Final plans are coming together for the Sixth Annual Christ on Campus Staff Conference which will be held May 28-30 in Knoxville, TN. This is an earlier date than normal for our annual conference so don’t forget to register!
Early bird registration continues through May 1st!
Whether you are already doing campus ministry or are just getting started; whether you are a full- or part-time campus pastor, a town and gown pastor, a DCE, a DCO, or an interested layperson, this conference is for you.
Learn more about the conference and how to register!
As always please contact me if you have any questions. We hope to see you in Knoxville!
Rev. Marcus Zill, Executive
Higher Things, Christ on Campus
“Confessing Christ on Campus Since 1517”
P.S. Don’t forget – registration for seminarians is free!
Hats off to St. Boniface of Mainz, the eighth-century missionary bishop and martyr, who is commemorated today. It was on the 5th of June in the Year of Our Lord 754 that St. Boniface and his companions were attacked and killed by a band of hostile pagans in what is now the Netherlands. He was pushing 80 years old at that point, but he was still out there on the mission field, preaching the Gospel, teaching the Word of God, and bringing the Church to new frontiers. He was waiting on a group of catechumens, who were to receive the rite of confirmation from him, when he was martyred. He was reading the Scriptures, as I understand it, and had only that book to defend himself against the swords of the enemy. His body was returned, together with that slashed and bloodstained Bible, to the monastery he established in Fulda, where his earthly remains are buried to this day.
St. Boniface was an apt pupil, and he was in turn a popular teacher. Really, throughout his life, he seems to have excelled at whatever he tried; if not immediately, then with persistence. He was driven especially by a missionary zeal for the lost, to which he kept returning over the years. He is known as the Apostle to the Germans, because he was so instrumental in bringing the Gospel and the Church to that part of the world. For that reason, in particular, he ought to be more popular among Lutherans than he is. He also assisted significantly with a reformation of the Frankish Church. Because the Lord blessed so many of his efforts with obvious success, there were numerous opportunities along the way for St. Boniface to sit back, put up his feet, and rest on his laurels, but he was never content to do so. To the end of his life, he kept on preaching.
When St. Boniface first arrived in one part of Germany, he chopped down a sacred oak associated with the pagan god Thor. I like this story better than the one about George Washington and the cherry tree. All the superstitious pagans in those parts were standing around, watching and waiting for a lightning bolt from the blue to strike St. Boniface down. When that didn’t happen, evidently there were a fair number of conversions that followed. And St. Boniface used the wood from that oak to build a church dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle.
You will never see this movie in school, not in High School and especially not in College. It doesn’t matter if you go to a state University or a Christian University or even a Lutheran one…you won’t see this movie.
What you heard in Biology class contradicted what your Pastor taught you in Confirmation, that God created you individually and personally to be a unique and wonderful creature in Him. Furthermore, it contradicted your very senses! How can something so complex and amazing as humanity be by dumb luck? You might have spoken up in that Biology class, even called into question the proposed theory of humanity’s origin and if you did, you were likely told, “I’m not covering creationism in this class.” or “We’re not going to talk about religion, this is science.” You were silenced, shut out and maybe even got into a little bit of trouble for opposing the teacher…and that, is what this movie is about.
The movie equates the suppression of differing ideas in the science world to that of the Berlin wall and he urges everyone to participate in the dismantling of this wall. He shows how Darwinian ideology has influenced some of the atrocities of our time. For example, Nazis extermination of the handicapped, mentally ill, elderly and the Jews is nothing more then an attempt to escalate the process of natural selection – and the Nazis even said so! Or, look at the aborting of babies because they’re genetically predisposed to sickness and disease or even euthanizing the cumbersome and costly elderly. So long Grandpa and Grandma, gotta make room for Darwin as we help natural selection move right along!
The world does not know what truth is. Since the fall into sin, we children of Adam have been trying to strip God of His divine authorship and authority. We strip Him of these things. Then we beat Him and give Him a crown of thorns to wear, because that is exactly what we think of His authorship. Yet, despite our denial and defamation of God, He lets us nail Himself to a cross so that He might re-create what He first created. There is nothing random when something happens twice. God is such an intelligent Designer that He creates us in our mother’s wombs and then re-creates us in the Church’s womb at the font of Holy Baptism!
You will never see this movie in school, not in High School and especially not in College. It doesn’t matter if you go to a state University or a Christian University or even a Lutheran one…you won’t see this movie.
What you heard in Biology class contradicted what your Pastor taught you in Confirmation, that God created you individually and personally to be a unique and wonderful creature in Him. Furthermore, it contradicted your very senses! How can something so complex and amazing as humanity be by dumb luck? You might have spoken up in that Biology class, even called into question the proposed theory of humanity’s origin and if you did, you were likely told, “I’m not covering creationism in this class.” or “We’re not going to talk about religion, this is science.” You were silenced, shut out and maybe even got into a little bit of trouble for opposing the teacher…and that, is what this movie is about.
The movie equates the suppression of differing ideas in the science world to that of the Berlin wall and he urges everyone to participate in the dismantling of this wall. He shows how Darwinian ideology has influenced some of the atrocities of our time. For example, Nazis extermination of the handicapped, mentally ill, elderly and the Jews is nothing more then an attempt to escalate the process of natural selection – and the Nazis even said so! Or, look at the aborting of babies because they’re genetically predisposed to sickness and disease or even euthanizing the cumbersome and costly elderly. So long Grandpa and Grandma, gotta make room for Darwin as we help natural selection move right along!
The world does not know what truth is. Since the fall into sin, we children of Adam have been trying to strip God of His divine authorship and authority. We strip Him of these things. Then we beat Him and give Him a crown of thorns to wear, because that is exactly what we think of His authorship. Yet, despite our denial and defamation of God, He lets us nail Himself to a cross so that He might re-create what He first created. There is nothing random when something happens twice. God is such an intelligent Designer that He creates us in our mother’s wombs and then re-creates us in the Church’s womb at the font of Holy Baptism!
The earth shook! But it was not the first time. It trembled as in the day of Elijah. “And he said, “And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.” 1 Kings 19:11-12 ESV
You see, it was another Friday that had an amazing earthquake. On the first Good Friday, when our Savior died, Saint Matthew records that a great earthquake took place. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:51-54 ESV
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, pay close attention to Jesus’ words! Over the next several weeks of this Easter Season, Jesus will be speaking to His disciples of the time of the church and the work of the Spirit. Jesus speaks to us who live also in this time when He does not come to us to be seen by our eyes, but comes to us by His Word and Sacraments. By His Word, Jesus prepares His disciples for the time when He will longer be with them in the way they can see Him, but when He goes with them in His Word as they carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. So listen closely because Jesus’ words today speak directly to us for our salvation and comfort.
There is our life: We are full of sorrow because we suffer in this life. But joy will come when our Lord comes back. This we have a taste of each week as the Lord gathers us for His Divine Service. Out there is sorrow: sickness, suffering, death, trouble, brokenness, frustration, bills, family problems, struggles, crosses and heartache. A little while and you will not see Jesus. The Divine Service will be over and out you go into the world to suffer these things! But a little while and you will see Him. Here. At His font. At His altar. In His Word. Brothers and sisters, run to Christ’s church to receive the comfort that comes from Jesus’ words that your sorrow will be turned into joy. In this world you will suffer. You will weep. You will mourn. You will think that Jesus is gone from you for good. But He has not gone. It only seems like He is not there. So that all the more when you receive Him, when He comes to you, your rejoicing and gladness is all the more! Just about every day I get to see my wife and girls. But when I had to leave them behind to go to New Orleans for weeks at a time, I was even more glad to see them when I came back. So it is with our Lord. When it seems as if He is absent, He comes to us to give us that much more joy. Brothers and sisters, in Christ, here, in the church, where Jesus’ word is, there is true and lasting joy. Here is the Good News that the Jesus who went away from his disciples did it to save them and us from our sins. Here is the promise that the Jesus who seemed to be taken away from them, was taken away to die for your sins and rise again. Here, in Christ’s church, is the joy of the holy washing of water and the word, the Lord’s promise that your sorrow will be turned to joy. Here, in Christ’s church, is the word of absolution, declaring that the sorrow of your sins is turned into the joy of being forgiven and pardoned by your Father in heaven, for Jesus’ sake. Here, in Christ’s church, in the holy meal of His body and blood, Jesus turns your sorrow into joy. True, you will have much sorrow in this life. And while you do, the world will laugh and have its joy: but YOU have Christ and He is all the joy that you will ever need against all the sorrow that you will ever have.
And herein lies our repentance, dear Christians. For Jesus says, “You will weep and mourn and the world will rejoice.” Brothers and sisters, the world has its joy now, but its sorrow will last forever. The great temptation that faces us is to trade our sorrow now for the joy now. To give up our sadness in this life and exchange it for the joy that the world offers. That’s tempting! And many do it. Many say they cannot handle the sadness, the misery, the sorrow, and so they seek their joy in this life. And they find it! They comfort themselves with lots of money or the toys this world has. They give themselves to the ways of the world and it makes them happy. For now. For this life. But when they die, they will perish in sorrow, for their earthly and fleeting joy will turn out to be ashes and dust and death. Don’t do it, dear Christian! Hear St. Peter’s warning in our epistle today not to give in to our fleshly lusts and to use our freedom in Christ for bad things. Dear Christians, the world has its joy now. It is comforted. It laughs at the misery and sadness of Christians now. But while the Lord’s people will have the rejoicing of eternal life, those who have given up Christ for pleasure in this life, will have an eternity of bitter sorrow and unquenchable misery. Therefore, hear Jesus’ words and repent! Repent of anything that would lead you to joy now at the expense of casting away Christ and His eternal joy that has been given to you in His gifts. Back to your baptism! Back for absolution. Back to the Supper. So that by these you will be strengthened against all temptations to temporary happiness and be kept in Christ the only source of our lasting joy and gladness.
Finally, dear brothers and sisters, be comforted by the promise of Jesus that there will come a time when your weeping will be turned into rejoicing once and for all. When Jesus returns, He will see you and will turn your sadness into joy. And no one will take that joy away from you. The world will have its joy snatched away on the Last Day. But on the Last Day, you, the baptized children of God, will have your sorrow taken away and replaced with everlasting joy. As the Psalmist says, “You turned my mourning into dancing!” And elsewhere, “Weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” And yet again, “My gladness increased more than all their new wine and oil!” This is how we have to face our problems, brothers and sisters: whatever sorrow or suffering comes our way, we simply declare and confess: I know that now I have sorrow. It may even kill me. But all that I suffer in this life, all that brings me down, all that causes me to weep—all of this is going to turn into the most wonderful joy when my Lord comes back and raises me from the dead and gives me eternal life! There is nothing in this life that can overcome my Jesus and what He has done. Just a “little while” and it will be all joy and gladness in Christ! Just like when a woman has a baby: it’s scary, it’s dangerous, it’s painful, it’s hard work, it’s misery. But then, when that little one is born the pain turns into joy and tears of happiness because the child is born. So it is with this life: for now, we suffer. Then we shall have joy. Have no doubt, dear Christian, that your suffering will soon be past and the Lord will appear and He will lay eyes upon you and you will have joy that NO ONE can take away!
OK, last two weeks (end of Top 24 rounds AND 1st week on the big stage with Top 12) . . .
3/25/08 – Top 10
4/3/08, Post results
I am bummed. Moses died this past Saturday.
He also was not afraid to stand up for his political beliefs, which won him many friends, and lost him others. Run-ins with the Screen Actors’ Guild and those who opposed his work with the NRA were a part of his life in this past decade.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
Compare that message with what you hear from this pulpit, what you hear when I visit your sickbed, or when I conduct a funeral. You should compare what I preach with what you hear elsewhere to see whether or not your pastor proclaims the Truth of God’s Word. The same should be said for every Christian pastor, within and without the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. If you do not hear the Good News of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, and how He delivers forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation through His death and resurrection on your behalf, then you are listening to a hireling bleat the siren call of self-religion. If you do not hear a pastor preaching God’s Law in all its severity and God’s Gospel in all its sweetness, then you have not heard a Christian sermon. You have heard a hireling tell you what you want to hear.
King David knew. So did Ezekiel and Peter. So do you. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Those Words teach you to confess that you need protection from the satanic foe. You have protection from a Shepherd Who became a sheep on your behalf. That’s how far the Good Shepherd goes to rescue you. The Good Shepherd takes on the form of a sheep in order to be attacked by the ravening wolf. He is wounded and murdered so you may live. He comes back from death to life so you may live with Him forever. It sounds like crazy talk. The Good Shepherd becoming like a sheep and laying down His life for the sheep. But that’s exactly what Jesus does. It’s exactly what a hireling won’t do.
Psalm 33 says, the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord…He is our help and our shield. The Lord calls you out of darkness into His marvelous light (just as He does for Syri Anne today) through water and His Word in Holy Baptism. He covers you with His blood and righteousness. He places you in His fold forever. He spreads a table before you in the presence of your enemies, giving you His True Body and Blood in His Holy Supper. He puts His promise of deliverance from the enemy in your ears every Lord’s Day. He provides, protects, and gives you a prosperous eternity not on your terms, but on His terms.
Did you grow up on Dr. Seuss? If you were like me, you had a stack of Dr. Seuss books somewhere in your bedroom. Before I could read my mother read them to me, and after I could read I read them to myself. I have fond memories of the original Grinch that Stole Christmas – you know, the cartoon one (that may pre-date some of you). I was excited to see a classic Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who come to the big screen – especially with an all-star cast including Jim Carey (there’s something about him that just works for Dr. Seuss) and Steve Carrell (a personal favorite).
Eventually Horton discovers the Mayor of Whoville, played by Steven Carrel. It happens almost accidentally when the Mayor hears Horton through a strange contraption strapped to the roof of his Mayoral office in Whoville. Lately the Mayor has been noticing some strange events, tremors in the ground and such, up to this point it has even made him wonder if there was something “out there”. The Mayor entrusts Horton with finding a safe home for the Who’s little spec, one where it won’t meet its destruction.
What does this big Elephant in the sky do? He risks his very life, to save a tiny little spec – something that would seem so trivial and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Our Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered under Pontius Pilate for a mere spec!
