Higher Things exists and grows based on donations from individuals and congregations. Please consider donating to Higher Things at https://higherthings.org/support. Your gift helps us to continue to release great content like this.
If you have questions or topics that you'd like discussed by Higher Things, email them to media@higherthings.org or send text to 936-647-3235.
In this episode Jeff Goldblum, er, I mean, Pastor Eric Brown, lays out how scriptural interpretation is rightly done.
If you have questions you’d like answered send them via our Contact Page or post them on The Gospeled Boldly Facebook page.
Rev. Michael Keith
I was recently asked why I have a crucifix in my office at the church. I told them that we also have a crucifix hanging on the wall near the entrance to our home. They looked at me dumbfounded. “Isn’t that catholic?” they asked.
Nope.
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding that has arisen around the crucifix—that somehow the displaying of a crucifix is reserved for the Roman Catholic Church. This is simply not true. You would have been hard-pressed to have found a Lutheran church before the 20th century that didn’t have a crucifix predominantly displayed in the sanctuary. The crucifix is not Roman Catholic, it is not Lutheran, it is not any particular denomination. It has been, and is, used by Christians of all places and all times. However, the main concern and objection that I have heard expressed about the crucifix is that it is better to display the cross without the body of Jesus because of the resurrection. Sounds reasonable, right?
Nope.
Jesus wasn’t on the cross the first Easter morning. That is certain. But that has nothing to do with His resurrection. Our Lord was taken from the cross and laid in the tomb on Good Friday. The cross was empty on Sunday whether or not Jesus rose from the dead. An empty cross is not a symbol of the resurrection—an empty tomb is!
A cross, whether it be empty or whether it has the body of Jesus on it, always represents our Lord’s suffering and death for the sins and life of the world. Some would argue that a crucifix does a better job of representing that than an empty cross. Some prefer an empty cross. In Christian freedom we need not judge one another on this. But let’s be clear about this: The cross does not represent the resurrection.
To answer the question: “Why do you have a crucifix in your office?” I would say something like this: It is because it reminds me of my Lord’s great love and sacrifice for me, a poor sinner. The crucifix preaches to me the damning Law of God as my sin and judgement and damnation was taken up and suffered by Christ on the cross, for me and in my place. He received what I deserve. The crucifix preaches to me the life-giving Gospel as I see the extent of my Lord’s love for me. If you want to see and know how God is disposed to you, then look to Jesus. He shows you the heart of God—that He is kindly disposed to you, that He is filled with love for you, that He has mercy on you, and that He will go to any and all lengths to rescue you from sin, death, and the devil. Look to the crucifix and you see the heart of God, for you!
Rev. Michael Keith serves as pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church and SML Christian Academy in Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada.
Kate Olson
We who have had the immense pleasure of being College Conference Volunteers (CCVs) at a Higher Things Conference have been blessed by God to make some of our sweetest, most cherished memories and closest friends at those times. And oh…the pain of Friday afternoon at a Higher Things conference!
On Monday, everything is exciting. There is work to be done and new people to meet. It’s Higher Things! We are preparing to receive Christ the next day with hundreds of new siblings in Christ whom we’ve never met before. And boy, do we prepare! Unload the truck, inventory the merchandise, fold, stack, lift. Unpack big Jesus and little Jesus, hang them, hang the banners, dress the altar. Fill the bags and organize them into neat, lovely rows, like presents under a giant Christmas tree. The guests arrive tomorrow and because Christ loved us first, we are happier to prepare and to give to them more than we are to receive. Tour the campus so we are ready to lead, learn the technology so we can aid the teachers and Pastors. A CCV never complains because it’s Higher Things week and we couldn’t be more excited to see the chapel decked out in green and catch a glimpse of the hymns in the worship book. We hear things like, “That’s your favorite hymn too?!” and “We’re going to be best friends!” And yes, we probably will be.
Tuesday brings the guests! We are at our stations, ready to hand out the neatly lined bags with smiles on our faces-ready to direct traffic under a blazing hot sun. Finally, in the early afternoon, everyone has arrived. The ladies have helped prepare the elements and the gentlemen will usher. We’ve been waiting patiently, but anxiously, for the first hymn to begin. In all of its glory, the Gospel is declared and Christ Himself is received in the ears and on the lips. We are forgiven and ready for the rest of the week. Tuesday brings the first plenary, break-outs, walking, and please grab those waters! We move fast because pastors are anxious for their lessons to be well-prepared and we are more than happy to help them. Then the conference-goers find their places in a chair, on the floor, along the walls, and we have one simple, but important message for them: “DON’T FORGET YOUR EVALUATIONS!” Tuesday cannot end without an evening of fun. We set up, we help, we laugh a lot. Finally, we pray compline together, and over the next few days, we pray it again and again, creating perhaps the most memorable moments of this special week. And then it’s back to the dorms for a little sleep, but only after we unwind for just a few short…hours. And we think back to registration and it seems so long ago. Those new acquaintances from yesterday are old friends by now.
Wednesday morning is early. Grab some coffee and let’s get to work. The first thing to do is to organize the day. We divide up break-out sessions and tasks: Some of us will help at the information and merchandise table, someone might even help a lost pastor or two. We leave chapel early to help direct traffic and put up all of those break-out signs. We are always ahead of the crowd, always ready to lead. We hurry to the break-outs when our jobs are done and learn and receive and take notes. And all along the way to and from we talk and we share and we realize this is probably the best week of our lives. By Wednesday night we are exhausted but now we’ve had a chance to get to know not just a few but all of our fellow CCVs. We only go to bed once we’ve laughed until our sides ache. And then we calm down, and some of us go to bed-some do. Wednesday is the night for the long, wonderful, heart-to-heart conversations.
Thursday we sing our favorite hymns with even more fervor next to our bosom buddies who now know our struggles, our hopes, our pain and our joy. And we shed not a few tears because God’s Grace is so good in Christ and in our friends…well the girls do, anyway. And someone always says, “Guys, we’ve got to all be at the same conference next year.”
And so comes Friday. The closing Divine Service is bittersweet. We receive Christ’s Body and Blood with our sisters and brothers who have become so very special to us and with them we are forgiven. And we think of leaving in a few hours. But there isn’t time to be sad! Everything must be taken down, counted, organized, and packed. We keep working, we keep laughing, we keep hoping there is another task to prevent us from leaving just yet. But finally it is time.
We stay close for a while after the conference, but slowly life takes over again. And that conference becomes such a great memory but those details get blurry. And soon, it’s time for another conference and of course we can’t all be there. And another. And we haven’t seen each other in a few years. And then the beautiful part comes! We see one of our old CCV mates at a church we’re visiting or at another conference or wherever! And suddenly we’re talking as if we had just taken down the last parament. And that’s when we remember that we will always be together. For eternity. It doesn’t matter if it’s in this life or the next. We meet at the Altar together each Sunday, we hear the same Christ preached from the pulpit. We will be best friends, sisters and brothers, along with all believers in Christ, forever. And Christ is our host who prepares that “conference” and the rejoicing and singing will never end.
Kate Olson is a member of Mount Hope Lutheran Church in Casper, Wyoming, and teaches 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade at Mount Hope Lutheran School.
Rev. Brett Simek
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
A little less than a year and a half ago, my life changed forever. In about a week, the way I viewed myself, my relationship with my wife, my parents and siblings, and her parents and siblings changed. Even my relationship with God changed in just one week. A little less than a year and a half ago, my life changed forever when my son was born. When he was born, he had to go into the newborn intensive care unit because he had fluid in his lungs and wasn’t getting the oxygen he needed. His lungs cleared up after a couple days and he was fine, but he had to stay in the hospital for a week because they were giving him medicine just in case.
So for a week, I stood over his crib in the hospital telling myself, my wife, and my new son what the doctors had told me, “He is fine.” But no matter how many times I said it, out loud or in my head, I couldn’t shake the fear and feeling of being powerless to help my son as he lay motionless, sleeping in that crib attached to those machines. It is a fear and a feeling and an emotion that I pray no parent ever has to feel, but it is a fear, a feeling and an emotion that I imagine Jairus felt as he saw his daughter dying and as he got news of her death. But as Jesus stands over lifeless children, He is not powerless, but…
Jesus gives life and food to the lifeless.
Any and every death is tragic. Whether it is a friend, an acquaintance, a parent, or a spouse, death is hard. But there is perhaps no harder death to endure than the death of a child. Ask any parent what they fear the most, and I would guess many of them would say the death of their child. And the death of a child before they are born is no easier. A stillborn child is a child all the same. Yet we are all stillborn children. We are all dead, not from our birth, but from our very conception. We are born, even conceived in sin. We are dead in our trespasses and sins from the very moment we are alive, from the very moment of conception.
We are conceived and born dead in our sin, lifeless and powerless to escape its grip on us. There is nothing we can do. There is nothing our parents can do that can save us from this death. There is nothing Jairus could do to save his daughter from her approaching death, and he knew it. So he, and we, look to the one place, to the one person, we know that can do something about it. And Jesus comes, and He stands over the lifeless body of this little girl, who is dead, and He says, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And by His word, Jesus brings life to the lifeless and tells them to feed her.
And as your parents and your church stood over your lifeless, sinful body, Jesus washed you with water and spoke to you through your pastor and said, “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit I baptize you and say to you arise,” and life and faith is brought to the lifeless, faithless, powerless sinner. From the baptismal font you arise, a new creation, a new child, not of sin and death, but of God. You are a child to be fed with the Word of God, brought up and taught the faith, and fed with the very Body and Blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
It is by that very Body and Blood that you are given life. In His flesh and blood Jesus says to this girl, “arise,” and He says to you, “arise.” For in His flesh and blood Jesus has taken on your sin and death. He met it head on at His cross where He died for you. And His lifeless body was taken from the cross and placed into the grave. And as His Father stood over His lifeless body, He said, “Arise. You are righteous and holy.” And rising from the dead, Jesus puts death to death and gives life to the lifeless, to you and to me.
And one day, our bodies will lay lifeless again. One day, after living our lives of sin and repentance, our sin will overcome us, we will breath our last, and the life will go out of us. Sinful child of God as you are, your Father will get the news, “Your child is dead.” And our lifeless, sinful bodies will be laid to rest, to sleep in our graves.
One day, you will die and your death will be mourned-at least, for a little while…at least, until your Father stands over the bed where your lifeless body lays. And in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye and with the sound of the trumpet, Jesus will say to you, again, “Arise!” And you and all the dead will be raised in a resurrection like His. And the Father will say to you, “You are holy and righteous. Your sins have been forgiven for the sake of My Son. You shall live. Give him something to eat.” And you will be given life and food and seated at the marriage feast of the Lamb and His kingdom to eat and drink for all eternity. You will be granted your crown of life, never to die, never to sin again, but to sit with Jesus in eternal pleasure. So “do not fear, only believe,” that Jesus gives life and food to you. Amen.
Rev. Brett Simek is pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Jerseyville, IL. This sermon was preached at Bread of Life in Nashville, TN.
In this episode, Pastor Eric Brown goes on a solo tour to tackle the book of Philemon. He addresses the reasons it is such an overwhelmingly encouraging book, and recounts why it holds a special place in his heart.
If you have questions you’d like answered send them via our Contact Page or post them on The Gospeled Boldly Facebook page.
Higher Things® conferences are made of theology, worship and fun. This year we are very excited be streaming the worship services from Bread of Life 2016 at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Join with 800+ youth as they sing the liturgy and pray the prayers of the Church while receiving Christ and Him Crucified in Flesh and Blood.
Today at 2:00pm CDT (3:00 EDT, 12:00 PDT) point your web browser to http://stream.higherthings.org to join us for the opening divine service. Hear and see what Higher Things is all about – the Gospel, in the ears of our youth. Dare to be Lutheran® with us this week in the worship at our conference!
Other times to tune in (all times CDT):
Tuesday July 5
Wednesday July 6
Thursday July 7
Friday July 8
In this episode, Pastor Eric Brown and Thomas Lemke discuss Jesus’ upcoming departure, and what is means that the Holy Spirit is coming. Deep wells here, to be sure; much deeper than the sleep you get when you fall asleep in church… like Pastor and Thomas did.
In the Backwards Life segment, Pastor and Thomas approach the historically controversial idea of Christians dancing.
If you have questions you’d like answered send them via our Contact Page or post them on The Gospeled Boldly Facebook page.
Greetings in Christ!
It is with great thanks to Stan Lemon (HT Board of Director) that we are excited to announce a new mobile app for Higher Things® Conferences. This app is available on both iOS and Android platforms.
This app provides you with a digital conference book for your favorite Lutheran summer youth conference. Retrieve daily announcements, follow the schedule and sort through sessions all from your mobile device. Find sessions that are interesting and save them to a separate list so you can review the sessions you want to attend. Additionally, when available, a map is provided to the on site location of the session to help you get there.
Keep track of everything that is going on during the Bread of Life conference season by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The official hashtag for this years conferences is #breadoflife2016.
In Christ,
Jonathan Kohlmeier
support@higherthings.org
Technology Executive (Interim)
Higher Things, Inc.
In this episode Pastor Eric Brown and Thomas Lemke discuss the conversation between the disciples and Jesus on the way to the garden. It is becoming evident through Jesus’ words that a Christian life is not, well, a walk in the garden. Also, Pastor has a new mic! …And Thomas’ mic cord apparently has a short in it. Improvement? You decide!
In the Backwards Life segment, Thomas asks Pastor to exposit on Christian organizations that are into home-building.
If you have questions you’d like answered send them via our Contact Page or post them on The Gospeled Boldly Facebook page.
Higher Things presents the next set of Daily reflections for the weeks of Trinity 5 through 10, June 26 through August 6, 2016.
Download the Trinity 5 through Trinity 10 Reflections as a booklet by clicking here or in a variety of other formats at higherthings.org/reflections.
In Christ,
Rev. Mark Buetow
Media Executive
buetowmt@higherthings.org
