Jr. Confirmation instruction will start in September. Jr. Confirmands and their parents are asked to attend an organizational meeting on Sunday, September 17, during the Sunday School hour in the Conference room.
Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation will be provided to each new Confirmand, but each student will need to bring their own Bible to class.
If you are looking for a fun weekend of camping and fishing, then please join us the weekend of Oct. 6-7, for the annual guys fall fishing retreat and campout. The guys will be going to Dale & LeeAnn B.’ property, which is located just north of Lockwood. There is a large stocked pond for fishing from the bank. Men and boys of all ages are welcome — and bring your friends!
Contact Dale with any questions. Watch for the sign up sheet in the narthex. Hope to see you there.
Please, remember the Joplin screening of the new Luther movie which – as you may be aware – was produced in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. This movie, Martin Luther: The Idea That Changed The World, is scheduled to be shown at the Joplin Northstar Stadium 14 theater on Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 7:30 pm. A minimum of 100 reservations will need to be made by September 20th in order for the screening to take place. At this point only 28 tickets have been reserved. The tickets are $9 for all audience members. This screening is being cohosted by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Carthage and Immanuel Lutheran Church, Joplin. Please reserve your tickets ASAP so we will be able to take advantage of this opportunity.
Here is a shortcut to the website that was set up to provide moviegoers with information about the movie and a mechanism to reserve tickets specifically for the Joplin screening: http://joplin.newluthermovie.com/.
In the midst of all of the things that Megan and I had going on this Summer, one of them was hosting a family from Germany who are friends of ours from Seminary. They contacted us back when we lived in South Dakota about making the trip across the pond and asked us about dates. Well, actually they told us which dates they were coming because of the deal they got on tickets. The week they were going to be in the States happened to be the same date Elias was due. Not the best situation but hey, a lot could happen in a few months. And it did. First it looked like Elias would be here well before they arrived and then, not so much. One night while they were here, I asked them to watch Avery because I had to take Megan to the hospital. On the bright side, they got to see Elias during their stay and we certainly had no shortage of things to talk about.
One of the things we talked about before all the baby hullabaloo was the Reformation. Fritz and myself, being Lutheran pastors (or nearly so, he will be ordained shortly) we talked about some Lutheran stuff. What is more Lutheran than the Reformation? Nothing. Fritz asked, “Is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation a big deal to Christians here in America?” After contemplating the question for a moment I replied, “It is to Lutherans.” Of course, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation is a huge deal to Germans of nearly any religious affiliation. The 500th anniversary of Luther’s birth (back in 1483) saw huge amounts of celebrations even in atheist (officially at that time) East Germany. Luther is woven into the fabric of German heritage in a way that he is not to most Americans.
Yet at the same time, perhaps he should be. My follow-up response to the Reformation being a big deal to Lutherans was that it should be a big deal to other Christians in America, too. All of the Protestant denominations in the United States own their existence to the Reformation. Sure, Lutherans bear the name of the Reformation’s most notable reformer, but that does not mean that Luther or the movement he inspired is exclusively important to us. When Luther broke with Rome, others saw that it could be done and they took the opportunity to do so as well. Most of the non-Lutheran Protestants settled on theologies that differed from that of Luther (obviously) but they only had this opportunity because a monk in Wittenberg nailed a series of arguments to a church door 500 years ago.
Even Roman Catholics have benefited from the Reformation. Sure, their official position is that Luther was some kind of heretical spawn of Satan or some such thing, but the Roman Catholic Church of today is not nearly as despicably corrupt as it was 500 years ago. Much of that has to do with Luther and the light that the Reformation cast on that church’s institutional immorality. It may still be official Roman Catholic doctrine, but I think that your average Catholic today would be horrified at the prospect of Bishops buying their position or the Church selling forgiveness (to say nothing of the nefarious activities the Church unofficially undertook in the Late Middle Ages).
As the date of the Reformation approaches in October, perhaps it would not be a bad idea for a good Lutheran like yourself to brush up on some Reformation (or other related) history. Dust off that catechism (the Large Catechism if you are feeling especially Lutheran) and just read through it thinking about why Luther wrote the thing. Find yourself a short biography of Luther. I recently have begun rereading one I used at the Sem. There are a number out there that are quite approachable. There is also the Luther movie that our congregation will be taking part in hosting this October as well (do get your tickets to that if you want to go since we need a certain number). Perhaps through looking at Luther and the Reformation you will gain a better appreciation for being Lutheran. Also, you might see more clearly the thing which Luther himself was always concerned about showing people, namely the Gospel, the free salvation that belongs to all people though Jesus Christ.