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LCMSU Conference at CTSFW

The best part of this sign is that it largely worked. About 300 college students and their campus pastors are with us this afternoon and evening for day three of the LCMS U conference, many of whom actually sat in the first 15 rows of seats in Sihler Auditorium rather than the back 20 as we welcomed them onto campus. Most of the conference is taking place at Purdue University Fort Wayne down the road, but we had them on the 4th until 10:30 p.m., when the day concluded with Compline in Kramer Chapel.

The LCMS U Conference took place in Fort Wayne from January 2-5, though we only had them on campus for the afternoon and evening of the 4th. If you were watching the Evening Prayer service with us on Friday (or we able to join us on campus), the many young people filling in the pews were these attendees.

The following pictures will take you through a quick summary and timeline of some of the events of the afternoon. The students had three sectionals throughout Wyneken and Loehe Halls that day, with a choice between 17 professors, instructors, pastors, and deaconesses lecturing on 18 different topics.

Rev. Matt Wietfeldt, Admission Director and Director of the Christ Academies, welcomed the attendees to CTSFW after lunch in the Katherine Luther Dining Hall.
As Dr. Rast was unable to be here, he recorded his greeting to the Church’s future servants, ministers, deaconesses, lay leaders, and congregation members ahead of time in anticipation of their arrival. One of the best (or at least most entertaining) lines had to be as he was describing Rev. Marcus Zill, Director of Campus Ministry & LCMS U, who came through CTSFW over 22 years ago: “Yes,” Dr. Rast assured the students, “he really is that old.” Dr. Rast and Rev. Zill, as you may or may not be able to tell, are very good friends.
Rev. Zill responded with a shake of his head and then a grin. Since his seminary days he’s wanted to work with college students. “It was always a dream of mine, to become a campus pastor,” he said. “Now I’m a bureaucrat.”
After the laughter died down he added, “Even though I’m not serving in that capacity anymore, I’m still supporting it.” The focus of this year’s LCMS U conference was “Witness,” particularly in a college context.
Over 300 students and campus ministry pastors and leaders were present in Sihler Auditorium. Despite the successful attempts to encourage the attendees to sit in the front, the usual line of Lutherans who trickle in late still managed to gather in the back.

Dr. Arthur Just, who serves as both Director of Spanish Language Church Worker Formation here at CTSFW and part-time missionary to Spain, had a chance to speak to the attendees about mission opportunities before they were dismissed to their sectional classes.
The opportunities he spoke of in particular were for business and office roles, which need neither theological nor language training. The Church has need of all her members, serving with all the talents and the interests given to her young people.
Dr. Gary Zieroth, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions (as well as Dean of Students), taught the sectional on “Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.” It’s hard to tell from the picture, but there was a double line of chairs crammed in along the side walls, borrowed from the classroom next door as the room quickly filled to capacity.
Rev. Peter Burfeind, in the larger lecture space down the hall, was teaching a course called, “Are You on the Right Side of History?” I stayed just long enough to hear this rather striking line: “The human soul cannot tolerate a vacuum.”
Other courses throughout the afternoon tackled such subjects as the problem of evil and suffering, morality and ethics (good works), spiritual warfare, celibacy, apologetics, international witness, dating and witnessing, and courses like “Gossip Girls (and Boys): The Death of Witness,” “Male and Female in the World of Caitlyn Jenner,” and “The Small Catechism as an Evangelism Tool.”
The evening also featured the service of Evening Prayer with Christmas Lesson and Carols. Associate Kantor Matthew Machemer served as organist, directed the special music, and sang tenor, which is why the choir was standing so close to the organ for their pieces.

Not caught on camera: the attendees were released from the sectionals at 8 p.m. for pizza, after which they split their time between a bonfire, games in the Student Commons, and basketball and volleyball in the gym. Our visitors left campus at 10:30 p.m., after closing out the day in prayer.

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Life Devotion

Text: Psalm 16
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In the beginning of Psalm 16, King David addresses the Lord, “I have no good apart from you.” The king recognized that everything he had was given to him by God. Like King David, all good things we have in this life come from our Lord. He blesses us with food, water, spouses, children, and friends. He endows us with talents that allow us to work, earn money, and serve Him.
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However, as we age and become elderly, many of these blessings seem to disappear. Spouses and loved ones pass away. Our bodies and health fail us. Our savings dry up. We may no longer be able to take care of ourselves. In these dire moments of old age, it seems almost as if the Lord has abandoned us.
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When King David faced difficult circumstances in his lifetime, he took refuge in the Lord who gave him counsel. When it appears that all is lost for us in our old age, we too can find refuge and counsel in our Lord. He not only gives us all blessings in this lifetime; more importantly, He gives us a beautiful inheritance through the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. Through Christ our Lord, sin, Sheol, and the corruption of body shall not prevail against us. Instead, Jesus Christ has shown us the path of life by His death and resurrection. It is the path that leads to His eternal presence and the fullness of joy.
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Let us pray: Gracious heavenly Father, through the frustrating, exhausting, and sometimes lonely days of old age, let us rejoice as we seek refuge in the cross and Word of Your Son, Jesus Christ, as we await the presence and fullness of joy in Your eternal kingdom. Amen.
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(Carl Hingst, Sem IV)

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Life Devotion

Text: Psalm 10:12-18
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Focus Verses: “O God, life your hand; forget not the afflicted…to you the helpless commits himself” (v. 12, 14).
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All of us can identify a time when we have felt helpless and alone—powerless to act and at the mercy of someone who has the capacity to decide our fate, whether it has been in a work setting, a situation with a friend, or circumstances in school. What a pitiful feeling to recognize that no matter what we do, someone else controls how things will turn out for us. The results can be anything from a feeling of discomfort to a life-changing action affecting our future for a very long time.
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Consider being truly helpless and alone and unable to even vocalize opposition to someone who would exercise control over your very existence. This is indeed the case of the unborn. Yet the Psalmist recognizes that these humble little ones who have no voice cry out within the confines of God’s Word and He does hear them. Moreover, He not only hears them but also promises to give them justice and to remove oppression from them.
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As those who have been given voice, we join the hue and cry to Him from whom this justice comes, that He may come swiftly and soon so that our unborn brothers and sisters who lay in bondage to this dark oppression may be soon released from its dark bands.
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Let us pray: Gracious and loving Lord, we pray daily for Your protective hand to fall swiftly to preserve those who look to You for life. Though we may not be able physically to hear their voices, make our ears ache with their cries for aid which resound in Your Word. Be quick to answer their prayers and ours so that Your power and glory may be made apparent to all. In the name of Your Son, who died and rose again that all who believe in Him may live. Amen.
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(Richard “Neely” Owen, Sem II)

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Life Devotion

The Circumcision and Naming of our Lord
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Text: Psalm 29
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Focus Verses: “Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness…O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might” (v. 1-2; Psalm 54:1).
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Today the Church commemorates the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus; today we ascribe to the Lord the glory due the name of Jesus, which means “salvation.” At just eight days old, our Lord shed His holy blood in circumcision so that He might be placed fully under the Law of Moses, fulfilling it for you. At just eight days old, He was prophetically named “salvation” for you. Jesus, by His birth, sanctifies all life. From the tiny infant in the womb to the old man at death’s door, Jesus has lived through all stages of human life and sanctified it. And you, as a little baby, are brought into that name of Jesus by Holy Baptism. By your baptism, He sanctifies your life in His holy name. Salvation is placed upon you and all who are in Christ. As baptized children of God whose name has been given to us, we pray that in all places and at all times the sanctity of life would be upheld by all, that all would ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name.
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Let us pray: Lord God, You made Your beloved Son, our Savior, subject to the Law, and caused Him to shed His blood on our behalf. Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, that our hearts may be made pure from all sins; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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(Kyle Brown, Sem IV)

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Circumcision and Naming of Jesus

The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine…”

“When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’
Exodus 13:1-2, 11-15

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Numbers 6:22-27

“The Circumcision of Christ” by Frans Pourbus the Elder, 1571.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Luke 2:21

‍‍‍‍‍Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:23-29

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Life Devotion

Text: Psalm 10:1-11
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The devil, prowling around like a roaring lion, watches us, looking for weak spots that he may attack most effectively. Attacking when we are alone and separated from our flock, feeling like we have been forgotten, he whispers in our ear, “God has forgotten, he does not see you,” and, “There is no God, trust in yourself—you know what is best for you.” And so it begins for the lonely person, sick in the hospital, having been given a death sentence to live out until he dies. He hears the whispers, “It’s okay, you could still die with dignity—it’s your life, take control!”
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These whispers saying that we are in control are often loud, coming at us from all directions. The soft word that it is, in fact, God who holds all things in His hand can get drowned out in all the noise. But when our ears fail, our eyes may see even more clearly the cross. We see that God Himself became man and came down from heaven to take control of all things, even death itself. He is Lord of all. He has made all of our life dignified until the end He brings—even through sickness and pain. We are His children. He never forgets His children. Satan’s words are just that: words, lies. Meant to cause us little ones to stumble. But our Father’s Word is truth, giving us strength to bear through—especially when our lives are out of control.
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Let us pray: Lord of all, we confess that we are often deceived and believe that we are the authority in our lives, with control over all things. Please forgive us for falling into this trap of sin. We thank You, that You are the God who came down to us to fight for us and defeat Satan and eternal death, that we may die in the dignity of Your death and be raised up into the dignity of Your Life! In Jesus name. Amen.
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(Brittni Brown, Deaconess Intern)