Dear Lenten Sojourners in Christ,

          Occasionally, it is helpful to take a step back and regroup. This time to evaluate where you are and where you would like to be can be helpful. For your car, we call it a tune-up and oil change. For your house, we call it a spring cleaning. For your body, we call it our annual physical check-up with our doctor. Even when those events are not very fun because we find an unexpected issue: like a mechanical issue with our car, a defect in our house, or cholesterol numbers that our doctor does not like; a check-up of these things is helpful because it alerts us to the issue and then we can fix it.

          This spring, like every spring, we have a chance to do a spiritual evaluation. We have the opportunity to evaluate where we stand in regards to our faith. Are we healthy?  Are we involved in anything that is hurting our faith and separating us from our God? Is the faith that we confess together on Sundays also confessed in our lives on Mondays when we go to work, to school, out to eat, or to social events? Do we live in that glad confession that Jesus Christ is Lord at all times? Are there days when we are tempted to check our faith at the door, like we might excuse a day from our plans for diet and exercise? 

          The name for the time that the Church uses to evaluate where we stand is “Lent.”  During these 40 days (not counting Sundays) we are reminded of Jesus’ 40 day temptation in the wilderness after His Baptism and the people of Israel’s 40 years of sojourning in the wilderness after they refused to enter the promised land that God had provided for them.

          As we think of our temptations and the times that we have rejected God, we realize again the unfortunate truth that we are poor, miserable sinners. That is far worse news than going to the mechanic and learning that you need new brakes or going to your doctor and learning about your new low-cholesterol diet. There are things we can do to improve our car or our health. But for our sin, there is nothing that we can do. 

          However, that is not the same as saying that nothing can be done. Indeed, something has been done for our sin, but we did not do it. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, confronts us with our sin. He calls us to repent and believe that His kingdom is at hand.  “Repent” means to turn around — to turn away from sin. When Jesus calls you to repent, He calls you to turn away from your sin and to believe in Him, because He has saved you by His death and resurrection. But even that does not always bring a great deal of hope, though, because we have to admit that we are not good at repenting of our sin and we are not good at leaving that sin behind. So often, we return back to it, and realize how poorly we have done. We might even fear that God will stop forgiving us.

          As we enter this Lenten season, we are called to return to the Lord, our God. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love for you! The Good News is that He has sent His Son so that all who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. He calls us away from sin into faith in Him. Better yet, He provides the gift of faith and strengthens that faith through His Word and Sacraments. It is all a free gift from your God! Rejoice and be glad in His salvation for you this holy Lent.

In Christ’s Perfect Peace,

Pastor Steven Anderson

Devotional Ideas for Lent

In the history of the Church, Lent was a time for reflection, fasting, and prayer. There are several ways that one can practice that in Lent. These practices are not necessary, but voluntary, for one’s own spiritual benefit. These practices do not merit favor before God, but can be helpful practices for one’s repentance and preparation for the Easter feast.

• Fasting, either by giving up food for a meal or for a day. This is a helpful reminder that the “belly god” of your stomach does not control your life (please do not do this if you have a health condition or a concern that it could harm you). In addition, you could spend the time you save by not cooking and eating in additional prayer, and donating the money you would spend on food to a charity.
• Giving something up. Often, people might try to remove a sinful habit or an overindulgence during the season of Lent (and maybe even after Lent!). Once again, this is just a reminder that there is life outside of one’s computer use, coffee use, or whatever else you choose to give up. Again, you can use the time and money you would have invested into additional prayer and Bible study or in donation to a charity.
• Adding additional prayer and Bible study to your devotional life. Praying the Psalms (especially Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143) is one option. Another is to use a Prayer Service for use at home printed in the Lutheran Service Book on pages 295-298 (the church has plenty of hymnals if you wish to borrow one!). There are also recommended Bible readings for each day in the LSB on pages 299-304. If you do not have family devotions in your home, this might be a time to begin. There are always Portals of Prayer available in the narthex. 
• Extra alm-giving. Historically, this has been called “giving alms” and was especially directed to the poor. Consider a charity (Lutheran Church Charities, Lutheran Heritage Foundation, Lutherans of Life, Lori Wilbert – Prison Ministry, etc.) that you might support in addition to your usual contributions to Church and charity this Lent.

These are idea starters, but whatever you do, do it for the Lord, and not under any compulsion. Take comfort in the grace of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for you.  Live in His grace during this season of Lent and always!

May 2021

 Dear Friends in Christ:

               With our celebration in 2017 of the 500^th Anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation of the Church by Dr. Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, we will now be celebrating a number of “500^th” Anniversaries in the months and years ahead. Indeed, we just had one such celebration last month, with the 500^th Anniversary of the Diet at Worms, where Dr. Luther stood before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V on April 17 and 18, and was ordered to recant (take back) his writings. He refused so to do, and on April 18, declared, “Unless I am convinced by Scriptures and plain reason… I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. [Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise;] God help me. Amen.” (The bracketed words are believed to have been said later, and inserted into his comment before the Emperor).

               After that anniversary comes this month’s 500^th Anniversary of the “kidnapping” of Dr. Luther in the forest of Thuringia on his way out of Worms after the Diet and the beginning of his time in the Wartburg Castle near Eisenach. The “kidnapping” of Martin Luther was arranged by the Saxon elector in order to take Luther to safety without being seen to be violating the Edict of Worms, which declared Luther an outlaw, to be arrested on sight. The 500^th Anniversary of that “abduction” is May 4. While at the Wartburg, Luther adopted a false identity, that of Junker Jorge (Knight George), and set about the task writing and translating the New Testament. Luther would remain there until March of 1522.

               However, while Luther was in hiding at the Wartburg working nonstop on writing and translating, another important event occurred whose 500^th Anniversary is coming up—and that is the first Evangelical Celebration of the Mass (or the Lord’s Supper)—celebrated with both the Body and Blood of our Lord being given to the communicants, and the emphasis being placed on God’s work of forgiveness for His people rather than our work for God. That anniversary will be in September 2021, and I will write more on that later.

               Other important 500^th Reformation Anniversaries coming up in the years ahead include (but are not limited to):

• The painting of the famous portrait of Luther in knights’ armor by Lucas Cranach in December of 1521.
• Luther’s publishing of the Formula Missae et Communionis in December 1523.
• The Peasants’ War of 1524 –1525.
• Luther’s publishing Against the Heavenly Prophets in January 1525.
• Luther’s wedding to Katherine von Bora on June 13, 1525.
• His publishing On the Bondage of the Will in December 1525.
• His writing of A Mighty Fortress is Our God in 1527.
• The publication of the Small Catechism in 1529.
• And so on…

               Why are these anniversaries important for us to celebrate? They all speak to the restoration of the Good News and the ongoing need for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ among us and to the world today.

               Our heritage as Evangelical Catholic Christians (members of a congregation of the Lutheran Confession) is something worth remembering and worth rejoicing in and celebrating. The Gospel of Jesus Christ that Dr. Luther and so many others so boldly proclaimed is still to be proclaimed and declared until Christ comes again.  That is our joy and our privilege.

               These anniversaries remind us of the lively heritage of which we are inheritors.  Let us celebrate them with great joy and thanksgiving for the faithful ancestors in the Faith who have come before us and bequeathed this great inheritance to us. And let us guard it, defend it, and joyfully proclaim it.

               In Christ,

               Pastor Steven J. Anderson

April 2021

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 Dear Saints of God gathered around the Altar:

               “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt sacrifices on the altar.” Genesis 8:20

               Genesis 8:20 is the first mention of an altar in Holy Scripture—an altar being a raised place or table made of stone, bronze, wood, marble, brick, or alabaster in order to make a sacrifice to the Most High God. In this case, it was Noah who built an altar to the Lord after the great Flood had subsided. He built this altar in faith and trust in the God who had preserved his family through the Flood. It was also built in the context of God’s promise that He would never again strike the earth as He did in the Flood, saying, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
               After this, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and others built many altars during the time of God’s ancient Church. These altars culminated in the Tabernacle and Temple, which had two altars: the Altar of Sacrifice, and the Altar of Incense. The first was where the animals were sacrificed reminding the people of the wages of their sin being death; and the second was where the incense was burned, offered up to God as a pleasing smell (the smell of Church!).

                 In the New Testament Church, there is no mandated requirement of an altar, as Christ is the final and perfect Sacrifice for the sin of the world. However, the Church in her wisdom chose to retain the altar as the place at which and from which the Sacrament of Christ’s Sacrifice—Holy Communion­—would be celebrated and given. We know that St. Paul approved of the using of an altar and that the early Christians used an altar based on 1 Corinthians. St. Paul reminds and warns the congregation in Corinth that they, “cannot partake of the Table of the Lord and the table of demons.” So we know that the early celebrations of the Lord’s Supper took place at some kind of altar table. The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.” He is there refereeing to those who still place themselves under the old covenant of the tabernacle and the temple. They are putting themselves outside of the New Testament Covenant in Jesus’ Blood celebrated at the Lord’s Supper.
               So what does all of this “altar-talk” have to do with Easter? Since Gloria Dei partly closed down beginning March 15, 2020, we have not been coming up to the Altar of our church to receive the Sacrament. For four months we celebrated Holy Communion only in small or family groups in the Narthex of the church building, and since we reopened fully on June 14, 2020, we have been using the Credence Table as a “mini-altar” for Distribution.

               The Church Council made the decision on the 2^nd Sunday of Easter, April 11, that we will return to the beautiful Altar at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church for the Distribution of the Lord’s Supper. There will be a slight change in the amount of people who will be ushered up at once, and we will continue to ask people (except for family groups) to space themselves out by a few feet. But for the most part, we will return to our regular practice of receiving the Holy Communion. This is important. Viruses come and go. But Christ’s Risen & Living Body and Blood that we receive in His Supper for the forgiveness of our sins is eternal, and it is eternally for our good. And while we have never ceased celebrating the Gift of the Lord’s Supper here, we also want to be going—if possible—to the Altar that represents the one perfect and final Sacrifice of Christ. And so on the Sunday AFTER Easter and during the entire Easter Season and following, we will return to the Altar of the Lord here at Gloria Dei, carrying on the unbroken practice of Christ’s people from Noah until today.

               As I started with the first mention of an altar in Holy Scripture in Genesis, I will close with the last mention of an altar, found in Revelation 16:7. There, in his vision of Heaven, St. John describes the martyrs under the heavenly Altar, crying out. “And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are Your judgments!’” Here the speaking Altar is representing the martyrs of God who are gathered beneath it, waiting for God’s final Justice to be done. From this earthly Altar here, we receive the fruits of the Lord’s Justice which we poured out on His Son, Jesus Christ, namely: the forgiveness of our sins.

Rejoice in the Gifts He gives from His Altar!

“Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”  

Pastor Steven J. Anderson

March 2021

Dear Thankful Lenten Pilgrims:

               “Now Thank We All Our God” (LSB 895) is most assuredly not a Lenten hymn. In fact, for as long as I can remember, I have always sung the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” for the Thanksgiving Day Divine Service at church. As a child, the Thanksgiving service was actually one of the most attended services at the congregation in which I grew up, and the singing of “Now Thank We All Our God” was usually a high point of that service.

               As with so many hymns, there is a story that goes along with this particular hymn, and it is story that many people do not know.

               The Rev. Martin Rinkart (1586–1649), the son of a coppersmith, was a German Lutheran pastor in the 1600s. He was initially denied entry as a Deacon (Assistant Pastor) in his hometown because the Superintendent (Bishop) believed that Rinkart was a stronger musician than he would be a pastor. He served in Eisleben, Germany, the birth and death place of Dr. Martin Luther, first as Kantor at St. Nicholas Church, then eventually as Deacon at St. Anne’s Church. At the age of 31, Rev. Rinkart was offered a position as Archdeacon (Senior Pastor) in his hometown of Eilenburg. It was there that he would serve as pastor for the rest of his life.

               During his time as a pastor, Martin Rinkart endured two devastating events. The first was the effects of the Thirty Years War (1618–1648). This war fought by Protestants on one side and Roman Catholics on the other devastated Europe, especially Germany. People from all over the countryside fled into the walled city of Eilenburg for protection, filling the city to the breaking point. Such crowded conditions were the perfect breeding ground for famine and pandemic. This is exactly what happened.  

               In 1637, the city was crowded with refugees from the war when the plague broke out. This second devastation took the lives of his dear wife Christine, most of the town council, the clergy of the neighboring parish, and in total at least 4,000 people died. It was a devastating pandemic. Rev. Rickart was left as the only pastor providing care for the entire city, burying up to 50 people a day and having funerals for a total of 4,500 that year.

               It was in this context of pastoral care, visiting the sick, burying the dead, acting as a town councilman, and serving as pastor to two very large congregations that Martin Rinkart wrote the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” (LSB 895):

               Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices, Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices; Who from our mothers’ arms has blest us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours today.

               Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us, and keep us in His grace and guide us when perplexed and free us from all ills in this world and the next.

               All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given, the Son and Him who reigns with them in highest heaven, the one eternal God, Whom earth and heaven adore; for thus it was is now, and shall be evermore. (LSB 895)

               The thankfulness he describes is not some kind of false, worldly, and shallow thankfulness that has no real meaning, but one that is sung by Christians even in the most devastating of circumstances. Rev. Rinkart teaches us in this hymn to give praise to the Holy Trinity for all the blessings of this life, even those circumstances which may perplex us, like the pandemic through which we are currently living.

               What circumstances are you facing this Lent? Are you struggling with some of the harsh realities of getting older? Are you dealing with financial stresses in your life? Are you facing family disruptions, disagreements, or separations? Are you faced with sickness, weakness, or the fear of such happening to you or to loved ones? Are you fearful about the future of your congregation, your neighborhood, the city, or even the nation?

               Are you thankful to our gracious and giving God even in the face of all of these things?
               For no matter the circumstances, you do have much for which to be thankful, and so do I! Pastor Rinkart reminds us of this. You have your life. You have all that is needed (and more) for the care of your body. You have this congregation—God’s Word and Sacraments—for the care of your soul. And, most especially, you have the sure knowledge that God has had mercy on you in Jesus Christ, Who has redeemed and saved you by His shed blood, by His life, death, and resurrection for you.

               I encourage you to have a thankful Lent!  

               Your servant in Christ,

               Pastor Steven J. Anderson