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Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle

Today is the Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle, and—like all feasts and festivals (as well as commemorations)—is designed to turn our eyes to Christ Jesus our Lord. While commemorations serve to remember a broad range of the saints and events across history that help us proclaim Christ, feasts/festivals are a remembrance of those events and people whose earthly lives were intertwined with the earthly life and ministry of Christ. From the LCMS Worship Library on “Commemorations Questions and Answers”:

These days are really treated as ‘Feasts of Christ,’ that is to say, as days when we remember, celebrate, and give thanks for the life that our Lord Jesus Christ lived for us in the flesh. For these reasons, it is appropriate to observe these ‘Feasts’ with the Sacrament of the Altar, in which the Word-made-flesh draws close to us and gives himself to us in much the same way that he came and lived among the apostles and other disciples in the New Testament.

Matthias was the apostle chosen to replace Judas in the early days of the Christian Church. He is, in many ways, the forgotten apostle, showing up by name only in the first chapter of Acts. What little we know comes from Peter’s words in Acts 1:21-26:

“So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.’ And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”

From Rev. James Gier’s sermon during daily chapel this morning:

Well that’s about all we know about [Matthias], really. There is nothing else spiritually, other than perhaps he was one of the 72. There is little else historically. Some place him in Ethiopia, others have him bringing the faith to Armenia, known as the first nation to accept Christianity. It was said that he was martyred in Asia Minor, but that his final resting place is the great cathedral of Trier in Germany, making him, then, the only apostle buried north of the Alps… Believed martyred, he is not knowingly sawn in two, beheaded, crucified upside down, or had his skin handed to him, literally.

We do know that he was called by lot to take the place of Judas. We do know there were qualifications given for his nomination, if you will. He must be a man, one of male configuration, and one who was among them from the baptism of John to Christ’s ascension into heaven, as a legitimate witness to Jesus’ resurrection. So then where does that lead us to preach on him? A rather obscure fellow… St. Matthias, the apostle of the short end of the stick.

“Soon some of you will be called by lot and ordained into the same office, though as pastor and teacher, called not by the luck or bad luck of the draw, but by the Lord Himself to His Church. For Jesus says (and hear him carefully), “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (John 15:16).

Therefore, this is not an office of your choosing anymore than it was for Matthias. Jesus does not appoint for obscure reasons. He chooses the foolish to confound the wise. That it is not by your choice is more important than you may first think, for anything that is by your choice ends up as a product of your will, and the ministry is anything but your will. And certainly you made decisions to get here, but those are secondary to the call that’s already happening. There is truth in this with God: you can run, but you cannot hide…

It ought be safely deduced that Matthias was all present with the other Eleven in the New Testament witness, beginning with Pentecost, where he also, then, was preaching in tongues to the Diaspora Jews and to the Jerusalem Jews. And where apostle Peter delivers a crushing and potentially fatally offensive punch line: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36)…

Other than a few who followed [Christ], Israel rejected Him and His ministry. Yet he says, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Luke 10:21). This is hard for us to understand. Jesus praising the gracious will of the Father, that to some the salvation mystery is hidden, and that to others it is revealed.

Then the reasons come: to the wise and understanding who regard themselves as self-sufficient and so refuse, then, to acknowledge their complete need for God and His saving righteousness, to them it is hidden. But to those who acknowledge their utter dependence and need for divine grace, equated with infants—little children—the mystery of salvation in Christ is revealed. And so this is what makes for the days of a pastor. It is always by the Father’s gracious will and not your own, or you will martyr yourself in the office, and the short end of the stick in your hand is your doing.

The call is to sow and water with the Word. But only God gives the growth. And that growth is not your burden, it is by the will of God alone, the Father accomplishing the purpose for which He has sent His Word and will send you one day to preach it: the salvation mystery in Christ, hiding it from some and revealing it to others.

So then where does this lead us? I’m afraid, still, a little bit obscure. But that seems to be somewhat of the theme with Matthias. But it leaves me at a different place: at the bedside of my dying father, suffering from the same illness and treatments as I did just six weeks previous to him…

How do you minister to a man reduced again to the feeble helplessness of an infant, sedated, unable to accomplish anything for himself, even the slightest encouraging nod to the spoken Word? Questions arise: have I said enough? Have I prayed enough? Have I ministered enough? What sign is there to know? And with each question the office grew heavier, and the burden intensified.

The assurance of a blessed heavenly end was now as much for me as it was for him. I was in the same, utter dependence and need for divine grace in that office, as for the infant before me, to whom God reveals it. Same child-like faith, in the same Word, the Word that promises that the good work God had begun in him in Baptism, He will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. Faith, now, not in my father’s faith, but in my heavenly Father’s divine grace for his faith and for mine…

When my father passed, there was incredible peace, and the burden of his sin was finally lifted. And mine too. The divine grace that allows me more time to minister on earth is the same that took my father to heaven, now numbered among the saints in heaven, including Matthias. And that is anything but obscure. It is just as true in the office as it is in faith. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light, and now that seemingly short stick in your hand reveals itself for what it really is: the yoke of Christ. And you will find rest for your souls.

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Convocation: Church Planting

Yesterday’s convocation was led by Prof. Adam Koontz, who you may recognize from a recent post about his successful PhD defense (he won’t officially become Dr. Koontz until after his degree conferral in May). Sometime in the fall of 2020 we’ll have him lead a convocation on his dissertation topic, but today’s presentation on church planting is thanks to his church planting experience in Pennsylvania, where he served as a pastor before being called to serve here at CTSFW this past summer.

A proper understanding of church planting begins with 1 Corinthians 3:5-7: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

He talked both Gospel-focus as well as tactics. Visitation was central to his church-planting duties, along with planning and strategizing. He noted that, as a pastor, you don’t know how much you take for granted in a church until you’re planting. In a church plant there are no set tasks and duties, no established power networks or overarching culture to the congregation as a whole as the congregation is just individuals at this point. You must be perceptive of the cultures of the individuals you are reaching. When a student asked about catechesis, Prof. Koontz explained that he didn’t start a general catechism class or program, but rather visited with individuals for catechesis. He had a standard plan he followed—work through the six chief parts—but then he spent more or less time on each part as per each individual and family unit according to their questions and concerns.

Ultimately, he found that church planting makes it extremely clear that the Gospel is central. Because you have to focus on people who don’t currently go to church, you begin to focus your pastoral tasks: training the laity on basic apologetics, and on the communication of the message that people are sinners and Christ is the Savior of sinners. Prof. Koontz noted that his established congregation also came to understand the centrality of the Gospel much better after the work of planting a new church.

“The effect on the mother church is, in my experience, nothing but good,” Prof. Koontz said. “I did not personally encounter any jealousy over time because they understood this was for the sake of the spread of the Gospel.” They were excited by their connection with it, from active participants all the way to the shut-ins. They were starting a new church. That kicked back into the established congregation and made them much more excited about evangelism in their own place.

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Illinois State University – Concordia Seminary

Back in November, Prof. Robert Roethemeyer (CTSFW Library Director) and Dr. David Scaer (member of the faculty since 1966) were coming back from the Concordia Historical Institute Board of Governors meeting and the organization’s Annual Awards Banquet when they took a detour through Springfield, Illinois—CTSFW’s old stomping grounds. Prof. Roethemeyer took the opportunity to capture a couple of photos of the plaque that was installed there by the Central Illinois District in 2013.

The plaque reads:

Illinois State University –
Concordia Seminary

In 1852, the family of Pascal Enos donated this ground for an institution of higher learning. Rev. Francis Springer, an educator and Springfield’s first Lutheran minister, led efforts to establish Illinois State University, a college preparatory school, here. An impressive four story facility was completed in 1859. The school offered a classic curriculum and theology classes were offered under Prof. Simeon Harkey.

Many citizens of Springfield, including Abraham Lincoln, supported the school with annual subscriptions. Robert Todd Lincoln and John Milton Hay, President Lincoln’s future secretary, were students here.

Numerous problems plagued the school and attendance never exceeded 140 students. In 1869 the trustees closed the school, although several members of the faculty reestablished it in Carthage, Illinois as Carthage College. The properties were sold at sheriff’s auction and Rev. William Passavant utilized the facility as an orphanage for a short time. Eventually the properties were purchased by Trinity Lutheran Church with plans for a Lutheran female college, which never materialized. However, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod viewed the facilities as a solution for overcrowding at its St. Louis Seminary and in 1875, under the leadership of Prof. August Craemer, Concordia Theological Seminary moved into the abandoned building.

The building – renamed Die Kaffeemuehle because it resembled a coffee mill – was razed in 1931. However, other buildings were erected, acreage was added and the Seminary was eminently successful for 100 years. In 1975 the Missouri Synod voted to move the Seminary to Fort Wayne, Indiana. The campus is now used by the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Sponsored by
The Central Illinois District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
and the Illinois State Historical Society.
October 2013

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Convocation: Chaplaincy

Chaplain Ficken (left) and Chaplain Wolter (right) present on Specialized Pastoral Ministry.

Yesterday’s convocation focused on Specialized Pastoral Ministry as a vocation—more specifically, on the work of chaplains. Chaplains David E. Ficken and Derek M. Wolter shared their stories, their insights into their line of work, and the cry for chaplains across institutions.

Chaplain Wolter graduated from CTSFW in 1989, certain that he would work in a parish setting throughout his ministry. He explained that, when at the Seminary, he never went to the fireside chats led by chaplains nor their informational meetings or lunches, because he was focused on the parish. His career since then? Two years in the parish and 24 in the military. “Which is to say,” he said to the small group of seminarians interested in learning more about chaplaincy, “God knows the plans He has for you.”

Chaplain Wolter serves as a full-time hospital chaplain, but he didn’t start there. In the early to mid-90s, he worked with Orphan Grain Train in Russia, following the fall of communism. Their needs were graphic: poverty was feeding a slew of family tragedies, from family desertions to children placed in orphanages because their parents couldn’t feed them. He discovered firsthand that ministry wasn’t just limited to the idea of parish work. “It is the presence of Christ in the midst of need,” he said. “Bringing that comfort and assurance, being with people when they’re dealing with a very broken part of their lives.” When he returned to America, he resisted military chaplaincy at first but circumstances (and some very pointed encouragement) pushed him into that field of ministry. When he called a military recruiter to reluctantly ask if they needed chaplains, she was thrilled. He could hear her flipping through a binder as she explained that they were short a very specific kind of chaplain: “Something called a liturgical protestant,” she said. He took the hint.

Chaplain Ficken was serving Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Plover, Wisconsin, in his first (and current) call as a second-career pastor when he began working as a chaplain with the police department. His church encouraged him, seeing it as an opportunity to reach out with the Gospel. In a small community, local tragedies ripple across the entire town, and it put him in a place where he could reach out to many different people outside the church. Though not an extrovert by nature, he’s found that chaplaincy naturally manufactures opportunities that are an extension of his work in the parish.

He recalled one woman with whom he shared the Gospel. “She had never actually heard that God loved her and was there with His loving embrace to forgive her of her sins,” he said. “She broke down. I was able to touch her in that time with God’s love and mercy. It opened up my eyes to the needs of the community, and opened up Beautiful Savior to get to their community and get to know their needs.” Law enforcement is a tight knit community who don’t easily let down their walls, but now that he’s been with them for years, they automatically reach out to him when they need spiritual care following terrible accidents, suicides, and other soul-shattering tragedies. “It’s a blessing to be able to walk with these people in the trials and troubles they face in their worst moments.” He has now expanded to the sheriff’s office and to nearby fire stations (one volunteer and the other full-time, which each have their own tight-knit cultures).

Both men serve on the Synod’s Specialized Pastoral Ministry (SPM) Planning committee, working to encourage more pastors to consider chaplaincy as either a full-time vocation or a part-time addition to their duties. “You meet with people in their needs,” Chaplain Wolter said of the vocation. “We work with people who are at the edges of society, who are at points in their lives where they are very broken. It’s a type of ministry that is uncertain in the fact that you don’t know who you’re going to encounter, but very empowering knowing that you’re going to meet someone when they in their deepest need.” He compared it to Philip meeting the Ethiopian Eunuch: you’re there at the right time in the right place.

He recalled the first time his unit—he currently serves as Wing Chaplain for a reserve air force unit in Wisconsin—really turned to him. There was a plane crash. “All of a sudden, BAM, everyone’s looking to the chaplain,” he said. “Survivor’s guilt, family grief, you’re right there at the moment of the need. It’s very, very powerful.” Both men, specifically because of their positions as chaplains, encounter people far outside the parish, who themselves have never encountered a pastor or priest because they’re not plugged into any sort of church community.

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training is required for Specialized Pastoral Ministry**, with at least two CPE quarters required for institutional chaplains who work in hospitals and prisons. Police and fire agencies don’t require the training (they look for pastors in good standing to serve them and the community, with ICPC and FFC week-long training courses that help pastors get to know police and fire culture). However, the Missouri Synod requires it as an endorsement, so that they can guarantee that our chaplains are trained to a certain standard and have the skills to respond appropriately to any situation.

Made up of clinical hours and academic hours, CPE is not Lutheran, nor are there many opportunities to train in a Lutheran setting. All religions and denominations study together. Though challenging and at times overwhelming, there is also a distinct blessing to this format. “You’re going through this system where you’re expected to be who you are theologically but you’re also being challenged—not to your doctrine—but to how you participate and present that doctrine in the midst of a need,” Chaplain Wolter explained. “Can you bring the presence of God to people who are outside of your doctrine in the midst of need?”

Though Western culture has become largely anti-religion over the past few generations, swelling underneath this sentiment is an increased interest in spiritual care. More and more institutions are recognizing that need and reaching out for people who are trained and CPE-qualified to care for the spiritual needs of their patients or even their employees. In healthcare, there is an interest in in the holistic approach: care for physical, mental, and spiritual health. It is also a teaching opportunity: when people of faith are coming to the end of their lives, they often begin to say they desire that end. This is not suicidal ideation as (especially new) healthcare workers may think, but how people of faith begin to transition to the next phase. It’s the chaplain’s role, then, to explain to the healthcare worker: this is not a desire for suicide—she is anticipating coming to the end of her life and being called into the arms of her savior.

In another example, Chaplain Wolter has seen many episodes of repressed trauma and guilt among old veterans, arising from acts done in war a lifetime ago. A mental health care specialist will be inclined to put the WWII veteran on medication for depression, but the chaplain recognizes the spiritual problem, which requires spiritual care. In this case: confession and absolution. They also deal with the families in their grief, as well as the staff members who work in an environment in which they experience the result of sin every day. They, too, need time to grieve and process.

As institutions begin to look more and more for spiritual care, we have a huge mission opportunity as a church body, to bring an understanding of Christ and the need for mercy and redemption. “We need people who are trained theologically in compassion and mercy, in Law and Gospel, in confession and absolution,” Chaplain Wolter explained. The United Church of Christ already requires their pastors to have CPEs, so they’re ready to fill these positions. Chaplain Ficken added, “There are wiccan chaplains, so it behooves us to get out there with Christ as much as we can.”

More and more entities—in healthcare but also across government agencies and corporate businesses—are hiring chaplains on site to care for spiritual needs. “Society is seeing that part of taking care of employees involves spiritual care,” Chaplain Wolter said. “SPM is *Macedonia, guys: we’re crying out. We need chaplains.”

Chaplains Ficken and Wolter stayed afterwards to answer additional questions from seminarians, some of whom served in the military before coming to the seminary.

For more information, you can reach Chaplain Wolter at Derek.Wolter@thelutheranhome.org.

*Macedonia is a reference to Acts 16:9: “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’”

**Editing Note, from Craig Muehler: “Just a correction. CPE is *Not Required* for Military Chaplaincy. For information on Ministry to the Armed Forces. Please go to https://www.lcms.org/ministry-to-the-armed-forces. Ministry to the Armed Forces is separate from Specialized Pastoral Ministry. We have different requirements.”

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Worship Resources: Lent & Holy Week

Our chapel staff—Dean of the Chapel Dr. Paul Grime, Kantor Kevin Hildebrand, and Associate Kantor Matthew Machemer—recently put together another set of resources for worship planners, this time for Lent. Lent begins in two weeks on Ash Wednesday, February 26.

Go to www.ctsfw.edu/worship to access and print these Lenten resources. Under “VERSE SETTINGS” you’ll find the verses for Lent 1-5 (Series A). Though the “Alleluias” are put away for the season, this series for a soloist or unison choir give you options for singing the proper verse for the day.

You can also find special settings for two Lent hymns (LSB 425 “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and LSB 440 “Jesus, I Will Ponder Now”) under the “HYMN SETTINGS” button. There is also a Lent Gradual written for hand bells and voice available by clicking “GRADUALS.”

Finally (though not new), there is a section specifically set aside for Holy Week, featuring video, audio, and pdf for Easter Vigil, and scripts and suggested hymn stanzas for the St. Luke and St. Mark Passions.

As always, you have permission to use, reprint, and distribute these materials as you need. We hope that they will be of service to your congregation this coming Lent.

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Seminary Guild: Mail Services

The Seminary Guild meeting opened with a hymn, followed by a devotion by Rev. James Fundum (on the piano, leading LSB 414).

The Seminary Guild always breaks for January, but now that we’re into February and it’s the second Tuesday of the month, they’re back in business. Business this month is represented by the project-covered table in Luther Hall. Upcoming projects include: a $2,500 project goal to purchase a water bottle filling station (as requested by the students), a box for birthday skillet cookies, samples of handmade CTSFW t-shirts for the newborn babies, and a signup sheet for snacks during finals week. “We need 5 ladies to provide 50-60 servings each per day (Examples, cookies, brownies, Rice Krispies treats, fresh fruit & individually wrapped snacks of any kind — chips, candy, granola bars, etc.),” a handwritten note in the left-hand margin politely explains.

Printing and Postal Services Manager, Kim Hosier

Today, the Guild invited Kim Hosier, Printing and Postal Services Manager, to speak on her vocation here at CTSFW. Kim has served at CTSFW since May of 1992; in a few short months she’ll have been here for 28 years. She started as bookstore secretary before moving to editorial assistant of Concordia Theological Quarterly and secretary for Distance Education, then became manager of Printing and Postal Services in 2004. She orders office supplies for staff on campus, prints CTSFW letters, flyers, and brochures, supervises four student workers in the mailroom, sends international packages (she’s the go-to for navigating the specialized forms and rules involved in international shipping), and creates weekly and monthly reports, to name a few duties. If you’ve ever worshiped in Kramer Chapel then you’ve seen her work: she prints the chapel and Kantorei bulletins we use in services. “Believe it or not, but my degree in college was theater,” she laughed.

Much of her talk today focused on specifics of mailing (rather than her printing duties), as she felt that would be most useful to the ladies of the Seminary Guild. She went over prices, package sizes, and, with 15 years of experience in the mailing room, helpful suggestions on the least expensive way to send mail depending on destination, size, weight, etc. She had a lot of tips on international shipping, as our Seminary has a lot of connections overseas.

She also shared a little known fact: that anyone is welcome to use our mailing services. Kim is not a US postal worker as she is employed by the Seminary, but as she operates a recognized mailroom she is able to offer nearly all the same services as a regular post office, except for registered mail service (used when sending high value items like stocks and bonds, jewelry, etc.). The CTSFW mailroom is located down the hall from the bookstore. Hours:

When classes are in session: 8:30a.m.–4:30p.m. M-F
During quarter breaks and summers: 8:30–11:30a.m., 12:30–3:30p.m. M-F

She is also an excellent resource. The mailroom can be reached at (260) 452-2221. You can also ask her about printing services and fees; we tend to be much more affordable than the usual places around town.

“This is truly a blessed place to work,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for a better place to work. It’s wonderful working with the students and the staff and the faculty and it’s just really been a blessing. [This job] is nothing I would have expected or planned for myself.”

To learn more about the Seminary Guild and how to become involved in their works, go to www.ctsfw.edu/SemGuild. They can also be reached at SemGuild@ctsfw.edu or (260) 485-0209.

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Nigerian Book Project

From left to right: Maintenance Staff Tom Boese, Library Director Prof. Roethemeyer, and Library Director Assistant Rev. Roger Peters load books behind the library early one morning.

The Jonathan Ekong Memorial Lutheran Seminary in Nigeria is completing a project to upgrade their library building. It has been the fervent desire of the Wakefield-Kroemer Director of Library and Information Services here at CTSFW, Prof. Robert Roethemeyer, to provide a refresh of the books that have been in service for more than 50 years in some of the harshest environments in the world. In 2017, the library staff began setting aside material mostly from gift books from retired CTSFW and CSL faculty and from many pastors. In the end, we are sending over 2,600 volumes to Nigeria that are shelf-ready (spine labels on the books) and circulation-ready (barcodes in the books).

Library Director Prof. Robert Roethemeyer helps unload at the Theological Book Network.

As the project developed, we found a library software system that could be used in the cloud and locally. Using this tool, we have created a catalog containing the materials selected for Nigeria. Kay Roethemeyer (Assessment and Business Analyst for our library) managed the project and provided call number assignment oversight. Rev. Lammert, Technical Services Librarian, added his skills to help build the catalog. Many student workers were involved throughout the project and assisted with creating a bibliography, adding holdings in the library system, adding the spine labels and barcodes to each book, packing boxes, and manifesting each box.

Ninety-two boxes of books began their journey to Nigeria in January, though the complications of oversea shipping will hold them up for awhile in transit. The Theological Book Network began the logistics process, which they anticipate may take 4-6 weeks to get all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed before the pallets leave Michigan to go to port. Once on the water, it takes about 100 days to get to the destination’s port. We hope that the books will be in Nigeria by summer.

Two pallets, 92 boxes, and 2,600 volumes headed to The Jonathan Ekong Memorial Lutheran Seminary in Nigeria.

With thanks to Kay Roethemeyer for the pictures as well as the write-up.

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Workshop: The Blessings of a Christian Funeral

This weekend, Indiana District President Dr. Daniel Brege presented on “The Blessings of a Christian Funeral” here at CTSFW. He began with a Latin phrase: simul Justus et peccator. The English translation is probably more familiar to you: Simultaneously saint (justified) and sinner. In death we are often tempted to self-justify according to our own behavior, but as Christians we take real comfort, even as we grieve, in the knowledge that we are justified—but through Christ.

Death is the result of sin. It is not the way God designed things. Yet as obvious as this is to us, the world does not believe it. The world around us is constantly trying to tell us that death is natural and necessary (for example, that it is the mechanism of evolution; we need death). Only when we preach the law correctly do we understand why our children die in utero, why teenagers die of cancer, why we lose family and friends throughout our lives.

Death can be understood in terms of separation. The three separations are:

1.      Separation of man from God: spiritual death, which first took place in the Garden. Genesis 2:17: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Man became spiritually dead right away; we stand in the realm of Satan. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2). This is why baptism liturgies in the early church began with an exorcism. We still retain a remnant of that: do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?

2.      Separation of body from spirit: physical death. This is totally unnatural. Both Old Testament Israelites as well as Christians throughout history have believed that the body is the person; when we die, our spirits depart. Jews traditionally held that the spirit departed from the body in 2-3 days; we typically look for biological signs, though what we look for has changed over the years: breathing, heartbeat, brain waves. That’s not bad, nor is it wrong. We are biological creatures.

Though our spirits depart in peace, we are not ourselves. It will only become natural when Christ returns and He raises all the dead (both believers and unbelievers). The resurrection of the body is a foundational belief and ought to be preached at every funeral service. The idea that we will be forever with God only in spirit is a pagan belief that has crept into our thinking.

If we didn’t believe this was so important, then why did Christ’s body have to rise from the dead? “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We grieve, but not without hope. Throughout Scripture, hope is most often, if not always, used in the context of the resurrection. It’s not a wish, but a certainty.

3.      Eternal separation, body and soul, from God: hell. In truth, those in hell are those who have received precisely what they wished for: a place where God is not. The world who wants nothing to do with God will finally have their wish. They will be separated from His love and goodness forever.

Oftentimes you find people blaming God at a funeral. But if you want to blame someone for death, blame the devil and ourselves. God has simply followed through on His Word that the curse that follows sin is death. Psalm 14:2-3: “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” We are conceived with that infection of sin—our wills are born set against God. And so mankind is, as Job put it, “born to trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). Or as David said in Psalm 51:5: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

The Law is proclaimed at a funeral by the body in the casket. You don’t need to preach much law at a funeral. Still, remember those at the funeral who do not have an understanding of the price of sin; teach enough law to enable people to understand. But magnify Christ the victor, the conqueror, the one who died and rose again victorious, “who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

Psalm 130

This promise is uniquely bestowed in Baptism. The first thing done in the funeral liturgy, other than the invocation, is a reminder of Baptism. Recently, many congregations have returned to the tradition of putting the pall over the coffin, as a reminder that you are covered with the blood of Jesus. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Are you in Christ? How do you know? Because you’ve been baptized. Our assurance is in our Baptism.

This is one of the treasures of our Lutheran heritage, which hinges entirely on Scripture. We need not wonder, at the end, whether we truly accepted Jesus or whether we’ve done enough sanctified works to prove our faith. Our faith is proved by God working on us. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).

A word of comfort to those who have lost children in miscarriage: Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb. Wherever Jesus lived, He lived for you and me, including our life in utero. There is also comfort in John the Baptist leaping in the womb (in worshipful joy) when he heard the voice of His Lord’s mother. When you go to church, so too does your child in the womb hear God’s Word. When you receive the Lord’s Supper, so does your baby. And the Word never returns void.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

Preachers aren’t called to eulogize at funerals. In fact, it’s alright if they don’t say any good things about those in the sleep of death. Rather, use the Law and Gospel, rightly understood, magnifying the Gospel as the Law is on full display in the casket. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2). And how do you know you are in Christ? Through Baptism.

A Christian funeral runs counter to the world. We don’t need to hide from the fact that death is ugly and unnatural. Instead, we see our loved ones in the sleep of death, from which Jesus will awaken them. So be comforted, and share comfort with one another.

This presentation was hosted by the Good Shepherd Institute. Dr. Grime, Co-director of the Institute and Dean of the Chapel, shared some additional thoughts about the funeral liturgy, as well as the following resources:

• The latest issue of “For the Life of the World,” which also highlighted death and dying and the immortal reality. You can read it or sign up for a subscription at www.ctsfw.edu/FLOW.

• Available through our bookstore: a short booklet on “Death and Life in Christ: Preparing for Death and a Funeral”; and

• The CD “Hymns of Comfort and Peace,” featuring hymns (2-3 stanzas each) sung by the Kantorei and soloists at https://bookstore.ctsfw.edu/hymns-comfort-and-peace-cd.

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Orphan Grain Train

Last night, over 30 students, families, and staff members gathered for Mercy Meal Packing for Orphan Grain Train, packing 57 boxes in just over an hour. Each box contains 36 bags, each bag comprised of six meals. Plenty of fellowship and fun was had as the community carried out Christ’s love in this mission. Packing will continue today as we work to fill more boxes.

Deaconess Katherine Rittner, Director of the Food & Clothing Co-op (the Food Co-op received donations from orphan Grain Train as well), organized the times for packing as well as got word out to the CTSFW community. These particular meals will go to Haiti. She also explained one of the examples of how these meals are used for evangelism, as in the case of a pastor and missionary in the Philippines who uses these meals to bring children into the Lutheran school for education. “What an incredible way for our CTSFW students to not only live out the mission statement of CTSFW to teach the faithful, but how these are used to reach the lost and especially care for all in all of the world!!!! How wonderful and merciful is our God!!!!”

Also of note is the math: the number of meals per box comes out to 216. Deaconess Rittner then pointed out the number’s connection to James 2:16: “and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”

Thanks be to God, that He gives us the opportunity to share both Word and bread!

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Convocation: Bo Giertz: “History Is Written by the Victors”

The Rev. Dr. Rune Imberg, who presented on mission diocese during Symposia last week, led today’s convocation. An ordained minister in the Church of Sweden, Dr. Imberg is also a part of their Mission Province, a religiously conservative group within the increasingly progressive Church of Sweden. In January 2019, Dr. Imberg was barred from practicing ordination as a priest by the Church of Sweden’s Gothenburg chapter (in response to his theological criticisms, particularly in regards to his scriptural stance on the ordination of women), but was re-authorized to participate in ordination services in October 2019 after he appealed and the chapter’s decision was overturned. He was also instrumental in bringing about the partnership between CTSFW and the seminary in Gothenburg, Sweden, through our shared STM Program.

Today’s convocation was on the idea that “history is written by the victors,” especially in regards to one of his brother pastors from the generation before him: Bo Giertz, most famous among English-speakers for his book, “The Hammer of God.” Bo Giertz was a Swedish theologian, novelist, and bishop of the Gothenburg Lutheran Diocese from 1949-1970 (ordained in 1934).

“He was a rather impressive person,” Dr. Imberg said of the bishop. “If you have met Bo Giertz, you remember him through the rest of your life.” He was a person who could mesmerize people, he had a dozen honorary doctorates, and was brilliant in a number of ways. He had charisma and was an incredibly popular preacher. Even into his 80s he was preaching 300 times a year—always to a crowd of at least two or three hundred. When people knew he was going to preach, they wanted to be there. “He was like a renaissance priest,” Dr. Imberg explained. He was, in many ways, a winner.

But he was also a loser. The Church of Sweden has spent most of its history as a state church, and through history has adapted culturally to the times. Bo Giertz, despite his brilliance and his popularity, was ultimately punished for his adherence to God’s Word as the highest authority. Parliament didn’t like that. When he became a bishop, a medical doctor attacked him for a confirmation class book he wrote in 1943, writing to the civil authorities to have the book (which has been translated into multiple languages) scrutinized, claiming that it was dangerous—psychologically damaging to children. In 1958, the Church of Sweden voted to begin ordaining women; Bo Giertz stood by Scripture, and ended up on the losing side. Though he should have been up for archbishop over the church, at that point it was out of the question. In fighting these issues, he lost.

In 1970, when he was 65, he could see that his way of thinking had been abandoned by the Church of Sweden. In the 80s, he said, almost crying, if he was a student now he would never have become ordained. He was liked and loved by many people, and would remain one of Sweden’s two most famous bishops. But he lived to see his church body stray so far afield that, given a different time period, they never would have even accepted him as a priest.

Around this same time (1972, to be exact), he wrote a short novel called “The Knights of Rhodes.” The historical novel was based on very real events following a few centuries after the crusades (which, as Dr. Imberg quickly explained, were a kind of Christian defense against Muslim occupation of Christian territories). In 1522, several thousand Christian forces left on the island of Rhodes were besieged by 100,000 Muslim forces in the command of Sultan Suleiman. Outnumbered 20 to 1, six months later they lost, forced to surrender.

Dr. Imberg explained that the first third of the novel can be difficult to get through—complicated and even boring. It is a book about a hopeless fight, which will soon be lost. “But then you realize what it is doing,” he said. Bo Giertz used the novel to subtly teach the theology of the cross. There is a question at the heart of the book: what is God doing when everything seems to be going in the wrong way for Christians? “This is the thing which is called the hidden work of God.”

From the novel:

“…that is what most often happens in the world. God and the devil play chess. We are the pieces. But we are neither completely white nor black. In every heart there is a chessboard where God and the devil play.”

“There are many pieces to keep them busy.”

“And precisely for that reason, it is so hard for us to follow the game. Occasionally, God makes a move that we can’t understand. In order to check something only he sees coming. Or to get into a position only he can exploit. Up until the end all the small pieces stand together trying to discern what is happening in the big scheme of things.”

We look at horror, terror, and loss, and ask God how he could let this happen. How can he allow war? Why was this father of three paralyzed in an accident? Why did this two-year-old die of cancer? “And of course from our perspective it is terrible, but there are two more perspectives,” Dr. Imberg said, listing the reasons: “It can never be bad to die to come to heaven to be with God… [and] perhaps God needed to do that, perhaps he knew something else would have happened. This is a book which deals with the big questions in a subtle way.”

Another excerpt from “The Knights of Rhodes”:

“But first, Brother Grand Master has to be ready for that which the Savior gave him last time.”

The Grand Master looked curiously at his chaplain.

“To allow myself to be led to where I did not want to go? I am ready for that. I am willing.”

“For what Brother Grand Master? To die?”

“Yes, also to die.”

“But to live?”

The Grand Master was quiet and the priest continued.

“To continue—despite everything? To believe without seeing? To go into the darkness with God—only God?”

The Grand Master was the grand loser. He did not die in the siege; rather, he was called to lose. And in losing, in successfully negotiating a retreat for himself and his men, years later these forces (under another Grand Master) would defeat the Ottomons for good, halting their progression into Christian territories. “They prepared the way for a later victory,” Dr. Imberg pointed out.

That is also the legacy of Bo Giertz and all those who fight a good fight that we may appear to be losing in the here-and-now. Dr. Imberg put it this way: “We are fighting a fight against a lot of things—media and public opinion and politicians and a lot of things—and you are having the same fights in United States. I am quite certain, at least I suspect, that God is using that fight to prepare for forthcoming victories (in a spiritual way).”

Out of Bo Giertz’s own defeats in the 1940s and 50s would come this book that speaks quietly and teaches subtly about the theology of the cross. For Dr. Imberg, “The Knights of Rhodes” serves as a mirror to the state of things in the Swedish church today. For us, we can recognize our own hopeless fight and the battles we lose every day in our own country.

But we don’t have the long view. So we trust in our Lord and Savior and can, with full assurance and comfort, answer the question: is history written by the losers or the winners?

Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Of course it is.