Heartland District gathering

This past weekend I attended our Heartland District’s annual gathering in Hastings.   The speaker on both days of this year’s gathering was my teacher and friend Sarah Stenson, from Luther House of Study in Sioux Falls.  Sarah reminded us that what we confess as Lutherans regarding such matters as the law, gospel, sin, faith, good works, flesh, and spirit, matters–and not just a little bit!  We spent some time examining Biblical definitions of these words, and responding to how this both challenges and frees us:

LAW - God’s word of commandment (do this/don’t do this) that reveals sin and ultimately puts us to death

GOSPEL - God’s Word of promise that forgives sin on account of Christ and raises dead sinners to eternal life

SIN - Unbelief; distrust; uncertainty.  Not hearing a promise from God.

FAITH - Belief; trust; complete and total certainty.  Faith comes through hearing.

GOOD WORKS - the fruit of faith.  The only good work is a work done without expectation of reward or punishment, but simply trusting the promise of Jesus Christ (and you can’t produce that yourself).

FLESH - perishable.  That which trusts its own works and expects reward or punishment based on them.

SPIRIT - eternal.  Trusts only God’s mercy as given in the forgiveness of sin for Christ’s sake.

One of the projects Luther House is currently working on is a comprehensive confirmation curriculum that uses Biblical definitions of these terms.  For the last year, it has been my privilege to work as part of the team that is developing this curriculum through Luther House.  At this time, our first 25 lessons, based on the Small Catechism, are complete. Through a grant from the 1521 Foundation, they are available to congregations at no cost through lutherhouseofstudy.org.  We will use them this fall here at St. Paul Lutheran.  Over the next year, the team will also develop a 25 lesson overview of the Bible, which will be released next summer.

In other news from the Heartland District, we adopted a set of Ministry Support Guidelines, especially for our congregations in the call process.  The District will provide additional support and guidance to congregations who call pastors not on the list of LCMC certified pastors, connecting these “contract call” pastors with experienced LCMC pastors in a mentoring relationship.  The District will also provide twice-a-year opportunities for additional training in theology and ministry.

Finally, we elected new members to the District Council.  I was nominated and elected to serve on the Council for the next term, and to serve as vice-president in the next year.  I look forward to serving the congregations in our District in this way.

Grace and peace to you, 

Pastor Raleigh