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Catechesis

The Sign of the Holy Cross

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard

In the name of + Jesus. September 14 is the Festival of the Holy Cross. It was on this day in the year 326 A.D. that Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, is said to have discovered the cross of Jesus Christ hidden in Jerusalem. It’s a nice story, and quite possible that the cross upon which Jesus died was still around 300 years after His death (after all, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is nearly 300 years old, and we have no reason to doubt its authenticity). But then again, a lot of things happened in Jerusalem during those three centuries, and many people died on crosses under the Romans; it could have been any one of their crosses. It’s just as easy to doubt this story as it is to believe it.

For us Lutherans, the celebration of the Holy Cross isn’t about going halfway across the world to try to find some ancient lumber. And it’s certainly not about worshipping a tree. Let all those relics be thrown into a wood chipper. The True Cross for the Christian is more about water than about wood. Receive the sign of the holy cross, both upon your + forehead, and upon your + heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. The Holy Cross is your baptismal gift.

This is what Jesus means when He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). That’s precisely what happens in Holy Baptism. You lose your life because you are buried with Christ, by baptism, into death. And in those same waters you find your life, for just as Christ was raised from the dead, you also walk a new life. 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). To bear your cross is to be baptized.

In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. Repeat the drill in the evening, says the Small Catechism. With the cross comes God’s name. And there is nothing truer. Because you have God’s Name and cross, given by water and Word, there is no doubt whatsoever that you have the True Cross and all the gifts of the One who was crucified upon it.

The royal banners forward go;
The cross shows forth redemption’s flow,
Where He, by whom our flesh was made,
Our ransom in His flesh has paid:

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,
Life’s torrent rushing from His side,
To wash us in the precious flood
Where flowed the water and the blood.

The Royal Banners Forward Go (LSB 455:1-2).

In the name of + Jesus.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, Missouri. He can be contacted at pastor.ehrhard@gmail.com.

Categories
Higher History

Who Was Martin Luther? Part 5

Young Martin Luther the Monk

Rev. Donavon Riley

Martin Luther wasn’t even 22 years old when he approached the monastery door in Erfurt. But he’d made up his mind. He knocked on the door of the Augustinian hermits. Martin asked the prior—the man responsible for running the monastery—to admit him.

Then Luther turned his back on a career in law, his father’s expectations, and his friends’ concerns. He allowed fear to drive him into a cloistered life. But why?

At the end of the winter semester in 1503, Martin traveled home to Mansfeld. On the way, the ceremonial dagger (a popular affectation amongst students at that time) Luther wore at his side stabbed him in the leg, probably in the femoral artery—a very dangerous, often fatal wound. A friend who had travelled with him ran to fetch a doctor, since they were still in sight of the city walls. While Luther laid there, propped against a tree, feet pointed toward the heavens, he prayed to the Mother of God: “Oh, Mary, help.” But that wasn’t the event that drove him to seek out the Augustinian hermits in Erfurt. It was, however, the beginning of the end of his law studies.

The second life threatening event, the one that finally drove young Martin into a monastery, happened on July 2, 1505. Caught in a thunderstorm, Luther believed he was about to die (again), and as fear overwhelmed him he cried out, “Help, St. Anne, [and] I will become a monk!” Family and friends tried to talk Martin out of his decision, but it was no use. Two weeks after the storm Luther threw a “going away” party for his friends. The next morning, he went and knocked on the monastery door. “You see me today and never again,” he said. He thought that was the last he’d see of the world. But it wasn’t to be for Luther. As he later remarked, “To the world I had died till God thought it was time.” Some of his friends, like Crotus Rubeanus and Johannes Nathin, compared Luther’s conversion to that of St. Paul. But, Martin didn’t see it that way, and neither did the Augustinian hermits.

Upon entry into the monastery, he was first questioned: Why did he want to join the order? Was his call truly “from God.” What happened during the storm near Stotterheim? Was he filled with fear and trembling about eternal life? Only after the order decided whether his answers were honest and true, was Luther admitted into the monastic life. He was informed of their decision when, as he lay face down at the prior’s feet, the prior prayed: “Oh, God, who kindles the hearts of those who have been converted from the vanity of the world to the victorious prize of the heavenly calling… May they recognize that the grace of their conversion has been granted gratuitously… Amen.”

Luther had come to the monastery for one purpose only. After two near-death experiences, overcome by fear and driven to question everything he’d done up to that point, what Luther wanted more than anything, what he ached for more than money, fame, or his father’s approval, was to find the merciful God.

Next time we will learn about what life was like for the young monk, Martin Luther.

Rev. Donavon Riley is the pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Webster, Minnesota.

Categories
Current Events

A Few Thoughts on Bread of Life

Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller

Jesus is the Bread of Life, the true food that has come down from heaven, and when we hear and believe His Word we feast on Him. In His flesh is life, and by faith we have that life of His, life that endures forever, life that pushes through death to the resurrection.

Gathering together with a crowd of Lutheran youth, pastors, and parents in Ft. Collins, Colorad this July for the Higher Things Conference was, indeed, a feasting on the Bread of Life. The worship—straight from the hymnal—was incredibly encouraging and the highlight of every youth I talked to. I laughed out loud as extended quotations from the Large Catechism were projected during the plenary lectures, imagining a stranger walking by and saying, “What kind of youth conference is this?” The kind that loves doctrine!

The break-out sectionals were loaded with phenomenal teachers of the church, that is, pastors, with open Bibles and engaging topics.

There was plenty of time to play, to eat, to sing, to pray, to rejoice in the Lord’s Word, and I give thanks to God for His blessings, and for the opportunity to be a part of this conference.

Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller serves as pastor at Hope Lutheran Church of Aurora, Colorado.

Categories
Catechesis

What’s Up with the Weird Clothes?

Rev. Michael Keith

This past Sunday I led the Divine Service at the parish I serve for the first time in two weeks as I had been away on vacation the two Sundays prior. On those vacation Sundays I got to wear “normal” clothes and sit with my family in the pew of the church we visited. It was a nice change for me to sit in the pew.

The Sunday I returned to my parish was different. I wasn’t wearing “normal” clothes. I was wearing my clerical collar and few minutes before the service I was putting on my vestments: my alb and my stole. Now these are certainly not “normal” clothes. Have you ever wondered your pastor wears these weird clothes when he is leading Divine Service?

It’s not about him.

The Divine Service is not about the pastor. He’s not the center of attention—or at least he shouldn’t be. You’re not there to see the pastor. You’re there to see Jesus. It’s all about Jesus and His gifts for you in Word and Sacrament. The pastor is the delivery man. Jesus has called and ordained him to deliver to you the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. But he’s not the important thing here. Jesus and His gifts are.

So we cover up the man. That’s why the historic Church throughout the ages has had her pastors wear vestments. Vestments have changed, and some pastors today wear different vestments than others, but that the pastor wear some garments that identify him as one set apart, as one ordained to carry out the duties of delivering the gifts to God’s people, has been observed since Old Testament times.

Think of it this way: If a police officer pulls you over for speeding there are several things that will identify to you that he or she is an officer of the law. The red and blue lights blinking on his car is a dead giveaway. He will be in a uniform. She will have a badge and a gun. He has been authorized to do certain things that only an officer of the law is able to do. One of them is to pull you over for speeding and issue you a ticket. Now, you don’t particularly care what this police officer’s name is or if he has a good sense of humor or a sparkling personality. The only thing that is important is that he has been authorized to pull you over and stop you from speeding.

As a pastor, I don’t get a badge and a gun, although that would be cool and might make Confirmation classes go a bit more smoothly! But no, the Church uses different symbols to identify to you someone who has been given the Office of the Holy Ministry. These symbols identify to you one who has been called and ordained and authorized by Jesus to serve His people by the preaching, teaching, and administration of the Sacraments. The clerical collar is a dead giveaway. During Divine Service the pastor wears an alb or some other vestment to cover him up. He will wear a stole to show that he has been ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry. He may wear a chasuble while presiding of the Holy Supper. You might think of these weird clothes as the pastor’s uniform. The “uniform” assures you that the one preaching and teaching and baptizing and absolving and distributing Holy Communion has been authorized by Jesus to do so.

Why is this important? Because Jesus has promised to work through the Office of the Holy Ministry. He’s the One who instituted it. It’s His idea! He wanted to make sure that His people would receive His gifts. He promises to work through His Office so that you would receive His gifts. It’s important to Him and so He sends pastors to deliver His gifts in Word and Sacrament to you. So you never need to doubt or worry or wonder if Jesus is truly giving you His gifts when “the called ministers deal with us by His divine command” as the Small Catechism teaches. It is for your assurance. It is for your comfort. It is for your certainty.

The pastor delivers to you the gifts of Jesus. Forgiveness. Life. Salvation. Receive these gifts regularly through the preaching of the Word. Through remembering the gifts Jesus gave in Holy Baptism. Through the Holy Absolution. Through the Body and the Blood. That’s your pastor’s job—to point you to Jesus. To be His delivery man. The weird clothes he wears are to draw your attention away from the man and point you to Jesus and His promises.

Rev. Michael Keith serves as pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church and SML Christian Academy in Stony Plain, AB Canada. He can be reached at keith@st-matthew.com

Categories
Life Issues

Higher Things: Oh, the Places We Will Go

Crysten Sanchez

Higher Things does something to a person.

I’ve been involved with Higher Things in one form or another since 2007. The summer before my senior year of college, I was called upon to be a College Conference Volunteer (CCV) by Pastor Rob Jarvis, the CCV Manager for the For You conference in Minneapolis. He was a campus ministry pastor from Morris, Minnesota. They needed more college volunteers. He knew that I went to school in St. Paul, and that I was a decent person on account of the fact that I was marrying one of his former members. My now husband, Daniel, was active in the campus ministry while he went to school at the University of Minnesota in Morris. I agreed to serve, but was uncertain of what the week would bring.

What that week at For You was one of the most incredible times of my life. I met wonderful people. I was floored by the sheer force of the preaching and teaching. Plus, I had an amazing time that was fueled by very little sleep. It ended up being life changing, and I don’t say that flippantly.

I had to take 2008 off while getting settled into married life and a new job, but I then brought a group of youth to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the 2009 Sola conference. I was a fairly new youth leader introducing this great organization to a congregation, and, thankfully, they never looked back. While getting reacquainted with some of the HT staff that year, I put myself out there and asked if there was anything I could help with. The following fall, I was asked to plan the entertainment for the 2010 conference in Nashville, Tennessee. That’s when I planned for a conference of 1,100 people to go to a rented out saloon for a night of line dancing, billiards and pictures with giant horses in cowboy hats. We prayed compline in a bar. So, that happened.

Following the 2010 conference season, I was asked to serve as the Housing Coordinator for all three 2011 conferences, and through that process, I was trained to take over as Registrar for the 2012 conference season and beyond. I couldn’t believe that this organization that I had come to love so much found something worthy in me to ask me to take part in their mission. Without hesitation, I agreed. Throughout the 2012-2015 seasons, I served as Registrar and loved it. I truly enjoyed working with all of the group leaders to assist them in getting their ducks in a row as they prepared to attend their first or twelfth conference.

Through the growing and changing of the organization, I now serve as the Conference Coordinator for Higher Things. This past summer, I coordinated my first conference at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. What a ride! Who would have thought something so great could happen in the middle of the corn fields of Iowa? This job allows me to stay home with my two young children while working with an incredible organization, the mission of which is to bring the Gospel to the ears and mouths of youth and adults alike.

I meant it when I said that the week in 2007 that I served as a CCV was life changing. It brought me into the world of HT, which now has become my career. I encourage anyone to take part in these conferences, in any way, if at all possible. You never know where it will lead you.

Crysten Sanchez is a member at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

Categories
Catechesis

Draw Near to the Throne of Grace

Rev. Lucas Miller

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

For me, at least, there are times when everything seems to be going wrong—times when I just feel overwhelmed, in over my head, and quite honestly want to just crawl back into bed. There are times when I wonder if God knows the struggles I face or if He’s put these obstacles before me to see me fail. Is God far off, laughing as He sees me struggling day to day? I think to myself if I could get past this point, I’d be okay. “If I could have more money or have that enemy gone then all would be well and all my problems solved.” “If I had more power, then I could do what I want when I want and not answer to anyone.” Or, “If only I were more holy and righteous then I could save myself and not worry about my sins.” I’m sure many of you have felt this way before, maybe even right now as you read this.

There are indeed times when we’re overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness. But, as we read in Hebrews 4, we have a God who has felt these same feelings. We have God who has wears our flesh and has experienced the harsh world as we have. We have God who has cried tears of sadness and pain. We have a God who has been hungry and thirsty. We have a God who has faced temptation. We have a God who has experienced the loss of loved ones, even His own Son. We have a God who has been beaten. We have a God who has bled His own blood. We have a God who has even experienced death.

So to think He is far off is a lie of the devil. Because God is indeed able to sympathize with our weaknesses, because He faced them too, but has done so without sin. Repent, friends, and cast these feelings to Christ, drawing near to the throne of grace where all we do is receive the gifts of forgiveness and love—His Body and Blood—and hear the words, “You are mine.” “You are forgiven.” “You are righteous.” “Well done good and faithful servant.” Amen

Dear Heavenly Father, healer of all conditions, be with us through our struggles. Give us the strength to move forward when we feel like giving up. Give us your grace when we don’t deserve it and grant us forgiveness through the blood of your Son Jesus Christ. So that we may approach your throne of grace in times of need and receive all the gifts you freely give us through Christ. Amen.

Rev. Lucas Miller serves as pastor at St John’s Lutheran Church in Pierce, Nebraska.

Categories
Current Events

What I Love About Higher Things Conferences

I love going to Higher Things every year because of the pure liturgical services, and the diverse breakaway sessions. Every one of the services offered is pulled directly from the Lutheran Hymnal, and in turn from God’s Word, ensuring that we receive God’s good gifts each and every time we worship. Using the Word also ensures that there is no deviation from what God tells us. For me, this is very reassuring in a world that is constantly trying to pull us away from Jesus.

The breakaway sessions are excellent to increase our knowledge as Christians. The topics range greatly from how to interpret the Scriptures with better understanding to the issues that are prevalent in our world today. I have found that these sessions help add to our tools to defend our faith in Jesus Christ.

I have gone every year for five years and each time I come away feeling that my faith has grown and being reminded that Christ died and rose for all of my sins out of His pure grace and mercy.

—Jessica Schmidt, Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Black Hawk, SD.

 

Higher Things is always a highlight of my summer. I have nothing but positive words for the Higher Things conference in Colorado. I felt like I have the best perspective as a chaperone because I was able to participate in everything the conference had to offer as well as hear the reactions and perspectives from the youth.

This was my sixth Higher Things conference and I was still constantly learning about my faith. I love the fact that Higher Things offers a large variety of breakaway sessions because they allow participants to choose the depth of their learning. We would meet up as a group after the sessions and our youth couldn’t wait to ask all of the questions they came up with. It is so fulfilling to know we are providing the youth with an opportunity to have a deeper understanding of their faith. The fact that Higher Things will take the time to actually teach what it means to be a Lutheran is so important because our youth will be better prepared to defend their faith in the future.

Higher Things also does an amazing job mixing the fun with the learning. There is never a dull moment at these conferences and our youth are always happily exhausted on the way home! We have deeply enjoyed every conference that we have attended and have already started making plans for next year!

—Megan Sutton, Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Black Hawk, SD.

Categories
Current Events

Why Get Involved?

Kay Maiwald

As I think about writing something regarding the conferences I attended this summer, I realize I have nothing new to say about Higher Things. Our family started attending conferences in 2007. By 2012, our boys were grown and not attending anymore, so my husband and I offered our help. Some years later we find ourselves happily embedded in the organization that is Higher Things. Each year we attend conferences and see the same things happening: historical liturgical worship, teaching on meaty theological and social topics, hundreds of kids enjoying the activities offered during free time, as well as stories of youth singing hymns on the way home and bringing services like Matins and Evening Prayer into their home congregations.

So, if there is nothing new, why keep coming, why get involved, why write about it at all? Exactly because of all the things mentioned above. While our youth are taught from an early age that they join each Sunday with the whole company of heaven, it doesn’t hurt to have in our ears and memories the sound of hundreds of Lutherans singing the same hymns of the Church. The teaching is an intense version of what we get each week from our pastor, in catechesis and Bible class. For youth like ours, who were growing up in a congregation with few or no other young people, it was important to have Lutheran friends from all over the country who could spend that four days together each year and support each other during the intervening months (and with whom they are still friends as adults). And nothing beats the attention given the processional cross as it enters the opening Divine Service, symbolic of the focus on Christ throughout the conference, and the way youth are directed back to the gifts of Christ given to them through their pastors at their home altars.

We once took an adult from our congregation to her first conference. At the end, she asked, “Why doesn’t EVERYONE from our congregation come to Higher Things?” Good question.

Kay Maiwald is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, in Hancock, Maryland.

Categories
Current Events

Being a CCV Is All About Jesus

Monica Berndt

“…being Lutheran is still about open access to the Gospel. It will always be about access to God in Christ Jesus.” —A. Trevor Suttton, Being Lutheran

As I sit here trying to synthesize all the wonderful experiences of being a College Conference Volunteer (CCV) at the Higher Things conference in Colorado, I find that there is almost too much to write. How can I describe the joy of meeting with other college students who are have experienced the reality that Christ and Him crucified is not welcome on college campuses and that great feeling of relief that you do not have to explain your worldview to them because you share it? You can actually have discussions and talk about issues and know that the other person is not actively trying to tear down at every opportunity.

As CCVs, we come to a Higher Things conference ready to work—ready to walk all over the given campus; ready to direct and assist the attendees; ready to deliver water, diet Coke, and diet Mountain Dew to the breakout speakers; ready to cheer on our Tetramorphs; ready to scuttle out of chapel to hang up posters—and yet we never really know what experience is in store for us until we get there. By the end of the week, we can be exhausted and sore, but also overly energetic and sentimental after the final Divine Service. We meet wonderful people and make new friends, uncertain of whether or not we will ever see them again. But one thing is certain: At each Higher Things conference, we get the chance to hear about Jesus, receive His gifts, and learn and grow in our faith!

We still get to attend the breakaway sessions (after we deliver enthusiastic evaluation speeches, of course) and we get to soak up each individual topic presented by the speaker. We get just as excited about attending chapel with everyone else as any conference member, even though we may constantly walk around asking people to be quiet and look overly serious, and we get even more excited when someone near us knows the harmonies to the liturgy. We love sitting together and listening to a plenary session (even if our phones are buzzing off the hook the entire time). For us CCVs who come to the conferences, it’s about the opportunity to hear the Word in a community of believers—to hear, see, and receive Jesus.

Sure, there are some extra perks to being a CCV other than participating in 14 services over the course of the week. We do get some of our own time to goof off and be silly (especially in the company of our CCV managers) and just talk about life experiences and college. We also get the chance to meet and talk to a lot of the staff and pastors who are at the conference. We learn how to drive golf carts, sell and inventory merchandise, give semi-accurate directions around a campus we are not 100% familiar with, and run some pretty great entertainment for the youth. I guess what being a CCV boils down to is the chance to serve our neighbor and we relish the opportunity! It’s because the experience is not about us or about what we do, it’s about the Gospel and Jesus given and shed for you in the Sacrament. This is what truly draws us to become CCVs year after year.

One final thought: to all the staff, pastors, and volunteers who give up their time with their families, energy, and brain power to put on these conference and preach the Gospel, we THANK YOU! None of us could attend these conferences without your tireless efforts. Thank you for patiently working with the CCVs during our less-than-finest moments of forgetfulness and tardiness. Thank you for standing as an example to all of us of faithful adults who have survived the waters of college and are braving the tide of everyday life. Thank you for confessing Christ and daring to be Lutheran.

Monica Berndt served as a CCV for Bread of Life in Ft. Collins, Colorado. She attends the University of Washington and is a member at Messiah Lutheran Church in Seattle. Her goal is to become a music teacher and teach young Lutherans the joys of singing hymns.

Categories
Higher History

Who Was Martin Luther? Part 4

Wood carving of Luther rose
Saved by Christ alone

Rev. Donavon Riley

After four years at the university in Erfurt, Luther had become “magister atrium“, which is what we know as a Master of Liberal Arts. He finished second amongst seventeen students who were candidates to receive a degree that year. By the time young Martin was prepared to test for his degree, he’d devoted four years of study primarily to the classic Greek philosopher, Aristotle and all his works on metaphysics, politics, ethics, and economics.

An exciting part of a student’s education at that time happened during the last two years at university. Students learned how to interpret and debate important topics, usually from the works of Aristotle. They also were expected to devote more time to the “quadrivium”—music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy.

University was intense for any student. Administration and faculty set high expectations for learning and academic achievement. To make sure everyone was focused on their studies, students lived together in what we call “dorms” under strict supervision. Free time or taking a break from studies was not considered to be a part of a student’s daily routine. In fact, university life was very much based on a monastic style of life.

But, since life was so difficult during the late Middle Ages, why would anyone want to attend university? Why go through such a strict curriculum—one which many students could not complete? What was the upside to a university education and degree during such dark, apocalyptic times?

The simple answer is because there was an opportunity to become a theologian, lawyer, or doctor. Rulers and authorities always needed lawyers, especially as feudalism continued to crumble and capitalism began to capture peoples’ imaginations. More and more, daily life in city, town, and village was run by bureaucrats rather than dukes, earls, and lords.

In the field of medicine, Germany lagged far behind more medically advanced countries like Italy and England. A town doctor in Germany at the turn of the sixteenth century was, to put the best construction on things, one step above the local butcher for skill and usefulness. And often, it was the butcher who was the town doctor and dentist! But, there was a push to write new, up-to-date medical books and improve the quality of medical faculties at universities, and that meant a demand for more gifted young doctors.

Finally, skilled theologians were much sought after by the growing university faculties of Europe. Theological studies were, after all, considered “the queen of the faculties.”

To sum up, a university degree meant status, money, and a better life, not just for an individual, but possibly for his whole family.

After Luther’s success with the Master of Arts exam, his father, Hans, gifted his son with a sum of money so Martin could buy the necessary books to continue his law studies. However, several weeks later, young Martin returned the books unused to the bookseller in Gotha. He didn’t need them anymore, he said. He’d made a decision not to pursue a law degree. Martin had decided to enter the monastery instead, stunning both family and friends.

That’s why, after throwing a “going away” party, of sorts for his friends, Martin then entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt on July 16, 1505. Later, when he reflected on this decision at his dinner table at the “Black Cloister” in Wittenberg, Luther remarked that his decision to ignore his father’s authority, to disregard everything Hans had suffered and sacrificed so his son could enjoy a better life than he, was a sin. Luther said that he had made his decision to enter the monastery out of fear. “But how much good the merciful Lord has allowed to come of it!” he said.

Next week we will read about what motivated Luther to give up his law studies and enter a monastery. It was a big decision for Martin, and a decision that ended up affecting not just church history, but world history.

Rev. Donavon Riley is the pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Webster, Minnesota.