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Current Events

HT Conferences: Exceeding Expectations

The 2014 Higher Things conference was my first ever conference and since I had such an amazing time then, I had very high expectations for this year. And I have to say, my expectations were exceeded!

I absolutely loved the services we had throughout the day! It was great to have a service in the morning and in the afternoon—they really helped me touch base with Christ amidst all of the learning sessions, games, and other various activities. The services flowed well and the music was absolutely beautiful. The pastors’ sermons were captivating and most importantly, they included both the Law and the Gospel.

The hardest part of this conference was picking which breakaway sessions to go to! There were so many opportunities to learn about the Word of God but unfortunately I could only attend a select few. Every session I attended was excellent and enlightening. You could tell the pastors really knew what they were talking about and backed up all of their facts with specific passages from the Bible. If I had to pick a favorite I would pick Pastor Riley’s “God’s Love for Unlovable People.” This session shed a whole new light on how I view various characters throughout the Bible. I only wish time permitted me to listen to all of the breakaway sessions.

After spending the day learning the Word of God it was nice to be able to relax, have fun, and socialize on the Colorado State campus. They had an activity for everyone! My personal favorite was the talent competition—talented youth entertained me with music, magic, and even a bit of dancing! I thought it was ingenious to have teams that you were able to win points for because it really introduced me to new people and added a great level of competition to the conference. Whether you are artistic, musical, or athletic, there was a way to contribute to your team.

I strongly encourage youth all around the country to attend this well-rounded conference. I didn’t think it was possible for the conference staff to top the Wisconsin conference I attended two years ago, but they truly have outdone themselves!

This article was written by “Natalie,” a member at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, Missouri. Rev. Jacob Ehrhard serves as her pastor.

Categories
Catechesis

O Lord, Open My Lips

Bethany Woelmer

A simple prayer of three words: Open my lips.

“Lord, open them first, and then my mouth can declare your praise. Deliver me quickly, and help me, O Lord, to glorify your holy name as you are present among us in your Word. All your people join in the hymn of all creation, the hymn of the New Song, the Gospel, that has won victory for us. My soul magnifies you and sings to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are worthy of being praised with pure voices forever. O Lord, have mercy upon us.”

More than 1,000 lips of youth, adults, and pastors were opened to sing this truth of God’s Word on July 26-29 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Joy ran through my fingers on the organ as I supported these voices with music&mdashthis joy in the midst of sin and suffering, joy in Christ’s resurrection, and joy that is shared with the company of angels and archangels, evermore praising God and singing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.”

Day after day, we sang of Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Day after day, we returned to this simple prayer: O Lord, open my lips.

O Lord, open my lips, because they are closed by sin. Behind them dwell evil thoughts, words, and actions. The fool says in its own heart, “there is no God.” He is a beast towards God, refusing to utter His truth and acting in false witness, slander, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, and the like. We have turned our lips toward the creation rather than the Creator, opening them rather for the purpose of selfish glory and attractiveness. We open them for the food we crave&mdashthat of idolatry and immorality. We feed upon the food of this world.

Yet there is the Good News: Our lips are opened in our baptism, from which we can sing of the new heart created within us. Our lips are opened in this faith that receives the true Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, who gives Himself to us by simple means of water, bread, and wine for the forgiveness of sins. Our lips are opened, because we are beggars. We come to God’s House, ready to receive forgiveness of sins as we feast upon this Bread of Life delivered to us by God.

Music, then, becomes a part of this deliverance or “unwrapping” of the Gospel. It allows the words to come alive as we sing them. While God’s Word directs man to use music in the doxology of creation with his gifts of voice and instrument, music moves man’s heart toward the doxology of the new creation to proclaim and praise God and His work of salvation for us. Music’s true service is founded upon musica crucis, the music of the cross, that centers upon Jesus Christ.

A church musician’s prayer is as simple as “O Lord, open my lips,” because without faith, we would have no joy in the Gospel. We would have no words to sing of this life won for us. Our music would have no meaning, and it would be empty of the “pure voices” belonging to God’s people that join together in Christ to sing the New Song of salvation. My prayer throughout this week of Higher Things was to strengthen our faith, and so our voices, to the proclamation and praise of God’s Holy Word.

And so God answers, “I know My own; My own know me. You, not the world, My face shall see. My peace I leave with you. Amen.” His words from His lips to ours in this simple assurance that “Christ is Himself the joy of all” continues to ring true as we live in our baptism. May God continue to open our lips to receive Himself and proclaim His salvation to all creation.

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” Amen.

Bethany Woelmer is a member at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Topeka, Kansas and a graduate student in church music at the University of Kansas.

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Current Events

What Nebraskans Loved About Bread of Life 2016

What is it like to be at a Higher Things Conference? In this article we hear from three members of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Winside, NE. They attended Bread of Life 2016 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO.

Conference Reflections by Sadie Johanson

Higher Things is the one week I look forward to all year. It’s a place where we are joined together with more than 1,000 of our brothers and sisters in Christ to learn, worship, hear His word, and receive His Body and Blood.

Every year my favorite thing about this conference remains the same: the opening Divine Service, where nearly a thousand youth are gathered together in the church singing at the top of their lungs and confessing the same faith.

We had many breakout sessions in which I learned how our faith isn’t our job to somehow improve, for I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him, however in Christ God is already pleased with me. I also learned about individual confession and absolution and why it is so important, as well as why it is good to have art in the church and how it all points back to Christ and Him crucified for us. The evolution session taught me the difference between how the world looks at and treats people around them, compared to how Christians view the world.

Each day after learning and worshiping we would have a little fun. I particularly enjoyed the friendly competition this year between the tetramorphs, especially getting to meet other youth on the same team. I had fun searching for Walther, listening to performers in the talent show, participating in archery tag, and watching pastors and youth chant pop songs.

Even though I will not be able to return as a youth member to next year’s Higher Things conferences, I will cherish the memories and everything I have learned for the rest of my life.

Three Things That Pr. Harrison Goodman Loved About Bread of Life 2016

I love that my kids love it. Let me be more specific. All of them talk about coming back after graduation—to a “high school” event. They want to be CCVs. They want to be leaders. They want more. They could go other places to play games. They just seem to prefer worshipping multiple times a day in between Bible studies tackling real issues of doctrine and life, and then going to play games afterward. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t follow the “youth ministry” rules. It just equips our kids to be Lutherans in this world. It’s in-depth, and hard work comes before play, but it gives them the tools they need, and they love it.

I love that my kids sing. Not just for 4 days. I love that they’re the ones who sing out to carry my congregation through the tricky parts of Evening Prayer during Lent. Higher Things doesn’t promote conferences as a mountain top experience. They kind of shy away from it. However, this year we literally went 5,000 feet up a mountain and sang with 1,500 kids before an altar in front of a giant window that overlooked the Rocky Mountains. Whether or not you want to lean on the feeling that comes from hearing thousands of kids put seminary chapels to shame, it’s there. That feeling, whether we want it to or not, shapes our kids’ understanding of what church is supposed to look like as the line between heaven and earth is blurred by a Christ who makes Himself present for sinners. As it turns out, church is supposed to look a lot like what they get each week at home. We’re not teaching them that the pinnacle of church is something different from the Word and Sacraments they receive at home. Same church. It’s just a little louder up the mountain.

I love teaching. It’s not about the “atta-boys”, the attention, the free shirt, or even the chance to play with Power Point slides that prove I know how Google image search works. It’s because the kids don’t care about me at all. They just want Jesus. It sounds bad, but it’s incredible. So much of the adult dialogue about how to deal with kids is candy coating the assumption that you have to trick them into liking you, then trick them into liking Jesus. It still shocks me to see kids wander into a breakaway session knowing nothing about me at all, because they actually want to learn about Jesus. It’s a personal reminder that the stuff we teach on a daily basis really does matter to our people, young and old.

Reflections by Annika Johanson

I loved the experience of going to HT and knowing that there are other youth who love being Lutheran as well. I got to be with over 1,000 other Lutherans confessing and learning about Jesus.

During some of the breakaway sessions that I went to, I learned about different denominations, the minor prophets, the purpose of life, and confession and absolution and how to defend my faith. Plenary was a group Bible study where we learned about “The Bread of Life.”

I loved listening to the organist, the choir and everyone singing so loudly during all the services. I was thrilled to participate in orchestra which played during the last Divine Service. It was incredible and I look forward to going to another HT conference.

Categories
Catechesis

Stand by Me

Kathy Strauch

When the night has come and the land is dark…No I won’t be afraid Just as long as you stand, stand by me. (“Stand by Me” – Ben E. King)

Jesus always embraces, welcomes, and forgives sinners. It is His association with, as well as compassion and love towards sinners that is most scandalous to the world. He runs after the doubters, the unbelievers, the sinners. Jesus goes after the poor, the lost, the sick, and the dead. They are the reason that Jesus came.

I am the reason Jesus came. I am the poor, the lost, the sick, and the dead in my sinful nature. In the waters of my baptism, it was Jesus who went after me and grabbed hold of me. I was embraced, welcomed, and forgiven by water connected to the Word. My spiritual poverty was filled with the riches of Christ. I was given a gift wrapped in water. I was eternally washed with Christ and a new identity was given to me. Christ placed His faithful Name on me in Holy Baptism and I belong to Him.

I have been adopted, purchased, and placed under the protection of the Good Shepherd. Martin Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “He has taken us as His own property under His shelter and protection so that He may govern us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.” All of the blessings of Psalm 23 are mine through the gift and promise given to me in my baptism. The Lord has made me His sheep through the water and the Word. I lack nothing because Jesus gave me everything, He gave even His own life for me and to me. He refreshes, forgives, and keeps my soul. He governs me by His righteousness that He has given to me. His goodness and love will follow me and run after me all the days of my life because I belong to Christ. His goodness and love will always stand by me.

The promise of baptism is a Jesus who stands by me. The promise is that Jesus will always be faithful though I am faithless (2 Timothy 2:13). He wrapped Himself around me in the waters of my baptism and took my sins from me giving me His righteousness. The promise is that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). He has promised He will never leave me and God cannot lie.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). Even though the darkness of my flesh, the world, and the devil come against me, I will not fear because I am baptized and so I belong to Christ. I have been clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). I have died with Christ and have been raised with Him (Romans 6:4). My sin has been answered for in my Savior’s life and death for me. When the night comes, when fears, doubts, and sin threaten me, I will fear no evil for my Savior is with me. Jesus will eternally stand by me.

Kathy Strauch is a member of Faith Lutheran Church in Troy, Michigan and is a graphic designer.

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Higher History

Who Was Martin Luther? Part 3

Paying indulgences

Rev. Donavon Riley

Martin Luther, like most people during the sixteenth century, lived during a time of both earthly and spiritual insecurity. Frequent wars, plagues, peasant revolts, and famine meant people had to struggle to secure daily bread. And, at the same time that they were worried about sustenance, the church taught that sins could be atoned for by praying to the saints, making pilgrimages, worshipping holy relics, and the like.

The world Luther grew up in was an apocalyptic time. Death could overcome a person at any moment. The Grim Reaper, Four Horsemen, and other end times figures were popular in literature, art, and music. Images of fire and brimstone occupied the church’s imagination, too. Jesus wasn’t pictured as a merciful shepherd or suffering servant, but as a judge seated on a rainbow throne, a two-edged sword coming out one side of his mouth and a lily the other. They symbolized judgment and mercy, death and resurrection. This meant that the primary question on Christian’s minds was: “What must I do to avoid the sword and receive the lily?”

The church’s answer was, “Do what is in you.” Then, God willing, the church would dispense grace to penitent sinners.

To this end, at least once a year, people were expected to confess their sins to a priest. Of course, the more often the faithful Christian confessed his sins the better, but at least once a year was required. In fact, before he could go to communion, he was obligated to go to a priest for confession and absolution. However, if the priest didn’t feel the sins confessed were sincere, honest, or expressed from a contrite heart, he would ban the offender from communion until such time as he made a proper, sincere confession of sins.

Then there was purgatory. In Luther’s day, the church taught that anyone who had not done enough in this life to be purged of all their earthly sins must pay for them in purgatory. As Luther scholar James Kittelson writes: “They would sweat out every unremitted sin before they could see the gates of heaven,” unless, of course, a family member or friend could afford to offer a monetary “gift” to the church in return for a loved one’s release from purgatory.

The “indulgences” as they were called, were legal documents that came with fill-in-the-blank spaces for the purchaser, for those whom he wanted to buy out of purgatory, how many years off purgatory he wanted to pay down, and so on.

Young Martin Luther came of age in a religious culture that mirrored the world. If he worked hard enough, maybe he received his just desserts. In the same way, if he was devout and earnest about his eternal salvation, he might receive grace and be allowed to walk through heaven’s gates at the time of death.

Whether Luther received an earthly or spiritual reward, hard work was the focus. How much he applied himself, how he used the gifts God had given him and how devoted he was to his spiritual development would determine for young Luther where he ended up—not only in life but also in the afterlife.

Next week, we will look at Luther’s time in Erfurt.

NOTE: If you’ve enjoyed these articles and want to know more about Martin Luther, I’ve been following the work of my professor, James M. Kittelson, in his book Luther The Reformer: The Story of The Man and His Career. Also, in the weeks and months that follow I will introduce you, the reader, to other works by Luther scholars that I believe will help deepen your knowledge and appreciation for Luther’s life and work. Enjoy!

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

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Life Issues

Moving On: A Letter from Father to Son

This article originally appeared in Higher Things® Magazine. Become a subscriber today by visiting higherthings.org/magazine/subscriptions.

Rev. George F. Borghardt

My Son, when you were born I held you in my arms and said to you, “You little sinner! You little hater of God and His word! God is going to save you at the baptismal font!” And God did save you. He named you in the waters of Holy Baptism. He washed your sins away. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Now that you have graduated from high school, I selfishly wish I could freeze time. I would keep you in our house, in your room, safe from the world out there that is going to hate you. I’ve considered just grounding you for the rest of your life, but that doesn’t seem right or fair. You don’t deserve to be grounded—at least this time!

Instead, I’m going to write you this letter and tell you how I feel. I’ve told you before that nothing we do is just for ourselves, it is for others, too. So, I know there are parents who feel like I do about their sons and daughters who are graduating.

This graduation isn’t the end for you. It’s just the closing of one door. It’s a single accomplishment. Now, the real work begins. Time to live as an adult! Time to begin your life out there!

I don’t just want to keep you frozen here because I love you, but I also want to protect you from life “out there!” That scares me! Out there, I can’t keep you in the faith. I can’t protect you from all the filth and lies that will be thrown at you from the world. I can’t fix your bruises anymore or make decisions for you. I can’t even make you do things like go to church or Sunday School!

The Gospel is that I’m not the one who ever had to keep you in the faith in the first place. It all rests on Jesus! He promised to be with you in the waters of Holy Baptism. I was there at your Confirmation to see the good Word that He put into you produce fruit! Those were not dead words but living-Jesus-Christ-and-Him-Crucified-for-you-words that will carry you through anything that you will go through in life. He has put His Body and Blood into you. His Supper will keep you steadfast in the faith—the one true faith—unto life everlasting!

I wish that His gifts meant that you could do anything and be anything in this life. But that would be a lie. You can try to do anything. You can try to be anything. You won’t always get what you want. Things aren’t always going to work out for you.

But whatever you try, do so as if God has given to you to do it. That’s what a vocation is! It is what God has given to you to do in the particular place and time you have been placed by Him. Before graduation, you were a high school student. Now that vocation is over, and it’s off to work and college. You are a student. That is what God wants you to do. You are working to pay for college. That is what God wants you to do, too. Do these vocations as if you were doing them for God, because you are doing them for God.

He saves you by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. But college and work are, well, work. You have to get up for class. You have to do your homework. You have to get to work on time. You have to be a good student and good worker. When you do your vocation, you are serving God. When you don’t, you are sinning against God. Also, there is no “grace alone” to make things right at school or work. So, if you don’t go to class, you will have bad grades. If you don’t work, you won’t eat.

Don’t worry about what God wants you to do with the rest of your life, either. As you do what is given to you to do in your vocations now, He will lead you into whatever He has next for you in this life. He will give all His gifts in His time. There are no shortcuts in life. There is only His giving in the particular time that He gives the gifts that He gives to you. So, work like you have to earn your life but always know that He gives you gifts like your job, your college, and your career. You work, but your work is always still given by grace alone.

When you fail, don’t get down on yourself. Don’t think that you can fix it. First, confess your sins to God and to those whom you have failed. Be forgiven. Then, suffer the consequences “out there” in the world for wherever you have fumbled, knowing that, because of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are no eternal consequences for your sins. Jesus has taken them all.

After you been forgiven, look for the gift from God in your failures. There’s a gift in every bad thing in this life. There just has to be, because we believe that God is always good to us in the suffering and death of Jesus. So, nothing can happen to you apart from Holy Baptism. Nothing difficult in your life happens apart from the Cross of Christ. He is working all things for your good. Every door that closes, every door that opens, even your graduation has all been part of the good gifts that He gives to you. The gift may be for you, or it may be for those around you. Remember that you learned in Confirmation that we aren’t here just for ourselves. We are here for others—even when we fall down.

This is why my prayer for you is that you get up and go to church every Lord’s Day! Go to Bible class whenever you can! You need Jesus to save you! You need His forgiveness to enliven you to live your vocations out in this world. You need His life to enliven your life. Set your alarm and get yourself to church!

I hope this letter is a gift to you, Son. I hope it’s a gift to the rest of you who read it, too. Your parents love you. They are proud of you. They will be proud of whatever and wherever the Lord leads you. And if you ever—and I mean ever—need any help in your journey, know that your parents will be there for you, to pick you up, to remind you are forgiven, and to tell you that you that they love you.

I love you, Son.

In Christ,
Dad

Rev. George F. Borghardt is the Senior Pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in McHenry, Illinois. He also serves as the president of Higher Things.

Categories
Catechesis

Two Kinds of Eating

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard

“I AM the Bread of Life,” says Jesus. “The one who comes to me will never hunger and the one who believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35). Wow, Jesus, that’s deep. “I AM the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, He will live forever. And the bread that I give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:51). Wait, what? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you have no life in you” (John 6:53). Ok, now this is just weird.

Bread and flesh. It’s God’s way of feeding. The Israelites got manna in the morning and quail at night for their daily bread. Jesus fed the thousands with loaves and fishes. Bread and flesh. But Jesus’ flesh? And blood? How can we…wait! He must be talking about the Sacrament of the Altar. “Take, eat, this is My body…drink of it all of you, this cup is the New Testament in My blood” (Words of Institution). But Luther famously said that John 6 was not about the Lord’s Supper. And Jesus Himself says just a few verses later, “It is the Spirit who makes alive; the flesh benefits nothing” (John 6:63). Now what are we to do?

We confess that there are two kinds of eating. In John 6, when Jesus speaks of the Bread of Life, He’s talking about the first kind and anticipating the second; on the night in which He is betrayed when He institutes His Supper, He gives us to do the second kind in order to strengthen the first.

There is a twofold eating of Christ’s flesh. One is spiritual, which Christ describes especially in John 6:54. This “eating” happens in no other way than with the Spirit and faith, in preaching and meditation on the Gospel, as well as in the Lord’s Supper…The other eating of Christ’s body is oral or sacramental, when Christ’s true, essential body and blood are orally received and partaken of in the Holy Supper by all who eat and drink the consecrated bread and wine in the Supper (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration VII.61, 63).

Spiritual eating is whenever the Word of God is apprehended by faith. It is spiritual eating because it’s the work of the Spirit. We receive the words and promises of Christ as true bread from heaven that strengthen us and preserve, not only in our souls, but also in our bodies. Philosophy (and human nature) presumes that in order to apprehend spiritual things, you need to abandon material things, like flesh and blood. But Jesus says that this spiritual bread that comes down from heaven is His flesh. Philosophy gets it backwards. We do not need to ascend to Jesus in heaven to apprehend spiritual things; He comes down from heaven to give it to us in the flesh.

Bodily eating takes place in the Sacrament—bread and wine in the mouth. While spiritual eating is always by faith, this second kind of eating is by the Word of Christ. “This is My body; this is My blood,” and “is” means “is” regardless of whether you believe it or not. The problems start to come when these two kinds of eating are confused. The people in Capernaum (where Jesus taught in John 6) thought that Jesus wanted them to walk up to Him and start gnawing on His arm. But we do not eat Jesus’ flesh and blood in such a Capernaitic way. We don’t chew and digest His body and blood like other food. His divine Body and Blood are united with bread and wine in a mysterious, sacramental way. And so when we eat His Body and Blood with our mouths, it’s not broken down and made part of our bodies, but we are made a part of His body.

Two kinds of eating. Both of them are necessary for the Sacrament. Because of the Word of Christ, the bread is the body, the body is in the bread; the cup is the blood, the blood is in the cup. Everyone who eats and drinks eats and drinks Body and Blood. But by faith and the Holy Spirit we receive this Body and Blood for a benefit—eternal life now and on the Last Day.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, Missouri.

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Current Events

Reflections of a Higher Things Cantor

Paul Soulek

Serving as cantor (leader of the people’s song) for Higher Things in Nashville was great! I played the organ, directed the choir, and worked with the instrumentalists. The staff was superb, the participants were perky, and the liturgy was loud. But Higher Things is more than a momentary mountaintop of momentous musical moments.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book Life Together: “It is the voice of the Church that is heard in singing together. It is not I who sing, but the Church. However, as a member of the Church, I may share in its song.”

The song of the Church is what we sing and teach at Higher Things. Jesus—for me and for you! As I traced the sign of the cross, I was reminded of my death and resurrection in Holy Baptism—and that there is nothing worth comparing to this life-long comfort sure. Together with youth and adults, pastors and laypeople, we joined with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven in their continuous song of praise—a song that has no end. We ate and drank Christ’s Body and Blood—the festival to which the Lord invites us.

If it hasn’t sunk in yet: the music of the Church is all about Christ. It simply sings God’s gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation. We sing about Jesus because…well…we need the gifts only He can give. And we need them throughout our lives as saints and sinners. These gifts are poured on our head, preached in our ears, and placed on our lips. We leave His presence in His peace, renewed again. And again. And again.

So keep singing. You’re part of a great and awesome chorus filled with all believers in Christ across time and space. Blessing, honor, glory and might be to God and the Lamb forever—amen!

(Hymn quotations from LSB 594, 161, 458, 602, 155, respectively)

Paul Soulek serves as cantor at St. John Church and School, Seward, Nebraska.

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Current Events

Higher Things Conference Memories

Lindsey Casey

Imagine standing in a giant room with hundreds of other Lutherans belting Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands so powerfully that you get chills? That is the opening Divine Service. How about sitting in an auditorium shoulder to shoulder with those same Lutherans learning about the meaning of O Living Bread of Heaven? Well that is the second plenary session. Oh, and how about making the impossible decision of trying to pick only six of the sixty classes offered that are taught by our own LCMS pastors and church workers? Those are the breakaway sessions. All three of these events and more occur at Higher Things—the best experience I have ever been privileged to attend and participate in.

To me, Higher Things is a conference offered to high school students who want to grow more in their faith while learning about what it means to be a Lutheran, well, with hundreds of others who want to do the same. It is a wonderful feeling knowing that I myself, as well as my fellow brothers and sisters in the faith, know and are being exposed to similar teenagers who are trying to get through this part of life as best as we can, and have this blessed experience available to learn the truth and how to navigate the stormy waters of this life through a confessional Lutheran perspective. Higher Things gives the opportunity to meet new people, and get to know them in order to create a lifelong, inseparable bond. For example, my new friend Bonnie and I talk every couple of weeks, and we hope to reunite at a future Higher Things conference.

As I previously mentioned, you do learn…A LOT! The catechesis is broken into two main categories: plenary sessions and breakaway classes. First, the plenary is a lecture given once a day by one of the two selected pastors to teach about the theme of the conference. It is a superb lecture that helps us high school students understand a central part of the Christian faith. This year we learned how Jesus is the Bread of Life and a lot about The Lord’s Supper. It was great! I certainly learned a plethora of information that I can take home to my church and apply on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Second, the breakaway classes are a series of class periods that you get to choose which you want to attend. The classes offered include the big topics that teenagers want to know more about, such as vocation, marriage and dating, and the LGBT community and how to address these things as confessional Lutherans. However, in addition to these quintessential topics, there are many classes on a variety of interesting subjects. My favorite breakaways that I attended were explaining creation and the eighth day and the gift of time, and a synopsis of the book of Amos in an hour. They may sound boring, but they weren’t and I’m so glad I went to them. The way that the pastors teach make it easy to understand and possible to take away what you learned and live by it.

Another surprisingly wonderful experience was private confession and absolution. It was optional, but I did it in spite of initially feeling a little scared and worried about it. We come face to face with our sin, and see how fallen we are. But then we hear God’s merciful words through the pastor and we receive the gift of forgiveness and grace and love. It is recommended you confess with your pastor there at the conference, but if you are not comfortable with it, there are plenty of other pastors who will hear your confession.

If I had to pick only one favorite memory from the conference that would be nearly impossible, but if I had to choose, it would have to be the worship. Singing alongside so many other Lutherans is such an astonishing experience. We worship just like this back home, but at the conference, we unite across states and countries and come together as one! I have no words that can truly grasp how striking and remarkable it is. Each of the 36 hymns made me realize the magnificence of praising God with so many others, but totally together. As we sing that final hymn during the closing Divine Service, you feel like you never want to leave. You’re left imagining the choir of heavenly hosts before our Lord, and how mindboggling that is. What could be more beautiful than that?


This was my third Higher Things conference, and each one has its own place in my heart. This particular conference has truly been a blessing to me, and has changed my life. I not only grew closer to my youth group and pastor, but I also grew closer to God and learned His love for me and the forgiveness that He so freely bestows on us poor, miserable sinners.

Higher Things provides an incredible opportunity to learn about what it means to be a Lutheran through services and classes. We young confessional Lutherans aren’t alone. Attending a conference provides the chance to see and experience that, even for only four days, but the understanding and faith strengthening we acquire in invaluable. It is the highlight of each whole summer and I look forward to it and talk about it the remainder of the year. I strongly encourage every Lutheran youth to attend at least one Higher Things conference. I’m sure that it will profoundly affect you and you will remember those four days for the rest of your life.

Lindsey Casey is a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church of Pensacola, FL and president of the youth group. She enjoys playing volleyball and runs track as a sophomore at West Florida High School of Advanced Technology.

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Three Reasons I Love Higher Things Conferences

Emma Kovachevich

I attended the Bread of Life Conference in Cedar Falls, Iowa this year. My favorite part of the conference was the church services, especially Evening Prayer. The liturgy was absolutely beautiful. I greatly savored the fellowship experienced by singing the liturgy and hymnody with hundreds of other youth who “Dare to be Lutheran®.”

I also particularly enjoyed the breakaway on marriage and dating taught by Pastor Buetow. We learned that marriage is the union of man and woman, which is the picture of Christ being joined to His Bride, the Church. Pastor Buetow, like all of the other presenters, is informative and entertaining at the same time.

Finally, I thoroughly relished the free time activities such as knockerball, swimming, and, of course, the chant-off.

I am looking so forward to next year’s conference!

Emma Kovachevich is a member at Calvary Lutheran Church in Elgin, Illinois.