VP Ernst and Pastor Kuhfal
Twenty years ago on
June 14, 1992 at Faith Lutheran Church, San Diego my home congregation I was
ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry.
Anniversaries are a time for reflection.
At that service I made some sacred promises to the Lord, promises
similar to what each of our Vicars make when they are ordained. Each year around the time of my ordination
date I am reminded of those promises. I
thought it might be helpful for you to see what I promised I would do as I
stood at the altar where I was baptized, confirmed and took my first communion.
Michael Ernst Second Vice-President of the
English started,
P “In the presence of God and of this
congregation I now ask you: Do you
believe the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired
Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice?”
R
I do.
Ordination Picture Pastor Kuhfal center in red
P
Do you accept the three Ecumenical Creeds, namely, the Apostles’,
Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds, as faithful testimonies to the truth of the
Holy Scriptures, and do you reject all the errors which they condemn?
R
I do.
P
Do you believe that the Unaltered Augsburg Confession is a true
exhibition of the Word of God and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church; that the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the
Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, the Smalcald Articles, the
Treatise on the Authority and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord –
as these are contained in the Book of
Concord – are also in agreement with this one scriptural faith?
R I do.
P
Do you solemnly promise that you will perform the duties of your office
in accordance with these Confessions, or Symbols, and that all your teaching
and your administration of the sacraments will be in conformity with the Holy
Scriptures and with the aforementioned Symbols?
R
I do.
P
Will you faithfully instruct both young and old in the chief articles of
Christian doctrine; will you forgive the sins of those who repent, and will you
promise never to divulge the sins confessed to you; will you minister
faithfully to the sick and dying; will you demonstrate to the Church a constant
and ready ministry, admonishing people to a lively confidence in Christ and
holy living?
R
I will with the help of God.
P Finally, will you adorn the office of the
public ministry with a holy life?
R
I will, the Lord helping me through the power and grace of His Holy
Spirit.
At that point, I knelt and VP Ernst
placed his hands upon my head and said:
P
David Kuhfal, I ordain and consecrate you to the holy office of the
public ministry in the one, holy, Christian, and Apostolic Church, in the name
of the Father and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
It is hard to believe I have served twenty
years in the office of the ministry.
When I consider the office to which I was called, I am often humbled by
the task. Through the years I have
experienced many joys and also many sorrows, times of laughter and times of
pain.
When Vicars or
other pastors ask me what the secret of being in the ministry so long is, I
tell them it is the same as staying in a marriage – mutual forgiveness. In a marriage no spouse is perfect – both are
sinners. When that sin rears its head –
when troubles come – the important thing is what you do with them. Do you run from them or work them out.
There are times
when I feel like I am not worthy of this office, nor perform the duties to the
high standard that I would like – I am not perfect. It is then that I need to first confess it
and place it into the hands of the Lord who placed me into this office. Then I need to hear the words the Lord said
to Moses when he in frustration threw down the tablets, “The Lord, the Lord, a
God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness, 7 keeping
steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…”
(Exodus 34:6-7)
Similarly, there
are times as your Pastor that I have failed you. There are times I am aware of and I am sure
many more times I am not aware. When I
fail, which as a sinner I will, I pray that you come to me, show me my sin,
that I might ask your forgiveness. I
need your forgiveness.
That mutual
forgiveness between Pastor and people is so important. The devil is constantly trying to destroy the
relationship between pastor and people, just as he does with marriages. He tries to destroy congregations by allowing
sins to go without forgiveness, thereby building a wall of hostility. Those walls develop when sin continues to
build without reconciliation.
I have served the
Lord here at Grace for seventeen and a half years and I hope to continue many
more years. The longer I serve here, the
more important I see forgiveness between Pastor and people to be. Too often Pastors think the grass will be
greener somewhere else – that at another place they will not have to deal with
sinful people – wrong. Too often
congregation members think, “If we could get rid of pastor x then things will
be much better, for then we will have a perfect pastor” – wrong.
If you sin against
me, I pledge to come to you, to not harbor it, to not talk behind your
back. I ask that you do the same. It is my desire that our many years in the
future will be as blessed as they have these past years.
Left pastor’s dad, center VP Ernst, far
right Pastor Bremer (pastor’s home pastor), knelling for blessing Pastor Kuhfal
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