Here I Am

About 10 years ago, I attended a theological symposium at my alma mater Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.

I remember feeling that as I walked among the buildings that held so much promise for me when I was student in the early 1990’s, that there was so much more ahead of me. As I walked among the buildings with fallen leaves crunching under my feet, I reminisced about the past. At first I felt a sense of loss. Ten years after graduation, was I really where I thought I would be?

This was not the first time I had walked among those buildings with a sense of loss. Two years after arriving on the campus, fresh out of college, I didn’t have much hope for the future. Classes weren’t going well and I was distracted from my studies. I was thinking of giving up becoming a pastor. I felt that I missed something along the way. My life wasn’t turning out the way I had thought it would. But my life soon changed dramatically!

Ten years later, as I walked among the buildings again, I realized my life turned out better than I had hoped it would. It is vastly different from what I thought it would be, but it is so much better that I spend very little time now thinking about how my life could have been had this happened or that not happened.

This morning, as I walked over to the church office from the parsonage, the leaves crunching beneath my feet as they did so long ago on my walk across the campus of Concordia Seminary, I found myself dreaming again. It has been 27 years since I first arrived at seminary. During the seven years I lived and studied among those buildings, I had dreams live and die. At the end of my time there, God gave me a new dream – one I would share with my new wife.

It has been a dream of what God could actually do with my (our) life. But it had taken almost 10 years for that dream to come into focus.

And as soon as that dream came into focus God revealed to me a new dream.

What do I want to do with my life? What is it that I want to do in God’s kingdom? I’ve been a pastor for 19 years. I’ve preached nearly 1000 sermons, led over 1500 Bible classes. I’ve taught Luther’s Small Catechism to 19 classes of children. God has used me to touch so many lives. I know I’ve messed up a lot along the way, but I have faith in God that He is the Almighty who can work through my messes.

I remember talking with a friend of mine about 10 years ago and he said that he felt that there was a momentous change coming in his life. He felt that God was going to be doing something in his life very soon. He didn’t know what it was. He didn’t know if it would involve a move away from where he was at the time or not (it did and not very long after that conversation). He only knew that God was going to do something dramatic in his life very soon.

That’s sort of like how I feel now. God has been preparing me for something. He’s brought me to this place in His kingdom. He has used me as His instrument of change. I feel that God is going to do it again – possibly soon but I’m not sure. I can see things working in my life, preparing me for something. Something that God will use to bring transformation to this world. Maybe not the whole world, but maybe the parts of the world that I come into contact with.

In the Bible, these kinds of moments often included God calling a person by name.

“Abraham….”

“Samuel….”

“Ananias….”

And when any of these people were called by God, they all initially responded in the same way.

“Here I am.”

Never, “Who are you?” “Here I am,” takes faith. And that same faith is given to each of us through God’s means of Grace – the Holy Scripture, Holy Baptism – and strengthened through Holy Scripture and Holy Communion.

I believe God has called each one of us to be in this place “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

He’s calling you and  I by name.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, let us answer, “Here I am.”

Growing Up

I have spoken with many former church members and not-a-few former Christians.

Many of them have told me that they left the Church or left the Christian faith when they were younger – teenagers or early 20’s. When I ask them what it was that caused them to decide to leave, the same kind of story is told.

They had a question about God, they asked the pastor, and didn’t get the answer they were expecting (or wanted).

Steve Jobs was one such person. I never met or talked with Steve Jobs, but this story is documented in Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography.

The soon-to-be founder of Apple computers rejected Christianity because of one incident he had with a Lutheran pastor. Walter Isaacson tells the story:

“Even though they were not fervent about their [own] faith, Steve Job’s parents wanted him to have a religious upbringing, so they took him to the Lutheran church most Sundays. That came to an end when he was thirteen. In July 1968 Life magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra. Jobs took it to Sunday school and confronted the church’s pastor. ‘If I raise my finger, will God know which one I’m going to raise even before I do it?’

The pastor answered, ‘Yes, God knows everything.’

Jobs then pulled out the Life cover and asked, ‘Well, does God know about this and what’s going to happen to those children?’

‘Steve, I know you don’t understand, but yes, God knows about that.’

Jobs announced that he didn’t want to have anything to do with worshipping such a God, and he never went back to church.” [Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, pp 14-15, Simon & Schuster, 2011]

There are many supposedly enlightened people whose rejection of religion rests on just such a flimsy foundation. They are still living as adults on the basis of a rejection of a kindergarten version of the Christian Faith which they probably misunderstood in the first place.

When I was 13, I had some specific ideas about the world, my place in this world, and how I should live my life.

As I am now 36 years removed from those ideas, I certainly don’t live by many – if any – of them.

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV).

It is sad if a person continues to think about the Church, God, and life in general, based on something that happened when they were younger.

The Good News is that God still loves each one of us with an unconditional love. He is ready and willing to welcome us back to Himself.

God’s love for us is the same today as it was when we were children. Jesus Christ still forgives all our sins, the Holy Spirit still prompts repentance, and the Father is ready to welcome us into His strong and loving arms.

Come back to church. God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life. Join a Bible study.

And pray for those who, at one time, decided to leave. Pray that the Holy Spirit can use you to help them see that God still loves them and wants them to be a part of a fellowship of believers.

I Love My Church Part 6

This is based on an article from Hal Seed (accessed here on February 13, 2014).

Hal Seed writes, “A quick read of the book of Acts or the letters in Revelation proves that Jesus loves his church. He died for it, prays for it, lives for it and is going to return for it.

[But] let’s be honest: It’s not easy to love the church. It’s easy to love Jesus. Loving His bride is another story. Churches are filled with frail and fault-riddled people. Every church has a unique personality. All are loved by Jesus, but not all are loved in equal measure by each of His people.”

I agree, loving Jesus is so much easier than loving His bride, the Church. But just like the love of a spouse in marriage, love of the church is more a choice than a feeling.

Based on Hall Seed’s ten reasons that he loves his church, I have ten reasons that I choose to love Jesus’ bride, the Church. They are in no particular order – this is not a ranked list. This week, reason number six:

6. Entrepreneurial.

To be “entrepreneurial” means to undertake a task or enterprise with considerable initiative and risk.

That describes the Church. As members of the Church our task is to “make disciples of all nations” by “teaching them” what Christ said and did and commanded and by “baptizing them.”

This task or mission has been undertaken with Christ’s initiative. His first step was out of heaven and into our world as one of us. “Immanuel” – God with us! Then Peter and the disciples took the initiative and proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah who died for the sins of the world and rose again. Stephen, Philip, Paul and the list goes on and on through history of men and women who took up the mission of the Church.

At incredible risk, I might add. Save one, all the original disciples were killed because of this entrepreneurial Spirit.

This risk of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ still exists today. Richard Wurmbrand wrote a book about the risk taken by many Christians called Tortured for Christ.

Dying for our faith is the ultimate risk, but there are others that are still risks, just considerable less so.

Ridicule, financial, personal comfort – these are all risks that a member of the Christian Church can face for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The outcome is worth it, however. People are literally dying to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the means of grace and changes people’s lives in this life and will change their lives for eternity.

Jesus Christ was “entrepreneurial” when He came to save you and me by being born to be our substitute, living the perfect life to be our righteousness by faith, dying on the cross to forgive all the sins of all people for all time, by rising from the dead so that we, too, might rise from the grave one day and ascended into heaven with the promise that he will return to take us to be with him forever.

This same Jesus Christ gives us his “entrepreneurial” power through the Holy Spirit (working through Word and Sacrament). We may face considerable – or not-so-considerable – risk in proclaiming this Good News.

This “entrepreneurial” Spirit is just another reason why I love my Church!

I Love My Church Part 5

This is based on an article from Hal Seed (accessed here on February 13, 2014).

Hal Seed writes, “A quick read of the book of Acts or the letters in Revelation proves that Jesus loves his church. He died for it, prays for it, lives for it and is going to return for it.

[But] let’s be honest: It’s not easy to love the church. It’s easy to love Jesus. Loving His bride is another story. Churches are filled with frail and fault-riddled people. Every church has a unique personality. All are loved by Jesus, but not all are loved in equal measure by each of His people.”

I agree, loving Jesus is so much easier than loving His bride, the Church. But just like the love of a spouse in marriage, love of the church is more a choice than a feeling.

Based on Hall Seed’s ten reasons that he loves his church, I have ten reasons that I choose to love Jesus’ bride, the Church. They are in no particular order – this is not a ranked list. This week, reason number five:

5. Diverse.

The first members of the Holy Christian Church were Jews from Galilee and Judea. But that quickly changed after the Holy Spirit came on them 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus.

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,  both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. (Acts 2:9-11a)

Within 100 years, there were hundreds of thousands of Christians who were native to Europe, Africa, Asia, and India. Today there are billions of Christians who are natives of every country on the planet.

But that’s just one aspect of the diversity of the Christian Church.

There are Christians who are poor, lower middle class, upper middle class, and “rich.” There are Christians who are homeless, fatherless, widows, orphans, and also come from “nuclear” or “traditional” families (one mom, one dad). There are Christians who are infants, toddlers, children, teenagers, young adults, middle aged, and seasoned citizens.

However, it has been said that Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America. There is the tendency for people to gather together with people who are most like them, and the Church is susceptible to that. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Holy Christian Church is diverse!

We may have to overcome that tendency, but it is possible to overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit working through Word and Sacrament.

I love my Church (see here for what I mean by “Church”). And one of reasons why is because she is diverse. Everyone is welcomed at my Church. No matter what country, economic status, or anything else, everyone is welcomed.

Because we all have two things in common.

1.  We’re all sinners in need of a Savior.

2. We all have the same Savior – Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the Holy Christian Church everyone hears of the need for a Savior and how God met that need.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, emphasis added).

“For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God” (Romans 6:10, emphasis added).

Next time, the entrepreneurial reason.

I Love My Church - Part 4

This is based on an article from Hal Seed (accessed here on February 13, 2014).

Hal Seed writes, “A quick read of the book of Acts or the letters in Revelation proves that Jesus loves his church. He died for it, prays for it, lives for it and is going to return for it.

[But] let’s be honest: It’s not easy to love the church. It’s easy to love Jesus. Loving His bride is another story. Churches are filled with frail and fault-riddled people. Every church has a unique personality. All are loved by Jesus, but not all are loved in equal measure by each of His people.”

I love my church. And by “church” I mean “the one holy Christian and apostolic church,” “The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,” the four churches that I have served as a pastor (Christ Lutheran, White Cloud, MI, St. John Lutheran, Mayville, WI, Redeemer Lutheran, Ontario, CA, and St. Matthew Lutheran, Hawthorn Woods, IL), and the churches of which I was a member before I become a pastor (St. Paul, Round Lake, IL, Good Shepherd, Lake Villa, IL, Messiah, St. Louis, MO, and St. John, Arnold, MO).

I agree, loving Jesus is so much easier than loving His bride, the Church. But just like the love of a spouse in marriage, love of the church is more a choice than a feeling.

Based on Hall Seed’s ten reasons that he loves his church, I have ten reasons that I choose to love Jesus’ bride, the Church. They are in no particular order – this is not a ranked list. This week, reason number four:

4. She is Caring.

Two separate incidents happened to me this past week that touched my heart in a very special way.

The first was that Virginia died. She was a woman in her 90’s. She suffered from acute Alzheimer’s and lived in a care facility for many years. I would visit her just about every other month (while my colleague would do the same, just not the same month). She didn’t know who I was, didn’t know my name or nearly anything about me.

But she did know that I am a pastor. I would wear my “pastors clothes” and when I walked into her room, her eyes would light up and smile would appear on her face. I would read to her from the Bible and we would pray together.

Virginia was - is – a disciple of Jesus strong in the faith. She and Harold were married in the early 1940’s and lived their entire marriage sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ through their lives. Harold has to begin what I can only imagine to be a very difficult task – living his Christian life without Virginia by his side.

I saw Harold last night at dinner. He was still upbeat, smiling, and exuding the joy of a life lived by and for Jesus Christ. His love for his wife is no less diminished this week and never will be, even though it is now different.

The second incident was a phone call I received during lunch. My good and dear friends Jim and Susie called me to wish me a belated happy birthday. I met Jim and Susie 8 years ago when I served as their pastor in Southern California. Jim was retired from the local police department and devoted almost all of his time to our church’s Senior Adult Ministry. We played cards together. We met each week for breakfast and Bible study. I know they prayed for me and my family daily. They are such dear friends to my wife and I. 

During our conversation Jim told me that he was being inducted into his high school’s Hall of Fame for football. His football time went undefeated for three seasons. This was 60 years ago in Northern Michigan. But even though so many decades had passed, I could still hear the joy in his voice as he told me their plans to travel back to Michigan this September.

These two incidents are just two of many evidences of how the Christian Church is “caring.” Harold and Virginia caring for each other and for their fellow Christians and all the people they met through the years. Jim and Susie caring for each other, for me and my family, and the people of their congregation and all those that they met through the years.

When we let Jesus and His love for us have his way with us, this is usually the result: that we will care for others in the same or similar ways. This is one of the “marks” of the Church, as Jesus said in the Gospel of John:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

Next week, we’ll look at another reason to love the Church – her diversity.

I Love My Church - Part 2

This is based on an article from Hal Seed (accessed here  on February 13, 2014).

Hal Seed writes, “A quick read of the book of Acts or the letters in Revelation proves that Jesus loves his church. He died for it, prays for it, lives for it and is going to return for it.

[But] let’s be honest: It’s not easy to love the church. It’s easy to love Jesus. Loving His bride is another story. Churches are filled with frail and fault-riddled people. Every church has a unique personality. All are loved by Jesus, but not all are loved in equal measure by each of His people.”

I wrote about the first reason here.

Based on Hall Seed’s ten reasons that he loves his church, I have ten reasons that I choose to love Jesus’ bride, the Church. They are in no particular order – this is not a ranked list. This week, reason number two:

2. She Is/Can Be Incredibly Fruitful.

Three times a year, St. Matthew offers an Adult Discipleship Class based on the book “God For Us” (Lutheran Church Australia). In this class we explore the basics of the Christian faith from the Lutheran perspective – which means it is a study based on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.

One session of this class is held at a time when a regular adult Bible study is held. This is deliberate. Even though the “regulars” of that class end up going through this “basics” course numerous times, it is good that they do so for several reasons.

One, it is never a bad idea to refresh in our minds the basics of our faith.

And two, it gives an opportunity for new Christians to mingle with “seasoned” Christians.

Recently, I was excited to see this in action. Long-time members of St. Matthew – many of them life-time members – sat with people who were on our campus for the first time ever. They were learning about God and Christ together. They were getting to know each other, talking with each other about life and about a Jesus, and making plans to worship together.

What I was witnessing was just how incredibly fruitful God makes the Church. He brings men, women and children to Himself through the Church!

Now, I believe, teach and confess publicly that God makes people His children through Word and Sacrament. But I also believe that God does this best – and most often – through His Church!

By “Church” I mean “the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered” (Augsburg Confession, Article 7).

The Word and Sacraments make the Church incredibly fruitful. The grace of God gives each member of the Church a place in that fruitfulness. What an amazing gift that God has given us!

This is why I can love my Church! Because this is what God is doing in my Church!

Next week we’ll look at reason three: Responsive.

I Love My Church - Part 1

Recently I read an article by Hal Seed (accessed here http://ministrytodaymag.com/index.php/ministry-leadership/a-pastor-s-heart/20700-10-reasons-why-i-love-my-church on February 13, 2014).

In it he writes, “A quick read of the book of Acts or the letters in Revelation proves that Jesus loves his church. He died for it, prays for it, lives for it and is going to return for it.

[But] let’s be honest: It’s not easy to love the church. It’s easy to love Jesus. Loving His bride is another story. Churches are filled with frail and fault-riddled people. Every church has a unique personality. All are loved by Jesus, but not all are loved in equal measure by each of His people.”

I love my church. And by “church” I mean “the one holy Christian and apostolic church,” “The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,” the four churches that I have served as a pastor (Christ, White Cloud, MI, St. John, Mayville, WI, Redeemer, Ontario, CA, and St. Matthew, Hawthorn Woods, IL), and the churches of which I was a member before I become a pastor (St. Paul, Round Lake, IL, Good Shepherd, Lake Villa, IL, Messiah, St. Louis, MO, and St. John, Arnold, MO).

I agree, loving Jesus is so much easier than loving His bride, the Church. But just like the love of a spouse in marriage, love of the church is more a choice than a feeling.

Based on Hall Seed’s ten reasons that he loves his church, I have ten reasons that I choose to love Jesus’ bride, the Church. They are in no particular order – this is not a ranked list. This week, reason number one:

1. This is not about us.

There is a reason every single church exists. But the reality is not every single church lives – or even knows – this reason. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Christ establishes every congregation of the “one holy Christian and apostolic church” for a reason. Ultimately, that reason is to “go and make disciples of all nations.”

Congregations get into trouble when they forget this. The life of the church isn’t about “us” – it’s about “all nations.” Or to put it another way, the Church exists to love God and to love our neighbors.

When that doesn’t happen, a church can be considered “dying.” Because if the focus is on ourselves and our needs then our focus is on someone who is not alive.

St. Paul puts it this way, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

Instead, we need to focus on the living God and the people He sent His Son to save.

As a disciple of Jesus, we are called to be reflective light in this world. We shine, but not with our own light. We shine with the light of Jesus Christ. Much in the same way the moon shines at night – not by its own light but by reflecting the light of the sun.

The Church is filled with disciples of Jesus and we need to reflect the Son’s light by loving God and loving our neighbors.

If we make Church about us, we’re shining the light on ourselves for ourselves. Much like a church that illuminates its stained glass windows from the outside. We make it so we can see ourselves but the world doesn’t see much of anything. Our attitude should be to have the light shining from the inside out. In other words, for all the world to see.

Next week, we’ll take a look at a church that is incredibly fruitful.

Bethlehem Peace

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. – Luke 2:4-5 (KJV)

Bethlehem has been a focal point in our world for almost 2000 years.

It is the birthplace of Jesus the Christ. He is the Son of God and the savior of the world.

Here in America we mark the birthplaces of the famous – presidents, authors, movie stars, even fictional characters in popular movies and television shows.

Jesus is the most famous person in the history of the world and His birthplace is also marked.

Ironically, the birth place of the “Prince of Peace” (as Isaiah called him) is in anything but a peaceful area of the world.

ABC.com reported a few years ago, “Hundreds of thousands of tourists used to throng Bethlehem in the weeks before Christmas, and the large square by the church would fill with people on Christmas Eve. But during the past three years of violence, most potential pilgrims like most potential tourists have stayed away. The shriveling economy and continuing Israeli travel restrictions have dampened the celebrations for Palestinians as well this year.”

Why all the violence? Theories abound. How about this posting from a Usenet group on the internet – could this really answer the question?

“I hope you all enjoy whatever festive-occasion-based-on-a-fairy-tale you choose to celebrate around this time of year.”

Peace will not abound where people continue to reject the Prince of Peace.

But this is not a rant against unbelievers. It is rather, a plea to believers in Christ, the Prince of Peace, to get that message out! Tell the Good News!

Will you be rejected? Yes. I wish I could say differently, but the truth is, many in this world have been rejecting the Good News about Jesus Christ for thousands of years. It won’t stop happening here with us.

But just as some people reject Christ, others will not. There will be some who do not reject the Gospel and thus the Holy Spirit will create saving faith in their hearts through the Good News that you share with them.

Sharing the Good News about Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem and died on a cross a just a few miles north of his birthplace, will be the best thing that ever happens to anybody in this world.

On the day that you enter into heaven because of the grace of our God through the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, you will run into someone that you won’t quite recognize. It will not be a family member or a friend. It will be, for all intents and purposes, a total stranger. But that person will be in heaven because you shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Not that you are the reason they are in heaven – only God can and will take credit for that. But God will use your voice and life for His saving words.

This Christmas Eve, Bethlehem will most likely be relatively quiet due to violence and unrest in the Middle East. But if that teaches us anything, it is that we cannot be quiet with the Good News about Jesus lest violence and unrest take over our world.

I humble offer this prayer for Christmas Eve. May it the prayer of us all.

On Christmas night in Bethlehem there was born a babe in a manger that was Christ the Lord who was unlike any other creature, but yet the same.  He was born from the womb of his mother through pain, but yet He was born without sin and his mother was still yet a virgin.  Though He was pure and had done no sinful acts John baptized Him and at that moment the Holy Spirit came upon Him and His Father said that He was pleased.  Following the will of our Father by the power of the Holy Spirit is the prime example of what God wants us to try to achieve. Now let us pray.  Dear Lord, let us try to follow your example and live our lives that could be pleasing in your sight. Also that this Christmas would not be corrupted or blinded from the true story.  Thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ who was born on that Holy Night just for the purpose to die on the cross to save us from all of our sins.  Amen

[Prayer by Joshua Butler, a former catechumen I was honored to teach at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mayville, Wisconsin.]