GSLC Pastor's Blog

Colossians (Part 2)

2010-07-21T13:44:00.001-07:00

Colossians 1:15-20 gives us one of most intense decriptions of who Jesus is and of what he is doing. Each phrase has been studied very closely, and we are very grateful for all we can learn from this text. Paul’s intensity should be understood against a very specific backdrop of false teaching. His answer becomes even more awesome when read as a correction to some very enticing heresy. We have to read between the lines in order to understand how tricky his opponents were.

It seems that false teachers were gaining an audience in Colosse by claiming authority from both Jewish tradition and Greek -- probably Stoic -- philosophy (2:8). They advocated a very rigorous lifestyle of fasting and bodily discipline combined with a careful observance of certain days and festivals (2:16, 20-23). They claimed that if you followed their advice, you could enter a new humility and so become worthy of receiving new revelations via angelic messengers (2:18). Apparently this severe discipline and the new revelations would free you from temptations to any sensual indulgence (2:23). Do you get it? They are offering a form of almost complete holiness! Most people would understand freedom from temptation as a very good thing, and so these false teachers were using an apparent good to lure people away from Christ.

Paul thus needed to sketch who Jesus was fully enough to show the Colossians that any claim to wisdom or victory beyond Christ was complete foolishness. In the sermon I briefly summarized the gist of each phrase in 1:15-20. Here I will only point to the last phrase of verse 18: Jesus must have supremacy in everything. Everything!

God reconciles us through Jesus’ physical death for a purpose: He wants us to be more than free from sensual temptation. Verse 22 tells us God wants to present us as holy, without blemish, and free from accusation in every area of our lives. Of course this means the Colossian heretics hoped for too little! Their promise of Jesus plus our severest efforts could only yield less than what God wants to give us. Their vision of holiness was too small.

God calls us to embrace so much more than mere freedom from sensuality. As in Galatians 5:13, God calls us to have freedom to serve one another in love. I hope we won’t settle for anything less!

Colossians (Part 1)

2010-07-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

This first of four sermons on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians introduces the letter and Paul’s prayer for the church at Colosse (Colossian 1:1-14). On July 18 we will consider the great hymn of praise to Jesus (1:15-20) and its immediate effect on believers (1:21-27). On July 25 we will explore the consequences of what Jesus has done (1:28-2:23). And finally, on August 1, we will ask how we should live in response to all God has done for us (3:1-4:6).

Paul’s prayer includes two related and puzzling phrases in Colossians 1:10.

We hear discussion of “living a worthy life” very differently in Utah. Our local culture is obsessed with the idea of worthiness. Our local culture tries to make us believe we must be worthy of our blessings -- as if they come as a reward for our past faithfulness. Nothing could be more wrong. Verses 12-13 remind us that it is God who qualifies us to receive our inheritance. Our worthy lives are not a cause of our redemption, but result from our deliverance from darkness. God gets all the thanks and credit!

Paul names ways we please God in verses 10-11. Part of our worthy response includes our second puzzle: “bearing fruit in every good work.” But wait! Aren’t works considered good because they bear fruit for God’s kingdom? I wish I could affirm this without qualification. But the truth is, we can do all kinds of religious “good works” for the wrong reasons. And sometimes our good works prevent us from bearing fruit. This is certainly the case with the two religious men who pass by the needy and beaten man in the story in Luke 10:25-37. They were too busy with keeping the Law to stop and show compassion to the man who was beaten and left for dead. The Samaritan did the truly good work, the work of the kingdom in careing for the needy and broken. Let us remember his example, and with the Colossian Christians who were known for their love (1:4-5, 8), endure and give thanks as we grow in the knowledge of God’s love. Amen.

Final Russia Mission report from Pastor James - Thursday 6/17 and Friday 6/18

2010-06-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Summary: God answered our prayers and things were very smooth and sweet today.

Details: Shortly after I emailed my blog last evening, I was asked to leave the internet café. There was a party for high school graduates, and they didn’t want Americans around. I hiked back to my room and waited for dinner. Again, dinner tends to be slight and served on smaller plates. Sleep was a very welcome thing!

I woke again just after 5 AM and began my lesson plans. Today we will spend much of our time working on our drama of Matthew 1:18-25 and 2:1-12. The theme for the day is about the cross and our memory verse is I Peter 3:18.

We had a brief meeting with the bishop at 8 AM. He is a very humble man and I find it hard not to like him.

Xenya returned after one day’s absence. Nastya was not there because of a hairline fracture in her arm. Her aunt did not return. Then Ksenia left at noon to travel with her parents. I gave her a small gift and she hugged me. She is a very graceful young person. We have been watching clips of the Jesus movie for children. I need to check with Kelli to see if we have this in English. It is distributed by ChildrenforJesus.org.

We had a team meeting after the children left at 3:30 and agreed that something had shifted in the spiritual environment today. Teaching about the cross, I expected more resistance and for the children to pay less attention. It was just the opposite -- they paid very close attention and they were very tenderhearted. After I explained about Jesus paying for our sins and offering us the gift of new lives, I asked who wanted Jesus to keep his promise for them. Everyone raised their hands. We will talk more tomorrow about the resurrection and the new life we find with our risen Lord.

Tonight at 6 PM we had sashleek (marinated meats cooked over a fire) cooked at the home of a congregant. Wow! This was world-class grilled pork, marinated in mayonnaise, garlic, onions and a hint of dill. I couldn’t believe how much he was cooking. And then we ate almost all of it with fresh vegetables from his garden.

I was in bed again by 10 PM, and glad to have had my fill with dinner.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Summary: The camp ended well and we said some tearful good-byes.

Details: I was up at 6 AM, and prepared for a shortened day with a final program.

The English session and story were on the resurrection of Jesus: Why does it matter? Because of the resurrection, we have a relationship with God and not just a sad religion. Nastya was back with a cast on her arm, but Anton was missing with a fever. Our program went well and our skit about the birth of Jesus was well received. With Anton gone, I had to play Joseph.

It is fun to give presents on the last day, and so I had hats knitted by Brandy Pollick for all of the kids. I had bracelets for the girls, and chess sets for the boys. Each child also got a class photo and a few trinkets.

When it came time to say our goodbyes, my two 13 year olds were very emotional; Valya and Xenia both asked me if I was coming back next year. I didn’t know what to say except “I hope.” All of my other students are 11 years old. Misha wanted a hug and bowed to me. Yasha could not look me in the eye, but hugged me and said thank-you for coming. Nastya with the broken arm hugged me and asked me to come back again. The other Nastya hugged me and sobbed please come back. Dima, a man in his early thirties embraced me and said thank-you. I reminded him that in Christ, we will meet again. Heli (age 16) had done an excellent job translating for me. She is finishing high school and I told her to remember us if she needs to come to the USA for a year living abroad for her English degree.

After we picked up our things, we took two vans to a terrible place. We went to the Levashovo Memorial Cemetery -- a KGB secret until 1989. This was the mass grave for more than 40,000 people executed by secret police in 1937-1938. Their sentence? They were unfaithful to Mother Russia. Their crime? They were Christians and Jews, Finns, Poles, Germans, not true Russians by birth. This was Russia’s attempt at ethnic cleansing and there are many other known cemeteries like this, and very many more suspected but unknown. Executions and burials continued at a slowed pace through 1954, bringing the number of suspected victims in this cemetery to more than 46,000. We could only pray “Christ have mercy on the victims and the perpetrators.”

We visited another Ingrian Lutheran church on the return from the cemetery. We had dinner at the church, and I typed this last blog entry before returning home on Monday. Pray for us, we leave here at 3:30 AM, our first flight is at 5:50, and we get back to Salt Lake at 8 PM (5:30 AM Russia time).

Russia mission updates - Tues 6/15 and Wed 6/16

2010-06-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Pastor James writes -

Tuesday, June 14, 2010

Summary: Our second day of class was very smooth and I gained two adult students.

Details: I walked back after sending my blog last night and sat in the foyer trying to read. A young woman from our team -- Chelsey -- asked me if I played chess. I said yes, and it took me an hour to lose to her. I made one mistake. She clobbered me. I asked her where she learned to play and she said her brothers are always clobbering her. She was ruthless! It helped me stay awake until 11 PM, and I was glad to sleep for 6 hours.

I was up at 5:15 and had coffee while I planned my lessons. I made a copy of the lesson plan for my translator. Did I mention she is the bishop’s daughter?

Breakfast was at 8 AM – something close to cream of wheat, with salami cheese, and bread. Our lessons today are about Jesus calling his disciples to “come and follow me.” Our key verse is Mark 1:17. All of our students returned and we gained two new students. They are both adults! I saw them watching our class yesterday, and this morning they asked if they could sit with us. I gave them student books, colored pencils, and all things like our other students. I smiled when they did all of the assignments, including the coloring pages. I was able to ask later who they were. Tatiana is 50ish, and the mother of the 14 year old she is sitting next to. Dima is in his early thirties and he is the youth pastor for an Ingrian Lutheran congregation about 4 hours away. He has six teenage girls from his church at the language camp. Both adults participated as we read Luke 5:1-11, asked questions about the text, and played “Simon says” and “Bingo.”

After class we had two very interesting meetings. First, we met with the rector of the seminary. Fedor is perhaps 35 and serves also as the pastor of the congregation in Pushkin. He explained the half-dozen programs he coordinates. They have a traditional seminary program with students studying to be pastors. They have a youth worker program, a basic theology program, an altar guild program, a church musician program, and a church secretary and accounting program. They encourage as many people as possible to take the basic theology program and then ask gifted students to consider joining the pastor’s program.

After dinner we met with the director of the missionary committee. Alexei is also about 35 and he serves as the pastor of St. Mary’s Ingrian Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg. His committee oversees education about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) for all 88 Ingrian congregations. With the Bishop, he also coordinates the activities of foreign missionaries who want to help rebuild the church in Russia.

We had a bonfire after this last meeting and made S’Mores with some of our translators. I was in the kitchen working on this blog when Diana came in. She is a remarkable woman and a great gift to our camp. Born and raised in Russia, she studied English in the university in the 1960's and became a teacher and translator. She taught English in the university for many years and worked for several multinational companies in Russia, England, Korea, and Japan translating technical manufacturing documents. Diana came to Christ while translating for an English Bible camp near Yoshkar-ola 3 years ago. I learned during our orientation sessions that she loves tango and ballroom. We sat and listened to tangos on my computer for more than an hour. She will email me the name of the Russian composer who has several famous tangos. I promised to find them and add them to my collection. She has seen so much of life, and her joy in Christ is contagious.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

I slept for 6 hours and finished blogging about Tuesday with my morning coffee. Our theme today is “Jesus loves everyone.” Our key verse is John 15:12. It should be a good day.

Breakfast is in the church -- oatmeal again. And it is raining, again. I had a couple of unexpected experiences today. First, I met the bishop during the opening singing. I apologized I was in a T-shirt instead of more finely dressed. He was very unpretentious, and said it was okay because I am teaching a children’s camp. The rain continued, and so we could not play sports outside. Kelsey told them to ask me to teach a dance class. I have my laptop loaded with ballroom tracks, and so I picked 5 chachas I thought they might like and taught cha cha cha in the sanctuary. It was the only place we had with a hard floor.

During lunch, one of my students broke her wrist while fooling around in the narthex. One of the adults and her niece left because her grandson became ill in St. Petersburg. So my class was feeling a little disappointed and depleted. It is not uncommon on mission trips to have this kind of “static.” We will continue and hope all is well.

Most of the team is going on a church tour this evening. I am glad to simply finish my blog, send it from the internet café, and hike back home. Dinner will be at 8 PM.

Galatians -- Chapter Two

2010-06-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

Verses 1

After 14 years Paul travels again to Jerusalem. There is a debate as to whether this is an additional 14 years after the first visit to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:18), or this includes the first visit, i.e., 17 years after Paul's conversion in Acts 9 or only 14 years. If the latter, then Paul visits Jerusalem around 47 A.D. prior to the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 and is more in keeping with Acts 11:29-30 when Barnabas and Saul (Paul) bring relief money to Christians living in Judea.

Verses 2-10

The church is in danger of being divided into a Jewish half and a Gentile half. There is a group (Peter, James, and John) who agree that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised to be saved and part of God's new covenant (cf. Acts 11:1-18; 15:6-11, 19). The other group, Pharisees, (cf. Acts 15:5) insisted that Gentiles believers be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.

Paul has primarily been preaching to the Gentiles, although we know that his custom was to preach in established synagogues throughout the Roman colonies (see Acts 13:14f; 17:10f). By affirming that Paul was sent primarily to the uncircumcised (i.e., Gentiles) and Peter to the circumcised (i.e., Jews), Paul establishes to the Galatian churches that his apostleship is as valid as Peter's, and, that the Galatians churches are no less inferior to any other group of believers (cf. Galatians 3:27-28).

Peter, James, and John (the pillars) offered Paul the "right hand of fellowship" to Barnabas and Paul, thus validating Paul's apostleship by putting him on equal footing with the other apostles in Jerusalem. Please note that there was no need to change the gospel to accommodate different cultures. The gospel is the same for all nations.

Verses 11-14

Paul recounts, in his letter, a time when he had to rebuke Peter in Antioch, who had been participating in meals share by Jews and Gentiles together. Only when "certain men" (i.e., probably members of the circumcision party) came to visit did Peter separate himself to eat only with Jewish Christians. By following kosher dietary laws, Peter was demonstrating by his example that the Gentile Christians were incomplete unless they followed Jewish ceremonial laws (e.g., regarding diet, circumcision, holidays, and festivals).

Paul viewed Peter's actions as threatening to the core essence of the gospel: justification by faith alone, because it implied one had to live like a Jew in order to be justified before God, instead of justified alone by faith. In less that 15 years, even the leaders of the early church were led astray from the truth and practice of the gospel.

Verses 15-21

Paul clearly states that one is justified (i.e., counted righteous or declared righteous) before God, not by personal works of the law, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ (verse 16). He is quite emphatic when he affirms: "No one will be justified by the works of the law!" (verse 17).

Even if while living under this free gift of grace and freedom in the gospel of Christ one should sin, this does not invalidate the gospel (verse 17). The truth is that God forgives sinners and justifies all who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10).

Sermon Notes:

To emphasize the above point, we recalled this popularized parable:

A person dies and appears before Peter at the pearly gates of heaven. Peter asks: why should I let you in?

What would be your answer? If we rely on our works, then we will fall back under the curse of the law, which demands that we be perfect to be righteous. The law, the one given to Moses at Mt. Sinai (see Exodus 19-20), is God's perfect and holy will as to how his covenant people should live. The law, however, cannot save. It serves to set the moral standard and reveal our inability to attain it. It is like a mirror that reveals our sin and our desperate need for a Savior. If none can keep the law, then who can be saved?! The answer is no one -- unless you have a Savior.

In Christ Jesus we have forgiveness of sins, and, through faith, we receive his righteous standing with God through the Holy Spirit. It is kind of like having the ultimate Monopoly "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

Yet, we do not use this freedom to live for ourselves. Instead, we live for God out of love and gratitude for all that he has done for us in Christ Jesus. Why then, Paul argues, would you want to return to trying to keep the law (which you can't)? It doesn't make sense, nor are you able. You will just be re-enslaved into despair under the weight and conviction of your own sinfulness.

We will learn more about this freedom we have in Christ in chapter three.

Next Installment: Galatians - Chapter Three.

-- Pastor Jeff

Galatians -- Chapter One

2010-06-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Verses 1-5

Paul writes his letter to the churches of Galatia: Pisidian Antioch, Iconium Lystra, and Derbe, cf. Acts 16:6ff -- after his first missionary journey to them (47/48 A.D.).

False teachers had raised questions as to Paul's credentials: should Paul be identified as an apostle?

We read in Matthew 10:2 that Jesus appointed 12 disciples, whom he also named "apostles" (i.e., sent ones) so that they might be sent out to preach. After Judas Iscariot hangs himself, in Acts 1:21-26 we read that Peter called a meeting of the 120 person who followed Jesus to cast lots for a new apostle to complete their numbers again to twelve. The condition of qualification was that he needed to "have accompanied the 12 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" (Acts 1:21-22).

Of note is that Barnabas and Paul were both referred to as apostles (Acts 14:14). Paul often referred to himself as an "apostle to the Gentiles" (Romans 11:13). Paul reasserts his credentials in verses 11-24. Paul was not sent by the 12 or anyone else, but by the risen Lord Jesus Christ himself, who appeared to him on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9). The message that Paul proclaims was received directly from the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:12). Paul offers, too, the evidence of his complete transformation from being a violent persecutor of the church of God, trying to destroy it, to becoming a preacher of Christ Jesus as additional evidence to his call and revelation.

From verses 6-10 we catch a glimpse of what the trouble is in the church. Visiting preachers are persuading the Galatians that they should require circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic law in order to be justified before God (see Galatians 4:17; 6:12-13). Such additions are a distortion of the gospel of Christ (verse 7) and really no gospel at all.

Additional thoughts:

Paul gives us some biographical information that is echoed in his letter to the Philippians (see chapter 3) and in the book of Acts (see chapter 22 and 26).

Saul, a Jew (tribe of Benjamin), was born in Tarsus in Cilicia (modern-day Turkey) but raised and educated in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel.
Saul trained and lived as a Pharisee and surpassed most of his peers in both knowledge and zeal and adherence to the Law.
Saul was present at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) and began persecuting the believers of Jesus by having them arrested and brought to Jerusalem for trial and punishment (Acts 8)
Saul encountered the resurrected Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus (Acts 9) and changed.
Saul, immediately following his conversion, went away into Arabia and returned to Damascus. After three years he went to Jerusalem to visit Peter for 15 days. Then Saul traveled to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

Next installment: Galatians - Chapter Two

- Pastor Jeff

Russia mission updates - Monday, June 14, 2010

2010-06-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 14, 2010

Summary: First day of class with 6, no make it 8 students.

Details: I was up again at 5 AM. I had coffee, wrote in my blog, had some quiet time, cleaned up and walked up to the church where we are teaching our English Bible Camp. We did large group introductions of the American team: “My name is Pastor James and I lead group 4.” We sang two songs and then went to our first English class.

Our first task was “introductions.” I introduced myself to my six students and my translator. It was fun to show them the banner in the sanctuary with “Jesus loves me” in Russian. Using a beach ball globe, I asked why would a Lutheran Church in Salt Lake City, Utah have such a thing on our banner. It was fun to hear them guess why, and they were very quiet when I explained we have a long history of summer mission trips to Russia. (Denise, thanks again for helping with the photos and printing!) I showed photos of my family and hobbies. All of this was to help them relax and think of what they wanted to say. They introduced themselves, told us about their families, and talked about their hobbies.

They had crafts, a game time, and then lunch. We gained two more students at the start of the second English class. They introduced their names, and we were into the Bible story about the birth of Jesus. We reviewed vocabulary and then read the story together. We asked questions, did a maze about the birth of Jesus, and colored a picture of the manger. I awarded prizes for two of them.

This was followed with a planning session for our drama on Friday, a time singing in the larger group, and 15 minutes of the “Jesus for Children” video. We had tea and their parents picked them up. I felt our first day went very smoothly. I very much appreciate my translator. Her name is Heli, but said like our English “Haley.” She is only 16 years old, finishing high school, and hoping to go to the university to study English and become a professional translator.

We met as a large team from 4-5 PM and evaluated things. Little problems exist, but these should be easily solved. Dinner at 5:30 was followed by an American team meeting. I have hastily typed these lines so that I can hike back to the town center and send this email.

Russia mission updates - Sunday, June 13, 2010

2010-06-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Summary: Church in St. Petersburg, shopping, meetings and more meetings

Details: I am up at 5 AM. It is raining this morning. I am glad to have more coffee this morning while I write my blog. At 8 AM we hiked over to the bus stop and retraced our steps via public bus and subway to the center of St. Petersburg. Pastor Lief was our host for the morning. His wife prepared bilini for all of us -- 18 people and a homeless man he found outside on the street. It was delicious! We ate and then joined their English service at 10 AM.

The service used the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal and the liturgy seemed to be from close to the same era. Pastor Lief preached a refreshingly positive sermon about God’s call in our lives. I think there would have only been ten or so people without our group. He seemed glad to have a full house.

The Ingrian Lutheran Church is three blocks from the Church of the Spilt Blood. One of the largest souvenir markets is near that church, and so we walked over to shop. Pastor Lief warned us not to pay the first price because they will bargain as you walk away. Oy! There are maybe 80 stands and many of them have the same things. Much of it caters to American tourists. I watched as one of the Minnesota team members bought nesting dolls (matrioska) in Minnesota Viking uniforms. The inside dolls had Brett Farve, Peterson, etc. He paid 1,000 rubles ($33).

While I was shopping one, of the vendors asked me what I thought of Obama. I tried to give a noncommital answer, and he started an intense conversation about politics and corruption in Russia. He asked where I was from, and when I said Salt Lake City, he asked what I thought of Mormons. I told him I was Lutheran and he asked me what the difference was between the Mafia and the Mormon Church. I was quite surprised by this question and asked him why he asked it. He said he could see no difference. Both the Mafia and the Mormon Church take 10-15% to further their own empires. I asked how the Mafia functioned locally, and he replied they protected businesses for their fee and that the government also took their fees. He would like to open a store, but it would cost him $40,000 in fees total but paid to both groups. I asked how he was doing, and he said he had a wife and children and that he could not afford to put his little one in a preschool because there were more “enrollment fees.” Everyone has to pass on their expenses. He warned me that those who complain too loudly usually have an accident… I was glad for this long and heartfelt conversation. Pray against the corruption in Russia!

We had an incident while returning to Koltushe. Two of the women lost their focus for just a few seconds as we pushed through the crowded streets on the way to the subway. They walked past the subway entrance and got lost. Fourteen of us huddled in the entrance while Sally and Bill searched them out.

We returned to the seminary and began team meetings at 3 PM. We met with our Russian translators and began to talk about procedures for the camp. The big news for the day is that we now have 47 registered for classes. Dinner was at 5:30. We had two more meetings and I must confess others noticed I was nodding off. I’m still dealing with jetlag. Michael and I agreed we were still real men if we went to bed before 10.

Russia mission updates - Saturday, June 12, 2010

2010-06-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Summary: Bus tour, 3 hours in the Hermitage Museum, and an hour and a half team meeting

Details: I was awake again by 4 AM. It is hard to sleep when it is this light outside. I really wanted coffee this morning! Michael, my roommate, made it down for coffee and instant oatmeal for breakfast by 6 AM. Michael is an interesting fellow. He is 52 and serves as associate pastor in Modesto, California in an LCMC congregation. He has quite the story about how he was treated by his ELCA bishop, and about how this new congregation has loved and cared for he and his wife. It has been good to hear his story.

The rest of our team arrived by bus about 8 AM. Twenty or so folk have already taught two full weeks of camp at Petrozavodsk. It sounds like an amazing camp. With signed permission slips from parents, they teach released time English Bible in the public schools. EEMN has done this for 15 years with full approval from the district Minister of Education. Petrozavodsk is so far north that they get very few visitors with native English. The English Bible Camps provide an opportunity for their children to spend a week interacting with American English, and so the Minister of Education -- she is an atheist -- doesn’t care about the content of the curriculum as long as it is not anti-government. Many of the English faculty from the school help as translators, and so they also hear the Gospel. The team is free to share the gospel and love the kids. Many people are moving forward in lives of quiet discipleship. The Ingrian Church gains enormous social capital because they can bring these important guests in to serve their children year after year. Our presence is so much more important than just sending money!

We left at 9 AM for a brief bus tour of the city. Our tour guide was Pastor Lief Camp, an American who came to St. Petersburg as a Missouri Synod missionary. He transferred to the roster of the Ingrian Lutheran Church after marrying a woman from St. Petersburg. We drove past lots of important sites and stopped briefly to photograph a few. Our bus driver promised us a cheap souvenir shop and we agreed to go. The prices were not cheaper! The driver is getting an obvious kickback from their sales. This is how much business gets done in Russia! We arrived in the big square near the Hermitage at 11:30 and had an hour to find lunch on our own. The shops close to the museum have servers who speak English, and I didn’t hear of anyone having difficulties. Two small bilini (crêpes) and a carbonated water cost 300 rubles (about $10).

We met back in the square and waited in a long line to enter the museum. You have to pay a much higher entrance fee if you want to use your camera. They don’t allow any flash. The museum is housed in what was the Winter Palace. St. Petersburg was built originally on a swamp and was crisscrossed with canals as the “Venice of the north.” The czars intended the city to be Russia’s face for Europe and they spared no expense trying to impress their European neighbors. They hired the best European architects and spent lavish amounts of money on public buildings to show their strength and high level of culture. It is a beautiful and impressive place.

Michael and I stayed with the group for a while, and then moved off at a quicker pace. We saw less than ten percent of the collection. Wow! It would take days to appreciate the architecture and view the entire collection. We managed to see two paintings by Leonardo DaVinci, a huge number of sixteenth century religious paintings, and the armor hall. There were several suits of armor from sixteenth century Germany. (There is no way Luther could have fit in any of the ones we saw :) ).

We left the museum at 4 PM and found the square off-limits as they prepared for a concert in honor of their new national independence day. More than 100,000 people would attend, and many were already on their way. This meant that dinner on our own was especially adventurous. The restaurants were stuffed with concert goers, and we settled for anything we could get into. Michael and I ate Subway sandwiches. This feels really odd here! At 6 PM we gathered to take public transportation back to Koltushe. We went down a very long escalator, boarded our train, rode until the second stop, changed trains and rode again to the second stop. We took an equally long escalator to the surface, found our bus, and rode about 20 minutes to the stop near the seminary. We braved the mosquitoes in our shortcut through the woods and had a five-minute break before our team meeting at 8 PM. The meeting was mercifully brief, and we were free to find our beds. I stayed awake until 10:30 to push back against the jetlag. I was very glad to finally hit the sheets.

Russia mission updates - Friday, June 11, 2010

2010-06-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 11, 2010

Summary: Seven hours of class and a hike to the internet café

Details: I slept well for 7 hours. Although it was only 4:15 AM, it was already light outside. Fondly remembering Dan and Teri Nestel and our mission trip to Kiev in 2006, I was prepared with Folgers single serving coffee bags. There is filtered water in the kitchen, a Braun hot-pot, and I enjoyed a couple cups of coffee as I typed the first part of this blog. My MacBook loves the 240 volt current and recharges much quicker than at home. Thanks, Eric and Jennifer, for the adapter! Breakfast was at 8:30 and consisted of oatmeal and jam.

We spent the day in classes learning more about the Ingrian Lutheran Church, the history of EEMN, how our English language Bible camp fits in to serving the Ingrian Lutheran congregations, and about some of the difference between American and Russian cultures. We had three hours of class in the morning, and then mystery fish for lunch. We had two and a half hours of class in the afternoon. I walked one and a half miles during my afternoon break to send my first blog post from an internet café / billiard hall in the Koltushe town square. I got lots of funny looks because I did not fit in with the 20-something crowd hanging around shooting pool. Dinner was at 5:30, and it was served on smaller plates than lunch: It was a rice casserole with very small chunks of meat. We had an hour and a half of class on Friday evening. We still have some jetlag, and Bill says it helps to stay very busy. It was a long day and I was glad for bed again. I lasted until 10:15 PM.

Galatians Overview - Luther

2010-06-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Paul's letter to the Galatians has been referred to as the "Magna Charta of Christian Liberty." Martin Luther declared that the Book of Galatians is "my epistle to which I am betrothed. It is my Katie von Bora (his wife)."

Luther's lectures on Galatians fills two volumes. He was very prolific in his exegesis. Below is an excerpt of his dedication (1535) to his lectures:

"We have taken it upon ourselves in the Lord's name to lecture on this Epistle of Paul to the Galatians once more. This is not because we want to teach something new or unknown, for by the grace of God Paul is now very well known to you. But it is because, as I often warn you, there is a clear and present danger that the devil may take away from us the pure doctrine of faith and may substitute for it the doctrines of works and of human traditions. It is very necessary, therefore, that this doctrine of faith be continually read and heard in public. No matter how well known it may be or how carefully learned, the devil, our adversary, who prowls around and seeks to devour us (1 Peter 5:8), is not dead. Our flesh also goes on living. Besides, temptations of every sort attack and oppress us on every side. Therefore this doctrine can never be discussed and taught enough. If it is lost and perishes, the whole knowledge of truth, life, and salvation is lost and perishes at the same time. But if it flourishes, everything good flourishes -- religion, true worship, the glory of God, and the right knowledge of all things and of all social conditions. To keep from doing nothing, we shall begin again where we broke off, according to the saying (Ecclus. 18:7): 'When a man has finished, he is just beginning.'" (Luther's Works, vol. 26, Concordia Publishing House: 1963).

I'm looking forward to studying Paul's letter to the Galatians with you these next six weeks.

- Pastor Jeff

My Daughter's Graduation Letter

2010-05-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Today is my daughter's 19th birthday. It is also the eve of her graduation. We were asked, as parents, to write personal letters to our graduates, which they will read after tonight's rehearsal in preparation for tomorrow's ceremony. What to say?

I remember the small, fragile and precious life who was so dependent upon us for survival. She had pneumonia in both lungs as an infant, just 8-10 weeks after her birth. My wife and I spent many nights sleeping upright, in the rocker, holding her upright so she could breathe, praying fervently entrusting her to the Lord's care. Many tears were shed. I could feel her every heart beat, hear every slightest breath.

Now, I am in that similar place again, fervently entrusting my daughter to the Lord's care. She is much older now, a young woman of faith, grace, and beauty. She is a marvel in so many ways -- a real blessing. Many tears are privately shed -- most out of gratitude, some still in fear.

I've learned through the years that the Lord is good and trustworthy. There is no better place for my children to be than in the Lord's hands. It's hard to let go, though. It's like watching her learn to ride a bicycle for the first time: "I can do it, Dad, it's okay, you can let go, you don't have to hold on so tight." I am in that place again. Mostly proud, a little fearful as she enters the young adult world to explore the future, plans, hopes, and promises God has for her.

I think she is prepared. She has a secure sense of self, her heart, abilities, and desires. She knows she is deeply loved and she loves the Lord. She has a beautiful heart refined by wisdom and growing life experience. I know she has the personal fortitude to meet the challenges ahead.

When my parents dropped me off for my first day at college (they told me later), they waved and said goodbye with affirming, strong hugs, smiles and encouraging words only to drive around the corner, stop the car, and weep. I understand, now.

Sweetheart, my dear daughter, you are very precious to me. Your dad loves you. Thank you, Lord, for the precious gift of a beautiful daughter. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness and faithfulness to her. She remains, as she was in the early days of her life, in your strong hands and close to my heart.

-- Pastor Jeff

Spiritual Formation -- A Primer with Tom Ashbrook

2010-05-21T13:42:00.001-07:00

Pastor Jeff's note: As a follow up to our "Discovery" workshop. I stumbled upon this PDF of the article below on the Imago Christi's website. I would like to share it with you, since we plan to host another "Discovery" either in the Fall 2010 or Winter 2011. Tom's book and a "mapping tool" are available from Amazon.com or by contacting the author directly (tom.ashbrook@crmleaders.org). Enjoy reading!

Conversations Journal, Spring 2007

“The Right Disciplines at the Right Time: Understanding the Journey with Teresa of Avila” by Tom Ashbrook

I was sitting at Holy Trinity Abbey in Huntsville, Utah, staring off toward the craggy snow-capped mountains, wondering what this turn of events in my life might mean. A year earlier, a Trappist Monastery would have been the last place I would have thought of going; now, I couldn‟t stay away. While I had once thought of myself as a mature Christian leader, I now realized that the God of the Bible was a huge mystery to me. What had once been a fairly satisfying spiritual walk, (as long as things were going well), had now become a deep longing, a restless dissatisfaction, and a foggy confusion about what God was up to in my life. I felt that there must be more, much more, to this life with God, but what?

I soon realized that I was not alone in my hunger and thirst or in my confusion. Like many others in the past few decades, I had begun to explore the ancient spiritual disciplines, discovering the wonderful truth that, when we make space for God to speak into our lives, He meets us and we are touched and blessed. For me, the disciplines of solitude, silence, and contemplation, learned at Holy Trinity Abbey, set me on the path of ongoing discovery of what God had in store for my relationship with Him. But why was I only just discovering this now? Shouldn‟t I have been practicing these disciplines all along? Teresa of Avila‟s writings were soon to provide the answer to that question.

The assumption behind my question was that the practice of spiritual disciplines must be a principle or program – a one-to-one equation of cause and affect. “If I do this, then God will do that. The more I work these disciplines, the more I will become holy or effective. The truth is, of course, that the Holy Spirit works the transformation of spiritual growth. We can cooperate, but we can‟t make it happen. Spiritual disciplines often need to be done in quite different ways as spiritual growth happens in us. So, despite a new emphasis on spiritual disciplines today, it may be that many of us have been doing “the right disciplines” but at the wrong time. How can we tell?

The difficulty is that we may be confused about the journey of faith. Many of us have no real understanding about the path of spiritual growth beyond the foundational practices of basic discipleship. Once we have committed our lives to Christ; studied and learned the fundamental truths of Scripture; developed a regular practice of prayer; discovered our spiritual gifts; joined a small group; and gotten to work in some program in the church, then what? That was just my condition as I sat at the Monastery in Utah. As I was to find out, there are a lot of “then whats” ahead of me, enough for a lifetime! For me, some clarity began in those years at the Monastery, when I was introduced to the amazingly simple but profound outline of our spiritual journey, the Seven Mansions described by Teresa of Avila. Once I understood the path of our journey and my place along the way, I began to realize why I was so hungry for the new disciplines of solitude and silence, and why they could be used to accomplish in me now that could not have happened before.

Teresa of Avila and the Seven Mansions of Spiritual Formation

You may be asking, “Who in the world is Teresa of Avila”? We‟ll just do a sketch here, but a good history can be found in the introduction to her collected works. Teresa was born on March 28, 1515, in Avila, Spain, in a well-to-do, noble family. Despite chronic health problems she entered the Carmelite order that focused on a life of prayer. At about forty years old, she underwent a “second conversion,” related to reading the Confessions of Augustine. Her faith was strengthened and a deep relationship with God in Christ flourished.

With her new zeal for Christ, Teresa became increasingly critical of the church and monastic communities of her time, feeling that they had yielded to the norms of secular society. So, in 1562 she founded the Convent of St. Joseph in Avila, which followed faithfully the values of simplicity, poverty, and charity to undergird the formation of a life that was truly given to loving God in prayer. Other similar monasteries were soon established. Teresa also founded convents of friars, having as her collaborator, John of the Cross. She became a prolific writer to communicate her insights about spiritual growth. Of particular interest to our topic is Teresa‟s Interior Castle, written at age sixty-two.

Teresa was known as an excellent manager and waged a long and ultimately successful struggle to have the “Discalced” (barefoot) Carmelites separated from the older order. The reawakening of religious fervor that she brought about in Spain was amazing! Soon after her death the movement spread beyond Spain and across Christendom, having a profound effect on the church of her time. She was canonized in 1622, becoming the first woman “Doctor of the Church.”

We see from Teresa‟s life that she was not an “ivory tower” mystic who was separated from the difficulties of life or the challenges of the world. Teresa might be considered a “church planter” in her own church culture, a gifted leader and organizer, and the spiritual director for hundreds of ordinary people. She faced the many of the same issues that we face today in our changing culture, and her insights were born out of her daily walk with God in the context of pain and struggle. While many of us may not be impressed with canonization or doctoral titles, they show that the church of her time deeply affirmed her faith and spiritual insights. These insights have been studied and explored by Christians of all walks ever since.

One day, Teresa was asked by her superiors to write an explanation about the progressive development of one‟s spiritual life. As she prayed about her assignment, she received a picture of the believer‟s as a beautiful castle. It was made of a single diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many concentric rooms, just as in heaven there are many mansions. In the center of the crystal castle is the “Sun” illuminating outward. Teresa envisioned that as we grow in our spiritual relationship with Christ, we are drawn closer to this divine Sun, being transformed into His likeness and a deep intimacy and cooperation with Him. In the Seventh Mansion, the center, the King of Glory lives in great splendor and illumines and adorns all the dwellings as far as the outer ring. So, closer we move toward the center, the more intense His light. Our journey is not linear, but we are like pilgrims who travel here and there, explore this region and that, but are drawn closer and closer in our relationship with God by the power of His love. Although Teresa does not directly quote the passage, it is obvious that Jesus‟ encouragements about eternal reality deeply informed both Teresa‟s image and her understanding of how God works in our present spiritual growth:

"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-3. NASU

There are subtle but important insights here that is foundational in understanding Teresa‟s description of our spiritual journey. First, it happens in our interior relationship with God. The Trinity indwells us and we experience Him “inside.” While most Christians would affirm God‟s presence in us, we often talk and think as if He were “up there,” or “out there.” We use phrases like “God showed up,” as if He weren't present all the time. We really mean to say that we experienced His presence, but the language betrays our tendency to look exteriorly for relationship and communication with God. Teresa says that we experience God, not only in outward circumstances, but mainly within. The second important truth in this passage is that it is Jesus who comes to us and takes us onward. It is not up to us to make our own way.

This description of the seven mansions of spiritual growth provides a framework in which to understand various stages of the work of the Spirit and of our cooperation with Him. Her paradigm is amazingly simple, paralleling the two main movements of human development in every culture: growing up into adulthood followed by falling in love and getting married. Teresa described these mansions as they are reflected in our prayer life, in our relationship to others, and in the physical, emotional and spiritual transformations that take place in each mansion. Deepening intimacy with the Trinity and the resulting fire of love produces our desire and the power that transforms and restores the image of God within us. Teresa agrees with many mystics of her time that the very goal of spiritual transformation is a love relationship with God. While holiness, service for God, and wholeness are certainly important aspects of spiritual maturity, Teresa sees them as byproducts which naturally flow out of an increasing and loving union with God.

Well, let‟s take a journey through the Teresian Mansions, describing the stages or phases of our spiritual growth as we go. As you imagine each mansion, try to recall times when you might have visited or even lived in that mansion. Remember that the journey is not as linear as it may sound; we explore and visit and return and then, visit again, and then move on a little deeper toward increased intimacy with God. While Teresa did not entitle the mansions, I find the following titles helpful to understand their progression.

FIRST MANSION - Saved Yet With a Worldly Focus

The First Mansion is where we hear and respond to the Gospel of God‟s love and forgiveness in Christ and become a Christian. We make our initial discoveries about the Kingdom of God, through Scripture and Christian relationships, and began to learn what it means to be in the world, but not of it. Our focus, however, is largely on getting God‟s help to obtain the things we haven‟t been able to get for ourselves and seeking God for deliverance from the addictions that have been causing us so much pain. Despite our growth in the First Mansion, the true light of Christ is hard to discern, and demonic and self-deception is great. But God continues to draw us to Himself by responding to our prayerful calls for help. Our faith deepens. The exhortations in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 and James 4:1-4 reflect the issues we face in this First Mansion of our Christian journey.

SECOND MANSION - Divided Loyalties - The Battle Between the Kingdom of God and the World

In the Second Mansion, we have come to earnestly desire to live life God‟s way. But the pull of the world with its false pleasures and gratifications is still strong. The conflicts of loyalty become more intense, as we face our significantly mixed motives. We experience increased spiritual attack. The enemy hammers away with the deception that the world, rather than God, is the source of security, significance, and happiness. Hopefully, our struggles draw us more deeply into prayer where God touches our heart with His love and draws us onward into a deeper relationship of trust. The Second Mansion, however, usually doesn't feel much like spiritual growth. The struggles and conflicts feel more like back-sliding, and it is often a time of discouragement as we experience our share of failures. But God is relentless in His faithfulness and love and calls us closer. Galatians 5:16-25 and Ephesians 6:10-18 illustrate some of the issues we face in the Second Mansion.

THIRD MANSION – Discipleship - Life in Order

Teresa makes a huge jump from the Second Mansion to the Third because she wants to spend time on the later mansions of spiritual transformation. Now, we have developed a relatively balanced life of “discipleship.” Put in contemporary terms, our spiritual growth is marked by regular church attendance and ministry, consistent prayer, concerted effort to live the Christian life, and a genuine desire to please and honor God. While the temptations of the world are still real, the more subtle temptations of pride, jealously, envy, etc., are more threatening. God continues to meet us in our study of the Word, worship, sermons, and difficult events, calling us deeper into prayer. Our prayers are still dominated by requests for God‟s favors and thanks for His blessings. While major issues of sin and addiction may have been overcome, we are being enlightened at a deeper level regarding the depth of sin and the mixed motives that still lie within. Our life in the Third Mansion is focused on serving God faithfully and most of us spend many years here as our “home” mansion. It is interesting to note that the attributes of the Third Mansion are often all that we are taught in our discipling process. Salvation, assurance, godly living, and ministry can be seen as “all there is.” But Teresa says that we aren‟t even half-way to what God has for us. There is more, much more! Look at Ephesians 4:1-3 and Philippians 2:12-16 as examples of Third Mansion life.

FOURTH MANSION - Touched by Love

In the Fourth Mansion, God begins to reveal Himself to us through profound touches of His love and presence. We are given the beginnings of grace to “see” and “feel” God in prayer and in daily life. Our attention is shifted more toward the Giver than the gifts, and we find a longing for deeper intimacy with Him and a correspondingly greater desire to love others.

Supernatural experiences in prayer begin here, according to Teresa. At the same time, however, we see more clearly just how wounded we are and begin to realize and confront the difficulty we have in loving and being loved freely. It is in the Fourth Mansion where God begins to “set the agenda” for our prayer times, and our desire to listen increases. Teresa calls this new responsiveness in prayer “infused contemplation” because it is given to us by God. We begin to “taste the love of Jesus” in a way not experienced before. One of the troubling “symptoms” of journeying in the Fourth Mansion is an impatience with exhortations to work harder and do more. Worship songs and hymns of love speak to our hearts, while more Bible knowledge, “practical” sermons, or classes may feel dry and unfulfilling. The Fourth Mansion is an exciting time, but only a taste of what is ahead! Read over Philippians 3:7-11and John 21:15-17 to gain a better insight into our journey in the Fourth Mansion.

FIFTH MANSION - The Call to Union

The Fifth Mansion is a time of transition where our discipleship focus moves even further from “doing” to “being,” from serving to loving. God calls us to begin to experience the fulfillment the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus in John 17, the call to union with God. Listening prayer has become a regular part of our experience, with times of deep and adoring silence, times of just being with God. A hunger for God deepens and intensifies, and our motives are purified. In this mansion, Teresa says that our “Mary and Martha” have learned to work together as worship and work have become intertwined and balanced, both as an experience of God‟s love and as an act of loving Him in others. There is a growing awareness of God‟s holiness compared to our own sinfulness that increases our humility. Because of this new awareness, we often feel dissatisfied with our ability to really serve God fully enough to express our love for Him. While there may have been temptation to feel self-satisfied with the successes and growth in the earlier mansions, we are now more aware of how far there is to go. As we, the “beloved,” desire to love God more purely, we become more aware of our woundedness and yearn for healing that will give us freedom to love and to be loved more fully. Like the Second Mansion, the Fifth may not “feel” much like growth to us. Teresa believes that most Christians enter the Fifth Mansion to some extent, but may retreat back because they haven‟t been taught about this sometimes frightening dimension of life with God. Romans 8:38-39 and John 17:20-26 describe many of the experiences that become foundational in the Fifth Mansion.

SIXTH MANSION - Spiritual Betrothal - Falling in Love With God Alone

The Sixth Mansion is marked by even deeper experiences of God‟s transforming love with a corresponding passion to serve Him in love. This “falling-head-over-heel-in-love” phase in our relationship with God produces both great joy and great pain. There is now a desire to live with God alone, to sense His presence continually, and to serve Him in utter responsiveness and obedience. Times of prayer can become intense experiences of the fire and passion of God‟s love and our love for Him. In these last two mansions, the “dark nights,” described by John of the Cross, are also experienced, where God can seem totally absent or hidden. But even with the presence of the dark nights, the Sixth Mansion is characterized by a deep longing for God and a “counting as loss” those things that don‟t facilitate greater intimacy and devotion. Psalm 27:4-6 and Philippians 3:12-14 express the intensity of this phase of our spiritual formation.

SEVENTH MANSION - Mystical/Transforming Union

The Seventh Mansion represents the ultimate in intimacy with God that we can experience in this life. It is marked by a complete integration of mind, body, and spirit, in the life of Christ. Mary and Martha have become one. We can truly say with the Apostle Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Life in this mansion is a leveling time, with less pronounced highs and lows, where we live continually and transcendently in the present moment, in the fullness of Christ‟s love. Here we find a relative perfection, combined with a freedom to truly be ourselves. Strengths and weaknesses are all opportunities for the experience of the ongoing transformation that comes through union with Christ. As with the former mansions, the Seventh Mansion represents an ongoing process rather than a destination. We continue to journey more and more intimately into the depths of God‟s love and live out more fully His love for the world. Read Ephesians 3:14-19 and Galatians. 2:20 in light of what we have discussed about the Seventh Mansion and the goal of our life with God.3

Spiritual Disciplines and the Teresian Mansions

Let me tell you a story about the relationship between spiritual disciplines and our understanding of the spiritual formation process. Some years ago, my friend Wayne and I were driving to a dinner meeting. I‟ve known Wayne to be an experienced Christian leader having led many to a new life in Christ. As the drive continued, Wayne shared that he felt like his spiritual life had dried up. While he still had faith in Christ as Lord and Savior, Bible study had become boring, and his prayer life felt like talking to a brick wall. Wayne‟s voice cracked as he said, “I can lead others in discipleship, but it seems that personally, I am stuck.” After a time of silence and reflection for both of us, I asked him, “What are you doing about it?”

“I am memorizing the book of Philippians.”

“Oh, is that book of the Bible less familiar to you?”

“To the contrary, Philippians has been really meaningful for me. God has always spoken powerfully through it. I figure that if I memorize it, God can bring specific passages to mind when I really need that particular truth.”

“Is it working?”

“No.”

“What do you „feel‟ like doing, Wayne?” Another long pause.

“I am ashamed to admit it, but I feel like doing nothing.”

“Would you rather „do nothing‟ with God or without Him?”

“Oh, I‟ve tried the „without‟ part and know better. I guess the nothing would have to be with God.”

“Why don‟t you try it?”

Some months later, Wayne emailed me. “Tom, I am absolutely amazed! As I dropped all my efforts to fix my relationship with God, the dryness gradually lifted! God has shown Himself to me in the most unexpected ways! I‟m beginning to see how much He loves me! Where do I go from here?”

The problem for Wayne wasn't lack of faith or love for God, but a misunderstanding about use spiritual disciplines (which ones and how to use them) as his spiritual journey progressed and his faith matured. He had misinterpreted a deep work of God in his heart (probably in the 4th and 5th Mansions) as “back-sliding” and was miserable from beating himself up. Now, he needed to just listen to God, love Him for who He is, and learn the freedom of a beloved son rather than the “work ethic” of a servant.

You see, as we recognize the true depth of our transformational journey, as Teresa of Avila describes it, we realize that there is much more to being loved by God and loving Him back than simply practicing a set of tasks or disciplines. While we do need to be intentional at every phase of our spiritual growth to cooperate with God in His work in us, and our use of spiritual disciplines will depend upon where we are in process.

Let's use the disciplines of Scripture reading and prayer as examples. In the early Mansions, we need to study Scripture to learn who God is and how to live in His Kingdom. In later Mansions, we need to meditate upon Scripture, listening for God‟s still small voice as He leads us intimately in our walk together. Our prayer life rightly changes from just telling God what we need, to a more listening posture. But to jump into meditation and contemplation before we are ready can be fruitless and frustrating. Early on, issues of obedience are importance disciplines, while later, issues of love and trust become central to living life within the Trinity.

While Teresa of Avila has provided us a road map of sorts, she would be the first to caution us to never try to navigate it ourselves. Jesus says in the John 14 passage that He will come to us and take us to where He is. Growth is a matter of listening and responding, yielding and following, loving and being loved in the context of who we are and where we are in process. Wherever we are, no matter how far we have traveled, the most exciting part of our life with God still lies ahead! Maybe there are spiritual disciplines that we haven‟t even discovered yet!

Biographical Sketch about the Author:

Tom serves as Team Leader for Imago Christi, a spiritual formation ministry of Church Resources Ministries and is Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Spiritual Formation Partners, a community of pastors and spiritual directors, in the Denver, CO area. He received his doctorate in spiritual formation at George Fox Evangelical Seminary (Portland, Oregon), after serving as a Lutheran pastor for 26 years. Tom and his team develop spiritual formation resources and provide coaching for Christian leaders around the world. See www.ImagoChristi.org.

May 23rd - Sermon Texts

2010-05-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

Pentecost is 50 days after Passover. It is the second of the annual harvest festivals. It is the time, in the life of the church calendar that we celebrate the birth of the church and the entering of a new age ("final days") as we await the return of Christ.

In the life of Good Shepherd, we also celebrate our 9th graders who have completed a 3-year discipleship process and are ready to stand before the congregation and confess their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. These confirmands (i.e., confirmed in faith) will be celebrated during the 11:15 a.m. Sunday Worship Service.

Acts 2:1-21

The Holy Spirit comes, as promised by Jesus (Acts 1:5, 8), with the sound of a mighty rushing wind, filling the house, and divided tongues of fire appeared to the disciples and rested upon them. The Holy Spirit is often likened, in the Bible, to wind or fire -- both conotate the holy and pure presence of God.

The Holy Spirit, of course, was active in the world from the beginning (Genesis 1:2), but now is coming to people in a new, more powerful way, as signifying the beginning of the new covenant age established in Jesus' death and resurrection until his return. No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3).

The disciples began to speak in other tongues "as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4) so that Jews, "devout men from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:6) heard them speaking in his own language.

Peter refers to the prophet Joel (chapter 2) as scriptural proof that what was happening was in fulfillment of the scriptures which prophesied the final days before Christ's return. "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21). Thus, began the evangelism of the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 104

The Psalmist reminds his listeners that all creatures everywhere depend on the Lord's grace for daily provision of life's essentials. "When you send forth your Spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the ground" (Psalm 104:30). As the congregation of God's children, we are encouraged to admire and trust God, the Creator and Ruler of all, to praise Him from our whole heart.

Romans 8:18-30

The Apostle Paul writes that the Holy Spirit has revealed the glory of God's children, from bondage to freedom. This first adoption is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The redemption of our bodies will happen when Christ returns, at the End of Days, to judge the earth and gather the elect to dwell with him forever.

John 14

The Holy Spirit, one with Jesus and Father, is the helper sent in Jesus' name to teach the disciples of Jesus all things and bring to remembrance what Jesus said and did. The Spirit also brings peace.

Through the Spirit we have been grafted into the vine (John 15) and now abide in Christ, invited into the fellowship that is enjoyed with the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

-- Pastor Jeff

May 16th - Sermon Texts

2010-05-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

The practice of the public reading of Scripture using fixed or scheduled lessons from the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament Epistles, and Gospels developed early in the life of the church as early as the 3rd century with extant documentation by the 8th century.

Our practice at Good Shepherd is to read from a fixed, 3-year lectionary of scheduled readings for different Sundays and festivals during the church calendar, sharing a common lectionary with Anglicans and Lutherans world-wide.

The texts for May 16th are:

Acts 16:16-34

Here we read of Paul and Silas in Philippi (a Roman colony in Macedonia) on their way to a place of prayer near the river. There is evidently no established synagogue within the city, only a handful of believers. They are encountered by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination, i.e., a spirit who could tell people secrets about their lives. Paul commands the spirit to leave the girl "in the name of Jesus." The spirit departs. Jesus' authority in the spiritual realm is recognized and obeyed.

The girl's owners are incensed over their loss of future financial profit and unjustly charge Paul and Silas before local magistrates. What is notable is the injustice suffered. There is no instigation to confirm the accusation. They are simply judged and punished (stripped and beaten with rods) and imprisoned (their feet in stocks) on the spot.

During the night, Paul and Silas continued to pray and sing hymns to God. Other prisoners were listening to them. What did they speak and sing? No one knows. It is, however, evidence of the strong presence of the Holy Spirit filling their hearts with joy and praise even in such difficult circumstances. God's presence suddenly shakes the prison's foundations (like an earthquake) and unfastens everyone's bonds, opening every door.

The jailer and his entire family believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are baptized in the jail that very night. He washes Paul and Silas' wounds and brings them into his house to celebrate.

Psalm 97

The Psalm extols the power of God's presence and the universal sovereignty of his kingship. The Lord is lord of all and reigns over all -- in heaven and on earth. His power is imagined like a fierce and mighty lightning and thunder storm that shakes the foundations of the earth. God's righteousness will prevail in his world. His people will experience his care and protection in their lives; therefore, they can willingly rejoice in the Lord and give thanks to his holy name, as God fills their lives with light and joy.

We can see that Paul and Silas have experienced exactly this "light and joy" in their situation in a Philippian jail.

Revelation 22

John receives, in his vision, the promise that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon and will establish his righteousness and justice upon the earth, bringing his judgment and recompense to repay everyone for what they have done. The evil will not inherit the new kingdom, but will be left outside. Those who remain faithful will experience God's heavenly reward of life and joy. The readers of this vision are encouraged to consider their own spiritual hunger and thirst and to come to the Lord, the true Alpha and Omega (Beginning and End) for fulfillment.

We can see that the Philippian jailer and his family also recognized their own spiritual hunger and thirst in his question to Paul, "What must I do to be saved?" Paul's answer was, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." Their joy was immediate in knowing that their salvation was both present and secure.

John 17:20-26

Jesus' prayer, to the Father, is that all who will believe in him (as the Son of God) will be one with him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. This is a profound request and statement. In Christ, we are recreated to be in full fellowship with the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus wants us to be one with him as he is with the Father. WOW!

I do not pretend to fully comprehend this mystery and great gift. The eternal, uncreated, infinite, almighty, majestic and glorious God wants to be one with me?! What the Father is, the Son is, the Holy Spirit is ... all in intimate relationship with each other ... and I am invited to be one with this God?!

Paul, himself, stated that he had a vision of the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2). It was so sublime, it defied words. How is this type of profound, mystical union possible?

Well ... that is the story of Pentecost (May 23rd)!

- Pastor Jeff

Spiritual Formation Discovery Workshop

2010-05-14T21:49:00.000-07:00

On May 11-13, 2010 we hosted an Imago Christi spiritual formation retreat named "Discovery." Below is a description on the event taken from Imago Christi's website.

Spiritual Formation Discovery for Leaders:

Objective: We have learned personally and historically that the spiritual formation of church leaders must precede the spiritual formation of the church itself. We have also learned that the most effective way for leaders to make a paradigm shift in their leadership is through an intensive experiential group process resulting in a shift in understanding of one’s spiritual formation. We have therefore, developed (and are still perfecting) a group retreat process using a “spiritual timeline” and comparing it to the Teresian Paradigm and planning for ongoing personal spiritual formation. The Discovery process includes looking at one's view of God, personal blocks to spiritual formation, identifying one's longing for deeper intimacy with God, cooperation through abiding prayer and covenant community, and development of a spiritual formation plan.

Plan: Continue to refine the Discovery process, adapting it to various settings and audiences. Develop a Discovery 2, as a follow-up retreat/experience to further explore areas of insight and question identified in the Discovery process.

What I learned:

Spiritual Formation must be intentional -- The time-line is an exercise in identifying past people, events, and circumstances that the Lord has used to grow us, both joyful and painful experiences. Often times, themes emerge that form chapters in our life's spiritual formation. In these chapters of our lives, we often relate to God in certain ways, e.g., God as Redeemer, or God as Provider, or God as Healer, etc. It was in the painful experiences that I grew the most. At one point, in a surrender service, I felt compelled to rewrite all my negative and painful experiences into positives affirmations of how God was wooing me deeper into his heart, revealing his love for me and his trustworthy character.
Prayer is central to growth -- St. Theresa of Avila (16th century) lived in Spain as a contemporary of Martin Luther in Germany. While Luther was mapping orthodox theology, Theresa was mapping the interior of the soul. One first begins to learn to pray with petitions and request and then to develop a discipline of prayer. In the first stages of growth, our prayers involve more our speaking to God. In the later stages of growth, we transition to listening or abiding prayer, as we seek to be fully present to God in the moment to hear his voice through the Spirit. A helpful medium to enable this transition is lectio divina or sacred listening. We read a text from Scripture and either imagine ourselves in the story or allow the story to prompt emotional and image responses. The goal is to discern God's voice speaking to us a personal word. Ultimately the goal is complete communion with God where words are not necessary. One is content to simply dwell in the silent space present to God.
A mentor or listener can be helpful -- A good mentor is primarily a listener and is able to ask good, clarifying questions that help you discern what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. Sometimes, the mentor will help you look at a situation from a different perspective that creates space for the renewing work of the Holy Spirit to create something new in you. The Holy Spirit is the best mentor of all, but a person is helpful. We were created to live in community and, as relational creatures, we need each other.
We need to be "first order" leaders -- A first order calling is to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. It is out of this relationship that we experience and learn how to receive and give love. From this place of intimacy comes a deeply transformed life. Only then, are we able to live in community with each other. First love (God) is linked inextricably to a love of one another. We love as Christ has loved us. The second order calling is not to live in community, but rather, to serve in the world. Community is different from ministry or service. In community, we strengthen, encourage, edify, console, and hold each other accountable to our first love calling: Love the Lord first. A community that is formed along the lines of sacred communion (i.e., a covenant community) is rooted in deep spiritual transformation compared to a community that is formed around a goal or desire to achieve a particular ministry task. It is really out of a covenant community that ministers are effectively sent into the world to be witnesses of Christ's love in word and deed. We see this modeled by our Lord, Jesus Christ, who constantly went to solitary places to pray (commune) with His Father and then taught his disciples, who later were sent into the world.

Thanks to Tom, Larry, and Stella for your leadership, example, and teaching. We are blessed to have shared this experience together with you. We hope to have you return to Good Shepherd in January-February for a follow-up so that more people can join us in this exciting experience.

- Pastor Jeff

Bless the Nations

2010-05-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Psalm 67 calls us deeply into the theology of ancient Israel. Verse 1 invites God to show us his grace and bless us as he shines his face upon us. Nobody prays for a face-to-face encounter if they expect a frowny, grumpy, face of condemnaton. The psalmist expects God’s face to be filled with joy, as a Mother’s face looking tenderly and wonderously into the face of her smiling child. The psalm draws on Genesis 12 in connecting the blessings of God’s people with the blessings of the nations. This psalm is a good backdrop for the very offensive text we find in John 14.

John’s Gospel makes repeated powerful claims about knowing God through Jesus (see 1:18, 5:19, 8:28, 10:28-30, 12:44-45, 14:7). Because Jesus shows us what God is like, we can see God’s face turned towards us in him. Is he smiling or frowning? Is he loving or judging?

John’s Gospel helps us understand salvation can only be through Jesus because God will draw all people to him in and through the cross (12:32). John 14:6 allows no other way for people to be saved. We will and can be saved by Christ alone. The world wants to convince you there are many paths up God’s mountain. This is crapola. (Google the word. I’m not making it up!) If you can be saved by your self effort, good works, or by any other mediator, Jesus was a fool to die on the cross! Jesus himself speaks against such an idea. As did Peter in Acts 4:12. But the narrowness of the way does not define a narrowness of intent! God intends to bless the nations! Who is included when Jesus says he will draw all people to himself?

We see God pushing Paul into wider endeavors to reach the nations in Acts 16.

In Revelation 21:10, 21:22-22:5 we see God is still planning on blessing the nations through the healing leaves of the tree of life.

How are we part of this? We function in this world as Christ’s ambassadors. We represent him to the world. Are we showing God’s frowny face of judgment? Or God’s smiling face of joyful welcome?

May God make us wise as we represent Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to our needy and broken world. Amen.

Pastor James

New Preaching Schedule for the Summer 2010!

2010-05-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

After Pentecost Sunday (May 23rd) and Holy Trinity Sunday (May 30th), we will shift to exposition and thematic preaching. We will revert back to lectionary-based preaching for Advent 2010. The schedule (subject to change) is as a follows:

Paul's Letter to the Galatians (Pastor Jeff)

June 6th -- Galatians 1:1 - 2:10
June 13th -- Galatians 2:11 - 4:7 (Part 1)
June 20th -- Galatians 2:11 - 4:7 (Part 2)
June 27th -- Galatians 5
July 4th -- Galatians 6

Paul's Letter to the Colossians (Pastor James)

July 11th -- Colossians 1:1-20
July 18th -- Colossians 1:21 - 2:5
July 25th -- Colossians 2:6-23
August 1st -- Colossians 3

"God's Care for His People" (Pastor Christine)

August 8th -- Rahab (Hebrews 11, Joshua 6, James 2)
August 15th -- Esther - (Book of Esther)
August 22nd --Ruth (Book of Ruth)
August 29th -- Deborah (Judges 4-5)

"The Cost of Discipleship" (Pastoral Intern Jen Cook)

September 5th -- Luke 14

Paul's First Letter to Timothy (All Three Pastors)

September 12th -- 1 Timothy 1 (Pastor Jeff)
September 19th -- 1 Timothy 2 (Pastor James)
September 26th -- 1 Timothy 3 (Pastor Jeff)
October 3rd -- 1 Timothy 4 (Pastor Christine)
October 10th -- VIETNAM / Children of Peace (binh Rybacki)
October 17th -- 1 Timothy 5 (Pastor Christine)
October 24th -- 1 Timothy 6 (Pastor Jeff)

Stand Alone Topics

October 31st -- The Priesthood of All Believers (Pastor Jeff)
November 7th -- Life after Death (Pastor Christine)
November 14th -- End Times, Part 1 (Pastor James)
November 21st -- End Times, Part 2 (Pastor James)

I hope you enjoy the series of sermons coming up. Bring your Bibles to church! Please note, the schedule may be subject to change.

Thanks,

Pastor Jeff

LCMC Leadership Conference - Omaha, NE - Summary

2010-04-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

April 30, 2010 (Summary)

I have had a couple of days to digest and distill what I experienced into a few simple thoughts and action items. I find that if I can recall it from memory, it has been integrated into my heart and life.

The LCMC is growing! It has now 403 member congregations in its association, national and international. It has proven, so far, to be a viable and healthy option to mission-minded and orthodox Lutherans.
We need to be readers of God's word daily! Make it a practice to "eat the word" first before you eat your breakfast. This is our heritage as Lutherans: we are readers of the word of God.
As we minister in a now post-modern, post-Christian culture, we will grow through adult conversions. Evangelism must be our top priority. We at Good Shepherd had 11 adult baptisms this past 12 months. Praise God!
The Evangelical Renewal District, as a non-geographical district, is a place for congregations who want to plant new churches and attend to the Holy Spirit. It is a kindred spirit to the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC), which is also Lutheran, and there may be a closer relationship between the two in the near future.
A district functions like a small group for fellowship, accountability, growth, and partnered service. A congregation in the LCMC has the freedom to join all, none, or a few particular districts, both geographical and non-geographical.
About 30 Pastors per week are requesting information on the LCMC! Some are thinking of joining the LCMC roster and others are seeking information.
Many people in churches who failed in their vote to leave the ELCA as a united congregation are simply leaving behind the building and starting their own LCMC church plants, worshiping in homes. WOW! This is back to 1st century discipleship, the early years of the church. It is exciting and inspiring to be around people of such courage, vision, and strength. There is a lot joy and creative enthusiasm among the people. We are part of a life-giving organization of visionary people.
Pastor Christine Nelson is an amazing woman of faith, determination, and perseverance. I am honored to be her colleague and co-worker in the fields of our Lord. She embodies many of the values and qualities of the LCMC.

After the conference, I was able to meet with some other Senior Pastors of LCMC churches. I was greatly encouraged by the stories of what God is doing in their churches. Every church is different, yet all are reaching out to their communities. Here's a few tidbits of what I learned from them.

Few of them use the lectionary (assigned readings). Most have opted for expository preaching (preaching through a book of the Bible) or thematic issues relevant to the community.
All of them have contemporary worship services.
Most take Sunday afternoons to Tuesday mornings off -- their Sabbath's Day's rest. They are available when their people are available, like on Saturdays.
All are using social media: email, blogs, YouTube, Podcasts, websites, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to increase exposure to their ministry and communicate with people.
They are voracious learners and purveyors of best practices from any source it can be found (books, conferences, other churches, etc.).
They are all heavily involved in missions (local and international).
They all are available to help other churches and pastors. They are generous givers of their time.

I am thankful for this experience, for Good Shepherd who has a vision to release their pastors to attend these events for the greater good, and for those, like Pastor James and the staff, who are willing to stay at home and are more than competent to keep things moving toward life and health and joy.

- Pastor Jeff

The Good Shepherd

2010-04-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

Our sermon this week connected the dots between Psalm 23, John 10, and the images of the Lamb who is the Shepherd in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 7:17 is the key that unlocks this inter-textuality: “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Working back with this key, we understand Psalm 23 in a very different way.

The Good Shepherd chooses the best for us because he has been a Lamb. He makes us lie down in green pastures and with the quiet springs of living water! This truly restores our souls!

The Good Shepherd can lead us through the valley of the shadow of death because he has been there. He died for us!

He sets a table before us in the presence of our enemies. But who are our enemies? Jesus is facing his enemies in John 10:22-30. Like us, Christ died for them (Romans 5:8). Hanging on the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). Peter preached to the very Council that condemned Jesus and offered them salvation in Acts 4. Acts 6:7 tells us that many of the priests believed.

Revelation 19 moves us to celebration. Here we find a report about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Guess who is seated at his table? Us. Who else? Jesus’ enemies now made friends. Who else? Our enemies, now made disciples and our friends.

What is our call from this? We need to seek reconciliation with our enemies. Let’s work to turn wolves into sheep. Let’s work to turn biting sheep into lambs. Let’s learn to celebrate God’s vision for reconciliation. And let us move to seek peace with all people (I Peter 3:11).

Pastor James

Good Shepherd is ERD!

2010-04-27T20:24:00.001-07:00

The Evangelical Renewal District of the LCMC

In 2003, when Good Shepherd officially joined the then newly emerging Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), we joined the Evangelical Renewal District (ERD), which is a non-geographic district.

One of the freedoms within the LCMC is to partner and associate with any congregation on the basis of location (ex. Utah churches) or by values (ex. ERD).

The core values of the ERD are:

It's about Jesus -- The Great Commandment: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, is the center and purpose of who we are and how we are to live.
Passion for the Lost -- The church (local congregations) is the only organization which exists for the sake of its non-members. Passion for the lost must be reflected in the congregation's budget, small groups, worship, Bible Studies, and every aspect of congregational life.
Renewal through the Holy Spirit -- The Holy Spirit brings people to faith, convicts people of sin, and restores the joy of salvation to convicted sinners. We acknowledge and desire both the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit to be manifest in our lives.
High view of Scripture -- All Scripture is inspired by God and without error and is a living word that is always relevant. Not all interpretation is without error, therefore, we uphold the interpretive function s of studying the original manuscripts, the original audiences, and purposes of a text, with a thorough comparison of the whole canon of Scripture.
Passionate Worship -- Worship involves the whole person (body, mind, and emotions). Forms of worship are optional and to be chosen to best enable those present to unreservedly show their love for their Lord and Savior, while experiencing God's presence through his Word and Sacraments.
People of Prayer -- God's plans for us will always exceed our plans for God, and the chief way for Jesus to function as the Head of the church, and for the Holy Spirit to renew His church, is through prayer, not as a means to an end, but as a means to an intimate and personal relationship with God.
Sanctity of Marriage and Life -- We affirm that marriage is between a man and a woman and affirm the sanctity of all human life, from conception to the grave. God's desire is to sanctify and conform us to His good, pleasing, and perfect will, and so we seek to live out these Scriptural values not only in our policies but in our teaching and lives.

The ERD is one of the largest districts within the LCMC.

- Pastor Jeff

LCMC Leadership Conference - Omaha, NE Updates - April 27

2010-04-27T19:45:00.001-07:00

April 27, 2010

Professor Walt Sundberg (Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN) presented on the theme "The Congregation as the Agent of Mission."

"The natural order of the gospel is the congregation," said Sundberg, who stated that the radical gift of Martin Luther to Christendom was the reestablishing of the local congregation as the primary instrument of God to proclaim the good news of forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

"The priesthood of all believers obligates the congregation to quicken itself through the preaching of the Word by earnest admonition and exhortation."
"The LCMC will ratify itself by growing through adult conversions. As Lutherans, we need to get back to the priesthood of all believers who are willing to go outside the walls of their churches to the people. It will get messy, but correct doctrine must be subsumed under evangelism. It was always those who walked the close line to heresy that were the most effective in making adult conversions throughout the world."

The center of Christianity has shifted to the African and Asian nations. Thousands are coming to Christ daily in these countries, stated Sundberg. They are the ones who are concerned about reaching the lost.

The church must be foremost about evangelism before anything else, even in its worship, said Sundberg, who quoted Luther (LW 53 63):
"The order of worship service should be arranged for the sake of the unlearned lay fold and with which we are now concerned.... It must be preached publicly to move them to believe and become Christians."

Pastor Dave Drum (Community of Hope, Tucson, AZ) closed the conference with a powerful admonition to "work together to fulfill Christ's great commission."

Pastor Drum noted that in Matthew 28:19-20 the only verb (as in the original Greek) is "make disciples." The "going" is assumed. The problem with many Lutheran churches, he noted, is that they are internally focused on important but not primary things. Yes, it is important to fellowship, pray, worship, and minister, but the chief command of Christ is to "make disciples."

Pastor Drum cited the example of Pastor Bill Hybels (Willow Creek Community Church), who is radically committed to reaching out to those who are far away from God and coaching them to become fully devoted followers of Christ, compelled to unprecedented levels of acts of love and compassion.

"We need to learn from anyone, regardless of denomination, who are successful in reaching out to the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Pastor Drum. "I realized that God was calling me to 'step up to the plate' in this regard or to get out of 'the game.' I knew that I needed to reorient my life and ministry to reaching the lost. It has become the driving force of my life -- GO!"

LCMC Leadership Conference - Omaha, NE Updates

2010-04-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 26, 2010 (Part 2)

Pastor Larry Lindstrom (St. Andrews, Farmersville, FL)the current chairman of the LCMC Board of Trustees, gave a "State of the Association" address in which he recounted his story of joining the LCMC as a charter member in June 2001 and leaving the ELCA in September 2001. He was told then, by ELCA synodical leadership that he had made the biggest mistake of his entire life. "You are out of luck, your church is out of luck, and the LCMC is out of luck. You have no options to pastor elsewhere, your church will not be able to call another pastor, and this new association will implode within a couple of years because they are principally a group of complainers full of negative energy." At the time, Pastor Lindstrom confided, he wondered if this was not true.

Nine years later, however, Pastor Lindstrom reported that today:

The LCMC is an international association with member churches from Belarus, Cambodia, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Russia, and Vietnam. These churches sought out the LCMC.
The LCMC is an endorsing agent for chaplains in the military.
The LCMC is now an association of 403 congregations, and the numbers are growing weekly.

Pastor Lindstrom informed the conference attendees of the resignation of Bill Sullivan as the LCMC's National Service Coordinator, in order to take a call in Illinois as a mission pastor. Pastor Paul Spaulding is serving as the interim in this position until the Board of Trustees can reevaluate the position and its required skill sets before interviewing potential candidates.

- Pastor Jeff

LCMC Leadership Conference - Omaha, NE Updates

2010-04-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 26, 2010

Barry Anderson: "Accountable to One Another"

"Accountable to One Another" was the theme discussed by Judge Barry Anderson, who currently serves on the Minnesota Supreme Justice Court, during the morning session of the 2010 LCMC Leadership Conference: "Mapping our DNA."

Judge Anderson is one of the original architects of the formation of the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) from its origins from the Word Alone movement when it held its constituting convention in Arizona in 2001.

"Our experiences drive our future," said Judge Anderson as he commented upon the LCMC's intentional founding values to move away from a "command/control" hierarchy to a "congregational" model. A voluntary agreement to enter into such an association, like LCMC, demands certain commitments of one another, especially the need for open communication, clear concepts of leadership, and theological education to preserve founding principles and values. He describe the LCMC as a grand experiment in organization, which requires local leadership and initiative, learning how to network and partner together in shared resources and skill sets to move forward in mission for Christ.

Judge Anderson noted that the original design of the LCMC Constitution is under review to meet the needs of an association that now numbers over 400 plus congregations, national and international.

David Housholder - "Rooted in Scripture"

"One of the hallmarks of being a Lutheran is that we were, in our beginnings, a Bible movement. We need to get back to our roots and talk about using the Bible."

"Rooted in Scripture" was the topic of guest speaker David Housholder, who serves as pastor of Robinwood church in Huntington Beach, CA, a member of the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC), which is an association Lutheran Renewal churches.

Pastor Housholder talked about the "parking lot" test, which is to observe how many people are walking into church carrying their bibles. "The Bible needs to shape our worldview. We read the Bible like a guest who enters the living room of a host; you don't come in and start rearranging the furniture to your own tastes."

"The Bible is a pre-modern, pre-enlightenment, pre-scientific worldview which chronicles the coming of spiritual age of humanity. We have no other such record. Previously concepts were communicated through pictures, until the alphabet was invented (around King David's time) which allowed for the discussion of more abstract concepts such as fear, guilt, sin, righteousness, peace, and comfort. The Bible is built like a wikipedia from numerous writers."

Pastor Housholder challenged his listeners to choose one version of the Bible for the church and to stick with it for all preaching, teaching, and reading for consistency so that a Bible culture could emerge. He cited that most English-speaking people in the United States are using either the New International Version (NIV), New Living Translation (NLT), or the New King James Version (NKJV) of the bible. He advocated churches to have plenty of Bibles in supply to give to visitors and to worshipers, so that the same page numbers can be referenced. He also strongly recommended expository preaching over the use of the use of the pericope. "Today's younger generation, though highly spiritual, are the least familiar with the Bible. They need to read the Bible, to learn, and study it." Pastor Housholder shared that his congregation studied the Gospel of Luke for two years and has currently studied the Psalms for eight months.

"In order for the LCMC to fulfill its mission, it will need to figure out adult conversion, otherwise, the church will die out within two generations."

Pastor Housholder highlighted three great missiological eras of the Lutheran church:

"Integration" (1880 - 1920) -- This was a movement to unite immigrants from the "old country" (ex. Swedes with Swedes) by organizing worship services in their own languages.
"Procreation" (1920 - 1963) -- The growth strategy was to procreate children, and lots of them, with the hope that at least half of them will stay in church. This worked until the invention of the birth control pill. The "pill" reduced the average family size down to 1.7 children, which is below the 2.21 birth rate needed to maintain population. It was then that the Lutheran church began to decline.
"Adult Conversion" (1965 - Present) -- Other evangelical and non-denominational churches have figured this out, except for the Lutherans. If we don't figure out adult conversion, we will die out in two generations. The churches who understand this will grow. For example, in Ethiopia, the Mekane Yesus Church has a goal of 163,000 adult conversions per year so that they can reach their entire country within 10 years.

Housholder ended his talk with a statistic that the average Lutheran church has one adult conversion per year. Imagine, an entire church budget dedicated to reach one person.

I'll write more later.

- Pastor Jeff

LCMC Leadership Conference - Omaha, NE Updates

2010-04-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

April 25, 2010 -- Opening Worship Update

"Free in Christ" was the topic of Pastor Christine Nelson's (Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Salt Lake City, UT) opening address for the 2010 Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) annual leadership conference, held this year in Omaha, Nebraska. She shared details of from her personal life of how she found freedom in Christ, both spiritually and as a woman pastor.

By the age of 19, Pastor Nelson found herself divorced and the mother of two small girls, and a 10th grade, High School Drop-out. Her father had died and her life was adrift.

Raised in the religion of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints (LDS), her ancestry tied to Brigham Young, she was told by her bishop not to ask spiritual questions, since she was only a girl. This, she said, prompted a life-long quest to find spiritual answers to life's questions.

Her second husband took her to worship in a Baptist church. In one service, a tall bearded, farmer stood up and declared that "Christ died for your sins to set you free." She said, "Before I knew it, I was on my feet, and moving forward to accept Christ as my Savior. It was as if he was speaking directly and only to me."

After the death of her second husband, she married a man, her husband, Bob, to whom she has been married 25 years, whose family had all died in a tragically in a car accident. For two years, she listened to this man as he shared his grief. Pastor Christine said, "Listening to his heart and his love for his family, I couldn't help but fall in love with this man."

Pastor Christine finished her high school education, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in college, and two Master's degrees in theological education.

While in seminary, Pastor Christine started worshiping at Good Shepherd Lutheran and helping Lynn Carlson to start a Saturday Morning prayer group. Both were involved in the St. Ignatius prayer exercises and felt led to start something new. "I came initially just to help make coffee for the group, then I got pulled in more deeply."

"I was asked to help teach and lead a Wednesday worship service by Pastor Jeff Nellermoe which later evolved being authorized to serve communion by the church leadership."

On May 1, 2005, Pastor Christine Nelson was called as a pastor of Good Shepherd together with Dr. James Wakefield. Both were initially called as part-time pastors, job sharing a full-time equivalent position through the contract call process of the LCMC. Christine was still in seminary at the time, and James was Professor of New Testament at Salt Lake Theological Seminary. Both serve full-time hours now as pastors with Pastor Jeff.

Since then, Pastor Christine has completed her Master's of Divinity degree and is nationally certified and rostered with the LCMC. She has spoken previously, in workshops, at both LCMC Annual Gatherings and Leadership Conferences.

Pastor Christine is an amazing and inspiring example of a life touched by God's grace and the impact one can make if given the opportunity.

Thank you, LCMC for such an opportunity!

- Pastor Jeff