by Mrs. Lynea Sander
The gifts Christ freely gives
He gives to you and me
To be His Church, His bride,
His chosen, saved and free!
Saints blest with these rich gifts
Are children who proclaim
That they were won by Christ
And cling to His strong name.
It’s the end of another wonderful conference, and things are winding down quickly. Yawns abound as the late nights and early mornings finally catch up to everyone. It’s difficult to stay awake at this point in the week, despite every effort to pay attention to the excellent catechesis!
I’m going to re-order the “categories” for today…
WORK
“Work” today consisted of the last breakaway, plenary, and in-depth. I attended Pr. Heimbigner’s breakaway “It Takes a Year to ‘Get’ the Church” – an excellent explanation of the church year. Our last in-depth with Pr. Mallie (“Pastor Unplugged”) was just as good as the first two; one or two questions at the beginning of the session sparked many others so that we quickly used up our 45 minutes – and very well-spent it was! For the final plenary, Pr. Cwirla taught on the Lord’s Supper. Even though I’m a “cradle Lutheran”, this plenary caused me to understand several things about the Supper more clearly than I had before. What a blessing these conferences are!
PLAY
There wasn’t space for free time today, as the conference officially ended at 3 after Divine Service. The morning was packed with as much catechesis as it could possibly hold! In order to make the 11 o’clock check out, my youth group loaded up our tour bus at 7:15 this morning so we wouldn’t have to miss any of the remaining sessions.
WORSHIP
Once again, I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful the worship is. Our morning began with a Service of Corporate Confession and Absolution – instead of Matins – in preparation for receiving the Lord’s Supper.
Then – Divine Service! The best, and in my opinion, only way to end a conference – with the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation! We sang several hymns from previous conferences, which brought to my mind many memories. It also caused me to thank the Lord for such a wonderful opportunity for Lutheran youth to not only gather together every year, but to clearly hear the Gospel through such excellent catechesis, worship and preaching.
Before I end this article, I would like to mention a couple things I noticed over the course of the week. First, the CCVs (Christ on Campus Volunteers): kudos to y’all! You did an excellent job this year! Second, the choir: their voices blended so beautifully, and I continue to be impressed by the amount of participants in the choir each year.
This brings us to the end. Everywhere you look, people are saying goodbye to friends, new and old. Email addresses are being exchanged, pictures taken, vehicles loaded, and the clean up has begun. Another awesome conference has come and gone, and 900+ participants have certainly benefited from it! May the Lord continue to bless Higher Things as we look forward to next year in Pennsylvania and Missouri. The theme is the word of faith: Amen!
For us he rose from death again;
For us he went on high to reign;
For us he sent his Spirit here
To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.
All glory to our Lord and God
For love so deep, so high, so broad;
The Trinity whom we adore
Forever and forevermore.
Lynea (nee Theiss) Sander lives with her husband Jason in Conroe, Texas, and is a member of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Conroe. She is a lackey for Internet Services and myHT.
