In Honor of Church Musicians - John Posey, organist

I write this on the occasion of John Posey’s last Sunday among us as organist.  God has served us well through him. And I pray that as he has been blessed to have known us, served us and heard the Gospel proclaimed among us, that he continue in God’s favor.

Finding a church musician that appreciates the Church’s music is difficult these days. This congregation has been blessed with talented and faithful organists, even long-tenured organists.  Let us pray that God would send us another good one soon.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther was a musician and organist too.  Luther highly praised music, saying,

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world! The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them.

The Church’s musicians cannot be praised enough.  They intone the Word of God. They produce melodies that ascend in praise to our good and gracious Father. They sing of the crucified and resurrected Jesus. Their gifts of melody and rhyme give the Church a sacrificial voice of praise and adoration.

Hear some of the ancient voices sing and make music:

I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea. (Exodus 15:1, 21 – Moses, Israel, and Miriam)

The Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants. (Deuteronomy 32:36 – Moses) 

The Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:1 – Isaiah)

My heart exults in the Lord; I rejoice in Your salvation. (1 Samuel 2:1 – Hannah)

My soul rejoices, my spirit voices – Sing to the greatness of the Lord! (Luke 1:46 – Mary)

Lord, bid your servant go in peace, Your Word has been fulfilled (Luke 2:29 – Simeon)

We praise you and acknowledge You, O God, to be the Lord (Rev. 7:9 –  Multitude before the throne of God)

Kyrie eleison! Lord have mercy! (Luke 17:13 -  Lepers)

All glory be to God on high (Luke 2:14 – angels)

Splendor and honor, majesty and power are Yours, O Lord God, fount of every blessing. Rev. 4:11 – 24 Elders before the throne of God)

The Church’s song will continue with substitute organists and eventually, a new organist at Trinity-Darmstadt. Other musicians, instrumentalists, vocalist and hymn-writers will continue to bring Christian songs as well.  Then, and until then, the Lord will open our lips to declare His praise.

 

 

 

Hearing Pastor Copus.

My friend, Perry Copus - the Rev. Perry Copus - is a great preacher.  He's great because He preaches the Law and the Gospel.  He preaches Christ for me.  He tells me what Christ has done for me in Baptismal water and His Word.

Today, God has preserved him through a surgery that removed cancerous tumors from his intestines and vital abdominal organs.  His gut was bathed in chemotherapy solution in the hopes that any stray cancer would die.  He lies in a hospital bed.  My prayers ascend for him, his dear wife - Belinda, and their sons.

Here is a snippet from a sermon he preached on 2 Kings 5.1-14:

Now, the baptismal imagery here is so extraordinary that we cannot pass up talking about it, no matter what direction the rest of the sermon will take! In the chapter before this one, we have Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite woman, who was stone dead, probably of a brain aneurism. And Elisha stretched himself over the child, who sneezed seven times, and was awakened from the slumber of death. Seven sneezes are followed here a few verses later with seven washings, which take away the rotting disease that had threatened the Syrian general. Seven is God’s number: for in six days God created the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested; Seven times the priest would sprinkle the blood upon the altar, and upon the ark of the covenant, to make atonement for the sins of the people; seven lamps were set up inside the tabernacle, signifying the presence of the seven spirits of God with his people; seven times, on the seventh day of the siege of Jericho, Joshua and his trumpeters marched around the city with their trumpets sounding, and the walls came down. Seven is God’s number, and where we see things happening in sevens, we know that God is the one doing the heavy lifting.

And these two miracles performed by Elisha are linked by their sevens, linked to show us two images of Holy Baptism, that means by which God is working a complete and total washing away of sin and of the bitter effects of sin, a leprosy of the soul and mind which eats away at them continually until we are claimed by death and hell—except that God has intervened, and has made our flesh like the flesh of a little child, clean, clean before him, which had been leprous and sick and dying. In Holy Baptism, God himself has stretched himself over you, and his lying down upon you in death has raised you up to a life that cannot die, for “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” His death is your life, his last breath your seven little sneezes as you awaken to new life in him. For “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,” Paul writes, “in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” You are baptized into Christ—and so you bear his name, both upon your forehead and upon your heart—and those who bear that Name have passed from death to life.

What this sermon preaches is the Gospel for me, for you and for him.

Perry is baptized. Cancer has no power over him.  Perry is in Christ - the One who was and remains crucified AND has arisen.  His cancer has been swallowed up by something greater than a chemo bath. Perry has already died in baptism and been made alive.  Life is his.  God has stretched Himself over Perry with a holy bath.  Perry rests in Christ's death and resurrection.  O Glorious Day of the Resurrection, come quickly!

This I know and believe.

Anecdotal Fun with Lutheran Hour Ministry's Five14

Recently, someone suggested to me that it would be good to host a Lutheran Hour Ministry's Five14 EVENT.

They reasoned that the youth would like the contemporary Christian rock bands. They thought this would be a great way to reach the youth in our congregation and those outside our congregation.

So, I decided to do some anecdotal exploration of this idea.

The LHM's featured artist of the month is QFYRE

During a pre-confirmation class, I told the youth that I wanted them to listen to some music. Afterward, we would talk about it. I played a song by QFYRE called In the Blaze.

I asked them what they thought of this music:

"Did you like it?" Unanimous NO.

"What was the song about?" No one knew. One person thought he heard a cuss word. Another said that the Lord's name was being used in vain a lot.

"Would you ever think it would be okay to play this in church?" Unanimous NO.

So, next I sang the first stanza of a hymn that I'd heard a few "more mature" adults grumble about during the Lenten season. One person told me that he "tries really hard to stay awake" when we have sung it. The hymn, written by Paul Gerhardt (1607-76), is "A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth." LSB #438.

While I sang, two of the youth joined me. I asked them what they thought of this hymn:

"Did you like it?" Unanimous YES.

"What was the song about?" Jesus, the Lamb of God, Who died for my sins.

"Would you ever think it would be okay to play this in church?" Unanimous: Duh! Of course.

Then I asked, "Even though you didn't like the first song, do you think that playing the QFYRE song during worship would be a good way to attract NEW YOUTH MEMBERS?" Unanimous NO. The youth mentioned that some of their friends listen to that kind of music but they prefer a different kind, like country music. "Anyway," one person said, "hymns are for church."

Finally, one of the youth looked at me suspectly and asked, "You're not going to play that during church, are you, Pastor?"

"No."

Sigh of relief.

Lutheran kids like hymns. Period.

Prayer for the Afflicted and Those Who Are Suffering [My brother in Christ, Perry Copus]

My friend and fellow pastor, Perry Copus, will have surgery to remove cancer on Thursday, April 24. Please pray with me:

Omnipotent, eternal, and merciful God, You are the Savior of all, especially those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10). You have commanded through the apostle that prayers be offered for everyone (1 Timothy 2:1). On behalf of all who are suffering under affliction and hardship [namely, Perry], I beg you to uphold them with the consolation of your grace and to support them with the help of your might. Clothe with heavenly power and strength those who sweat in the most grievous agony of satanic temptation. Make them partakers of your victory, O Christ, powerful victor over the devil. May the refreshment of Your heavenly grace encourage those whose bones are dried up by the fire of sorrow. Uphold all those who fall and raise up all who are bowed down (Psalm 145:14). Be gracious in allowing illness so physical sickness may be a spiritual medicine. May those who are ill recognize that sickness is an attendant of sin and a forerunner of death. Give them strength o faith and patience, O true Physician of souls and bodies. Restore them to their former health, provided that it advantageous to their eternal salvation…

Help those who are suffering dangers and misfortunes so they may possess their souls by true patience (Luke 21:19) and, denying their own will, take up their cross (Matthew 16:24). As they take up their cross, may they follow him in whom they believe and who died on the cross. Kindest Father, I specifically entrust to your care those who are poised at the gates of death, those who hover between time and eternity and who wrestle with all their might with this last foe. Make them firm, O powerful Victor over death. Free them, O glorious Ruler of life, so they are not drowned by the waves of temptation but are brought to the port of eternal tranquility. Have mercy on all, You who are the Creator of all. Have mercy on all, You who are the Redeemer of all. To you be praise and glory for all eternity. AMEN.

Meditations on Divine Mercy. Johann Gerhard. Trans. Matthew Harrison. CPH:2003.

Hope for Small Congregations

Interesting post on small congregations.

http://newsmallchurch.com/the-myth-of-inevitable-church-growth/

The OLD paradigm (and still prevalent) said that if you aren't growing (numerically) then you are dying. Numerical church growth has been an awful detractor, and in some cases the instigator or at least contributor, of a false theology that blasphemes the Biblical Lutheran confession, "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ My Savior or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel...." Where there is false doctrine, the Lord's Church will not be found.

The temporal church as an "organization" will exhibit characteristics similar to non-church organizations... no doubt. So, the congregation as a not-for-profit organization in the state of Indiana will be subject to the laws of organizational theory to some degree, not as necessary laws but as a matter of COINCIDENCE. And yet, the holy Christian Church has historically "thrived" and still does "thrive" in times and places where the modern "organizational" model has not and does not exist.

In short, factory -produced widgets and new church members cannot correlate.

Consider this healthy Biblical Lutheran focus for our organization, uh-hum CONGREGATION, that is time-tested and in agreement with the Scriptures.

1. The congregation is united in her confession of Jesus Christ and all the doctrines He has given in His Word. (Think: Lutheran Confessions!)
2. The congregation is united in her practice (worship, acts of mercy, life together). That practice flows from the Scriptures and stands in unity with the Biblical practice of the Christian Church in every age.
Acts 2:42; Matthew 28:19

Higher Things: an LCMS Youth Organization

LMAC Monthly Newsletter
by Pastor Steve Kieser

Everybody is into a contemporary phenomenon called, “youth ministry.” The assumption is that people who are chronologically situated in a period of life often called “growing up” have unique physical, psychological, and spiritual needs that are best met in specific ways. Wow. That was a loaded sentence. And if I’m wrong about that… I’m not surprised. Youth often feel misunderstood. And people who “do” youth ministry often have divergent opinions about what is “effective” youth ministry.

An LCMS youth organization known as Higher Things (www.higherthings.org) approaches today’s youth this way: Youth need the Gospel. Youth need Jesus. Interestingly, that’s also what people in other “life stages” need. Let’s just say it this way: sinners need Jesus. Oh sure, the particular sins of youth may be unique. Even so, the single cross of Christ includes your unique, individual and personalized sins even as it atones for all sins. Baptism personalizes your inclusion in the universal death, burial and resurrection of Christ. What God’s Word with water individualizes the sinner to be as a saint it also unites into one fellowship of sinner-saints eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit calls, gathers and enlightens infants, toddlers, tweeners, teens, Gen X Y or Z, millennials, empty-nesters, old fogies, me (or pick your favorite self-classification) into one holy communion. The way God includes individuals into His Church and keeps them there does not change with the onset of potty-training, losing teeth, pimples, graduation, parenting, or grey hair. God’s holy inclusivity happens in His doing of His Word and His Sacraments. What the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod holds fast to so does Higher Things.

A Higher Things youth gathering will include the ever-contemporary and historic liturgy and hymns of the Church; Bible study and doctrinal lessons; and much fun, food, friends and just plain ol’ rockin’ good times. That’s Lutheranism. And Higher Things dares to be Lutheran.

A Higher Things 5th – 8th grade youth retreat is being planned for November 7-8, 2014 at Trinity-Darmstadt and sponsored in part by the Lutheran Mission Action Council (LMAC).

Mercy at the Evansville Food Pantry

My intention was to tell about John's account of the Feeding of the 5000. It was the text for last Sunday's sermon (Laetare 2014). That was easy. No preparation needed. The truth is that I had forgotten it was the first Tuesday of the month. It was my turn for the Bible Study at the Food Pantry. Last month I had forgotten about it all together: Jim had called about honeybees (a mutual hobby of ours) but really to ask if I was still planning on teaching the class. Of course, I would. I just forgot.

I handed out new large-print NIV Bibles and large-print Portals of Prayer. Some refused. Others had taken one of each just as they had every time I had been there before.

I began class with same two questions:

"How many are here for Bible study today?" A few raised their hands.

"How many are here because its warmer in here than it is outside?" The same few raised their hands again along with bandwagon additions.

We laughed. The familiar questions received a familiar welcome.

It didn't really matter how they got there or even why. We were together; the name of the Trinity was spoken; God was present.

The Passover. That was the sermon. God satisfies. The lamb was bittered food and good nourishment. The blood of the lamb was satisfactory to the angel of the death. God saved His people. The account preached Christ. Fools know that by faith.

Next came what was important too. The meeting and the greeting of the people who had ears to hear. Many of Evansville's poorest. The needy. The suspect of preachers (no doubt, for good reasons).

I shook each person's hand and told him, "Jesus is with you." Some concentrated on me, looking forward to taking their turn. Others looked out the corner of their eye expecting to be passed by, only too happy when my hand extended to take their hand. A few turned away so that I only could see their shrugged shoulder. a preacher's hand on their shoulder met a glance that said, "Me? ... thank you."

The assembly goes into motion after the benediction. Everyone has been given a number in the order they showed up that morning. The Bible study is over. Groceries are next. It's easy to overlook someone in the transition.

On the way out the door, I felt the weight of another person tugging on my blazer. Her face was wet. Soggy with tears. I took her by the hand and we walked to the semi-privacy of a corner in an overflowing, busy room.

She mumbled a few words, but I couldn't make out what she said. I finally caught, "Pray for me," after several repetitions. In the midst of sobbing she told me in broken sentences of her slavish addiction to cocaine. She wanted to be set free.

"Are you baptized?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then you have been set free. God has made promises to you in baptism. He saved you. You have died with Jesus and been raised with Him. You are a child of the King. Satan, his demons, his cocaine are defeated."

Then I prayed, "Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy. Keep Your promises to your child, dear Father. Love her in spite of her. Forgive her for the sake of Christ crucified. Drown her Old Adam in her once-for-every-sin Baptism. Order her footsteps to walk in newness of life. In the name of Jesus. Amen."

I started to walk away; she held my hand tightly.

I went my way. She went hers.

A morning of Mercy.

Letter Regarding Millenials and Worship Style.

Elders, Evangelism, Chairman, and anybody else I have an e-mail for;

I encourage you to take a look at this blog post: http://thomrainer.com/2014/04/02/worship-style-attracts-millennials/.

What he writes is not from a Lutheran perspective but is based upon his study of Millenials (those born between 1980 and 2000). Of course any study's conclusions must include the biases of the author, but I think that what he has to share we should give some thought to:

The Three Things That Matter Most Regarding Worship Style and Millenials:

1.Millennnials desire the music to have rich content.
2.Millennials desire authenticity in a worship service.
3.This large generation does want a quality worship service. But that quality is a reflection of the authenticity noted above, and adequate preparation of the worship leaders both spiritually and in time of preparation. In that sense, quality worship services are possible for churches of all sizes.

I believe our congregation (Trinity-Darmstadt)IS(and can continue to IMPROVE in) meeting these three things that matter most to Millenials. These three objectives can be met in our uniquely Lutheran worship. The liturgy of the church is rich in content, authentic NOT fake nor frivolous, and if done well has a reverent and holy quality. It is inter-generational, engaging, and has the potential to be ever-contemporary as opposed to stuck in a period of time or catering to a particular group.

There is NO DOUBT that what turns YOUNG (Millenial) people OFF is "worship wars." They can smell it a mile away. The LCMS has suffered much because of this war. It's time to move on.

Millenials desire Biblical teaching and preaching. That's what every Christian should desire. Average sermon lengths are shifting to over 20 minutes (22 minutes). Sermons must engage the Biblical text and the people... and most importantly, Preach Christ! Sermons should engage today and be real; they should OMIT and AVOID sensationalism and emotional manipulation for the sake of "effect." One of the strategies I have been trying is preaching without a script. It takes longer to develop. Requires more time in study and preparation. But I think in the end, the sermon includes what Millenials (and all people) expect in worship: rich content, authenticity, and a high degree of quality. Keep it simple. Preach Jesus.

A concluding story: While Stephen was home for Spring Break, he broke the news to me that he was attending a different congregation from the LCMS congregation I had suggested. The LCMS congregation in town was in my opinion a good congregation. And, it had a van that would pick you up at the dorm. BUT he had decided on another church. This congregation was 45 minutes away. He begged a ride with a classmate who had a car. I was glad to hear that the new congregation was also an LCMS congregation. But the worship service was different. Different in this way: it was genuinely and authentically liturgical. He told me that most of the LCMS college kids who were church-goers went to the congregation further away. Even more astonishing was when he told me, "Dad, the Pastor is even more liturgical than you." The same group of LCMS Millenials at Hillsdale College now meet every weeknight to sing the Compline/Vespers service and hymns acapella (all out of Lutheran Service Book). That's a far cry from where I was in college. I went to praise services and sang "contemporary" Christian music. The next generation is finding the church's song in the historic forms. That's a fact.

Have a blessed day!

Pastor.

The Rev. Stephen W. Kieser
Trinity Lutheran Church - Darmstadt
1401 West Boonville - New Harmony Rd.
Evansville, IN 47725
Twitter: @swkieser
812-867-5279 church

Authentic Worship

IN the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Authentic worship starts when God is ready to begin.

Worshipping in Spirit and Truth happens where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is named. Where the Trinity desires to be worshipped there will be angels, archangels, the whole company of heaven, the baptized, and especially sinners. God is worshipped without end.

God begins. He initiates. He is the Doer. He is gracious. Always more ready to open my lips to declare His praise than I am willing.

My sacrifice of praise is in Christ alone. Had the Spirit not called me by the Gospel, I wouldn't know God. My life as a sinner is only and always proud and boastful. My praise can only be His praise in and through me. He loosens my muted tongue and unstops my ears. He makes me a new creature of praise that is steeped in high doxology. Unless the Son authenticates my praise His Father won't receive it. The only Way my praise has to reach the Father is through the Son. The Son has revealed Himself to me in His holy cross. There is the one I desire to worship. His holy body nourishes me. His Holy blood is the medicine of immortality; it quenches my deepest thirst.

Invocation.
Absolution.
Kyrie.
Gloria in Excelsis.
Holy Gospel.
Sermon.
Creed.
Sanctus.
Words of Institution.
Agnus Dei.
Benediction.

So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted.

Augsburg Confession V