Just Confirming!

We use the word “confirm” everyday when we are talking about appointments and dates of events. Most often this is to check that what we said before is still true, and that we are going to move forward. If both people “confirm” we are good to go, then we can see what is next. The idea behind “confirming” a date or event is to make sure the plans we’ve made will work out.

For a long time, Fridays have been like this for me. Ever since the beginning of my ministry, Fridays have been my off day. They are a day when I care for my kids, my family, and myself all at the same time. Since I’m off, I have the kids at home with me, so every plan I make for this day I have to juggle with the kids. For this reason some of the Costco workers know my kids. They have seen them come with me on Fridays for a long time. The gym childcare team knows my kids too (and asked me few weeks ago where I have been.) Confirming Friday plans with with me is challenging.  First, my kids need to be able to come, and second, it needs to be flexible.  The event or activity can’t depend on me being there, because with kids, all plans are subject to to change. Now that 2 of my kids will have school 5 days a week, it is kind of odd. It was hard to say goodbye to Jacob at the beginning of this school year since he has been with me on Fridays since he was a baby. Next year, it will only be the girls hanging with me on Fridays, as Gavin will be starting Kindergarten. That gives me just a couple Fridays left with him in this school year. The fall will be another adjustment.

The disciples had to change their schedules and lives when they followed Jesus. Their normal days now became a new journey every morning they woke up. It was probably hard in those days to confirm what was next and when they could meet up with family or friends. While dealing with life changes had to be hard, there had to be many moments of seeing the great benefits of being with Jesus every day. Now with Jesus gone, it was time to confirm that this was going to be their new lifestyle for good. They proclaimed that on the day of Pentecost. Guided by the gift of the Holy Spirit, the disciples began to teach and preach the change in their lives and how it could be a great change in the lives of others as well.

This week is not only Pentecost, but Confirmation Sunday at Mt. Calvary. Beginning Confirmation classes here often changes your routine of going to church. Our classes are held at 9 am on Sundays, the same time as the first service.  We expect a parent to attend Confirmation Class with the child, and that they both will be there every week. For many families, this requires a change in their church pattern. It takes a commitment, maybe not the same it took the disciples to follow Jesus for 3 years, but certainly it is a commitment. They are learning the very theological themes they have been taught in Sunday School, but going much deeper. Confirmation Sunday, like Pentecost, is the day when the change of schedule is gone, and now the confirmand stands up and confirms what he or she has been taught. This young person makes a commitment to live faithful to the Word of God and the doctrinal teachings of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. It is a big step and one to be celebrated!

Confirmation is much more than just a casual confirming of an appointment, which is usually a one-time thing.  Because it is something we traditionally see in the church every year, we can fall into the trap of thinking of it casually, just like confirming an appointment. But with Confirmation, the youth are confirming a lifetime commitment. We are asking the youth to truly commit to a life of following Jesus. This is not a day to just confirm, but to proudly confess what we teach and preach in our church body. At Pentecost, the disciples were also confirming their lifetime commitment, and the teaching and work of Christ in them.

Grace changes everything!

Recently a local church in St. Louis had to ask their pastor to step down. We are used to this situation being created by infidelity, but a new problem has become more prevalent of recent—the ego-centered, controlling type who thinks it is his way or the highway. Maybe it is due to the pressure to make a church “work” or be successful despite the cultural changes in its recognition among people and changes in monetary giving? The same passion and drive that brings a person into ministry in a large church context can also be manipulated by the devil into an ego so large as to say that my way is the only way. How can a church leader or pastor go so far that he needs to be removed?

While I was in seminary, the Synod strengthened the infidelity policy. A one-and-done rule was enforced. This is probably not a shock to you, since at that time the Roman Catholic Church was getting into a lot of trouble with priests doing such activities. Since then we’ve even seen the sports world crack down harder on drug use and abuse. Maybe we were naive as a society before, but the time has come to make sure we are responding a lot tougher to the abuses of those in leadership, power, and in the public eye.

At the district convention last year, one of the pastors asked where is the grace for pastors who have fallen into some of these sins? He said it out loud, but we all wrestle with it. There are painful stories of people who were once seen as great men or women who have fallen into a sin that grabs a hold of their life. It seems even worse when that person is a servant leader for Christ. How do we take time to graciously love that person and yet move on? This is a question the church has been asking since the beginning of time. If David were in our church body today, would he be removed from office?

I think all too often we want life and service to be a neat little box that we can pack up and put perfectly on our shelves.  But life is messy, and grace is needed. This is why Jesus came. God’s people get to walk with others in their messiness (and vice-versa), but at the same time they must press forward. Jesus wants us to continue to share the Gospel message because grace is so important in the lives of all people.  It is needed just dealing with daily habits and sins, as well as fixing mistakes that take years to fix.

Why do I tell you all of this? Acts 1 is a smattering of all the issues we mentioned above. It has someone known for his association with Jesus involved in a brutal and crazy tragedy (Judas), but it also has the church moving forward to find a new apostle. This passage often leaves us with similar questions about where do we show grace. What if someone would have come alongside Judas sooner? Someone had to betray Jesus, right, so isn’t that what God wanted? In cases like Judas, aren’t the consequences and condemnation of his sins justified because he is getting what he deserves?  What about us?  While we may not be like Judas, what about us?  What do we deserve? How come it seems like we get off “scot-free” when others deal with so much more?  When we start trying to answer these questions, we can get into trouble. Rather than focusing on ourselves, we need to keep focused on Christ and what He’s done for us.

Acts 1 reminds me how messy life is. This was one of the most pinnacle times in the church. The disciples are about to take the message of the fulfilled prophecy of our Messiah’s redemption out to the world, but first they must they clean up the mess of Judas. They know people need this message, but they need to re-group and prepare for this powerful moment Jesus said would happen as Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit joins them. At first when I read this text, I didn’t want to talk about the R-rated story of Judas’ suicide, but then I was reminded that this is just like every Sunday in the church—one person is caught in the midst of their mess, while another person is celebrating the work of God in their lives. There is something important about celebrating the work of God in our lives. Another baptism this weekend will have us celebrating the work of God in little Audrey’s life. Yet, we are continually fighting the battle of celebrate our own work in our lives rather than the work of Jesus in our lives. This weekend we take time to unpack this further.

Form Running

May is an exciting month for us at Mt. Calvary. This Sunday we will have one of our fourth year fieldworkers preach. He has been with us since the very beginning, and just found out on Tuesday where he will be going to serve. It will be exciting to hear him preach and talk about his future. The following Sunday we have a baptism, and confirmation the third Sunday. Then the fourth Sunday we will lay out a vision for the future of Mt. Calvary. These are exciting times in the weeks ahead!

A vision for our church is only fitting if we keep in mind the core of our faith, that is, that we are sinners who need Jesus.  The more we can learn about our theology the better. Theology sounds like a big word meant for pastors, and there is some truth to that.  My Call brings me to Mt. Calvary to help us understand theology.  I very much want our members to understand what we are doing and why. I have to remind myself to talk about the basics, those foundational pieces of theology that continually point us back to Christ.

This spring I have been coaching track at Word of Life. The head coach, Travis, is an amazing guy who is very gifted in coaching. Every practice we do exercises in form running to keep the kids running the most effective way. Travis says even professionals do form running exercises. That really made me think. After all those years of practice, wouldn’t you think they could eventually quit the form running and move onto more important things? His point is that if you don’t work on the basics over and over again, you fall into bad patterns and bad habits develop.

When Martin Luther helped to reform the church, he was starring down bad habits that had developed. Yes, even the church with the Word of God developed bad habits. Why? Simple—original sin. Our sinful flesh draws us back to self-serving ways. Luther was looking at a corrupt church focused on ego, power, and greed. That same church had confused him. They had him believing that the way to Jesus was based upon his actions. This put Luther in a prison, of sorts, that continually locked him up every time he sinned and realized he failed his God. Luther went on to really look at Scripture and found what we treasure today—grace—a foundational piece of our relationship with God. It was through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we received grace, which was the restoration we needed to have a relationship with God.

So what does this have to do with a fieldworker, infant baptism, and confirmation? Everything! The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has built “form running” into our rich traditions. Those “form running” activities bring us back to the core of Scripture. An infant is baptized because we know grace is a gift of God for everyone. I am not sure what Audrey will observe the day she is baptized, but I know this, like at home when she gets a bottle or a diaper changed, she is brought back to her human condition. She is a sinner living in a broken world. But on that day when she is baptized, she receives the gift of love that God, her Father in Heaven, lavishes on her, and in His family she is embraced and forgiven. We move from infant baptism to confirmation. This tradition teaches kids the core parts of theology using a book that Luther wrote (Luther’s Catechism) alongside of the Bible. We want them to understand what Scripture truly says so they can recognize sin in this world, even when it comes out of the church. They come back to the foundations of grace, Scripture, and faith. They are confirming the work that happened in them at their baptism many years ago. They confirm that God’s grace is a free gift, and they publically respond to God’s grace by living a life of faith. Like forming running exercises, this process of confirming our beliefs should never stop, even after confirmation. Our fieldworker is just beginning his ministry to the church in which he will help God’s people to continually confirm their faith every week.

As a pastor, I am called to keep us in form, and understanding these practices and how they connect to our theology. I want you to be able to tell someone why we have the sacrament of infant baptism. This was at the core of why Luther was fighting against the church. Grace is a gift, and we give it as often and as early as we can! I have to admit, I’ve heard these parts of theology over and over, but it took a long time for them to sink in, and it went to a whole new level when I was confronted with someone who challenged them.

We can’t have a vision for our church without the foundational theological principles that bring us back to the core of Scripture—Jesus came to rescue us and there is nothing we can do to earn it. We also want to take these rich traditions and theology and share them with the world. This is where our vision comes in. We haven’t always been so good at this and so it takes work, but this work is good. When people see the wonderful gift of grace that Christ offers and how it is in our songs, liturgy and preaching, they want to find out more. It is a gift like no other! I pray May is an amazing month for you, and that as you come to worship, you see and hear again how our theology of grace is proclaimed in the sacrament and practices of our church.

Sing to the Lord a New Song!

Every week on Tuesday and Friday I check my phone. These are two highly anticipated mornings of my week. Well, Sunday is also, of course, but these days I check to see what new music is out. Hang around me long enough and you’ll figure out that I love music. Sure, I have my long time favorites, but I love hearing new music from the artists I know. I look forward to their latest projects. Sometimes I will go so far as to listen to a song on repeat. It often drives my wife crazy, and occasionally my kids say something like, “Dad can we listen to a new song?” I had someone once say that I would grow out of music, but the truth is, I never have. I look forward to new music, but I love the classics as well. No matter how you look at it, I love music!

In the blog last week I talked about the lectionary, the set of readings that the LCMS has assigned to each week. Sometimes weekly themes for those readings stand out stronger than others. For a long time, this week was known as Cantate Sunday. Cantate Sunday celebrated making a new song to the Lord. According to the church year, we are in the season of Easter, which means we continue to celebrate. For many years, each Sunday following Easter was named with a celebration theme. Over the years the lectionary has held strong, but some of the themes have disappeared. With less knowledge of the traditions of the church, these were the first to go. On the positive side, it allowed for new themes each year while still following the lectionary.

This Sunday we take time to celebrate Cantate Sunday. It is fitting for us at Mt. Calvary because we have a new worship director.  We also have a very gifted hymn/song writer who has been sitting in our pews for years. This week they will use their God-given talents together to teach us new songs. We will be reminded of the words of the psalmist, “Oh sing to the Lord a new song.” (Ps 98:1) It was in light of his season of life where the psalmist was celebrating everything God was doing in his life. He was passionate about it. And we, in the same light of the season of Easter, celebrate what the Lord is doing.

Learning about things I don't understand

Spring is here and that means it’s the time of year when we regularly cut the grass. I watched my parents cut the grass my whole life. Eventually I even got to help cut the grass for my family. I know I did not have a second thought about how I cut it; I had one goal—to finish. I felt the same way as I cut the lawn at my dad’s office and the neighboring office. I just wanted to finish. I wasn’t trying to make it look nice. As I was in college and seminary, I watched Rod get a passion for the grass. If one of our tires left the driveway and hit the grass, we knew it was bad news. Yet I admit, I still didn’t care about it. It was not something I had to worry about.

When I moved into my house in Rock Hill, I heard there was a guy who cuts grass for most of the neighborhood. His rate is pretty reasonable, if not on the cheap side, but I did not for a second think of using him. It had nothing to do with money, but now I had a passion for my lawn. When we moved in the yard needed work. The front lawn had crazy weeds in the grass. The mulch needed help and the bushes needed reshaping. The back yard was even worse, with an over grown fenced in area and a fence line that was ridiculous. Yet, I knew that with a little work and some fertilizer this would be manageable in no time. Recently, when my mom came to visit after Audrey was born, she mentioned right away that my lawn looks good. At this moment I remembered all the work I did to make it happen. (Even though I hadn’t touched my lawn since early fall, since I knew a small amount of leaves were good for my lawn.)  Going back to my early years of life when I was mowing other lawns, I never cared to learn about the best ways to mow or the steps one takes to make a yard look nice. I had no desire. I didn’t understand. But now with a house of my own, and a desire to set a good example as a neighbor, I do.

There are plenty of areas of life where we let the experts take care of things. For me these are haircuts, hymn selection, and yes—taxes. Those areas just seem to take more work for me to figure out. I’d rather trust somebody else who can do it a lot better than me. But then there are the areas of life where we just never bothered to ask or care about. It is not like it is some complex challenging thing, but merely our lack of seeking or caring. These are the areas we “let go,” still functioning in/with them, but by not asking, we are not doing nearly as well as we could.  Sometimes, these turn out to be pretty important areas that should be given attention.

Almost every couple I counsel in marriage thinks they’ve got it figured out. I usually wonder to myself why they think that. Are there some required relationship classes in high school or college that weren’t required back when I went to school? The answer is no, of course, but somewhere along the way they feel like they got this. The same thing happens as parents. Maybe we are too prideful, or maybe, like me back when I cut grass, we think that if we can get the job done it is good enough. Yet by asking questions, seeking out knowledge and new ways of doing things, it can enhance our work and change our attitude in those areas of our life.

Why do I bring all this up? Well, I am working on explaining certain practices in the church rather than assuming everybody understands why we do what we do. I feel that the more we know why we have these practices, the more it can enhance our worship. Having the lectionary is one of them. (Some of you may not even know what I just said. Lectionary? What is that? I’m glad you asked!) The lectionary is the set of Bible readings (Old Testament, Epistle & Gospel) assigned to each Sunday for a 3-year period by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). You hear them in church each week. Sometimes we treat these readings like I did when I first started cutting the grass—they are there because they get the job done. Other times, the readings might create questions of how this was chosen and why.  The simplistic answer is our church body (the LCMS) in our history has set aside readings for each week, some which fit areas we anticipate (i.e. Holy Week), and the rest fall into other themes. While different church bodies chose their own themes based up current culture, or what they think their church needs to hear, we stick to a lectionary. This means that when you go on vacation and step into a Lutheran church in that area, you will see the same readings. Now, some churches may chose their own themes and go off the lectionary, but for the most part, it works. We go off of the lectionary sometimes too, like when I do a special sermon series in the fall. When I do that, I will include my sermon text as a reading, but I try to keep the other two the same. Having a lectionary keeps a pastor grounded. He can’t just pick whatever he wants. At the same time, going off the lectionary and preaching on a series can be helpful so we don’t ignore current culture. This is why I try to have a balance between the lectionary and my sermon series’.

Why is this helpful? This week when you listen to the Bible readings you may wonder why we jumped from John 20 & 21 (which we have been reading the last few weeks) to a reading all the way back to John 10. You will be armed with the knowledge that this year in the lectionary most of our Gospel readings are from John, and John 10 fits in with the theme of the Good Shepherd caring for His people. After Easter, we began to talk about how Jesus provides, which is fitting for our Easter Season. While my sermon topic is still chosen in a way to fit Mt. Calvary, I am naturally guided by the lectionary themes. Last week’s theme was how the Good Shepherd feeds His lambs, and if you think about how Jesus brought the disciples back to normalcy (He showed up after their night of fishing and provided breakfast), it makes sense that He feeds His lambs by knowing the normalcy they needed in their lives, especially that of being with Him.

As you come to worship, these readings shape a theme to help you grow in God’s Word. The lectionary provides a healthy balance in our spiritual growth and brings us back to the central purpose of Scripture—to point us to Christ. Once I knew ways to help grass grow I was a lot more intentional about it.

Normal

As I look at my newest daughter (almost 4 weeks old already), I’ve had time to reflect on a few things. I am learning who she is, and I have all kinds of questions about who she will become. I know from raising my other children that there is a lot about the personality that is not yet defined by age 1 or 2. But somewhere between then and the ages they are now (4, 5, and 7), that unique and defined personality emerges. Each of them has characteristics well known to our family. Now, with a new little person in the house, Audrey is day-by-day becoming a normal part of our lives. It is not like the newness of her is wearing off, it is just that we are adjusting to her becoming a part of our family. And from her perspective, becoming a part of our lives is becoming normal too. She is becoming accustomed to the routines of our family. She will know a dad who is a pastor and a mom who is a teacher. She will know life with 3 older siblings. This all will be normal to her (that is until she looks into the lives of others and realizes their family is different than ours.)

This creates a tremendous challenge for Audrey, and for us as her parents. As parents we ask, “Are we creating the kind of normal that is best for her?” When Audrey gets older, will she ask if we are giving her the best normal we can give? We all know that our own personal struggles and challenges play a part into the kind of normal we are creating. What does Jesus want us to do? Does He want us to challenge ourselves to be a normal that He expects? While the answer to that might be an easy yes, what does that mean for our day-to-day lives?

These are all questions we ask ourselves as we are confronted with areas of normalcy. There is a passage in Scripture that talks about being either hot or cold for God, but not lukewarm (Rev 3:14-16). This sometimes causes us to think that normalcy is wrong.

So, if normalcy is wrong, why did Jesus eat fish with the disciples? Why is one of the areas where He went to visit them after His resurrection a place where they were comfortable? Think about it. The room where the disciples were locked behind closed doors after His death might have only been normal to them for a short time (during the events from the previous chapter of the book of John), but this was not a normal spot for them growing up. A normal spot or task for them before they met Jesus was to be on the lake fishing. With their new normal shaken, the disciples reverted back to their old normal before they met Jesus. And guess what…Jesus met them there.

New normals happen all the time in our life. I’m not sure normal is bad. I think too often we associate “normal” with being lukewarm. There is something to be said about norms that are sinful which need repentance, norms that result from a life change that Jesus guided us to, and norms that are just part of life due to our personality and life circumstance.

This weekend we look at another time after the Resurrection where Jesus meets with the disciples and we ask this question about normalcy. We take time to reflect on why Jesus had breakfast with the disciples, and we look at their changes in norms and what it teaches us.  

Peace be with you

I am not sure how other pastors are feeling after Easter, but I am pretty restless. It’s a combination of many factors. I am trying to put everything I’ve got into Holy Week. Maundy Thursday has developed into a special day to recreate the passion and love Christ had for us, knowing what was ahead.  I want Good Friday to live up to everything it was for me as a Christian growing up—the best service of the year. And Easter is making sure we celebrate this amazing day, but send the visitor home with something they can reflect on. At the same time, I am managing the expectations I’m creating for next year’s Holy Week activities. Thus, I feel restless.  Did I do all that I wanted to do?  Did the message get across? Did it reach my expectations? What can I do now for next year? It may be obvious to you, but there is no way that when I was in seminary I would have been able to articulate the passion behind these services. It is only through time and observing our current culture that these have become more developed. And it doesn’t mean they will be always be this way.  As a kid, Easter meant falling asleep while it was still light outside, having a new suit to wear, candy, biscuits and gravy, and of course, the story of risen Lord. Trust me, I had no clue the kind of energy it took my pastors to go through that weekend. And as a 13-year-old kid, I had no clue what Holy Week would become for me. I knew one thing, I believed in Jesus and wanted to share that message with our world. That pretty much sums up why I wanted to be a pastor and what I am called to do.

I guess most jobs come with intense seasons followed by restless periods. This week I walked into my CPAs office and the first thing they said was, “We were just talking about you.” Let me just say, in most places in my life I am ok with people talking about me, but when my CPA says it, I am not sure what that means. Am I the dreaded client he has to chase around to find missing information? I can imagine they have a lot to deal with right now. Even though Easter isn’t always in March, it is always floating around tax season, which means even with my best intentions, I barely beat their April 1^st deadline. So, maybe there is good reason to be talking about me. Regardless, one would think they have much more important clients to worry about than me. For them, once they have serviced all their clients and finished those that need extensions, they take a break, probably wondering what new taxes will be passed and what new internet crime will be developed. All they can do is take time to rest and then wait until next year.

My second favorite service of the church year is coming up this weekend. As a kid, I was highly critical of myself, and this is the one time I felt like Jesus was good with me. It probably helped it was right after Easter. I loved the powerful line, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” I knew that was me! I hadn’t seen Jesus and I believed! I could make all the excuses why I wasn’t meek, or humble, or any of the other beatitudes Jesus used, but in this one I felt confident. That lasted for all of the service, and then I am sure I figured out something I needed to work on right afterwards. But for those glorious minutes, I felt freed from the cycle of looking at my own sin, and just trusted that I believed in Jesus.   

Now, as an adult, I know I was kidding myself thinking I hadn’t seen Jesus. I see the hand of Jesus everyday. I see Him provide for people. I see a sermon that He helped me write days ago impact someone’s life situation that I just found out about 5 minutes before the service. I get to watch the impact of people at the end of their lives, and how they knew and felt God’s peace. I watch as God uniquely uses someone’s gifts, and how they see the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. Sure, I’m not in a locked room, but I see Jesus all the time!

I don’t know what was going through the disciples’ heads as they were locked in that room, but I got some guesses. If they had any clue they were going to be “the Apostles” they had to be freaking out. They would be providing the foundation of Scripture based upon what they said and wrote. That’s a lot of pressure. Pressure like that makes one restless, and question if this is really happening. Maybe because Jesus is gone, Thomas is thinking he just dreamt he spent the last 3 years with Jesus. If so, he doesn’t have all the pressure of telling everyone everything he has seen. Maybe that is easier. But then, Jesus comes from behind locked doors and says, “Peace be with you.” At that moment it is like Jesus makes life stop, and he looks at his child and reminds him he is loved.  Go ahead—see, touch, and believe.

Easter is just the beginning, and I know that may be why I get restless. I try and figure out what is going to happen this year leading up to next Easter. And then Jesus appears in the areas of my life that I have locked down and says to me, “Peace be with you!” In that moment I know to believe. Jesus sends us His Holy Spirit to help us believe and to share this great message. The season of Pentecost reminds us of that.

Easter is just the beginning for you too. Love 1 is part of the Discipleship Model and a strategy of the next steps for those of us who see the risen Lord. In this broken world there are so many people who need to hear what we celebrated on Sunday and to be loved by you. They need to know that Jesus says, “Peace be with you!”  Maybe we have more in common with the disciples and Thomas than we thought.