Baptized Into Christ

Below is my newest newsletter article for April 2013. Jesus sinners doth receive. That’s been our hymn of the month and it’s the message of lent, the message of Holy Week, the message of the Cross, and the message of the church.   It’s been said before and it is worth repeating, if sinners weren’t allowed in Christ’s church, it would be empty.   The church is there for sinners. Consider those surrounding Jesus at the Last Supper; John, the beloved disciple, who wanted the place of power, authority, and glory in Jesus kingdom because he had desired personal glorification.   Thomas, who doubted the words of Jesus that He would rise from the dead, even after the other disciples told him that they had seen the resurrected Jesus.   Peter, who denied Jesus three times. And yet Jesus got down on His hands and knees to wash the feet of these sinners. Consider the thief on the cross, who knew that he deserved to die for his sins.   There was no do...

It was brought to my attention by some of my members that on Sunday a local pastor whose sermons are broadcast on the radio made the claim that Lutherans must be cannibals because we believe that in the Lord's Supper a person actually receives the body and blood of Jesus. So, is it true? Nope. We do believe, teach, and confess that in the Lord's Supper we truly receive the body and blood of Jesus.  However our confessions (confessions are statements of what we confess to be true) absolutely reject what this pastor was accusing us of. The funny thing is, this is hardly the first time that someone has accused Christians of cannibalism, but it used to always be from outside of the church that the charge came.  In the early days of Christianity it was common for Christians to be accused of cannibalism and of sexual deviancy.. It was apparently common knowledge that Christians drank wine when they met together, and that men kissed men and women kissed women in their gatherin...

Many people, when they think about a Sunday morning church service, think that it is primarily about us worshiping God.  It's true that worship happens on Sunday morning, but that's not the primary thing happening.  Rather, the primary is what God does for us in the service. We confess our sins; He forgives them  When the pastor says, "I forgive you," you actually receive forgiveness.  It's for you. When we pray "Lord, have mercy upon us," we do so knowing that He has and He will have mercy.  It's for you. When God's Word is read and then proclaimed from the pulpit, God speaks to us, the Holy Spirit works in us, and Christ feeds us.  It's for you. When we receive the Lord's Supper, the body and blood of Jesus are received by you and with that you receive the forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation.  It's for you. What a blessing that God calls us together in order to give us His gifts.  They are for you.

My friend Dave Moerbe , a pastor in Alabama, inspired me to have a book of the week and to start with Luther's Small Catechism.  Dave serves an LCMS congregation in an area where Lutheranism is relatively unknown and this presents challenges.  I admire that he has met these challenges by teaching and preaching and without compromising.  He features on his congregation's website both a book of the week and a weekly focus on an individual section of the catechism. The catechism is something that most of us take for granted.  We used it in confirmation and now it sits on a shelf. That's pretty much what happened with mine, until college.  In college, being a pre-seminary student and a PK (pastor's kid), I regularly had people ask me questions about God and the Bible.  Usually I knew the answer, but I had a hard time knowing where to go to show others the answer. Until I picked up my catechism again.  There I found answers to questions and Bible ver...