What if fathers...

What if I told you… fathers influence their children’s church attendance?

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & PreschoolLa Grange, TX
©2021 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com.

It’s my turn to ask a question. Mine stems from a collection of axiomatic “truths” shared within modern Christianity. All of them are attempts to answer questions about attendance. We’ve seen attendance fall for decades in the Christian church. There is a rise in self-identified secularism within America. We’ve been talking about it my entire life, from various perspectives.

The answers revolve around the question, “how do we keep kids, youth, and young families in church/returning to church?” The answers of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries are: Sunday school programs, daycares, adolescent activities, big youth groups/activities, small group Bible studies, single mother’s groups, and a host of other demographically specific parachurch (outside of worship) activities. Despite the best efforts of the church in these veins, she still shrinks daily.

What if I told you that we could expend our efforts on only one demographic group? What if I told you that we could see a 35% improvement in the retention of children, as adults, by focusing only on this one group? What if I told you the Christian church has largely ignored, marginalized, or even publicly denigrated this group?

Men, specifically fathers, are this one group. A large multi-national study on church attendance published by the Swiss government in the year 2000 found stark trends indicating the strong influence of fathers on the future church attendance of their children. Another study conducted on a much smaller scale later in the US found nearly identical results. (see Influence of Parents in this article)

Starting with the worst and most obvious, when neither mom nor dad attend church, 81% of the kids won’t either. When, only mom attends regularly, 39% of the kids will attend regularly as adults. When, both mom and dad attend regularly, 74% of kids will attend as adults. But, here’s the surprising number. When only dad attends regularly, 67% of kids attend as adults. Without mom’s influence, there’s only a 7% drop. Without dad’s influence, there’s a 35% drop.

No, I’m not suggesting, implying, or stating in any way that women and mothers are unimportant. The influence of women and mothers in the lives of their children is incalculable and irreplaceable.

That still changes nothing regarding a change in church attendance. If we want to see an improvement in the retention of our children in church, we must expend our efforts on improving the attendance of their fathers at church on Sunday mornings.

It is certainly worth noting that a rise in emotionalized and feminized worship practices in the Christian church run parallel to the decline in men’s attendance. There are probably many ways to work on this. We will have to pick this up again soon.

Strong Christian men raise faithful Christian children.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
and
Mission planting pastoral team:
Epiphany Lutheran Church
Bastrop, TX

Why Is Pastor Kaspar So Heavy-Handed Towards the ELCA?

There is a fault line dividing Christianity. Those who choose to embrace our culture, while losing their grip on the Word of God, bit by bit. And those who embrace the Word of God, even the uncomfortable bits, and reject culture, bit by bit. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) are on opposite sides of this divide.

The criticisms I write, or quote in writing, are not borne out of animus, malice, or hatred. I’m grieved and afraid for the souls of those who are taught by the false teachers in the ELCA. To be perfectly clear, I’m certain many of our friends and family in the membership of the ELCA are indeed Christians. But, I am also certain the leadership and clergy of the ELCA have abandoned the scriptures in favor of worldly sociological and political positions, which are not compatible with God’s Word.

We believe teach and confess in the Lutheran church that those who hear the Word of God can still come to and retain saving faith contrary to what they are taught. This teaching is called the Felicitous Inconsistency. It is so called because the faith exists in opposition to what is taught. We also teach that no one should rely upon this possibility. Neither, should we encourage our loved ones to remain where false teaching prevails based upon the felicitous inconsistency. Continually hearing false teaching will eventually corrupt Christians and drive them from the faith. Sadly, they could easily remain in the ELCA as unbelievers without discomfort.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” [Romans 10:17]

The history of the downward spiral of the Jewish people in Judges and the fall of the divided kingdoms of Israel (Judah and Samaria) stand to teach us against this path. Embracing popular paganism in an attempt to mingle it with the true faith only ends one way. The true faith is lost and destruction and suffering come to those who mingled it.

In Judges we find, “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.” [2:11-12] “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” [17:6] “And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” [21:24-25]

And, in 1 Kings, “So [Jeroboam] the king [of Samaria] took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, ‘You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan [both in the Northern Kingdom].” [12:28-29]

“And Judah [under King Rehoboam] did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.” [1 Kings 14:22-24]

We sometimes think of America as a burgeoning atheistic culture, but that’s not a fair assessment. We are certainly a post-Christian culture. Political battles exist in our society, attempting to reject or regain the cultural elements that were the effect of Christianity‘s influence on our culture. But, Modern America is a religious culture with a god.

The big difference is that our god has no temple, no formal liturgy, no written scriptures. The god of American culture is the “me” in each one of us. Each person believes, thinks, and does what is “right for me.” The culture surrounding us worships itself, individually and collectively. Concisely, if my internal thoughts and feelings are the primary driver in a decision, the conclusion is probably flawed.

Now, this god can be right from time to time. Even a broken clock can be right twice a day. Even a broken escalator may still be a staircase. But, in the long term, this god will lead me to destruction.

This god is a selfish and capricious god. No evil deed is beyond its teaching. The internal self-justification of doing what is right in our own eye will authorize any act that benefits me. This may take days, months, or years. But, we will eventually abandon morality of any sort.

The only thing standing between us and abject abandonment of the faith, which we see in the leadership and clergy of the ELCA, and the culture it embraces, is the very Word of God. In His Word God condemns sin and teaches us to abandon it. But, it does more than that, He also gives us faith to hear and receive His forgiveness, through Jesus Christ.

Apart from acknowledged sin and forgiveness in Jesus, there can be no Christianity or salvation.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

No One Can Serve Two Masters

Dear saints, we confess concerning the First Commandment that we are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. In our Gospel lesson, from the midportion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Perhaps this reminds you of St. Paul’s writing to St. Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil.

Everyone must decide who or what his or her god will be. Will it be the Creator of the universe? Or will it be mammon? It cannot be both. One God brings eternal life, and the other god brings anxiety leading to eternal death. It seems like a simple choice. But look at the world around you and see what it serves. See the anxiety the world has and what it fears. The choices it makes to avoid trial and death. What it seeks businesses or governments to enforce that will create the feeling of safety, even where no safety can be guaranteed. And consider what the world considers good and sacred. The desires that it has. And what disdain and hatred these things have toward God and His people. People like you and me.

But let’s not only consider the world. We must also consider ourselves. We still battle with our flesh. We still find ourselves tempted to serve mammon. And when we are honest with ourselves, we must confess that we do, at times, serve mammon. This burden of sin, sin against the First Commandment, produces anxiety. Therefore, we pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And why we trust that our Father does forgive.

The forgiveness we receive on account of Jesus calms our souls. It lifts the burden of our sin and removes our anxiety. Those who serve mammon, however, have no outlet when they are burdened or anxious. They cannot look to their god for absolution. They can only grasp for more of whatever they seek. More money. More popularity. More restrictions they think will give them safety. And sometimes more freedom to do what they should know is wrong but be lauded for their abominations anyway.

Jesus goes on in the lesson: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” He goes on to explain God’s provisions for us. The birds of the air do not labor. They do not till, plant, or harvest. And yet they are provided for; they are fed by God. But you are more valuable than these, who do not fall to the ground without the Father’s knowledge. Next, we consider the lilies of the field. They also only receive from God, and they are more beautiful than even Solomon in all his splendor. Such beautiful flowers, who are there today and burned for warmth tomorrow, are provided for by God and yet you are still more valuable than they.

The point is that God provides for both the just and the unjust. He sustains life, even the universe, out of His goodness. He provides your daily bread. It is what we confess concerning the Frist Article of the Apostles’ Creed. Though admittedly easy, it is useless to worry and be anxious about food and clothes. About health or safety for freedom. But God knows you need these things. They are not to be your worry, as they are the pagan.

Your concern rather is the righteousness of God. Instead of fretting about every little thing around you, you seek what God desires to give you: Love. Mercy. Grace. Righteousness. Eternal life. Jesus ends our lesson by saying, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

There will always be something around us that causes strife. There will always be danger. Sometimes it will be real and other times imagined. Sometimes it will be less than we think, and other times more than we think. I am not saying we should simply ignore these things. I am, however, saying that your life and actions should not be dictated by them. They should be dictated by who you belong to. By remembering what He has done for you. As our Lord said, “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Trouble will, indeed, always be around us.

As an example, I present a sample of C. S. Lewis’s writings from 1948. It is from an essay entitled, “On Living in an Atomic Age.” Perhaps you saw this last year when it started circulating, but for many of you, you will hear it for the first time today, as I did a few weeks ago:

“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: ‘Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.’
“In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
“This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb – when it comes – find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

As bad as things are today, they are much better than they used to be. Sometimes I think that is to our disadvantage. We do not really know what it means to rely on daily bread, for we have days or weeks of provisions in our homes, let alone our grocery stores. I am not sure we truly resonate with the part of the prayer asking God to “graciously keep us this night from all harm and danger,” as the harm and danger we face today in America is very low.

There is, however, a clear and present danger always around us. And that danger is the one going around like a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour. That danger is the devil and his demons. They would have us seek after mammon. They would have us doubt the Word of the Lord. They would have us look for our righteousness in ourselves and from the world.

Seek, therefore fellow saint of God, the righteousness of God. Seek after the blood of Christ, which has washed you clean and saves you. Cling to the promises of your Lord, that He has died for you and atones for your sin not with the blood of goats and bulls, but with His blood shed upon the cross. Come to His table and receive the forgiveness of sin which He has spread out for you. For you cannot continue in safety without His aide. Praise God for His help and goodness! Amen.

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD

No Place is the Good Place

Sermon preached at Kramer Chapel of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, 28 September 2012 (from a transcript)

Grace, Mercy and peace be to you from God our father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Deep forests, vast prairies, breathtaking mountains, mighty rivers, America called to people yearning for a utopia – a good place — to show the world what society purged of evil could be like. The Puritans came across the sea just over 400 years ago and planted its city on a hill — The Plymouth Bay colony. Quaker William Penn acquired a colony, — Penn’s Woods — where anyone of any religious view could come to find a home — even Lutherans!

To America came more utopias — Shakers and Harmonists. Mormons and Amish, eventually Saxon Lutherans and Löhe’s colonies of witness in the Saginaw Valley — all trying to erect ideal societies to some extent.

In civil terms, they succeeded, but in spiritual terms they were disappointed. It seems even devout Christians are still sinners. Who would have imagined it?

God has hardwired law into all our hearts and our creation, and so from the very beginning of civilized society, people wondered: what would it be like to have a perfect society?

Plato, had his Republic, Augustine the City of God. Monastics had their monasteries and convents. As we go down through time, Thomas Moore, made fun of it. He coined the term Ευτοπία — meaning good place — but also Ουτοπία — meaning no place because there is no such place. After all, even though Luther didn’t say it, the old Adam is a good swimmer.

Yes, we can live a good life in service to neighbor. But that only goes so far. At best living according to nature, we can praise the good and condemn the evil together we can live in well-ordered societies and civil law can keep and succeed at it. Yet it cannot extinguish sin.

There is always some way that we will rebel against the rules that are made up for us for our own good.

God’s law does work as a curb and so, in good times, our societies can keep sin well under control, even though those good times really don’t last. Even though there is a measure of peace — Even in the best society, yet, sin is still there. To keep the law is extremely difficult, even if only externally.

We are tempted to think that’s all we have to do. You can run your checklist of the 10 Commandments, we think.

Look I go to church on Sunday. Check.
I don’t have any gods other than the Holy Trinity. Check.
I don’t ever swear. Check.
That gets the first table all down.
I love my parents. Check.
I haven’t murdered anybody recently. Check.
I have honored my wife. Check.
I don’t covet — at least publicly. Check.
And so you think that you have it all covered.

The new Moses, however, informs us that exterior righteousness really doesn’t work.

In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord goes through and points out that it’s not good enough not to murder. You can’t even swear at them when you cut them off in traffic or show them the universal sign of displeasure.

It is not enough not to commit adultery, but to even look at a swimsuit model if you’re male, or the Bachelor on The Bachelor if you’re female, and think thoughts — slightly inappropriate thoughts. Even that is adultery in God’s book.

You see, Jesus pointed out it is not those things that come from the outside that corrupt a person. It is that which is in inside of us,. that we constantly think evil thoughts all the time — that is what corrupts a person. And if you can’t deal with that problem within you, there is no chance that you are going to stop sinning.

Education will not cure it. Redistribution of wealth will not solve it. Blaming the other guy just doesn’t hack it. Piety will not quench it, striving to overcome it will not work, no matter how high the standards you set, no matter how hard you work, sooner or later that old Adam and that old Eve is going to get you. That is why the works of the really good guys in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees, really just weren’t enough. They may be able to get the exterior right, but inside they are still filled with lust, sin, envy and all that goes with it.

And so if you want to enter God’s Kingdom. Your righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Good luck with that. You’re going to need it.

What we need is a completely different kind of righteousness, not one that comes from inside of us, that we can gin up, that we can achieve if we work as hard as we can.

What we need is a righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ himself.

Jesus is the blessed one, who lived the perfect life for us and fulfilled every letter of the law, every iota, accent, yod, dagesh and dash. He kept every aspect of that law for us, so that when he took our evil to the cross, he was able to break its power once and for all. Dying for our guilt and bearing our sin, he paid its punishment once and for all. When he rose again from the dead he brought to us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

In baptism, we receive from him this righteousness, a righteousness which exceeds not only that of the Pharisees, but describes what fulfills God’s perfect purpose. Exactly that righteousness is now ours, so that when we come before God’s throne, what he sees is his son, and not us.

Yes, we still do sin, because the world, the devil and our flesh still haunt us. But even when we find it difficult to keep more than just the exterior law. we have someone who lives in us. Saint Paul reminds us it is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

And so, when we have trouble keeping the law, we can turn to Christ who is within us, who has kept the law already for us and from his strength we can live good lives in this world. And as we live, we serve each other and serve our neighbors, Christian or not. We will become a light in this world where people will look to us and see Christ and wonder how is it that you can live that way. And when we tell them we can’t on our own, but with Christ alone can, they will be drawn to him.

He is, after all, the source of all light and so we will reflect his light, until the day Christ comes to bring an end to sin and death and the power of the devil. Then the true city of God will descend from heaven itself, The church, perfected in God’s glory to live in the good new place, the true utopia, forever and ever, Amen.

And now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, set watch over our hearts and minds in faith in Christ Jesus to life everlasting, Amen.

©2012, 2021 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

What’s With That Crazy New Flag on Pastor’s House?

I recently started flying the US, Texas, and a Christian flag on the parsonage. This flag is a newly designed replacement for the “Christian Flag” from our friends at Ad Crucem, who made our newer sanctuary banners. They call it the Agnus Dei Flag. This flag is a bold visual confession of the Christian faith.

A red cross covers the white flag from top to bottom and left to right. That image is borrowed from banners flown by Christian soldiers in the crusades. There’s a sound argument to be made that the crusades were a rare moment of Christian unity. The imagery is more reflective a unified Christian faith than any modern, sectarian symbolism. We’ll never see a unified Christian church on Earth. But, the image of Christian unity in Christ in the resurrection serves as a fine symbol for our eyes on this side of the eschaton.

The shape covering the center of the flag is a trefoil. The trefoil consists of a triangle and three incomplete circles. It stands to symbolize the trinity. The circle by itself represents eternity. The triangle by itself represents the Trinity. Those two elements combine reinforce the notion of the Triune God expressed in the Athanasian Creed: a trinity in unity and unity in trinity with none before or after another.

Inside the trefoil, we find the Lamb of God, Jesus, to whom St. John, the Baptizer pointed. The Lamb bears a mortal wound on His neck. He has an Christological aureole around His head. And, He’s holding a triumphant banner (also crusadery in design). This Lamb is Jesus Christ crucified and risen again to forgive our sins.

The other little details are a bit busy, but they add wonderful meaning. Jesus is also presenting His Body and Blood in with and under the wafer and chalice of holy communion. He’s standing a in a heavenly sort of space on the clouds in the sky. He’s also standing atop a scroll with seven seals. The Lamb’s scroll contains the names, our names, of those sealed for salvation.

Many of us grew up with a different flag in our sanctuaries, assembly halls, and classrooms. It’s a white flag with a blue upper left canton and a red cross within the canton. This flag is commonly called the “Christian Flag,” but that an inaccurate name for the flag we see. It’s better called the “Methodist Young People’s Missionary Movement Flag,”

That flag was designed by British immigrant pastor Charles C. Overton with the help of Ralph Diffendor in New York. Its design features two deliberate attributes. It was simple in its expression to appeal to many Christian sects without revealing any theological inconsistencies between them. It was also designed using the colors and the familiar silhouette of the American flag to appeal to Americans especially.

It worked. The flag found use in the US military chaplaincy. The flag was adopted by the Federal Council of Churches in 1942. It’s been flown by a broad collection of Christian, christianish, and non-christian groups ever since. It is not a flag standing for a unified Christian faith. And, it never will be.

Instead, I fly a flag that does symbolize the Christian faith as I have received it.

– Pastor

The Cleansing Power of Christ

Dear saints, this morning our Lord continues His journey to Jerusalem. He is preparing to lay down His life for you, for me, for everyone. His journey takes Him into the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And there He encounters ten lepers. The men, unclean with a disease that ends with death, stand at a distance a call out to Jesus. They are contagious. They reek of death. They are cut off from society and family. It is no surprise that they call out for mercy.

We do not know what they know or have heard about Jesus, but they know enough to think He will be merciful to them. Perhaps He will even heal them. But they do not know that He is their Messiah, for they call out Master rather than Lord. But even with this less than perfect plea, our Lord hears and answers their prayer. “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” The ten turn and are cleansed as they went.

Notice that Jesus does not say, “I will. Be clean.” Instead, He tells them what the person cleansed from leprosy is to do: show himself to the priests in the Temple. They are inspected, and after about two months, would finally be declared clean. Once this declaration is made, they would finally be allowed to return to their family, their city, and to worship in the Temple. They must turn from Jesus with trust that they will be cleansed of their disease.

See, leprosy did not only cut you off from those who love you and that you love. It also cut you off from gathering with God’s people in the Temple or Synagogue. In effect, it cut you off from the presence of God. The same is true of your sin. Sin banished Adam and Eve from the Garden. Sin and unrepentance brought The Flood. It confused languages at Babel. And your sin separates you from God, alienating you and making you His enemy. Sin, like leprosy, is fatal. But the fatality of sin is worse than the awful effects of leprosy.

Each man, woman, and child need the cleansing of their sin and iniquity. All need their leprosy of sin removed. The lepers in our lesson call to Jesus from a distance. They come in earnest and reverence as they entreat Jesus for mercy. Mercy is given as they are cleansed on their way to Jerusalem.

Our cleansing is a bit different. Our cleansing was accomplished when Jesus reaches Jerusalem. Once there, having entered triumphantly, He spends the week teaching. He institutes the Lord’s Supper. He is put on trial. He is crucified. And just before He gives up His Spirit, we hear that “It is finished.” Your redemption is won. Forgiveness is yours. And you can know this is true as what Jesus promised is fulfilled: The Temple of His Body was destroyed, and in three days, it was restored, raised from the dead.

But this redemption, while it is yours was not yet applied to you. As the lepers realize their healing, one of them turns back. Rather than going to the Temple and the priest, he goes to the Temple that is our Lord and our Great High Priest. And he does so while praising God with a loud voice. When he reaches Jesus, he falls on his face at Jesus’ feet and gives thanks for his healing. For this miraculous cleansing provided to him.

Out of ten leprous men, only one recognized Jesus as his Christ and went back in thanksgiving and worship. That man was a Samaritan. A man whose background is not well regarded and whose theology was likely poor. Even still, he believes in Jesus.

Our lesson says Jesus tells him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Made you well is an accurate translation, but it is lacking. All ten were made well. All ten were leprous and are now clean. But not all ten showed faith in Christ. Only one does, this Samaritan. A more precise translation would be, “Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.”

The cleansing of these lepers is miraculous. Great mercy is shown to them. Just as great mercy is shown to every person with the blood of Christ on the cross. However, this mercy is applied to you in Holy Baptism. In baptism, the miraculous cleaning of your sins is delivered. The blood of Jesus on the cross washes you clean. Faith is given and strengthened. And you, too, may rise and go your way, for your faith has saved you.

Rather than being separated from your God due to the leprosy of your sin, you stand before Him cleansed by His blood. He invites you to draw near and hear His Word. You can hear it and respond in prayer and hymn and thanksgiving. He invites you to His Table, where He feeds and nourishes your body and soul, giving you His Flesh and Blood to eat and drink for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith. In short, He invites you into His fellowship.

The nine lepers received a physical cleansing, but since they did not have faith, they did not receive their soul’s cleansing. All people with all their sins are atoned for, but those who do not have faith in their Messiah do not receive the benefit. But you, dear Christian, embrace and hold fast to your Christ. In the faith granted to you by the Holy Spirit, you receive the miraculous cleansing of your sin. And you are welcomed into fellowship with God and His saints where you are kept in the faith by the same Holy Spirit. Where He keeps you in His church with His perpetual mercy. Amen.

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD

Can A Christian Assume Some Unvaxed Philistine Infected Them?

This one stems from a series of conversations in person and online concerning a resurgence of COVID among vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Though no one in particular asked, it’s a question worth examining. The distilled logic goes something like this, “I am vaccinated, and have contracted the plague. Therefore, there is a certain human being in my imagination. That person is unvaccinated. And, they are to blame for my infection.”

Before diving into the Christian life aspect of this question, let us also consider the logic. If I am the one speaking this way, I imply that only an unvaccinated person can pass the disease to another human being. This is untrue. Generally speaking, a person who is symptomatic with a fever is infectious to others. Their vaccination status has nothing to do with this reality.

It is logically inconsistent to assume the unknown source of infection to be of one patient population or another. This is a bit like Schrödinger’s Cat. The difference being that upon opening the box, we can determine if the cat is alive or dead. The state of quantum uncertainty revolving around an unknown infection source can never be removed from its state of uncertainty outside of evidence and identification. Apart from that evidence, the only thing certain is that a virus is to blame for infection.

Even for pagans, that is the answer. Now, for Christians there is even more at play. We must also consider how we are to talk about our neighbor. The Eighth Commandment teaches us to only use our words about our neighbor to uplift them.

The Eighth Commandment – You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. [Luther’s Small Catechism 1.8 (1529)]

Dr. Luther didn’t pull this idea of expanding the letter of Decalogue (the 10 Commandments) out of his stylish German hat. He used the exact model laid down by Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” … “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” [Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28]

So, how does this apply to us regarding that unknown Philistine, who infected me or my loved ones with the virus?

It applies this way. Not knowing who they were, neither gender nor ethnicity, age nor education, religion nor vaccination status, we may not impugn their character. Breakthrough infections are proof that vaccinated people can be vectors of transmission. The unknown source of whom we speak here can’t be spoken ill of by a Christian, especially in their state of quantum uncertainty. Moreover, we also can’t use the unknown person to malign other people either.

Dear Christians, let us only speak well of our neighbor.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

First Class of Seminary Students arrive in Fort Wayne

On September 3rd, 1846, the Bark Caroline arrived from Bremen, Germany at the port of New York after fifty-six days at sea. Aboard were eleven second career men and a candidate for the ministry. They were bound for Fort Wayne, Indiana. The were the first formal class of students to attend what is now Concordia Theological Seminary.

Like most German immigrants, the soon-to-be student body would be very glad to stand on the bustling docks. They would be far from alone. By 1846, thousands of Germans arrived in New York each day, bound for the lands in the Midwest, which were legendary for their fertility. They would soon have hard work ahead of them, literally carving farmland out of the endless old growth forests in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and territories to the west.

Wilhelm Löhe called these future pastors Sendlinge (“Sent ones”) and Nothelfer (“Emergency Helpers”) They were second career men who were given a crash course in an array of subjects, designed to produce pastors for the hundreds of thousands of Germans scattered on the frontier. Löhe and several of his friends spent about a year preparing the men to go to North America. Dr. Wilhelm Sihler and several instructors that would serve alongside of him would finish their training in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The Sendlinge likely booked passage to Fort Wayne via a steamboat to Albany, New York. There they would travel on a packet boat along the Erie and Wabash Canals. In good weather, the trip would have been quite pleasant, towed most of the way by mules, traveling through nearly virgin forest across New York State to Buffalo, along the southern shore of the great lakes, into the Wabash Canal through the Black Swamp to Fort Wayne. They would take their meals on board, but would stay overnight in inns and taverns that had risen along the route to care for passengers. The trip would take about a week.

The frontier town of about five thousand residents had begun to prosper. Fort Wayne was the portage between the Maumee River and the Little Wabash River — ten miles that separated the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River systems. The canal bridged that gap, so goods, settlers and travelers soon flowed through town on the way back and forth across the frontier. Many German settlers selected this area as their home and a growing number of Lutheran congregations were scattered across that wilderness. Dr. Sihler and his predecessor, missionary F. C. D. Wyneken had been caring for them from this crossroads.