Call Day

Call day at the seminary. The angst is over, but then again it is just beginning. I remember call day 10 years ago and when the congregation location was read, I thought, "Where's that?" Ten calls days have now passed. Graduates from St. Louis and Ft. Wayne have been sent across the country and around the world. Now a new group have been assigned, they are looking toward graduation, ordination, installation--and then, the immense task before them. There's only one thing wrong with the church today: It's full of sinners. As a wise pastor perpetually repeated, "They are sheep." I think of what these men may face in the parish. Maybe the angst hasn't subsided quite yet, or maybe it has morphed into apprehension.
Theories are fairly easy to handle. It's that whole "putting in to practice" thing which is a challege. Sitting in the church as the whole congregation boldly sings Easter hymns to raise the roof is quickly replaced with sitting at home watching the news which informs us that 17-year-olds may now buy the "morning after" pill.
The Lord is still Lord of the church, and he knows the men who will be "in the stead and by the command" and serve His people. Regardless.

In Memoriam

There was a shooting at a church in the greater metro area today. The shooter killed the pastor during his sermon. I cannot even remotely fathom the fear and depth of grief of the people. My heart goes out to the family and members of that congregation.
There will be much said over the next few days regarding church and forgiveness. There will be much speculation over motive and why. It will bring up the questions of why bad things happen to good people and why someone would want to kill a pastor and what about evil. There will be discussions over the man's sanity. There will be debates over whether he was did such a thing because of something in his past that he became that way or not.
My sympathy goes out to the people who will be in the middle of this investigation.
The main thing to remember is that no matter what happens in this world, it is still Christ's church and He knows His own.

Preaching Tips

While reading Pastor Peperkorn's blog, I came across this comment and piece of advice by Pastor Wilken about being bored with preaching.

“Bring your own struggles with the text into the pulpit with you and lay them out for the hearers. Be honest. And, get to the Cross. If necessary, drag yourself and your hearers there kicking and screaming. Remember, the sermon isn’t over until Jesus is dead for three days. Get him out of the grave, and onto the altar, and then stop talking.
“Finally, stop trying to be interesting. Focus on Jesus, he’s interesting enough.”

Then there is Pastor Wilken’s sermon analysis diagnostic:

How often is Jesus mentioned? Is he the subject of the verbs? What are those verbs?

Then Pastor Wilken gave this piece of advice on Issues, Etc. today:

Don't give Jesus the week off, and don't let your pastor either.

To [mis]quote Dolly Levi, “Advice on preaching from Pastor Wilken? The world should hear it and grow rich.” At least, I wish my pastor had heard and heeded it before yesterday’s sermon.

I am not a homilist. I do not purport to know how to write a sermon or any such thing, so I rely on pastors to tell me how to recognize good preaching. So here’s my analysis of the sermon I heard yesterday:
#1—I counted that Jesus was mentioned twice. For a Lutheran sermon, that does not seem like enough.
#2—He was the subject of the verbs, but they were wimpy verbs; they were not verbs such as “save,” “forgive,” “die,” or “rise”.
#3—He alluded briefly to the cross. He did not drag us kicking and screaming there. It was more talked around than talked about.
#4—Since Jesus never made it to the cross, then He never made it to the grave in the sermon; therefore, He could not have been gotten out and onto the altar.
#5—I think I missed the point. It was something about exercising our faith so that it doesn’t get flabby, fat and lazy. Even though pastor said we don’t save ourselves, we have to exercise faith ourselves. I think I missed something there.
All in all, if pastor didn't quite give Jesus the week off, he at least relegated Jesus to a lesser seat off to the side. To echo the words of the Greeks to Philip, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”

Vocation

I attended a presentation recently on art and architecture in the church. The presenter asserted (quite forcefully, if I may add the editorial comment) that there should be no differentiation between nave and chancel, not even a step or communion rail. He also asserted that there should be only one place from which the Word should be read and proclaimed—the pulpit, no lecturn—for expounding upon scripture is not above the reading of scripture itself. He then continued by saying that it was acceptable for the lector to read the scripture from the pulpit, for to not allow a layperson in the pulpit would indicate a class distinction between lay and clergy (the main reason for having no differentiation between nave and chancel in the first place). This got me thinking about the priesthood of all believers and vocation, and how it can still be taken wrongly today.
In the Middle Ages, the church taught that being a member of the clergy or a monk or nun were the highest calling a Christian could become. Martin Luther argued that all Christians have a vocation—a God-given “calling” –to be whatever they were: butcher, baker, candlestick maker, mom, child, student, etc. With this line of reasoning came the concept that we are all priests.
Today there is the misunderstanding that because we all have a vocation and none is higher than another; that means that a pastor is equal to his parishioners. A layperson is no more, no less than a pastor, even in the chancel or pulpit. I am inclined to disagree.
The teacher in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory said, “For a student to teach his teacher is presumptuous and rude.” The commercials which say, “Ask your doctor about [this medicine],” rub me the wrong way. In our vocations we live our vocations and do not presume to do someone else’s vocation. I do not like it when non-teachers tell me what to teach and how to teach it. I am not a doctor, so I am not going to presume to tell my doctor that I need a particular medication just because it is advertised on television. I am not a pastor (obviously) so I will not presume to do my pastor’s job, namely Word and Sacrament ministry. After all, I’m not the one with the M.Div. In this case, there is a distinction between vocations. The distinction is to what one is called. There comes a point where our pastors need to step up to minister, and the people need to step back and allow themselves to be ministered. This is order; for if there is no order, there is chaos, and chaos unchecked can lead to anarchy.