Pastor Phone

Pastor Norlyn Bartens (618) 553-9932
graceneligh@gmail.com
Worship times: Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Saturday Evening before 1st and 3rd Sunday at 6:00 p.m. Sunday School at 9:30 a.m.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Seattle's Richard Sherman: Pass Coverage and Covering Sins

I found this wonderful article by Rev Mark Buetow over at Higher Things.  It is a great example of how we as Christians can use current events to talk about Christ.  Many people will be watching the Super Bowl.  Richard Sherman's actions very well will be mentioned.  What an awesome opportunity for you to use the discussion to talk about Jesus and His coverage.



We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way [alternately: put the best construction on everything]. - The Small Catechism, Eighth Commandment

I'm not much of a sports fan. I don't really have an interest in who winds up in the Super Bowl, though I'll watch it in order to see funny commercials and eat gobs of junk food. But I follow enough news and social media to have heard about Richard Sherman and heard the clip of his post game comments after Seattle beat the 49ers yesterday. The guy was amped up on adrenaline after a play that shut down San Francisco and secured the Seahawks' place in the Super Bowl. Reaction was fast and furious about how he could be so rude, so mean, so unprofessional, etc. Sherman was vilified for comments which may seem harsh in and of themselves but in the context of a post-game adrenaline rush and on-field chaos seem pretty tame. It's a good illustration of just how bad we are at covering people's sins.

How often do you hear people say or say yourself, "I can't believe they did...!" or "Did you hear what so-and-so just said or did?" or "There's no excuse for behavior like that!" When we see someone sin, it is the easiest thing in the world to blab it all around to everyone else. It's easy to accuse and condemn and judge because someone said or did something that is clearly out of bounds, over the top, excessive, and bad. And it may well be that what a person says or does is bad. But what are we supposed to do about it? "Explain everything in the kindest way." It's no secret that reporters are looking for the juicy story, the scandal-laden report. The opportunity to bring down a person's reputation and expose hypocrisy is something we like to look for because it makes us feel important at the expense of others. But Christian love compels us to to do otherwise. Being forgiven and being a new creation in Christ teaches us not to instantly go for the jugular when someone says or does something we could point out and for which we could judge them. Rather, as Christ has forgiven us, so we forgive others and when they say and do something that is embarrassing or even shocking, we overlook it and keep from making an issue out of it.

Consider how Christ deals with us. Over and over we give the Lord reasons to condemn, judge, and cast us into Hell. But He can't. He won't. Because He's covered it. In fact, if the devil were to say about you, "Look at His sin!" Jesus' reply would be, "No, it's My sin. I took it. Deal with me." It's like the story in the book of Genesis when Noah was drunk and laying around naked after the Flood (Genesis 9). His son Ham saw it and went and told his brothers. Perhaps he was mocking Dad or just pointing it out to shame him. Either way, Noah's other two sons, Shem and Japheth, took a blanket, and walked backwards, covering up their naked dad. They covered Noah's nakedness. In the same way, Jesus, by taking our place on Calvary, covers our sin with His righteousness. He gives no one any occasion to accuse us, for He has taken way our sin and made it His own. No one can say anything to God against you because of your sins because He won't hear it.

Likewise, as Christians, we don't learn the Commandments so we can point out other people's sins. Rather, the Spirit teaches us the Law of love in Christ which says, "Well, maybe Richard Sherman was just excited after that intense game." "Maybe mom has a lot on her mind." "Maybe my friend just had an off day." If that sounds like making excuses, well, maybe so, but it's doing the hard work of forgiving and not treating another person as their sins might deserve. That's how the Lord deals with us and that's how the Spirit teaches us to deal with others. And yes, we can be very bad at that. So we are grateful when our pastors and other Christians teach us by the Word and by examples in our own lives, of what it means to forgiven and overlook our sins.

The media makes us quick to judge others and social media makes our judgments almost instantaneous. It's easy to see the faults of others and magnify and broadcast them, to make ourselves look good or to feel better about ourselves. Except the very condemnation we might bring against another person could come back to us too, for our own faults and transgressions! But Christ has set us free from the Law's condemnation. That means, in part, that we learn in our lives as Christians how to put up with, overlooked, and cover the sins of others. Whether it's a famous football player or just an average person you deal with every day, their faults, mistakes, and goofs are always an opportunity for us to remember the love God has for us in Christ and to demonstrate that same patience and kindness of not rubbing it in their face or tossing it out for the attention hounds to go after. Instead, we "walk backwards" and "cover their nakedness" exposing not their sin but exposing them the same forgiveness we rejoice to receive always from Jesus.


Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Newest LCMS Congregation has a Connection to Grace Lutheran!

Dedication and Installation Service



This past Sunday we had the formal reception of the congregation into The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, the dedication of a church, and the installation of the pastor.  Quite a few clergy came from various congregations in Iowa District East, along with some members of other congregations in IDE.  The main service was the Service of the Word from Divine Service Setting 3 (bonus points if you know the page number), interspersed with the other rites.  President Brian Saunders extended the right hand of fellowship to the chairman of St. Silas, Mr. Kristian Fosse, publicly recognizing that St. Silas is a congregation of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.  Rev. Dean Rothchild, assistant to the president of IDE, blessed the doors, building, and baptismal font.  Rev. Victor Young, chair of the IDE mission board, blessed the lectern, pulpit, and altar.



President Brian Saunders preached the sermon on Acts 20:17-31, highlighting the relationship between articles IV, V, and VII of the Augsburg Confession.



President Saunders then oversaw the installation.



After the installation I tended the altar to which I am called, leading the congregation in the Prayer of the Church and concluding with the Benediction.  We then took a picture of the clergy and sang the closing hymn.



The hymns told the story of the day.  Opening we had 901, Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty:
Open now thy gates of beauty;
Zion, let me enter there,
Where my soul in joyful duty
Waits for Him who answers prayer.
Oh, how blessed is this place,
Filled with solace, light, and grace!
Gracious God, I come before Thee;
Come Thou also unto me.
Where we find Thee and adore Thee,
There a heav'n on earth must be.
To my heart, O enter Thou;
Let it be Thy temple now!
Speak, O God, and I will hear Thee;
Let Thy will be done indeed.
May I undisturbed draw near Thee
While Thou dost Thy people feed.
Here of life the fountain flows;
Here is balm for all our woes.
        Lutheran Service Book, Hymn 901, stanzas 1, 2, 5
That hymn speaks well about the significance of the building: it is Mount Zion, where the Lord sits enthroned (Psalm 9:11), it is a heaven on earth because Christ comes to us there, it is the place of the living water.  Our psalm was Psalm 48, which spoke constantly of Zion: "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God!  His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King."

The Hymn of the Day was 644, The Church's One Foundation:
The Church's one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heav'n He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
        Lutheran Service Book, 644, stanza 1
We hear that the Church is only the Church because of Christ's saving work.  Without Christ, the Church is nothing.  Without Christ there is no Church to speak of.  But with him the Church is - is his bride, is his body, is his saving ark in a world that is perishing.  The pastors nicely emphasized the centrality of Jesus in the Scripture passages they shared during the installation.  Jesus is the sine qua non, the "without which not," the one who makes things be and saves his people from their sins.

The closing hymn was of particular comfort to the congregation of St. Silas as a mission congregation, 921, On What Has Now Been Sown:
On what has now been sown
Thy blessing, Lord, bestow;
The pow'r is Thine alone
To make it sprout and grow.
Do Thou in grace the harvest raise,
And Thou alone shalt have the praise!
To Thee our wants are known,
From Thee are all our pow'rs;
Accept what is Thine own
And pardon what is ours.
Our praises, Lord, and prayers receive,
And to Thy Word a blessing give.
O grant that each of us,
Now met before Thee here,
May meet together thus
When Thou and Thine appear
And follow Thee to heav'n, our home.
E'en so, amen, Lord Jesus, come!
        Lutheran Service Book, 921
As a congregation we do not rely on ourselves to give growth to the Church, but Christ is the one who builds and grows his Church, adding to her and multiplying her, as is clear everywhere in Scripture, from Peter's confession in Matthew 16 when Jesus promises, "I will build my Church," to Paul's agricultural analogy in 1 Corinthians 3 where he emphasizes our "grower God," to the book of Acts where the word "gather" is always passive tense, meaning the Lord gathers, and the Lord is always the subject of the verbs "add" and "multiply."

And so the emphasis of the entire dedication and installation service was the means of grace: the Gospel being preached in its purity and the holy sacraments being administered according to the Gospel (to borrow some language from Article VII of the Augsburg Confession).  There is a place in North Liberty to which people can point and say, "Christ saves there."  There is a man in that place to which people can point and say, "He stands here in the stead of Christ to administer the means through which Christ gives us grace."  All of this means that Christ is present bodily in North Liberty to call people to repentance, to warn, to rebuke, to comfort, to evangelize, and to save.

"Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.  God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.  The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress" (Psalm 46:2-7).





In Christ

Pastor Andrew Richard

St. Silas Lutheran Church
www.stsilaslutheran.org
www.facebook.com/stsilaslutheran
stsilaslutheran@gmail.com

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Interesting Video

Melissa is alive today because a nurse and medical support staff saw her inherent beauty and saved her life after a failed saline abortion. She was adopted into a loving family that fell in love with her the first time they laid eyes on her.