St. John’s Lutheran Church, Racine

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My congregation is in the midst of celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year.  In conjunction with that, we are having a thank offering for sanctuary remodeling.  In preparation for that process, we are doing a series of “steeplechases”, that is, going and looking at area churches and looking at the art and architecture of the space.

The first church we looked at is St. John’s Lutheran Church in Racine.  Here is a link to some of the pictures.  You can click on any of the images to see them in a larger format, or you may look at them on Flickr, where they live:

[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157625823602143″]

There are lots of things I love about this space.  The stained glass, the altar, the art on the sides, its light.  I especially appreciated how bright and cheerful the space is.

Some of the elements that I didn’t think worked well in the space were the color of the wood (blond wood just is tough), the carpet, and the yellow tint on the front stained glass.  A part of the difficulty with the yellow in the stained glass is the interaction with the blond colored wood.

All in all it is a beautiful space that well befits the divine service.  I know they are planning some more renovations, including replacing pews and putting tile in.  I look forward to seeing what more they might do with the space.

-Pastor Peperkorn

IMPACT: I Trust When Dark My Road

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(This is a copy of the  article on my church’s web site.)

Messiah Lutheran Church is pleased to announce its first speaker in the IMPACT series. The IMPACT series is a series of presentations available to the community in conjunction with our fiftieth anniversary.

Our first presentation is entitled, I Trust When Dark My Road: A Lutheran View of Depression.  Our speaker is Pastor Todd A. Peperkorn, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church.  The title of the presentation comes from Pastor Peperkorn’s book of the same title, published in 2009.

Please consider joining us for this important topic.  It is free of charge.  You may follow updates on the IMPACT series through our Facebook page:

Messiah’s Facebook Page

You may also indicate if you will be attending by going to the Facebook event:

Facebook IMPACT event: I Trust When Dark My Road

We hope to see you there!

The General and the Centurion (Epiphany 3, 2011)

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Epiphany 3 (Jan. 23, 2011, revised from 2004)
Messiah Lutheran Church, Kenosha, Wisconsin
Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn
Matthew 8:1-13

epiphany3-2011_01

TITLE: “The Faith of the Centurion”

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is from the Gospel lesson in Matthew chapter 8, and the story of Naaman is II Kings chapter five.

 

We have here in our two readings the stories of two men, Naaman and the Centurion. There is much that is similar between the two. They are both Gentiles. They are both in the military. They are both officers, in charge of many men. They are both very used to being in charge, and having things happen their way and no other way. And they both face a problem that is outside of their control. Naaman has leprosy; the Centurion has a servant who is dying.

Imagine what it is like for these two men. They are used to getting things done. They are used to giving orders. They say JUMP, and the men say, how high? That is the way their lives work. Yet now here they sit, out of control. They are unable to solve the problems before them. And these aren’t just your usual, run-of-the-mill problems. These are life and death problems. These are problems which they face because they are unable to get out of these messes on their own.

Have you been there? Have you ever had a stage in your life where things are sailing along great and you feel like you have everything under control? Then something happens: a death, unforeseen debt, family or marital problems or even worse. These things can sneak up on you in a way that frankly is very disconcerting. They can slap you right in the face and say to you you’re not in control! That is the Law, or more accurately, the result of the fall into sin hitting you. In this fallen world, things just don’t work the way that you want them to work. They don’t. No amount of positive attitude or visioning or even plain hard work can change that fact. You are not in control of your life. At least not nearly as much as you think you are.

This is what these two men, Naaman and the Centurion, faced. But their reactions are completely different. How are they different? One of them reacts in faith in the healing Word of God, a

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nd the other responds in unbelief at how God works in the world.

For Naaman, it just drove him bonkers to think that God would use water from the dirty, smelly Jordan river to wash away his leprosy and make him clean. God cannot work that way! He just can’t. Why not the water from our own rivers in Syria? But God hadn’t promised to cleanse him of leprosy from those rivers; He promised, through Elisha, to cleanse Naaman of leprosy using the waters of the Jordan and no other. That was the promise of God, take it or leave it. Initially, Naaman left it. he rejected God’s promise of healing. His own pride just couldn’t handle the truth of the Word of God given by Elisha to him. But after careful teaching, and patient begging on the part of his own slaves, Naaman relented and was led into the Jordan, and low and behold, he was made clean, his skin was like a brand new baby’s skin.

It took Naaman a while to get there, but by the patience and persistence of the Word of God, he came to trust in the Word of God given in the water. It didn’t make sense on the surface. It was just ordinary water. But because God’s promise was attached to it, it was no longer just water, but a life giving water, full of grace and every blessing by God.

Now our Centurion, he actually got there quite a bit faster than Naaman. He recognized first of all his inability to help his servant, but even more than that, he recognized that there was another One who could heal his servant, Jesus Christ. Even though the Centurion, in the eyes of the world, should have been in a much better position to help his sick servant, he knew that Jesus was the one who could heal diseases, for he is God in the flesh. In simple terms, the Centurion had faith. He trusted that if Jesus would say the word, it would be enough. His servant would be healed.

Faith trusts the Word of God in whatever that Word claims. The power of faith does not lie in the one believing, but in where you place your trust. If you were to trust in the goodness and righteousness of Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden, not amount of faith on your part would make it true. You can hope for the best all you want, but it wouldn’t happen. But if your faith points to Jesus Christ, then you will never be disappointed.

This is what St. Paul is talking about in our Epistle when he quotes Hosea who says the Just shall live by faith. Living by faith means continually putting your trust in the right place, Jesus Christ the righteous one who forgives your sins. Only God can give you the faith of the Centurion. Only God can bring that about, for it clearly is not in you to have that kind of a faith.

But God does bring it about. He gives you faith by His Word and Sacraments. What looks like ordinary water is in fact the very life giving water of life, because of God’s Word and command. What looks like simple bread and wine is in fact the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And what sounds like simple words, I forgive you, are in fact the very words by which God forgives your sins, creates and sustains faith in you for life.

We each face challenges and trials every day to the faith. You look at your checkbook and you are tempted to believe that God will not provide for you. You worry and stress about your job, your family, your friends, even church can sometimes be a source of unbelief. But God promises to you this day and every day, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That’s His promise, pure and simple. In many ways, that is what the season of Epiphany is all about. When Jesus took on our flesh and blood, He entered into our lives in a way that no pagan good or good luck program ever could. He entered into your life for good by Baptism. You are His child, a part of His family. It is true, and it will never change.

Believe it, for it is true. Believe it, for that is what God in His Word promises to you. He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? That is the power of the Gospel which St. Paul tells us about so beautifully. That is the power of your salvation, through His Word and Spirit alone. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

And now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.

The Slippers

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So yesterday morning I got to church and prepared for praying matins (morning prayer) with the students at Christ Lutheran Academy.  I do this at least 3 mornings a week, so this is a fairly regular occurrence to me.  I vested and got ready for the service.  As I said in church waiting for the children to file in, I looked down.  What did I see?

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My slippers.

Sometimes when it is snowy and I know that I’m going to be at church all day, I simply wear my snow boots to church and then noodle around in my slippers during the day.  A silly indulgence, I grant, but that’s how I roll sometimes.

It was too late to go hunt down some shoes.  I was vested, sitting down.  Matins would begin in a few minutes.  So what did I do?  I prayed matins in my slippers, of course.

This may seem a little silly, and it is.  But it also drew my attention to an important reality.  Children matter to God.  They matter so much to God that he “suffers the little children to come to him,” to enter into his presence, and to receive all of the many blessings which he gives to all of us.  Children matter as much to him as anyone else.  He calls all of us His children.  In many respects, that is the dominant motif for our relationship to God in the Scriptures.  We are His children, His sheep, His flock, His branches.  It is a relationship of giving and receiving and giving back to Him.

So what does this have to do with my slippers, you may ask?  Well, I’ll tell you.

I wonder sometimes why I vest for chapel every morning.  Why go through all of the work and effort?  I mean, the kids wouldn’t care, would they?  The teachers would probably care, but they are far to nice and respectful to say anything to me (I think!).  So why go through all of the work?

In fact, we can broaden that question out even farther.  Why bother with parochial schools at all?  Why make the expense, the hassle, the wear and tear on the buildings, and the effort that it takes to teach God’s Word to these little sinners every single day?  Why?

We do this because it is our identity.  We teach these children, give them honor and respect, and raise them to be God’s people because that is who they are by virtue of their baptism.  We teach them by word and deed that they matter to God, that He longs to give them all good things, and that they are of infinite worth to Him.

That is also, by the way, why we have the Divine Service here every Wednesday.  That is why I urge our children to receive the gift of Christ’s body and blood, to long for it, learn of it, and to desire it as God’s greatest gift.

Will the world end if matins is prayed in slippers?  Nope.  I may even do it again.  But how we behave toward the least of those among us is a confession of who we are as God’s people.  What you do matters.  Even the slippers.

-Peperkorn

Part of the Family (Baptism of our Lord 2011)

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Epiphany 1 – Alt (January 9, 2011, revised from 2004)
The Baptism of Our Lord
Matthew 3:13-17
The Baptism of Kaiden Heitkamp

TITLE: “Part of the Family”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Baptism of Our Lord from Matthew chapter 3. We will be talking today about how God calls us into His holy family by Baptism, and how that commitment of God guards us all the days of our lives.

I am often amazed at the crazy and outlandish things that we are willing to do for our families. Think about it for a minute. What would you be willing to do for your family? For your parents? For your children? For your brothers and sisters? How far would you be willing to go for them? What would you be willing to do for them?

If you are like most people, your answer would probably either anything or almost anything. Whether your talking about a two year old or a twenty or forty year old or an eighty year old, human beings have an incredible capacity for loyalty and commitment. You would change diapers, go into debt , pay off debts, put up with an amazing amount of really dumb things, thick or thin, good or bad, richer or poorer, you are there. Why? What would possess you to have this incredible loyalty to people who may or may not reciprocate? Why do you do this? The answer, of course, is family. They’re family. In some cases, it may never even occur to you to do anything else. You are going to do what it takes because they are family.

But, of course, you have limits, you make mistakes, and your love only goes so far. While you may show an incredible capacity for loyalty, and you may put up with all kinds of things, it will only go so far. Your love can only go so far and no farther. There are some things you just might not do. Or even if you were willing to do it, you can’t. There are some debts you cannot pay. There are some things you simply can’t do, no matter how much you want to or wish you could. Because you are a fallen human being, your love has limits. It can only go so far.

But not so with God. In today’s reading, our Lord binds Himself to us in a way which hardly seems possible, and certainly is underappreciated and under recognized. Today our Lord stands in the waters of the Jordan river for you, and is baptized. If you think of it in one way, it seems like a pretty insignificant little event. John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, pours water over Jesus’ head in a rite which was frankly pretty common in Jesus’ day. Baptism for repentance to the forgiveness of sins was a normal part of first century Jewish practice. It wasn’t new or even that unusual.

But when Jesus stands in the water, everything changes. He stands in the water as one of us. John can hardly believe it himself. He even tries to stop Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” John, you see, recognizes that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, and knows he needs it and Jesus doesn’t. But what John doesn’t understand is that Jesus is going to give the very foundation of Baptism by standing in the water Himself in our place.

Jesus then gives the answer which puts it all in perspective for us: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Fitting isn’t really the best translation there. It would be better to say it is right or perhaps even necessary. The point Jesus is making is that this is what has to happen in order for all righteousness to be fulfilled. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that by His standing in the water, all of your righteousness is fulfilled. All of His works becomes yours by His standing in the water with you.

We’re talking about your Baptism, dear friends in Christ. And when we are talking about Baptism, we are talking about family. This is how God grafts you into His family and makes you His own. When you were baptized, God adopted you into His family to be His beloved son, His precious daughter in Christ Jesus our Lord. And with this water, poured over you, God seals His love upon you forever.

Now what this means for you in real, concrete terms is that God is on your side in a way that is way beyond all of the crazy stuff you do for your kids or your parents or whatever relative it is that you take care of. The love that we should for our family ebbs and flows, but it gives us a little glimpse into the love of God. The love of God is so vast fast, so all encompassing for you, that He will do anything for you. He will pay off your worst debt, forgive your most grievous sins, take you in, clean you up, and make you His own again and again and again.

Frankly, it’s a little unnerving, to have that kind of love showered upon us. Yet that is the love God showers upon you in Holy Baptism. St. Paul writes, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” What baptism does for you is makes your glory be in God, not in yourself and your failings, big and small. Perhaps Luther wrote it best in the Large Catechism:

“Thus we see what a great and excellent thing Baptism is, which snatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes God our own, overcomes and takes away sin and daily strengthens the new man, always remains until we pass from this present misery to eternal glory. Therefore let everybody regard his Baptism as the daily garment which he is to wear all the time.” Large Catechism [Tappert p.446 #83]

Dear children of God, cling to your baptism, for it is your glory and your hope for a bright future with Jesus in Heaven. St. Peter writes that Baptism saves us. This is true. By water and Word God makes you His own, draws you into His family, says to you, I love you with an everlasting love. You are mine forever. This is what God does for you in Holy Baptism. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.