Saint Matthew's

The days leading up to Christmas Day are particularly busy for clergy people. If we’re not running around visiting people or providing pastoral care, then we’re trying to bang out three or four or even five sermons before the start of Christmas Eve services. A clock is only used to ensure that our next item on our “Get This Done Before Dec. 24 at 3:00pm” list is completed in a timely fashion. Yet, even in this rush to do so much, there is a calming peace that hangs over this period.

The peace that comes from Jesus Christ.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of my pastorate comes when I visit people in the hospital. Whether members of Saint Matthew’s or those on a hospital’s visitation list, to bring that essential peace of the true meaning of the coming of Jesus Christ to to the sick, the struggling, and the overwhelmed is an act that strengthens me, both spiritually and physically. Even when tears roll down cheeks, it is that message that brings comfort and peace, even in times of hurt and pain.

This week, as I’ve spent the last four Christmas’ since my ordination, I visited with cancer patients, including children, at our local hospitals. With both my parents having been diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, talking with those who are suffering from the same dreaded disease and reminding them that they are not alone is something that my inner clergyman pushes me to do.

I’m always reminded at this time of the year of the many Christmas’ that I’ve missed with my mother, who was diagnosed and succumbed to lung cancer in 1990. Regularly I wonder what my mother would think of me and how I’ve turned out, being a pastor and all. And my father, who is battling back after a bout with colon cancer, a proud man who lives with a colostomy and always gets anxious each time he goes for cancer screenings, can see me in the pulpit every now and then. In those times he comes to visit here at Saint Matthew’s, I always wonder what he’s thinking as he sees his son standing there proclaiming Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

So at Christmas (or more specifically during Advent; I’m an anal-retentive pastor when it comes to the proper church season), I try to spend some time with people who are battling the same disease my mother died from and that my father battles still today.

I met with a young 6-year old girl who was, as the nurse explained, on an emotional roller coaster. One day, she has a good day; the next day, not so good. One day, the doctor brings hope. The next day, caution replaces optimism. The up-and-downs of battling cancer are hard, but this 6-year old was doing the best she can. After talking with her for a short bit before she headed off to treatment, she asked me if I could thank Jesus for her.

It was a startling moment. Of course, I promised her that I would thank Jesus for her. She smiled and went off to whatever treatment was scheduled for her that day.

Thanking Jesus. Now isn’t that truly what our response to Christmas is truly about?

It is not about gifts, no matter the cost. It is not about Christmas cards in the mail or email. It is not about eating too much on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

It is truly about thanking God for coming to us and saving us.

Join us tonight at Saint Matthew’s as we thank our Lord for coming to us. See you at 8:00pm.

As we mentioned in a earlier news post, our Saturday Night Divine Service will go on as scheduled this evening at 5:00pm.

However, after discussing the snowstorm situation, we’ve decided to cancel church tomorrow morning. Traveling conditions will be worse than treacherous in the morning. With the storm starting later than was expected, the storm is going to stick around a lot longer. In addition, snow totals for our Bergen County area have been upped to nearly 15 inches. Clearing that amount of snow from the church will be impossible.

If you read this in time, please come to church this evening.

The sad part about canceling our worship service tomorrow is that it was scheduled to be our Children’s Christmas Program.

This is the second year in the row when weather has played havoc for our Sunday School program.

REMINDER – church is being held this evening at 5:00pm. Please join us.

Earlier today, weather forecasters said that the pending snowstorm would start around 11am, noon at the outside. However, as anyone can tell, it only really started in New Milford around 2:00pm.

Therefore, our Saturday Night Divine Service will be held its normal 5:00pm start time.

Tomorrow, that’s another story. According to Accuweather.com, the storm is taking its sweet time getting formed and is moving very slowly. Stay tuned to the blog for updates on tomorrow.

Good morning — due to the impending snowstorm/blizzard ready to wallop our region this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow, please be aware that WE MAY CANCEL our  Saturday Night Divine Service this evening at 5pm.

As pastor, I don’t come to this conclusion easily. I hate to cancel church.

But the snow is scheduled to start falling this morning and only pick up in intensity throughout the afternoon into tonight, ending sometime tomorrow morning. Traveling is going to extremely hazardous this afternoon and tonight; travel on Sunday morning is still up in the air, depending how the road crews clear the snow.

The only consideration for canceling the service tonight is due to travel conditions on the roads. Please keep an eye on this blog as we come close to a decision regarding our Saturday Night Divine Service.

Sunday Divine Service is still on.

I don’t post enough information regarding what our Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod is dealing with on a daily basis. In an effort to change that misstep, here is the latest news release from the Synod:

Kieschnick responds to Blue Ribbon Task Force report
By Linda C. Hoops

Believing that the delegates to next year’s Synod convention have a “right to hear and that I have a duty to share my thoughts, affirmations, concerns, and recommendations” on the report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance, Synod President Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick issued an eight-page response to the report Dec. 1.

His response and the 50-page task force report, released in late October, are on the LCMS Web site at http://www.lcms.org/lcmsfuture.

Kieschnick provided the rationale for the formation and work of the task force in a March 1, 2005, pastoral letter.

“There is a great need for a thorough and fundamental review of what our Synod is, how it is organized, and how it functions.  What was first created as an organizational system for a Synod made up of a small number of congregations (14) now struggles to serve more than 6,150 congregations.”

The task force was asked to suggest a philosophy and form of structure and governance for the decades ahead that is “appropriately representative, incorporates sufficient checks and balances, and is not cumbersome or excessively complex. It should facilitate maximum operating efficiency on behalf of and in support of the members and congregations of our Synod in accomplishing the mission of our Lord and His church.”

In his response to the final report, Kieschnick thanked the task force for its “faithful and extensive work over the past four and one-half years,” then evaluated the task force recommendations and indicated his level of support for each.

One of the major recommendations coming out of the report calls for the elimination of the Synod’s seven program boards and two of its six commissions.  Stating that the “structure of the national Synod has evolved over the years into a complex and inefficient system that is perceived as unresponsive to the needs of the congregations,” the task force report recommends consolidating the eliminated boards and commissions into two advisory commissions, one for National Mission and one for International Mission.

The senior staff members in these two commissions would be directly accountable to a chief mission officer, who would be accountable to the Synod president.

In his response, Kieschnick cites several examples of problems he has personally encountered in the current Synod structure, including budget-management issues and boards working independently of each other and not collaboratively.

Kieschnick supports the recommendation to eliminate the current boards and commissions, stating it would solve the problems of supervision and accountability within the Synod structure.  But he also says that having the chief mission officer accountable to him “could be seen as concentration of excessive authority in the office of the Synod president.  That is neither the task force’s intention nor my desire.”

Instead, he says a plan that would consolidate the current program boards and commissions into two boards (the Board for National Mission and the Board for International Mission), instead of two advisory commissions, “is worthy of consideration.”

“My primary concern in this matter is to improve the system that currently exists while also ensuring that the task force recommendation would properly and adequately satisfy my request and the Synod’s need for provision of appropriate checks and balances,” he writes.

He also states that “assigning to the president the direct or indirect responsibility to supervise the day-to-day work of the employees of the Synod and allowing the president a method of intervention should either board violate the constitution, bylaws, or resolutions of the Synod,” should be considered.

Kieschnick expresses support for the recommendations made in the first three sections of the report, which deal with amending the Synod’s constitution, the voting rights of individuals and congregations, and the restoration of circuits to the purpose for which they were originally intended, stating, “Circuits are so important for the health and well-being of congregations and ministers of the Gospel.”

In the fourth section, which discusses districts and congregations, he cautions that a proposed future study of district reconfiguration “would need to be conducted with great sensitivity to the tradition and history of each of the 35 districts of the Synod.”

He favors the creation of a separate category for commissioned ministers to serve as voting delegates to district and Synod conventions that would not reduce the number of lay or pastoral delegates, but he does not support a recommendation that would give congregations with more than 1,000 communicant members two extra votes at district conventions, stating, “It does not appear to be contributing to a greater spirit of harmony in our Synod.”

Kieschnick supports the task force recommendation in section five that calls for the establishment of five national regions to provide more effective representation of congregations across the Synod on the Praesidium (president and vice presidents) and Board of Directors of the Synod.

“Only one Synod vice president currently lives west of the Mississippi River.  He lives in St. Louis, only 20 miles west of that river,” Kieschnick writes in his response.  ”Since regular visitation of all 35 districts by the Synod president is virtually impossible, I support this recommendation, which would enable congregations to nominate vice presidents from their region.”

In section six of the task force report, Kieschnick views as “excellent” a recommendation that would allot to each district a proportionate share of the fixed number of Synod convention delegates based on the district’s percentage of the total congregations and communicants.

The task force had recommended that the number of delegates be reduced to 650, from the current number of 1,250 voting delegates and 350 advisory delegates.

“While the specific number of national convention delegates recommended by the task force would result in significant cost savings to congregations, careful consideration should be given to whether 650 delegates would provide sufficiently broad representation of congregations to national conventions,” Kieschnick comments.

He also supports the task force recommendation for a quadrennial convention cycle for circuit and district theological convocations and district and Synod conventions.

In the conclusion to his response, Kieschnick writes, “It is my prayer that the work of the task force and the decisions ultimately made by the Synod in convention will result in a system of structure and governance for our beloved Synod that will result in greater efficiency and effectiveness in accomplishing the mission our Lord has given His church.”

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As I have said and written, my biggest fear about this governance change is how congregations, especially small to medium congregations, are going to be treated. When the Synod reduces the number of delegates to the national convention, thus reducing the numbers of delegates from each district, it is guaranteed that large churches will have “more of a say” in who represents a district at convention.

Now, this is not to say that I don’t have other issues with the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s report. I feel that more worked needed to be done in explaining the cost rebalancing of the Synod, the districts, and our individual congregations. I fear that costs are going to be pressed upon our districts, causing a lot of heartache on congregations struggling to pay annual commitments.

Scientists have detected a planet some 247 Trillion miles away from Earth that apparently has similar characteristics of our home planet (it may have water) and could possibly sustain life (because it is possible that is has water).

This “Super Earth” is 247 TRILLION miles away (scientists contend this is relatively close to us), yet those who spend a lot of time looking into the sky can hypothesize that it has water, has temperatures that rise in the daytime up to 250 degrees, is a heavier planet than Earth, and it has an “extraordinarily deep ocean.”

Did you catch the point that this planet is 247 TRILLION miles away? Scientists can barely see to the bottom of our oceans (a distance that is a lot closer than 247 TRILLION miles), yet they hypothesize with some certainty that a planet 247 TRILLION miles away has a deep ocean and you’ll need a lot of sun screen if you pay a visit.

Without a sliver of doubt, people will readily accept this hypothesis while at the same time, they’ll go toe-to-toe with me regarding the true meaning of Christmas and doubt Jesus’ birth.

Good warmer than usual Tuesday morning!

Last night, our Voters’ Body finalized our 2010 church calendar. A copy of it will be available in our weekly “Saint Matthew’s Matters” announcement section in our bulletin beginning on December 27th.

One of the most challenging parts of the church is trying to keep to a calendar. Sometimes, events that are scheduled for a particular day and time are moved. It isn’t because we want to change what we’ve announced; there are times when other events force us to move what we’ve scheduled. And when these times pop up, sadly many times, people miss that we made these changes. We apologize to anyone who has had this happen to them. Please believe that we’re trying to take greater strides to ensure that these mistakes are minimized, if not eliminated, in the future.

As such:

A couple of months ago, Saint Matthew’s started using Google Calendar in conjunction with our schedule page here on the site. Since we already keep our church calendar (and my “Pastor’s Calendar”) in Google and they offer to imbed these calendars on websites, it made more sense to move in this direction. With Google Calendar, we’re able to update the calendar over in our Google account and instantly those changes are reflected on our church website. It makes is easier all around.

The issue of communication is important. We’ve tried to keep an electronic newsletter through Constant Contact, an email marketing service. The biggest problem with Constant Contact is that, for $20 a month, it wasn’t worth the hassle of designing, writing, and coordinating a weekly newsletter. Each week, we kept putting it off and eventually, we let our account sit idle.

I will make an admission here – I paid the monthly charge for this account; Saint Matthew’s didn’t pay a dime. But since the account was not being used, it made little sense to keep it.

This is not to say we’re sitting on our duffs. We are trying to craft an electronic newsletter while establishing an electronic communications policy. We’re working on a number of programs to see which ones would best serve Saint Matthew’s.

One of these programs is being tested right now. Over in the right column of this blog, you’ll see a box that is entitled “SUBSCRIBE.” There you can subscribe to this blog either by RSS feed or by email. The email link is the important one – each day, you’ll receive an email with a list of updated posts from this blog. Now, the reason this is a test is that we’re planning on putting this email subscription on our announcements page. On those days we update our announcement page, you’ll receive an email from us telling you about the changes.

On the church’s side, this makes our life easier. When we update the page, you’ll receive an email. We do not have open another program and create a special email to send — it is sent to everyone on the list when we update it. Hypothetically, let’s say we have a special Youth dinner scheduled for a Saturday night, but the weather forecaster says that it is going to snow and we postpone this event until the next week. When we update our announcement page with this information, you’ll receive an email from the church telling you about the change.

Simple. Easy. Direct. Free.

Of course, there are many here at Saint Matthew’s who do not use a computer or the internet. We’ll still have our telephone chain ready to go when these calendar issues warrant.

Music as a good gift of God is, according to Luther, “the handmaiden of theology and second only to theology.” As such, music in the church serves God’s Word by appropriately carrying truths to the hearts and minds of the church. Such music is a well-ordered discipline that truly helps the church “breathe the air of heaven” (Athanasius), by actually lifting her to that which is holy, “separate.” Music then becomes an integral part of the confession of the faith through hymns, liturgical music, and choral music — all proclaiming Christ by means of this good gift.

Today at Saint Matthew’s, we held our annual Festival of Lessons and Carols Divine Service. As one would expect, it was a joyous morning as we heard the Word of God, responded in song, and then receiving from God what we all long and hope for — the forgiveness of sins, receiving this reality through the Lord’s Supper.

It was a wonderful morning.

The words that top this post come from the Concordia Theological Seminary website on their page describing the music of the church as a servant of God. And isn’t that true? Music has always been a central part of the worship life of God’s church as we respond to the magnificent gifts of love, mercy, and forgiveness given us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The singing in the church only grows during the coming days as we continue through Advent, leading up to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. At Saint Matthew’s, our youth Christmas program will be held next Sunday, and during that Divine Service, we will sing many of the church’s favorite Christmas carols and hymns. It is sure to be a blessed next couple of weeks in church.

Getting up early on a Sunday morning is a blessing, especially today. Today we celebrate the Advent season with our annual Festival of Lessons and Carols Divine Service. Our choral friends from Saint Paul’s in Closter will join us for this wonderful time of hearing the Word and responding in song, all of which is wrapped up in a nice bow as we receive the Supper of Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.

A wonderful Sunday is on tap at Saint Matthew’s!

This morning, our joint choirs will practice beginning at 8:30, and since I am singing, I have to be there. Somehow, I have to skip out on part of the practice in order to help with our Sunday School Christmas program practice. And in between both, I have to meet with a member in my office (don’t worry, this is not a bad meeting). At 10am, our Divine Service kicks off. It is surely a busy morning on my docket.

(For the rest of this article, please click over to my personal blog)

As a reminder, our Saturday Night Divine Service begins at 5:00pm.

And unlike Sunday mornings where I babble on with pre-service announcements for about 8 minutes, on Saturday nights, that doesn’t happen.

See you tonight.

Or tomorrow morning – we hold our annual Festival of Lessons and Carols Divine Service beginning at 10:00am Sunday.

Happy cold Friday!

Just wanted to announce that I am taking most of the afternoon off. I have been burning the candle at both ends these last couple of weeks. I need a tiny bit of time to unwind and recharge.

Someone asked me why it seems that I never go on vacation. I said it doesn’t seem that way, it is a reality. Since July 2006, I haven’t taken any time off. Everyone tells me the great benefits of taking time to recharge those batteries so when lots of work comes along, I’ll be able to tackle it.

I tend to view my “batteries” more like my iPhone battery. Everyday, as this wonderful piece of technology zaps battery power rather quickly, it needs recharging. An hour or so does the trick for at least five, six hours. Right now, I am very similar. Give me a couple of hours of downtime, I’ll be fine.

But I’ve been putting off this downtime for a while. So, this afternoon, from around 3pm on, I am officially off the clock.

With all my PayPal issues today, I pushed off writing about a rather important topic: religion.

It appears as though Americans are generally dabblers when it comes to God and faith. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Americans are generally syncretists. In a nutshell, syncretists are those who mash all different religions and faiths together. As Lutherans, we shake our heads at syncretists since they don’t stand for anything. With syncretism, all faiths are equal, all beliefs have some truth, and all ways of worship are legitimate.

Or as I like to put it, syncretism is the God-version of a restaurant’s “kitchen sink” menu item.

As a Lutheran pastor, but mostly as a Christian, this poll frightened, but also emboldened, me. We are living in a time when a generic understanding of God is winning the day, and when we have a generic god in the hearts and minds of people, the true God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is not being believed in. When our trust is in an “all-purpose” deity that is NOT the Triune God, we Christians should be saddened, but also it should make us strong.

This story signals that more and more of God’s people are falling away from Him. They are turning against Him and accepting false gods and false ideas. But this worry should embolden each us to continue to proclaim Christ Jesus as Savior of the world. We should pray for strength to evangelize, to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, and as Lutherans, the truth is found in the Word of God — it is only through the blood of Christ that we are saved. This truth needs to be sounded in our lives.

Of course, today had to be nutty. I was due.

As I wrote earlier today, my day started off dealing with a PayPal issue. Afterwards, my day seemed relatively quiet, until the phone calls started. One after another, the phone constantly ringing with one issue on top of the other. This afternoon, my schedule got completely squashed, forcing me to push my scheduled visits back a day. Now my Friday afternoon is going to be a hectic mess.

Thankfully, the phone calls eventually ceased.

But I was playing around with this blog while I was waiting for a couple of return phone calls (I had nothing better to do since I was chained to my desk). I fixed up the monthly archive page, eliminated the sidebar archive (just click on the monthly archive page), cleaned up the entire sidebar by straightening out the Goodsearch box, and some other minor tweaks that I have been thinking about. The RSS feed is a work in progress, though the email subscription link works fine.

Then I went home to make a cup of coffee (haven’t you heard – coffee and beer is good for preventing prostate cancer) and work in the home office. Of course, the phone calls followed me. I also have three return and two “checking up on you” phone calls to make. I also have to finalize our Saturday night service by tomorrow, finalize my sermon study, write my sermon, write the prayers for this weekend, fix up my service book (I keep a printed copy of my service preparatory and sermon notes for my records), and come to some kind of conclusion about whether or not to move the home phone from Optimum Voice to my cell phone plan, or just eliminate the phone line altogether. I think I will bring this one up at Monday’s Voter’s Meeting.

Speaking of the Voter’s Meeting on Monday beginning at 7:00pm in the Upper Classroom, our big topic is going to be the 2010 church calendar. I hopefully will prepare some kind of worksheet that will make the scheduling go more orderly. The sad part of this meeting is that I was offered the opportunity to attend Monday’s Rangers’ tussle at the Garden, but due to the Voter’s Meeting, I will miss it. Maybe there will be a next time…

Otherwise, I’ve decided to spend the rest of this Thursday at home finishing up everything that has crossed my desk this week. I need to make my Friday as less-stressful as possible since traditionally, it is my sermon writing day. Considering that I do not have a good clue as to what my sermon is going to be about as we celebrate Advent with our annual Festival of Lessons and Carols, tomorrow’s writing time should be interesting.

Aaarrgghh!

One of the great benefits of waking up early is that I can get a lot of ‘tasks’ out of the way. For instance, I can read the newspapers, whether the electronic editions or the physical paper-ones. I can get ready for the day before the sun rises in the sky. If I am so inclined , I can watch infomercials (who doesn’t want one of those Shark vacuum cleaners or that Mr. T infrared cooker?).

Mostly, I get caught up on my upcoming day by flipping through email, preparing and checking my calendar, and yes, I read the newspapers. This morning as I was in the middle of reading the electronic edition of the New York Post, I received three emails from PayPal to my Gmail account. The Growl notification in the upper corner of my computer screen read that my payment had been made.

Payment?

For what?

(more…)

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been re-introducing myself to the blessedness known as the writings of C.F.W. Walther, the first president of our Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, a man who is most needed today in our church.

In his Nineteenth Evening Lecture, he reminds us of the matter of conversion. Today, many “born again” Christians and other Protestants stress the importance of “accepting Jesus in your heart” as proof of faith. Many of them can tell you the specific time and place they “accepted” Jesus, and with that acceptance, it proves that their Christian faith is alive.

We Lutherans counter this argument with a deeper understanding of faith and conversion — it is all an act of God. As Luther tells us in his explanation to the Third Article, without the Holy Spirit, we would never be able to accept and believe and come to Jesus Christ, our Lord.

How can we, as mere sinners, accept and believe something so holy and wonderful without God working in our minds and hearts by His Holy Spirit? The time and day of conversion means little as long as the faith is real, borne of God and strengthened by Him through Word and Sacrament.

Walther clearly expresses the conversion argument in a bold way — conversion is the turning from death to life.

And how, dear sinner, can you turn yourself around? Only by God and His work, both at the cross where the Son of God paid our sin debt, and by the Holy Spirit who turns our hearts from unbelief to belief in Him who died for us.

Now, it is indeed, true that conversion does not require a day or an hour, but only a moment. For according to the Holy Scriptures it is nothing else than the quickening out of spiritual death unto spiritual life, or the turning out of the broad way leading netherward and into the narrow way leading upward, or the transfer from the kingdom of the devil to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.