Dr. Bushur now occupies a chair in honor of Carl and Erna Weinrich, the parents of Dr. Weinrich. In celebration of the establishment of the Chair in New Testament and Early Church Studies, Dr. Bushur gave a public lecture on “The Catholic Paul: Allegory & Perspicuity in Irenaeus’ Reading of Scripture.” As a layperson (who, admittedly, struggled with the terminology), my takeaway of convocation was that though the Word is clear and perfect, we sinners can’t fully understand it either clearly or perfectly. That does not, however, make Scripture malleable. Instead, we strive to understand these things in the context of what God has submitted to our knowledge: the created world, and in the person of Jesus Christ.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Dr. Gieschen led convocation hour this Wednesday to talk about Angelomorphic Christology, a religious and historical examination of how angel and angel-related traditions impacted the early Christian Church’s study of Christ. In honor of his book being republished in softcover, Dr. Gieschen also signed copies of “Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence.” Copies can be purchased at our bookstore, either in-person or online here: https://bookstore.ctsfw.edu/category/exegetical.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Luke, Evangelist. The physician wrote the Gospel of Luke and recorded the history of the early Church and the work of the apostles in the book of Acts. Because of his detailed account of Christ’s sacrificial work, St. Luke’s shield (which can be viewed in Wyneken Hall) portrays the winged ox, the symbol of highest sacrifice.
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
Luke 10:1-9
Today is Donation Day at CTSFW. In recent years the LWML has joined with the Seminary Guild to gather items for the Seminary Food & Clothing Co-op. These are the provisions from July 2016 – July 2017:
29,115.9 pounds of fresh produce
2,023 gallons of milk
5,431 pound of pork (22 hogs)
2,400 pounds of chicken donated by Brakebush Brother Chicken
1,304 pounds of hamburger
1,304 pounds of bananas
17,156 pounds of food from the local food pantry
$12,129.87 spent at local grocery stores
Approximately $650 worth of bread donated by Panera and Kroger each week
The Seminary wouldn’t be able to go about the business of training pastoral and diakonal students if it were not for everyone who cares for their bodily needs. Thank you!
On Friday, October 6, 2017, Concordia Theological Seminary (CTSFW), Fort Wayne, invited Barronelle Stutzman, the Washington florist sued after she refused to design floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding, to hold a talk in one of the classrooms on campus. Though her case is ongoing, Barronelle has chosen to travel the country so she can tell the story of courage, faith in action and God’s grace in all things.
A couple of months after Washington legalized gay marriage in 2012, Stutzman learned that Rob Ingersoll was going to ask her to design the arrangements for his wedding. Ingersoll was a longtime friend and customer, Stutzman said, and they simply clicked on a creative level. For 10 years she’d used her gift to help him celebrate birthdays and anniversaries with his partner, Curt Freed. However, when he came to her to begin discussing flower arrangements for his wedding, she gently declined, citing her relationship with Jesus Christ. At the time he told her that he understood, said that his mom felt the same way, and then asked for a recommendation. Stutzman gave him three.
The Washington Attorney General picked up the story from Facebook, where Ingersoll’s partner had written a post about the incident that had gone viral. In an unprecedented act, the Attorney General took matters into his own hands and sued her, both corporately and personally. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) quickly picked up the case, filing an additional lawsuit against Stutzman and her business on behalf of the couple. As a result of the suits, she stands to lose everything from her business to her home to her savings and retirement.
In February 2015 Stutzman lost in the lower courts, followed by a second defeat in November 2016 at the Washington Supreme Court. Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) continues to appeal on her behalf. An attorney with ADF, Matt Sharp, explained that the ruling in the courts is based on laws created during the civil rights era to make sure all people have access to essential goods and services. However, in 2006 Washington added sexual orientation to the list (alongside such classes as gender and race) and currently takes a very broad definition of essential goods.
Unlike a grocery store bouquet, explained Sharp, people like Stutzman and Jack Phillips (the baker whom they are also defending in the Supreme Court for similar reasons) are artists whose creations are a form of expression. As such they deserve protection under the First Amendment. Though Stutzman has both served and employed those in the LGBTQ community, she cannot be a participant in an event that is contrary to her beliefs. The union between one man and one woman was established by God and echoes Christ’s relationship with His bride, the Church.
Stutzman summarized the judge’s decision even more succinctly: “You can have your faith, but you cannot practice it outside the four walls of your church.”
As the case unfolded, the Attorney General wrote her a letter, offering to drop the lawsuits if she’d pay a $2,000 fine and would no longer refuse to participate in same-sex weddings. Again, Stutzman refused. As she explained in her response letter to the Attorney General: “I cannot sell that precious freedom. You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do.” And while she’s had to change the way she goes to work in response to the threats against her, she’s also received encouragement from people across the globe, 68 countries in all.
At the end of the talk, the students, faculty and staff stood to applaud her and, as she was wiping the tears from her eyes, sang “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Dr. Peter J. Scaer, associate professor of Exegetical Theology at CTSFW, gave her a replica of the statue of Martin Luther holding God’s Word, and explained: “You’re living out the story of Luther among us.”
We were fortunate to have Barronelle Stutzman on campus today, the florist who was sued after declining to prepare flowers for a same-sex marriage in Washington. She spoke to a large audience of students and faculty about her Christian convictions, the death threats she’s received along with the incredible outpouring of encouragement, and her Reformation-like conviction that here she stands, she can do no other.
Because her case is ongoing (she lost in the state courts, but Alliance for Defending Freedom continues to appeal on her behalf) we were unable to promote her visit. On Monday we’ll have more details about her case and her experiences on the front lines of the fight for religious liberty.
Students and faculty signed notes of encouragement as a part of CTSFW’s Military Project Mission, established to support LCMS chaplains and other military personnel and their families. The letters on the right will go out to military personnel directly related to the Seminary community (for example, one is to the brother of one of our seminarians and another is for a student who had planned to begin pastoral training this fall, only to be deployed before he could begin his first year), and the letters on the left are for chaplains who are either out in the field, or soon to be. Thanks be to Jesus for those who serve us as God’s instruments of protection!
As October begins we already find that we’re looking towards the end of the month at October 31st, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. God used Scripture alone to reveal justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to His servant, Martin Luther. Through the Word, God transformed an Augustinian monk crushed under the heavy burden of Law without Gospel into the reformer that nailed 95 theses to a church door and changed the world.
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Romans 3:21-25
“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
“But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:15-20
Lutherans observe St. Michael and All Angels in our liturgical calendar because it is a feast day that points directly to Christ. Throughout Scripture angels are warriors and messengers, appearing on God’s command to deliver either judgment or His Gospel message. They announced Jesus’ birth, ministered to Him after Satan tempted him in the wilderness, and were present at His resurrection and ascension. We celebrate Michaelmas (an old name for the day) because it points to Jesus.
Philipp Melanchthon, a colleague of Martin Luther, wrote a hymn commemorating the day. You can find “Lord God, to Thee We Give All Praise” in the Lutheran Service Book, number 522.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Revelation 12:7-12
We were fortunate to have Barronelle Stutzman on campus today, the florist who was sued after declining to prepare flowers for a same-sex marriage in Washington. She spoke to a large audience of students and faculty about her Christian convictions, the death threats she’s received along with the incredible outpouring of encouragement, and her Reformation-like conviction that here she stands, she can do no other.
Lutherans observe St. Michael and All Angels in our liturgical calendar because it is a feast day that points directly to Christ. Throughout Scripture angels are warriors and messengers, appearing on God’s command to deliver either judgment or His Gospel message. They announced Jesus’ birth, ministered to Him after Satan tempted him in the wilderness, and were present at His resurrection and ascension. We celebrate Michaelmas (an old name for the day) because it points to Jes