Read With Me

With the encouragement of a fellow pastor, I plan on reading the entire Book of Concord (the Lutheran Confessions) this summer.

Many people might cringe at the idea of reading the confessional writings of any church body. Some might say that reading something like the Book of Concord is something pastors should do, but lay-people, the “regular folk” shouldn’t concern themselves with them.
This just isn’t true, however. The following quote sums it up well:

This is not just a book for pastors and church “professionals” or “academics.” In fact, it is important to realize that the people most directly responsible for the Lutheran Confessions were laymen, not pastors and theologians. At tremendous personal risk to their own lives, their property, and their profession, laymen boldly stepped before the emperor and the pope’s representatives. They asserted that these Confessions were their own. They did not back down or compromise. For this reason, it is unfortunate that down through the years the Book of Concord has come to be regarded more as a book for pastors and professional theologians.
Tucked into the middle of this book is the most widely used of all the Lutheran Confessions: Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Luther wrote this document not simply as a resource for the church and school, but, first and foremost, for the head of the household. Luther intended this little book to be used by laypeople, daily, to help them remain anchored to the solid teachings of God’s holy Word, the Bible. So keep this important fact in mind: The Book of Concord exists because of the faith and conviction of laypeople, who risked their very lives in order to have these Confessions produced, published, and distributed. The Book of Concord is a book for all Christians, church workers and laypeople alike.
Christians who want to be true and faithful to the teachings of the Bible return, again and again, to this book. In these confessions of faith they find agreement, unity, and harmony in the truths of God’s Word. (from the General Introduction to the Book of Concord)

The fellow pastor who encouraged me to read these confessions, Rev. Johann Caauwe, wrote his own post about it, which I encourage you to read. If you’re interested in reading too, feel free to leave a comment here and/or at the original post.
Happy reading!

UPDATE I'm adding another couple of paragraphs from Pastor Caauwe's post to make a few things more clear:

I will be using the CPH Reader’s Edition (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions) again. This has become my standard English version which I use.  If you don’t have a copy of the Book of Concord, get one. Read the paragraph below to explain why. It is currently on sale for $20 at cph.org. If you have a different version (Triglot, Tappert, Kolb/Wengert), there is an older version of the summer schedule here. If you don’t want to buy a book, you can read it on the internet right here, or purchase an electronic version here. You might also consider the pocket editionif you want to keep reading while on vacation and not have to lug a big book around.

Are you interested in reading with me? If so, I’d like to hear from you. Perhaps we can even discuss a few topics as we go through it. I’ll warn you that the schedule is pretty ambitious. This is the third time I’ve attempted this schedule and I’ve never yet finished on September 6th. But maybe if I had a few reading partners, you can help me stay on track. You can download the schedule through this link.

 Update #2 There's going to be a discussion going on for these readings on Google Wave. If you don't know what wave is, you can read my post on it. You no longer need an invitation for Wave, so feel free to check out the discussion embedded at http://web.me.com/caauwejw/Concordia/ .

The Harvest is Plentiful, the Workers are…Too Many?

Last week was graduation and call day at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, the seminary that I attended. The call day part of this is when the new graduates receive their first divine calls into the public ministry as pastors. It’s definitely an exciting day, and the service connected to it is very moving for all who attend and watch it.

This year, though, like several previous years, not all the graduates have been able to be placed at this call day service. There can be many reasons for this. The number of churches requesting graduates simply might not be enough for the number of graduates. Similarly, the congregations requesting graduates might simply not match well with the gifts of the available candidates.

Of course, there are other reasons behind these reasons, too. Often lack of funding keeps churches for adding another pastor to their staffs. Missionaries who are called home due to cuts in mission budgets return to the pastoral pool here in the US, causing fewer pastoral vacancies, causing less calls available for graduates. Financial problems have forced our synod to open far fewer new mission starts in the US. Fewer positions equal fewer calls.

Obviously, this leads to the potential of bad feelings all around. When people hear that not all graduates are placed, they get angry and frustrated at the possible causes. Sometimes people blame past decisions of synod leadership. Prospective pastors, young men with hearts for the ministry, see that not all candidates are placed and sometimes decide not to pursue the ministry further. The candidates left unassigned can feel like they are somehow deficient, unworthy of serving God’s church. (I know; this is the position when I was left unassigned at my graduation.)

We can never miss the bigger picture, though. There will never be enough workers in the mission fields of this world, let alone too many. Jesus told us, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Luke 10:2)

Instead of blame, instead of despair, instead of anger, our reactions at this time should be prayer. We pray to God to provide the workers need to spread the Good News. We pray for God to move those who are willing to serve as those workers. We pray that God’s Word continue to be preached and his sacraments administered as God intended.

God will answer us! He has promised that the gates of hell will never stand against his Church. (Matthew 16:18) God has also promised to work all things out for the good of those who love him. (Romans 8:28) I am blessed to see how he did this for me, by calling me into the ministry at the congregation I am still blessed to serve.

Even for those people and those times and situations that make it harder to understand God’s will, we never have to doubt his love for us. He has already worked out all things for our eternal good by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection! He will continue to provide workers to bring that message out! So go and pray for him to keep his Word – we know he will!

A Living Hope

Sermon for Easter Sunday – the Resurrection of our Lord – April 4, 2010. Based on 1 Peter 1:3-9.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Because this day happened -- because of Easter -- we never have to be afraid again. Because of Easter, we don't have to wonder what will happen to us when we die. Because of Easter, we know all God's promises will come true and we'll have all eternity to thank him for it. Because of Easter, we have hope.

But what is "hope" exactly? You hear the word all the time, from movies to political campaigns. We say the word ourselves. But what does the word actually mean?

It's a word that's used in different ways, with slightly different meanings. You could be talking about something that you have no expectation of actually happening. For example, you might say, "I hope I win the lottery." That's nice that you hope that, but I think we all know it's not going to happen. The odds are stacked against you. Hope all you want; you're probably not going to win the lottery anytime soon.

Sometimes we use the word for something that is a bit more likely to actually happen. "I hope we keep this nice weather up outside" or, "I hope it doesn't rain today." That might really happen. The weather might be great. But it also might not happen. Rain clouds could come, the weather could turn, and your hope would be wrong.

But there's another kind of hope. There's a hope for something that hasn't happened yet, but that we know will happen. It's something we're confident will happen. It's something we trust will happen. That's the "hope" that Easter gives us. Because of Easter, we have the sure hope that everything is going to work out for our good, because of what our Savior has done. He gives us that sure hope -- a living hope.

That's what our text is talking about. Peter wrote our text, and even though it was probably 30 years or so after the first Easter he's still just gushing with emotion as he writes, "Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Pet. 1:3) It sounds like Peter is still filled with the same excitement that he must have had when Jesus first rose.

And even though we weren't there when Jesus rose, even though we didn't get to see him and the nail marks in his hands and feet, just maybe we can feel that excitement a little bit, too. If there's any day where we'd feel it, it'd be today. The Easter lilies, the feeling of an Easter Sunday morning, the hymns and songs we sing, it might fill your heart with that excitement, that living hope, that Peter is writing about. It might remind you that we do have a God who loves us, and a Savior who died and lives for us.

But it's hard to keep that excitement, that feeling going. How can you keep hope in your heart when the more you see of life all around you, the more things seem hopeless? There's so much talk about a recession and unemployment and "tough times" in our world today. You call that hopeful?

Our individual lives have their own problems, too. It could be not enough money to pay the bills. It could be fighting and turmoil in our relationships in our families, with our spouse, with our friends. It could be our work or school that just isn't going how we thought it would. It could be our plans that just never seem to amount to much of anything. And we wonder if God even loves us at all. You call that hopeful?

Peter, who wrote our text, would've understood these feelings. Sure, he'd been there on the first Easter. We heard about him in today's Gospel running to the tomb and seeing the burial cloths laying there. But was he overjoyed? Was the excitement just pouring out of him then? No. The Gospel of Luke tells us that when the women told the disciples about the empty tomb, "they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense." (Lk. 24:11) Then after Peter gets to the tomb himself, we hear that "he went away, wondering to himself what had happened." (Lk. 24:12)

That first Easter didn't start out full of happy excitement, not for Peter. He and the other disciples, though Jesus had told them about it several times, still didn't understand or believe that he would rise from the dead. Peter himself had extra reason to feel bad. He had denied Jesus. He had abandoned his teacher, his Lord, and he had denied even knowing who he was. Who knows? Maybe Peter could have stopped this horrible tragedy from happening. Maybe he have done something. But he didn't. And he felt the guilt. How could God love someone like him?

Our mistakes and sins can bring that feeling to us. You might have that one sin that you know is wrong, but you keep doing it anyway. And every time you think...I failed again. And I really call myself a Christian?  God must really hate me at this point. What's the point of even trying anymore? And that guilt of our sin robs us of our joy and takes away our hope, leaving us empty.

But look! There at the tomb! It's empty, too! Friends, Peter might not have understood what that meant at first, but we do. An empty tomb means a living Jesus! A living Jesus means that our sins have been forgiven! Sins forgiven mean that we, too, will live forever in heaven. No matter what happens to us now, eternal life is the reward Jesus won for us! His empty tomb gives us a living hope!

And our hope is not just for heaven. Our living hope also means everything in our lives now. Peter recognizes the struggles we face. "Now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." (1 Pet. 1:6) Yes, life in this sinful world won't be easy. But since that tomb is empty, we won't be going it alone.

Think of it this way. Imagine you needed a ride from here to the airport. That's a bit of a drive, about an hour. But imagine that someone not only agreed to drive you to the airport, he also said he'd give you a ride whenever you need it. So later on, if you need a ride again, even if it's just a few blocks here in Springville, would you hesitate to ask that person? Of course not! He already drove you to the airport, of course he'll drive you a few blocks.

Now think of Jesus. He went to the grave. He went to hell and back -- for you! He died and rose -- for you! If Jesus did that much for you, won't he also be willing to be with you in the struggles of this life? If he fulfilled his promise of dying and rising, won't he also fulfill his promise of hearing your prayers and taking your burdens? Of course he will! Because the tomb is empty, because Jesus rose, we have comfort in our trials. We have a living hope!

In fact, our troubles actually benefit us now. Peter reminds us of this. "These [trials] have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Pet. 1:7)

Think of it, as you go through problems and struggles in your life. Because Jesus rose, he promises not only to be with you through those problems, he promises to use those problems to strengthen your faith. He uses your problems to drive you back to his Word, to rejoice again in how he died and rose for you. He uses your problems to remind you of your baptism, where God made you his own dear child forever. He uses your problems to drive you back to the altar to receive his true body and blood for your forgiveness! He blesses you, even through your problems -- all the way to eternal life. That's the living hope that only Jesus can give us.

And he gives that living hope to us freely. I hope you're excited today, and you have that Easter frame of mind. I hope it's a day that you're excited to be a child of God and believer in Jesus. But if you don't have that excitement, or if the excitement fades, don't worry. Jesus' love doesn't depend on your excitement. It depends on what he has done. And he has left his tomb empty.  And he's promised that your tomb will be empty, too. He has solved the problem of your sin and promised to be with you through all your problems in life. He is your Savior, and he's given you a living hope.

We close with Peter's words, just as true today as they were when he wrote them. "Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Pet. 3:9)

At The Cross

As a pastor, it’s always an amazing blessing to see the talents of the members of the church I’m serving. One of the members at my church wrote this poem for this current Easter season. On this night before Easter, I’d like to share this poem with you.

God’s blessings on your Easter celebration tomorrow!

At The Cross

Can you hear the cries of Jesus, as He hung upon the cross?

His painful, tortured suffering, so we would not be lost

Can you see the wounds inflicted, from the thorny crafted crown?

Forgotten is the triumph, when He first came into town

Can you hear Him ask the Father, to forgive our many sins?

From parched lips He uttered, so eternity we’d win

Can you watch the blood that’s flowing, from His holy pierced side?

While the haughty Roman soldiers, His kingship would deride

Can you witness the exhaustion, from His face furrowed with pain?

As the payment and the sacrifice, that this man’s death would gain

Can you feel the earth that’s quaking, as the temple curtain tears?

The darkened skies give warnings and still our Savior cares

Can you see the tears of Mary, as it rent her to the core?

As she watched this crucifixion, of the son that she once bore

But the tomb would not contain Him, He has promises to keep

Resurrected as He told them, t’was no need for them to weep

The final foe defeated and He proved that it was true

An eternity in Heaven, for believers just like you

Marlene M. Ziecker/2010

Site Maintenance

Thanks to Blogger's cool new template designer I was able to give this site a nice new look very easily. I like this  template's look, and I think it's great that it is so easy to change around to different designs.

The only problem is that changing the templates broke my Disqus commenting system. So now, you can't get at the comments on any of the old posts. So, I've turned on Blogger's commenting system for future posts for the time being. Sorry for any inconvenience. (Though I realize I'm probably the only one who cares!)

Scary Situation

It’s good to help people. If anything I wish that I and my church were doing more to help the needy and feed the hungry. But sometimes even trying to help can be scary.
As a pastor who lives in a house on church property, people stop by often to ask for help. Food, money, or a place to stay are common requests. Sometimes we can help. Often we can’t.
The problem is, sometimes the people who show up seem a bit scary. You wonder if you can trust them. You wonder if they’re out to scam you or hurt you.
A scary situation like that happened yesterday, when only my wife was home. A woman came to the door and started her visit with a lie. “I moved these boxes onto your step and out of the elements for you.” That was a lie; the FedEx man had put the boxes there. My wife was immediately on her guard.
Then the woman couldn’t understand why the pastor wasn’t home. (I was teaching a Bible class at someone else’s house.) She seemed upset that I wasn’t there. So my wife offered to write down her phone number to have me call her. When my wife went to get paper and a pen, the woman walked into our house and shut the door behind her. Needless to say, my wife was freaked.
Nothing happened, but it certainly scared us about what could happen. We’ll definitely be reevaluating when we even open the door for anyone stopping by from now on.
Oh, and I did call the woman back. She was looking for a large amount of cash to cover a check that her husband had written so it wouldn’t bounce. In return, she’d give me (the church) a check to cover the amount for us to hold onto until they got paid and could cover it.
I can’t say for sure this was a scam, but it sure seemed like one, especially after this woman already proved she wouldn’t hesitate to lie. My church couldn’t help with the cash even if we wanted to.
It was definitely scary and gave us a lot to think about. How can you best help people when you don’t know if you can trust them? Where can someone turn when they are truly in need?

Good Reads!

I posted about the Kindle yesterday and this blog has “well-read” in the title, so it should be obvious that I like books. Well, I just came across a cool site for keeping track of books that I am reading, have read, or just want to read. It’s called www.goodreads.com.

The site is a way to organize your books into a kind of electronic shelves. It lets you rate the books, write reviews, and even keep track of what page you’re reading at the time. They also have some social network functionality built in that lets you see what friends are reading.

One neat thing that I found is that when you have read a book that you really like, you can find someone else’s review of that same book from goodread’s database. You could then comment on that person’s review and sort of make your own little book club out of the site.

I haven’t really even begun to get into it yet, but just for fun I posted a “what I’m reading” widget from the site onto the blog. It’s interesting how actually keeping track of what I’m reading actually motivates me to read more. (That probably speaks to my perfectionist personality type!)

Check it out if you’re interested! And take the time to enjoy a good read!