Saint Matthew's

The following is a statement released by the LCMS regarding the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s recent vote on allowing homosexual clergy)

The two largest Lutheran church bodies in the United States are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with 4.8 million members and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) with 2.4 million members.

On Friday, Aug. 21, the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to open the ministry of the ELCA to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in “committed relationships.” In an earlier action, the assembly approved a resolution that commits the ELCA “to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships.”

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has repeatedly affirmed as its own position the historical understanding of the Christian church that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior as “intrinsically sinful.” It is therefore contrary to the will of the Creator and constitutes sin against the commandments of God (Lev. 18:22, 24,20:13: 1 Cor. 6:9-20; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and Rom. 1:26, 27).

Addressing the ELCA assembly on Saturday, Aug. 22, I responded to their aforementioned actions, stating: “The decisions by this assembly to grant non-celibate homosexual ministers the privilege of serving as rostered leaders in the ELCA and the affirmation of same-gender unions as pleasing to God will undoubtedly cause additional stress and disharmony within the ELCA. It will also negatively affect the relationships between our two church bodies. The current division between our churches threatens to become a chasm. This grieves my heart and the hearts of all in the ELCA, the LCMS, and other Christian church bodies throughout the world who do not see these decisions as compatible with the Word of God, or in agreement with the consensus of 2,000 years of Christian theological affirmation regarding what Scripture teaches about human sexuality. Simply stated, this matter is fundamentally related to significant differences in how we [our two church bodies] understand the authority of Holy Scripture and the interpretation of God’s revealed and infallible Word.”

Doctrinal decisions adopted already in 2001 led the LCMS, in sincere humility and love, to declare that we could no longer consider the ELCA “to be an orthodox Lutheran church body” (2001 Res 3-21A). Sadly, the decisions of this past week to ignore biblical teaching on human sexuality have reinforced that conclusion. We respect the desire to follow conscience in moral decision making, but conscience may not overrule the Word of God.

We recognize that many brothers and sisters within the ELCA, both clergy and lay, are committed to remaining faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, are committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, and strongly oppose these actions. To them we offer our assurance of loving encouragement together with our willingness to provide appropriate support in their efforts to remain faithful to the Word of God and the historic teachings of the Lutheran church and all other Christian churches for the past 2,000 years.

Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, President

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

“Transforming lives through Christ’s love … in time … for eternity …” John 3:16-17

This afternoon, I attended the wake for the young woman I wrote about in my post on Saturday. Her husband, Greg, met me at the funeral parlor at around 1:30. As you can imagine, he was pretty broken up. Family and friends slowly filled the funeral home as people kept saying that Jennifer was “too young to die” or “why would God give her such a terrible disease.”

I tried my best during the period I had to lead the assembled in prayer (and through a little homily) to dispel the notion that our God is a mean God. When we are grief stricken and heart broken, the easy thing to do is to blame God for the tears. Instead of looking to our God for comfort, we tend to go to the blame game and God is the only culprit.

We want our loved ones near us and when they die, a void is left in our lives. But it is God who provides comfort. It is God who pulls us close to Him during these times of grief and gives us the blessed reminder of His love through Christ. When our lives end, we believe firmly in the promise of God that He will call us to Him for all eternity. Faith in Him, borne of God, is what leads us home.

As a child of God, born of water and of Spirit, our prayer and hope is that Jennifer is with her Lord.

I left the funeral home a little bit after 3 and arrived home a half hour later. For the rest of the afternoon, I was shaken by the sadness in that room. I’ve done numerous funerals in my short ministry, but today the tears and the sadness really got to me. It is times like this when I am feeling really blue that I wish I was married just so I can tell someone and let everything I am feeling out. It is just so hard to explain to friends how I am feeling when I face situations like this; as someone who is supposed to keep it altogether, how can I tell a friend just how bad I feel?

So, I don’t. Instead, I collapse into a shell, not responding to phone calls, emails, or text messages. I end  up sitting down and sometimes crying.

It was a little bit before 7 when my phone rang. It was Greg. He asked me if I would come to tonight’s wake to “do what I did this afternoon.” I got ready and headed off twenty minutes later.

When I arrived at the funeral home, the place was packed. The line to get into the room stretched down the hallway. Jennifer touched the lives of many people and tonight, her friends and acquaintances wanted to pay their final respects to her. At around 8:15, the funeral director asked me to come forward to lead the overflow crowd in prayer. I spoke the briefest of homilies, of which it will lead into my sermon tomorrow morning where I will speak of the resurrection.

At 9, when I snaked my way through the now-smaller crowd, Greg’s father tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to come back to his son’s house. We arrived at the house around 9:30. Greg pulled me aside, offered me a glass of water (he was surprised when I took a beer instead), and asked me some questions about the funeral. I explained that since we were not going to a church for the funeral service, we would do most of the service in the funeral home, about 2/3rds. The final third is the committal, which takes place at grave side.

When I finished my beer around 10, I figured it was time for me go. I went up to Greg, who was speaking with his best friend and best man at his wedding, Evan, and said, “Good night.” Greg, looking lost, responded with the same “Good night.” But he added a short story.

A couple of months ago, he and Jennifer made plans to spend a couple of days in New York City. They only lived in Nyack, but they felt it would be fun to spend time in the city at a hotel and take in the sights for just a day or two.

One of the sights they wanted to take in was tonight’s Bon Jovi concert at the Garden. He pulled the tickets from his shirt pocket and broke down crying. He said he forgot all about them until he came home tonight. He went into his dresser drawer looking for a clean shirt; the tickets were in the envelope that lined the bottom of the drawer. After telling me the story and starting to cry, he collapsed into my arms and we both stumbled down to the floor. First we crashed into the side of a corner table near the couch, which caused the lamp on the table to fall to the floor and shatter. My back was a little worse for wear, but I was OK as I left.

I arrived home at around 10:40 with my back hurting a lot. It got rather uncomfortable driving down Route 9W. When I got home and went upstairs to change, I noticed that pieces of the shattered lamp were in my hair. Also, I realized that my left rib cage is hurting and aching. I think I will have a heck of bruise there tomorrow morning.

However, a bruise on my rib cage is not what is bothering me tonight.

It is that I feel so downright crappy.

This morning in the Wall Street Journal (yes, I read the Journal; I stopped reading the New York Times because of their terribly biased reporting), Suzanne Sataline reports that a conservative legal group is looking for clergy people to join them in challenging the IRS and their “clergy rule” that grants tax exempt status to churches as long as they prohibit political sermons and actions from the pulpit.

In a nutshell, on September 28th, this group wants clergy people to stand up and engage in partisan activity to challenge this rule.

Well, they won’t be getting support from me.

If pastors and other clergy people want to be politicians, then they should get out of the pulpit.

Maybe I’ve lost my mind, but clergy people are supposed to preach Christ crucified, not “support candidate X.”

This morning, I had an interesting conversation. When I told the person that on Monday, I had lunch with a friend at a bar, he excoriated me for actually stepping into an establishment that serves alcohol. You could only imagine his shock when I told him that I was at another bar last Tuesday night and even another on Saturday night. I thought he was going to keel over!!

Clergy people are real people. As I’ve written before, we didn’t give up being human beings when we were ordained. Do we have an obligation to uphold standards that would not degrade our ordination vows? Of course. But it doesn’t mean we can’t go to lunch with a friend and eat a chicken club sandwich with a Dr. Pepper that just so happened to be served in a bar.

Yes, for my lunch on Monday I drank a Dr. Pepper … in a bar.

However, on Saturday and Tuesday, I did partake in an adult beverage … or two.

Earlier this afternoon, I spoke with a local resident who was basically stunned that I took out that plastic tab in my clerical collar when I was standing online to pay for a bottle of water.

See, sometimes my neck itches, so I scratch it. In order to properly scratch my neck, I take out the plastic tab and unbutton the collar and then I proceed to stop the itch. Apparently, my “undressing” at 7-Eleven was too much for him to bear. 

He said that his priest would never lower himself by taking off his Godly clothes while in public. He “explained” that I should be more understanding about what it means to be a holy man of God. He actually told me that I stopped being a regular person when I was ordained.

I told him I didn’t stop being a human being on June 25, 2005 when I was ordained into the Holy Ministry. I “explained” to him that pastors, priests, and other assorted “holy people” are normal people underneath all those black clothes we wear. I told him I sometimes like to drink “adult beverages,” watch sports, go out with friends and people of the opposite sex, and even go to rated R movies. And when I told him I was thinking of going to a bar on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl, I think the little hairs on the back of his neck got tingly – he walked away.

So, I was wondering, am I normal?

[via Hot Air blog]

This is one of those "You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me" moments that should make every Episcopalian – and members of their fellowship, including the ELCA – really, really angry.

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.

On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.

She does both, she says, because she’s Christian and Muslim.

Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she’s ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she’s also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

What?

Memo to Rev(?) Redding: YOU CAN’T BE A CHRISTIAN AND A MUSLIM AT THE SAME TIME.

This issue makes me more angry than the Episcopal Church in America approving of an actively homosexual clergy because the church, for if it continues to condone this heresy, will show that it stands for absolutely nothing. It has already disrespected God’s Word by completely ignoring it when it comes to homosexual unions and an actively homosexual clergy, among other things. But if they condone this action, they’d not only be  throwing God’s Word out, they will be using it as toilet paper.

You cannot be a Christian and a Muslim. The basic tenets of either faith are completely different. One says Christ saves; the other says Allah saves the good ones who follow his law. One says that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the other says Allah is the supreme being. One promotes the freedom won by Christ; the other promotes slavery to the law. It is apples and screwdrivers, not even in the same ballpark.

This is just sickening. Say a prayer for Mrs. Redding for clarity of faith.

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“We are being pushed toward a decision by impatient forces within and outside this church who hunger for clarity. That hunger for clarity at all costs is an anxious response to discomfort in the face of change which characterizes all of life,” she said. “The impatience we’re now experiencing is an idol — a false hope that is unwilling to wait on God for clarity.”

The words of American Episcopal Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori. Her church in America and her Anglican union internationally are being split apart by what her church has been doing: ordaining and consecrating homosexual clergy.

Jefferts Schori says that those within the Anglican Union are impatient, waiting for the American Episcopal Church to “get with the program” and move away from ordaining and consecrating homosexual clergy. She calls the impatience a kind of idol worship.

No. The impatient are trying to cling to God’s Word. They are trying their hardest to hold onto whatever they have left of God’s blessed and magnificent Word. God’s Word is clear – homosexuality is a sin. As God’s children, we condemn the sin. Not just the sin of homosexuality, but all sin. And we do so because that is what our Lord wants.

He wants us to preach His Word that condemns our sinfulness and proclaim His love through Jesus Christ. We preach the Gospel. We preach Christ crucified. For our Lord Jesus came to save the sinner, of which all of us are. The forgiveness of God is ours through Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

But even though our sins are forgiven, the church must continue to stand in God’s Word. To change what God says is sinful to make people feel more comfortable in their sinfulness is wrong. When we do that, we fail to cling the blessings found in God’s Word. We turn our backs on it. We ignore the reality that our Lord Jesus humbled Himself to become one of us to die for our sins. If we minimize how we preach and condemn sin, then we minimize the work of our Lord Jesus Christ in His suffering and death.

We will not do that.

We should pray that the Episcopal Church in America returns to Word of God and clings to it like a life raft.

It is no secret that Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter, Mary, is a lesbian, and she is pregnant.

This has caused certain "evangelicals" to criticize Mary’s lifestyle and that she is going to raise a child in a non-traditional "mom and dad" home. Even TV reporters have questioned the Vice President about this. He rightfully told the reporter that he was stepping over a line.

The church should always oppose homosexuality because God’s Word says so. This is not done because we hate, but because the God of love who created us tells us to. It is not hateful for the church to say that something opposes God. It is loving. We don’t want our brothers and sisters to live lives of sin. That is why we cannot water down our teachings or lessen our hold on the Word of God.

But what this topic boils down to is sin. The church is supposed to oppose sin, not matter the form. The church doesn’t promote pre-marital sex. We preach that it is wrong. Why? God’s Word tells us that sex between partners is only supposed to be between a wife and husband. Any kind of sex between a boyfriend and girlfriend is wrong. Sex between non-married partners of any age is wrong. And the church can’t change this teaching. However, we don’t throw couples out of the church who are having sex before marriage. We teach the importance of God’s Word and the importance of understanding of fighting our internal mechanism that causes us to sin. And when we fail, the church says, we sinners go to our God and repent and ask for forgiveness.

When we Christians oppose a particular lifestyle or action of our fellow sinners, we don’t oppose it because we hate. On the contrary, our opposition is one of love. God’s Word provides a blessed explanation of what sinfulness is. And as we read the Word, we find that all of us are sinners and are in need of a savior. We are to cling to the cross of Christ and ask our Lord for the forgiveness that Jesus won for humanity through His blessed life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

As Christians, one of the things that we aren’t supposed to do is stand in judgment of others. When Christian leaders go on TV or speak to reporters about Mary Cheney and her pregnancy and then be critical of her, they have lost sight of a most important aspect of our lives as Christians – we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Or we are to love our neighbor as our Lord Jesus loved us when He humbled Himself to come to earth to die for our sins. Our Lord didn’t just come to die for the sins of those righteous, church-going, Bible-thumpers — He came to die for all the sins of the world, including the sin of homosexuality and sin of sex outside of marriage. Christian leaders, while being firm against sin, cannot attack the sinner. We are to reject the sin, but love the sinner.

How about this – today in your prayers, say a prayer for Mary and her unborn child. Ask our Father in heaven to guard and protect mother and child during the months of pregnancy. Most especially we should pray that when Mary’s child is born, she is led to the waters of Holy Baptism.

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Pat Robertson, one of America’s favorite evangelical preachers (think: TV’s “The 700 Club”), has come up with a new one: God has apparently told him that there is going to be a terrorist attack somewhere and lots of people are going to die. He doesn’t want to say the word “nuclear,” but the implication was there.

Again, if God is going to tell someone of a pending terrorist attack, why wouldn’t He tell someone who can do something about it, like the President? But to tell Rev. Robertson, one who loves his TV time? Please.

Also, God’s mouthpiece said the Almighty doesn’t like that the U.S. is literally faking its friendship with Israel and our lack of support will mean that Israel is in trouble.

Name a country in the world who backs Israel as much as the U.S. does. Rev. Robertson.

This type of political fear-mongering by a “man of God” is not helpful.

Last weekend, a Missouri Synod pastor in Michigan decided to resign his call and attempt to gain entrance into the Eastern Orthodox Church. From what he wrote on his personal blog, Rev. Fr. John Fenton had serious doubts over certain theological and doctrinal stances of the Synod. If a pastor doesn’t believe what he vowed to do in his ordination – to uphold the unaltered Book of Concord - it is probably for the best that he stop being a Lutheran pastor.

His congregation decided that Fenton’s move was just his own: they are remaining as a church in the LCMS. They are now vacant and are looking for a new pastor to lead them.

What this shows us is something very important: the pastor does not rule with a strong arm over a congregation. The role of the pastor is much different than that of a CEO. As Christ’s undershepherd, the pastor is to lead Christ’s sheep in a true understanding and exposition of the Word of God, to present the holy gifts of God to His people in Word and Sacrament, and to teach. The pastor isn’t supposed to tell a church congregation how to spend their money or what ministries that are to receive additional funds. No, the pastor is to guide and teach the importance of good stewardship of the blessings that God has bestowed upon His people.

And from this teaching, the congregation should rightly decide to use their gifts to the glory of God. Yes, sometimes the pastor does get involved with financial issues and the planning of future church ministry endeavors. But the decision to go forward with these ministries and how to fund them is up to the congregation.

That is an important aspect of our understanding of church: the congregation rules. They make the decisions as to how the church is run. For example, a couple of years ago when Saint Matthew’s was told by its pastor, Rev. Jack Wangerin, that he was going to retire, it was the congregation who worked with the New Jersey District to formulate a plan for the future. Working with the district, Saint Matthew’s had a choice to make – it could go to the seminaries and request a graduate or start the call process to seek a new leader from the current field of pastors in churches. It was the congregation who made the decision to go to the seminary and request a candidate. Saint Matthew’s congregation could have decided to try and call a pastor from the field. But they decided to go to the seminary. (And as the one who received the call to serve here at Saint Matthew’s, I’m thankful that the Holy Spirit led them that way!)

That is why when I read stories about pastors leaving their churches for other pastures, I always worry more about the people who are left behind. Rev. Fr. Fenton’s former parish in Michigan decided that their Lutheran identity and beliefs are more important than following their former leader to the Orthodox Church. For that, all of us should thank God.

Sadly, Rev. Fr. Fenton made his decision public just days before the celebration of Reformation. On that day back in 1517, God’s church started the process of returning the freedom won by Christ at the cross back to God’s children. It is a day we should all hold dear – and not just because we are Lutherans! I am glad the members of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Detroit decided to stand up for that Christ-won freedom.

Coming on the heels of a letter Saint Matthew’s and other churches have received from "Americans United for Separation of Church and State," this morning’s Los Angels Times has a front-page story showing that some pastors are rallying the troops to go out and vote for the Republican tickets in their states and communities.

Again, while I think the Americans United group is a farce for their oververt agenda to drive faith out of the public square, for pastors to use their pulpits or churches as "get out the vote" centers for any political movement is plain wrong. This goes for pastors who want to drive people to the polls to pull levers or punch cards or push buttons for Republican or Democrat candidates. Here in New Jersey, the last governor’s election was highlighted by Governor Jon Corzine using some of his wealth to get pastors in certain urban communities to pull out votes him on Election Day. 

This isn’t a zing on Corzine – it is a rip on those pastors who think they should play political kingpins.

I’ve said it before – pastors are not politicians. We are God’s undershepherds. We preach Christ crucified and help lead His children onto the pathway of truth. We baptize and marry. We comfort in times of pain. We teach in the various ways using new technology to spread the Good News as far into this world as we can.

I’m not here to preach "vote for candidate A." I’m here to preach that salvation is found in Christ Jesus alone.

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“It is he who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”
From Psalm 100

As I am sitting here in my hotel room preparing for this afternoon’s wedding, I opened today’s worship bulletin and read through Psalm 100 that will serve as our psalmody.

I have found in my short time in the Office that it is so easy for us pastors to forget this most important point. Sometimes, we think of ourselves in a sort of glorified way. WE are the pastors; YOU are the people. And when this occurs, there is that temptation to make a clear separation from us “holy men” from “those sinners” who fill churches throughout the world.

For me, I have always been humble and as of yet haven’t forgotten the role I serve in: servant. I bring God’s gifts to His people. I serve Him by showing compassion and love for His sheep. But in all that I do I cannot forget that I am one of those “people” of God. It is only because of Christ I am who I am. When I am weak and succumb to sin, it is toward Christ I crawl seeking forgiveness. My “glorified” title gets me nothing in front of our God but a greater judgment if I misuse the gifts of God; if I treat His people with disdain; and if I fail to be His people’s under-shepherd.

So I tackle each day with a humbled heart, remembering all that our God has done for you and me. I ponder the words of Holy Scripture and plead with our Father in heaven to forgive me for all those times I have failed — all those times my faith has been weakened by sin and world. I pray that when these times of weakness come that the Holy Spirit would come to me and fill me and keep my eyes on the cross of Christ.

There is no “us” versus “you” when it comes to clergy and people. Or at least there shouldn’t be. We are all people of God, loved and graciously forgiven by our God who loves us, not because we are so wonderful but because of God Himself: His Holy Spirit keeping us focused on Christ and building faith in Him alone.

There is no way to describe this as anything by wrong.

The Presbyterian Church is attempting to make the Trinity inclusive by completely rejecting the Trinity. What do I mean? By claiming God the Father is actually God the Mother and God the Son is actually God the child of the Mother and that the Holy Spirit is the Womb makes a mockery of the Holy Trinity.

The reality of why God the Father begat God the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeded from God the Father and God the Son is specific to what we believe. Just a couple of weeks ago, we confessed the Athanasian Creed that outlined who the Trinity is. And nowhere in that Creed was God the Father described as God the Mother.

Again, we have Protestants moving away from the comfort found in the Word of God to make people today feel good. God’s Word, when upheld in all its truth and purity, is the comforting Word where God’s love is shown through His actions. Why can’t other Christians just accept that as it is.

“The public ministry (Predigtamt) has the power to preach the Gospel and administer the holy sacraments as well as the power of spiritual judgment.” Church and Ministry, Thesis V, Dr. C.F.W. Walther

Walther says it so clearly, and pastors should heed his words. While the world tells us not to judge, that we should basically ignore the sin and love the sinner, Walther pulls back the cover on this false societal doctrine of loving one’s neighbor at any cost. A pastor must stand firm in the Word and condemn sin. Whenever a member of the clergy rejects the condemnation of sin to a sinner, one fails in one of the major parts of the office that he holds.

Many times, people in today’s culture don’t want to hear that what they do is wrong. Name the issue. Abortion. Sex outside of marraige. Using God’s name as fodder in a heated vulgar attack. Society wants to be told that we should love the sinner, but ignore the sin. Ah, dear sinner! You need to hear the condemnation of your sin. You need to move from that sin and pray for strength from our Almighty God that you do not fall back into that sin. You need to repent of your sin, and God will listen and proclaim the forgivness won by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes, people in churches don’t realize the difficulties that pastors face when we hear of sin issues of congregation members, friends of the church, or even in our families that rip at our souls. Most of the time people only see their pastor on Sunday morning during worship. We put on the “happy face” for everyone to see. But this pastoral office isn’t an easy one. Not that we want it to be an easy one – we want to be His undershepherd to help Him guide and teach those in His flock. We are to care for souls – our duty as called and ordained pastors. That is why we were called by God out of our lives to take up the cross and follow Him who saves.

But there are times when understanding the difficulties that a member of the clergy faces on a daily basis is important. And one of the areas all clergy people face hardship is in the area of judging sin.

People don’t want to hear it. But they must. And it rips at the soul of a pastor who must trust in God’s Word alone and reject the “easy as it goes” culture that tells everyone to forget the sin and love the sinner. For if a pastor turns from God’s Word and plays footsie with the society and its norms, God’s Word becomes meaningless and only used on Sunday morning for an hour during worship. And I won’t do that! Judging sin – it is what I and all pastors must do. Period.

Last night, Concordia Theological Seminary (the seminary I attended in Fort Wayne, Indiana) held their annual candidate placements for men entering the Holy Ministry. To me, that means one thing: a year has flown by since MY candidate placement night in the seminary (who says time doesn’t fly when you’re having fun?).

Well, I will comment later on the general nature of the calls and where men and their families were sent. But one stood out from the list.

Last night at Bible class (better known as Pastor’s “Train Wreck – Ask the Pastor” class), we discussed the call process for seminarians. During our discussion, someone asked about getting a church in, let’s say, Hawaii. As far as I know, no one had ever gotten such a “pretty darn nice” call.

Until last night: Joshua Schneider won the lottery. He will become the Associate Pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Kahului on the island of Maui, Hawaii.