Shepherd

Therefore, and overseer (pastor) must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fal into the condemnation of the devil. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (1Timothy 3:2-4; Titus 1:9)
~ The Small Catechism, Table of Duties: For Bishops, Pastors and Preachers

On June 22 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Depew, NY, Galen Michael Purpura Jr. was ordained into the Holy Ministry. "Vicar Galen" is now Pastor Purpura.

Have you ever been to an ordination? It is a powerful, wonderful thing to witness: the Lord of the Church placing his called servant into the office of the ministry. Jesus was given all authority in heaven and on earth. It was by this authority that he called and ordained the first apostles, and it is by this authority that he continues, through the means of his church, to call and ordain pastors who are to preach the word and administer the sacraments. When Jesus ordained his apostles, he breathed on them and they received from him the Holy Spirit and the authority to act by his command and in his stead. Today Jesus confers his authority to his called servants through the church. The laying on of hands by ordained ministers during the ordination signifies this. Jesus' authority does not, as some suppose, pass on "from" or "through" one minister to another. The authority that Jesus confers comes from Jesus. It's his authority - only he can confer it. Therefore, Galen's call to St. John's Lutheran Church as Associate Pastor is no human thing; it is a divine call.

Galen didn't just wake up one morning and decide to become a pastor. In fact, he'll tell you that, like Jonah, he resisted God's call for a while *smile*. I don't even think it's accurate to say that he - or any called servant for that matter - "decides" to be a pastor. Pastors are called and a call to the holy ministry is from the Lord of the Church, Jesus himself. He extends that call to his chosen servant (who may recognize it as an "inner call") and then he confirms it through the Church.

I look at that table of duties and the obligations that are laid upon a pastor and I really can't blame him for wanting to resist. Being a pastor is serious business. Peoples souls are at stake. Gulp. Who wouldn't be intimidated by such a prospect?

But Galen doesn't go into this alone.

First and foremost, he is accompanied by the Holy Spirit:

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:6

[You] through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation. 1Peter 1:5
...the word of God which is at work in you who believe. 1 Thess. 2:13

Second, he is being held up in prayer by his congregation (and by his friends and family):

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests .... Always keep on praying for all the saints Eph 6:18

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel Eph. 6:19

Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 Thess 3:1

I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Romans 15:30

I pray that now at last by God's will, the way may be opened for me to come to you. Romans 1:10

Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. Hebrews 13:18

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ... Col 4:3

Third, God has given him a helpmeet:

And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Gen. 2:18

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22

When Galen was our vicar last year I witnessed first hand the qualities that God gifted him with that will serve him well as a pastor. He has an engaging, affable way about him - you can tell he genuinely LIKES working with God's people. He demonstrated real care and concern for our parish members, the youth and the elderly in particular. He's solidly confessional and he can preach. Boy can he preach!

Galen, if you’re reading this, I'm not trying to suck up. *grin* We love you and we're proud of you...and humbled too, to have been a part of the process that God used to confirm your call. Thank you Galen and Jenny for being obedient to the Lord and serving his church as his called servant.

I won, I won!

Oh my goodness! I am so excited! Also, a little bit guilt-ridden.

A Soldier's Wife was having a giveaway contest for one of two brand-spanking new Bibles...and I won!! I won a new Bible, and not just any Bible, but this Bible.







That's a nice Bible, folks.

I feel a bit bad though too, because I meant to put up a link to her contest, partly to give her some linky-love and partly so that my friends could go and enter the contest too. No, really. I meant to. But, I never got around to it. (Actually, I haven't blogged much at all this month...)


Anyway, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Yippee!!

Backyard oasis

Ah, the first day of summer.

Which, in Southwestern Ontario, is here and gone again before you know it.

So, we like to make the most of it.

Guess what I will be doing this weekend?

Kids. Can't live with 'em, pass the beer nuts

ARG.

Moms with young'uns, heed my words: the teenage years are one big emotional roller coaster. For YOU.

Those kids of mine! I never know from day to day any more whether I love them or hate them. Well, not hate them, really. Just, you know, really, really not like being around them. Because, for one, they're SO MOODY!!! I never know for sure what I'm going to get anymore - smiles and laughs...or tears and recriminations. When they're cranky, I don't want to be anywhere near them. No sir. I'll just be up in my room, hiding until the full moon has passed, thank you very much.

And something that nobody told me before, that teenagers are actually very, very dumb. It's like their brains turn off for a decade or so between 13 and 23. That must be the cause, for why else would they make such stupid, stupid choices?? They KNOW how dumb they are being, but they do it anyway. I repeat, ARG!

They don't seem to have the ability to look ahead and anticipate the consequences of their actions. I know, I know, I didn't either at that age. But I know now, so why won't they believe me when I tell them that they are making choices now that are determining the course of the rest of their life?? Do they think I'm making it up? Sometimes I think I will explode with a combination of frustration and worry for them. Again I say, ARG!

There are a lot of tears around here these days. For these kids all have hormones raging through them, and to them everything is A MAJOR CRISIS. The emotions run so high these days, and you see how confusing and frustrating and frightening it all is for them. And you know, nothing really extraordinary his happening...it's just ordinary life. And its so hard on them. So I don't always say ARG. Sometimes I have to put a comforting arm around a confused kid and reassure them with the words my mom always reassured me with: "Never mind, bunny. Never mind." And for a while, they don't. They give it over to mom (or dad) and allow themselves to be children again, just for a little while. Deep down, they know it's a comforting lie - they're not children anymore, and soon they will have to resume navigating the netherworld between childhood and adulthood. Hopefully they will not forget that they don't have to do it alone, that God has given them parents to guide them through.

There are also days of great joy. When the sun and the moon align and everybody is happy at the same time. Those are the days that get me through, because for as much as they can make me crazy, they can also be great fun to be with.

This past week my husband had to go to Iowa for business and it was just me and the kids. They have been SO good all week. I don't know if they made an extra effort or what, but they were happy and agreeable and obedient this week. On Wednesday night, I took them to the theatre to see a play called The Drawer Boy. I wasn't sure if they would enjoy it or not, but they all loved it. They talked about it all the way home. It was late when we got back into town - almost 11 pm - but it was a hot night and we stopped for a Dairy Queen. Brought it back home and sat on the back porch, licking our cones and talking and laughing. I went to bed way past my bed time, but it was so worth it.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I never do any more. I'll just keep praying and doing my best to guide these young men and women into adulthood.

Lutheran preaching at its finest

One of the real blessings of blogging is I've gotten to "meet" Lutherans from other parts of the world that I probably would not have met otherwise. If you read here, you have likely seen Beth and Sue around from time to time. The Lutheran Church Canada is a relatively small church body so you kind of get to "know" a lot of the pastors, or at least their names. So it was kind of neat to find blogs for Pastor Alex Klages and his wife Kelly. Pastor Klages is Canadian and his lovely wife is American; Pastor Klages shepherds two parishes in Manitoba. Two real treasures that I stumbled across are the blogs of Pastor William Weedon (Weedon's Blog) and Pastor William Cwirla (Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere). These two guys are among the finest preachers I have ever heard.

This is probably bad blogging etiquette, but I've cut and paste a sermon that Pastor Weedon had posted on his blog. I think it is an outstanding sermon in and of itself, but I picked it because it is a good example of a typical Lutheran sermon. If you are not well acquainted with Lutheran preaching, it is probably different than what you are used to. Lutheran sermons are all about preaching the Gospel. They are all about what God has done, and continues to do, for us. They're not about "right living" or "Christian precepts" or what we "do" for God. You might hear about how we ought to live in light of the Gospel, but the focus is firmly on what God has done for us through Christ.

The Bible is all about Jesus, from beginning to end and the purpose of the Bible is to reveal Christ to us. It's not surprising then, that our servants of the Word, in accordance with Paul's instruction to Timothy, preach the Word; that is, Christ crucified.

Anyways, here's the sermon...enjoy!

Homily for Trinity 2 (2008)
[Proverbs 9:1-10 / 1 John 3:13-18 / Luke 14:15-24]

“Blessed is everyone who WILL EAT bread in the Kingdom of God!” That’s what the fellow cried out. The man who was reclining at Table with Jesus, hearing Him preach and teach and sharing the meal together with Him. He was so focused on the future, that He was in danger of missing the present. The fellow was thinking of how wonderful heaven must be. You can almost hear the wistfulness in his words.

Jesus’ reply is rather shocking. He basically says: “You think so? Most people don’t. And here’s the proof. Because what you’re thinking of in the sweet bye and bye is exactly what I am offering in the sweet here and now. Feasting with Me IS heaven. Communing with Me IS life. But would you look at what happens!”

And so the parable. A great banquet. A banquet first announced (that would be by the prophets – as we also heard in today’s first reading from Proverbs) and then prepared. A banquet to which people are invited without having to bring a single thing, not even a side-dish to share – ALL supplied in full, ALL gift. “Come, for everything is now ready.” Which is just the same as saying: You want heaven? What about I give you a bit of heaven right here and now?

And what response does this invitation receive? “I have bought a field and must go inspect it. I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. Please have me excused.”

The gift of heaven itself offered to the citizens of the earth, and they are so preoccupied with the business and pleasures of this age that they simply have no time for the joys of the age to come; and even worse, by preferring the pleasures and occupations of this life, they show that they have no real desire for heaven after all. That is what actually stands behind the excuses: we’ve got more important things to do in our lives right now, God, than to eat bread with You in Your Kingdom. Farming, boating, golfing, sleeping in, reading the newspaper, picnicking, camping, partying with our friends. You name it. But it all comes down to this: Your offer isn’t as appetizing to us as the fun of this world. And so we give our hearts to the things temporal that we are bound to lose; and neglect to our unspeakable hurt the things eternal.

The banquet is a gift. First, foremost, always. Gifts are offered; not coerced. God offers them in freedom without compulsion and we can reject them in freedom without compulsion. Heaven is a gift. Even heaven on this earth. Our God will never force a person to receive it. But the invitation does not ring out over any one person’s life indefinitely. There comes a time when the invitation moves on to others. And so in the parable, it moved on to the poor, the crippled, blind and lame, the people of the highways and hedges. They filled the banquet hall that others had spurned. They gratefully attended to the heavenly feast that our Father prepares for His children on earth. And all who heed the invite find a welcome that astonishes and a feast more lavish than anything they could ever imagine, desire, or certainly deserve.

And so the story has gone on through these many centuries. Our God keeps setting up His banqueting table among us and He summons any who will to leave behind the preoccupations of this life, who will lay aside all earthly cares, to come and feast with Him. To listen to Him as He reveals in His Word the joys He has prepared for those who love Him, and then to receive the food that He has readied for them: the unimaginable feast of His Son’s body and blood. Yes, the very sacrifice by which atonement was won for all people on the Cross becomes the sacrament by which atonement is applied to all who come to receive. The body that was broken for the remission of sins upon Golgotha, is the body that He reaches you at this table. The blood that blotted out the sin of the world is the blood He wants to pour into you from His chalice.

And why? So that you may have communion with your Savior. So that you may live in Him and He may live in you. Your sins forgiven, your death destroyed. This is the meaning of life itself. This is the banquet which is wholly gift and which the Heavenly Father has set for you so that you may already here and now by faith partake of the life that He has prepared for you in eternity.

But what will you answer Him? Wisdom invites: “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight.” There is no insight greater than that the Blessed Trinity has so created and so redeemed you that you might live in communion with Him. You are the objects of such great love! “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.” And where else do you taste that love but at His banquet, His Divine Service where the table of the Word and the table of the Supper overflow with gifts of life for each of you, His beloved children?

Do you want to go to heaven? Do you want to eat bread in the Kingdom of God? Do you want to recline at table with saints and angels and feast forever in the joy of God’s presence? Do you want to hear the hymn of praise that never ceases? Do you want to be with your loved ones who have died in the faith and passed behind the veil? You don’t have to wait. He reaches you the gift here and now, and He reaches it to you every week. And the more you experience what He offers here, the more you will realize that there is nothing on earth that could ever satisfy you like this. For here is the love, the peace, the joy you ache for. Here is total acceptance, pardon and love. Here is the family of God gathered as one around the Savior, some few seen, and multitudes upon multitudes unseen. Not in the sweet bye and bye. But all here and all now. Waiting. For you. “Come, for everything is now ready.”

Amen.