Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I write this as packing the house begins to subtly turn from top-priority to impending emergency. My wife has expressed that maybe we could just throw all of our stuff away instead and buy everything anew when we get back down to the seminary. We’ve forgotten all the things that we’ve accumulated over just the past year, notably a lot of baby things like a crib, toys, and clothes. But it’s a time to consider what is important and what can be thrown away.

I’d consider Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man. The man, seeking eternal life, tells Jesus that he’s kept the commandments from his youth. And Jesus, out of love, tells him that he’s lacking one thing. Maybe more accurately, it’s not a matter of lack but of abundance. Jesus tells him to sell all that he has and give it to the poor, then he will have treasure in heaven.

Now, wealth isn’t necessarily evil. It can be a blessing from God, or it can be a curse. But the point is that the rich young man held his wealth in his heart. It was the object of his desire more so than God, and if anything, eternal life would just be another jewel added to his treasury. Life in Christ and the blessings of heaven though are the only true and lasting treasure. And when other things impede that, they need to get tossed out.

Holly and I are holding onto a lot of stuff, but some things we’ve had to make the hard decision to part ways with. Often times going back and forth over items. Wondering where it might go in our next home, which box it will fit in, or maybe it would look best in the dumpster. But it isn’t a simple box to check. It’s a process.

And our life in Christ is a process. Not a simple box that is checked. Not a quick dunk in the baptismal font. But a process. As long and drawn out as God gives us days to live. And we have many things before us. Riches, like those of the rich young man, that impede us on our way to the heavenly Jerusalem as well as blessings that enrich us on our journey.

It’s more than just a matter of material things too. Habits that we cultivate, relationships that we have with others, and attitudes that we carry with us. As Holly and I, at the time of writing this, are physically packing things to keep and deciding what to toss, I’d encourage you to do so spiritually. Consider what you should keep that enriches you on your heavenward journey and what is left to be swallowed up with the rest of the earth.

Things such as spending too much time on your phone can be a habit that is tossed. While waking up early to pray and do a devotion is something to start, keep, or enrich further. The negative attitude that you hold towards that person that annoys you at work is something that you can start trying to toss out. These are a few examples, but the call of Christ is comprehensive and challenges us to examine our lives as a whole. To challenge us to live in such a way that draws us nearer to him, and farther from the world. To challenge us to look forward more to the new heavens and the new earth than the next new hit film.

And as we part ways, I thank you for your prayers and kindness this past year. It has been a blessing to be here with you and I hope that I have been able to be a blessing to you as well. And I look forward to seeing you again, yes here on earth, but more importantly in our heavenly home where our Lord Jesus has called us.

God’s Blessings,
Vicar Lewis

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I’m reminded of all the journeying to and fro that comes with summertime. People going on vacation, college students coming and leaving, teachers emptying their classrooms. Even the upcoming change for my family as we return to the Seminary. This summer I am reminded of impermanence and how the world continually changes.

Whether you’re heading off somewhere this summer or having new experiences with this change of season, things don’t remain the same as they once were. Time marches on, and life shifts and churns. Sometimes these shifts bring about blessings and reprieve from challenges of the past. At other times, they bring difficulties and even suffering. Births, deaths, baptisms, new opportunities, job changes, moving states, disease, marriages, these are just a small sample of life’s changes that come at you. And they come ceaselessly, both as blessing and as affliction.

Solomon sums this up in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes (v. 1-8):

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.”

And in what appears to be an ever-shifting and changing world, how do we stay centered, at peace, and content? Solomon continues in verse fourteen:

“I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it.”

The work of God lasts forever and does not fail. It does not shift or change or churn. Mountaintops can make way to valleys and lakes and oceans become empty craters, the whole face of the earth could change, and God and his work would remain. Every last nation could be overturned but God and His kingdom persist eternally.

Very much unlike our own lives that twist and turn in every direction. Yet, God is our constant. Even as we go through our twists that afflict us and the turns that bless us, God and His work remains the same. And the greatest work, the saving death of Jesus Christ for our salvation, can never be shifted, moved, or taken away. But what God has done in Jesus lasts forever. We live with our feet planted firmly on the rock, Jesus, who doesn’t crumble like sand. And by His strength and His Holy Spirit, we continue into summertime and all of life’s many changes in His saving grace.

In Christ,
Vicar Lewis

Grace, mercy, and peace unto you –

WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?

Imagine the faithful women going to the tomb after that saddest of all days when Jesus was crucified. It’s very early in the morning, the Gospel writer Mark tells us, when they begin their walk with their spices to anoint their Savior’s body.

They’re still grief-stricken, of course, but they have another problem: How will they move the huge stone that blocks the passageway to Jesus’ burial place? They arrive to find it’s already been moved. Well, that’s curious.

They enter the tomb, but there’s no body!

While they were “perplexed about this,” the Gospel writer Luke understates, “behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:3-5).

Why did they look for Christ to be in His tomb?
Why were they looking in the wrong place?

Because they hadn’t understood the things Jesus had told them before His crucifixion.
Because they were operating according to human logic.
Once someone has died, He’s dead.
Of course, they would look for the dead among the dead.

This is a story that cannot be comprehended by human logic.
This is a story to be believed and shared with others.

It’s the good news the women heard:
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:5-6)
We don’t look for Christ among the dead for we know He is living!

Many around us are looking.
They read self-help books and follow the advice of the newest guru on TV.
They start reading “spiritual” books.
They’re looking for the Living among the dead.

The angel brought God’s Word to the women; it is our privilege to bring His Word to those around us who are looking.

There is nothing DEAD about our JESUS!  He is Risen!

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, Who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56).

Easter Blessings, Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It’s the End of the World as We Know it

I wouldn’t classify myself as a fan of music from the 1980’s but this song by R.E.M. came to mind. The continual refrain goes “It’s the end of the world as we know it” and repeats until the last line of the chorus where it changes and adds the words “and I feel fine” to the phrase. And while I don’t know the band’s viewpoint about the end times, I think that this song can prove to be a helpful teacher when viewed from a Christian perspective.

The song is driven forward by a constant drum beat and snappy vocals with lyrics that can seem disjointed. Moving from topic to topic and idea to idea. Likewise, when we’re tugged to and fro with news headlines, barraged by the broadcast of the most recent violent attack, informed of the most recent natural disaster that kills tens and hundreds, it really can feel like the end of the world as we know it. From the rising tension and deaths between Russia and Ukraine to hearing about students killing their Spanish teacher only an hour away from here, it really can feel like the end of the world as we know it. All we have to do is put our finger on the pulse of the world going on around us, even the pulse within our own home, even the pulse within our own mind and it really can feel like the end of the world as we know it. And oftentimes, we don’t feel fine.

This isn’t the first time that people have felt this way. I can only imagine how the disciples of Jesus felt when He told them that e must go to Jerusalem, be rejected, beaten, and killed. Their Messiah and savior was to die. For them it probably felt like the end of the world as they knew it. Or consider the many Christians in the early church who were persecuted by the Roman empire, forced either to reject Christ or to be killed as dissenters. For them it probably felt like the end of the world as they knew it too. And in many ways, it wasn’t fine for them either.

And I Feel Fine

I tell you that it actually is the end of the world as we know it. All of creation is waiting in eager anticipation to be set free from its bondage to the corruption of sin (Romans 8:19-21). We are living in the last days between the ascension of Jesus into heaven and His imminent return. Jesus warns in Mark’s Gospel about wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, earthquakes and famines (Mark 13:7-8). We’re to expect atrocities and be prepared for things to look dreary by earthly appearances as the end of days approaches.

The book of Revelation cuts through these earthly appearances and illustrates the heavenly realities that go on behind the scenes. The depictions of how Jesus has overcome the terrible spiritual forces of evil and the devil to save His people. One depiction is the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with His redeemed people who have His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1-3). Even though evil and the devil appear to have overtaken the world, Jesus and His people are on Mount Zion, high and untouched, safe. The people have been marked as His so that they cannot be lost or forgotten, but they are promised and guaranteed salvation and eternal life.

Even in the midst of tragedy, we have been placed beside Jesus, the Lamb of God. Jesus gives us heavenly peace, because He rules from on high with us by His side and evil cannot overtake us. Though Satan is still causing mayhem, He is in his death throes and is a defeated enemy. Even though it’s the end of the world as we know it, we are fine in Christ. Amen.

In Christ,
Vicar Lewis

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ –

Things are not always what they seem!

This was a lesson that I learned in a management training course at Disney University. Going through the management training program, this lesson stands out in my mind still today.

The instructor pointed over to the Bunn coffee maker and on the hot plate, there it sat. It had an orange plastic handle and ring around the top with a pouring spout. The clear glass was imprinted with the Bunn company logo and revealed the dark colored coffee contained inside. Pointing, the instructor asked, what is that. Well, even the most casual observer responded, “A pot of coffee.” We have seen that in every break room and every roadside café. Can’t you just see Alice, better yet, Flo from the TV show “Alice” wondering around the restaurant swinging her decanter of coffee. Regular? Or Decaf?

Things are not always what they seem!

Then the instructor walked over to the coffee pot, picked it up, and asked, “Who needs a refill?” To the left side of the room someone shouted, “Me!” The instructor walked over and tipped the decanter and nothing poured out. It was still black on the inside. Then the instructor said, “Things are not always what they seem!”

Most of the people at the Chicago Children’s Hospital did not know her name. They just knew her as the sweet, elderly lady in the vivid red suit who wanted to make sure that every sick child had a teddy bear to hug and caress. She kept bringing the stuffed animals, purchased with her own money. That is why she was simply called “The Teddy Bear Lady.”

Her name was Gladys Holm, a retired secretary for an insurance company, who lived alone in a tiny apartment. She lived modestly and frugally, and loved to save and invest – for the purpose of giving and helping people, especially sick children. When she died at age 86, her will simply directed that the bulk of her estate be given to the Children’s Memorial Hospital in the amount of $18 million!

Things are not always what they seem!

No one had the slightest idea that the tall, happy woman delivering teddy bears to ailing children had such wealth. It was then, they also learned that the gifts of teddy bears were really a ruse. She gave away teddy bears to learn more about the financial resources of families of the children. When she learned that the parents did not have enough to cover medical expenses, she very quietly paid their bills.

Things are not always what they seem! 

The coffee pot was not filled with coffee, but was coated with black paint on the inside of the glass decanter. The reality is that the teddy bears were only a ruse. Her real purpose was to find financially needy families.

Things are not always what they seem! 

The same can be said about Jesus and the cross. Locked in the upper room because they feared for their lives, the disciples could not see the reality that Jesus’ death was God’s plan, was the fulfillment of all the prophetic prophecies, was the payment by

Jesus, Our Redeemer. His death actually happened, but death could not hold Jesus.

Things are not always what they seem! 

Jesus rose from the dead! Easter’s morning had come, and one day Easter’s morning will come for each Christian. I believe in the resurrection of the body. When death comes, things are not always what they seem, for this dead body shall rise!

Things are not always what they seem! 

Remember this throughout the season of Lent which begins with Ash Wednesday on March 2^nd.

Lenten blessings,
Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

With February comes a season of love. A season where everything is adorned in shades of red and pink and covered with hearts and roses. Halfway through the month this season reaches its zenith, its pinnacle, its peak on February 14^th, on Valentine’s Day. It’s the day to give a gift to your husband or wife, your fiancé or fiancée, your boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s the day to shower love on them and serve them, to honor them, to cherish them. So, if it has slipped your mind, consider this a good reminder!

While Valentine’s Day, along with anniversaries and birthdays, are amazing opportunities to show love to others, we are called to love on more than just a few particular days. If anything, our love should be clear to see every day, and abundantly loud and clear on days like Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, or birthdays.

Love is displayed in action. To love is to do. Unlike many ideas of love as some sort of romantic feeling, or inward passion, true love shows itself in outward action. The ultimate example is Jesus Christ. When he feels compassion towards the other, it spurns him to action. When he sees the hungry crowd of 5000, he feeds them out of love. When he sees the crowd of sinners, Jesus is driven by passion to the cross. The love of Jesus is every action that he does and continues to do.

So, if you’re feeling lovey-dovey this Valentine’s Day (even if you’re not!) DO SOMETHING! And don’t let it stop. As we continue past Valentine’s Day, past birthdays or anniversaries, don’t stop doing. Love is a lifelong calling. And it doesn’t mean grand, sweep me off my feet gestures every day. But it is also the simple, humble work. Holding back a snide comment that comes to mind. Asking about the other’s day and feelings, instead of turning to our own. Bearing with another’s sins against us patiently. Addressing problems and seeking peaceful resolution, not to throw them in the other’s face.

And it’s not just for a spouse, fiancé or fiancée, girlfriend or boyfriend. It is for each person you come across. Coworkers. Other members at church. Sibling, parents, children, and grandchildren. People you run into at Hy-Vee or the Hawkeyes game. Our lifelong calling of love extends to them.

If this begins to feel overwhelming, remember this: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love comes from Christ’s love. It isn’t Cupid’s arrow or deep-seated emotion. But the constant love of Christ. So when we fail to love and even when we end up acting out in hatred, we have a loving God and Savior who will love others when we cannot and loves us when we are the most unlovable. Don’t worry, the love of Christ abounds.

Blessings,
Vicar Lewis

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

With Christmas and Advent in recent memory, it is a good opportunity to recall angels. These spiritual beings that God made would bring messages from their Creator down to people like you and me. You’ve probably seen them around in nativity sets recently, often depicted as men or women in white flowing robes with wings and a halo around their head.

They’re an important part of the Christmas story. It is an angel who bring messages to Joseph, telling him to marry Mary and protect their family by fleeing to Egypt. The angel Gabriel brings Mary the news that she would bear God’s son. Gabriel also brought the news to Zechariah, the priest, that he and Elizabeth would bear a son in their old age who would be filled with the Holy Spirit and that he would be named John. Later known as John the Baptist. And again, it is angels who direct the shepherds in the field to Jesus their Lord.

You get the idea. Angels tell people news that God has for them. But apart from Christmas, we don’t seem to hear too much about them. They are in other stories throughout Scripture, but they seem to appear few and far between compared to Christmas time. So, what are to make of them?

One thing that is especially clear from Christmas is that angels rejoice in and are glad for the birth of Jesus. The angels in heaven want the salvation of the human race and they even help make it happen. And not just at Christmas!

-They will gather God’s chosen people to Him on the Last Day (Matthew 24:31).
-They help promote the work of the church and protect its servants. Often saving people in prison, such as Daniel and Peter, so the Gospel would continue to go out (Daniel 6:22; Acts 5:18-20).
-They guard and protect God’s people (2 Kings 6:15-17; Psalm 34:7).

These things are true even to this day. God still sends you His angels. They still battle the spiritual forces of the devil on your behalf. Mostly out of sight, but hopefully not out of mind. Because they are real and interact with our world.

As nativities get taken down and packed away, consider the angels. Remember them as we sing the Sanctus before Communion that we are singing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Even while you pray, ask that God sends his holy angels to be with you.

As life moves forward into 2022, we can always use a helping hand and God’s angels will surely lend you one, whether you realize it or not!

Have a blessed New Year!
Vicar Lewis

Dear Christian Friends,

At this time of year, our minds are drawn to thoughts of our Savior, the babe of Bethlehem, and Mary and Joseph, who traveled unto Bethlehem. The ages-old story is always fresh and exciting to us as Christians.

Through décor, song, gift exchanging, we rejoice in our Father’s great love for us shown in His sending His own Son for us. That Son came in the form of a Baby. A baby who was nurtured inside His mother’s body, a “treasure in [a jar] of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

The angels announced His birth; the shepherds left their sheep and came to worship Him; the Wise Men traveled many miles to adore Him and bring Him their gifts. “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). She still had “this treasure in [a jar] of clay.”

We, too, have this “treasure… the surpassing power [that] belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7b). We have the Word dwelling in us! His great power enables and equips us to do the work he has placed before us. We are LIVING WITH CHRIST.

During this time of Advent and Christmas, let us “[treasure] up all these things, pondering them in [our hearts].” And let us ask God to use us according to His plan to spread the news of that treasure. And let us wish one another, great and small, a very Merry Christmas! And let us realize now more than ever, this Christmas we are LIVING WITH CHRIST.

Merry Christmas!  Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

“Peace I [Jesus] leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives
do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27

What a challenge it is to strike a balance between what it means to live and engage with the world, but also to fear God and avoid the worldly sins of this age! Johann Starck was a German Lutheran of the 18^th century, and he is right in seeing the challenge to be a Christian that is “in the world, but not of the world.” Especially in modern America where black and white answers are harder to find and that it’s like we’re always under rain clouds that cast each moral decision that we make a deep gray. And no matter the decision, it will be scrutinized.

Is it stealing if I don’t tip the wait staff when they performed poorly? What is the role of Christian morals in law making? Is it really lying if I’m just not telling the full story? These are some of the things we wrestle with.

However, as we wrestle with the world and make our way through the gray, we find that Starck is right. We must daily empty our hearts of the world and fill it with Jesus. As Jesus prepares to leave His disciples for the cross, He promises them peace. Jesus gives peace in a way that the world can’t. It is this peace that sustains us to interact with this world as we wait for our Lord’s return. So take heart, child of God, the peace of Jesus is yours!

Vicar Lewis

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ –

How many stars are there in the sky? Who can count them?
Yet God created and knows each of them.

How many different kinds of animals in the forests and deserts and oceans? We have not come to the end of discovering them all, but God has created each one in its unique way.

Nor has God been less meticulous with us, for, even though all humans have the same body structure, a face with nose, eyes, and mouth, and all our various parts, yet each of us is uniquely different from another.

Not only has God created each of us, He knows us intimately and cares about every facet of our lives and activities.

David, the psalmist, wrote about this characteristic of God in Psalm 139:

“O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.” (Psalm 139:1-3).

This truth stands behind our academic theme for 2021-22. To be living with Christ is undergirded by the truth that we are all created by God and that He knows our inward thoughts and feelings.

This is why we are pausing before confession and absolution to prepare our hearts and minds. Myself or Vicar will say:
“We take a moment to pause, reflect, and examine ourselves—considering the times and places where we failed to Live with Christ, yet trusting the Holy Spirit to continue His work within us.”

Then on the screen it says:
(projected on screens: A moment of silence is taken to call to mind particular sins. If you are not burdened with particular sins, do not trouble yourself or search for or invent other sins, thereby turning confession into a torture. Instead, call to mind one or two sins that you know and let that be enough.)

Use God’s creation of Confession and Absolution to lay your burdens down at the altar of God.

In the love of Christ!  Pastor Hartwig