Author: Higher Things

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News

Board of Directors – Elections Announcement

Last week, during the Amen – Irvine conference, the Higher Things Board of Directors and Executives met for our annual Summit meeting.  One of the most important orders of business for this annual meeting are our elections.  The HT Board of Directors is comprised of 9 members.  Directors serve three-year terms, and three director seats are up for election each year.

This year, incumbents Pr. William Cwirla and Pr. Bruce Keseman were both re-elected to serve another term and we are pleased to have elected a new-comer to the Board, Pr. David Kind.  Pr. Kind has served as a conference Chaplain at both For You – Minneapolis and Amen – Poconos, and has been involved with HT’s Christ on Campus as the pastor of University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis, MN.

Also during the annual meeting, the HT Board of Directors elects Officers to serve one-year terms.  The Board of Directors Officers for the coming year are as follows:

President:  Pr. William Cwirla
Vice-President:  Pr. Brent Kuhlman
Treasurer:  Lynn Fredericksen
Secretary:  Sandra Ostapowich

All new terms will begin on September 1, 2008.

Categories
Current Events

Holy Fun!

by The Rev. William Cwirla

Liturgical Impressions from Amen-Irvine

The Amen-Irvine youth conference came to its worshipful ending yesterday afternoon, and what a week it was!  Though smaller in numbers than Amen-Scranton and St. Louis, the worship at Amen-Irvine was no less joyful and exuberant.  Dare I say, it was fun.  Did I just say that?  Well, if you were there to hear my last liturgical catechesis, you know what I mean.  Fun.  It goes without saying that play is fun.  And it’s a pretty sad thing when work isn’t fun, at least some of the time.  But worship?  Yes, worship too.

I had great, holy fun serving as chaplain at Amen-Irvine.  I come away from the experience humbled and awed by the power of the Word and the sublime mystery of the Sacrament.  I have a greater respect for my brothers who have served as chaplains at previous conferences.  My thanks go out to all my brothers who served as liturgists, readers, preachers, and assistants, and to the CCV crew who served as our ushers, reminding people to set their phones to the “liturgical” (off) position.  Ten services in four days is lots of hard work, and a great deal of holy fun. 

Our worship space was novel, the multi-use chapel/auditorium on the campus of Concordia-Irvine.  Reflective of 70’s functional architectural style, the curved hard surfaces and poured concrete floor provided a lively acoustical environment.  The art was modern and largely abstract.  We still can’t quite figure out that mobile dangling from the front which looked like 39 ginsu knives twirling above the altar.  I’m told it was supposed to represent the great cloud of witnesses, but they looked more like the stand/sit/kneel people from Worship Supplement (1969).  That’s how it goes with abstract symbol.  As a woodworker, I appreciated the inlaid altar and pulpit.  We added a few Higher Things touches with our long green banners and our processional crucifix. 

The splendid Casavant pipe organ, with its prominent trumpets and that jingly thing called a Zimbelstern, was played expertly by Dr. William Heide.  The pick-up choir, directed by Mrs. Audrey Mink of Lutheran High-Orange, was a fine example of a liturgical choir as they sang the psalms antiphonally with the congregation and chanted the Magnificat in harmony.  They even gave us a playful Easter surprise during the offering in the Divine Service with a lively rendering of All You Works of God, Bless the Lord (LSB #930), the “Song of the Three Young Men,” a liturgical text from the Apocrypha, set to a Jamaican calypso melody replete with drums, wood blocks, and other unidentified percussive instruments.   I thought of Psalm 150:  “Praise Him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!  Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!”  I heard that Amen-Poconos actually had loud clashing cymbals, along with timpanis.  We didn’t have any dance, but I was tapping my boots behind the altar.  Such fun it is to live as free people.

The conference hymns cut a wide swath through time and place, from the Reformation to the 20th century.  A Mighty Fortress, Thine the Amen, Lo, He Comes, Eternal Father Strong to Save, and of course, that delightful conference hymn, Our Paschal Lamb, That Sets Us Free with all its Alleluias and Amens.  This kind of richness and diversity is one of the great strengths of our Lutheran heritage, showing the world that we are not some isolated sect mired in any one particular century or mode of song, but that our hymnody, like our doctrine, reflects the true catholicity of the faith and the universality of Christ’s redemption.

We had incense too!  We didn’t just sing about it – “let my prayer rise before you as incense” – we actually saw and smelled it rising up around the altar/throne of grace, reminding us by way of symbol that our prayers are sweet smelling to God for the sake of His Son’s sacrifice for our sin.

My deepest impression, however, is reserved for the young worshipers who were gathered at Irvine over those four momentous days.  What a terrific congregation they were!  Attentive, actively participating, reverent.  They stood and sat without the need for me to flap my arms.  They listened so attentively to the read and preached Word that you could literally hear a pin drop during the speaker’s silent pauses. 

My fondest memory is Evening Prayer on Wednesday evening.  I will cherish this memory all the days of my life.  They had all gone to the beach to play and were scheduled to return by 10 PM.  (I was mired in a meeting – truly there is nothing new under the sun.)  The word came that they were running late.  “It’s going to be late and light,” I warned Dr. Heide.  He played a long introduction.  We dutifully set up the Christ candle and the incense and prepared the little individual candles to hand out, certain they wouldn’t all be used.  When we stepped out to begin the procession of light, lo and behold, there they all were!  A tired, sandy, salty congregation ready for worship.  And they were literally glowing in the dark, wearing multi-colored glow-in-the-dark necklaces and headbands from the beach party!  You are truly the light of the world, a city set high on a hill.

There are many approaches to presiding at worship.  Mine is what a friend of mine calls “relaxed dignity.”  My image of worship is the family of God gathered at the thanksgiving (eucharistic) table, and my role as presider is that of father of the family – strong, loving, wise, gentle, playful, fatherly.  Worship embraces the totality of who we are as redeemed humanity – fear, awe, wonder, reverence, sorrow, joy, laughter, tears.  Here, in the presence of our merciful God we are finally free to be ourselves, baptized into Christ, clothed with Him, sanctified in Him.

David said, “I was glad when they said to me, let’s go to the house of the Lord.”  The Word was preached into ears.  The Body and Blood of Christ was put into mouths.  Prayer, praise, and thanksgiving were spoken, chanted, and sung.  There was joy and gladness.  And fun.  It’s fun to be a child of God.  It’s fun to worship.  It’s fun to dare to be Lutheran.  Holy Amen fun!

Thine the glory in the night
No more dying only light
Thine the river Thine the tree
Then the Lamb eternally
Then the holy, holy, holy
Celebration jubilee
Thine the splendor,
Thine the brightness
Only Thee, only Thee!

(Lutheran Service Book #680)

Pastor Cwirla serves Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, CA. He served as the chaplain for the Amen Conference held at Concordia University in Irvine, California. He is currently the Vice President of Higher Things.

Categories
Higher Homilies

Idiot!

by The Rev. Brent Kuhlman

What a fool!  The apostle doesn’t seem to have a clue.  You can just hear Napoleon Dynamite:  “Idiot!”

After all, the religion of the world is:  YOU”VE GOT TO LOVE YOURSELF.  Take care of number one!  Climb to the top of the mountain.  And kick in the teeth of anyone who gets in your way.  Someone hurts you.  You demolish him in return.   Life is a battle royale of establishing yourself as king.

Paul, on the other hand, writes:  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” 

Why?  Because you’re mercy-ed in Christ Jesus.  Good Friday-ed.  Died for.  Baptized.  “In view of God’s mercy,” there is the freedom from the love of self to love for members of Christ’s body, your neighbors.  Love even for your enemy.

“In view of God’s mercy,” there is now the life of self-sacrifice.  Putting yourself last and others first.  Using your body not for self-indulgence but for sacrificial service. 

“In view of God’s mercy.”  That’s faith in Christ.  When that’s right, then you have room to move around in the world.  To be the Lord’s instrument for good.  “In view of God’s mercy … don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought.”  You’re nothing.  Jesus is everything.  And now Good Friday Jesus has good use for you to be His hands and mouth for service in the world.  “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual worship.”

That’s done as Jesus uses you in view His Good Friday mercy to be of help for people. 

Paul’s list is quite long.  Let’s review just a few.  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with God’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.”  “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil . . . Do not take revenge . . . If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink … overcome evil with good.”

Why?  Because you’re mercy-ed in Christ.  All is forgiven.  You are right with God for Christ’s sake.  He loves you.  Proof is His Son’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament given and shed for you for forgiveness, life and salvation.  Realigned with God via Christ’s Calvary sacrifice, you are restored for loving, sacrificial service to your neighbor in this world through your body.  Jesus brings you into a proper relationship with God the Father AND with those all around you.  God is worshiped by faith.  The neighbor is served by acts of sacrificial love, our spiritual act of worship done in our vocations.  This is “God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Or as Jesus Himself puts it:  “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

Thanks be to God for using Paul for the “renewing of our minds” and the good use of our bodies.   In the Name of Jesus.  

 

Pastor Kuhlman serves Trinity Lutheran Church in Murdock, NE. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Higher Things.

Categories
Higher Homilies

Woof!

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

Listen to audio of this sermon online from the Amen-Poconos Conference.

So this woman has a demon-possessed daughter. She’s in a bad way. But Jesus is in the ‘hood so she tracks Him down. “Lord, Son of David! Have mercy on me! My daughter is demon possessed.” Here’s a Gentile woman of all things to whom the Lord owes nothing, begging Him for help. He ignores her. Then the disciples get all upset. “Lord, send her away! She’s stalking you! She won’t go away! Make her be quiet!” Jesus says He hasn’t come except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That means the Jews. She’s not a Jew. So He ignored her. Then when she wouldn’t go away He says He’s not here to help her. But she still hangs on Him. “Lord, help me!” Finally, He tells her straight: “You can’t take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs!” Whoa! Did you hear that? Jesus just called her a dog!

And what does she say? “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their Lord’s table.” What does she mean, “Yes, Lord?” She should be offended! She should file a lawsuit! She should tell it to the news media. She should go on the Today show and start trashing Jesus on her blog and take Him off her MySpace Friends List. She should quit his church and go find one where the pastor is nice and the people are friendly. She should take out her keys and scratch up the disciples trucks! She ought to kick sand on Jesus and slap Him and turn around and walk away! But none of that is what faith does. Faith’s word is “Amen.” “True dat!” “Yes, yes, it shall be so.” Jesus speaks and whatever He says, to that faith says, “Amen. That’s for me.” Faith says, “Yes, Jesus, I’m a dog. But even dogs get crumbs. And your crumbs will save my daughter.” Faith doesn’t listen to the world or to rude disciples who are mad that you’re sitting in their pew. Faith clings to Jesus. Listens to Jesus. Learns from Jesus. Confesses what Jesus says. Speaks back the promises of God. Faith says that no matter what is true about me, even if I’m a dog, Jesus is still Jesus, the one who has power over the devil and can save my daughter.

Dear baptized children of God: What do you look to to see how it’s going with the Lord? To your life? To your success? To your accomplishments? To your wisdom? To whatever bad things happen to you? What do you trust in when it seems that even God Himself is paying no attention to you, or worse, flat out tells you He’s not there for you? To what do you cling when things are going well? What do you hang on to when everything turns sour and is a mess and the devil, the world and your sinful nature and even the Lord, it seems, are against you? For this Gentile woman, there was nothing but Jesus. She could not be sure of herself. She could only be sure of Jesus. With Jesus, there would be a way out, salvation. Without Him, she was doomed and her daughter with her. It was Jesus or nothing.

That’s for you to believe, too, dear Christians, as this woman did. To know and believe that it’s all Jesus or nothing at all. When the devil and the world and your sinful nature are on you like flies on a pile of poo, and even God Himself seems to want nothing to do with you, then you cling to Jesus like this woman did. Cling to Jesus who doesn’t come to condemn you but to save you. Cling to the Jesus who carries your sins to the cross and suffers for them, and dies for them. Cling to the holy washing given to you in the baptismal waters of Christ’s font, in which God makes you His child. Cling to the words of absolution which declare that you are no orphan but forgiven and that you stand “not guilty” before God. Cling to the body and blood of Jesus which is way more than crumbs falling from the table, but the rich feast that means you ARE a child of Israel, a child of God, one of Jesus’ own dear ones. Cling to Jesus and His gifts and there will be no doubt that your faith is a great faith, because your Jesus is a great Jesus.

The word that faith says is “Amen.” Sometimes it might sound like a “bow wow” or a woof!” But no matter what, that “Amen” means “Yes, Lord.” And that’s a “Yes, Lord” spoken to Jesus who casts our demons, takes away sins, and turns even sinful dogs into God’s own dear children. “Woof! Woof!” Sorry, I mean, “Amen!”

Pastor Mark Buetow serves Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. He also serves as the Higher Things Internet Services Executive and taught as a Plenary Speaker at the Amen conferences.

Categories
Higher Homilies

The Amen of God

by The Rev. George Borghardt III

Listen to audio of this sermon online from the Amen-Irvine Conference.

In the name of Jesus. Amen. There is the “Amen” of God. God’s “yes” answer. He’s at the place of Skull, Golgatha.

For our betrayal of God. He is betrayed. For our sin, He becomes our sin. For our unbelief, He becomes our unbelief. For the wraith of God, He suffers.

This is the Lord God Himself, the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. Through whom all things were made and apart from whom nothing was made that is made.

“Amen” on Good Friday is spelled, “INRI.” Jesus Nazarenus, rex Judæorum. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. We’d erase that, tweak it, make it more agreeable with what we think. But, what was written, stays written.

“I thirst.” He says. God thirsts. It’s inconceivable that the One who was, and is, and is to come, needs a moist sponge to wet His tongue. How did it come to this?

You know. You know what you’ve done. I know what I’ve done. He bears it all. To save us from what we’ve done and haven’t done.

“It is finished.” One word, tetelestai. Account settled. All that was demanded by God’s law has been satisfied.

He bows His head. He gives up His Spirit. The Father says, “Amen.” Your sin is atoned for. Your debt paid. Your forgiveness achieved in the death of the only begotten Son of the Father.

God’s life, for your life. God’s death swapped out for your death.

This is God for you. This is God for me. Beaten, Bruised, Crushed, stripped of His clothes, hanging dead on the Cross.

This is the glory and majesty of Almighty God. His glory, we have beheld, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. The glory of the Lamb having been slain.

Behold the “Amen.” Faithful and True. But, God’s “Amen” does you no good if He does not deliver His Amen and make Him your Amen.

Just follow where He is pierced. Blood and water flowed from His side. There in the Blood and Water, Jesus delivers Himself to you.

In the water and the Word of your Baptism – He Amens you and all of your sins are living-watered away. In the Font, your stain is cleansed – made holy – washed white in the blood of the Lamb.

Blood. Follow the blood into the chalice. His Flesh is real food. His Blood real drink. Whoever eats the flesh of Jesus and drinks His blood, has life and the Amen will raise you up on the Last Day. Raise you up as He has been raised from the dead.

Then, with Jesus on your forehead, in your ears, in your heart, and in your mouth, comes your “Amen.”

Faith, which is born from the Blood and water flowing from Jesus’ pierced sides says, “Amen.” Jesus died for you. He died for me too. That’s God’s Amen for me – Jesus dead on the Cross.

But, you’ll have a whole conference to learn about this good news, so…

Today, Behold the Amen, the Lamb of God, Faithful and True, slain for the sin of the world. He breathes His last and gives up His Spirit. He’s is God’s Amen. Your Amen too. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Pastor George Borghardt is the Associate Pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Conroe, Texas. He is also the Higher Things Conferences Executive and served as one of the Plenary Speakers at Amen. And… When Stan Lemon grows up he wants to be just like him!

Categories
News

Trinity Season Reflections (Part 3)

Trinity Season Reflections (Part 3) are now available. The work of the Holy Spirit continues in the readings for the Trinitytide season. Pastors Mark Buetow and Steven Mac Dougal (Red Bud, IL) bring the word of Christ achieving and delivering salvation to our ears. These Reflections cover the time from July 18 through August 16. You may download a copy in printable booklet form here.

Categories
Higher Homilies

Beware!

by the Rev. Mark T. Buetow

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t think any of you would think me strange if I ran into the street to save my daughter if she ran into the path of an oncoming car. You wouldn’t think I’m silly if I told someone walking in the front door of the church to be careful if the floor was wet. So don’t think it unimportant or silly today as I warn you about false prophets and the danger they pose to you! Just as I would never want to see anyone fall and be hurt, so I would never want that you should hear or listen to or be deceived by the preachers of Satan! And it is not me warning you anyway.

Our Lord Jesus Himself tells us, “Beware! Watch out for false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Jesus is hear warning us that the world is full of preachers and writers and speakers and ideas that all SOUND good. They might even say stuff about Jesus and sound religious and pious. But they’re not. They’re crafty and sneaky ideas designed to make it sound like God’s Word but in fact lead you astray from God’s Word into death and darkness and eternal hell. So watch out! Beware of false preaching! I’ll show you how.

The first way to watch out for false prophets is to never ever trust your own pastor. The Lord calls your pastor to preach and teach God’s Word and administer Christ’s holy sacraments. The Scriptures tell us to “TEST the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1 ESV.) That’s what you must do to your own pastor. Don’t ever take my word for something. Rather, open the Holy Scriptures and see whether what I’m telling you is what the Word of God says.

But also, if you don’t know the Word of God so well, then let me teach you. Not by me telling you what it says but by us reading and studying it together. Let me show you how Christ Himself teaches that He is the heart and center of all the Scriptures so that we will learn to read and see Him in all of God’s Word.

We’ve got some young people in the congregation who are going to read the whole Bible over the course of the year. What will they learn? That from cover to cover it’s about Jesus. It’s about the Son of God coming into this world, obedient to His Father, to do the work of saving us from our sins by taking our place and dying and rising again.

The next way to watch out for false prophets is to learn what a true prophet is. A true prophet, a true preacher, is one who delivers Jesus. In fact, we learn first of all what a true Prophet is by looking at the one who IS the True Prophet, the True Preacher, Jesus Himself. Two things about the prophets to watch out for: how they’re dressed and their fruits.

How is Jesus dressed? Like a sheep? He is the Lamb of God Himself! He is God in the flesh. He is not just wearing a sheepskin, He is the very Lamb of God who takes away sins. He never acts as the wolf does, fooling people and then eating them up, but bringing the comfort of God’s grace to them by preaching the forgiveness of sins.

What are His fruits? On the cross, as He takes our place, as He dies for our sins, the fruits fall from Him. Blood and water. The water that washes away our sins in the font. The blood that feeds and nourishes us. The fruits of Jesus are the forgiveness, life and salvation He wins for us by His death and resurrection. There is no more true Prophet than our Lord. He is the Lamb and He is the One who bears the fruits of salvation.

So if Jesus is such a prophet and such a Savior, anyone who comes preaching in His Name should be giving out nothing other than what our Lord gives out: repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. What is a preacher’s job? To give what Christ has sent them to give. To preach and teach God’s Word. To call sinners to repentance. To deliver Jesus at the font. To speak for Jesus the words of absolution. To give Jesus’ body and blood to Christians to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins.

If you go to an apple tree, you expect apples. If you go into a peach orchard, you expect to pick peaches. When you go to a Christian pastor, most especially your own pastor, you should expect Him to warn you away from your sins and point you to Christ. You should expect Him to point you back to the font, to absolve you and to call you to the Holy Supper where Christ feeds you. The fruits of a preacher’s ministry are nothing other than the fruits of Christ Himself.

Which is why Jesus tells us to watch out for false preachers! It’s easy to be deceived into thinking that something other than the forgiveness of sins is what preaching is all about. There is repentance for preachers who want to be preachers because there is some benefit to them. Perhaps they’ll have status. Perhaps they’ll have money. (No, really, some preachers think that!) Perhaps they will have lots of followers and be popular. Perhaps they will be well liked. If a preacher is preaching for any of those reasons, He is a ravenous wolf. He is preaching not in faithfulness to the Lord’s call, but for the sake of his own belly!

On the other hand, it is easy for God’s people to measure their preachers by looking for the wrong fruit. That preacher is friendly. That preacher makes me feel good. That preacher keeps the young people in church. That preacher does this or that that I like. These ways of preaching or judging a preacher that are apart from Christ and the forgiveness of sins are not watching out for but welcoming false preaching. They turn all eyes and ears away from Christ and His Word and put it on ourselves and that is just no good. That’s basting yourself to be tasty for the devil’s wolves!

Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen to the Lord’s warning today! Watch out for false prophets! Beware of anything and anyone that doesn’t preach Christ crucified for you, proclaim Christ in your place for your sins, point you to your Baptism, forgive you, exalt Jesus’ body and blood. Watch out for any preaching or teaching that talks you up rather than speaks Jesus into your ears. Beware of any religion that exalts the man who preaches rather than the Son of God who died and rose for you. Don’t trust your pastor but test him by the Word of God. Test the spirits, knowing that in Christ alone you have salvation. And then, on the Last Day, there will be no need to try to convince Jesus that you were faithful to Him, for Christ Himself will be your boast, your confidence, and your certain entrance into eternal life. You, covered by the Lamb Himself and bearing the fruit of His cross—forgiveness of sins—you will have all things and eternal life in Jesus. This is most certainly true. Amen.

Pastor Buetow is Internet Services Executive for Higher Things. He is also one of the catechists at the Amen Higher Things Conferences.

Categories
Current Events

Heaven, I’m in Heaven

by the Rev. Dr. Rick Stuckwisch

No, I haven’t died and gone to heaven, but this servant of the Lord surely could depart in peace, for my eyes and ears and nose and mouth and hands have beheld the Glory of God in the gifts of His Christ, on earth as it is in heaven, by His Word of the Gospel throughout this week. I’m in St. Louis, completing my duties as the chaplain of the Higher Things conference that began on Tuesday and concludes this afternoon at Vespers. What a joy and delight, what a privilege and a pleasure it has been to serve in this capacity. How rich in grace and mercy the Lord has been to lavish such loving-kindness upon me and all His children here gathered together in this place.

Granted, I have missed having my own Emmaus Youth here with me. There have been times I’ve almost forgotten that, when I have momentarily wanted to seek them out in the midst of the crowd and exult with them as their pastor in the good gifts that we are granted to receive. Then I immediately remember that they have already rejoiced in that privilege last week in the Poconos, and that here I am given to serve as a pastor for other young people, for their parents and pastors and chaperones. There is a twinge of melancholy sadness that I am not able to share this immediate experience with my own young people, who are in many ways almost like my own children (and in some cases are, in fact, my own children). Yet, there is the benefit that I have been able to give my full focus and complete attention to my office as chaplain.

My entire week has really been consumed with preparations for each of the services: ten of them altogether, from Tuesday afternoon through Friday afternoon. I’ve been able to consider every detail ahead of time, so that, when the time comes to pray with this group of 800+ youth, we are simply able to rest in the Word of the Lord and to pray together in peace and quietness. What a marvelous thing that is. There is such a beautiful rhythm to this week. It is more full and complete than we are able to follow back home; though, at the same time, each of the prayer offices are like an old friend, a familiar and comfortable place to be at ease: to be “at home,” as it were, not geographically, but in Christ Jesus our Savior. Praying Evening Prayer and Vespers with my own congregation every week throughout the year, I find that praying with the people here at the conference is simply a continuation and extension of that regular pattern and practice. Thus, even separated by hundreds of miles, I am still praying with and for my dear people at Emmaus.

It was a different experience for me to administer the Holy Communion to a congregation of disciples some ten or twelve times larger than I am normally given to serve. Having bread and wine ready to hand for 900 communicants makes for a lot of food up there on the Altar. To take that in hand with the Words of our Lord and to oversee the distribution of His Body and His Blood into the mouths of His people is an awesome responsibility and task. Yet, the same Lord whose gifts I was given to administer also surrounded and supported me with faithful brothers in Christ and in the Holy Office, that all things might be done in love, in decency and good order. Looking out over the distribution as it was occurring last night, there was such a wave of joy that flooded me, I could hardly have expressed it, except by joining in the singing of the hymns as best I could while remaining attentive to my duties.

The music all week long has been tremendous. I have basked in the opportunity to be served by my dear friend and father in Christ, Kantor Resch, as he has served at the organ bench for all of the services of the conference. Mr. Tim Lacroix returned to this conference to serve, as he has so well in the past, as the choir director, and what great work he has done with a wonderful group of young people. My seat on the chancel has been immediately in front of the choir, and their beautiful singing of the Word of God has both comforted and delighted me.

For each of us here in this place, to sing in the magnificent St. Xavier Church on the campus of St. Louis University is truly a taste of heaven on earth. Architecturally, artistically and acoustically, it is simply marvelous. As the Lord opens our lips to show forth His praise in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, it has been almost an effortless undertaking. And to hear the great Lutheran chorales swell from the lungs and lips of this group is breathtaking.

Three years ago, when I was attending the “Dare To Be Lutheran” conference here in St. Louis (my first Higher Things conference), I was in such awe of the chapel space and daily services. If anything, my perspective and experience as the chaplain has been even more exhilarating. What is definitely sweeter this time around is the weather and my experience of the campus. In 2005, it was so terribly hot and humid all week long, and everything seemed to bake in the sun like the Sahara desert. I remember walking from my dorm, then, to the student center where the sectionals were held, a matter of only four or five blocks I suppose, and arriving drenched in perspiration. Wearing my clericals that week, I felt like a mobile solar panel, and it was dreadful. Our dorm for that conference was the one south of the campus, right on Grand Avenue, immediately off the highway. Consequently, I never actually saw the bulk of the campus, but basically walked back and forth up and down Grand Avenue all week long. Mainly what I saw was concrete and blacktop and lots of traffic. I don’t think anything was very green that summer, either, and the overall feel was that of an inner city.

This year, my dorm is toward the western end of the beautiful campus. I walk amidst fountains and trees and grass. Everything is green and lush and lovely. I’ve seen very little traffic most of the time, because I haven’t had to be on Grand Avenue much. Sure, I’ve spent most of my time in the church, because that’s where I’ve been preparing and officiating all of the services. But I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying the campus in my movement to and fro, and it simply feels like a different place altogether than the last time I was here. My dorm is very nice, too, and I’ve had a couple of great roommates; although I will say that I have missed having my Zach here and rooming with him, which was the other thing I enjoyed best about “Dare To Be Lutheran.”

I suppose that if I got to revel in this kind of splendor all the time, I would be tempted to fall into a theology of glory. Leaving this place will tug and pull at my heart, because this truly has been a joyous opportunity to serve and be served. Yet, the parish and people to whom I return are God’s own children, the very ones He has given me to care for, not only for a week, but for a lifetime. I don’t have a space as architecturally, artistically and acoustically astounding as St. Xavier Church, but our own Emmaus is the place where Christ Jesus comes to be with us, to open the Scriptures to us, to open our ears, our hearts and minds to Himself, and to give Himself to us in the Breaking of the Bread. He gives those gifts to me, His child and servant, and He gives me the tremendous privilege and pleasure of giving them to the congregation in His Name. That, also, is heaven on earth; under the cross, to be sure, but no less so for that reason. Indeed, it is by and with the cross that heaven is ours, even now, by grace through faith in Christ. It has not yet appeared what we shall be. Even here in this place, we do not see or hear or smell or taste outwardly what the full glory of heaven shall be like. Yet, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily among us in the Word and Flesh and Blood of Christ the Crucified. Heaven itself would be void and bare, if He were not near us, but here and back home He is already a very present help in trouble; and He shall never leave us nor forsake us.

I’ll take my leave of St. Xavier Church with a touch of sadness, but I am already looking forward to being again with the flock entrusted to my pastoral care in South Bend. There it is true, no matter how any given day may feel, that I am given to live a heavenly life here on earth.

 

The Rev. Dr. Rick Stuckwisch is Pastor of Emmaus Lutheran Church in South Bend, Indiana. In recent years, he also served on the committees that crafted Lutheran Service Book. An outstanding liturgist and preacher, he serves splendidly as chaplain for Amen!

 

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College Retreat at the Guadalupe

The Guadalupe Retreat is an opportunity for the college-aged HTers to gather for a little worship, work, and play before heading back to school. Large sized flyers are available via e-mail; please feel free to print them and hand them out, hang them up, invite your friends to come hear the word. Open to high school grads and up. More information will be provided as it becomes available. In the meantime, feel free to email me at estephens@higherthings.org and I will try to find answers for you.

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Higher Homilies

Mary’s Amen

by The Rev. Joel Fritsche

St. Luke 1:26-38

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  “Let it be to me according to your word.” That’s Mary’s “amen,” her amen of faith. The angel Gabriel comes to this young virgin girl with a shocking proclamation of good news. “You have found favor with God…You will conceive a son…you will call His name Jesus.” Yeshua! The Lord saves! “He will be great…the Son of God…the descendant of David whose throne will last forever…an everlasting kingdom.”

That’s good news! Shocking good news! God is making good on everything He has promised…salvation…here, now, in my lifetime. Then and there the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and she conceives. Mary receives the flesh of the Son of God in her body. And after all of this takes place, she humbly submits in faith: “Let it be to me according to your word.” That’s Mary’s amen to receiving the promised Savior!

But Mary isn’t the big deal here! The only real major details we have about Mary here in the text is that she is a virgin and that she is pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. Even those two details remind us that the big deal is what the Lord is doing. He promised through the prophet Isaiah 700 or so years before that He would give a sign—a virgin would give birth to a son. He promised even before that that He would give His people a true King who would rule with righteousness and justice, a King who was truly after the heart of God, a descendant of King David, but whose reign would never come to an end. This King is the big deal here. Mary is a receiver. The Lord is the doer.

The era of the Lord’s salvation has begun. The angel begins teaching Mary, but there’s more catechesis ahead for her. You see, she’ll learn what it really means that this child in her womb will be great. She’ll learn what His kingdom is all about. This child in Mary’s womb whose kingdom will have no end, who will be great, doesn’t look so great later when He’s mocked and spat upon, fitted with a crown of thorns and nailed to a cross. He doesn’t look so great when He breathes His last and cries, “It is finished.” No, He’s dead. But when He dies, sin dies with him. And when God raises Him from the dead on the third day, your sin stays buried, dead and gone. It all begins with God coming into human flesh, not in some grand, glitzy way, but by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God into a young woman who is a nobody.

Mary is like the church. She humbly receives what the Lord has to give. That’s the story for you and me too. We’re nobodies, dead in our trespasses and sins. And yet today the proclamation of good news of salvation in Christ comes to you and me. Jesus’ death and resurrection are proclaimed—shocking Good News. The Lord comes in your midst to give you the gift of His Son. He gives you the greatness of Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit overshadows you and works new life, beginning at your Baptism, yet still active even now. You receive the flesh of the incarnate Son of God at His Table. What began at Mary’s womb continues here as you and I humbly receive the incarnate Son of God for life and salvation.

The teaching continues too. When the angel told Mary she would conceive she simply said, “How can this be?” Someone must have taught her how babies are made. We ask questions too, don’t we? We ask questions like, “What is Baptism? How can water do such great things? What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?” Mary’s question isn’t about doubt at all, and neither is ours. It’s about certainty. It’s about what you can be sure of. The angel knows the answer. It’s Jesus! There in the proclamation of God’s promise in Christ, Mary receives the incarnate Son of God in her womb, but there also faith receives the promised Christ. Mary is strengthened through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. The angel’s good news is the good news of salvation, which expels all doubt and uncertainty and moves one to rejoice in the gift of Jesus and to speak the Amen of faith, “Let it be to me according to your Word.”

That’s what takes place here at this conference, but not just here. It happens at home in your congregations where Christ’s gifts are given and received. It happens there where you receive His teaching, like Mary, the life of Christ before your eyes—His incarnation and birth, His ministry, His suffering, His death and His resurrection, and now His ministry continuing in the life of the church.

Your pastor certainly may not seem like an angel (you may not be one to him either), but He is God’s messenger and He proclaims to you the shocking Good News of the Gospel of Christ. Your sin is forgiven. For nothing is impossible for God. Salvation here, now, in your lifetime! Gift given! Gift received! And we too like Mary say the amen of faith, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Rev. Joel Fritsche serves as an admissions counselor for Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis. This sermon was delivered at Matins on July 2, 2008 at Amen in Saint Louis.