Tag Archive - ELCA

It Gets Better

November 5, 2010 in Care for Names, Faith, Family with 1 Comment

I am part of the Evengelical Lutheran Church in America.  I have to say that we are privileged to have a great leader guiding the ELCA in Presiding Bishops in Mark Hanson.  He has lead this church during a time when numbers are down, people are upset, and in some places there is no sign of hope.  As I watch him in his leadership, I hope to one day be half of the leader that he is.

One of the reasons I admire Bishop Hanson is that recently he added his voice to the more than 3,000 videos in the It Gets Better project.  He spoke words of reassurance and hope to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.  He reminded them that they are beloved children of God.  No matter where you stand on LGBT issues, you have to agree that no one deserves to be bullied and treated poorly because of who they are or what they believe in.  Please watch the video below and share it with other people.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJOhjLXJmaY

Monday Morning Church: Authentic Reformation

October 25, 2010 in Faith with 0 Comments

This Sunday, most if not all Lutheran Churches in the world will be celebrating Reformation Sunday.  For those who might not know, on October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the The Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  The 95 Theses argues that Catholic Church was not acting in the appropriate manner regarding baptism and absolution. One of the major problems that Luther had with the church at the time involved  indulgences (remissions of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven).  Luther wanted to be authentic to what the Gospel was saying, he wanted to follow his heart when it came to Jesus’ words.

Can we do the same thing?  What does it mean to be authentic in today’s world?

We do not have to go out there and try and change the world like Luther did.   We do not have to be different for thesake of standing out of the crowd.  We just need to be true to what God is calling us too.   We need to sit down and discern where God is calling us in this crazy world.

Authenticity is a word that is used quite often these days.  Many people are trying to figure out what it means to be authentic, and if it is a good and necessary thing or not.
So what does it mean to be Authentic?

First of all, authentic people (or churches) are aware of their thoughts and feelings, and they behave in ways that reflect those feelings. They don’t try to be someone or something that they are not.  They don’t try to put on an act or a show to impress others.  They take advantage of their strengths and they accept their weaknesses.

When they accept themselves for both their strengths and weaknesses other people will start to accept them as well.

So, if you want to grow as a person (or as a church), take time to really know yourself. If you’re not completely happy with what you find, don’t worry too much. Work on accepting yourself for what
you are, right here, right now, and on being truly authentic.

This week’s Text

We have a wonderful group who meets every Tuesday morning to talk about the upcoming texts: If you are unable to make those meetings feel free to use this sampling as to what God is telling us this week.

The first lesson is Jeremiah 31:31-34.  Just when you think you have God figured out He changes everything!  In this text God realizes that people are not going to change.  We make promises to God “empty promises” if you will.  So God is going to approach things differently.  God says that he is going to make a new covenant, something different, something exciting!  Instead of leading people by the hand God is going to lead people through their hearts.
When have you changed the way you do things?  Did it make things easier or harder?  What do you think of a changing God?

The second lesson is Romans 3:19-28.  When I think of Reformation Sunday I think of this verse.  In this verse Paul talks about we are made righteous through Jesus Christ not by the law.  Paul says to us that if we were to take away only one thing from the Gospel is that we are justified by our faith alone….that the grace of God is a gift.
What does that mean to you?  If we are justified by faith, what does it mean if our faith is shaken?  Would you be disappointed if the only gift you got in life was the grace of God?

The Gospel is John 8:31-36.  Jesus tells the Jews and he tells us that the truth will make us free.  What does it mean to be free?  How do you know if you are free or not?  What is the truth?

In light of all these texts we will be celebrating the Reformation as well.  If you have any thoughts on these texts, or on the Reformation feel free toemail me.

Confirmation Ministry

October 28, 2009 in Uncategorized with 4 Comments

Confirmation in the Lutheran Church is a two or three-year process where seventh, eight and/or ninth graders spend time in conversation about their beliefs of the Old Testament, New Testament and Luther’s Small Catechism.

Confirmation has become the “rite of passage” for Lutheran fourteen year-olds.  For many is is the most important moment of their young faith life with the emphasis placed on their confirmation vow.  However, at this peak of their faith life many junior high youth consider confirmation their “graduation” from church and many newly confirmed members drift away soon after their vows because they believed they had “completed” their instruction. As a result, Lutheran churches most recently have been trying new and varied approaches to better teach children about Jesus.

In the Confirmation Ministry Task Force Report of the ELCA, Confirmation is defined at

Confirmation ministry is a pastoral and education ministry of the church that helps the baptized through Word and Sacrament to identify more deeply with the Christian community and participate more fully in its mission.

With this  in mind the church on 370 had evaluated and reevaluated our confirmation ministry program.  We first started our discussion about Confirmation Ministry with scripture we see confirmation as “equipping the saints for the works of ministry…” (Ephesians 4:11) We invite families to engage in a two-year program that enables youth to grow in faith, to ask probing questions and to become active members in the life of the church. In addition to addressing the question of content, “What do we (I) believe?”, we also seek to answer such questions as “What do Christians do?”, “How do Christians live?”, “What does it mean to be called a Christian?”, and “What difference does Jesus Christ make in my (our) life?”

There are five major components in our confirmation ministry

1.  The Crucial Role of Parents

Because parents are learning partners with their children, and play a critical role in their child’s faith journey, we therefore:

  • Strongly encourage each parent to participate in the faith life of the church
  • Encourage parents to discuss daily high’s and low’s with their children
  • Invite parents to pray at mealtime and bedtime with their children
  • Seek their participation in learner sheets given to the confirmands during the year which are designed for parents and confirmands
  • Request that parents attend a mid-year evaluation with their child’s guides
  • Ask parents to oversee completion of a sermon outlines each week
  • Expect parents to insure that their children arrive on time and prepared for classes with their Bible, folder, small Catechism and pen.

The rest of the confirmation requirements are for the confirmands themselves

2.   Worship

  • Regularly attend worship
  • Complete sermon outlines as they worship
  • Involvement in the worship leadership of the church (usher, lector, acolyte, choir member,  altar guild)
  • Visit different faith communities with the class during the year

3.          Devoted to Learning

  • Attend Confirmation Preparation time with Pastor (9th grade)
  • Participation in confirmation camp during the summer following 7th or 8th grade.
  • Study of Luther’s Small Catechism
  • Study of key Biblical themes, books and verses, including the following work due on May 1st of each year:
  • 7th Grade: Outline the Gospel of Luke (Chapters 1-9)
  • 8th Grade: Outline the Gospel of Luke (Chapters 10-24)
  • 9th Grade: Develop personal faith project

4. Fellowship

Events will be planned to help assimilate confirmands into the life of the congregation. These will include such elements as lock-ins, key congregational events, and getting to know other youth through fun, fellowship, and food. The Christian community plays an important role in the formation of its members. For this reason we seek to involve peers, parents, mentors, and guides, as well as the pastor, in the process of confirmation.

4. Mission

Jesus invited his followers to respond to the needs of others in a way that modeled his own behavior. As He said in the Gospel, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these, so you have done it to me.” One basic element of Christian life is that of servanthood. We have been called to mission. Each year we participate in servant events that are designed to help us learn about Christian mission and to participate in that ministry. These events will allow our confirmands to meet people active in Christian mission and support their outreach endeavors with hands-on experience.

  • Participate in a minimum of four of the following eight annual servant events:                                          CROP Walk, Volleyball Marathon, Bowl-a-Thon, Vanderkamp Clean-up, Community Dinner, Block Party, Youth Garage Sale, or one that you propose
  • Develop a “Pay it forward” activity with members of their 9th grade confirmation class in conjunction with the Pastor.

As far as curriculum we are using Augsburg Fortress Here We Stand curriculum.  I have used it for the past three years and really enjoy how well it is laid out and how flexible it is to use.

Since we use three years of material and only have two years of program we have established a “pre-confimation” program.  I have been really excited about this program.  We have a large number of 5th and 6th graders who are eager to learn about the Bible and learn about their faith in God.  So we are using the 5th and 6th grade years to introduce the Old Testament to the group, to have opportunities to learn about the lighter side of church and to have opportunities to ask questions.  So far this has been very successful.

As we move forward in our confirmation ministry at the church on 370 we hope to create disciples, to build relationships in and among the group and to enable the youth to see their confirmation not as the end of their time in church but the beginning.

ELCA Youth Gathering 2009

July 21, 2009 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

July has been a whirlwind in many respects.  I can’t believe it is half over.  But one would not think summer has even come given the weather in CNY this year.

This Wednesday I will be leaving with two other adults and 5 kids from St Mark’s to New Orleans!  I’m pretty excited about it! We’re going to be flying Wednesday Morning around noon. This trip is the ELCA National Youth Gathering which takes place in a different city every three years. This will be my first time attending in a Youth Gathering.

In 2003 I helped send a youth group to the National Youth Gathering in Atlanta, GA just before I left for seminary. In 2006 I helped a youth group get to the National Youth Gathering in San Antonio, TX just before I went on internship for seminary.  So I am excited to be going as a chaperone for our group this year! The Gathering is pretty much a huge youth event. Somewhere around 38,000 high school youth and adults will be participating this year! We’ll be sleeping in hotels throughout the city and will have activities in a convention center as well as our large group events in the Super dome!

Here will be some sites that you might want to check out this week:

The ELCA National Youth Gathering Site -  Click Here

My Twitter Feed where I will be giving LIVE updates -  Click Here (or check out the sidebar on my blog)

My Blog where I will share some experiences -  (you made it here already – but hit and RSS feed to get my posts delievered directly to you!)

I will be uploading pictures as we go along - Click Here

I have also added a feed of all those twittering about the gathering in my sidebar.  That way you can know all that is happening at the gathering.

Please be praying for our youth and adults and all who are at the gathering this year.  Please look out for emails and annoucements to times and places where we will be sharing our experiences sometime later this summer.

**  There has been alot going on this summer– after I come back from New Orleans I will be gearing up for our block party then I will be taking some time and reflecting on all that I have done and accomplished.  So stay tuned!! **

Church Planting

March 26, 2009 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

Yesterday the ELCA came out with an article yesterday talking about the importance of Church planing in the ELCA. The article highlighted a 2007 mission start in Lake Ann, Mich.  The church that started with nothing is now worshipping 160 people (mostly children) in an renovated firehouse garage.  They hope to have their own worship center by 2011.

The ELCA as a whole is really trying to think intentionally about the future and is doing it with church plants:

“In 2008 the ELCA has identified 70 locations in more than 25 states to begin new congregations.  Fifty-seven of those are under way — 41 as congregations under development, and 16 as synodically authorized worshiping communities.  There are another 197 congregations under development that started in previous years in urban, suburban, rural and small-town settings.  Of the current congregations under development, about 2 percent are American Indian/Alaska Native, 47 percent European American, 1 percent Arab/Middle Eastern, 14 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 14 percent African/African American/Black, 19 percent Hispanic/Latino and 3 percent are multicultural.  There’s one prison congregation and one maritime congregation under development.”

This brought me back to my final year of seminary.  I had some professors at the seminary who thought that I should be a church planter.  I thought about it and prayed about it and talked with my wife about it and we decided to go through the process.  I talked with my synod mission director and filled out the application.  I got a phone call that I had been accepted into the program!! I thought that was great and I was ready to go!  However, I was then told that I had to go through a number of interviews.  The interviews were based on what I had done, not what I know.  I thought that was a little strange — granted experience is important but I think that as a church we mainly do things on what we have done in the past and we stop trying to be innovative.  We stop trying to think outside the box in all aspects of ministry.  Instead of asking ourselves what we are doing and why we are doing it – we look back at last years newsletter and say “if it ain’t broke, why try and fix it?”  Is that the way we should be running our church’s?

Back to my experience — needless to say I was not “accepted” into the mission development program of the ELCA.  The reason they told me was that I did not have sufficient ministry experience to be a mission developer or church planter.  Experience?  I worked three years at a Lutheran Camp and two years as a youth minister before seminary, but that was not as ordained clergy.  So I did not have the same experiences as someone who is ordained and now that I have been working as an ordained pastor for the last 7 months I can say that I have learned many things and I have experienced things that I never thought I would have in ministry.  But does my lack of pastoral experience take away from my success as a church planter?  There are needs in the church to spread Gods word to those who do not hear it  – there is a need in the church to create meaningful worship for people who might be fed-up with traditional church models.  Why are we hindering those who are energetic and enthusiastic to start something new, to think outside the box when it comes to ministry?

Don’t get me wrong, I do see the other side of the argument.  It does take a certain skill set for someone to be a church planter. It does take someone who is willing and able to spend their days and time reaching out to the community they have been sent too, it takes a lot of motivation and accountability for someone to be a church planter and I tip my hat to those who are doing it.  When I step back I do question if I could spend my ministry planting churches — but I don’t know where God is going to send me and what my call later in life will be.

At this point in my minsitry I am trying to transform the church from the inside out.  I am trying to think like a missional pastor and reach out to those who might be on the fringe of the church or on the outside of the church.  I want them to feel like there is a place in God’s house for them as well. I am trying to meet them where they are at and tell them to “come as you are” – I do not want people to think like they have to change to come to the church.  The church should be a welcoming place, not only welcoming in a sense of feeling like they belong with the people gathered but welcomed in God’s presence as well.

Justice

July 24, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

The Bible talks alot about justice and how we need to live in a just world.  I am sure that there are doctoral dissertations written about the subject but how can I live this out?  How can I show compassion, grace and love while at the same time live in a just society?

This came to my mind recently after our car was broken into.  They stole my sirius satellite radio, my bluetooth headset and my wallet.  Nothing too precious that I can’t replace (but a big inconvenience on my wallet), but I was rightfully upset.  I called the Sheriffs office to report it and they came and wrote up a nice report for my insurance company and then he had me sign a paper.  I was not sure that I was prepared for this — but it was a paper saying that when caught I would like the individuals arrested for what they did.  I took a step back…..was I really prepared for this?  Did I want someone to be put into jail on my account?  Especially if I recieved the items back…..

I signed the paper because I would like to seek justice and by all accounts from what I was told it was a group of kids doing this and they would most likely recieve a slap on the wrist for their crimes.  But it started to make me think.
The ELCA is coming out with a new social statement in 2013 on criminal justice.  I have applied to be on this task force because it is something that I am interested in.  I am not sure how many pastors they are taking and I am sure there are many more qualified people who can serve but throughout my ministry this will be an important topic for me.  For the most part as Lutherans I think we are scared to talk about these issues, we live in a world where we preach Law and Gospel — so how do we handle the gospel when we are dealing with someone who broke the law and does not show remorse?  Of course theologically we will still love them and we will reassure them of God’s love — but is there something else?  Is there something missing from the conversation that we need to include?

There is something facisinating to me about the criminial mind – for me it is a mix of theological, moral, ethical, and psychological issues mixed perhaps with some issues around the nature of evil in the human spirit.  Perhaps I can find time in the months and years to come to explore this alittle deeper and I can find opportunities as a church (both St. Marks and the church at large) to help educate and stimulate interest in others.

What is a Vicar?

April 3, 2008 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

For the last two years of my life I have been called “Vicar” — No I did not change my name, but I have been put in a position in ministry where I had a title. The church where I am currently serving has had a “Vicar” the last three years.  Not in the capacity of internship but as a senior seminarian that works with the youth of the church. Most people do not have any idea what this means, in fact there were a number of people (youth and adults) who thought it was my first name!  So here are some reflections as to what the title Vicar means in the past and today.

The word vicar comes from the Latin “vicarious” meaning substitute, or one who has authority to act in the place of another.

The Church of England used the term for a clergy-person who serves a parish as its minister. A vicar in the Roman Catholic faith refers to a bishop who is sent to a diocese without a bishop.

In the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America),  the church in which I serve a “vicar” normally refers to a seminarian who has completed the first two years of academics, clinical pastoral education and a year of field education, who is assigned to a congregation as an intern for one year. This typically involves the student working with a senior pastor and a committee of the church to support the development of the seminarian.

Typically at the end of the year of vicarage, the candidate returns to seminary and completes a final year of studies. After being issued a call or assignment, the candidate is ordained as a pastor in the ministry of Word and Sacrament.

Now I am not an intern but the pastor of the church I am working at wanted me to have a title.  I guess Vicar is the most appropriate title for that.  However, I think there needs to be education on what Vicar means and why we use that title.

I am getting use to having a title before my name.  Soon enough I will be “Pastor” – I have not thought about that much until recently and I think that is a very cool thing.  I will see what the culture of the church is before I decide if my first or last name will follow Pastor.  I am sure that everyone will have their own comfort level and I am open to that. I think that what is comfortable for someone I will be okay with that.  As long as they don’t call me late for dinner!  (sorry I could not resist)

For those who are seminarians or pastors or even those in other professions – what is the “proper” way that one should be addressed in the work place? What is the most professional way we should be called, or does it really matter?