Deaconess Interns

This year’s Deaconess Interns: (top row, left to right) Katherine Aiello with husband Gabriel; Anna Barger with husband Caleb; Amanda Korthase; and
Emilyann Pool with fiance Jake Wert (bottom row, left).

And Deaconess Placement Candidates on the bottom row: Taylor Brown-Fickenscher with husband Daniel (middle) and Mika Patron (right).

COVID Update: Interview with a Vicar

With Call Day coming up in two days and the anticipation of the new calls, vicarage assignments, deaconess interns, and deaconess placements, we decided to sit down with one of our current vicars, who will be finishing up his year of vicarage in June. Before beginning seminary training, Phil Jaseph served as a missionary in Africa where he met his wife Rachel, a Concordia University Chicago-trained deaconess also serving in missions.

They work together in a unique vicarage situation. Shepherd of the City is small, served by vacancy pastor Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Pulse (who also serves at CTSFW as a professor and Placement Director); it’s probably one of the closest situations we have to an urban church here in Fort Wayne. Rachel has served as deaconess at the church since they moved to the area, where she focuses much of her time on the church’s outreach and community center, The Shepherd’s Hand. Phil was a fieldworker at the church for two years before assignment there as vicar. It’s an uncommon setup, adapted to suit Shepherd’s unique needs.

Vicar Jaseph answered questions about what it is like to be a vicar in this current context. Deaconess Rachel later joined us as she was able, after she finished with a Zoom meeting for her work with the Shepherd’s Hand.


INTERVIEWER: What is it like to serve as a vicar through the COVID-19 pandemic?

VICAR JASEPH: So, it’s fair to say that no one in my class set out expecting this. It’s been a very strange year. I was remarking to my wife the other day that I can sort of distinguish between the quarters, the three month groupings. We’ve had interesting little crises or situations between all of them, except for winter, and then now in the last quarter of my vicarage (because I’m done in the middle of June), it just feels like such a sucker punch.

You’re all gamed up to continue doing what you’re doing: hey, I’m going to do this Bible Study, I was close to wrapping up teaching 6th grade at St. Paul’s, finishing up I think it was the Creed (I can’t even remember now), spend the last quarter with 8th grade on what it means to be a Christian in the world. I was looking forward to talking about suffering as in integral part of that. Kind of odd in light of all this.

We’re still very busy here—Shepherd of the City is a small congregation, but there’s still a lot to do. The time is still being consumed with tasks, but oftentimes now you’re doing the work so that you can do the work. We’re going to be trying to see about visiting a member who is in an assisted living facility. Whether that’s talking to her through her window or having some sort of an intercom/speakerphone thing setup, I’m not sure—but we intend to do that.

We’re also not the most technology advanced congregation. That’s not to say that we don’t know what we’re doing, but we’ve had to adapt very quickly to a recording situation. It’s been a good opportunity for Rachel and I to discuss, you know, what are we confessing when we do these things? Is this something that you want to do long term?

And every congregation and every pastor arguably has to ask those questions. Something that’s been on everybody’s lips lately: what does the recorded service mean for sacramental Christians? There’s any number of ways you could go with that and, thankfully, I’m seeing a number of thoughtful, gracious, reasoned responses and pieces discussing individual congregational responses. Then also we should consider them in the wider, maybe more ecumenical Body of Christ and within our specific Lutheran tradition and denomination. Interesting times to be sure.

INTERVIEWER: What else do you mean by “doing the work to do the work”?

VICAR: I think it’s fairly common that we fall into a routine in the parish. We have a structure, we have a schedule, you can pretty much jot out your life day-by-day, week-by-week, so that you’re making the best use of your time. I got advice from professors in my first two years at Seminary how to schedule my week, in terms of making the best use of your day off, in terms of sermon preparation.

That routine has been fairly turned around or just gotten rid of entirely. The first four days of the week now are wide open. That leaves me room to make more calls and, in a sense, a lot more visits than I was able to before. We get the system set up to do recordings on Saturday mornings so that services would be ready for folks on Sunday morning, as close to regular and normal for them as possible.

But it’s really strange, because even though the full extent of a normal Sunday morning often takes longer than what we do now on Saturday morning, Sunday morning in my mind is still easier. I’m there at 8:30, quarter to 9, I’m unlocking the doors, I’m turning on the lights, I’m checking the thermostats, I’m double checking the candles if I haven’t filled them already, I’m looking at the elements for communion, checking everything, and just making sure that it’s ready. And oftentimes we won’t be done with everything—that includes Divine Service, chatting after the service (so fellowship, coffee time, Bible study, Sunday school, talking with people as they’re leaving), turning off some of the thermostats and getting the lights—sometimes it would mean I wouldn’t be done until 1:30, all said and done, or on the late side 2. So that could be five and a half hours. Now largely what we do is done in two, two and half hours.

But it’s strange not having all the faces out there. There’s faces that I miss because of the way they respond to things in the liturgy and there are those people I miss because of the feedback they give when I’m preaching. There are certain folks I can depend upon to nod when they’re connecting, to make a face when they’re thinking, to bow their head as they’re reflecting or perhaps feeling convicted. These are the things that you miss. They add life to the space. They comprise the people of God sitting out there in the pews. It’s more than just, say, Andrea and Heidi and Sara and all of the people who show up. We are the family of God, gathered there in that place. We are more than ourselves. And that’s what we confess with physical gatherings for the Divine Service, and most especially that physical reception of the Sacrament.

It’s our intention to not do this forever. We want to get back to celebrating the Eucharist. We want people to be receiving Jesus’ Body and Blood. Do their Baptisms keep them at home? Absolutely. Does God’s Word do what He says it will do? Absolutely. They have the forgiveness of sins in confessing them. God is still working faith in them, strengthening the faith He has already given them even while they’re away.

And so we understand, too, there is still that unity in the Body of Christ despite the fact that we are physically separated and fragmented right now. We’re not really disconnected. We’re missing one another and we’re made to be physical beings in communion, in community, in relationship with one another, but we know that this is temporary. Either that this will end in the short term or even in the long term. One way or another, we will be physically reunited, whether it’s this side of heaven or the next.

INTERVIEWER: In light of these times, what are your thoughts on physical presence?

VICAR: As Lutheran Christians we always want to remember that our faith and the certainty of our faith, as Jesus shows us in the Gospel and as we are continuously reminded throughout all of God’s Word, God in His mercy gives us tangible things for us to taste, to see, to hear, to experience.

That’s not to say that all of a sudden we’re existentialists, just about good feels and whatever feelings or vibe you’re getting (we hear a lot of that language today), but God has given us the Sacraments for the strengthening of our faith, for assurance in difficult times. We can point to these things outside of ourselves. The culture and society would have us say: better yourself. Discern your own problems. Self-improve. Self-actualize. Develop the self to reach this higher goal or this higher state of being, whatever it is you’ve diagnosed. Whereas as Lutheran Christians we say it’s not about us at all. It’s not about us at all because of our great fall into sin.

But God in His mercy has made it about us. He has given of Himself to care for us, to reconcile us to Him because he knows that we forget. And because we are limited, finite creatures, He has given us the certainty of Jesus’ Body and Blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine; in the water of Baptism; in hearing the words of the pastor, “You are forgiven, in the stead and by the command.” He works through means.

And so we always want to remember that. We view these recorded services as a temporary thing, because it’s our goal to have the family of God gathered in one place. To not only preach and teach about the unity within the Body of Christ that Christ has called to Himself and knit together, but actually do that, have that, be that.

You hear a lot right now, people are saying, “The Church is so much more than a building.” Yes, it’s true. But why can’t it be both? This place, this building where we gather—it’s not irrelevant. Could we have a service anywhere? Yes, we could. There are a lot of storefront churches out there. And my wife and I, as former missionaries, we’ve received the Sacrament in mud buildings, in concrete buildings, in storefronts, I mean all over the place.

I myself have gone months without receiving the Sacrament—not by choice—but because there are many Lutheran Christians in the world who are not afforded that privilege. And it is a privilege. And are they still Christians? Absolutely they are. But we understand that God cares for us in many ways. They are not mutually exclusive, rather they are all together, and the important thing we can understand in the middle of all of this is, just because our apple cart has been overturned or upset, God is not neglecting us. We understand, especially in light of Good Friday and the Passion narrative, the important thing about the incarnation was not that Jesus was made incarnate (as the Eastern Orthodox say), He was made man to die for us. That was the purpose of it. That’s the heart of it. Jesus knows about suffering. Jesus knows about loneliness and sadness and He took all of that for us.

We want to get back to that physical understanding of who the Body of Christ is, even now while we’re calling one another and praying for one another and missing one another. And this is truly a great burden for some of our members now. Not only here but in other places I’ve seen on the internet. Some people are really hurting, missing being able to spend that time in person, being able to hug, those sorts of physical touch. It’s important, it’s not irrelevant.

So to wrap all of that up: we hope to get back to doing the Divine Service in person, we want to ask people how they’re doing, we want to hear their voices as they sing hymns and as they pray, as they lift songs of praise to God. As they say, “Amen!” to all of the promises of God that they receive in this place in person.

Communion is for people to receive it. We as a congregation have made the decision that we’re not going to do it right now. I haven’t had it in a few weeks. And that’s an individual decision that every parish and every pastor needs to make and we shouldn’t look askance at somebody who isn’t doing as we do. That’s a whole other conversation for another time.

But it is about the people. And the place where the people receive God’s gifts is not irrelevant. He’s given it to them in this time, in this place, and we understand that God does not disregard time and place, but rather that he broke into time and space in the incarnation, and that He was always interacting with His people in time and in space as He knew that they were there. This is a place and building that He has given us out of His mercy.

How long will we have it? I don’t know. But it’s where we are right now, and so it does matter. The building does matter, as well as the people who are the body of Christ. We want to make sure we remember that God comes to us through concrete means.

INTERVIEWER: How has the Seminary prepared you for vicarage, or even specifically for this strange time that nobody knew was coming?

VICAR: Number one, no one could prepare anybody for this situation. But that being said, the Seminary has given me all the tools needed, all of the building blocks, all of the resources, all of the comfort and familiarity that I gained from doing fieldwork, from doing visitation, from preaching, from doing Bible Study.

I’m still employing that, I’m just employing it in a different way. Every situation is different. They may have similarities, but every situation is different. So it’s simply adapting and trusting that God has given me everything I need to live this day, to take it one day at a time, because He’s given it to me—this day and not any other. I will rejoice in it, as we hear in the Psalms. “This is the day that the Lord has made.” I sort of think of it as: this one! Not another one, not what you would’ve liked, but THIS particular one.

And so in doing that He’s blessed it and sanctified it for you to live in it and to care for His people in it. So I get up and I just say, “I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but I’m ready for it.” It’s led to some surprising interactions and phone calls, but those have been wonderful. Those have been blessings.

At the Seminary I was given a toolbox of skills, of things to keep in mind, of resources to use, and ways to think about things. In my first two years, that toolbox was filled up with every class, with every professor, with many colleagues and fellow students there; they were adding things to my toolbox and I was adding things to theirs. We were learning together. So we were prepared for this time.

None of us expected it, none of us perhaps felt we were prepared—we’ve all had to adjust our comfort levels a little bit—but because we understand the Church is God’s and the people who are in it, and He’s given us this day, this time, this place, this circumstance, we understand that it’s not outside of His control. We’re simply doing our best to find the best ways to make use of the time, for the days are evil.

Or the days may feel evil right now, but we understand that the days are fleeting and there are still people who need to hear the Gospel, both inside of the Church and outside of the Church.

INTERVIEWER: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

VICAR: If it wasn’t clear before, I do want to thank the Seminary, cause as I’ve said: no one could have known, no one could have been prepared, but I feel very well equipped and I feel very well supported here. And I feel the support of the Seminary’s administration, staff, and faculty. I’ve reached out to the Registrar about classes that I’m looking now to register for my last year. Dr. Zieroth [Dean of Students] has been checking in on us, has made himself very available, and said, if there’s anything that you need, if stuff gets really weird, please relate it back to me and of course I keep you all in prayers.

I don’t think anything could’ve been done any better. And so we remember that even though no one could have predicted or expected this situation, and even though the Body of Christ is comprised of sinners, that goes for the Seminary too. We all have faults and failings and weaknesses, but God has used all of those folks on the faculty who have taught me, who have mentored me, who have encouraged me, to prepare me for this time. They have equipped me to continue growing, to be a robust person who, God willing, will receive a call as a pastor. They have done their best to prepare me for the situation, not knowing everything that everyone will face.

So I’m grateful that I feel ready. I’m grateful that the world doesn’t feel like it’s falling down around me, even though we’re wondering what’s going to happen next. And I owe that to the Seminary.

[Deaconess Rachel had since had the chance to join us.]

INTERVIEWER: So what about for you? What has it been like serving during this time?

DEACONESS RACHEL: Like everybody, we’re just trying to adjust, to figure out how to serve the needs of our members and the community that we’re trying to reach in a way that is meaningful to the actual needs that they have – physical needs, spiritual needs, all of those – but also being realistic about our capacity to do that. I have all sorts of ideas for the future even aside from COVID-19, all sorts of ideas for things we might do here at Shepherd’s Hand and Shepherd of the City in the future, but this time has highlighted the importance of being realistic with what we can and can’t do, so that we can zero in on doing a few things really well.

In my mind that has to do with some of the follow up and the spiritual care; doing our best to be a phone but also adjusting to still meeting needs by doing a diaper drive [following the cancellation of the Health Fair], still trying to put resources in people’s hands. Not a ton has changed work-wise because I can still work where I want, but in terms of this year, it’s been unique getting to work with my husband on his vicarage. It’s been great.

INTERVIEWER: You’ve worked with a number of vicars since you’ve been here. What is it like serving alongside a vicar who is also your husband?

DEACONESS: The situation at Shepherd is unique in a number of senses. In a lot of places, the vicar and the deaconess wouldn’t necessarily be the-during-the-week fulltime people, exclusively. But it’s good. Especially now, we can talk about things whenever we want. There’s not a defined time where I can or can’t bounce ideas off my coworker. It’s been good for our marriage, we’ve learned a lot about each other. We’re pulling in the same direction.

I think I overheard a little bit of Phil talking about how he understands, even more deeply, some of the joys and the struggles in the ministry side of things, to a new depth perhaps.

VICAR: We’re good complements for one another. We enjoyed working together before but haven’t been able to experience it to such a full extent as we have now.

DEACONESS: Our jobs certainly overlap, and Phil supports a lot of things happening at Shepherd’s hand. I’m called to the church, but I’m largely here at Shepherd’s Hand; there’s a lot of crossover. In large part, the crossover is sharing of ideas and stuff.

VICAR: It’s an ongoing dialogue. We never really stop it, we just set it down and pick it back up.

DEACONESS: It’s good practice learning how to communicate; even, sometimes I need to not talk about that right now and saying that when I need a break, or he needs a break.

VICAR: It’s been good for us to remember too that we’re public people, as President Rast is always saying. Anytime you put something on the internet, or anytime you put something down in writing, it’s not yours anymore, it’s whoever sees it, or whoever gets it. But that’s been important for our marriage, too, because I always do my best to speak well of her in person, and to support her when she’s not there, or to refer people who need her back to her and she does the same for me.

Rachel has already been a deaconess for awhile. Being able to actually live with, be married to a deaconess and actually see her work, shows me the many blessings that can come from the not-always-common marriage of pastor and deaconess. She will be an invaluable resource. She IS a great resource. She catches the people that I don’t catch. We both have people who are more comfortable, who more readily speak to one or the other, so we sort of fill each other in on that. Or she’s able to catch the people who are sneaking out, who are dodging the receiving line.

DEACONESS: (laughs) I do my best to do that.

VICAR: It’s been an encouragement to me, too, to also think about what I’m learning in pastoral theology and theological education and to run it through her filter to and see what some of her considerations are. So you get another perspective. I mean, always affirming, but thinking about it from a different angle.

DEACONESS: How a sermon sounds to a listener sometimes sounds different to how it sounds in your head. So sometimes I give him feedback; I’d do this even if I wasn’t a deaconess. Give him feedback, like, what does that word mean?

VICAR: (laughs) “No one’s going to know that word, honey,” like when a congregation member stopped me after a sermon where I called Nicodemus’s supporters a “hoard of toadies.” The member says, “WHAT did you say?”

DEACONESS: I should’ve caught that one for you, hon.

INTERVIEWER: Well, like you said, love covers a multitude of sins.

[Plenty of laughter followed, as did a discussion on communion practices during the pandemic—which is the sort of debate that happens when you put two church workers and a theologically-interested layperson in a room together—then the quickly-seconded suggestion that we hold a potluck on the first Sunday everyone is able to return once the restrictions lift. Finally, we ended on a quick debate on the best place to take a picture at Shepherd of the City. Thank you to both Vicar Phil Jaseph and Deaconess Rachel Jaseph for your time and for your gracious answers to all questions.]

COVID Update: The IT Crowd

A couple of weeks ago, we did a Facebook series on some of the behind-the-scenes work still ongoing here at CTSFW. Though we managed to highlight the library, dining hall, Food Co-op, and dorm students, one of the departments we didn’t get to: Information Technology.

The IT team here at the Seminary have kept us going in many seen, yet largely unseen, ways. These men (and one woman) are busy with the following:

There’s the head of IT, Chief Information Officer Rev. Bill Johnson (whom you saw preaching in chapel this morning), who has lately been doing much of the heavy lifting for the Call Day website (callday.ctsfw.edu), besides many other duties.

 

Jason Iwen, MDiv student and “Assistant to the Chief Information Officer” (and I suspect a nod to The Office in the title), is involved in ongoing improvements to the Helpdesk system, our tech problem helpline for all staff, students, and faculty. He’s also been training faculty to use the tech tools that make online classes possible.

Rich Woodard is helpfully pointing to a bit of tech advice in his picture; he’s not as involved in current quarantine-specific duties, but is mainly focused on prepping data migration for a massive project coming this fall: a new unified campus system.

Lawrence Rast III (not pictured), Network Manager and IT Help Desk, works primarily with Helpdesk response, plus on additional customization of the new campus systems.

Pictured with his feline coworker, Greg Ernest, Network and Systems Administrator, has lent in a hand with Helpdesk, though he also works on system backup management and development of the relocation module for the new unified system.

Joanna Sutton, Educational Technologist (and pictured here with her husband), does a lot of the prep work before each academic quarter begins, setting up courses through our classwork system; she’s begun preparing for summer courses as usual.

Last, but certainly not least (though also, unfortunately, not pictured, as he prefers to be behind the camera rather than in front of it), is someone whose work you know very well: John Elmer, Media Content and Services Manager. Here on Facebook, I more familiarly refer to him as our video guy. He set up and manages the classroom recording system, makes the chapel broadcast happen every morning, and is currently finishing several projects for next Wednesday’s Call Service.

Every year, we also employ a handful of student workers. A couple weeks back, one IT student worker explained, with some exasperation, that when a fellow classmate suggested they send thank yous to one of the departments for their extra work during this time, he recommended they include IT. “Why?” his classmate asked blankly. “They don’t do anything.”

Rev. Johnson, when he heard the story, only laughed. “As IT, you know you’re doing your work well when no one notices it.”

Thank you all for your work, noticed and unnoticed. You’re integral to making this—the strangest, most unique academic quarter we’ve perhaps ever had—workable. God bless you all and your service to the Seminary and the community here and online!

What Does a Deaconess Do?

With Call Day coming up in a week, here’s a highlight from one of our deaconess interns, who is looking forward to having her placement announced at the service coming up on Wednesday evening, April 29. Mika Patron wrote the following for her church, explaining what a deaconess does, especially in light of the source of all mercy work:


“What does a deaconess do?”

That’s always a hard question for me to answer—not because I don’t have an answer, but because there are so many ways to answer that question. I could list off the different ways I serve at Grace; I could focus on one specific aspect of what I do, like support Pastor, visit our shut-in and hospitalized members, or work with high school teens; I could talk about what deaconesses are doing all over the world, like Deaconess Christel Neuendorf’s care for earthquake victims in Puerto Rico; I could talk about what deaconesses have historically done, from the early church to the time of C.F.W Walther and Wilhelm Loehe, how they cared for the sick, the lowly, and the poor, whether young or old, male or female, who were passed over by society as unworthy of care.

But all of those answers that I could give have to also be connected to their source: Jesus! As the children of God, all of us love and care for those forgotten or ignored by society, the poor and the sick, and everyone in between, because our Lord Jesus first loved and cared for us! He came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

Our Lord Jesus’ service is the source of all deaconess service: His love and mercy drive us to love the high school teen, hold the hand of a dying 92-year-old saint, sort clothes for those who need them, and point God’s people to their pastor to receive Christ’s Gifts of His Word and Sacrament for the forgiveness of sins and to strengthen faith. Deaconesses care for people’s bodily and spiritual needs because that’s what our Lord did-and continues to do! We do all of this because the poor among us, our sick, our elderly brothers and sisters in Christ, our struggling high school students, our family members, our friends and neighbors are precious treasures in Jesus’ eyes. And so are you. You are Christ’s treasured possession! Jesus sold everything He had to make you His own (Matthew 13:44-45)! Because you are precious to our Lord, you are precious to the deaconess-you are precious to me: And therein lies the joy of deaconess service, the joy of serving this family of God at Grace in Auburn, Michigan: “What does a deaconess do? What do you, Mika, do as a deaconess?” My answer: I get to love and care for Christ’s treasures!

Photo from last year’s Vicarage & Deaconess Internship Assignment Service; from left to right, deaconess interns Chelsie Schmeisser, Mika Patron, Kate Phillips, Bethany Stoever, and Stephanie Wilde.

COVID Update: Call Day & Graduation

While Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), is making plans to begin transitioning back to normal during the summer and into the fall, the unique challenges of this academic year remain through graduation, which, along with Call Day, will be held in an online-only format. Baccalaureate will replace daily chapel on Friday, May 22, at 10 a.m., with Commencement held later that day at 4 p.m. Both services will be livestreamed at www.ctsfw.edu/dailychapel or www.facebook.com/ctsfw, Eastern Time.

Though the normal ebb and flow of activity at the Seminary looks very different these days, the reality at work remains unchanged. Thanks be to God for His great mercy in sending out workers into His harvest fields and students into the practical contexts in which they will be formed for future service. All vicar-elects and deaconess interns have an assignment, every candidate who is available for a Call at this time will receive one, and two deaconesses will receive their placements as well. Due to the technical demands, both services will be combined into a single service on Wednesday, April 29, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

To watch the service, go to https://callday.ctsfw.edu. The service will begin automatically on this site at 6:55 p.m. on April 29; the countdown to the service is currently at just a little over nine days. All vicar-elects, deaconess interns, deaconesses awaiting their placements, and candidates are pictured on this page, with a downloadable link to the service bulletin. After placements, assignments, and Calls are announced at the service, you’ll also have access to several downloadable PDF lists of these men and women, plus a map showing where they’re headed, broken down by district.

“This is certainly a day to look forward to,” said Dr. Gary Zieroth, Dean of Students and Director of Vicarage and Internship. “We can celebrate together the fact that the Lord of the Church is still sending out workers into the harvest field and we can still celebrate the fact that, as we’ve been living these ways these past several weeks, the Word—the Gospel—needs to get out. And it’s being disseminated in many and different ways. Our prayer always is that people are converted, and that people’s faith grows, and that the devil’s schemes are defeated because of this powerful and precious Word. God is with us and God will bless us as we move through these days.”

For those who like to be able to comment with their prayers and congratulations immediately (or enjoy interacting with their fellow watchers throughout the service), watch the livestream at www.facebook.com/ctsfw. Though Facebook won’t have the extra material that’s available on the Call Day website, as you all know the social media platform allows commenting and sharing. We’ll be here as well, answering questions and being with you as these days allow.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you” (2 Tim. 1:8-14).

Sermon for Easter Monday

Sermon for Easter Monday, April 13, 2020
Preacher: Rev. Prof. Adam Koontz


Dearly beloved of God, our Lord Jesus Christ has arisen in great power and might, and what a change has come to pass in the world. Death is defeated now, the grave is open, and heaven indeed is open, not only to our Lord Christ but also to all who love His appearing. All these things have changed now because of His mighty resurrection. Everything is new, this is THE day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

But that change is not always apparent in our lives as it was not apparent in the lives of the two disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, heads down, perplexed. Not necessarily so fearful as the disciples, the twelve, who would be locked in an upper room for fear of the Jews, but like them, too, in not understanding what it means that Easter has come to pass; what it means that Jesus has defeated death; what it means that your grave, and heaven – God’s heaven – are open now. That they will yield to Christ’s mighty Word and He will not let His beloved see corruption forever.

They did not understand. And we can sympathize. This was probably the strangest Easter that you have ever celebrated, if “celebrate” is the right verb for what happened yesterday. You prayed, you read the Lord’s Word, you trusted in His promises, but even if you were able to go to church, you did not do it with all the faithful. Even if you were able to go to church, strange things were going on in the world and you knew it. And you knew that the world had become very odd, very strange, and you know that will not end.

There are no promises given on the way to Emmaus or anywhere else that everything will always be alright. This is not what Jesus did for His disciples, and it is not what He does for us today. He does not promise them the future will be richer than the past—that the future will be better or more enjoyable or more comfortable for the past. Instead, when he prepares us for the future, for all the things that are in His mighty heart to do and to accomplish through His disciples, through His Church on which He will send his Holy Spirit in a few short days.

When He considers those things which will come to pass through the growth of His mighty Word, He does not consider and does not teach us that that growth – that change – will be easy. But He does promise us that it shall change; that the change that has begun in the cosmos, because of His mighty resurrection from the dead, must also take place in us, dear friends. For on the way to Emmaus He does not miraculously change the weather or something equally strange that would’ve got their attention.

There is indeed something strange about how He keeps them from recognizing Him, how He puts them in a place of strangeness themselves, so that they realize how much they don’t know. Let us, therefore, not be fearful now. Let us accept that right now we are walking in a strange and dark time and place, and let us consider it a good thing, a profitable thing, a wholesome thing, an upbuilding thing for His Church that, for now, we have open to us only the Scriptures. Let us consider it a good thing that we should now understand more deeply what our Lord Christ would teach us.

For he teaches us this, most of all: that change must begin with His Church. There is an attitude which is fine before change occurs, of having known everything and knowing everything and you hear it in the words that the disciples say to the man (what we called in our hymn we sang just now, “unknown stranger”) how they speak to this man whom they do not recognize. They talk to Him like he’s a kind of idiot. And you can image that later on, having known to whom they were actually speaking, they thought back (as you do after you say something you regret) and they thought “what an idiot, instead, I was, for how I spoke to Him.” Because when He asked what’s going on, they say, “Are you the only person who doesn’t know?”

We can also, here, sympathize, for if our Lord Christ came to us right now and said, “What are you so afraid of? Are you afraid of illness? Are you afraid of economic collapse? What are you so afraid of?” And we said, “Are you the only person who hasn’t seen these things? Are you the only person who hasn’t been inundated with news reports (true, partly true, false, who knows?) about what is going on—are you the only person who has not heard?”

We could say this to Him and we could act like we knew everything that was going to happen, and we would be at least as foolish, if not more, than these two disciples. They say, “Are you the only one who hasn’t heard what’s going on?” And then they recite what you could summarize as most of the Apostle’s Creed, a short summary of what’s happened in the Gospels, up to and including the crucifixion of Jesus. They know His death; but they do not know that the world has changed because of His mighty resurrection. They know everything up to death. They know everything up to misery and fear and the darkness of the Friday past. They know all of that; they do not know His resurrection.

So what has to change? What has to change about us as we go through darkness? As we are well acquainted with sadness, whether now or in years to come—what must change in us so that Easter makes a change not only in the world but also in us, in His own believers.

I love how patient Jesus is with us. In answer to their arrogance, to the fact that they know it all already, He does not rebuke them at length. He says, very simply – very simply – that they are foolish and they are slow of heart. This means that, prior to Easter, the human heart is not big enough to contain the amazing joy and love that Easter brings. This means that what has to happen now is not that the way has to be made safe for us or everything made secure for us or everything comfortable in life promised to us, it means that our hearts must grow, more than they have ever before to understand all the love and the joy that the Lord has promised in the Scriptures and fulfilled in His Christ.

It means that the only thing wrong with yesterday is that our hearts were too small to understand how mighty and how joyous and how loving He is, and has been, and shall ever be for our sake. It means that the only problem in the world is not the world or the Christ who reigns over all things for the good of His body the Church, it means that the only problem in the world was those who could not believe or did not believe or were too foolish to believe all that God has prepared for them beforehand. So he opens up the Bible so that their hearts may grow. He opens up the Bible so that their minds may be opened.

Friends, we are not called to fear, but to hope. And our hope is not based on wishful thinking, or statistical projections about what the future might contain for us. It is founded on God’s Word, which has come true time and time and time again, which promised that the Christ would die for our sins according to the Scriptures, would be buried and would rise again on the third day, according to the Scriptures.

And has not all this come to pass? Was the man not walking with them resurrected? Did He not have the marks in His hands and His feet and His side to show His love, and that the Scriptures had been fulfilled? Are not all these things true? Is not the Bible so chock-full of Christ that I can’t turn a single page without finding Him upon it, showing His hands and His side and His feet, scarred for me forever?

What must change is me and my heart. Not Him and His plans. And what is the effect of all this? Where is he going with all this, as he explains the Scriptures, as we are opened up more and more and more, our minds and our hearts growing day by day in His love? What is changing? What is He preparing us for?

I will not tell you this morning things I, nor any other mortal man, knows. I will not tell you everything will be wonderful or easy or that when we go back to normal, normal will be normal. I cannot tell you any of that, and I don’t need to, even if I knew (even if I could know), because I know Christ. And I know what He has in store for His Church: they are not promises of ease and promises of riches forever and prosperity, such that our hearts should grow cold and our minds small for lack of exercise, for lack of knowledge of the Scriptures, that His people should become malnourished because they are enduring a famine of the Word.

Rather, we can feast now, friends. We can open the Scriptures now, and we can find in them riches that will stuff us more than we can imagine. Rather than getting sick or fat because we’re eating too much Easter candy, let us grow fat and contented and joyous and happy in His will, through knowing Him in His Word. For He prepares you, not for ease, but for fire.

There is a little preview of Pentecost here on the way to Emmaus. He reserves the right, at any time after His glorious resurrection, to hide Himself. To be a man who is hard to understand at times, to be a man who keeps His own counsel. And that is good. That is as it should be. Let the King rule in His might. Let Him rule according to His good will. For when have His promises ever failed us? When has He ever sent us anything that was not ultimately to our blessing? But let it be clear that He prepares us for fire.

For when He opens the Scriptures, fire begins. The disciples say it so clearly. Listen to the change that they undergo. After He has vanished, they wonder to one another – instead of wondering what should have happened but didn’t according to what they think – they now begin to wonder something else. They think, “Did not our hearts burn within us when He opened to us the Scriptures? Were our hearts not changed? Did we not become altogether new men?”

Is it not true that, if anyone is in Christ, behold, there is a new creation and all things begin now to change? The world begins now to change from the Church outward where the fire starts, spreading always. It cannot be stopped. The Word of the Lord must grow and grow and grow. Behold, our God is a consuming fire and He would have all the heavens and all the earth. And here it begins, friends, the day after Easter, with us.

Do not be afraid of His fire. Do not shrink back from what He prepares for you. It is a joyous and a blessed thing. Let the fire spread now, from heart to tongue. Let the tongue speak of Christ, more and more and more. Let it be stopped by nothing. When the Sanhedrin forbid you to speak in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, speak anyway. You must obey God rather than men.

And as the fire spreads, marvel only at this – not that you couldn’t have predicted this, not that you did not have the life that you had prepared for or thought you would’ve had – marvel rather at this: that the Christ is mighty and the whole world must change and the fire must spread until He is all in all. Until every knee bows. And until every tongue confesses what we know to be true—what His resurrection has proved to be true. What the world must change to show, that Christ is Lord. And to Him, both now and in days to come, and in the life everlasting, shall be and is, all glory, now and forever. Amen.


Please note: this is a transcription, typed up on the fly. If you notice any typos/errors, let us know in the comments and we’ll fix them here. Prof. Koontz doesn’t write up his sermons in full but rather has on hand several points that he refers to as he preaches, to make sure he’s staying on track.

Easter Devotion for April 12

 

Reading: 1 John 5:13–21

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Throughout the writings of St. John, the evangelist is insistent that what he is writing is for the sake of your faith, that you may believe in the name of the Son of God and in Him have eternal life. On this most holy day of the year, the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, let all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ rejoice in the certain promise of eternal life!

At the same time, let us pray for all who have not heard the Word of truth that St. John proclaims, who do not believe in the Son of God. Let us pray for the erring and those who have strayed from the faith. Our Father in heaven has promised to hear us and, having confidence in Him, all that we ask according to His will shall be heard.

Finally, let us give thanks that the resurrection of Jesus Christ has opened our eyes to know the truth. We who are in Him are as but little children in the care of our loving Father. Take comfort and rest knowing the Son of God has come and granted to you eternal life.

Prayer
Almighty God, heavenly Father, You have given Your only-begotten Son into death for our sins, only to raise Him this day for our justification. Grant that we have confidence to pray according to Your will and remain steadfast in this faith until our blessed end; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Hymn
Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer your thankful praises!
The Lamb the sheep has ransomed:
Christ, who only is sinless,
Reconciling sinners to the Father.
Death and life have contended
In that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who died,
Reigns immortal. (LSB 460:1)

Mark Kranz (Sem IV, CTSFW)

Lent Devotion for April 11

Reading: 1 John 5:6–12

No matter how much the world tries to convince you otherwise, your sins have a consequence. As Paul writes in Romans, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Your sins will kill you and you deserve it. God has told you how to get heaven. Yet, you insist to try on your own. No matter how hard you try, you will always lose and you will always die.

However, you’ve already died. You drowned in the waters of the baptismal font. When you drowned, you were created anew, having received the eternal promise of the new covenant founded on the blood Christ shed on the cross, for you. On the cross a new covenant was made, one not of death but of life. On this day, Holy Saturday, Christ kept the perfect Sabbath rest so that we might forever look to Him and find our true rest (Matthew 11:29). By His descent into hell, He proclaimed His once-for-all victory over sin and death so that we would no longer have to fear death. Because He has freed us from its grasp, we can live freely to love, serve, and testify to our neighbors so that God might be glorified and all might come to faith in God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Most holy God, our Redeemer, we pray that You allow us to serve You through service to our neighbors, so that we might give thanks and testify to your salvific work on the cross and at the baptismal font; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Hymn
O rejoice, ye Christians, loudly,
For our joy has now begun;
Wondrous things our God has done.
Tell abroad His goodness proudly,
Who our race has honored thus,
That he deigns to dwell with us.
Joy, O joy, beyond all gladness,
Christ has done away with sadness!
Hence, all sorrow and repining,
For the Sun of Grace is shining! (LSB 897:1)

Tim Barber (Sem II, CSL)

Lent Devotion for April 10

Reading: 1 John 5:1–5

“He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” “She was born into rough conditions.” We all recognize that what we’re born out of affects who we are. John shows us this repeatedly. The man who is born blind thus has a questionable background. The Pharisees think they’re righteous because they’re born of Abraham. First and foremost, however, John confesses Jesus to be eternally begotten, that is, born out of the Father (John 1).

And so, you would think that if anyone deserved death for sin, it would be the one born out of sinful flesh. But that’s not what we see on Good Friday. No, today we see the sinless Son of God Himself in the roughest conditions imaginable: hanging on a cross dripping blood more precious than silver. It should not be.

But so it must be. The one begotten of the Father was born of woman, assuming our corrupted flesh into Himself, so that we might be born again as sons of God. It is this crucified Jesus, who was not of this world, that gives us the victory over the world. So look to Him today. Look to Him and confess that this Jesus, hanging on the cross, is the Christ. For the one who believes in Him has been born of God. And the one born of God knows the love of God and keeps his commandments. For who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes on Jesus, the crucified Son of God?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, You sent Your Son to be born a man and die in our place so that we might be born again of You. Grant that, as Your children, we may love and keep Your commandments, and, on the last day, have final victory over this world; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Hymn
Upon the cross extended
See, world, your Lord suspended.
Your Savior yields His breath.
The Prince of Life from heaven
Himself has freely given
To shame and blows and bitter death. (LSB 453:1)

Sawyer Meyers (Sem IV, CTSFW)