All Saints Homily 2009

[this is not necessarily the full sermon I preached on All Saints, but the talking points. Most of it is here, but I rarely look down at what I've written when I'm preaching, and I may throw in an extra story or two, so it comes out differently from the pulpit]

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

I. John the bishop of Ephesus is exiled on Patmos – a sign of things to come for the Christian church. He receives a vision and then writes that vision down in a code. Those that know God’s Word in the Tanakh (or, Old Testament) and the sayings and life of Jesus can unlock that code. Those who are a part of John’s seven churches in Ephesus receive the vision, read it and prepare for what is to come.

II. In chapter 7, one of the elders asks John: Who are these people?
A. John received two visions in chapter 7 – the first is the 144,000 of the tribes of Israel who are sealed upon their forehead
B. These people before John in our text are not those people of the previous revelation
1. Those people are numbered – These people are beyond count

2. Those people are the 12 tribes of Israel – the foundation which was built for the church on earth. Jesus predicted great persecution would come upon that church, and that was fulfilled not long after John’s letter to the seven churches was written. If not for the foundation of the Jewish church – the faithful apostles and martyrs who were called to share the Good News – then the church would have crumbled and fallen apart. But just like He saved Israel of old from enemies much greater than themselves, so too did God preserve the faithful remnant of Jewish believers who spread their faith to the rest of the world (note: to our shame, as the church became more Gentile we often let our prejudice separate us from our foundation – we forget the Jewish roots of our faith at our peril). It is because of the faithful foundation that was laid that we go from a finite number that can be counted to a multitude from all around the world from every tribe and every language.

3. The 144000 (those people) are sealed for tribulation. There was a great persecution of the church not long after the days of John – and even when that time was over there have always been wars and rumors of wars and persecutions up until this present day. There may even be an even greater tribulation sometime in the future (probably not 2012 despite the Mayans and popular movies on the subject). Those people were sealed for the tribulation, These people have come out of the tribulation and they are victorious with palm branches in their hands – waving them for victory and singing to God who has won them the victory. The Victor’s song goes up to El Saddai and they sing of blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and strength – all glory goes to the Lamb who was slain who has begun His reign and all the heavenly creatures take up the song of the victorious church and add their Amens and doxologies. These people are victorious and sing to the Lamb for all eternity.

III. These people are the same as us people (granted, I cannot see into anyone’s hearts and determine if you believe that you are saved by the blood of the Lamb) Us men and Us women who confess our faith, who gather to be fed at the table of the Lamb, who gather to hear of the salvation given to us by the blood of the Lamb that covers our sins, who gather to support one another in our belief, who gather to sing with all the saints and angels and those who gather to even share our sufferings and tears – the signs of the cross – the pain of loosing those who are dearest to us – the pains and sufferings of loss deeply felt. We gather together because this is preparation of the gathering that is yet to come when God will dwell with us (pitch His tent) – to a people that were wandering in the wilderness and cast out of their home time and time again, this is a message of comfort – God will settle you in your home. But the present sufferings that we face in this life cannot even be compared to the eternal weight of glory that we shall receive. We do not have it now, nor should we seek to get there too soon – for God is preparing us for that right now. Heaven is our home and it is the destination of all those whose misdeeds are covered with the blood of the lamb – whether we are prodigals who have wandered or part of the faithful choir that dwells in God’s house – the invitation of the Spirit says “COME!” drink of the water of eternal life; “COME!” and have every tear wiped from your eyes; “COME!” and join the church’s victory song – Come now and do not wait, for our Lord will be returning and the old world will be made new. E’en so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.

Book of The Twelve: Joel

We started a new series in Sunday's adult Bible class taking a look at the Book of The Twelve - the scroll of minor prophets. They are called minor because they are smaller, not because they are less important. What follows are the study notes used to guide the class discussion. The three reference books I am indebted to are "Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures", JPS (Jewish Publication Society) translation; "The Interpreter's Dictionary of The Bible" (entry on "Valley of Jehoshaphat"); "The Prophets as Preachers" by Gary V. Smith (Broadman and Holman publishers).

JOEL

INTRODUCTION:
We are scheduled to begin a series on the minor prophets. We are examining them a little out of sequence. Hosea is the first one of the twelve minor prophets in the Bible. But, due to a glitch in our Sunday School schedule, we have a guest presenting the words of Joel today and Pastor Andy will be back to present on Hosea next week. The week after that will be an overview of the minor prophets with the third and fourth graders taking the “First Bible” class.

The first question for discussion is why are some prophets called ‘minor’ and other prophets called ‘major’? If you guessed that some are bigger than others, then that is correct. It is not that the “major” prophets are more important than the “minor” prophets. Each major prophet can fit on its own scroll. All twelve of the minor prophets only fit on one scroll.

HISTORICAL SETTING:

Normally, a book of one of the prophets gives the reader the name of a king or a reference to a historical event so that we may know what is the time the prophet was delivering their message. Not so with Joel! No kings are mentioned. He does describe a great locust plague at the very beginning.

GOD'S MESSAGE THROUGH JOEL:

Turn to Joel 1:1-12: (NIV)
6 A nation has invaded my land,
powerful and without number;
it has the teeth of a lion,
the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vines
and ruined my fig trees.
It has stripped off their bark
and thrown it away,
leaving their branches white.
In verses 8-9 there is also a reference to worship in the temple, so that is clue we are in Jerusalem and before the temple was destroyed. Some commentators think that because the tone of the writing is so urgent, these sermons could have been delivered just before Jerusalem’s final destruction at the hands of Babylon.

The Day of The Lord

If you heard that the “Day of the Lord” was near – would you think that was a good thing or a bad thing? Why?

Read Joel’s perspective of the Day: (1:15 [JPS])

Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near;
It shall come like havoc from Shaddai (Heb. for “Almighty”)

Next, read 2:1-2 –

How is the Day of the Lord described?

What is happening here? [it is the same as in chapter 1 – the locust horde attacks]

2:10 – note the language about the sun and the moon: Joel uses this language to describe the Lord coming near the earth.

2:12 begins the section of how God wants His people to respond (similar to 1:13-14). Read 12 – 14. Do you know what special day in the church year we read this lesson in worship? A: Ash Wednesday.

Verse 18 begins a section about the salvation of God – read verse 20: who is the “northerner?” A: Babylonians most likely.

2:28 - 32 is what we are most familiar with. These words are heard most every year as part of the Pentecost reading from the book of Acts. The Apostle Peter uses these words of Joel in that Pentecost sermon on the streets of Jerusalem to explain to the crowds what was happening on that day. Ironically, Pentecost is a harvest festival of the Hebrew people. So to use the words of the prophet who proclaimed God’s judgment and grace during the time of a locust plague is really something. The prophet who was preaching during a time of scarcity was looking ahead not only to a time of material plenty, but also a time of spiritual harvest when the Spirit would fall on men and women, young and old, and many souls would be brought into God’s eternal glory.

Chapter 3 gives the prophets vision of some sort of final, decisive battle. 1-8 seem to make reference to a slave trade that was going on. The final battle takes place in the valley of Jehoshaphat (12), also called the valley of decision (14). Some Christians take this to mean the final battle at the end of all time between every nation. There were some in the early centuries that identified the valley of Jehoshaphat with the valley of Kidron (outside of Jerusalem – a place where righteous kings would dump the idols and graven images during times of revival) and they set up various monasteries and communities in that valley to wait and watch for the day of the Lord’s judgment.

What does Joel’s prediction of the “Day of the Lord” mean for us today?

Is this something that happened a long time ago, or is the Day of the Lord something that will happen in the future? [the answer is “YES!”] Oftentimes there was an immediate or near immediate fulfillment of the prophet’s words – in this case it was a locust swarm and the nation of Babylon to the north. While some of the next events in history, like the rise of the Persian and Greek empires, can account for some of the judgment day language, it was not until the first year of our Lord that God put His plans in motion to crush all of our spiritual enemies under His feet through the cross of Jesus Christ. Sometime in the future, there will be a final day of judgment when Christ comes again. Prophets like Joel may be able to see all three events from their perspective – God gives them far sight like one on top of a mountain – they can see the events in the near future unfold just as the Lord predicts they will, but also they see off in the distance the pivitol events of deliverance and salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ and then even further off in the distance a time when God will once again come near to the earth and resolve the conflict between good and evil forever.

Even though it was not planned this way, Joel does make for an excellent starting place. He is a prime example of the types of visions we will be seeing with the rest of the prophets in “The Book of The Twelve,” which is all of the Minor Prophets we will be looking at.

James, part four

It took me a while, but I finally went back and polished up and expanded the notes from the last "James" sermon. James was in our lectionary for four weeks in September, so we read through his letter at Bethany Lutheran for those four weeks.

James, the Brother of our Lord aka James the Just is the writer of a letter that traveled around Christendom in the first century. We have been looking at that letter the last three weeks, and we are concluding our study this last week of September. James gives many challenges for how we live our lives according to our faith – he tells us plainly what it is to look like. Although he does not seem to explicitly state that we will never have the power to do what he suggests without God’s grace, he letter implicitly suggests that grace is the only remedy for a believer that practices religion (that is, goes through the motions), but does not have an active faith.

We now come to the end of James’ letter. And it is a fitting place to end. Those of us who live a stone’s throw from our nation’s capital, know full well the debate on capital hill concerning health care. Well, it just so happens that James has the solution to our nation’s health care issues. He writes:

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

The actions of those who are suffering and those who are joyful can be carried out privately or they can be carried out in community. Someone who is joyful can sing by themselves in the kitchen as they prepare diner, or they can sing in the sanctuary with fellow believers lifting their voice to Almighty God. Someone who is suffering can pray by themselves in a quiet place, or they can go to their small group Bible Study and share his/her burdens with fellow believers where they can all pray together. The last one is different. James singles out the sick and writes that the elders (pastors) should anoint the sick person and pray over that person. Those in our African worship would call this a form of intercessory prayer, which, they would argue, should be in every church’s ministry of healing. Do we have a ministry of healing? James seems to suggest that healing was a major part of what the church should be about. So, should we call the leaders of both parties on Capital Hill and tell them the government should just give their money to the church so we can pray over the sick? Problem solved, right?

15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

What disturbs me when I read verse 15 is that there are no qualifiers. James writes the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. There does not seem to be any doubt. On the one hand, we have Jesus saying to His disciples that their prayers can move mountains if they have faith, and He also instructs them by saying “Ask, and it will be given unto you.” On the other hand, we have Paul who prayed that the Lord would take away some sort of thorn in his side – a messenger of satan, he called it, and God’s response was “no.” God claimed that Divine strength can be seen in Paul’s weakness. Paul also gives Timothy some medical advice, claiming that a little wine can help treat Timothy’s stomach problems. Paul does not tell Timothy to just pray about it and it will go away. So, with all this scriptural testimony, how are we to understand the “prayer of faith?”

I think the clear danger is that we over simplify the prayer of faith. Certain tele-evangelical strains of Christianity try to boil this teaching down to some sort of snake oil and make bold claims that any prayer prayed in faith will result in a believer able to quit smoking, pray away annoying skin blemishes, and even turn back terminal diseases like cancer. In this perspective, every illness is perceived as being demonic and evil and the counter to that is faith and the right kind of prayer. Of course, if the prayer of faith does not appear to work, then it is the fault of the person praying – somehow we did not have enough faith, or we did not pray in the right way.

Jesus makes it plain in His teaching that Christians are not immune to suffering. James writes that those who suffer are to pray, but James does not attach a promise of immediate deliverance to suffering. James also advises patience, which is in line with a parable Jesus spoke about a persistent widow seeking justice who eventually wore down an unfeeling and uncaring judge. It seems that the tension to maintain here is to pray boldly and without ceasing, expecting a positive answer from the Lord. But, knowing and understanding that the answer may be “no” or we may have to wait and be persistent with our prayers.

James does write that we will be delivered. But, I find it interesting that he attaches the forgiveness of sins to the power of healing. Jesus also seems to connect the two things when he heals a cripple who is brought before Him, but first forgives the person’s sins. Did sin cause the illness? Maybe. I can think of some earthly sins that have consequences like that. Again, the danger is the fear that if you sin, God will zap you. I’m not sure it works quite like that. But, if we keep our sins inside and never confess them to God or anyone else, they burn like a fire within, and we waste away with “groaning and sighing” as Psalm 32 states. Forgiveness received by the blood of Jesus shed for our sins is the remedy to that spiritual condition. James writes that we will be raised up – as every sinner is – because the love of God does have the power to conquer illness and even death. That may not be felt immediately, but we know that we will always be in the savior’s arms and we will never be out of His reach.

Next, we get to the prayer of a righteous person. That prayer is powerful and effective. The question I would ask then is, what about the rest of us? Is it arrogance on our part to think that we are all righteous? If so, then are our prayers ineffective? Let’s read on…

17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

Elijah is the example James chooses to explain “the prayer of faith.” And those that know Elijah from reading the Bible may be saying – Oh great! Elijah is the guy that King Ahab wanted to kill but he could never find because Elijah would be carried here and there by the wind. Elijah performed a miracle and fed the house of a widow even though there was just a little food and water in the house. Elijah raised that widow’s son from the dead. Elijah called down fire from heaven to win a competition with the prophets of Baal. Is James saying that I have to be like Elijah in order to have my prayers answered by God?

But here, let us remember that although Elijah did all these great things in addition to praying for a drought to afflict Israel (according to God’s judgment), Elijah also was so depressed he wanted to commit suicide. Prayer of faith? Elijah prayed that the Lord would take his life. This was after all these miraculous things happened and the king and queen still were in power and wanted to take Elijah’s life. Nothing had changed in the land of Israel – Elijah felt that all that he did had no effect – it was all in vain. So, instead of a prayer of faith, Elijah asked God to end it all – the road was too hard to walk.

Now, do you feel a little better about yourself? Aside from Jesus who is God incarnate, there is no one who has walked on this earth that can be considered perfect and righteous. That is because we all need Jesus’ righteousness to claim any of our own. Moses. Peter. All the prophets, apostles and martyrs, all the evangelists and teachers – not a single one of them was without a flaw, not one of them was perfect. Were they great leaders of the faith? Yes. Did they leave an example that we should follow? Absolutely. But they had something in common with us – not one of them could rely on their own abilities or power. That power; that wisdom; that ability to pray in faith had to come down from above.

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

So, whose sins are covered here? The sins of the one who wanders away or the sins of the one who brings the wanderer back? I suppose the answer is “both!” Jesus covers all of our sins by His blood. Again, James was called the “epistle of straw” by Luther because those exact words never find their way into this letter. James hammers us time and again with the correct teaching of how we should live our lives, but where is the power and the strength from God in order to live according to His will? The answer is here implicitly and it can be found by those who know our savior by reading the rest of the Bible. James has one perspective, one corner of the painting. If we take a step back and look at the whole picture, we see the cross of Jesus over the entire world and our savior suffering for us because we cannot be perfect and holy. But then God also sends His Holy Spirit to bring us to the cross of Christ and to give us power to leave the hearing of His Word and the Table where we are fed by His Body and Blood and get back into the dark world where our light is supposed to shine. We can do this only by God’s power.

James may not say this explicitly, but the words of this letter cause us to seek the grace and love of Christ, because where else where we get the power, motivation and daily strength we need. James is not a self-help book, because he knows our human power will fail us. James, the brother of our Lord, did not believe in Jesus at first, but only after he met the risen Christ did he become this great leader of the Christian church, known throughout Jerusalem for his compassion and love. Such is the power of the risen Christ working through ordinary people like you and I to build and grow the church on earth.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

James, part three

Again, these are the expanded notes I make up for the sermon, not necessarily what comes out of my mouth on Sunday morning. I've gone back and cleaned them up to make them presentable for this little corner of cyberspace.

We are in the third week of a four week look at the book of James. Thus far we have been introduced to the Brother of our Lord, also known as James the Just. He is not one of the original apostles, but he was the leader in Jerusalem for a time after Peter. James does not appear to have any specific Gospel in his letter like the letters of Paul, but James’ explanation of the law sends us time and again to the arms of Jesus for mercy. We pick up this week in chapter three, verse

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

“Blessed are the meek,” Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ sermon has a lot in common with the words of brother James in this letter. Jesus also said that it was the wise man who builds his house on the rock, and the foolish person that builds on the sand. The house built on the rock will stand against the wind and waves, because it is built on the foundation God has laid – His excellent Word – and it is the wise who hear the Word and put these things into practice. Again, that corresponds with James who wrote, “be doers of the Word, not hearers only.” We can be advanced students in hearing the word, but every head nod and every “amen” does not mean a thing if God’s people do not also put these things into practice. James calls the practice “good conduct,” or “good works.”

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

God’s wisdom is not the world’s wisdom. It is the world that says that you have to get ahead by being the loudest, most obnoxious voice. That can happen in the church as well. Even among the fellowship of the believers, sometimes earthly and nonspiritual logic prevails, based on selfish ambition. Unselfishness expresses itself in an environment where every voice is heard. No one monopolizes the time (not even the pastor who has many excellent things to say) and everyone’s concern matters. But, most of all, God’s wisdom abounds when our opinions are guided and upheld by what God has said. And to know what He has said, one must open and be attentive to His Word.

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

When God is in control; and when God is steering the ship, then it is the self-sacrificing love of Jesus that is at the center of all we do. When we are sacrificing for each other, we are peaceable, gentle and (I love this) open to reason. When you want to know the voices you should not listen to – use this criteria. Are these voices sowing dissension just to pick a fight? Are the voices open to being corrected (I could be wrong about this, but…)? Especially in the church, it is fair to ask: is the goal of these words to have peace reign in God’s church?

Ultimately, we can have no peace unless we know the prince of peace. We cannot calm any storms in our lives, unless we know the gentleness and the meekness of our savior. Now, did He stand up when it was time? Oh, yes. I do not believe that taking a whip of chords and driving out the money changers and the animal venders in the temple courts was the sign of a milquetoast weakling. No one would have accused Jesus of being unmanly. But, when it was time, He took a stand on the things of God. And when it was time to lay down His life – and He did not have to with legions of angels at His command – but, when it was time to lay down His life, He did so with meekness and gentleness. Why? Because He was weak? No, He did it because we were that important. Our place in heaven with Him was more important than getting revenge on those who were persecuting Him. That sacrifice of Jesus is what guides all of our relationships in the church; that love is what causes our lives to bear good fruit; that love of Jesus is what gives us peace and helps us make peace so that a harvest of peace can be sown.

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

The word “passions” is what needs to be explained here so we can understand a good amount of chapter four of James’ letter. The Greek word is actually a bit more familiar than the English word at this point. “Hedenoi,” or “Hedon.” Hedonistic. To be a Hedonist – now doesn’t that make you just cringe? That sounds like a bad word. Some of us hear that word in the Bible and in Bible study used in the context of being evil and contrary to God. Hedonism, though, is the pursuit of pleasure. In other words, the pursuit of things that make you feel good. Now, wait a minute… are we saying that you have to take all the pleasure and joy out of your life in order to be a Christian? Do you have to give up football? Do you have to give up fishing or golf? Do you have to give up video games? Do you have to give up your I-phone or whatever gadget you value? Do you have to give up chocolate like the whole year is the season of Lent? Is that what this means? The answer is NO, unless these things are more important to you than your faith. If these things are your life, then yes, get rid of these hedonoi. That is the difference between faith and religion. You can come to church and be religious by going through the motions at worship. But, really, what you believe is also what you practice the moment you step out of church and enter every day life. What gets the greatest priority in your life? If it is all the hedonoi in your life, then guess who or what you are worshiping? It is not God, but all the stuff in creation that He has given us to enjoy …in moderation.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Here James speaks a prophetic word – he calls the double-minded “adulterous.” That is the word of the prophets, when they were speaking on God’s behalf to a people that had forgotten about faith and were just going through the motions of religion. Hosea called that behavior “adulterous” because the people were cheating on God.

We celebrate that God is always faithful to us, even when we are faithless. Well, we should not celebrate the fact that we are faithless. But we do know that God’s love for us in unchanging and it is eternal. It springs from the blood of Jesus that covers our sins and calls for us prodigals to return to our heavenly and spiritual home..

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
That’s a nice way to end a sermon, right? Be wretched and mourn and weep! Ha Ha! It certainly does not sound like James was fun guy to be around. I wonder…

Let’s latch onto the words - Draw near to God – what does that look like?

I think of a scene in the recent movie about Martin Luther’s life. Luther is with his father confessor, Staupitz. These are the days Luther was an Augustinian monk and he confesses that he cannot see God as anything but an angry judge. Staupitz hands him a crucifix and tells Luther to “cling to the cross.” Dear brothers and sisters, the words of James are meant to challenge the church so that we have genuine faith – words that match what we do in our lives – as opposed to empty religion that just goes through the motions, but has no real meaning in our lives. But, if we read those words and are fearful of God’s judgment on our lives, then where else can we go, except to Jesus Christ and His grace? What else can we do but draw near to God and He draws near to us with His everlasting and powerful love?

"Joining The Unchurched"

Today, I'm linking to an interesting article by Dr. James Nestingen. Again, its fallout from the actions of the ELCA in convention this past summer. Am I sick of reading about this? Oh, yes! Even so, this article is not really about sex. Its about how one defines a church. Article 7 of the Augsburg Confession is involked throughout, so of course this blog has to link to it!

To get a feel for the article, Dr. Nestingen lays his views on the definition of "church" early on:

The seventh article of the Augsburg Confession, which has united Lutherans since the l6th century, defines the church as the people of God gathered together to hear the word and receive the sacraments. The term Word of God carries over from John 1 and other biblical references where the Word incarnates God’s power—originally in Christ, now in the biblical word preached and administered in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. As such, God’s Word moves to do what it says, accomplishing God’s purposes. It does not float around ethereally in elusive meanings waiting to be unlocked by theologians. Neither does it depend on harried pastors or gatherings of the pious seeking to apply it. Rather, God’s word takes over earthen vessels—human declarations, conversations and correspondence—using such means to seek out sinners. Gathering the lost and the damned in its hearing, it effects forgiveness, reckons righteous, kills and makes alive. Finally, it frees. In this way, God’s Word literally creates the church.

A pretty good beginning to a challenging article as Dr. Nestingen explores the implications of beleiving what this article of faith says.

Lutherans Persisting

Today I started following a new blog titled "Lutherans Persisting."

As the title suggests, the writers are persisting following the actions of the ELCA this past August.

What I like - as opposed to some anti-administration blogs in the LCMS, no anonymous attacks, good theological argumentation and frequent views of a "bigger picture" and the larger church.

The Writing on The Wall

Here are some snapshots of our two opening days at Bethany Lutheran Preschool.

This is a special anniversary year celebrating fifty years of God's grace!

The design on the official T-shirt was artwork from a recent Preschool alum.

On the first two days, parents are welcome to hang out in the fellowship hall. Above is a display table of some of the ministries in and around Bethany Lutheran. There was information about music, sports, Cub Scouts and United Community Ministries.


We had quite a few parents join us. There was "Lutheran" coffee and cake available. This provides a little decompression time - especially for parents and children separating like this for the first time.
These good looking people are directors of evangelism and Christian education here at Bethany. They were also on hand to serve the parents and do a little schmoozing.

On one of the Preschool walls, we hung an old newspaper article from about the time the school was founded. Also on display is vintage Bethany Preschool wear.

All of the church and school staff are excited as our anniversary year of Bethany Lutheran Preschool begins!