I am a Preacher...

Today, as I struggle to get everything done as I prepare for my upcoming trip to lead Family Week 2 at Camp Linn Haven, I was directed in my prayer time to an excerpt of a writing by O. P. Kretzmann given to me by one of my seminary instructors.  It cause me to pause, and to put things in perspective.

"I am a Preacher" by O. P. Kretzmann 1900-1975

I am a Preacher... I am one of the greatest line in the history of men...My line reaches back beyond the Cross to the days when theflood came over the earth...Only becasue of the Church I serve and the Word I preach does God permit the world to roll on its way...I have watched men step quietly through the last gate because I had been permitted to show them the way...There are men and women, and children, too, before the throne of heaven today who are my children....They are there becasue God let me bring them there....The saints of the Church are my joy, and the sinners are my burden...

I am an ambassador of the King of kings...

My lips are among the few left in the world that speak the truth....I almost alone among men deal day after day with eternal things...I am the last echo of a far voice that forever calls men home...I am the hand of the brindegroom, the shadow of the Cross, the trumptet of the King...Neither obscurity nor popularity can rob me of my glory...It is not my own but the reflected glory of Him whose free and happy slave I am...

I am a driven man...

I preach faith in a world that disbelieves, hope in a time that has no hope, and joy in an hour that knows only sorrow...I am at home in a tenement house or in a mansion because my home is neither...I and my people alone stand between the world and destruction...The flames on my altar will not die and the lights in my sanctuary will not be quenched by flood or storm...

I am a preacher--and very glad of it..

A distinguished theologian and educator, Kretzman is most prominently known for his presidency of Valporaiso University from 1940 to 1968 in which time the school grew from 400 to 4000 students.  The Popular Commentary of the Bible which he completed and published at age 24 is a classic resourse for students of the bible to this day.  Never copywrited, though it is out of print, it is readily available via the internet at www.kretzmannproject.org

10 Ways to Have a Vibrant Marriage | All Pro Dad

I've decided that I really need to post more stuff or else this page is really irrelevant.  Creating original content is very time consuming, but there is a ton of good stuff out there already that can be very helpful if only you knew about it.

One resource I really like is "All Pro Dad".  They have a daily e-mail which gives you the "Play of the Day" to help you be a better father and husband.  I have a numbrer of Dads in our church who couldn't make it to our All Pro Dad chapter meetings, but loved the Play of the Day emails.

Here is a "10 Ways..." list from today's Play of  the Day.  Enjoy your read.

10 Ways to Have a Vibrant Marriage | All Pro Dad

The Dog Days of Summer--and Ministry

"Let sleeping dogs lie"
"Don't lie down with the dogs"
"You're such a dog"

Most quotes about dogs that I could think of off the top of my head are negative.  Yet, the dog-days of summer seem to imply a lazy, sleepy time of the year when its just too hot to do much of anything but sit under a shade tree with a nice cool drink and let the breeze cool the sweat off your brow--not an unpleasant image.  Rather, I kind of like that idea!

Here is another way to look at dogs:  Remember Jesus' encounter with the foreign woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit? (Mark 7:26-30)  He was teaching in a Jewish home and she kept interrupting him.  In sending her away Jesus said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."


Right about now, most of us would feel pretty dejected.  "How dare he talk to me like that?  I am NOT a dog!"  I'm someone who needs help--the kind of help that only this Man can provide."

Of course Jesus knew that of her.  I think his words were meant to be heard by the Jews in the house.  I think he also knew her faith and determination that he was to be her daughter's savior.  He knew what she would say next.

But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

Crumbs.  Such little morsels that we would just sweep away and throw in the dustpan.  Yet, our pets lick them up like Filet Mignon or lobster.  Their animal instincts tell them that all food is good because there will come a season when there isn't food (domesticated animals are really the exception to the rule--we tend to make them fat; like us).
The Syrophoenician woman knew that because of who Jesus was, anything from him was good, effective, and lasting.

As we are in the midst of summer, when its hot and no-one likes to work, we also find ourselves often in the dog-days of ministry.  When you really become engaged in ministry you find its sometimes hard, difficult, and, at times, uncomfortable work.  It would seem as if it were all for not.

And then there are the bread crumbs of the Gospel that fall at opportune times; when an unbeliever might pick them up as a valuable morsel that they crave and need, not knowing when they might receive it again.  Just as we often do not know when we drop a crumb at the table, so often as we live our lives in Christ, we do not know when what we are doing might be leaving a little Gospel crumb for those around us to gobble up and they are then made whole in faith, just as the Syrophoenician woman and her daughter.

So if crumbs are so good, how about we follow the example of the fairy tales and fables and leave a trail of Gospel crumbs which lead people to himself and to his Church.  Because, really, when you get right down to it, weren't we all dogs before we "magically" became Princes and Princesses in faith and by our baptisms?

Christ is LORD of the Church--not the Delegates

Yesterday at our local circuit pastors conference we had a really great discussion about the Lordship of Christ and about how He is the the KING and what that means for us as his subjects.  We also had a great discussion about how this terminology doesn't sit really well with the American culture of equality, democracy and franchised voters within a representative governmental structure.  This was a great seg-way into our review of the various resolutions which will be brought forward to our Kansas District Convention next month.

I'm truly baffled by some of the resolutions put forward by some of our sister congregations and circuits here in the Kansas District.  In particular, those resolutions seeking to ban congregations from participation in programs which seek to revitalize congregations and from using materials in worship which are not prepared by the LCMS Commission on Worship (including prayers and liturgies written by myself as well as the popular Creative Worship for the Lutheran Parish?).

I guess the thing that bothers me is that if we are all autonomous congregations "walking together" in synod, doesn't that mean that we support one another in our efforts to reach people in our own, separate communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  How can it be that a homogeneous method of ministry can communicate to and connect with the Rancher in Watheena as it would the Bank President in Overland Park, or the immigrant working in a packing house in Garden City?  Each of those people will need to hear the same Gospel, but quite possibly (probably), expressed in much different ways and in different contexts.

Moreover, how does what we do to further the Kingdom in Olathe threaten anything that the congregation in central Kansas might be doing, especially if what they are doing is working well for them?  I'm certainly not going to question your methods of ministry if they seem to be making disciples, so why worry about our methods?  In fact it might take a wide variety of methods as Paul said in 1 Cor. 9:22, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some."

As I recall, our Lord told us to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20)--not German, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod church members, or even "Christians" as society knows them to be.  He called us to make DISCIPLES...people who know, love, and follow Jesus and who try to share that Jesus with the world.  And they won't all look, sound, act or walk the same way.

What if...
What if Matthew had written: "All  authority in District and Synod has been given to the delegates of District and Synod (i.e. Pastor and the lay person he chooses).  Therefore, stay here in your call forever, making perfect worshipers of a particular tradition and liturgy which can never be altered for any reason for ever and ever unless it has been commissioned by Synod, imposing your will and image of the church upon all those with whom you come in contact, as well as all others with whom you profess to be in fellowship with, (if not "walking together") in the name of doctrine, the Confessions and good order, regardless of what scripture and the Holy Spirit seem to say otherwise, teaching them to all to obey the resolutions, regardless of their status as autonomous congregations of Synod, and lo, I will not commune with you until you do so."

If that is what Matthew had written, we'd all do it right, wouldn't we?  And there would be no arguments (and I have a lot to sell you off the coast of Arizona)

Well, he didn't, so I'm relying upon the Scripture and the Holy Spirit to guide me allowing the Church to be a witness to those two things, and not a hindrance, waiting for all this madness to end.

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come.