Lutheran Logomaniac

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the situation of pastoral calls in the United States today.  For those who do not know, this past week was Call Week at both of our LCMS seminaries.  The LCMS Joint Seminary Fund recently put out their little PDF file listing where everyone is going, if you’re interested (with some tragic omissions).  It is a time of excitement, anxiety, joy, fear, and about every other emotion you could imagine.  Between serving as a student and also serving as an admission counselor for several years at Concordia Theological Seminary, I’ve been to my fair share of call services.  They are one big bottle of crazy wrapped up in about two hours (or less, depending on who’s preaching).

But this past week was not a week of happiness at my alma mater.  Twenty two men from this year’s class did not receive calls, and I believe eight men at Concordia Seminary.  The sort of standard fare reasons for this are fairly predictable.  I have heard the following, and I’m sure there are more:

• Economy.  Congregations simply can’t afford to call pastors.
• Congregations requesting graduates from a specific seminary.
• A vast left-wing conspiracy against confessional students at both seminaries.
• The SMP programs, DELTO programs, and various alternate route programs are drying up the number of traditional calls in the LCMS.
• The graduates aren’t qualified or don’t have the right personality/disposition to serve in the Holy Ministry.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to these soon-to-be brothers in office that are awaiting calls.

Here are a few things that I pray that we as a synod consider as we try to wrestle with this sadness, especially as we move into the 2010 LCMS Synodical Convention:

Repent.  We as a church body must repent for our failure to place these men (and their families, for they do go together).  They aren’t martyrs like our forefathers in the early church.  But they have desired a noble task (1 Tim. 3:1), and we as a church body have encouraged them in this endeavor.   While I suppose there were no guarantees that they would be placed, they have acted in good faith, and so should we.

Explain everything in the kindest way.  It is easy and oh so tempting to ascribe motivations to people in power, to students, to congregations, and to just about anyone.  There may be culpability here, but it must be based on fact, not innuendo and what really comes down to either gossip or slander.

Search the Scriptures.  Our Lord has said:  “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2 ESV)  This is the Word from our Lord.  It is true.  The need is there.  We have a world of hurting sinners in need of the healing balm of the Gospel.  If we as a synod cannot place these men, it is more of a sign that we are not aligned with what God wants of His church than anything else. How have we allowed our priorities as a church body to be derailed so that the preaching of the Gospel is not the point?

Pray.  This again may be obvious, but it must be said.  Pray in thanksgiving to God for His gift of the Holy Ministry of the Gospel.  Pray in repentance, that our Lord may forgive our arrogance, our selfishness and our need to make everything fit and be controlled in our own way.  Pray that God would provide for these men and their families, as they are now in synodical limbo.   And pray that God would do His work of placing these men where they are needed so that His Word may go forth to the joy and salvation of all.

Act. These men and their families (about 30 in all between the two seminaries) have real needs, with debt, families to provide for, and ongoing preparations for God’s work for them.  How can we as a synod, as congregations and as individuals care for and serve them while this is sorted out?

What am I missing, friends?

-LL (aka Pr. Todd Peperkorn)

PS Rev. Matthew Harrison also recently had a wonderful sermon offering comfort especially to those who have not received calls.  I would urge you to read it and check it out.

I spend a lot of time with children in my daily work as a pastor. A lot of that comes from our congregation’s joint school, Christ Lutheran Academy. We also have a pre-school, Little Lambs Learning Center, and I have first communion/confirmation instruction for 4-7th grade. Plus I do things on the side for Higher Things from time to time.

Lately, nearly every time I interact with these different groups of young people, I think about on of my former pastors. His name was Dale Ness, and he was my pastor from the time I was ten until I was about thirteen. I went to school at the one room school his congregation operated, and I am a Lutheran pastor today to a great extent because of him. There are others that were influential as well, but certainly he was the first.

Pastor Ness loved children. He had eight children himself, and so there house was a constant barrage of comings and goings, with children covering a range of infant through high school. Our school was small, and he was the main teacher (as well as pastor, but that’s another story).

My memories of Pastor Ness are pretty clear. We sang. We prayed. We did memory work. He drove a goofy old truck named Hiawatha. He loved us, and we feared and loved him. He was strict but somehow managed to portray a deep passion for the little ones entrusted to his care. He played with us in the playground, and he managed to model and instill the love of Christ into a little odd collection of sinners at Holy Cross Lutheran School.

He was far from perfect. He had a temper, he worked himself nearly to death, and he had real problems with burning himself out from too much work.

Tragically, the church was forced to close the school, and it nearly killed him. Not long after he resigned from the Holy Ministry, moved to Idaho from Missouri (where I grew up), and was killed in an accident while he was working on his car (maybe it was Hiawatha; I don’t know).

I think about him often as I go about my daily work as a pastor of a church with lots of children. I think about how much he shaped me as a person and as a pastor today. I pray someday that God would use me to bring the Gospel of hope to little ones just as he did.

I heard an essay/interview on NPR last night about a soldier in Iraq who suffered from post-traumatic stress. One of the things that he said which really flooded me was that he became much more effective as an officer when he had resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die in Iraq, and to stop worry about the future. Simply do what needed to be done that day, and try to save as many of his men as possible.

Is there a parallel with the Christian faith? Particularly with the Holy Ministry. Here’s what I think may be a good comparison and a bad comparison:

The good comparison is that we should live our lives here on earth without worrying about the future. Matthew 6, etc. We have died in holy baptism. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3). Understood properly, this frees us to be divinely reckless with the gifts which our Lord gives us today, knowing that he will provide for all things.

The bad comparison is to believe that since we have already lost the battle (we will die) that we might as well simply slog through it, but there is no life at all.

Been there? Either one or the other? I know I have.

-LL

My friend Christopher Esget tagged me on this a while back, so I’ll show it to you:

Turn to page 123 of the book nearest to you.

Count the first five sentences.

Post the next three.

The book is Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry, by Dean R. Hoge and Jacqueline E. Wenger. The sentences are from a paragraph about how a pastor (named Andrew) regrets the pain his wife felt during his time as a parish pastor:

I mean, I will filling the pastorate role, and everybody seemed satisfied about that. But they expected her to be as big a pastor as me, and be a preaching and everything. And that’s not my wife.

There you have it. A little glimpse into the inner workings of being a pastor’s wife.

-LL

I’ll tag my buddies Dave Juhl and Scott Stiegemeyer.

123 Meme « Esgetology

I am off to the second part of my Doxology “Advanced Training in Pastoral Care.” This is, in my opinion, one of the best things going on in the Missouri Synod.  Enough saving organizations.  I want to learn how to be a better pastor and theologian.  God bless.  I’ll post if I’m able.

-LL

If you were to peek your head into a pastor’s conference, one of the things you would find a common topic of conversation is all of the “non-pastoral” work that pastors end up doing.  Things like shoveling the walk, mowing the grass, lights, fundraising, organizational administration, even (gasp!) working on the church computers.  Pastors, being human, like to complain about all of the things that they do which don’t really seem a part of their call.  “There’s nothing in my call document that says I’m supposed to do THAT!”

Now I don’t think pastors are unusual in this complaint.  We all like to believe that we are important, and that the menial things that just need to get done are somehow not worth our effort.  Who hasn’t complained about being overworked and underpaid or underutilized at work? continue reading…

The Holy Ministry has changed over the last hundred years. No, not the Word and Sacrament part, but just about everything else: hymnals in the pews, language, electronic organs, bulletins, cars, telephones, computers, sound systems, boards and meetings.

Boards? Meetings? continue reading…

It is very good, from time to time, to reflect as a Church about the nature of who we are in Christ, and of where and how God works in our midst, giving us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

For Lutherans, we are very familiar and comfortable with phrases like “Word and Sacrament,” “Means of Grace,” and the like. But what do they mean, and in what way do they relate to our common life together in Christ?

Simply put, God works through means to accomplish His will. His will is that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He accomplishes His Holy will by sending forth His Word to create and sustain faith when and where He pleases. This Holy Word comes to us in the Scriptures, in the preaching of the Gospel, Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. That is where God promises to be found, and where He promises to be at work for us and in us, bringing us to heaven to enjoy His divine favor forever.

This Word, which is Jesus Christ, does not simply come randomly or haphazardly. God has appointed (set apart, ordained) certain men into the Office of the Holy Ministry so that His Word would be faithfully proclaimed and given out according to His command and promise. Our Lutheran forefathers put it this way:

So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith, when and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake. This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ’s sake (Augsburg Confession, Article V).

In other words, God set up the Holy Ministry in order that faith would spring forth, be nurtured and grown by His Holy Word.

So what does this have to do with us, the saints at Messiah Lutheran Church? What it has to do with us is that it shapes our understanding of the relationship between the pastor and the congregation. Here are some of the more obvious ways:

• The pastor is not the boss, CEO, employee, dictator, Pope, cheerleader, chief salesman, butcher, baker or candlestick maker. He’s the pastor. Probably the best and most biblical analogy is that of a steward. The pastor is the steward or caretaker for the mysteries of God (as St. Paul writes), and it is his responsibility to give out the gifts of God for the benefit of all. Another good analogy is that of shepherd. The pastor cares for the sheep, guards them, feeds them, and serves them.
• In the same vein, the congregation or its members are not the boss, stockholders, slaves, cheerleaders, spectators, butchers, bakers or candlestick makers. The congregation is the congregation. The best and most biblical analogies are that of the Bride or of the Flock. As the Bride the congregation received from the Bridegroom (Christ) what He has to give, and returns thanksgiving and praise to him in word and deed. As the flock the congregation receives what the Good Shepherd (Christ) has to give, follows His lead, receives His protection, eats and drinks what He gives for their wellbeing.

Now understanding these two realities makes things both simpler and more complicated. It makes things simpler because it helps us to understand that the congregation and the pastor serve each other in different ways, not in an adversarial or competitive relationship, but in a relationship of mutual love. The pastor has an obligation to care for the congregation, and in return the congregation has an obligation to care for the pastor. When either one breaks down, the whole thing goes awry.

The bottom line, of course, is that Christ is Lord of the Church, and that we are all His heirs and children. Just as in a body different parts have different roles, so also in the Church, the Body of Christ, we each have different roles to play, all to His glory and for the benefit of our neighbor.

Yours in Christ,

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Pastor, Messiah Lutheran Church

[From the January 2008 Messiah's Messenger]