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Convocation: IVF

It was a full house for today’s convocation on In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), hosted by the CTSFW Life Team and taught by Dr. Donna Harrison, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist currently serving as Executive Director of the American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologist (AAPLOG). Soft-spoken and eminently knowledgeable, Dr. Harrison has testified before the FDA, for multiple congressional hearings, and to the UN on the status of women. We are blessed to be able to claim her as a fellow Lutheran.

Dr. Harrison began her lecture with two warnings: 1.) That her job is not to answer theological questions but to provide scientific information (“I am likely to raise more questions than I answer,” she explained), and 2.) That the topic is a difficult one, bound up in the grief of infertility and the very real possibility that the facts she is presenting will hurt those who have already gone through the process of IVF. She urged anyone with questions or concerns to speak with her further.

She shaped her talk around several major claims made by supporters of IVF. That:

1. IVF is as natural as conception.
2. It’s safe for mothers.
3. It’s safe for babies.

Unfortunately, none of these are true. In natural procreation one egg is produced, sperm is naturally sorted, the womb prepares naturally for implantation, and God decides who lives. In IVF, 10-30 eggs are produced using a hormone to stimulate the ovaries, the doctor selects sperm based on which looks most viable, the womb has to be prepared artificially, and the Doctor decides which embryos live (which can include performing selective embryo reduction, in which a child growing in the womb is poisoned and killed with potassium chloride to keep things safer for the mother and other child or children who also successfully implanted).

Risks to the mother include Overian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (affecting 1 of 3 women), complicated deliveries, increased risk for ovarian cancer, and possibly increased risk for breast cancer. As to the babies, there are increased instances of preterm delivery and birth defects, including a 70% increased risk of perinatal death and a 4x increased likelihood of stillbirth. Furthermore, from a 20 year review of IVF in the UK, studies found that of the 3.5 million embryos created, only 1.3 million were transferred into the womb (meaning 61% were either discarded or frozen and stored). Of those transferred into the womb, 200,000 result in live births—meaning only 5% of the babies created through IVF were born.

Dr. Harrison urged the correct use of the word “baby” and “children” to stand in for embryo (“Every embryo is a child”) and the unscientific “fertilized egg” in these contexts. Take, for example, this quote:

“In the current practice of IVF, some patients may create more fertilized eggs than they need…”

Apply the correct language, and this is how it reads:

“In the current practice of IVF, some patients may create more [children] than they need…Human [children] that are discarded every day as medical waste from IVF clinics could be an important source of stem cells for research,” according to a team of researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston.

The financial cost is also high: $20-30,000 for each fresh cycle. Take into consideration that the live birth rate typically takes 3-5 cycles, you’re looking at a $120,000 bill. Doctors can cut down on costs by fertilizing multiple eggs at once (only $6,000-$11,000 per frozen, though only 3 of 10 embryos survive the thaw 100% intact), which is why IVF is done the way that it is. It is not economically feasible to do just one egg at a time; no doctors out there are doing so. And because IVF is a manufacturing process, a child isn’t so much a gift as a product. Dr. Harrison called it the “hubris of eugenics.” “When you look at your children as a product, you expect perfection,” she said. “There is an expectation of a perfect child, but every time a sinner is born.”

She added: “Never forget: IVF is an industry. It runs on business practices.” And while she firmly believes that the majority of her colleagues are compassionate individuals who truly want to help infertile couples have children, the financial incentives bring huge pressure and bias into the business. There are major financial incentives for sending women to IVF instead of the painstakingly slow and less lucrative option of NaProTechnologies, which seeks to diagnose and treat the underlying causes of infertility, so as to assist a couple in achieving pregnancy through the natural acts of procreation.

More and more pastors are routinely facing questions involving reproductive technologies. By understanding the science, our pastors (and deaconesses) are better prepared to apply God’s word to the realities of the IVF industry. For example, embryo adoption is touted as a moral solution (in fact, it was originally suggested by a doctor who is a member in AAPLOG alongside Dr. Harrison). And while it is unquestionably a good thing to rescue these babies from certain death, there is the possibility that it may increase the likelihood that a couple will choose IVF because they can justify their decision by feeling that they are also acting compassionately for others who struggle with infertility. So can we support embryo adoption without supporting the industry? “I don’t know,” Dr. Harrison admitted, looking out at the seminarians in the audience. “Those are the questions you’ll need to answer.”

Science itself cannot answer them. “Scientists only stop themselves after proving harm,” Dr. Harrison pointed out, adding that proving harm in the scientific community usually takes decades of research. “Science is unable to answer the question of ‘should we do this?’ It can only answer ‘Can we do this?’ We are desperately in need of theologians who can understand these issues so they can answer these questions.”

To learn more, visit www.aaplog.org. There are resources for finding pro-life physicians in your area (“Easier in the Midwest,” Dr. Harrison said. “Doctors on the east and west coasts are terrified of being outed and losing their jobs.”), and more information about the association itself and their position and research into abortion and life issues.

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COP Presentation: A Changing World and Unchanged Hope

President Lawrence R. Rast Jr. (CTSFW, standing at the podium) and President Dale A. Meyer (CSL, far left standing in the back) presented to the Council of Presidents in San Diego last week on how the seminaries can help the Church in our present culture.

American culture has changed, deeply. The cultural landscape is one of multiculturalism, identity politics, post-sexual revolution, bioethical changes, economic disparity and record debt, distrust of institutions, anti-Christian judgments, and dysfunction at all levels. Religiously, Protestant/Judeo-Christian morality in America has given way to the morality of self-fulfillment, even within the church. According to Barna Trends 2017:

  • 91% of US adults and 76% of practicing Christians agree that the best way to find yourself is to look within yourself.
  • 89% and 76% agree that people should not criticize someone else’s life choices.
  • 86% and 72% agree that to be fulfilled in life, you should pursue the things you most desire.
  • 84% and 67% agree that the highest goal of life is to enjoy it as much as possible.

Or, as the study concluded, that “While we wring our hands about secularism spreading through culture, a majority of churchgoing Christians have embraced corrupt, me-centered theology.”

Congregations are trending smaller and older, as are their pastors. Additional trends promise challenges, and others opportunity: people are concentrating in the largest churches, congregations are more independent, there’s increasing ethnic diversity of predominantly (and historically) white congregations, more informal worship, more gender inclusiveness, great acceptance of homosexual behavior, and more technology.

And what are the seminaries’ response to these changing times? “Dale and I have one word to describe the present and future of the seminaries,” Dr. Rast said, speaking to the District Presidents. “You have one word to describe your district’s present and future. We have one word to describe the LCMS’s present and future:

“Hopeful.”

Our hope is in Christ, our confession founded firmly on the rock of God’s Word. As such, the present educational intentions in training future clergy remain clear: to facilitate the interpretation of texts, to raise students’ consciousness of historical and contemporary contexts, to cultivate student performance in public clergy roles, and to nurture dispositions and habits integral to the vocation of religious leadership.

To assist the church in facing these challenges, both seminaries continue to offer the very best in pastoral formation, grounded in our rich historical theology while helping our students and graduates to apply what they learn to our challenging 21st century realities. They also offer resources to laity and clergy, and graduate studies. These resources and graduate courses are available to Lutherans worldwide, as well as to other Christians. “Lutheran leaven!” Dr. Rast called it. In these challenges, we have been given great opportunity.

A number of the District Presidents came up to Dr. Rast afterwards to tell him and Dr. Meyer how much they appreciate their clear understanding of the issues—both the challenges and the opportunities—and to thank them for their leadership as they serve as a model for working together for the good of the Church.

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Sem Guild: Christ Academy

The Seminary Guild meets almost every second Tuesday of each month during the Academic Year. Before they discuss their ongoing or future service projects for the students, they begin each meeting with a presentation by a staff or faculty member. The presentation is often a learning seminar, acting as a thank you for their work and often affording them an inside view of what’s going on at the Seminary, which in turns gives them ideas for how they can possibly assist.

Rev. Matthew Wietfeldt, Director of Admissions and Christ Academy, presented on Christ Academy. Father to five daughters, Rev. Wietfeldt began his presentation by explaining, with a grin, that Christ Academy is his sixth child, “And the only one that’s male–or at least partially male,” he added. “It’s a great joy of mine.”

Christ Academy is a youth vocational discernment program, and a way to begin raising up future generations of pastors and deaconesses even while the Seminary is training the current generation. Christ Academy serves three age levels: confirmation, high school, and college. The high school program is further divided into male and female programs.

A picture from our Christ Academy archives, back in 2000. If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, that’s a very young Dr. Benjamin Mayes in the middle when he was still just a seminarian at CTSFW rather than our Assistant Professor of Historical Theology.

Founded in 1999 by the Admission Department, the program began as just the high school academy for young men (go to the photos from that year and you’ll find our very own Dr. Benjamin Mayes standing among the students; he served as Student Director and was instrumental to getting the program off the ground). The college program was added in 2006, Phoebe (the high school women’s program) started in 2012 as just a three-day weekend for both mothers and daughters, and in 2015 the Confirmation Retreat (which had already been ongoing through another department) was added to its umbrella. For its 20th year, the program will have two Confirmation Retreats for pastors and their confirmation classes in the Spring and Fall, the two-week summer academy for high school men and women (called, respectively, “Timothy School” and “Phoebe School”), and the college retreat also in the fall.

Though these programs serve different age levels, Christ Academy always works on a three-fold platform, designed around liturgical worship (students join the community in worship in Kramer Chapel), confessional Lutheran catechesis (“We don’t dumb down our teaching,” Rev. Wietfeldt explained. “Our faculty teach them the same way they do seminarians. We raise students up to a level they can reach rather than lowering the bar.”), and fun. Fun is important because getting together as the body of Christ is important; you learn to like each other, to smooth out each other’s rough edges, and how to both lead and be led.

Though they could arguably be called camps (especially the two-week programs for the high schoolers), they are not called that in order to distinguish them as fully structured Seminary experiences. “The point of the academy is that you are diligent in your worship, diligent in your learning, and, yes, diligent in your fun,” Rev. Wietfeldt said. “We don’t play around in worship, worship our work, or force learning into our play.” Though there’s naturally some crossover between the three, they all have their roles, and their own time and place.

Most youth vocational programs of this type see about 20% of their participants eventually become the vocation they were studying (in this case, pastors or deaconesses). Christ Academy is at about 25%. And that doesn’t include those who have gone on to our sister seminary in St. Louis, nor those who become other types of church workers, like teachers, DCEs, music directors, organists, and kantors. If you add those, Rev. Wietfeldt calculated the number at 35-40% of participants. Add on to that the young men and women who are beneficial to their congregation as theologically and liturgically-minded laypeople serving their home churches, and he guesses that it rises to 75 or 80%.

“The Church has a lot to be excited about because we are putting through such qualified individuals,” Rev. Wietfeldt said. As to the Seminary Guild: “The biggest thing you can do is pray. Pray, pray, pray. Pray for these young men and women. ‘The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.'”

Rev. Matthew Wietfeldt explaining Christ Academy to the women of the Seminary Guild.

To learn more about the Seminary Guild, go to www.ctsfw.edu/SemGuild.

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Convocation: Lutheranism in Latvia

The preacher for daily chapel this morning was the Rev. Romans Kurpnieks-Logins, a pastor and District Dean from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (ELCL). His accent, you may have noticed, is very strong. “I think in Latvia, and then translates in English,” he explained during yesterday’s hour-long convocation on the challenges and opportunities for proclaiming the Gospel in Latvia’s post-soviet and post-modern culture. He has been here on campus with us for the fall quarter as he studies for his Master of Sacred Theology (STM), and will be returning at the end of this week to his family and congregations in his home country.

Latvia’s oldest cathedral is over 800 years old and was built by the Roman Catholic Church, but the country’s cultural identity is Lutheran and can be traced back to the Reformation. “Riga,” Rev. Kurpnieks said, speaking of Latvia’s capital city in the early 1500s, “decided very quickly to be Lutheran.” It happened one day that the Roman Catholic monastery held a procession outside of the city walls, opening the large, heavy gates (times were dangerous in the 16th century and the gates were a necessary security measure) to let themselves out. “They went out to have procession, city government closed the doors on them, and that’s how Lutheranism came to Latvia,” Rev. Kurpnieks explained succinctly.

The ELCL is the largest denomination in Latvia (followed by Roman Catholicism and then the Russian Orthodox Church), and the only Lutheran church body in the country. “Just one Lutheran church in Latvia, so you don’t need to say confessional or conservative,” Rev. Kurpnieks said, describing the difference in Lutheran identity in Latvia as compared to the United States and other nations. “I thought every church, congregation, and pastor use incense.”

However, in becoming a pastor and then a District Dean, Rev. Kurpnieks’s world widened and he found that it wasn’t so. “I discovered that the Lutheran world is not only in Latvia or congregation where I am, but is much larger with many, many problems.” The ELCL is in association with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), whose doctrine aligns similarly with the theological liberalism of the ELCA here in America.

At a LWF conference, Rev. Kurpnieks discovered his fellow attendees scrutinizing him as they discussed topics like abortion, euthanasia, gender roles, and marriage. “All of them look at me because they know I am from Latvia and they know my Archbishop,” he said. Archbishop Janis Vanags, the head of the ELCL, “is famous,” as Rev. Kurpnieks put it, “for what he does not do.”

He does not, for example, ordain women. Before this Archbishop the ELCL had done so, but he put an end to the practice and the church body made it official in their constitution in 2016. It puts the Latvian church in a very different position to their brothers in the LWF. While out with a friend later (a fellow pastor from Chile), Rev. Kurpnieks declared: “I was in minority.”

His friend turned to him. “You weren’t in minority. You were alone!”

Latvia itself is a very different case. Culturally Lutheran, many Latvians claim they are Lutheran in much the same way that Americans often claim they are Christian despite their belief (or unbelief), because it’s a historical part of the national identity. “It’s easy life as Lutheran in Latvia,” Rev. Kurpnieks explained, but then added, “Not so with youth. But we have many opportunities.”

The lost youth may be due to Latvia’s history with the Soviet Union. Located on the border of Russia, Latvia was occupied and annexed by the Soviet army in 1941; many of their church buildings were seized and repurposed as storage spaces and garages, and their pastors martyred. A handful of churches remained open during Soviet times, but for those ministers who refused to work with the KGB, their lives ended either immediately or in the Gulags. Rev. Kurpnieks spoke of a woman in his congregation who remembers when her father, a Lutheran pastor, was pushed out of a third floor window by the KGB.

Rev. Kurpnieks grew up in Soviet times, and was not baptized until he was in his mid-twenties. He and his wife had been together for five years when “Suddenly, for some reason, we wanted to get married,” he explained. “I don’t know why—no, now I know: it’s God’s will.”

They wanted to have a church wedding in one of the beautiful, centuries-old chapels owned by the Lutheran Church. The pastor said okay—on his terms. Within four weeks, they were baptized, confirmed and married. The next Sunday they attended Divine Service. “I was immediately—” at this point Rev. Kurpnieks mimed the motion of grabbing someone and holding them in a tight hug, then went on. “God took me and there was no question. I don’t know how to explain. I never struggle with the importance of the Lord’s Supper. Now I realize there is much struggle.”

“Many people come like this,” Rev. Kurpnieks, speaking from his own experiences as a pastor. “They say, ‘we want fast’—usually because she is pregnant.” Though they are unbelievers, many Latvians also want their children baptized because that is how it’s been done for centuries. They also hold annual cemetery celebrations in Latvia, a festival going back to ancient times in which every Latvian goes to the cemeteries to care for the graves. They also set up tables among the gravestones and gardens for eating, drinking, and dancing. “In every place—even in Soviet times when the church was punished—they always invite pastor to say something,” he explained. The pastor always prays and sometimes holds a small ceremony; just one more opportunity to speak of Jesus.

“They come themselves,” Rev. Kurpnieks went on, explaining the evangelical landscape in Latvia. “We don’t need to go to the streets. They ask themselves. Pastors don’t have time to go do missionary work because people come.” And every time they come the answer is always the same: yes, we will perform this marriage/baptism/etc., but you must take confirmation class first. “I am a boss,” Rev. Kurpnieks said, “if they want something.”

Following the Soviet devastation of not only the church’s property but of her under shepherds, the Lutheran Church in Latvia is poor. Latvia has nearly 2 million people but the Lutheran Church there has only 42-43,000 registered members across 298 congregation. Most of them are small with less than 50 members in attendance on a Sunday morning. These 298 congregations are served by only 112 pastors, most of whom have at least two parishes (and still others three or four depending on their size). Rev. Kurpnieks himself has two while simultaneously serving as District Dean over 23 congregations.

“I made ten times more before,” Rev. Kurpnieks said of his life prior to the pastoral ministry, “but I am very happy.” He fought the call for years, feeling unprepared financially (students at the seminary in Riga, Latvia, have full-time jobs and attend classes in the evening, many of them knowing they will work for multiple parishes for no money save what they earn at their day jobs), but God in His great wisdom made an under shepherd of Rev. Kurpnieks anyways.

Now he is finishing his studies in the Master of Sacred Theology program. He is a “first fruit” of the CTSFW STM program in Gothenburg, Sweden, as Dr. Masaki described him. Six other Latvians are in the program. And why the STM Program? Why CTSFW? “I really don’t know better Seminary in the Lutheran world,” Rev. Kurpnieks said. “I don’t say that just because I am student. I start this program just to be sure I promised to do what I say in my ordination vows: ‘I will continue my studies.’”

Our prayers go with Rev. Kurpnieks as he returns to his home, his family, and his congregations in Latvia; to our brothers and sisters across the seas; and to all those who are “as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

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Luther Hostel: The Hidden God

Wind and rain have made this second day of Luther Hostel a cold and dreary one; the first picture posted here is what the entryway to Luther Hall looked like late morning, right before Dr. Fickenscher began his talk on “Sharing the Gospel in Time of Suffering.” The second is of our Luther Hostel attendees during the lecture.

The theme of suffering as viewed through the theology of the cross has shaped every discussion for this year’s conference. In this particular session, Dr. Fickenscher began by speaking of the difficulty of Deus absconditus; in English, the “hidden God.” God’s Word doesn’t say everything. It says everything God wants it to say, but there are things He has hidden from us, for our own good. “But we also don’t say just trust God, shut up,” he added. “We look past the hidden God to see what God has revealed.”

And what has God revealed? In the New Testament, when Jesus confronts suffering the usual result is immediate, miraculous healing. In the Old Testament, we are more often than not told why suffering has come–often as a punishment, sometimes for some other reason (as in Job’s case). But how does that speak to us now? In this present age we receive neither immediate deliverance from our particular sufferings nor an explanation for them. We cannot read God’s mind and to do so – to presume to tell those (even ourselves) in suffering that God is punishing us for this or that sin, or to promise what God doesn’t promise (as in the prosperity gospel, which claims that the right kind and amount of obedience to God will earn a Christian both financial and physical health) – offers neither truth nor comfort.

Yet we also shouldn’t settle for promising less than God promises. That the cross of Christ accomplished the forgiveness of sins and life eternal for those who believe in Him is most certainly true. The sure and certain hope that his wife is in heaven gives the widower comfort–and yet the suffering of the survivors remains. He knows that she’s all right, but how will he take care of his children without her? “You’re still preaching to people who are not dead,” Dr. Fickenscher pointed out. “Does God promise anything else to us? What can we say in addition?”

“Comfort in all trials,” one attendee finally answered. “Peace.”

“Ah,” Dr. Fickenscher said, grinning. “And what does ‘comfort in all trials’ mean? And ‘peace’?”

He soon answered his own question with the Gospel. “Every good and perfect gift comes from God. The sin that cuts us off from God – from all good things – has been nailed to the cross. We are reconciled to Him, once more joined with Him who gives every good and perfect gift. God is all loving, all powerful, all knowing. He wants to give us the best. He knows what is good, and not just what we think is good. He knows that for me today is not my day to be in heaven. He knows why taking my children now is best for me. Or why taking care of my children on my own is best. God is giving me right now everything that is truly good for me.

“It’s best to understand this now when it’s not the worst time,” Dr. Fickenscher continued. “Hear it now, so that when tragedy strikes, you know God is taking care of you in the best way. You swallow hard and you know that He is with you. And the next day you wake up, swallow hard, and know that He is with you. Because of the cross we are reconciled. God is with us right now. Giving us whatever is really best for us right now.” In the theology of the cross, we have true comfort and peace in suffering.

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Convocation: Bringing the Reformation to South Sudan

For the 501st Anniversary of the Reformation, the Rev. Peter Anibati, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan/Sudan (ELCSS/S), spoke during today’s convocation hour on “Bringing the Reformation to South Sudan: Pastoring through Civil War, Famine, and Spirit Worship.” Bishop Peter is here at invitation of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF), who have been instrumental in the support of the ELCSS/S.

The 150,000 members of the ELCSS/S are scattered across five countries, refugees of the civil and tribal wars that plague South Sudan. The church body came into existence in 1993 (they will be celebrating their 25th anniversary on December 2), in the midst of the Second Sudanese Civil War between the Muslims of the North and the Christians in the South (fighting back against forced Islamification). Though South Sudan has since been granted independence, their politicians still fight, killing each other – and the people of South Sudan – over power.

The South Sudanese are dominated by constant fear, hunger, and poverty. Millions have died in the decades of armed conflict. They have no access to basic services like shelter, food, clean water and sanitation, health care, and education. More than 80% of the population is illiterate. The fighting has driven the people from their homes, their ranches, their farms; Bishop Peter spoke of watching little children climb trees in order to eat the leaves. South Sudan has two planting seasons but there’s no point in sowing what no one will be around to harvest. “It’s all gunshots and killing,” Bishop Peter explained.

The impact of warfare is profound. The ELCSS/S’s 150,000 members across 200 congregations are served by 66 ordained pastors, none of whom work for a salary. They are, in many ways, volunteers. Traveling by foot or on bicycles (save for those lucky few who own a motorbike), these pastors visit congregations only once every two to three months, at which time the congregation is finally able to receive the Lord’s Supper and baptize and confirm new members. Between pastoral visits, congregations are served by trained laypeople called evangelists.

These 66 ordained men visit congregations across South Sudan and in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and UN protected refugee sites. While on the road they always wear collar and cross, so that the people know they are neither a rebel nor a politician but instead recognize them as men of God. Some have been killed anyways. The people may know who these men are but, as Bishop Peter explained, “The bullet doesn’t know anyone.”

Oftentimes, members or even whole congregations have to run as the fighting shifts into their area. Their pastors run with them. There is no permanence in Sudan; no one knows where they may be tomorrow. “The church is not a building,” Bishop Peter said, showing a picture of a congregation gathered under the shade of a tree. “It is the people.”

To help alleviate the lack of pastors, the ELCSS/S has started a seminary which ordains men through a four-year program like ours—three years of academic study and one year of vicarage. Twenty-two men are in the program. The ELCSS/S is also working on training Sudanese pastors to become professors since they are currently dependent on visiting professors (our own faculty among them) to teach their seminarians.

What they have in financial support has largely come from the United States. In a church body made up of refugees and the survivors of war, they must reach out to their brothers across the sea for help. “Without the Lutheran Heritage Foundation,” Bishop Peter said, “it would be almost impossible to have all this happening.” The church depends on members to give, but their members have nothing. Instead, the people of South Sudan reach out to the church to come to their rescue.

And herein lies the strength promised in weakness. It is this “nothing” that has caused the ELCSS/S to grow and thrive. “There is great demand for the Gospel message because all else has failed the people of South Sudan,” Bishop Peter said. “The membership has increased greatly. The Good News is spreading.”

To start a congregation, the ELCSS/S begins by identifying a place where there is no Lutheran church. They then hold a 2-3 day seminar in the area, using LHF translated materials (books like Luther’s Small Catechism and “The Good News About Jesus”). Many already know the Lord’s Prayer, but they have never heard an explanation for it. “This catechism is a very powerful tool,” the bishop said, explaining that as soon as the people hear or read these resources in their language, they grow excited and want to learn still more. A congregations begins because, having learned of the truth of the Gospel, they desire access to it.

Bound by the biblical teaching of grace alone, the ELCSS/S has a powerful message that resonates with a people broken by war and desperate need. “People try to look for something that can give them hope. They ask, ‘Why is this happening?’ Traditional religions – all other religions – can never give. All they do is demand, demand, demand. But what can a refugee really do?” Bishop Peter asked. Refugees have nothing. Literally nothing. And for those sitting in darkness: “Christ on the cross has given all. This is what comforts them.”

Thousands have been drawn to the ELCSS/S by the power of the Gospel message. “God works through the Word,” Bishop Peter explained. “The Word is powerful. We just speak what is there. We don’t know how it works. But God knows.”

Bishop Peter finished his presentation with these words:

“In all these, the Word continues to spread and the church is growing. Our government and politics may have failed but Jesus is the only hope. With Him we are secured and have life in abundance even in the face of suffering, poverty, death and war.

“Thank you and God bless.”‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍

You can learn more by visiting www.lhfmissions.org or by contacting the Lutheran Heritage Foundation at info@lhfmissions.org or (800) 554-0723.

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Convocation: Pastoral Care

For yesterday’s convocation on “Comforting the Heart of Hearing: Distinguishing Law and Gospel as Pastoral Care,” we welcomed Dr. John D. Koch to CTSFW, who came here on Tuesday and had the opportunity to meet with and talk theology with our faculty. Dr. Koch is an Anglican rector, receiving his doctorate in Systematic Theology at the University of Humboldt in Berlin, Germany, in 2014, with the thesis “Subjectum Theologiae: The Distinction Between Law and Gospel as the Basis and Boundary of Theological Reflection.”
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Anglicans and Lutherans share common roots, so it is not a shock to hear a brother in the Anglican Church speaking on the distinction between Law and Gospel. Anglicanism grew out of the reformation; as Dr. Koch put it: “We are not speaking from totally foreign territory.”
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Dr. Koch grew up in an Evangelical home, in the inadvertently terrifying religious tradition of “If I do this, then God will do that” or, put in another way, “Do what’s in you and God will do the rest.” The crushing load of these words is great: those in the midst of suffering are forced to wonder if either 1.) They have not done enough, or 2.) God is unfairly punishing them. Without Law and Gospel, suffering cannot produce endurance, endurance cannot produce character, and character cannot produce the hope that does not put us to shame (Romans 5:3-5).
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This is why, Dr. Koch argues, the proper distinction of Law and Gospel is not only crucial to pastoral care but is, in fact, the work of the priest or pastor. “When this becomes distinct,” he said, “you become a pastor.” A pastor who distinguishes Law and Gospel has no choice but to reorient his heart; the distinction places limits around theology that forces the proclamation of the Gospel. It becomes something to preach, something to give to the burdened. “[Law and Gospel] is the only theology that does justice to the cross,” Dr. Koch explained.
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In fact, it is impossible to preach God in the tyrannical abstract when Law and Gospel is rightly distinguished and understood. God is seen and known in His seen sacrifice—in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It’s neither abstract nor speculative. It’s as concrete as your own blood, your own life and death. This is your God; this is your message for the burdened: sinner come home, see what He has done for you. We become beggars who have found food.
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“Preacher,” Dr. Koch concluded, speaking to a room largely filled with MDiv students who will someday face the burdens and fears of their congregations, “go to your people and give them what God has given them in Jesus.”
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Dr. Koch finished by explaining that he will always be an Anglican because of the “comfortable words.” The “comfortable words,” as they are known in the Anglican service (from their Common Book of Prayers), are a series of four verses spoken by the preacher to his congregation following the confession of sins. They are, in order:
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1. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

2. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

3. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15).

4. “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1b-2a).
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The convocation concluded with the confidence we have through Christ, as declared by St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, verses 5 and 6: “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍

A student asks a question of Dr. Koch following his presentation. Dr. Pless (standing on the stage, far left) was also on hand, as the convocation was organized by the Department of Pastoral Ministry and Missions.

Because of space and time constraints, I had to cut out, summarize, and reorganize large pieces of the convocation. To listen to an audio recording of the presentation in full, go to https://video.ctsfw.edu/media/Comforting+the+Heart+of+HearingA+Distinguishing+Law+and+Gospel+as+Pastoral+Care/0_23zy89g5

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Convocation: Israel Dig

Joshua Schiff (left) and James Neuendorf (right).

Yesterday’s convocation hour featured students James Neuendorf and Joshua Schiff, who were involved this past summer in an archaeological dig funded by CTSFW’s Lois Ann Reed Endowment for Biblical Archaeology. They called their presentation “From Dan to Beersheeba” or “Why CTS Students Absolutely Need to Go to Israel.”

James Neuendorf, as you can tell, is an excellent photographer. This is just one of many pictures he took during their dig in Israel.

They began with Luke 2:15: “Let us go…and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” Like the shepherds running to see the Christ child (whose faith did not need to see to believe what the angels told them, but rather desired to see what they already believed), these students too wanted to see what they knew to be true. Though they couldn’t see the Biblical events themselves by going to Israel, they could, in the words of James Neuendorf, “see the context of these real historical events.”

The purpose of the dig itself was a last shot at testing Dr. Yonatan Adler’s thesis: that ritual cleansing continued despite the destruction of the temple. The ritual cleansing refers to Leviticus 11:33: “And if any of them [things that are unclean] falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.” It was very expensive to have to continually break your earthenware vessels, so the Israelites found a loophole by creating vessels out of stone, which would not have to be smashed to pieces whenever something unclean fell in them.

The students’ (made up of mostly Israelis, with a couple of international students like our own two seminarians thrown in) were organized into teams, and each team were put in charge of a small square area in an old chalkstone deposit in Cana, Galilee, where these stone vessels would have been produced on site (they lived offsite, in a little town you may recognized: Nazareth). A metal detector was used to look for dateable material, like coins, which would be able to prove that this practice took place after the temple’s destruction.

It took two weeks to work down to bedrock in a single square, even by digging more aggressively (using a type of hoe) than normal. They didn’t have to be as careful in a stone quarry as you would in a site that contains a lot of household items. However, they didn’t find much besides stone vessels, “which was fine with us because we don’t really agree with Dr. Adler,” Josh and James admitted with a grin.

They also had regular lectures in the afternoon and had the opportunity to visit digs not open to the public. To enrich the experience, they created study guides for each place they visited (“We went to every Biblical site not currently being hit with rockets”), filling their Bibles with notes.

One such place was Tabgha, the location of the feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 14), which is also the location where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him (John 21). In doing so, the seminarians realized that in two different times at the same location, Jesus told His disciples to feed His people. They felt the impact of how that would have struck the disciples themselves.

Matthew 14:16: “But Jesus said, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’”

John 21:15: “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’”

Tabgha, where Jesus preached to and fed the 5,000. And how does one person speak to 5,000? When James and Josh visited, they realized that it was a natural amphitheater. They took turns testing it out, listening to each speak across the space. “Now, I’m not into mysticism,” Josh said, “but it was an incredible feeling to stand where Christ preached and pray the Lord’s Prayer.”

James and Josh said that one of the most valuable experiences and greatest opportunities was walking with and working alongside Israelis. Since their coworkers were primarily Jews, they ate kosher food three times a day, saw how it was for these men and women to keep the Sabbath, and got to experience what these restrictive laws would have meant day-to-day in Jesus’ time, which is hard to capture simply by reading. Though some of the experience was modernized, it still provided context.

They were also, as they put it, “Stunned by how many questions they asked about Jesus.” Though sharing your faith in Israel is illegal, you are allowed to answer questions, and their coworkers had many. There are a lot of Christian sites in but not a lot of Christians, despite the country’s dependence on Christian tourism. Religious groups in Israel simply do not cross lines into each other’s neighborhoods, so their coworkers had either barely or even never interacted with Christians before.

In fact, Dr. Adler, who was in charge of the dig, was getting so many questions from the Jewish students that he finally sat them all down and asked the seminarians to explain Christianity. Josh, a second-year, said with a laugh that he insisted they not start the talk until they woke up James, the fourth-year, who then walked them through Jesus as prophet, priest, and king. Later, when trying to explain the idea of a one-sided covenant (that God comes to us in salvation), James pointed out that the Lord’s covenant to Abraham in Genesis 9 too was one-sided; that God – not Abram (as he was then known) – walked through the animals that had been cut in half. They rushed to their books. “There was an audible, ‘He’s right,’” James said.

That is itself typical. Jews in Israel do not actually know much about the Old Testament or even the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). “They don’t even know what the tabernacle is,” Josh explained. Their lack of understanding of Christianity does not stem from a misunderstanding of the Christological aspects of the Old Testament, but rather a lack of knowledge of the Old Testament itself. The Jewish sects in Israel – of which there are many – long ago set aside Scripture for legalistic code.

James and Josh also had the chance to meet a Messianic Jew when visiting a replica of the tabernacle. The woman asked if they were Christian and, upon their “yes,” spent the rest of the tour with a knowing look, winking at them as she pointed out aspects of the tabernacle that pointed to the Messiah. “If you can’t see Jesus in every strand of this place,” she said, “then you’re blind.”

On this evening they had kosher pizza on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and answered questions from their Israeli coworkers about Jesus. They shared the good news about Jesus where Jesus once called Simon and his brother Andrew to be fishers of men.
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Convocation: Greek v. Greek

Today’s convocation hour was a collegial debate between our current Greek teacher, Dr. John G. Nordling, and a former professor of ours, Dr. James W. Voelz, who has been teaching at our sister Seminary in St. Louis since 1989. Their debate? “How should Greek be taught to seminarians in the twenty-first century, and why does philological competence remain vital for the church?”

Left to right: Dr. Nordling, Dr. Voelz, and Dr. Weinrich, moderator.

These two are experts in the field. Dr. Nordling has taught Greek at CTSFW for the past twelve years (not to mention at Valparaiso and Baylor for many years before then), and Dr. Voelz, who has taught Greek for over 40 years, wrote “Fundamental Greek Grammar,” the textbook used at both seminaries.

I have to admit: this convocation lost me in the details (it was, as they say, all Greek to me). What I did understand was that both professors hold distinctly different views on the first half of the topic: how Greek should be taught to seminarians. Dr. Nordling’s methodology is very technical, shaped by his desire to lay the building blocks of Greek grammar, terms, word order, and tense usage in order to move seminarians along in their understanding of the language. You teach Greek, then through this stronger understanding of Greek are able to teach theology at a higher level. He also argued that composition, though time-consuming, is the best way to keep seminarians from learning Greek passively. “For,” as he pointed out to his grinning students, “they can be counted on to make many bone-headed mistakes.”

Dr. Voelz accused Dr. Nordling – with good humor – of not having enough romance in his soul. Dr. Voelz’s number one goal when teaching a class is to instill a sense of excitement in his students for the original text, which they can someday pass on to their congregations. As such, his methodology is less technical, jumping more quickly into the deeper dimensions of the text so that a seminarian can quickly begin to open up the language of the New Testament like a flower, even if his understanding of the rules commanding Greek isn’t yet set. Dr. Voelz wants the newly ordained pastor out in the field to regret giving up Greek (“giving up real contact with the Word of God,” as he put it), rather than giving it up out of relief.

Though they disagreed fundamentally on teaching method, they agreed absolutely in purpose – or “why philological competence (strong linguistic skills in the Bible’s original languages) remains vital.” Dr. Weinrich, who was mediating, concluded perfectly: that both men clearly love Greek, and just as clearly love Greek for its purpose — to put seminarians (and our future pastors) into direct contact with God’s Word.

Seminarian Austin Meier made an audio recording of the debate. You can listen to it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rSvd3ElicQLIXjDXz-fXDwyjJVPNMXFy/

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Convocation: Life Issues (Abortion)

During today’s convocation, Dr. William Lile, OB/GYN from Florida, spoke on the topic of life issues as they pertain to abortion. Dr. Lile has served as both Chair of a hospital and instructor at a university and in a medical school. From his website www.prolifedoc.org:

“In 1999 he took over a practice that was also the largest provider of abortion services in Pensacola. All abortion services and abortion referrals were stopped on day 1. The abortionist retired and left the country. The abortion equipment is now used to demonstrate the brutality of abortions performed in all 3 trimesters. The tools of modern obstetrics are used to demonstrate the life and personhood of the unborn. Babies in the womb are viewed as patients, abortion is never the right ‘choice’, and forgiveness is available to ALL through the blood of Jesus Christ.”

He spoke on the subject especially in light of the fact that the preborn (as he refers to babies in the womb) are viewed and treated, in his profession, as patients. If they’re patients, then that means they’re persons. And if a person, then they deserve protection.

Dr. Lile was born into a Christian family, whose parents taught him pro-life values. After he finished his residency, the OB/GYN took over a practice in the Pensacola area that also quietly operated as the largest provider of abortion services in the area, and had since the 70s.

From that day, the abortions stopped. There was no major backlash in the community (much like the concentrations camps in WWII, people turn their eyes away and do not look), and he realized that many people didn’t know what was going on behind those doors, once you walked up the stairs to the second floor. He now uses the equipment left behind to demonstrate the brutality of abortion.

Though his most well-known presentations involve these demonstrations (his first presentation was at his own church, but now he’s a nationally renowned speaker and his YouTube videos have hundreds of thousands views, which you can find by searching for “Lile abortion” and “abortion demonstration”), today he spoke primarily on chemical abortions and, borrowing from Dr. Seuss, that “A patient’s a person no matter how small.”

Chemical abortions are largely unreported, which he calculated amounted to 20% of abortions that are being done. The two main abortifacients are RU486 (a progesterone blocker which, by blocking the hormone that tells your body it’s pregnant, induces a menstrual cycle), and methotrexate, which is used in the treatment of cancer to attack rapidly dividing cells. It is 98% effective.

Reversals are now possible for both of these chemicals. So far, over 100 abortions have been reversed by flooding the body with progesterone following the ingestion of RU486, and a paper has been published and accepted on the findings, which means that ERs can now tell patients about the reversal option if they come in and ask for an abortion reversal.

As to the methotrexate, only four reversals have been done in the world. Dr. Lile performed one of them. An engaged couple were talked into an abortion after going to Planned Parenthood for advice, and both were hit with deep regret as soon as they got back to their car. The young woman was a nursing student, and when they got home she immediately began googling abortion reversal and was then connected to Dr. Lile (who lived in their area) through the website www.abortionpillreversal.com. He called around to the pharmacies in the area, and finally found one carrying the drug he needed.

When he explained the dosage and directions, the pharmacist suddenly got suspicious. “Are you trying to reverse an abortion?”

He hesitated, but decided he needed to be bold. “Yes I am.”

“Oh sweetie, I’m going to take care of her.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but the young woman got her prescription just fine. The next day, when she spoke with him, she explained that he had sent her to the strangest pharmacy she had ever gone to. The pharmacist had come out from behind the counter and given her a hug. “And,” the young woman added, “the pharmacist had paid for the medication herself.”

Dr. Lile then spoke on the treatment of the preborn, which makes them patients and thus persons. This isn’t new; prenatal testing began in the 60s, not to look for reasons to abort but to diagnose problems and treat them. Now the medical capabilities are incredible. These include prenatal blood transfusions, intrauterine medications (injected directly into the amniotic fluid so as not to affect the mother), and fetal cardiac surgery at 20-22 weeks gestation.

In fact, if a doctor fails to diagnose these developmental issues in the preborn, then he can be sued for millions of dollars for failing to save the baby. So clearly there is recognized value there.

Delayed Interval Delivery. It has happened that two identical twins were born months apart – one in June and the other in August (early delivery, had to live in the NICU; kept the other baby in mother’s womb, which is an even better, more effective NICU; “It’s not ‘your body,’” Dr. Lile pointed out. “’Your body’ is an amazing life support system” for another’s.).

But according to Washington D.C. and the eight states that do not put a cap on gestational age for abortions, one identical twin has rights and protections while the other doesn’t. Because of location, the purposefully caused death of one twin would be murder, and the other a legal termination of a pregnancy.

Dr. Lile took questions after the presentation. Dr. Fickenscher asked how his fellow doctors could perform surgery with one hand and abortions with the other, as is so often the case.

“You’ve got to have a cold heart,” Dr. Lile answered. “It’s not a choice. It’s a spiritual battle.” It’s not the first time in the history of the world that we’ve sacrificed children on the altars of idols. ““Why do I do this?” he added, speaking of his presentations and his passion for the pro-life movement. “Because it’s my peers performing these abortions.”

Dr. Grobien asked what the church’s future workers could do – her pastors and deaconesses – to assist in the battle.

“Talk about it in church,” he said, finding that many people have never heard their pastor speak about abortion from the pulpit. Since it’s a spiritual battle, he spoke on how our weapon in this fight is the Word of God. He also touched on a life apologetics course for men (to both minister to their own losses as well as to educate and train them as they are meant to be the defenders), which he held in Pensacola. Dr. Lile’s main message:

Is abortion a sin? Yes.
Is it an unforgivable sin? No.

A man came up to him afterwards, to tell the story of his first grandchild. Years ago the man had taken his pregnant, 17-year-old daughter to the clinic (in fact, the very clinic which Dr. Lile later took over) for an abortion. He briefly saw his first grandchild on the ultrasound, a sight which did not stop him from paying to terminate the pregnancy, but one which has haunted him since.

His first grandchild and, as it turns out, his only grandchild. “Oh, I have paid for it,” he said to Dr. Lile. Since then he’d also felt that he could never go to God to ask for forgiveness because it was such a vile sin. But that simple, scriptural message (Is it unforgivable? No.) drove him to repentance. His burden was lifted.

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
(Esther 4:14)
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Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me…

Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
(Psalm 51:5, 9-12)