Uncategorized – Page 49 – What Does This Mean?

New Contributor Coming: Rev. Brent Keller

Please welcome to the blog Rev. Brent Keller. He will be contributing posts to our blog beginning Sunday. Here is his introduction:

I am a Confessional Lutheran Pastor, a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. I am from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area, attended Concordia Theological Seminary-Fort Wayne, and now serve Peace Lutheran Church, a wonderful rural congregation in Alcester, SD. I was ordained at Peace on July 18, 2018. I have a wonderful wife, Hanne, and a nearly three-year-old daughter, Annalise. We are expecting our next child, believed to be a girl, in December of 2019.

Program Note: Blog Post Series Page Updated

Dear regular readers:

I had some time to update the Blog Post Series. If you are looking for a post you want to read again, this page should help.

Thanks!

Pastor Bob Smith

The Highlight Reel

One of my favorite shows used to be Baseball Tonight because they showed all the highlights of the baseball games. It was a way to get the great plays of all the games.

In a similar way, we have our own highlight reel, though it probably is not a reel that we want others to see. It is the highlight reel of our sins. You see Satan just loves to drudge up our past offenses, our past faults, the things we have done or left undone. And more often than not he also gives a pretty colorful commentary on them as well. He plagues our conscience with it all the time. And the highlights continue to be added to because we continue to fall into sin some way or another.

As I was reading and studying for John 21, I ran across the idea that it gives some pretty neat highlights of the Ministry of Jesus, recalling the calling of the disciples away from their fishing nets, Peter’s confession, the feeding of the 5,000 with bread and fish, etc. But these events in John 21 are more than replays of the highlights.

Jesus is risen from dead! Jesus as we learned from his first appearance to the disciples in the locked room, does not come to his disciples with vengeance on his mind. He comes to bring peace. He comes to bring forgiveness.

Though we have been given His peace, we still are bombarded with the assaults of the devil. Satan still comes in with our highlights of sins and replays them over and over, accusing us. And we tend to forget about the peace which Jesus gives. Instead we tend to be afraid and begin to fear interacting with God. But we need not be afraid.

But every time we gather in the place where Jesus promises to be for us and for our salvation, the highlights of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us gets put into our mind. We get to say to Satan, “I am baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. I am saved by Christ.” And with Paul we get to say, “As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” These are the Jesus’ highlights but He makes them yours every time you receive His Word and Sacraments. May we be ever mindful of what our Lord has done for us, that we may always believe it.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO

Meet Karl von Miltitz: An Attempt to Silence Luther

Karl Von Miltitz, a lesser Saxon noble, served in the Roman Curia during the lifetime of Martin Luther. He served in a number of minor roles, such as Chamberlin and Papal Secretary and would normally escape our notice — if Pope Leo X hadn’t decided to appoint him a Nuncio (Ambassador) to Elector Frederick the Wise. His visit was a part of the Pope’s extended diplomatic campaign to convince Luther to renounce all he had taught about indulgences and papal authority or have him brought to Rome for trial. He needed to do this carefully since he would wanted Frederick to oppose the election of King Charles of Spain as the next Holy Roman Emperor. He hoped Miltitz’s family connections would make him more acceptable to the prince.

Miltitz returned to Germany Five Hundred Years ago in December of 1518 and January of 1519. He brought with him the Papal Golden Rose of Virtue — a coveted award given on occasion by the Pope to a prince he wished to honor. If Frederick were to hand over Luther to the Chamberlin, then Pope Leo would award the rose to Frederick. The Elector showed no signs of being impressed by this honor.

Between the time Cardinal Cajetan had finished his encounter with Luther and the arrival of Miltitz, the Elector had stated his position in terms provided by Luther himself. The Cardinal had not stated where Luther was in error and would have to do this at least if Luther were to be surrendered to him. Frederick had cause to believe Luther would not be given a fair trial in Rome and requested neutral German parties try him on German soil. Until Luther was proven a heretic before German scholars, the Elector would keep the monk in Saxony.

On his way to Saxony, learned how strong German sympathies were for Luther. So Miltitz let it be known he was irritated with Luther’s opponents, disgusted with Tetzel and that he was willing to find a middle ground between Rome and Luther. From January 4th to January 6th, Miltitz met with Luther in Altenburg. They agreed to a proposal that both sides no longer write about indulgences. Miltitz would ask the pope himself to transfer Luther’s case to a German Bishop, who would tell Luther what he needed to recant. Miltitz took his leave of Luther. The reformer was safe — for the moment.

Move to Indiana and Search for German Protestants

In August 1838, a letter from Johann Häsbärt arrived at the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Ministerium Mission Society, highly recommending Friedrich Wyneken to them. The Executive Committee invited Wyneken to visit Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to meet with them. In the company of Häsbärt, Friedrich met with the committee.

So convinced of his fitness for the task and likely moved by his zeal for the work, the Missionary Society set aside their usual practice of waiting until September to send out their workers. They commissioned him to “move to Indiana, to search for scattered German Protestants to preach to them, and, if possible, gather them into congregations.” While the Committee intended Wyneken to make Indiana his base of operations, they intended to have him range widely throughout the frontier, directing him to labor in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Credentials in hand, Wyneken embarked upon his ministry as a Missionary, traveling in the company of Häsbärt as far as Havre de Grace, Maryland.

In Pittsburgh, Wyneken met for the first time C.F. Schmidt, the editor of Lutherische Kirchenzeitung, who would prove a close friend and the channel through which Wyneken’s first appeals would reach the world. From Pittsburgh, Wyneken traveled by train and canal boat to Zelienople, Pennsylvania where he purchased a horse and cheerfully rode off to be, as his friend C. F. W. Walther would later describe him, the Lutheran Apostle of the West.

New Contributor Coming: Rev. Jacob Hercamp

With great pleasure, let me welcome to the blog Rev. Jacob Hercamp. He will be contributing posts to our blog beginning sometime in the next few weeks. Here is his introduction:

Greetings in the Name of our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord, Jesus Christ!

My name is Jacob Hercamp, and I am currently serving as Pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church in La Grange, MO. Rev. Smith graciously invited me to help contribute to the What Does This Mean Blog, and I am excited to oblige!

I come from southern Indiana, and my home congregation is one of the oldest in the area, St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church, White Creek. My parents and grandparents still live in the area. I attended the parochial school at the church, and after my 8th grade year I chose to attend Trinity Lutheran High School, located in Seymour, IN. Upon graduation from high school I decided to attend Indiana University and pursue a degree in Biochemistry. While at Indiana I played a key role in revitalizing the Omega Chapter of the Beta Sigma Psi, The National Lutheran Fraternity. It was during this time of my life that I became friends with Rev. Smith because his sons and I lived together at Indiana.

During my time at college, I finally figured out that I should attend seminary, something that people encouraged me to do all along! So I applied to CTSFW, and got to sit at the feet of great Lutheran theologians, and hang out with Rev. Smith on a daily basis.

I was blessed to attend not only Ft. Wayne but I also took the opportunity to study at Westfield House in Cambridge, England. I then went with my wife, Emily (4 years of marriage 20 June), to vicarage in Imperial, NE, under the guidance of Rev. David Kahle. Instead of going straight out after my 4th year at seminary, I was able to stay and work for Drs. David Scaer and Cameron MacKenzie as the graduate assistant while I earned a Master’s of Sacred Theology in Old Testament Exegesis from CTSFW.

I was ordained on Pentecost Day (4 June 2017) and will be celebrating my one year installation anniversary 23 July.

Emily and I are blessed with Jacob Ryan II (3 as of August 2018) and Ella (1 as of June 2018)

I pray that my writings here at What Does This Mean? proves to be fruitful for you in your journey to explore the faith that we have been given in our Baptism into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A Brief Hiatus

Today my son-in-law will receive a call into the Office of the Holy Ministry. The complications of that event, the normal busyness of the seminary as he and his classmates learn where the Lord is sending them and a few other complications make it impossible for me to write substinative posts for at least today and perhaps a few days. By the weekend, I hope to be back at it, taking up, appropriately, Holy Absolution and the Office of the Ministry. Stay tuned!

Post	Views
He Descended into Hell	264
Happy birthday, Lutheran Church!	251
Baptism Saves You	170
What is Absolution?	142
Who is the the Lord’s Supper for?	130
What is a Sacrament?	130
Who Should Be Baptized?	128
The Church has Always Baptized Infants	122
The Resurrection of the Body	112
What is Baptism?	107
Move to Indiana and Search for German Protestants	104
You’re No Angel: Things Angels are Not	100
Sunday School #4: Jonah and the Unforgivable	99
Sabbath as the Day of Salvation	97
One God in Three Persons	97
Friedrich Wyneken in Indiana	97
Everybody’s Good at Heart? Right?	95
The Four Ways of Interpreting Scripture	92
Rule #1 for Reading the Bible	90
Children are Sinners, Too	87
Worship is About God’s Gifts to You	86
The Season of Lent	85
Half Time in the Church Year	85
Send us a Faithful Shepherd	83
Pastor Wyneken’s Lima, Ohio Ministry	82

Category: Uncategorized