MAY 2006
Peace
Be With You...It Already Is!
A well-known theologian once remarked
that to say the old line from the creed, "I believe in the Holy Christian
Church" does not mean that we believe in the church. It means rather to
believe that God is present and at work in the church, that "in this
assembly, the work of the Holy Spirit takes place. We do not believe in the
church: but we do believe that in this congregation the work of the Holy Spirit
becomes an event."
These words rang true for me some years ago, when I was invited
by a church in a nearby town to be the worship leader at a special evening
communion service. The church staff had planned this service to be educational
as well as worshipful. The idea was that, first, the congregation would gather
in the sanctuary and I would give a brief talk about the meanings of the Lord's
Supper. Then, we would go into the fellowship hall and be seated around tables
for the service itself.
At each table there would be the flour and other ingredients to
form the dough for the communion loaves. The plan called for each table to
prepare a loaf and, while the loaves baked in the ovens of the church kitchen,
the people at each table were to engage in various exercises designed to get
them talking about their experiences in the faith.
It was a good idea, but like many well-planned events, things
looked better on the drawing board than they turned out in reality. There were
problems. Children at many tables began to play in the baking ingredients, and
white clouds of flour floated around the room coating everybody and everything.
There were delays in the kitchen, and the communion bread baked with agonizing
slowness. Some of the tables ran out of things to say; children grew weary and
fussy; the room was filled with commotion and restlessness.
The planners had dreamed of an event of excitement, innovation,
peak learning, and moving worship. What happened was noise, exhaustion, and
people making the best of a difficult situation. In other words, despite the
rosy plans, it was the real church worshipping down there in the church
basement.
Finally, the service ended, and, with no little relief, I was
able to pronounce the benediction. "The peace of Christ be with you
all," I said, and just as I did, a child's voice from somewhere in the
room called out strong and true, "It already is."
Just that -- "It already is" -- but with those words
the service was transformed into an event of joy and holy mystery. That small
voice captured what the Bible says. In the midst of a church that can claim
nothing for itself, a church of noise, confusion, weariness, and even fear, the
risen Christ comes to give peace.
The peace of Christ be with you?
Because the risen Christ comes to inhabit our empty places, then, as the
child said, "It already is," and the church with nothing becomes the
church with everything.
Christ’s Holy Checkmate
On display
in the magnificent
As you look at the painting, you can almost hear the devil
shouting: "Checkmate! Game’s over! I win!" However, a person with a
keen eye who knows the game of chess can see that the match is not over at all.
As a matter of fact, just a few years ago, an internationally famous chess
player was admiring the painting when all of a sudden he lunged forward and
exclaimed: "Wait a minute! Look! Faust has another move and that move will
give him the victory!"
The painting is something of a parable for us Christians,
because here we see symbolized the good news of Easter. Think of it. When we
look at the cross on Good Friday, it looks (at first glance) like evil has won.
It looks like the defeat of righteousness. It looks like goodness is dead and
buried forever. It looks like Christ has been silenced and conquered. But then,
Easter Sunday morning reveals God's move, the greatest checkmate move of all
time. Christ comes out of the grave and into our lives with power and victory.
Eric S. Ritz, The Ritz Collection
What Do You Think Of The Resurrection?
Some years
ago a college student came by his pastor’s office to discuss theological
issues. Eventually the conversation came
around to the subject of Easter. After all, if you take Christianity seriously,
it will ultimately always lead you to Easter. “What do you think of the
resurrection, he asked. The pastor replied: I believe that it happened in
reality and not just in the minds of men. What is your evidence, he asked, like
a professor prodding a student. The pastor presented as Exhibit A: the
disciples. Twelve men are not going to give up their lives to simply perpetuate
that which they know to be a hoax.
“I don’t know,” he
mumbled. “I just don’t know.” There was his problem. He was seeking knowledge,
not faith. You do not say: resurrected Christ, appear to me and then I will
believe. It is just the opposite. The resurrected Christ appeared only to those
who did believe. He did not reveal
Himself to the Caiaphas and Pilates and Herods of the world.
There is a reason why many Christians
around the world have latched so quickly and tenaciously onto the discovery of
what may be the ossuary or burial box for James, the brother of Jesus. There's
a reason why every time archaeologists discover some inscription referring to
King David, Pontius Pilate, or some other biblical figure that this news
immediately makes a splash in the pages of Christianity Today. Here, we are
told, is further "proof" that the stuff in the Bible really did
happen!
There's a reason why there is now a huge enterprise that is
literally scouring the universe for evidence that the formation of the cosmos
required the hand of a Creator God. It's not just that we want to meet
evolutionary and atheist scientists on their own turf--most folks also quietly
hanker for something tangible that can bolster the confidence they have in
their faith. Over and again we find ourselves wanting more.
Jesus Himself knows that faith is both a blessing and a miracle.
That's why He says that while it was one thing for Thomas to believe with Jesus
standing right in front of him, it would one day be quite another thing to
believe without such undeniable physical proof standing in the same room.
The
Scarred Hands
I read a story by Leslie Flynn who
told of a small boy being raised in a frontier city by his grandmother. One
night the house catches on fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the boy who
was asleep in the bedroom upstairs, is overcome by the smoke and dies in the
fire. This frontier city doesn't have much of a fire department. A crowd
gathers around the house and they hear a small boy crying out for help. The
lower floor is a wall of flames and no one seems to know what to do.
Suddenly, a man pushes through the crowd and begins climbing an
iron drainage pipe which runs to the roof. The pipe is hot from the fire, but
he makes it to a second floor window. The man crawls through the window and
locates the boy. With the crowd cheering encouragement, the man climbs back
down the hot iron pipe with the boy on his back and his arms around his neck.
A few weeks later, a public meeting was held to determine in
whose custody the boy would be placed. Each person wanting the child would be
allowed to make a brief statement. The first man said, "I have a farm and
would give the boy a good home. He would grow up on the farm and learn a
trade."
The second person to speak was the local school teacher. She
said, "I am a school teacher and I would see to it that he received a good
education."
Finally, the banker said, "Mrs. Morton and I would be able
to give the boy a fine home and a fine education. We would like him to come and
live with us."
The presiding officer looked around and asked, "Is there
anyone else who would like to say anything?" From the back row, a man rose
and said, "These other people may be able to offer some things I can't.
All I can offer is my love." Then, he slowly removed his hands from his
coat pockets. A gasp went up from the crowd because his hands were scarred
terribly from climbing up and down the hot pipe. The boy recognized the man as
the one who had saved his life and ran into his waiting arms.
The farmer, teacher and the banker simply sat down. Everyone
knew what the decision would be. The scarred hands proved that this man had
given more than all the others.
What Can One Person Do?
A number of years ago young Matthew LeSage, a third-grader, wanted to do something to help the
hungry in his city. So he started a program, Hams for the Hungry. In its fourth
year, Hams for the Hungry raised $40,000 to brighten the holiday season for
people with limited resources.
Matthew's story reminds me of another young man, 13 years old at
the time, who read about Dr. Albert Schweitzer's missionary work in
When Dr. Schweitzer heard the story, he said, "I never
thought one child could do so much."
When
Asking God Is Inappropriate
Tony Campolo
is a professor of sociology and a popular speaker. He was once invited to a
women's conference where he was to give a major address. These women were being
challenged to raise several thousand dollars for a mission project goal.
While Campolo was sitting on the dais,
the chairperson turned to him and asked him if he would pray for God's blessing
as they considered their individual responses to the goal.
Campolo stood
and--to the utter amazement of everyone present--graciously said
"no." He approached the microphone and said, "You already have
all the resources necessary to complete this mission project right here within
this room. It would be inappropriate to ask for God's blessing, when in fact
God has already blessed you with the abundance and the means to achieve this
goal. The necessary gifts are in your hands. As soon as we take the offering
and underwrite this mission project, we will thank God for freeing us to be the
generous, responsible and accountable stewards that we're called to be as
Christian disciples."
And they did.
Easy to Cheer, Hard to Serve
You have
seen those bumper stickers that read "Honk if you love Jesus." Then
there was a follow up: "Tithe if you love Jesus. Anyone can honk."
Everyone loves to get excited. Sometimes we, too, get caught up
in the excitement of the moment. We are filled with great enthusiasm, a fresh
burst of energy over a particular project. Unfortunately our enthusiasm soon
fades. We lose interest. It was great while it lasted but now it's gone.
It's easy to shout; it's hard to serve.
The
Negative Verses The Positive
Outside a small town in
Isn't that the way it is everywhere? There are always a few
negative folks around to tell you that Murphy's laws will ruin everything.
I like the story about the little boy who was trying to raise
some money by collecting old bottles, going door-to-door in his neighborhood.
When he came to the home of a woman who was the "town grouch," the
little boy asked, "Do you have any coke bottles?" "No," she
replied with a scowl. Then he said, "Do you have any old whiskey
bottles?" "Young man," the woman replied, "Do I look like
the type of person who would have old whiskey bottles?"
The little boy studied her for a moment and then asked,
"Well, do you have any old vinegar bottles?"
Isn't it tragic that some people go through life so negative and
sour and bitter? And if you don't watch out, they will infect you with their
thinking.
How can we live positively in this world where much is
discouraging? Just keep the faith! Keep looking to Jesus!
No Grave Deep Enough
Several
years ago, The Saturday Evening Post ran a cartoon showing a man about to be
rescued after he had spent a long time ship-wrecked on a tiny deserted island.
The sailor in charge of the rescue team stepped onto the beach and handed the
man a stack of newspapers.
"Compliments of the Captain," the sailor said.
"He would like you to glance at the headlines to see if you'd still like
to be rescued!"
Sometimes the headlines do scare us. Sometimes we feel that evil
is winning, but then along comes Easter, to remind us that there is no grave
deep enough, no seal imposing enough, no stone heavy enough, no evil strong
enough to keep Christ in the grave.
James W.
To Learn Of Christ
United
Methodist pastor Donald Shelby, in a book entitled Bold Expectations of the
Gospel, tells a story from the days when
Sometime later, another young man, well known as a hardened
leader in the Communist-organized youth movement, began attending youth
meetings and worship services at the same church. The congregation’s suspicions
were aroused, and the pastor took the fellow aside and asked why he was coming.
The young man replied by asking, “You know the fellow from your church who was
seized and taken away?”
“Of course,” responded
the pastor. “I knew him well, but we have not heard from him since.”
“Well,” said the visitor,
“I saw him when he was being harassed and tortured. Not only did he refuse to
betray his friends, but through it all he never showed any bitterness toward
his tormentors. Even in the hour of death, there was no anger towards those who
were about to kill him. Instead, he spoke of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, and
God’s love.” The young man concluded, “And when I saw him die, I knew I must
come, in spite of what it will cost me, to learn of his Christ and the love for
our enemies that strengthened him in his last hours.”
Donald Shelby,
Bold Expectations of the Gospel
What Kind Of Jesus Do You Want?
What kind
of Jesus do you want? In our small group study of the book, "The Jesus I
Never Knew," we have found ourselves confronted with a Jesus who is more
than we expected. Phillip Yancey begins his book by saying, "I first got
acquainted with Jesus when I was a child, singing 'Jesus Loves Me' in Sunday
School, addressing bedtime prayers to 'Dear Lord Jesus,' watching Bible club
teachers move cutout figures across a flannel graph board. I associated Jesus
with Kool-Aid and sugar cookies and gold stars for good attendance." This
Jesus, he said, was a lot like Mr. Rogers.
When he began to watch films about Jesus, he found that the
actors often portrayed Him in stereotypical, serene fashion. Yancey says,
"In older Hollywood films about Jesus, he recites his lines evenly and
without emotion. He strides through life as the one calm character among a cast
of flustered extras. Nothing rattles Him. He dispenses wisdom in flat, measured
tones. He is, in short, the Prozac Jesus."
Phillip Yancey,
The Jesus I Never Knew
God's Back
It was Saturday, the day before
Easter, and Joanne Hinch of Woodland Hills,
California was sitting at the kitchen table coloring eggs with her
three-year-old son Dan and her two-year-old daughter Debbie. She told her kids
about the meaning of Easter and taught them the traditional Easter morning
greeting and response, "He is risen...He is risen indeed!"
The children planned to surprise their Dad, a minister, with
that greeting as soon as he awoke the next morning. Easter arrived, little Dan
heard his father stirring about in his bedroom, so the boy got up quickly,
dashed down the hall and shouted the good news: "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,
God's back!"
David E. Leininger,
Laugh, Thomas, Laugh!
It
Don't Add Up
Perhaps you have heard the story of
the football coach who had two quarterbacks. The first team quarterback was
gifted, aggressive, and a born leader. The second string quarterback was, let
us say, limited. Oh, he was athletic enough but unfortunately, he lacked a mind
for strategy. The championship game was in progress, the score was tied, the
home team had the ball, and the clock was ticking down. An opposing player
broke through the line of scrimmage and slammed the star quarterback to the
ground with such force that the signal-caller had to leave the game. Time was
running out. The coach had no choice but to put in the back-up. The substitute
trotted onto the field, huddled the team, and strode up to the line of
scrimmage.
Surveying the opposing team, and much to everyone's surprise, he
changed the play at the line. The ball was snapped, the quarterback handed it
off to the half-back who busted up the middle and sped all the way into the end
zone with the winning touchdown! An amazing play. Moments later, in the
ecstatic dressing room, the coach grabbed his second-team quarterback by the
shoulder pads and said, "Son, that was great! How did you know to call
that play?"
The boy said, "Uh, well coach, it weren't easy. I got up to
the line and looked across at two of the biggest players I've ever seen and I
seen their numbers. One of 'em was wearing a six and
the other one was wearing a seven, so I just added them numbers together and
got fourteen and called number fourteen." The coach hesitated a moment and
said, "But son, six and seven make 13."
The boy, quite unmoved by the correction, said, "You know
what coach? If I was as smart as you, we would have lost the game." Things
do not always add up the way they are supposed to, do they?
Preachers Are Funny Creatures
Somebody
ought to write a book titled, "Preachers Are Funny Creatures." Those who have the wonderful privilege as I
do of standing in a pulpit each week are somewhat weird. Like the Reverend Eugene Magee. Magee is an enthusiastic pastor who does not
wear a robe. His sanctuary is plainer than most, adorned only by a cross and an
American flag. Magee likes to wave his arms to emphasize important points in
his sermons. Unfortunately, he is so animated that he has trouble keeping his
shirttails in his trousers. To solve this he has developed the habit of
periodically stuffing his shirttails back into his trousers as inconspicuously
as possible, even while he is preaching.
One Easter Sunday, while admonishing the faithful with great
excitement, he fished around behind his back in the usual way, and found more
material than usual to push out of sight. He persisted doggedly, however. On he
preached and on he stuffed. At the close of his sermon he discovered that he had
about half of the American flag stuffed into his pants.
He felt foolish, of course. But what would you expect? It was
Easter Sunday! What pastor can help but get excited on Easter Sunday?
Watch
And You'll See
This story is about three accountants
who doubted their three engineer friends. They were traveling by train to a
conference. The accountants bought three tickets, but the engineers only bought
one. "How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?" an
accountant asked.
"Watch and you'll see," said an engineer.
They all boarded the train. The accountants took their seats,
but the three engineers crammed into a restroom and closed the door behind
them. The train departed the station and soon the conductor came through the
car asking for tickets. He knocked on the restroom door and said, "Ticket,
please." The door opened a crack
and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor took it and moved
on.
The accountants agree that this is a rather clever idea so after
the conference, they decide to duplicate the engineers' feat. They buy only one
ticket, but are astonished when the engineers buy no ticket at all! "How
are you going to travel without a ticket?" the accountants ask. Watch and
you'll see, reply the engineers.
When they boarded the train, the accountants crammed into a
restroom with their ticket while the three engineers did the same in a nearby
restroom. After the train departed the station, one of the engineers left the
restroom and walked over to the restroom where the accountants were hiding. He
knocked on the door and said, "Ticket, please."
Going To Church - A Waste Of
Time?
A Church goer wrote a letter to the
editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church
every Sunday.
"I've gone for 30 years
now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000
sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I
think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons
at all."
This started a real controversy in
the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the
editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
"I've been married for 30 years
now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of
me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do
know this. They all nourished me and
gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these
meals, I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to church
for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”
received via email
Happy Mother’s Day!
Somebody
said it takes about 6 weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby... Somebody doesn't know that once you're
a mother, "normal" is history.
Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct. . . Somebody never took a 3-year-old
shopping.
Somebody said being a mother is boring. . . Some-body never rode in a car driven
by a teenager with a driver's permit.
Somebody said good mothers never raise their voices. . . Somebody, never came out the back door
just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen
window.
Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother. . . Somebody never helped a 4th grader
with his math.
Somebody said you can't love the 5th child as much as you love
the first. . . Some-body doesn't
have 5 children.
Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her
child-rearing questions in the
books . . . Somebody never had a
child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.
Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and
delivery. . . Somebody never
watched her "baby" get on the bus for the 1st day of kindergarten, or
on a plane headed for military boot camp.
Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and
one hand tied behind her back. . . Somebody
never organized a sleepover for 7 giggling girls.
Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets
married. . . Some-body doesn't know that marriage adds a new son- or
daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.
Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves
home. . . Somebody never had
grandchildren.
Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need
to tell her. . . Somebody isn't a
mother.
There was a
couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to
celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery,
and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we
see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."
As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke,
"You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time
when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded and
patted me over and over and I yelled out, ‘Don't do that. I don't like it! Let
me alone,’ but he only smiled, and gently said; ‘Not yet!’
“Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was
spun around and around and around. ‘Stop it I'm getting so dizzy I'm going to
be sick!’, I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly; 'Not yet.’
“He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to
suit himself and then...then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I
yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. ‘Help! Get me out of here!’ I could
see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from
side to side, 'Not yet'.
“When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door
opened. He carefully took me out and put me on he shelf, and I began to cool.
Oh, that felt so good! Ah, this is much better, I thought. But, after I cooled
he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were
horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please; Stop it, Stop it!! I cried’. He
only shook his head and said, 'Not yet!'
“Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not
like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I
begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it.
I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again
placed me on the shelf where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering ‘What's
he going to do to me next?’ An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look
at yourself.' And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's
beautiful. I'm beautiful!’
“Quietly he spoke: ‘I
want you to remember then,’ he said. ‘I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded
and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried
up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped,
you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the
oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes
were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that,
you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life.
If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for
long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product.
Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.’”
The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each
of us. He is the potter, and we are His
clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of
just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to
fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will. So when life seems hard, and you
are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your
world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a
fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this...
Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit
down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.
News Around The Synod
WELS Campus Ministry At UW-Madison
The New
Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel & Student Center has been dedicated to the glory
of God and observed a special Synod Partnership Sunday on April 23, 2006. "I always pray with joy because of your
partnership in the Gospel," (Philippians
1:9).
A special worship service was held at 3:00 p.m. Guest Speaker
was Rev. Harry Hagedorn, Home Mission Board
Administrator. The Dedication of the
Chapel's International Friendship Center was conducted by Rev. Daniel Koelpin, World Mission Board Administrator.
WELS Offering
Church “Calling Cards”
WELS
Communication Services is providing production resources to congregations
looking to develop DVD calling cards of their ministry. These DVDs are used to promote a church
within a community and can serve as a great outreach tool. A production crew spends two days on-site to
shoot the material needed for the DVD – any aspects the church would like to
highlight including worship and Bible studies, opportunities for involvement,
information about Sunday school and Lutheran elementary school as well as
interviews with members and church leaders.
Communication Services then edits the material into a 15 to 20
minute DVD presentation including up to five separate chapters. A congregation receives 1,000 DVDs printed
with four-color artwork and packaged in compact plastic holders for $4,900.
About six congregations have used the service so far and
feedback has been good. “The DVD brochure provides us with a new way to reach
out to an increasingly technology savvy society,” said Pastor Steven Pagels of St. John’s, Wauwatosa,
WI.
WELS offers other media-related services to churches and schools
as well. Visit www.wels.net/jumpword/media for more information or to contact WELS Media Director Steve Zambo.
(Ryan Young is in the process of producing just such a DVD for
Mt. Olive.)
Mission
For The Visually Impaired To Dedicate New Workshop
God continues to pour out His blessings on His
people! After spending more than 27 years in its workshop located at 559
Humboldt Avenue, St. Paul, MN, the Mission for the Visually Impaired has
relocated. It has teamed up with WELS Prison Ministry to purchase a new office/
warehouse condominium at 375 Bridgepoint Drive, South
St. Paul, MN. Continuing it’s tradition of self-support, the new building was
purchased without synod funds.
Come join us as we dedicate our new facility
to the glory of God:
Sunday, May 7, 2006 at 3 p.m.
at
Crown of Life Lutheran Church
115
Crusader Avenue, West St. Paul
After the service, worshippers will enjoy
refreshments and have opportunity to tour the new building. Maps to the new
location will be available at the worship service.
The Mission serves people who are blind or have poor eyesight by
producing and distributing WELS periodicals and books in Braille, large-print,
and audiocassette. Mindful of our Lord’s command to preach the gospel to all
creation, the ministry serves all visually impaired people who request
materials.
In
recent years, the Mission has allowed WELS Prison Ministry to store and
distribute tens of thousands of Bibles, bible correspondence books, and other
printed materials at its workshop. This close cooperation will continue at the
new location.
Visit the Mission for the Visually Impaired
Web page at: http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?2601&collectionID=651
for further information.
Jeremy Koehler Serving Us in Iraq
Jeremy Koehler will graduate from the seminary this May under
some unusual circumstances. Before studying for the ministry, Jeremy served in
the army on full-time active duty for three years after high school, and it
was, in fact, his experiences in the military that led him to want to become a
pastor. After being discharged, he joined the Army National Guard and began studying
for the ministry at Martin Luther College.
Jeremy was scheduled
to complete his service in the Guard in July. He expected to graduate with his
class and receive a call into pastoral ministry along with the rest of his
classmates. God's thoughts are not our thoughts, however. In February his unit
was placed on alert, putting his discharge date on hold. Then in March his unit
was called up for active duty in Iraq. Jeremy was able to stay in school until
mid-April and finish all his assignments early in order to complete his
pastoral studies. After Easter, he will leave for a two-month training session
in Mississippi. In June he's off for at least a year's duty in Iraq where his
unit will be guarding military and civilian convoys.
Jeremy's wife, Koreen, will receive his diploma at the seminary graduation
service on Friday, May 26th. His call will be deferred until he
returns from serving our country in Iraq. While this was not something Jeremy
or his family imagined he'd be doing when he came back from his vicar year,
this was clearly something God had envisioned from all eternity. With his
combined pastoral and military training, Jeremy will be in a unique position to
serve as a Christian example to his fellow soldiers. No doubt God will provide
appropriate ways for him to witness his faith in word as well as deed.
Jeremy and Koreen have been married since 1998. They have three
children: Jayden, age 5; Jenna, age 2 1/2; and Julianna, age 1. While Jeremy is in Iraq, Koreen and the children will reside in the Neenah, WI, area
where many of their family members live.
Something like this
really brings home to us here the need to keep all our service members and
their families in our prayers. Ask the Lord to keep them in his tender care and
bring them safely through this and every trial. We especially invite you to
hold our brother Jeremy up to the throne of grace. Ask God to help him give a
strong witness to our Savior, the only name under heaven that can rescue any
one of us from sin and death. Ask him to hold his protecting hand over Jeremy
and to give him and his wife strength and courage in this time of separation.
Ask him to bless and keep Jayden, Jenna, and Julianna safe as their father serves all of us in Iraq.
Long Distance Love In the Lord
Unexpectedly, I received a phone call one Sunday night. I was not
sure what was going on but was informed that our family was about to receive a
gift of Christian love. On speaker phone, members from a WELS congregation I
had never heard of, and in a geographical location thousands of miles away,
bestowed grace.
My jaw dropped. They
informed me that though I didn't know any of them that they cared deeply about
me. Out of love for the Savior, theirs and mine, they announced their plan to
give generous gifts to pay for my entire final semester school expenses, no
string attached.
Nearly dropping the
phone, and with my wife staring and wondering what this phone call could be
about, I assured her it was good news, really good news. Then I carried the
phone into the bedroom and fell on my knees. As you can imagine, it was hard to
say anything profound in this flabbergasted state. The positive effects on my
study time, family time, financial stress level, and faith life were instant
and overwhelming.
Have you ever been
hit by such a truckload of grace? That is in fact what makes our Christian
faith distinct from everything else in the world. That day and each day since I
have been thankful to benefactors I may never meet face to face until paradise.
I can think of no other act of love that parallels Jesus' mercy like this.
Undeserved, unasked, and unconditional! The giver carries all the cost and the
receiver stands in astonishment.
I share this true
story of Christian love because I want you to know of my joy as well, being one
in the body of Christ. This is certainly not the only way to share Christian
love, person to person. Sometimes God pulls back the curtain and shows you a
glimpse of His own heart in the care He provides for you through His own
people. Sometimes He lets you be the one to use your gifts to serve and support
others. Either way, glorify Him in your prayers. Trust Him with all of your
cares. And be thankful for the kindness He shares.
I will long remember
this long distance love because it bears striking resemblance to my Savior's
love. My brothers and sisters in Christ have left a lasting legacy of love for
my family, despite the expense, despite never having met us, and despite
reasons for using these gifts for other meaningful purposes. Now despite the
physical distance between us we are side by side as we walk in faith, bound to
the Lord by His grace and bonded to each other by brotherly love.
(Submitted with much
appreciation by a member of the senior class at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary,
2006.)
(Missionary Terry Schultz,
Lima, Peru, and member of Mt. Olive congregation)
You can go anywhere in the world and hear the same
sentiment: A parent should never have to bury their child. To me,
if grief needed a portrait, it would surely be that of a mom or dad gently
cradling a lifeless little form in their loving arms. It’s a frequent
scene in the Amazon, where one out of three indigenous children succumbs to a
tropical disease before the age of 5 or 6. Without Christ, how can the
parents possibly cope? How can they keep their sanity as they continue to
bury their children?
Among the Condoshi and Shapra tribes, the
parents actually can’t bring themselves to bury their dead little children.
Which brings us to the end of last month’s story, in which we (our jungle
evangelism team) found ourselves all sleeping beneath two caskets.
Like countless Shapras before them, Manihuari and his wife could not
accept the idea that their two little children were really dead. (The
exact cause of death was not clear; some tropical disease, plus malnutrition,
parasites… their little children simply didn’t make it.) Manihuari had
made two little boxes out of wood and set a child in each. He carefully placed
the boxes up on the second floor of their thatch-and-pole house, close to where
some family members often sleep. With no walls on the second floor, the little
boxes are in clear view. They sit near the edge, on the part of the floor
that also forms the overhanging roof to the porch underneath. In other words,
if you are sitting on the porch, the caskets are right over your head.
The explanation for
this common practice of dead-children-in-boxes-in-the-spare bedroom is quite
simple: The Shapras maintain that although the
body of a child is obviously dead, the spirit of the child has not left.
They believe the child is still there with the family. Call it a
culturally approved mechanism for handling grief. There is nothing at all
strange to the Shapra about keeping their dead
children in the house, for even over a year! They maintain that the child
is still living among them, participating in family events, simply in spirit
form.
Now the two Christian
pastors (Ronal and I) had much wonderful information to offer Manihuari about
the body and soul of his two dead children. (Unfortunately his wife was
gone visiting to another village.) With careful words, we gently
expressed the biblical truth that the dead have completely departed! This
was not the first time Manihuari heard this news. We instructed him and
several elders on this topic when they studied with us in Tarapoto.
They had never heard men (Ronal and me) speak with such assurance about the
spirit after death. (Praise God for his many Biblical teachings on this
subject!)
What concerns Ronal
and me are the tribe’s syncretistic tendencies; their attempts to integrate our
Bible-based teachings with their often contradictory traditional beliefs.
Manihuari was elated to hear our teaching once again; that his two baptized
children’s spirits were released upon death and immediately found themselves in
paradise with Jesus! The reuniting of body and soul was of course a more
complicated doctrine for Manihuari to grasp, but he was nonetheless grateful
for our Bible-based information.
But then there was
the hard part. Manihuari simply could not yet bring himself to bury his
children. We were now dealing with one of the great cultural obsessions
of the Shapra and Condoshi
tribes. Again, the two tribes believe that it takes time for a person’s
spirit to depart from the body. As reported in an earlier Journal, these
tribes fear that if a body is buried too soon, the spirit may be inadvertently
captured underground and unable to be released. The horrific image in the
collective consciousness of the Shapras: If you
are buried too soon, you (that is your prescient spirit) will in fact
experience being buried alive! You will feel yourself trapped in a
coffin, in the cold, soundless ground, where no one could even hear your
screams.
(Incidentally, the
warring Condoshi and Shapra
tribes consider the most despicable act one warrior can perpetrate against
another to be the immediate burial of a defeated enemy in a secret place.
Both tribes believe a recently-killed, hastily buried warrior will surely
experience nothing less than being buried alive. No wonder the tribal
animosities run so deep!)
Back to
Manihuari: We could tell he was carefully contemplating our discussion on
the departure of the spirit after death. However, he certainly wasn’t
running up the ladder to retrieve the two dead children. Psychologists
might say that Manihuari was still in denial. He still wasn’t ready to
let go of his precious little children.
We of course moved on
through a variety of topics with Manihuari and the villagers that day.
Gathering in afternoon and evening sessions, we offered solid Law and Gospel
presentations. We preached until it was too dark to go on preaching.
As reported last
month, our limited options for sleeping quarters that night led to our hanging
our mosquito nets on the porch of Manihuari’s house.
When I think back now, it was no accident that our two evangelism team helpers,
Jose and Segundo, along with boat pilot Victor, seemed extra helpful in getting
Ronal’s and my mosquito nets hung. Ronal and I ended up positioned
directly underneath the two children’s caskets!
Frankly, I was so
exhausted I actually forgot the dead bodies were there right above us.
Apparently Ronal did too, from the sound of his snoring. But from this
point things took a bizarre turn. I remember falling asleep reasonably
quick in the cool breeze on the porch, the only sounds being that of the birds,
insects, frogs, monkeys, half-a-dozen dogs barking at things in the dark…
O.k., it was quite loud, but I did quickly fall asleep.
Sometime after
midnight, I was jolted awake by the sharp, piercing screams of Segundo, who way
lying at the far right end of the porch, last in the row of mosquito
nets. I assumed it must have been a giant spider or scorpion bite, who
knows… The screams stopped as soon as Segundo awoke and, knowing how he
prides himself on being a tough guy, no one even asked what happened. You
know guys… Segundo thrashed around a bit, then apparently went back to
sleep.
However, somewhere
around two I’m startled awake by the most dread-filled full-throated scream
from Jose, sleeping just two nets down from me on my left. “What
happened?” I yelled! Jose mumbled some indiscernible response.
“What?” He didn’t respond. What was going on?! I checked
around my mat with my flashlight: Nothing beyond the usual insects.
Jose laid down again, obviously in no mood to explain!
By now, I am so
utterly exhausted, that I did not even hear one final, hair-raising
screams-in-the-night episode. (Ronal confirmed it later.)
Apparently Victor, our gun-for-hire drug runner woke up in a minor
hysteria. Same phenomena: Screams that immediately stopped upon waking
up, without explanation.
So, just what
happened that night? It would be several days before the truth came
out. Segundo, Jose, and Victor were overheard describing their
individual, terrifying experiences:
Jose: “The night we
slept on the porch, I thought the spirits of the dead children came down after
me! It felt like they had grabbed hold of all my hair and were trying to
tear it right out of my scalp!”
Victor: “That
night on the porch under the dead children, I felt their spirits come down and
grab me by the throat. I actually woke up choking!
Segundo: “I felt the
spirits of the dead children come down on top of me and grab my chest! I
think they were trying to pull my heart out when I woke up!”
Now remember, these
three men grew up in Amazon River villages, in cultures steeped in
superstition, witchcraft, and talk of the supernatural. Finding
themselves with no choice but to sleep in such a spooky setting, their
deep-seated subconscious fears apparently surfaced during their sleep.
(Freud probably would have concurred with that.) Then again, one would not put
it past the devil to try and mess with the men’s minds to somehow discredit our
Christian witness. Three men from our team screaming in the night would
not reinforce my “Christians need not fear anything” sermon from earlier that
evening. Anyway, one could certainly rule out infuriated, savage child
spirits descending from the loft to strangle my staff!
Here’s the other
crazy facet to the story: The two men who did not grow up immersed in
superstitions and witchcraft, Ronal and I, were not bothered at all by
terrifying dreams of attacking child spirits. Intriguing to say the
least! It’s all a reminder that deep-seated superstitious fears may
linger among new Christians. Ronal and I will obviously need to do more
preaching and counseling to douse these final flames of lingering fears!
We still had a
wonderful early morning church service to conduct. The whole community
would soon be gathering. This would certainly be a highlight event!
However, there was one concern that no doubt played in the back of the mind of
every Evangelism Team member: The unfinished business of returning
through Condoshi territory… past Condoshis
who knew we had not stopped on the way in as they had demanded… Condoshis who knew we were coming from a visit with their
hated enemies, the Shapra… We had no doubts
that the Condoshis would be watching for us.
You will need to watch for next month’s journal to find out what happened…
Terry
Women In The Word
Our women’s Bible
study continues to meet and to study the Judge Deborah from the book of Judges.
The study is called “Daring to be Different”.
Please join us! We
meet Thursday, May 18th, at 7:00pm.
Please consider coming together with your sisters in Christ for an
evening of Bible study, fellowship, prayer and sharing. We have snacks too. We
meet in the Fireside Room. Do come!
More Than Rubies
More than Rubies Bible Study will
meet Tuesday, May 9th and May 23rd, at 7:00pm. at Keri’s
place. If you’ve never been part of a
small-group Bible study before, or if you’ve been thinking about joining a
Bible study but just haven’t, now is the time to come! You won’t regret
it! Call 651.488.2362 for more
information.
Senior members of Mt. Olive
congregation are encouraged to attend the 2006 Organization of WELS Lutheran
Seniors (OWLS) convention. It is scheduled for July 11-13, 2006, at the Holiday
Inn at Austin, MN.
More and more WELS members are entering their senior years. A
large number of seniors are often willing and quite able to carry on and
support gospel ministry. OWLS helps to organize and mobilize you for service.
In fact, the theme for next summer’s convention emphasizes that very thing:
“Saved to Serve”.
Please note that although sponsored by the OWLS organization,
all WELS members 55 years and above are welcome to attend! (Only OWLS members
may vote at the business meeting, however.)
Participants will enjoy a variety of opportunities to enrich
their lives and grow in Christian faith and service. While renewing old
friendships and making new ones, seniors may choose to participate in a wide variety
of workshops and tours to area attractions. The devotions, worship services,
ministry reports and fellowship with other Christians will lend a distinctly
spiritual flavor to the experience.
You may request a convention packet by writing to:
OWLS
Box 84
New Ulm, MN 56073
Convention information is also available online at: www.wels.net/jumpword/ OWLS
Sunday Church Bulletins
Would you like to sponsor a Sunday
church bulletin? Maybe do so in honor of
a family member’s birthday or anniversary?
Or maybe in memory of loved ones?
There is a large poster in the back of church where you may sign
up for a particular Sunday or Sundays.
The suggested contribution is $20.00 per Sunday which covers the cost of
the bulletin and printing supplies.
A notice will be printed in the bulletin noting the donor (and
occasion or special event) of that Sunday’s bulletin.
Project
Soledad
Last month, you read of “Project Daniel” which was an opportunity
for Mt. Olive to bring one of the pastors from the Lutheran Church of Cameroon
to America to attend summer school at our seminary in Mequon, WI. We had also
hoped to provide much-needed medical treatment for Pastor Daniel.
It doesn’t look as though this will
happen this summer. We do plan to
continue efforts to make it happen at a later date, possibly the summer of
2007. We ask for all your prayers.
However, the Coordinating Council has approved another
ministry opportunity for this summer.
Here’s a portion of a letter from Mary Schultz which will introduce you
to “Project Soledad”:
“As you all know Terry and I have
been working very hard to help a young girl, Soledad, from an Andean mountain
congregation, receive a Bethany College International Student
Scholarship. God-willing she will be starting at Bethany in August, 2006!
This young gal is from an extremely poor family and they will not be able to
assist her financially at all! She is
unlike past Peruvian scholarship recipients, who were from the middle upper
class and had relatives in the States.”
By Council decision, Mt. Olive will
be privileged to help Soledad in the following ways:
1) Provide a roundtrip plane ticket
for Mary so that she can serve as Soledad’s “mom,” bring her to Mankato, and
help her get settled into American life.
Mary writes, “I have promised to help her, and her parents would not let
her go without me going along with her this first time. (They in fact
will not see their daughter for 4 years.)”
2) Have a clothing drive for Soledad
since she has very few clothes – and no warm clothing at all.
3) Host a shower! As Mary puts it: “Yes, a bit strange-
but my thought is that Mt. Olive could have some type of shower/party. Members could give her things like notebooks,
pens, socks, underwear, pj’s, soap, shampoo, etc. (She will have virtually no
money to buy things like that.) This would hold her for a while! I thought that we (Soledad and I) could even
be present for the shower. And, she could tell a little about who she is
and where she comes from! It could be the night after we arrive in the
States, and before we drive to Bethany!”
4) Invite her to the Twin Cities periodically during the year
and “adopt” her into our Mt. Olive family.
She will have NO family here so we’ll invite her into our homes for
holidays, special days, and celebrations.
Watch for opportunities to respond generously to “Project
Soledad”!
How
Can We Help
At the LWMS Spring Rally last Sunday, my wife told the
tragic story of Pastor Lor, a recently-ordained Hmong pastor. (Linda
has been very involved in this sad story because she has had some of Pastor Lor’s children as students.)
After hearing about Pastor Lor and his
family, a member from St. John’s in Minneapolis emailed me, writing in part:
“Our first reaction was to have a fund raising dinner here at St. John's -
inviting all WELS church members in the area. But then I went home and
while folding laundry an idea came to me...why not make this really BIG...Get
the word to the Metro Lutheran, Christian Chronicle, Forward in Christ,
etc...set up a bank account (like they do on the news for people suffering
tragedies) and have a dinner here (or St. Croix H.S.). The possibilities
seem endless.”
Isn’t that what we Christians should be all about? I can think of only one reason why the Lord
allowed such tragedy to happen to Pastor Lor and his
family: to give the rest of us an opportunity to show the love and compassion
of Jesus.
Stay tuned…
Sunday School News & Notes
Our Sunday School closing program is
scheduled for June 4th. We will sing for church that Sunday and present our
program during coffee hour following church. The church picnic follows the
closing program. Please plan to bring a dish to pass and attend with your
family. We will have a piñata and there will be games for the adults. It should
be a fun-filled day. Please watch the Parent Page for more information.
As you may know, E. John Fredrich and
his wife Alex will be leaving us in July. E. John has accepted a call to teach
in Antigua. We will miss them and Sean and their new baby girl but hope to
maintain close contact and to assist their mission work in any way that we can.
Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare to serve the Lord in a world
mission field.
Sunday, June 4th is the
date for our annual Church Picnic, beginning at 12:00 (noon). There will be games for the children and the
adults, and plenty of good times for all.
Meat and beverages will be provided, but please bring a dish or two to
pass. Join us at the Lion's Shelter in
Central Park on Victoria Street, just south of County Road C.