks for the man to be brought to Him. He asks the blind man “What do you want me to do for you?”, and the blind man responds “Lord, let me recover my sight.” This might lead us to believe that he had his sight at one point in his life, making his pain even more difficult than someone who had been born blind and never knew what it was like to see. And Jesus says “Recover your sight, your faith has made you well.” And just like that, by Jesus merely speaking His Word, this man’s sight was restored. He was free! Free from the blindness. Free from those who would pass him by along the road. His world was completely open! He could do anything it seemed, now that his sight was restored! Luke’s gospel tells us this man follows Jesus, gloryfing God for what He had done, and all those who saw it also gave praise to God!

It’s a great story, one of the reasons I shared it with you for our devotions this morning. But, what does that have to do with the theme of freedom? Well, by nature, you and I are a lot like that blind man when it comes to our spiritual state before God. We’re nothing but blind beggars, unable to offer anything to God, enslaved by the blindness to sin. We need someone to lift us up out of our condition, to free us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. And that’s exactly what Jesus has done for us. He has taken our spiritual blindness, and lived the perfect, sinless life you and I could not, and went to the cross, and died for us, to take all of our sins of thought, word, and deed, and die for them. And then, when He arose on Easter Sunday, those sins stayed in the tomb. Because of what Jesus has done for us through His life, death, and resurrection, we’re free! We are free from sin, death, and the power of the devil, because someone died to set us free. Just as our soldiers have died on the fields of battle to preserve the freedoms we enjoy in this country, Jesus died so that we could be free, but not just for this life, but for eternity! We know that when we sin, we can come before our God, confess our sins, and hear the sweet words that all of our sins have been forgiven for the sake of Jesus. One of the things I love about the chapel here at Salem is that you have this statue of Jesus on the altar that you see every day. Every day, you can look into Jesus’ nail pierced hands, and remember that He died to set you free from sin. You can remember that while you may suffer in this life, you will be freed from it one day, and you will be taken to paradise, where you will never know suffering, pain, or tears again! Now that’s freedom!

So on this Memorial Day, I do encourage you to take time to remember those who have given their lives in service to our country. But I also want you to remember that your ultimate freedom has been won by Jesus Christ, and that He freely gives it to you here in this chapel through His Word and Sacrament. Have a wonderful and blessed Memorial Day. Amen.

A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter

2009-05-11T08:46:00.004-05:00

This is a sermon I preached on the Third Sunday of Easter, April 26th, 2009. The text is the appointed Gospel lesson, Luke 24:36-49. I offer it here for your edification this week!-Rev. Christopher Martin

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Since we are still in the Easter season, it’s quite appropriate that we begin our message for today with that great news. Two weeks ago, you heard me share with you, through the eyes of Mary Magdalene, how difficult it could be to really believe that good news. In fact, at first, it didn’t seem like she believed it until Jesus appeared to her, spoke His Word to her, and then she believed. In last Sunday’s Gospel reading, you heard the story of “Doubting Thomas”, a man who heard the news that Christ was risen, but couldn’t quite believe it to be true until Christ appeared to Him and spoke to Him. Let me ask you this morning, would you have believed the news that Christ is risen if you had heard the Word? Or would you need someone to open your mind, clean out the junk that’s in there, so you could believe the Word? Our Gospel reading for this morning is going to teach us a bit about the Word of God, and about the truth of the Word. It is my prayer that as you hear the preaching of His Word, that our Lord will open your minds as He opened the mind of His disciples.

Two weeks ago, you heard about Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the news that Christ is risen! But, she was skeptical until she saw the risen Christ and heard Him speak His word to her. In the section before our Gospel reading for today, we have an appearance of Jesus to a couple of his lesser known followers. These two men are from the town of Emmaus. They had made the journey to Jerusalem for the Passover, and had followed the events of that week. So the evening of the Resurrection, they’re making the walk back to Emmaus, which is about 7 miles from Jerusalem. Their topic of conversation along the road is about the events of that past week. As they’re talking, Jesus came up and walked with them, and asked them what they were talking about. Hearing this, they think “What’s wrong with this guy? Has he been living in a cave the past week or something, how can you have been in Jerusalem and not know what happened this last week?” So they proceed to fill him in. They say “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” (Luke 24:19-24) Jesus responds “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (v. 25-27) Once they get to their destination for the evening, they invite Jesus to stay with them, he sits at the table with them, breaks the bread, gives it to them, and we’re told “Their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight.” (v. 31) So they stop what they’re doing, and go back to find the disciples and tell them what they had just seen and heard from Jesus. What was the key here? Jesus taught them “from the Scriptures” why these things had happened to Him. He didn’t make this stuff up. He spoke to them God’s living, active Word. Keep that in mind, because I’m going to get back to that.

Now what’s my purpose in sharing this account with you? Look back at the text in Luke again. Remember with Mary Magdalane that Easter morning? Remember, she didn’t recognize Jesus right away. She had the physical evidence in front of her that Jesus had risen, she had heard His Word earlier, but her experience in this world led her to believe that this good news was false. It wasn’t until Jesus spoke His life-giving Word to her and through that Word opened her mind that she realized He had indeed risen!

Again, with these two men from Emmaus, we have the same thing happen. Jesus appears to them on the road, they don’t recognize Him, because they’re so wrapped up in the death. They had the Word of the women and the disciples that He had risen, but they couldn’t believe it. Again, their experience in this world prevented them from believing it, until Jesus speaks to them, starting with Moses and the Prophets, the Old Testament, and showing how they pointed to Him, and His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of their sins. It wasn’t until Jesus spoke His Word to them, that they believed that He had risen indeed.

Now, I bring you to our Gospel reading for today. The Emmaus disciples had returned, and caught up with the 11. They’re telling them “It’s true. Jesus really has risen! In fact, we’ve seen Him! We recognized Him in the breaking of the bread! He was present with us!” As they’re talking about this, there He is. Jesus, right there, in the presence of His disciples. He says “peace be with you.” He speaks, and they see Him. At first, they’re startled, acting as if they had just seen a ghost. You know that look, that look of fear when we jokingly may say to someone “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Except for the disciples, this isn’t Ghost, this is Jesus Christ, their rabbi, the One they followed for the last three years, the One they saw arrested, beaten, and crucified had risen! His Word confirms it: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” Jesus then shows them His hands and side, Sure enough, there are the marks of the nails, the evidence that the same body that had been crucified on the cross and laid in tomb is alive and standing right there before them! Why, it’s almost too good to be true. In fact, the text says that the disciples still couldn’t believe, even though Jesus had given them the visible proof, they were so overjoyed, they just couldn’t believe it. So he asks for something to eat, they give him a piece of broiled fish, and he eats it. Now if Jesus was just a spirit, he wouldn’t be able to eat the fish. But there, right in front of their eyes, they saw the resurrected Jesus, body and all, do something that only a living, breathing human being can do.

At this point, Jesus says to them “This is what I told you when I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms” That’s what we today call the Old Testament. At this point, our text tells us Jesus “opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.” Remember, during his ministry, Jesus had told His disciples on more than one occasion that he would suffer many things, be crucified, die, and rise again on the third day as the Scriptures had said. And do you remember what their reaction was? When Peter first heard Jesus say this a few days before the Transfiguration, he said “Never Lord, this shall never happen to you” (Matt. 16:22) Another time when Jesus was telling them all of this was going to happen to Him, right afterward, James and John want Jesus to do whatever it is they ask of him, and they ask for seats at his right and his left in His kingdom, thinking of a kingdom of worldly power. Up to this point, they never understood why Jesus said all of these things. But now, now that it had all happened according to the Scriptures, Jesus opens their minds so that they finally understand it. These very disciples who didn’t get it at first, now understand, by the power of Jesus’ words. God’s Word was true, all of this Had to happen so that “repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”

But, there was one last thing Jesus would tell the Disciples. This message, this message of Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of the sins of the world, would be preached by them. Jesus was sending them out. “You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” The disciples would be sent out in the world, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and proclaim the very message that Jesus had given them in His Word. Nothing more, nothing less, so that through the message of Christ’s Word, minds would be opened, and believers would repent of their sins, and have their sins forgiven.

So what you may ask? What does that have to do with you and me, the people of God at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Audubon, Iowa on Sunday, April 26th, 2009? As disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, as members of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic church, we are called to follow in the teachings of our Lord Jesus, and bring His Word to the nations yet today. For the past 100 years, this congregation has been called to bring that Word to Audubon, Iowa.

The message we are to proclaim, as we heard in both last Sunday’s gospel reading from John 20, and this morning, is to proclaim “repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ.” That means we have a two-fold message, one of Law and of Gospel.

First, we have been called to point people to God’s Word of Law. That means we are to tell them exactly what God’s Word has to say about our condition. And this is where a lot of problems have crept into the church in the last few decades. In order to lead someone to true repentance, that means we have to proclaim the law. It means we have to point out the sins of other people. And we live in a society that tells us you do your thing, I do my thing, and we’ll just leave it at that. Often, if you tell someone that a certain behavior or practice is sinful and against God’s Word, you’ll hear the question “Who are you to judge me? What gives you the right to say that?” Our society is becoming more and more tolerant of sin as time passes. And there’s tremendous pressure on Pastors like myself to keep quiet about it in the pulpit. Why? Because it might scare some folks off we’re told. Or the argument goes “since our society is different, that means God’s expectations have changed. All that stuff you read about in the Bible regarding marriage, or homosexual activity, or telling the little white lie, our about issues regarding human life, well, we live in different times, and that only pertained to that time and place 2000 years ago. This is the stuff of what’s often called a higher-critical method of scriptural interpretation. It has torn Lutheranism in this country apart for the past 30 or 40 years now. It’s one of the reasons that the largest Lutheran church body in this county is in such peril right now. It takes God’s Word to us, and assumes that man is the master over God’s Word. The eventual result is that we are no longer declaring what Christ has commanded His church to declare. It no longer is a message of “repentance and forgiveness of sins”, but a feel good message to give you a boost for the week. It’s popular stuff, in some cases, it packs the pews on Sunday, giving it the outward appearance of success, compared with churches that wish to remain faithful to Christ and His Word. But, it doesn’t save anyone from judgment and hell. If you are one of those who thinks that God doesn’t care about proclaiming His word of law, you better think again, because Jesus makes it clear to His church today in our Gospel reading that we are to proclaim it today!

So, the first part of our message is proclaiming the law of God. But we don’t do it simply to point fingers and say “we’re better than you because we’re not doing that!” The purpose of proclaiming God’s law is to show us how we fall short of what God expects of us, and what our sinfulness has rightly earned us. But it also prepares us to hear the 2nd part of that message, the part about forgiveness. That’s when we hear about what Jesus Christ did for us. We hear about how He, the sinless Son of God, took our place by suffering and dying, and then rising again to defeat the power of sin, death, and the devil, so that we will be raised up to new life with Him. We realize that there is no sin too great that can’t be forgiven.

And that’s the two fold message we as a congregation have been called to proclaim to our community these past 100 years, and for the next 100. Yes folks, we are called to point people to God’s law, and call them to repentance, but we also are here to proclaim to repentant sinners the sweet news that their sins have been forgiven on account of Christ. Are you sitting there in the pew this morning, wondering if there’s any way that God could love someone like you, especially after what you’ve done? Then it’s my joy to proclaim to you that Christ has died for the likes of you. Your sins are forgiven, they are as far as the east is from the west. Christ has set you free from that sin, so you can be God’s beloved child. You are justified, “Just as if you’d never sinned.”

This morning, through His Word, Christ has opened your minds, just as He opened the minds of the Disciples through the preaching of His Word. With the eyes of faith, you have seen the nail scared hands and feet, the would in His side, and you’ve seen the great price that was paid so that you can be forgiven of your sins. You have also heard your Lord give us, His church, our marching orders. He never said it would be easy. He never said it would be popular. But, it’s the only message He has given us to preach. “Repentance and forgiveness of sins.” Law and Gospel. Let us continue to faithfully proclaim that message to all who will hear so that minds are opened, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, others hear the wonderful news that they are forgiven of all of their sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The proof is in the words of Easter that we see through the eyes of faith, with minds opened by the Word of Christ: Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Rev. Christopher Martin is the editor of The Lutheran Centrist. He also serves as ELCM Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa and adjacent states, and as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa.

Chaplain Michael Anderson Ordained

2009-03-30T11:42:00.003-05:00

ELCM is proud to welcome Chaplain Michael Anderson to our Ministerium. Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Harvard University and a Master of Divinity (M.Div) degree from Emory University. He is presently working on a Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M) at Yale Divinity School.

Michael initially joined ELCM as a Licensed Minister in January of 2009. He is under call from the ELCM General Conference Executive Board to serve as ELCM Mission Developer and in Military Chaplaincy. He was ordained as an ELCM Pastor on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 during the regular Sunday morning worship service at St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, New York. The Rev. Dr. Mark Isaacs, Pastor of St. Paul's, was the preacher, and The Rev. Russ Burr, ELCM Ministerium Dean, presided at the Rite of Ordination.

Rev. Anderson will become an active duty U.S. Navy Chaplain later this year.

We pray for God's richest blessings to be with Chaplain Anderson as he serves the men and women of the U.S. Navy in Word and Sacrament ministry as an ELCM chaplain!

ELCM Triennial Service of Word & Sacrament with the Rite of Ordination July 23, 2008 7 p.m.

2009-02-14T11:59:00.007-06:00

What follows is the video of the service of Word and Sacrament with the Rite of Ordination of Christopher W. Martin that was held during the 3rd Triennial General Conference of ELCM on Wednesday, July 23rd at 7 p.m. at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg, PA.

The Order of Worship was the Second Setting from The Service Book & Hymnal, beginning on p. 41.

The Hymns were: #155 "Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word", #446 "Ye Servants of God", and #150 "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"

The Scripture Lessons were: Psalm 96, Isaiah 6:1-8, Ephesians 4:4-16, John 10:7-18

Clergy Participating were:

Liturgist: The Rev. Roy A. Steward, Jr., ELCM President/Pastor, Faith Lutheran, Duncansville/Hollidaysburg & Barley, New Enterprise, PA

Lector & Presiding at the Rite of Ordination: The Rev. Russell N. Burr, ELCM Ministerium Dean

The Preacher: The Rev. Dr. Mark Isaacs, Pastor, St, Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, NY

The Cantor: The Rev. Fred Banquer, ELCM Mission Development & Contact Pastor for New York & Pennsylvania.

ELCM Presence in Korea

2009-01-27T09:59:00.003-06:00

One of our ELCM Ministerium Members, Vicar Christopher Hurst, is in the U.S. Air Force, and was recently sent to Korea for a one year deployment there. Vicar Hurst has been an occasional contributor to The Lutheran Centrist, and has been a licensed minister (Vicar) working toward eventual ordination in ELCM since 2003.

I would encourage you all to keep up with Vicar Hurst's adventures overseas through his blog: topheratlarge.blogspot.com. We pray for God's blessings and safety to be with Chris as he serves our Lord and our country in Korea.

+The Rev. Dr. Carl K. Towley+

2009-01-27T09:27:00.002-06:00

On Wednesday, January 14th, 2009, one of our ELCM ministerium members, The Rev. Dr. Carl Towley, was called to his eternal home after a battle with lung cancer. Carl Kahrs Mattson Towley was born June 16th, 1932 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was a 1958 graduate of the Augustana Theological Seminary in Rock Island, Illinois, and was ordained by the old Augustana Synod that year. During his 50 years of ordained ministry, he was a parish pastor, active duty U.S. Army Chaplain, and heavily involved in Clinical Pastoral Education programs in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and Kansas City, Missouri. He retired to Minnesota last year, but was still teaching CPE courses up to a month before his death. He was privilidged to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination last summer.

Our prayers go out to his wife, Sue, his children, grandchildren, and other relatives and friends.

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of eternal life."-Revelation 2:10

An Epiphany Homily

2009-01-22T15:52:00.002-06:00

Editor's Note: I was invited to officiate at the Communion service at the Salem Lutheran Home in Elk Horn, Iowa on Wednesday, January 7th. What follows is the sermon I preached based on the Epiphany Gospel, Matthew 2:1-12. I am grateful for the opportunity to administer God's Word and Sacrament to the residents of the Salem Lutheran Home that day and look forward to my next visit there!-Rev. Christopher Martin

In some ways, you could say that Epiphany is the “last hurrah” of Christmas. It’s the day when we remember the visit of the wise men, or magi as they are called in our text, to worship the Christ child and present the gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. It’s a great scene, one that’s often included in most Nativity scenes. But what’s the real significance of this event? Why does the church celebrate it every year on January 6th? That’s what we’re going to consider this morning during our communion service.

The story in the reading is pretty straight forward. Matthew tells us these Magi, or wise men, who were from a country east of Judea, (We don’t know exactly what country, the Bible doesn’t specify exactly where they came from) have made the long journey to Jerusalem to worship the one who was born king of the Jews. They tell the local folks they saw a star in the east and had come to worship him. The reigning King of the Jews, Herod, hears about this, and asks the religious leaders of his day where the Christ was to be born, and from a prophecy in the Old Testament book of Micah, they tell him that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. So Herod meets with the Magi, tells them to go to Bethlehem, and the star reappears to guide the Magi to the Christ. Once they get to the house where Mary and Joseph are staying, they present the child Jesus with gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. They also bow down to worship the child. Then, after being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, because Herod had some evil plans for the child, they returned home by using another route. It’s a pretty familiar story. In fact, it’s one that is often pictured in nativity scenes with three wise men presenting the Christ child with the gifts, and has almost taken a legendary status of its own. In fact, the popular song “We Three Kings of Orient Are” came from that. But what’s so important about it that we set aside a day on the church calendar each year to commemorate their journey to visit the Christ child?

First, remember those who had come to worship the Christ child prior to this point. On that first Christmas night, the first to worship the child were Shepherds in the fields nearby, Jews. At eight days, the child Jesus was circumcised, to fulfill Jewish law. Again, surrounded by Jewish people. When he was 40 days old, the baby Jesus was presented at the temple, and Jews, Simeon and Anna, recognized that this was indeed the long promised Messiah and worshipped him. Yet, that day, Simeon said that this child would be “a light to reveal you to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.” This child wasn’t just a savior for the Jews, but for Gentiles, for all nations.

These Magi were Gentiles, outsiders if you will. Considered to be outside of the people of God by many Jews of the day. Yet, they didn’t make this trip to study the movement of a star, they didn’t make this trip to study the everyday life of the Jewish people. They came with one purpose, to worship the Christ, the promised Savior. And in doing so, they became the first Gentile, the first non-Jewish worshippers, of Jesus Christ. That’s why Epiphany is sometimes called the “Gentile Christmas”, because it was the first occurance of Gentiles worshipping the true God.

While we remember the visit of the Magi this day, we’re not here to focus so much on them, but on the child they worship. You see, that child doesn’t just take his gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, and live happily ever after. He will flee with his parents to Egypt when Herod tries to kill him by ordering all baby boys two years of age and under in Bethlehem to be killed, and then the child will return to Nazareth where Mary and Joseph will raise him. As an adult, he will be baptized at the Jordan River, and spend the next three years of his life calling disciples, teaching them about the Kingdom of God, and throughout his life, living a perfect, sinless life. Then, he will allow himself to be arrested, beaten, mocked, spit on, and die. And why? To endure the punishment and be the sacrifice for our sins, your sins, my sins, the sins of all the world, Jews and Gentiles. Then, on the 3rd day, he will rise again to defeat the power of sin, death, and the power of the devil for all eternity. For the Christian, Jew or Gentile, death becomes merely the vehicle God uses to bring us out of this sinful world and into the presence of God for all eternity. That’s why we worship Jesus Christ yet today. And just as the Magi heard of the Christ from the Word of God, you and I hear of it today also from hearing the Word of God. God may have used your parents, baptismal sponsors, Pastors, teachers, or others in your life to tell you the story of what Christ did for you on the cross so that the Holy Spirit would work the miracle of faith in your heart, and you would desire to come and worship the Christ yet today. In a way, you could say that we are walking the way of the Magi.

After all, that is what we’re doing here this morning, in this chapel, we’re here to do what the Magi did, worship Christ the Lord. You don’t see a little child, you see a young Pastor dressed in a white robe reading to you Scripture lessons, preaching a sermon about those lessons, and you see some wafers and wine on the altar. To your eyes, it doesn’t seem like much. Yet, through the eyes of faith, you know that your Savior, Jesus, is present with you through Word and Sacrament today, just as He was present with those Magi, Mary and Joseph in our Gospel reading for today. And while we have gifts to offer, be it financial gifts to our churches, or giving of our time and talents in service to Him, He has even better gifts to give to us. Gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation! Gifts that beat Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh any day of the week!

And just as God revealed the identity of the Christ child and His location to those Magi through His Word, today, He reveals the Christ and what He has done for you through the preaching of His Word. He uses Pastors like myself, or Chaplains like Pastor Frock, or parents, grandparents, Sunday School teachers, siblings, or all kinds of people to bring the light of the world, Jesus Christ, to you. And He continues to use each one of us to bring that light to others, both here at the Salem Lutheran Home, and to the entire world. The work of this place is very important, both to you as residents, and to your families, as the love of Christ is shown in this place. I challenge you to continue to do that, this Epiphany season and always, to continue to be the star that points others to the Christ child, so that they too may come and worship him. Amen.

2008 ELCM Triennial General Conference Report Four

2008-08-26T11:22:00.004-05:00

Part #4-Discussion on Allowance of Female Clergy in ELCM

A potential female Pastor applicant for rostering with ELCM, and a potential female seminary student with interest in ELCM caused us to revisit the discussion on rostering of women pastors in ELCM.

We reviewed the discussions that were held at the last Triennial General Conference in 2005. It was noted a key point that swayed several to vote for a policy of "not allowing for women pastors in ELCM" was made by Robbie Taylor, former ELCM pastor in Ohio, who announced that a number of Missouri Synod Pastors would join ELCM, but only IF the door was closed in ELCM to the reception of Ordained Women. Mr. Taylor engaged in a double dealing effort and began proceedings to join the LCMS and also to take an ELCM congregation with him. Given the actions by Taylor and those who had supported the change in ELCM position expressed a desire for ELCM to return to or restore the original ELCM stance for allowing for "Sola Scriptura focused Pastors" without regard to gender. It was noted at the time of the 2005 Triennial, we had not had any applications for rostering in ELCM submitted by women. In the discussion that followed, it was noted that it is not a sin in Scripture to be a woman in gender and that Phoebe and Priscilla were indeed involved in New Testament ministry as Deacons. Homosexuality in contrast is clearly defined as a sinful orientation by Scripture.

The discussion re-examined the "Open Question" nature of the subject with some texts (Particularly Paul's words at Corinth on the one side) and the texts of the Prophet Joel and Peter's use of that text in his Pentecost Sermon in Acts as well as the Apostle Paul's words to the Galatians on the other side. Examination of the Greek Verb tenses used by Paul were examined and the Verb used by Paul at Corinth is "Indicative" not "Imperative"

The General Conference came to a consensus that we should return to our former stance of allowing for only "Sola Scriptura in Focus Ordained Pastors" on our rosters. This would remove any gender restriction and make the Qualifier solely "Sola Scriptura".

A defination of the phrase "Sola Scriptura" was requested and discussed-resulting in a consensus that we in ELCM meann "All of Scripture is God's Immutable Word and is to be rightly divided between Law and Gospel. Law points out sin and drives us to the Gospel and then in gratitude for God's action on our behalf we struggle to live our lives based upon Scripture. The key interpretive principle of "Solus Christus", meaning Only Jesus is emphasized in Paul's letter to the Galatians are not to be classified as simply salvific but also apply to ordination and ministry, namely, In Jesus Christ, there is neither Jew or Greek, male nor Female. Paul's words to Corinth are thus to be understood in the context of the troubles encountered in that congregation because of teh orientation of the City Culture.

It was pointed out by Dr. Isaacs that the choice between "Fundamentalist Literalism" on one hand and "Liberal Gospel Reductionism" on the other is a false dichotomy. The one is an outgrowth of a Zwinglian/Calvinist orientation and the other from rationalism. The Old Lutheran stance is a Sacramental orientation and thus in Baptism into Christ Jesus each one (male and female) is a new creation and there is thus in Christ neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female.

At the end of our deliberations, we were of unanimous consensus to restore our previous ELCM postion to be one of allowinig for "Sola Scriptura in focus Ordained Pastors". Any women applicants for seminary endorsement or rostering will need to demonstrate that they are indeed "Sola Scriptura" in focus and in ELCM Polity no Pastoral candidate may be imposed on any congregation. Congregations that do not desire women pastors are affirmed in their right to call only Men as their Pastors.

Note: During the 30 day posting/affirmation period that followed the General Conference, one voting member Pastor submitted a vote of "No" to the action permitting women Pastors in ELCM. Because a unanimous consensus is required to change policy in ELCM, the 2005 policy of no allowance for women pastors in ELCM based upon Scripture and the Confessions stands. The female pastor who had interest in ELCM rostering has since been informed of the "No" vote and that the ELCM policy will remain the same.

Triennial General Conference Report Part Three

2008-08-26T11:02:00.002-05:00

Triennial General Conference Part 3-Reports, Budget, Elections
Thorough reports by each Pastor and congregation of ELCM were presented. Of special note were-The Rev. Mark Isaacs (St. Paul's, Rhinebeck) has received his PhD from Trinity Seminary, Newburgh, Indiana and his D.Min from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, as well as his STM from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. He is currently involved in obtaining the European Equivalent to a Masters through the Strasburg, France Institute. Dr. Isaacs is now and Instructor for Trinity Seminary, Newburgh as well as an Adjunct Professor for a number of New York State Colleges and Universities, while continuing to serve as Pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, New York.

The 50th Anniversary of the Ordination of The Rev. Dr. Carl Towley (Retired-Minnesota) was noted. Pastor Towley is doing pulpit supply in the greater Minneapolis area in his retirement after serving for years as a VA Chaplain.

Vicar Christopher Martin was unanimously approved for ordination as an ELCM Pastor and was ordained at the General Conference Worship Service on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008. Pastor Martin gave a Power Point presentation during the General Conference on the recent "Reclaim Liturgy Conference" sponsored by Reclaim Resources and held in June at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. This was a very interesting report dealign with the basics of historic Lutheran Liturgy. The Reclaim organization is attempting to produce a historic Lutheran hymnal and liturgies in contrast to the various Lutheran hymnals that have attempted to move in a direction to harmonzie with Rome and other non-Lutheran groups. Pastor Martin is under call from our ELCM as Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa and Adjacent States and under call from Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Auduobn, Iowa.

Financial Reports from the last three years were reviewed and approved. The Barley and Faith congregations in Pennsylvania have supplemented the budgets of ELCM. A major item of expenditure for the past three years was the effort to support the effort to establish two Mission congregations in northern Iowa by Pastor Martin. Those efforts were unsuccessful in some part because of efforts by Missouri Synod folk and a District President as well as by ELCA area pastors to label and smear the ELCM effort as a "Lutheran Cult." Truly it is hard to understand such unChristian efforts. The Rev. Dr. Duggi Benerjee, President of our Affiliate Synod Christu Sudha Communications & Ministries in India, reported that Telegu groupings in association with the LCMS or ELCA have withdrawn support from his CSCM efforts because CSCM is listed as an affiliate synod on our ELCM website. In the northern Iowa mission effort, our heavy financial support for Pastor Martin's efforts kept him going until the call came to him to serve the Our Saviour's, Audubon congregation. The Lord causes the efforts of the evil one to be overturned and for all to work out for the good of those who love the Lord! Amen.

Delegates adopted a minimal budget expenditure for the coming Triennium with support primarily for Liability Insurance and our Military Chaplaincy program. The Barley and Faith congregations in Pennsylvania will continue to cover basic operating expenses as a supplement to the ELCM budget from their benevolence giving and our major focus financially is to replentish our required ELCM Mission Reserve Fund balances.

Election of officers and members of the ELCM Executive Board were held. The results were the following were elected to three year terms of office:

President: The Rev. Roy A. Steward (Pastor, Faith & Barley)
Vice-President: Mr. Dennis Stiffley
Treasurer: Mrs. Judy Wendt
Secretary: Mr. Robert Lykens

(Editor's note: The ELCM Constitution requires that all ordained Pastors holding office in ELCM MUST be serving a congregation at the time of their election, and continue to do so. The office of President is NOT a full time position. In addition, it is required that the Vice-President be a layman in an ELCM congregation.)

It was the consensus of the General Conference that all Pastors and Congregations of ELCM be required to submit a brief Parochial report to the Office of the President on an annual basis.

The Primiary focus for ELCM in the coming Triennium was unanimously affirmed to be the establishment of additional congregations and the dissemination of informaiton concerning the existence of ELCM as an alternative option for congregations and pastors.

3rd Triennial General Conference Report Part 2

2008-08-26T10:51:00.004-05:00

Part #2-Contact, Affliliation with Other USA Lutheran Groupings

Earlier in the year, a suggestion was raised by an ELCM Pastor for ELCM at the Triennial to consider making application to become a District of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). The Rev. Christopher Martin gave a report on the recent Heartland District (LCMC) convention held in Harlan, Iowa as part of the discussion. A review of the Polity, Structure, and Nature (track record) of LCMC was conducted. It was the consensus of the Triennial that ELCM would lose much and gain very little from joining LCMC as a district. For example, ELCM polity gives one vote to each member congregation and each voting member Pastor. (Pastors must have call to a member congregation, mission, or other approved ministry to have vote.) LCMC gives vote only to congregational delegates (Pastors are not automatically given vote) and congregational delegations are based on size of the congregations, with larger churches given much more representation than smaller churches. In LCMC, decisons are made by majority votes, where in ELCM they are made by Consensus. Theological orientations were also examined and LCMC was found to be inclusive of a variety of orientations not acceptable to ELCM. Thus it was the consensus of the Triennial that we not pursue any connection with LCMC as a District of LCMC.

Delegates discussed the renewal of the effort to establish the "Evangelical-Lutheran Council of North America" by seeking to establish this with the Confessional Lutheran Association (CLA), the parent body of Faith Seminary, Tacoma, Washington. CLA was formed by former American Lutheran Church (ALC) pastors and congregations considerably prior to the 1988 formation of the ELCA. It was moved, seconded, and approved by consensus to proceed with this effort based upon the draft constitution that was prepared for such a council, based on the old Lutheran Council USA constitution. Once established between ELCM and CLA and in place, the Evangelical-Lutheran Council of North America could then invite others of a Centrist orientation, including LCMC, to join the Council.

2008 ELCM Triennial General Conference Report Part One

2008-08-26T09:56:00.004-05:00

Part One-Rosters
President Steward presented the General Conference with a report on the ELCM rosters. As of July 23, 2008, there were 8 voting member ordained Pastors, 2 voting member vicars (licensed ministers/seminarians), and 1 non voting associate member Pastor. For congregational membership, 5 voting member congregations and missions were reported: Barley of Rural New Enterprise, PA, Faith, Duncansville, PA, Faith, Hollidaysburg, PA (Mission Status), Light of the World Mission, Roanoke Valley, VA (Mission Status), and St. Paul's, Rhinebeck, NY. It was also noted that one non member congregation in Iowa is presently served by an ELCM Pastor and is providing financial support to one of our ELCM congregations, and another non member congregation in Pennsylvania has provided support to ELCM.

In the 2005-2008 Triennium, 2 Ministerium members were removed from membership for disciplinary reasons, and 2 others voluntarily withdrew from ELCM membership. One congregation withdrew from ELCM membership, and 2 unsuccessful ELCM mission efforts were reported.

Following the roster report, President Steward noted that it is expected that all USA rostered Ministerium members either 1) be in attendance at the Triennial General Conferences and Ministerium meetings OR 2) request that they be excused from attendance from the Office of the President.

It was noted that 5 voting Ministerium members were in attendance at this Triennial General Conference, with 3 voting member Pastors formally excused from attendance. It was noted that in January and February of 2008, the President attempted to establish a date for the Triennial that was agreeable to all members of ELCM. Postings of this attempt were placed on the ELCM Leaders message board and emailed to those pastors who do not participate on the Leaders board. Two voting and one non voting member Pastor did not request to be excused from the Triennial, and were not in attendance. It was noted that each of these three pastors were also absent from the last Triennial General Conference held in 2005.

As part of the discussion that we have "No Rusty Swords" in ELCM, but have a fully committed Ministerium, it was moved, seconded, and approved by unanimous consensus that the Ministerium memberships of the three unexcused Pastors be suspended with an option granted to each of these Pastors to re-activate their respective ELCM membership within a 90 day time period by contacting the President and in writing stipulating that they subscribe to the ELCM Constitution and will in the future be fully committed to work of ELCM, of which one factor of committment is attendance at ELCM Ministerium meetings and General Conferences.

In subsequent deliberations during the General Conference, it was decided that all future members of ELCM will be required to formally subscribe their names to the Constitution of ELCM and a statement that there is full understanding of the requirement to be faithful and fully committed to the duties of ELCM membership, as well as a statement that should any begin to desire to discontinue membership in ELCM that they be in consultation and conversation with the President and Dean of ELCM before any action to leave ELCM is taken.

Report was given on three ordained Pastors that are at various stages of application for rostering with ELCM. Additional reports were given concerning several congregations giving consideration to possible future connection with ELCM.

It was the consensus of the General Conference to enlarge the ELCM Executive Board call to Rev. Alfred Banquer to serve as "ELCM Mission Development Pastor for New York, Pennsylvania, and Adjacent States."

At the beginning of the Triennial, it was moved, seconded, and approved by unanimous consensus to approve ordination of Christopher Martin. He was ordained at the evening Communion service on the 23rd. He is under call to serve as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa and by the ELCM Executive Board to serve as "Mission Development & ELCM Contact Pastor for Iowa & Adjacent States". The service was recorded my members of Pastor Martin's family and will eventually be posted to the ELCM website.

Special honor was given in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the ordination of The Rev. Dr. Carl Towley, a retired ELCM Pastor now residing in Minnesota. Dr. Towley was ordained in the old Augustana Synod. His ordination anniversary was celebrated earlier this summer. An official letter of congradulations was sent from the Office of the President.

The Rev. Russell Burr was re-elected by unanimous vote of the Pastors present at the Triennial as the Dean of the Ministerium for the 2008-2011 Triennium. The Pastors set July 23rd, 2009 as the date for the next ELCM Ministerium meeting, with St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg, Rhinebeck, New York as the site of the meeting.

ELCM Pastors at the Triennial

2008-08-25T17:18:00.003-05:00

These Pastors participated in the 3rd Triennial General Conference of ELCM. This photo was taken after the Service of Word and Sacrament, which featured the ordination of Christopher Martin as an ELCM Pastor. Pastor Roy A. Steward presided over the liturgy and Holy Communion as our Host Pastor, Dr. Mark Isaacs preached a fine ordination sermon, and Pastor Russell Burr, ELCM Dean of Pastors, presided over the Rite of Ordination. Pastor Fred Banquer led the congregation in the responsive Psalm.

L-R: Rev. Fred Banquer (ELCM Mission Development & Contact Pastor for New York, Pennsylvania, and Adjacent States), Rev. Roy A. Steward, Jr. (Faith, Duncansville & Hollidaysburg, PA, Barley, New Enterprise, PA, President of ELCM), Rev. Christopher Martin (Our Saviour's, Audubon, IA, ELCM Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa & Adjacent States), Rev. Russell Burr (ELCM Ministerium Dean), Rev. Dr. Mark Isaacs (St. Paul's, Rhinebeck, NY)

ELCM Triennial General Conference

2008-07-30T09:27:00.002-05:00

The 3rd Triennial General Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium was held Wednesday, July 23rd and Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hollidaysburg, PA. Much was accomplished by our little "Mustard Seed Synod" in our two days together.

The highlight of this Triennial was the Wednesday evening Service of Word and Sacrament. During this special service, Christopher Martin was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry as an ELCM Pastor. He serves our ELCM as Mission Development & Contact Pastor for Iowa & Adjacent States in addition to serving as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa.

Check back with us soon for more news from the Triennial, in addition to more articles and sermons from our Pastors.

"You're Confirmed, So Now What?" A Sermon on Matthew 7:15-29

2008-06-03T11:29:00.004-05:00

Editor's Note: This is a sermon preached on the Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 1, 2008 at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa. It was also Confirmation Sunday at Our Saviour's.

"You're Confirmed, So Now What?" Matthew 7:15-29
By: Christopher W. Martin

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Well, today is the big day! Confirmation Sunday! In a few moments, these 12 young people will stand in front of this altar, and make some pretty big promises. This last Wednesday evening, you read your essays entitled “What It Means to Me to Be a Christian” and made some pretty bold statements of faith. Now, you’ve heard me say this quite frequently, but I’m going to say it one more time “Confirmation is NOT graduation from church!”. In order to drive that point home, I thought it was rather appropriate that we have this parable in our Gospel reading for today on Confirmation Sunday, because there are essentially two ways you confirmands, and any of the rest of us here today, can go from here, two different spiritual houses we can build. So I want to look at this parable with you today, so we can gain a better understanding of the great question, a question I’m going to ask you at the end of this sermon today, “You’re confirmed, now what?”

The words of our Gospel reading are the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We heard a portion of it in last Sunday’s gospel reading. Jesus has been teaching quite a bit to those people gathered on that mountainside that day. In a similar way, our confirmation class has been listening to the teachings of Jesus over the past two years through your confirmation instruction with myself and Pastor Kukkonen. You’ve heard the teachings of Jesus through your study of the Scriptures and the Small Catechism has been one of the tools we’ve used to help you understand those Scriptures. This year in particular, we’ve spent a great deal of our time focusing on the Ten Commandments. In a lot of ways, you have a lot in common with that group that’s sitting at the feet of Jesus in our Gospel reading, hearing Him teach. And today, Jesus has some final words to teach you.

The first is a warning. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” False prophets are false teachers, not from outside of the church, but that appear to be inside of the church. There are folks out there who believe that false teaching comes only from outside of the church, but that’s a very dangerous assumption to make. Here, Jesus tells us that there are false teachers within the church, the wolf in sheep’s clothing. They appear to be safe, they talk about Jesus, they might even quote a whole lot of Bible verses to back up their claims. They may be well dressed, popular, and pack the pews of their churches each Sunday, and their offerings may be going through the roof! On the outside, they may look like they have it all together, and that truly, this preacher has been sent from God and we’d better listen to him, because he’s a lot more blessed than our own church and its pastor. Folks, there are a LOT of these wolves in sheep’s clothing in Christ’s church today, yes, even within the pales of the Lutheran church. In fact, some of them are lifted up as the “model” that we as a church and I as a Pastor should conform to. So the question is going to be, how do you know if that person is a true shepherd, or a wolf in sheep’s clothing looking to devour you?

Jesus tells us “you will recognize them by their fruits.” And for you confirmands, this is where the teachings you’ve learned the last two years are going to come into play. And it’s the same for the rest of us here, too. Listen to what that Preacher is telling you. Is he or she proclaiming that you’re a sinner, and that there’s nothing you can do to pay the debt of your sin, or do they tell you that sin doesn’t matter anymore, that God simply accepts you the way you are and you can continue to live however you want, just ignore those ten commandments because they’re outdated? Is that person telling you that Jesus Christ lived the perfect, sinless life you and I could not, and then suffered and died to pay the price of our sins, and then rose again from the dead so that we will rise from death to eternal life with Christ in heaven, or are they simply telling you “This is what Jesus did, so get out there and do it too, and then God will bless you with material wealth beyond your wildest dreams?” What kind of fruit is that preacher offering you, is it the truth of the Scriptures, or is it some other Gospel, which is no Gospel at all? You see, just because someone uses Jesus’ name, or claims to be Christian, or even appears to have a powerful “ministry” going, doesn’t necessarily mean that Christ will acknowledge that teacher on the last day. Our text tells us that many who have run around saying “Lord, Lord” will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And the reason why is that they turned the Christ of the Scriptures into some other Christ, a Christ who cannot save and doesn’t even exist. To these, Jesus simply says, “depart from me, I never knew you.” For any of you out there today who think that your doctrine doesn’t matter, that we just have to say “you believe in Jesus, I believe in Jesus, that’s all we need to agree on,” Jesus has just made it loud and clear that doctrine matters. In fact, doctrine is how you judge a particular ministry or preacher to be authentic or not. And that doctrine is drawn from the Word of God.

Now the only way you’re going to be able to recognize this distinction is by continuing to come here to God’s house each week, listen to His Word be preached from the pulpit. Listen to that word of law that tells us of our sin, that tells us in the words of our Epistle reading for this morning “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That’s right, all of us. Not just “those people” out there, but you and me. Then, listen to the sweetness of the Gospel, which tells us that Christ has died for our sins, and risen again so that we too will rise to eternal life with him. Continue to read and study your Bible, use your catechism to guide your study if you are looking for a guide to help you along. Next fall, when Sunday School starts up again, be sure that you’re up there in that high school room, demanding that Lee teach you the truth of the Scriptures, I know he’s really looking forward to having you there and asking him some tough questions, the ones I’ve come to look forward to having you ask me each week in confirmation.

You see, this is what Jesus is talking about in the parable of the two houses, the essential question is “what is going to be the foundation of your faith? What are you going to base your faith on?” When I was a student at Concordia University, I lived in a dormitory building that was fairly new, it had been built in the mid-1980;s, but there were all kinds of structural problems with Hyatt Village, and in fact, the entire foundation had to be redone on the building one summer or the building was going to eventually collapse. The story was that when the university was building more dorm space in the 80’s on land it owned on campus, they were told not to build that size of a building on that land, because the land was too wet and couldn’t support it, but they ignored the warning and did it anyway. And as a result, the building started sinking, and every time it rained, the ground floor dorm rooms had water in them. Last I heard, the building was still standing, but there is discussion about it having to come down eventually. In a similar way, Jesus is using the parable of our Gospel reading with the two houses to illustrate for us the importance of the foundation of our faith and teaching.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” When we take to heart the word of Christ, when we base what we believe, teach, and confess both as individuals, and as a congregation, on the words of Christ, then we have a solid foundation. As your pastor this last year, I’ve done my best to provide you with that solid foundation. Now as you go into high school next fall, you’ll have a new set of challenges ahead of you. You’ll start to have friends who are going to say to you “hey, why don’t you stay out late with us on Saturday night, you can sleep in on Sunday since you’re not required to go to Sunday School anymore.” You’ll have difficult times in your life, you’ll have times when you get sick, or loved ones get sick, you may be called to mourn the death of a loved one, or you might have friends who turn on you. You’ll have all kinds of storms in this life, and when you’ve built your foundation on Christ and His Word, you’ll be able to withstand those storms. That doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt, or that you won’t have emotional or physical scars from time to time. But you’ll have the hope that because of what Christ has done for you on the cross, you have the promise that He will deliver you from this trial, and one day, deliver you to eternal life in heaven.

Jesus then continues: “and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Now this should serve as a warning for not just our 12 confirmands, but for all of us. If you’re sitting there today, listening to this sermon, thinking either a) “I don’t need to believe what the Bible says about Jesus, I’m just fine on my own” or b) I have a certificate of baptism and a certificate of confirmation somewhere, so that’s all I need to know and do” you’re terribly mistaken. If that’s the case, you’ve built your spiritual house on sand. Think of those who fall into the trap of what we call “prosperity theology”, promoted by folks like Joel Osteen. If you base your spiritual foundation on the idea that “if I’m right with God, then He will bless me with things of this world”, then what happens if you get sick? Or what happens if your company downsizes and you lose your job? Does that mean that God’s angry with you and you’re not saved anymore? When you build your spiritual house on sand, on false teaching, on anything other than Christ crucified and risen, when the storms of life come crashing down on you, you have nothing to support you.

The same thing happens when you decide you’ve “grown enough” in your faith, and you stop attending church, Sunday School, or reading your Bible on your own. Eventually, your foundation is going to crumble, and you’ll have nothing to support you. That’s why I’ve emphasized a great deal this year that I want to continue to see you here after you’re confirmed. Since the last day of Confirmation class, I’m unfortunately already noticing that a few of you are not here on Sunday morning. I don’t like that, and I’m saying that not because I want to be mean, or guilt you into being here, I’m saying it because as your Pastor, I’m concerned about your spiritual well being, and when you’re not here, it shows me that there’s something wrong. It’s the same when I see adults go inactive. It’s an easy habit to get into, and a very difficult one to break once it becomes a habit. So I encourage you to continue to be here to be built up and have your Savior, Jesus Christ, serve you through His Word and Sacraments. There’s no other place you’ll have your spiritual foundation built up than being in the presence of your Savior.

I posed the question to you this morning, “You’re confirmed, so now what?” In a few moments, you’re going to answer that question in the rite of Confirmation. But it’s not just a question I’m asking these 12 young people. I’m asking every confirmed member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church that question today. “You’re confirmed, now what?” What’s your answer going to be? Confirmation Sunday is always one of the highlights of a congregation’s life. I couldn’t have asked for a better first confirmation class to have as the Pastor of Our Saviour’s than this group right here. Today, you’ll promise that you’d suffer all than fall away from the faith you were baptized into and you have been instructed in. But you’re not alone in your faith walk. You have me, you have your parents, baptismal sponsors, your fellow members of this congregation to walk that path with you. But most importantly, you have a Savior who loved you so much, that he went to the cross to die for your sins, and raise you to new life, eternally with Him. I am going to encourage you to keep those confirmation promises you’ll make today, and that your answer to the question I posed in this sermon be “I’ll continue to sit at the feet of Jesus, because there’s no better place to be.” May God grant that to you for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Christopher Martin is Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa and also serves as ELCM Mission Developer for Iowa.

Why The Ascension? A Sermon for Ascension Day

2008-05-04T08:20:00.003-05:00

By: Christopher W. Martin
Editor's Note: This sermon was preached at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 to commemorate the festival of the Ascension of Our Lord. We did not have a special service on Ascension Day itself (May 1st), so I moved the commemoration of the festival to a Sunday this year. The sermon text is Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53. I offer it here for your edification. God's blessings to all our readers!

Ascension Day is one of the few remaining main festivals of the Christian church year that hasn’t really been touched by our secular American society. For example, take our two biggest festivals, Christmas and Easter. They’re the “big two” festivals of the Christian church year, and yet they also have secular ideas and traditions that have little, if anything, to do with the actual Christian festival itself. Ascension Day is a little different. I’m guessing none of you sent or received any “Happy Ascension Day” cards in the mail this week, or went out for dinner for Ascension Day. None of the stores had a big “Ascension Day Sale”, nor do we have some character like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny that’s associated with Ascension Day. In fact, I’m willing to guess that many of you here this morning don’t even know when it usually falls each year. Ascension Day is 40 days after the celebration of Easter, so it’s on a Thursday each year. The 40 days represent the 40 days that Jesus walked the earth after his resurrection before he ascended into heaven. This year, it would have been this past Thursday. Because it’s such a lesser known festival, not many churches have a special service to commemorate it. In fact, many Lutheran churches celebrate Ascension Day with a special evening service that day, but have it as a joint service with sister congregations, and even then, it’s hardly a big turnout. But because it’s a major event in the life of our Savior, I decided it was important enough to move the celebration of the Ascension of Our Lord to today, a Sunday, so we can learn a bit more about this “mystery” festival of the church year, and understand why it’s important that we celebrate it.

One of the things that makes this day unique is that it’s the last time recorded in Scripture that Jesus is seen on earth. Now St. Paul does encounter Jesus on the road to Damascus later in the book of Acts, but Paul doesn’t see the actual, physical, resurrected body of Jesus, he sees a bright light, and hears a voice. In the book of Revelation, St. John tells us he hears Jesus, but again, it’s not a physical body on earth that John sees, it’s a vision. So this account of Jesus’ ascension into heaven is rather unique, in that it is the last time that Jesus is physically seen in his resurrected body on earth.

Jesus has been resurrected from the dead and appeared to His disciples for 40 days now. It’s no big secret that he’s risen from the dead at this point. He had made many appearances in that time period, and they’re recorded in the Gospels. One of them, he appeared to over 500 people! So by this time, it’s no big secret. He’s restored his disciples, the 11 men who cowardly ran away and hid during his passion and death, even restoring Peter, who had denied him three times. No doubt, even though a little over a month had passed since that truly Holy Week in Jerusalem, it probably still seemed so amazing, unreal that Jesus was alive! No doubt, they had to wonder at some point how long Jesus would be with them. Perhaps they thought He was there to stay, to fix their problems, and protect them from what would happen next.

In our readings for this morning, however, we see that would not be the case. Jesus, as he’s done in the three years he spent with His disciples prior to His crucifixion, and in his appearances to them in the 40 days since his resurrection, is teaching His disciples. But the tone of this teaching sounds a bit different from anything they’ve heard. The topic is the same: the kingdom of God. In our Gospel reading from Luke, we’re told Jesus says “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” At this point, Luke tells us that Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures”. If you’ll recall, quite often when Jesus was teaching about something that was going to happen to him, or what the Kingdom of God was like, he’d often have to interpret what He was saying to them. This time, He opens their minds, so that they can understand what everything was all about. We’re told he says “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” He calls them witnesses of these things, and promises them help from above. HE then tells them to stay in the city until they are clothed with power from on high.

Now what was all this about? Can you imagine the reaction the disciples must have had that day? They finally understand what all of these events they had witnessed were all about! Jesus was the Christ, He had to suffer, die, and rise again! It was all a part of God’s plan to save the world! Can you imagine the joy, or the “ah hah!” moment they had to have experienced at that point? You’ll notice that they don’t come to this conclusion on their own, but Jesus, through His Word, opens their mind through the preaching of His Word to the disciples. It’s the same way with you and me today. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t come to understand the things of God on our own, our eyes and minds are open through the Word of God. By hearing the Word, our minds are opened by the work of the Holy Spirit through that word, bringing us to faith, or strengthening us in faith. If it happened to the disciples, men who had been unfaithful to Christ during His passion, yet restored after His resurrection, and charged with the task of being witnesses, it can surely happen, and will happen, with you and me as well.

Along with having this joy of finally understanding what took place, the disciples probably had another feeling, wondering what was going on here? Why was Jesus telling us to stay in the city? Wasn’t he coming with us? He’s always been there with us, why would he leave us now? These had to have been some of the thoughts of those disciples that day.

So Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifts up his nail-pierced hands to bless them. All of a sudden, Jesus ascends up into heaven. Our reading in Acts tells us that a cloud took him out of their sight. What kind of questions do you think they were asking? Probably questions like “Where did you go, Jesus? Are we left to do this work alone? Why did you have to leave?” And maybe, as we hear the Ascension accounts, we wonder, why did Jesus have to go back to heaven? Why didn’t he stay here on earth?

Well, let’s think about that point for a moment. During his earthly life, Jesus was in what we call his state of humiliation. That is, while Jesus was true God and true Man, he chose not to use some of his divine qualities during his earthly life. Just imagine, being the all powerful God, creator of heaven and earth, and willingly choosing to limit yourself to a human body. One of those limitations is that a human body can only be in one place at one time. I know some of you might try to be in several places at once, but is it possible? No, it’s not. So if Jesus had not ascended back into heaven, he’d only be in one place. And if Jesus is only in one place at a time, well, he’d be limited in how he could be with us. We’d either have to go to where he was, or he’d have to come to us. So if you’re in a time of trouble, where you need to call out to your Savior for help, you’d better hope he’s not somewhere else doing something else, or you’d be out of luck. I read a statistic this week that helped to illustrate one of the reasons for the Ascension. If Jesus were still on earth today, as he was prior to the Ascension, and we were given just 20 seconds to be with him, and he was with people for 20 seconds at a time, 24/7, he’d only be able to be present with 4,320 people in a day. That means a very small percentage of Christians would be able to be in Christ’s presence on any given day. But now that He is in heaven, he can indeed be with us always, to the end of the age. He’s present with us right now, in this very church as we are gathered here in Word and Sacrament, just as He is present in other churches who are gathered around those same means throughout the world. Likewise, when you pray to Him on your own, and someone in Denmark, or Germany, or New Zealand is praying to Him at the same time you are, He’s present with each one of these people, listening intently to their prayers, something He couldn’t do if he remained confined to a specific place and time here on earth. When you think about it, the presence of your Ascended Lord is sure a lot better than hoping you’re one of those lucky 4,320 people that get 20 seconds to be with Jesus in any given day had he not ascended into heaven, isn’t it?

So, the disciples are there, watching Jesus ascend, and who appears next? Two men in white robes appear and say “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” They heard that although Jesus had left them physically, not only would be still be with them spiritually, he’d return one day. They knew that they were not left as orphans, but as people with hope, hope of being with their Savior again one day.

So, the Disciples on that first Ascension Day had Jesus open their minds to the Scriptures, he Ascends into heaven to be with them always, and he left them with a charge to be his witnesses. So what did they do? Luke’s gospel tells us that “they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.” They were filled with great joy! Not only did Jesus promise them His Holy Spirit, and charge them with the task of spreading His Word, and promise that He would return again, He gave them something else very important. He gave them a fellowship to belong to. He gave them the presence of each other. By staying together, by worshipping together, they could encourage each other to be the kind of witnesses that Jesus had prepared them to be. No doubt, they talked about the things that they had seen, heard, and learned while they were with Jesus. They studied His Word that he had revealed to them. And they did so with Great Joy!

What does that sound like? It sounds like what Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church exists for. When we gather together as a congregation, it is to encourage each other by our presence here, to be together with fellow believers in Jesus Christ who share our faith. When we gather together, our Lord Jesus Christ is present in our worship service, feeding us with His Word and in a few moments, his sacrament of Holy Communion. While He’s hidden, we know, just as those early disciples knew, that Jesus was still present, though hidden, from them. That’s why we’re here first of all. But we’re also here to prepare ourselves to be powerful witnesses. Notice that Jesus says He will give them what they need to be powerful witnesses. He will provide the gift of the Holy Spirit, which will come to them on Pentecost. Likewise, in our gathering this morning, through hearing the Word, by receiving the Sacrament, you’re being strengthened and equipped to go out into your daily lives, and share that very message with the world. Whether you realize it or not, each one of you are witnesses of the same things the disciples were. While you haven’t seen them with your physical eyes, with your spiritual eyes, the eyes of faith, through hearing the Word, you have had your minds open to who Jesus is, what He did for us, and that “repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

For us, that work begins not in Jerusalem, but right here in Audubon, Iowa. We’re charged with sharing the message that Jesus Christ is “The Way, The Truth, and The Life.” We’re to tell others the word of God’s law, that none of us can live up to what God expects from us, and that we sin daily. Sometimes, that means we have to get specific about certain sins. But, then, we can announce to them that Jesus Christ has gone to the cross to die for that sin, and then left that sin in the grave when He rose again from the dead. We can tell them that because He’s now ascended into heaven, He’s with us always, even to the end of the age. That’s what proclaiming in Christ’s name the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins is all about. Some will try to use Jesus as a psychological crutch, as something to make you feel better now, others will try to tell you “if you follow these 12 steps, Jesus will bless you with material wealth beyond your wildest dreams.” Some will even simply say “Jesus, Buddah, Allah, it’s all the same. Believe what you want, be good, and you go to heaven.” But that’s not what we have witnessed in the Word. When Christ calls us to be His witnesses, we’re only to share what we have learned from the Scriptures as truth, not what the world wants us to say.

You see, Ascension Day is a very important day in the life of the Christian Church. For one, it’s the day when Jesus goes from being limited to being present in one place at one time, to being everywhere, for us. It’s also the day that He opens the minds of His disciples, and encourages them to be His witnesses. Today, we experience the same thing. Our minds are opened through the preaching of the Word to the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. And we’re told we are to be His witnesses, starting right here in Audubon. As I’ve said the last two weeks, mission work doesn’t start overseas, it starts right here, right now. It happens in your conversations at the store, on main street, at coffee, with friends, in our everyday lives. You don’t have to be a powerful speaker, or feel a call to a foreign country to be a powerful witness of the love of Christ. It’s simply about sharing the Gospel you hear in this place with those you come into contact with. May God make us His powerful witnesses in this community for Jesus’s sake. Amen.

Christopher Martin is Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa and ELCM Mission Developer for Iowa. He also serves as editor for The Lutheran Centrist.

From Palms to Passion-Thoughts for Holy Week

2008-03-18T17:35:00.004-05:00

by Christopher W. Martin

Note: This post is from a sermon I preached on Palm Sunday, March 16, 2008. I encourage our readers to read the Palm Sunday account from John 12:12-19 and the Passion Gospel from Matthew 26-27 as you ponder how Holy Week is a week that goes from Palms to Passion.

As some of you may be aware, today has two names on the church calendar. Most of you know today by it’s more common name, Palm Sunday. It’s the day the Sunday School children process into the church, waving their palm branches, and we as a congregation sing “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna”, remembering the cries of that first Palm Sunday crowd. The cry “Hosanna”, meaning, “save us now!” It’s a picture of victory, of joy! A procession fit for a king! Even the religious leaders of the day at the site of this crowd and hearing their shouts of “save us now!” can see what’s going on, how popular Jesus is at this moment, to the point of making the remark “You see that we gain nothing, look, the whole world has gone after him!”

Yet today is also called Passion Sunday. Quite a change from the Palm Sunday parade. As you will have noticed in our readings for today, the events of that week in Jerusalem take a strange, unexpected turn. Who in that crowd on that first Palm Sunday would imagine that just 5 days later, the crowds that were crying out “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” who welcomed Jesus into their city with palm branches and laid out their coats on the road, would turn into a vicious, bloodthirsty mob. The shouts by Friday would turn to “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” As far as the claims of him being a king, they claim “We have no king but Caesar!” Indeed, quite a change from the beginning of the week, wouldn’t you say?We’ve marked both events today during our service.

We started our service by hearing the Gospel account of that first Palm Sunday. We saw the Palm braches wave, we heard the cries of “Hosanna”; we joined in the joyful song of those people in that Palm Sunday crowd. But then, our service took a dramatic turn, as we turned our attention to the Passion gospel, which you heard read from Matthew’s account this year. Instead of joyful hymns of “Hosanna”, we sing words set to more somber tones, verses of hymns like “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”. The two themes sure seem like complete opposites, don’t they? Can they possibly be about the same guy?

In addition to today being Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday, it also marks the beginning of Holy Week, the week of the church year where we focus on Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem. Through the scripture readings and sermons you’ll hear this week, you’ll be transported back to Jerusalem, 2000 years ago, and you’ll be going various places. We already started by being a part of that Palm Sunday crowd, shouting our praises to our King, riding triumphantly into King David’s city! As the week progresses, we’ll go with Jesus to the upper room, see Him institute the sacrament of Holy Communion, pray in the Garden, be betrayed by one of his disciples, arrested, tried, beaten, and crucified. We’ll see a LOT of evil go on in these events. People at their worst moments. We’ll be called to ponder all of this, and ask, so, what’s this week all about?

As you go through Holy Week this year, I’m going to encourage you to see yourself in each of the places we’ll visit. As you do, you’ll realize that at times, we’re all a part of that fickle crowd in Jerusalem. We’ll find at times, we’re ready to praise Jesus so loud, no one can keep us quiet. We’ll also find that because of our sin, we also abandon Jesus. We don’t always speak up for our faith when we should. We don’t always acknowledge that we’re children of God by the things we say, do, or think. We’ll find a bit of Judas in us, willing to betray our Lord for whatever type of silver sin sets in front of us, and we’ll find it’s our sin that condemns him to be nailed to the cross. We’re going to find that in reality, while it’s so easy for us to be angry with those who treated our Savior so badly that week in Jerusalem, that if we were there, we wouldn’t be any better.

But, we also know that the ugly sights, horrific sounds, the undeniable pain that our Savior suffers, is not for Himself, but it’s for us and for our sins. When we look at the cross on Good Friday, and the road that leads us there, we’ll see that Jesus walked that road for you and for me. He did it so that we can be sinless, spotless before our God. We’ll see that there’s no more beautiful, no more important week in our lives, than this week, Holy Week. It’s a journey that I look forward to taking each year, and I pray you’ll join me in taking that journey with me.

So, while there’s a lot going on this week, I’d encourage each of you to walk the road to the cross with Jesus. Ponder what He’s done for you. Read the various Passion accounts in the Gospels. Come to His house for all the special services this week, to take part with your fellow travelers on this journey to the cross, as we’ll consider the events that took place. May this Holy Week be more than just another week for you, may it be a week where you journey with your Savior, and through the Word and Sacrament, understand that all of this, everything that happened this week, was done for you, for the forgiveness of all of your sins, no matter who you are, where you come from, what color of your skin, no matter what you’ve done. Jesus endured all of this for you! Amen.

Christopher W. Martin is the ELCM Mission Developer for Iowa, and is Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa. He also serves as editor for The Lutheran Centrist.

Lenten Reflections

2008-02-18T13:45:00.003-06:00

by Christopher W. Martin

During the season of Lent, we are called to focus on our sinfulness and our need of a Savior. It’s a time of the year that we make the jorney with our Savior to Jerusalem, and watch him be arrested, put on trial, beaten, spit on, and crucified. We especially remember those events during Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday, when we hear shouts of “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” By Good Friday, that crowd changes it’s shout to “Crucify Him!” We observe these events with special services, and we hear the Scriptural accounts of our Lord’s passion. Some of you have even seen the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” In a very real way, Lent reminds us of what the Christian faith is really all about.

Too many churches today have turned Christianity into another form of self help therapy. You will find churches that no longer have a cross in the sanctuary out of fear that it is too offensive to a non-Christian, or that it isn’t a positive message. You hear preachers on TV, the radio, or in many pulpits today telling you that instead of focusing on all that sin, death, blood, and gore stuff, you can have your best life in this world. They’ll give you 12 steps to being a better employer, or tell you what to do for God to give you the material stuff you want. They might mention Jesus in passing, but only as an example or motivational figure who wants you to do your best, nothing more. Their idea of a “Beautiful Savior” is a role model.

The real “Beautiful Savior” knew you were born sinful and unclean. He knew that you couldn’t keep God’s law on your own. So he made that trip into Jerusalem, and allowed himself to be arrested, beat up, spit on, and ultimately nailed to a cross. That’s where you and I belonged, but Jesus loved you so much, that he went through all of that so you can have eternal life.

As we continue the season of Lent and as we approach Holy Week, I encourage you to listen to you Savior speak to you through His Word. You’ll find the cross to be the most beautiful thing you will ever seen. You’ll be reminded of what being a Christian is all about, it’s about being forgiven for all of your sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. During this Lenten season, and throughout the year, let us keep our eyes focused on the cross, and live our lives under the cross of Christ, where we will hear Him speak His life giving Word to us!

Christopher W. Martin is the Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa and ELCM Mission Developer for Iowa.

Home to Rome, or Constantinople or Willow Creek?

2008-02-12T20:37:00.000-06:00

Contributed by Chris Hurst

There has been a growing movement of Lutherans, and other Protestants for that matter, towards Rome and Constantinople. Even the great Lutheran scholar Jaroslav Pelikan died as a member of the Eastern Orthodox faith. Just as disturbing is the seemingly unstoppable trend of entire Lutheran denominations turning towards watered down, mega-church “Evangelicalism”.

The reason, I believe, is that in most Lutheran Churches (and national denominations like ELCA, LCMS, WELS, etc.) there are no longer any distinctly Lutheran ideals or practices. There are a large number of Lutheran Churches pushing the “Evangelical Catholic” stance; which says that we are Catholics in protest attempting a reform of the universal Church. While I agree with this position in principle, why is it that many of the “Catholic” trappings these Churches are advocating are post-Trent; and why are they almost always things that the Lutheran Reformers rejected in the 16th century?

ELCA has Bishops; LCMS and WELS are establishing policies that lead many people to believe in the “infallible synod” in practice, if not in rhetoric. Many of the Churches are extremely “High Church” and have placed the liturgy on such a pedestal that it is almost the same as a Catholic Mass; in fact many call their Sunday worship “the Mass”. A number of Lutheran pastors have started calling themselves “Father” instead of “Pastor” or “Reverend”.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the ever-present “Church Growth Movement” that has infested all of the major Lutheran bodies to varying degrees. This movement is steeped in charismatic, emotional and experiential decision theology. It is most closely associated with non-Lutheran organizations such as Willow Creek or Dallas Theological Seminary.

So where do these developments lead us in our discussion of Lutherans “jumping ship”? If you are sitting in a Lutheran Church, where there is nothing distinctly Lutheran anymore; where the pastor is pushing Catholic teachings, rituals and structure; or where the teaching is no different than every Evangelical mega-Church; why not just become what your Church is trying to be? If you are in an Evangelical Catholic Church, why not just go to Rome? If you are in a charismatic Lutheran Church, why not just go to Willow Creek?

We must re-capture the Lutheran distinctive. That means we must emphasize sola fide, sola gratia, Scripture as the ONLY infallible norm of faith, and the Lutheran Confessions as our confession. If we dance with the culture around us, our flocks will go the next step. This is a call to all clergy and lay leaders to regain, and reinforce, what it means to be Lutheran; and stop trying to go backwards to Rome, or flirt with heterodox charismatics. Be strong, be Lutheran, be faithful.

Vicar Chris Hurst is the ELCM Mission Developer for North Dakota.

A Lutheran Rosary?

2008-02-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

A Lutheran Rosary?

Contributed by: Vicar Chris Hurst

I was stunned recently to find a Lutheran Rosary. I have to confess, when I first came across this it sounded like a great idea; a daily discipline for Lutherans that will give us the air of devotion that our Catholic brethren have. You see, I have struggled with a disciplined prayer and devotional life, and I have often attempted to find ways to “tune into God” through what I would now consider prayer gimmicks. After careful consideration I have to conclude that the Lutheran Rosary is yet another gimmick.

With that, I would like to give a simple, beautiful and edifying daily discipline that is much more in line with the Lutheran Confessions. Dr. Luther said in the Preface to the Small Catechism to read the Catechism daily, because we can never learn it enough; and so the Catechism, along with Scripture, is the central focus of this devotion. Keep in mind; this is not a be all and end all. It is simply what I have found to be very helpful in getting a daily discipline of prayer started. After using this “formula” for a few weeks, you should be able to adjust to your own needs and level of spiritual growth.

Confess your faith in the words of the Apostle’s Creed
Pray a brief prayer of confession and repentance of sins
Read the Catechism (in my own devotion I read the Three Chief Parts daily, and the whole Catechism once a week)
Read the Scriptures (I personally use the One Year Bible; eliminates the “what should I read today” questions)
Pray the Lord’s Prayer
Go about your day

Of course extra prayers added in for your neighbors, family and any other requests before God can be added in anywhere. However, in my dealings as a pastor I have found that the hardest thing for people to do is “talk to God”. This simple six step process can help get that relationship started. From there, your devotional life will take the same course St. Paul talks about in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (ESV) This is yet another example of our complete and utter dependence on God. I believe this is why Dr. Luther emphasized praying the Lord’s Prayer and Apostle’s Creed in his short work “A Simple Way to Pray”.

Vicar Chris Hurst is the ELCM Mission Developer for North Dakota. In this role, he serves as a regional Assistant to the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium, and is a contact for any in North Dakota and surrounding areas who are interested in ELCM. Vicar Hurst has provided the following introduction for our readers:

"First of all let me say what an honor it is to contribute to this blog. I am a strong advocate for a Centrist Lutheran alternative to the current trends in American Christianity. I have been an ELCM Licensed Minister since 2003, and I currently serve as Mission Developer for North Dakota. In the past, I have served two congregations in Hatton, ND; as well as a short stint as a nursing home chaplain in the same town. My main emphasis on this blog will probably tend to be geared towards catechesis and translating our encounter with the Risen Christ into a living, daily faith. I welcome any and all comments on this forum. With that in mind, here’s my first contribution to the conversation."

Thank you, Vicar Hurst, for your contribution to our blog!

Greetings!

2008-02-04T10:39:00.000-06:00

Greetings to all who read this blog in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Welcome to the official blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America (ELCM). We are a centrist-Lutheran church body, organized in 1999. We presently have several congregations, pastors, and mission stations in various locations throughout the country.

This blog will feature regular articles, theological writings, sermons, and other works by our ELCM pastors and lay leaders. We pray that you will be edified in your reading here.

If you have any questions about ELCM, please contact our ELCM President, Rev. Roy A. Steward at revroy@elcm.org. You are also invited to check out our website at www.elcm.org as we have a lot of updates coming in the weeks and months ahead.

God's richest blessings to you all as you pursue our blog!

Christopher W. Martin, Editor
ELCM Mission Developer for Iowa