Category: Articles

Friendship is a good place to begin, with its shared interests, common values, and mutual pursuits. In close friendships between young men and women, there will almost always be a certain tension, due to the natural attraction of the sexes for each other. Great care must be taken to avoid the breaking of that tension with sin. Alternatively, the tension may also be “broken” in a positive and wholesome way, by leading to something more than friendship. When there are not only those shared interests in other things but in each other. When there develops a back-and-forth between walking side-by-side and turning toward each other, face-to-face. “Twitterpation” cannot sustain a permanent relationship or life together, but it does have its place in this dance of love. There ought to be a joy and delight in each other, which is not driven by lust or perversion, but by the goodness of God’s creation.

It is not only at that point but especially then, that a young man or woman (of whatever age) ought to be seeking the counsel and advice of father and mother and other authorities, such as pastors and teachers, in particular. Holy Scripture does not tell you whom to date, nor whom to marry, but the Lord does command you to honor your father and mother. It is mainly through your parents that He guides and directs your life, especially from childhood into adulthood. Besides, there is no one who knows you better, and no one on earth who loves and cares about you more. Similarly, your pastors and teachers know you well and have your best interests at heart. Your pastor is called and ordained by God to shepherd you with His Law and Gospel, unto repentant faith in the forgiveness of sins. You shouldn’t proceed with any major decisions in life without relying upon that divine and heavenly wisdom!

Fathers and mothers already ought to be involved in approving their children’s circle of friends. All the more should they be consulted when one of those friends is becoming something more than a friend. Hormones, especially under the curse of sin, are powerful and persuasive, and lust has a crafty way of masquerading as love. Young men and women should not rely upon their feelings and emotions to determine whether a particular girlfriend or boyfriend is a meet, right and salutary one. Hard as it may be to accept, when Mom and Dad (or pastors or teachers) are skeptical and apprehensive about a relationship, then it’s probably not one to pursue. Caution needs to be exercised, at any rate, and regular counsel sought at every step along the way.

Where a good friendship between a boy and a girl does transition into a romantic relationship, that will be a terrifically exciting time. But the thrilling fun of dating should not be perpetuated for its own sake, nor allowed to go on and on without any guidance or direction. This stage in a relationship is really a testing of whether these two friends may become husband and wife. If it becomes clear that marriage would be unwise or out of the question, then romantic dating ought to stop, and perhaps a normal friendship in the company of other friends may be resumed. But if the relationship continues in a positive and healthy direction, with the blessing and approval of parents and other authorities, then the couple ought to be thinking and planning toward marriage. Long-term dating relationships are simply too subject to abuse. Engagements, too, should only be as long as necessary to make arrangements for marriage, including pre-marital pastoral care. There may be all sorts of exceptional circumstances, but I’m referring here to things in general. The bottom line is to honor the Word of God and obey the Fourth Commandment, that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

It may sound crazy to 21st-century ears, but maybe the arranged marriages of the past weren’t such a bad idea. Americans are frankly too hung up on romance. Romance is fine and good, but it doesn’t make or sustain a marriage. It is the love of Christ for His Church, and the faith and love of the Church for Him, that teach and equip husbands and wives to love and serve each other. The true love that makes for a good marriage is chiefly the love of self-sacrifice and free forgiveness, for Jesus’ sake. It is a commitment to do the right thing, even when you don’t feel like it. Often as not, the romantic love of a husband and wife will wax and wane over the course of time, as the years go by. Fireworks come and go, like holidays, but there grows and develops the satisfying substance and stability of a shared life, home and family.

by The Rev. Rick Stuckwisch

As a campus pastor I’ve talked with many a parent terrified of sending their pride and joy off to college, where opportunity to exercise new-found freedom is around every corner. If your parents went to college, chances are they remember the atmosphere pretty well. Perhaps they managed to get through it with their faith intact, or were part of the majority who forsook church during their twenties, and then realized the need to return once they became new parents. I, too, remember the free-wheeling world of college life. So please understand if your parents exhibit fear. It is natural—and well founded.

My experience was not too different from today. We didn’t have ipods, computers, cell phones, texting, or Facebook. But there are still plenty of common denominators: freedom, sex, drugs, and alcohol. All those good and great things that were missing in my day make it even easier to get into all those dangers in common with today.

As a freshman at a large state university, I felt I was walking into a den of iniquity. I was one of three people on a floor of fifty who regularly attended church. My particular floor was known across campus as being wild. All I had to say to an acquaintance was “I live on the fifth floor of West Akers,” and their eyes would grow wide with wonder.

But I emerged with my faith intact, and you can too, despite modern conveniences that make getting into trouble so much easier. It’s not likely that you’re going to go through four years without any bumps and bruises, but there is tremendous help available on many college campuses, both secular and “religious.”Real help and comfort can be found in the place where God’s Word is preached and His Sacraments are faithfully administered through LCMS campus ministries.

Campus ministry settings vary across the country. Some are congregations that serve both the resident community and the college campus, called “town & gown” congregations. There you’ll see ages from pre-school to elderly. There is usually an associate pastor, vicar, deaconess, or DCE who works full or part-time with students.

Others are made up almost entirely of students. These are often stand-alone churches either on, or within walking distance to campus.  The pastor’s full-time responsibility is to serve students. Usually the only one with a little gray hair is the pastor! The congregational leadership is mostly students. Some campus ministries offer housing in some type of student center in exchange for being hosts or care-takers. There are sometimes other part-time or volunteer staff people who work with international student outreach.

Even when there is no congregation nearby that engages in full-time or part-time campus ministry, there is usually a “town” congregation that will bend over backwards to make sure you have the opportunity to receive the Word and Sacrament. Some congregations even “adopt” Lutheran students, and transport them to Divine Service, or take them to enjoy a nice dinner. These are called “campus contact” congregations.

I know you’ve heard this before, but success in many areas of life comes down to making choices. If you as an ambitious freshman seek to make your college years a positive and productive experience, there is no better choice to make than finding the nearest Lutheran campus ministry and becoming a part of it! It won’t count that your roommate is Lutheran (or Baptist, etc.), thinking that discussions about faith with him or her can substitute for the gifts given in the Body and Blood of Christ. These gifts are meant for you to receive regularly, not just to discuss or think about or remember!

Students give lots of reasons for staying away from the gifts of the Means of Grace in college. Here are some of the most common ones I hear as a Campus Pastor:

1) The feeling that Sunday morning is “my time”, and during “my time” I choose

to sleep.

2) This attitude: “Since I’ve been good all my life and gone to

church, Sunday School, youth group, and even parochial school, I can now

experience the world and leave my childhood behind”.

3) Doubts about whether God is real, given the state of the world and the

contempt that very smart professors heap upon Christianity.

4) Involvement in seemingly innocent “non-denominational” small-group Bible

studies or big outreach gatherings becomes a substitute “Church”.

5) The fear that one’s studies are so demanding that one or two hours of weekly

church involvement isn’t possible.

6) Fear of attending Divine Services on Sunday alone.

7) The campus ministry just isn’t the same as church at home.

So what does involvement in a Lutheran campus ministry bring to four years of college life? Namely, preaching and teaching that doesn’t blur God’s law and Gospel, and the receiving of life, salvation and the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. It brings sound Biblical teaching, usually from someone thoroughly trained and holding a degree that included Biblical studies and languages (as opposed to the “grab bag” of teaching in non-denominational campus groups that almost always contradicts what Lutherans have learned in their Small Catechisms). It brings confession and absolution for the sins that weigh heavily upon a student’s conscience.

It also brings many “intangibles”, such as Christian friends to support and encourage you in the ups and downs of campus life, an oasis of sanity and clarity in the midst of philosophical, social, or scientific confusion. Campus ministry provides a place to pursue your vocation grounded in God’s Word, using your gifts in arts and letters, science, or athletics to communicate your witness to the world. You can sing in the choir, play an instrument, or put what you’re learning in accounting class to use as the financial secretary.

Does going to college automatically mean losing your faith? Absolutely not! I receive much welcomed affirmation of this in e-mails from students spread across the world. They most often end with a thought similar to Melissa, who attended college here where I am a Campus Pastor: “Going to University Lutheran was the best thing I ever did in college. What I learned was better than any class I ever took, better than any book I read.”

by The Rev. Richard Woelmer

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also. Romans 16:1-2 NKJV

Only two Bible verses describe her role, and only one mentions her name. While Saint Paul says very little about Phoebe, her service impacted the church in her time as well as the church today. The work that the Lord accomplished through Phoebe continues even in the Lutheran Church.

Described by Saint Paul as a “servant of the church,” Phoebe could also be entitled “deaconess.” The church has historically viewed her as one of the first women to serve in this vocation. While the daily routine of a deaconess can vary greatly, each shares Phoebe’s purpose as a helper. Just as Phoebe helped Pastor Paul, deaconesses today serve in a “helper” role.

The service of Phoebe and deaconesses centers on the Lord’s gifts. To find those, one need look no further than the church. It is through the pastor – one of God’s gifts to the church – that God’s forgiveness by the means of Word and Sacrament comes to us. A deaconess is defined by her relationship to the Office of the Public Ministry, which is held by the pastor. She, like Phoebe, is a helper.

The pastor proclaims the Word in his preaching, teaching, and through the public reading of Scripture. He distributes forgiveness in the body and blood of Jesus and proclaims salvation through the waters of Holy Baptism. He forgives sins in the name of Jesus. The pastor’s call is to distribute God’s good gifts – forgiveness and eternal life – which God has given to His bride, the church.

A deaconess helps the pastor by pointing the Good Shepherd’s sheep to those same gifts. She does not give them out like the pastor does, but rather points others back to the Office of the Public Ministry, held by the pastor. She does this through the teaching of the Faith, spiritual care, and acts of mercy. Deaconesses teach the Faith through Bible studies, Sunday school classes, and singing hymns. They provide spiritual care through shut-in visits, prison visits, and private counseling. Acts of mercy can include something as great as sheltering the homeless or as common as providing a shoulder to weep on, or a cup of water to drink.

Just as Christ is hidden in the water, bread, and wine in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, He is also hidden in your neighbor. Consequently, as a deaconess serves her neighbor, she recognizes that she is, in fact, serving the Lord. He does not need her service; her service gains her nothing. Rather, it is the neighbor who is benefited by her good works, done in faith. The deaconess is motivated to this service by the love that was first shown her by Jesus, just as all Christians are motivated to “love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

The work of a deaconess, like the work of Phoebe, does not strive for glory, but only to further God’s kingdom by pointing back to the great gifts which God has given to His church in His Son, our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ. These gifts are received through the pastor’s hands and mouth, where the body and blood of Jesus are given and the words of Holy Absolution are spoken. Thus, when a deaconess points those she serves to the pastor, she is pointing them to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Deaconesses are not important or even necessary; Jesus is. Pastor Paul didn’t need Phoebe’s help, just as pastors today can preach and teach without a deaconess. And yet the church rejoices in receiving these women as another gift from the Lord.

Without God’s Word and Sacrament, the church is nothing. Because God promises to give His gifts through the Pastoral Office, the deaconess points God’s sheep to him. It is there, from the pastor who stands in the stead of Christ, that God’s people find forgiveness and salvation. It is there, in service to Christ, that a deaconess finds joy.

by Deaconess Sara Lemon

Chances are, if you’re a Christian youth, you’re also a student. From grade school, to high school, to college, youth spend the first big chunk of their lives undergoing formal education. That period of time can get even bigger when you factor in graduate school, law school, or seminary. In short, “school” is a constant presence in young people’s lives. We exist in an academic world of grades, test scores, and exams. For years, our whole lives revolve around getting a great ACT score, being accepted to the best colleges, and maintaining a stellar GPA. And yet, our performance in this academic life and “world” that we live in has virtually no bearing on our eternal home and the life of the world to come.

The trouble is, we so often don’t act in light of this. Our salvation has been won and we’ve been declared perfect by Jesus Christ. We already have the “one thing needful,” yet the world we live in tells us we still need to prove ourselves through our academic success. Don’t get me wrong—being a student is a God-given vocation, and thus we are called to fulfill this vocation faithfully as a means of honoring God’s gifts to us and serving our neighbor in the world. But like any of God’s gifts, we tend to pervert them and turn something good into bad. Going overboard in your vocation as student can easily become idolatry.

Christian youth today hear a lot about how their true identity is not in their clothes, their body image, their popularity, alcohol, or drugs. But for many youth, is it not a much more common temptation to find identity and fulfillment in academic performance? We tend to look at scholastic achievements and ambition as purely good, but as sinful human beings, we can twist even the positive accomplishments of the worthy vocation of student.

I was always a dedicated student, but when I began my freshman year of college, this focus took a turn for the worse. At college, my sinful nature, with its tendency to idolize academics, was more evident than ever. I became obsessed with getting perfect grades and was constantly comparing myself to other students. My own academic performance became everything to me. I started slaving away at my books until the early hours of the morning, and barely slept—abusing my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit and disregarding God’s gift of health and rest. I made God’s blessings of learning and education into merely a means to my own glory. I stopped doing things purely for the sake of truth and my fellow man and instead did activities and assignments as a means to give myself accomplishments and build up my resume. Everything—even God’s Word, worship, and serving my neighbor—played second fiddle to the all-consuming focus of myself and my academic accolades. I started ignoring the other vocations God had given me as daughter, granddaughter, sister, and friend by rarely talking to my friends, calling my family, or even serving or communicating with my campus neighbors and dorm-mates.

Of course, my tendencies haven’t miraculously stopped now that I am a sophomore. I will live with my sinful nature all my life, but I take comfort in the daily drowning of the Old Adam “by daily contrition and repentance…that a new man should daily emerge and arise” has helped me to continually repent of my idolatry and live in Christ’s forgiveness (SC IV).

Perhaps your obsession with academics hasn’t reached the extent of my idolatry. Perhaps it doesn’t seem that bad compared to other addictions. But don’t be fooled. Looking to anything other than God for fulfillment and identity is as damning as Baal worship. Repent of idolatry, even if it is only a slight tendency, and keep repenting. Say with St. Paul, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14 ESV). Sin doesn’t just disappear; while we are on earth, our old Adam continually battles our new man. Fortunately, however, our identity is no longer completely wrapped up in this old man. Neither is it found in our ACT score, our GPA, or any other sign of academic achievement.

Rather, our identity is found entirely outside ourselves, in Jesus Christ. We are no longer a mere number, such as a test score, but rather baptized children of God with our identity in Christ. As St. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We are defined not by our own glory and the things we do ourselves, but in Christ and what He did for us. When God looks at us, He doesn’t see us at all, but rather His precious Son. Your value is found not in grades or academic achievements, but in the price paid for you in pint after pint of Jesus’ holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death.

My freshman year in college was self-inflicted hell-on-earth: I relied on myself for success and thus had to drown again and again in failure and despair. I could never find peace and happiness and rest when I was trying to find fulfillment alone. True comfort and happiness can only come when Christ is our fulfillment.

Take comfort in the Gospel and look no longer for your identity in academics. Rather, look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Give thanks always for God’s gift of education, but also for the greater gift of His Son’s death on the cross.

by Ramona Tausz 

I keep reading and hearing internet posts and comments that the reason we have so many problems in schools is that we have taken God out of them. The idea is suggested that if we once again allow (or even mandate) prayer in schools or if we could teach creation in schools or if we could do other things to bring God back into the classroom, these problems would be solved. I’m a pastor. And I don’t want God put back in the schools. Here’s why.

First of all, we must ask, whose God gets put into school? Let’s face it, among the various Christian denominations and non-Christian religions, there are all sorts of different views of God. Do we mean some “God” in general? The Jesus of the Bible? Allah? The life force of eastern religions? When someone says we should get God back into schools, it’s generally their version of God not necessarily the biblical one. In most cases, it’s the god whose job is to enforce and control our behavior so kids will act better, show respect, and leave each other alone. Frankly, I wouldn’t want my children exposed to the religious whims of one teacher or another. Kids go to school to learn how to read, write, and do arithmetic, learn geography, and so on, not to learn their morals and opinions from someone’s conception of God.

Second, the Lord has given parents the calling of training up their children in the faith. Schools, especially public schools, have increasingly seen a rise in their expansion of their roles beyond simply teaching and educating children. Now, in many instances, they have taken on parental responsibilities for feeding, after-school care, and even extended discipline and behavioral monitoring. While it is surely a good thing when schools can assist parents, it should never be that they replace them. Far more important than bringing God back into schools is getting parents back into their children’s lives as the main source of their religious and moral formation, not to mention providing for their basic physical need.

Third, the purpose of schools is not the proclamation of the Gospel. I’ve addressed this before in the broader notion of religion being kept separate from the state, but it bears repeating: The center of the Christian faith is the forgiveness of sins which is given for the sake of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It has never been the school’s (or the government’s) job to deliver this gift. This is why the Lord instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry (pastors) and by that preaching His church (the people of God who hear the preaching). A school is, by nature, the institution of the Law. While teachers can certainly exercise mercy when appropriate, their job is to teach and enforce rules, and guide children according to the grades and standards in place to measure their performance. In other words, in school, a child is evaluated on the basis of their merit and performance. That’s not at all how things work in the church. But it’s a good way of doing things in the school.

When people want to see God back in the schools, it’s really a cry for a time when they think things were probably better. The fact is, children are afflicted with sinful natures from birth. They are sinners just as their parents are. As long as you gather kids together into groups and put them under authority, that sin will play out. Bullies, cliques, poor performance, jealousy, fights, timeouts, and all the other things that seem to go with school will always be with us. Instead of cries for more religion in a place that isn’t meant to be religious how about this: Let’s pray for our teachers, that they have the patience to love, discipline and teach the children entrusted to their care. Let’s pray for parents that they might know the forgiveness of Christ and teach it to their children, that the Holy Spirit would bear fruits of faith in our little ones as they interact with their peers. Let’s thank God for our schools but not inject Him artificially such that we forget why He gives us churches. Here’s a good prayer to use when thinking about such things:

Heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the care and nurture of children. Bless all parents to faithfully train up the children in the true faith of Christ, that they may rejoice in all the blessings He gives. Bless all teachers, and school administrators and staff, so that they may carry out their callings with joy, teaching and helping our little ones and youth that they may grow up to lead lives of help and service to others and to you glory. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in McHenry, IL.