Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.

Proverbs 23:22-25 ESV

Americans celebrate Sunday, May 13 and celebrate Armed Forces Day Saturday, May 19. These two events commemorate and celebrate service to our nation. Mothers send their sons and daughters to war knowing full well the price that they may pay. Yet, without their sacrifice, all would suffer. Some mothers have suffered much that all may live in peace.

Gold Star Mothers are a select group. These Mothers suffer the loss of sons or daughters in war. They gave their most precious treasures to sustain and protect our nation’s freedoms and liberties. They, more than others, bear the cost of securing the peace that citizens enjoy every day.  Gold Star Mothers hang the “Gold Star” symbols of their losses in their homes in order to remind the world of the sacrifice paid for freedom.

Mothers suffer the burden and pain of loss, and society shares in their sacrifices. No other role shapes society more than does a mother. Mothers are the most intimate, influential, and transformational care providers of the young. They birth, feed, nurture, teach, protect, and mentor the next generation.

Christian mothers not only provide their children with emotional and physical care, but they provide for their children’s eternal well-being. They pray for their young disciples; they teach them of the Savior; they tell of the gift of life in the waters of baptism. Every day they manifest the love of Jesus in life and living.

Unfortunately, women receive mixed messages. Many women report that their roles as mothers compete unfavorably with career and professional success. Some share that they feel a bit uneasy among their peers unless they identify themselves as career professionals. Yet, what role in society is more valuable than a mother?

Society cannot pay enough for the losses that some mothers suffer; neither can society ever replace the roles that mothers fulfill generation after generation. It is well that the Church honors mothers, encourages them, and respects their sanctifying effects upon the Church.

The Church refers to St. Mary as the Theotokos, the Mother of God. She bore the Savior, nurtured Him, rejoiced as He grew in years and the knowledge of God, and ultimately watched with sorrow as He was sacrificed for the sins of humanity. The Church forever pays honor to Mary, the most blessed virgin.

Mary’s Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered much that the world would be saved from sin, death, and hell. St. Mary suffered a “Gold Star” loss as her Son’s sacrifice was for the peace of many. Her loss was the world’s gain—and her own. Humanity’s eternal freedom was won through the atoning death of the Savior. Jesus’ sacrifice rang in a new time of freedom that the Christian Church celebrates today. It is our season of freedom to bring the life-saving message of Christ’s atoning work to a world in sin and darkness.

Let us celebrate Christian mothers and the gifts that they bring to our Church.  

Alleluia, He is risen!

Gregory K. Williamson
Chief Mission Officer

LCMS enters fellowship with church in Liberia By Adriane Dorr LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison declared fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia (ELCL) May 10. This declaration followed the Commission on Theology and Church Relations’ (CTCR) action on April 26 in which recognition of full agreement between the LCMS and ELCL was approved.

“To its great joy, the CTCR discovered that doctrinal agreement exists with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia,” said the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast, CTCR chairman and president of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. “It was our privilege to recommend that President Harrison declare fellowship with these fellow Christians.” In his official letter to ELCL Bishop Amos Bolay, Harrison wrote, “Church fellowship is not something created by us, but it is a gift from our Lord Jesus that our Lord uses to mutually encourage each of us.” Extensive theological discussions between the LCMS and the ELCL officially began in December 2011, when four LCMS representatives — the Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director of Church Relations; Dr. David Erber, LCMS missionary to West Africa; Dr.

Mike Rodewald, LCMS Office of International Mission regional director for Africa; and the Rev. Dr. Joel Lehenbauer — visited Bolay and other ELCL church officials in the capital city of Monrovia, Liberia.

“The LCMS is in a position to help us bear witness to our nation,” Bolay told them. “We believe that the LCMS teaches the Bible correctly and holds to the Confessions. We want to have fellowship with the LCMS because we believe the same. If our teaching is not the same as the LCMS’, we seek correction and instruction.” The LCMS and ELCL have young but strong connections. LCMS missionaries first began witness and mercy work in Liberia in the mid-1970s. When the country’s first civil war broke out in 1989, the missionaries and many members and leaders of the ELCL were forced to flee the country, and the LCMS missionaries lost contact with the Liberian Lutherans with whom they had shared a Gospel-centered life.

During this time, however, Liberian Lutherans continued to gather together and also to share the Gospel with others. Four primary groups of Lutherans endured and even grew, despite the devastating effects of the war. These groups were formed when, due to the Second Liberian Civil War (1991-2002), Liberians were scattered about the region, coming into contact with other Lutherans and Christians from other backgrounds who also had been forced to flee their homes. The solid, biblical teachings of the Lutheran churches provided consolation and encouragement for their own members and for others who came to share their convictions.

(One of those new Lutherans was Bishop Bolay). After the fighting ceased, the amalgamation of these four groups formed the basis for the ELCL, which officially formed in 2009.

That church’s difficult start, however, has not been quickly forgotten. Recent media coverage of the trial of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian dictator, brought to light the suffering and persecution the people of Liberia experienced during the war.

Taylor was found guilty of committing war crimes against the Liberian people April 26, 2012.

The ancient church father Tertullian wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The ELCL is proof of this, believes Collver: “The Liberian civil war, which brought much harm and evil, was used by the Lord for good. The dispersion of Lutherans during the civil war actually spread the church by putting people in contact with others.” The church now includes about 150 congregations, 16 schools and an estimated 5,000-6,000 members.

The relationship between the ELCL and the LCMS remained strong following the war — so strong, in fact, that Bolay explained, “We in Liberia feel we are a LCMS church. You ask why? You are the church that started us.” More recently, church officials in the ELCL requested that LCMS pastors ordain Liberian candidates for the Office of the Holy Ministry. “We were told that LCMS missionaries could not conduct the ordinations because we were not LCMS,” said Bolay. “This hit us hard because we thought we were LCMS. It was an awakening for us and made us desire even more to join the LCMS in partnership.” On behalf of the ELCL, Bolay then officially requested fellowship talks during his visit to St. Louis for the International Disaster Response Conference for Lutherans in October 2011. Those very discussions, which took place in December 2011 and concluded in January 2012, became the subject of an official report prepared by Collver and Lehenbauer. The report was presented to the CTCR at its April 26-27 meeting in St. Louis, and the commission voted unanimously to recommend that the LCMS enter into fellowship with the ELCL.

The process by which churches such as the ELCL can potentially enter into fellowship with the LCMS has changed substantially due to a bylaw amendment passed at the 2010 Synod convention. Instead of waiting for approval by vote at the next convention, a “small, formative, or emerging confessional Lutheran church body” may now request fellowship, and “after consultation with the Praesidium and approval by the commission [CTCR], such recognition may be declared by the president of the Synod subject to the endorsement of the subsequent Synod convention” (LCMS Handbook, 3.9.5.2.2c).

The CTCR, too, looks forward to working together with the ELCL for the sake of the Gospel. “We are excited to cultivate a sense of walking together and working together side by side,” noted Lehenbauer.

Harrison’s declaration of fellowship between the two churches was met with great thanksgiving by the leadership of both the LCMS and the ELCL. “This is joyous time for the Lord’s Church when unity of confession is recognized,” said Collver.

“This is joy unspeakable and full of glory,” agreed Bolay. “The church of Liberia had long desired this fellowship and wishes to extend grateful thanks to all of you who helped to make this possible.” Adriane Dorr is managing editor of The Lutheran Witness.

Posted May 11, 2012.

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Archive Date: June 11, 2012 Prepared by the Division of News & Information, LCMS Communications

FridayMay 11, 2012 Search Reporter

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Summer Tree Dr,Ballwin,United States

• Assisted with the development the new structure
• Helped bring clarity to positions and roles
• Facilitated the National Mission Conference and other large team meetings
• Guided us in the development of new work flow processes
• Assisted with communications about restructuring
• Invented the Change Network (CNet) to facilitate change in the organization
• Spurred conversations, asked tough questions, made us think
• Provided great counsel and guidance

While Bob’s restructuring work with us is coming to a close this week, there is still much restructuring work that we will continue to do. Through the leadership of the President Harrison, Rev. Greg Williamson (CMO), service and program executives and staff, we will continue to refine and improve processes, continue to integrate strategically across departments, develop long range planning, and develop an organizational culture that supports the accomplishments of our goals.

If your organization (district, congregation, team, business) wants to:

• assess your organization (what works, what doesn’t work)
• develop processes to improve your outcomes
• enhance the culture in your organization
• consolidate and optimize your operation
• develop vision and strategic plans
• consider stakeholder analysis
• and much, much more

I highly recommend contacting Bob Gleason. His background in organizational development and change makes him a great asset to the Synod. All of us here at the International Center are grateful for his help over the last 10 months. I am confident that he can help your organization, congregation or district accomplish the goals you want to achieve. You can contact Bob directly at rrgleason@hotmail.com

Thanks Bob!,

-Barb Below

Superintendent Marian Čop

On 29 April 2012, Rev. Marian Čop was installed as the Superintendent at the Slovak congregation that meets at Saint Michael’s Church in Prague. Visitors from around Europe and the world came for the installation. One person in the congregation told me that this was the largest gathering in Saint Michael’s since the beginning of the communist revolution. The LCMS was invited to attend the installation because of our connection to Pastor David Jurech in the Czech congregation, and because of LCMS Missionary, Rev. Tony Booker, who serves the English speaking congregation at Saint Michael’s in Prague.

Dr. Collver Brings LCMS Greetings To Superintendent Čop

LCMS attendees included: Rev. Dr. Albert Collver, Director of Church Relations, Rev. Dr. Brent Smith, LCMS Eurasia Regional Director, and Rev. Tony Book, LCMS Missionary to Prague. Because the LCMS and the Slovak congregation are not in altar and pulpit fellowship, the LCMS attendees did not participate in the installation service, but were happy to bring greetings from President Harrison and the people of the LCMS. The attendance by LCMS people at the installation furthers to strengthen Lutheranism in Central Europe and helps to establish relationships that may lead to further developments in the future.

Bishop Emeritus Schöne Brings SELK Greetings

Bishop Emeritus Jobst Schöne brought greetings from Bishop Hans-Jorg Voigt of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in Germany. SELK is a partner church of the LCMS.

The Roman Catholic Bishop Brings Greetings

Prague has had a long standing Papal Nuncio. Rome sent the local Bishop to bring greetings to Superintendent Čop.

Choir Singing at Installation

The service included several of Martin Luther’s hymns as well as anthems by the choir. After the three and a half hour service, a reception was held at a nearby cafe. Blessings to Superintendent Čop.

Bishop Schöne and Sights of Prague

The weather in Prague was more like summer than spring. This gave an opportunity to take in some of the sights of Prague with Bishop Schöne after the installation.

The Glory of Yahweh

View of Prague from Petrín Hill

– Rev. Dr. Albert Collver, Director of Church Relations

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Christ is risen!
[He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

“Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Wrong request, wrong question. Or as Jesus put it, “You do not know what you are asking.”

Who and where is Jesus Christ in all this? Right question, “for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Who and where is Jesus Christ? Right question, and with the right question, the right answer should follow.

Let’s see…. How can we put this? Well, it’s like this: James and John have poor vision.
And so, dear sinner, do you.

Your vision is poor. You are not seeing things very well.

And I don’t mean just those of you who are blessed with “four eyes,” or those who might be members of a Lutheran Center for the Blind, such as we have at First Trinity, where I serve here in Pittsburgh. No, all of you have poor vision.

And I don’t mean just the poor spiritual vision mentioned in Holy Scripture and of which most of us are very familiar. I don’t just mean the “spiritually blind” – that is, the blindness sung of in “Amazing Grace” –“I once…was blind, but now I see” – I didn’t believe, but now I do: No, that’s not exactly what I’m getting at either.

So, lest I confuse further, let me restate: Your vision is misplaced; your vision lacks proper focus; or, if you will, you’re looking for love in all the wrong places, so to speak.

Your vision, like the Zebedeean brothers, is lousy. Like James and John, you all too often look inwardly. You focus on self, and your perceived needs, your desires, your power, your reputation, your feelings, your future, your glory, even – like the famed Pharisee praying in the temple – on the good you do: “I am not like other people; I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess; I go to church every Sunday; I pray every morning; I volunteer; I work really hard; I help the poor and disadvantaged; I go to the LSA conferences; I keep the commandments, well, mostly, as best as I can; I am a nice person; I am a good driver; I am humble; I am smart; I am not like most others; I, I, I, I….”

This type of focus on one’s own person and one’s works reveals a worship of none other than the false god of self, the idolatry of the hyper-individualism and arrogant self-righteousness which is so prevalent. It diminishes and distorts the vision of the eyes…and of the heart and of the mind. It puffs itself up at the cost of others who are then invariably judged to be less: less intelligent, less religious, less good, less worthy, less useful, even, simply, less Lutheran, less Christian…, less.

This inward curvature of the eyes, and the heart and the mind and the will, upon themselves is at the heart of sin, at the heart of pride.

This pride – or its opposite twin, despair – is the logical result when, while looking inward at self, you also look outward at others. – Because, let’s be frank, even this gaze at others is usually one of comparison, and comparison is the way of the law, which for sinners is the way of certain death. This comparing is the judgment which leads either to despair – “I wish I could be as cool, funny, nice, loving, helpful, faithful, service-oriented, selfless, as good a preacher as he is, but I can’t” – or to pride – “Well, at least I am better than she is: she only goes to church once a month, or, he drinks too much beer (or not enough beer), or, she’s not really as pious as I, or, he never comes to Bible Study, or, she doesn’t volunteer as much as I do….” Despair or pride – that is the consequence of even your outward-aimed vision. And we must be honest: like James and John, it’s usually the latter: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you…give us GLORY.”

This pride is false worship for, as I said, it worships self. It also does claim to worship God, but its worship is false. Our Lutheran confessions tell us: “The service and worship of the Gospel is to receive good things from God, while the worship of the law is to offer and present our goods to God.” You all have some, or even a lot, of the sons of Zebedee in you: As such, in the way of the law, you like to present your abilities, your devotion, your fasting, your tithes, your offerings, your attendance, your promotions, your sacrifices, your smiles to God and say, “Lookee here, ain’t I been pretty good!” Well, “No. Filthy rags,” says Holy Writ; even your supposedly righteous acts are but filthy rags – not pure enough, not enough of them, far from the 100% perfection that the Law demands.

So, then, what are the good things you are to receive from God in the worship of the Gospel?! Well, our Lord tells us what the worship of the Gospel is: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is worship; this is divine service. This is Christ’s life given in service to you – again, our Book of Concord states, “The highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness from Christ, acknowledging him as the Messiah.” Christ’s life given to you – the gifts of God for the people of God in Preaching and the Sacraments. Christ’s life given to you – thus corrected vision, that you may truly see. Christ’s life given to you – for with this revised re-vision, as Bonhoeffer writes, “Everything about other people that repels me falls away. Then I see them in all their need, hardship, and distress…, granting other Christians the same right [I] have received, namely, the right to stand before Christ and to share in Christ’s mercy.”_

Christ’s life given in service to you – indeed your vision of others and self is given its proper place and focus only because through his means the Holy Spirit has fixed your eyes toward…Jesus: always, you thus “look unto him, the author and finisher of our faith….” As the Augustana says, “The highest form of divine service is to seek and call upon Jesus Christ.” It is only when your vision is cruciform and Christocentric, cross-focused and Christ-centered – it is only when you see self and others in the shadow of the cross and through the person and work of Jesus – it is only then that you lay aside your legalistic and selfish goggles, glasses, and lenses, “lay aside every weight, and lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares us….”

It is only then that you understand the correct place for the law in your lives today, which Bo Giertz points out. Previously it stood between you and God, an obstacle blocking the way. As a mirror of sin and a curb of evil, it frightens and threatens the fallen sinner in demanding utter holiness.
But now Christ has fulfilled the law, kept it, and suffered under its punishment, for you – thus he has opened the way for you to the Father, for his sake. And now, then, the law does not stand in front of you as an obstacle in the path to God, but rather it is behind you, so that it meets you when you turn around to go out among your neighbors. And you know that the law is right and good; it is the voice of God, of his LOVE; and so you listen to it as you make your decisions, order your day, and serve your neighbor. It now describes you, because it describes the life of Christ in and through you, my dear saints. The law shows you not the way to God – that’s only through the gospel – but rather the law shows you the way to your neighbors, and into those works that God has already prepared beforehand that you might walk in them._

The beloved disciple writes, “Beloved, let us…love one another” – not only ourselves – “and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. … In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this we have from God: he who loves God loves his brother also.” As Luther said, a “Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. … He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love” (AE 31:371). And you do love! – not by your own efforts or striving, for then, indeed, it would be impossible – the love would not be pure enough, or frequent enough. But with God all things are possible, and so with his divine love, his superabundant love poured out onto you in Baptism and into you in the Lord’s Supper, his love overflowing through you and thus onto others – with this love, you see; with THIS love you love and you serve your neighbors.

But that’s not all. – It’s not over. There’s always more with Gospel – more gifts than your hands can hold or your lives can share, more wonders than your mind can imagine, more forgiveness than you’ve got sins! For, ultimately and especially and uniquely and wonderfully and amazingly, mercy for the sinner means this: God’s vision is messed up. God himself is the one who has poor vision!

He, above all and only, would be justified in looking outwardly upon others, upon you, with self-importance, with smugness, with pride. For he is almighty, he is perfect, he is sinless; as a matter of fact, he goes to church every day, he volunteers, he works really hard, he goes to every LSA conference, he keeps the commandments, he is nice, he is smart, he is not like others. God would be just in looking upon you with utter disappointment, derision, scorn, rejection, pride, even hatred. But, but he does not. Rather, God has a vision problem, for when he looks upon you he sees…Christ; that’s right, Christ! When he looks upon you, he sees one who has been joined to Christ, one who has died and risen with Christ, one who has been baptized with Christ, one who is a participant of the divine nature, one who has been clothed with Christ, one who has the sacred body and blood of Christ coursing through the veins and clinging to the bones, he sees one who is “of Christ,” that is, a Christian, a Christ-ian!

God remembers and sees your sins…no more. “The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.” The eye of the Lord…. – And what God sees he declares. And what he declares, is: be it light or parted waters or virgin pregnancy. And he looks upon Christ and says of him: Behold, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And thus God looks upon you and says of you: Behold, this is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, with whom I am well pleased.
And so it is.
Christ in you, that’s the hope of glory.
That’s some blessed “poor vision.”

One more thing! We need to get back to James and John. Don’t forget that they were restored. James was part of the inner circle of disciples closest to Jesus, he witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus, was with him during his agony in Gethsemane, and James was ultimately martyred in 43 A.D. by Herod Agrippa I for confessing Christ. John, well John helped with preparations for the last supper – where he sat next to Jesus, stood by Jesus’ mother at the crucifixion, after Pentecost he became a missionary with Peter, and he wrote the fourth gospel, three epistles, and Revelation! This is to say that Jesus had mercy on James and John, and that mercy, and the power of the resurrection, transformed them to be pillars of the ancient church, and pillars of the church today. Jesus had use for them. He has use even for you…now in the present, and even as he uses you and LSA “to shape the future.”
Amen.

Christ is risen!
[He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]