This week I am traveling to speak at the ACELC (ACELC.net) conference. Video of my presentation (tomorrow,) Deo Volente, will be forthcoming. But tonight my parish planning team is meeting in my absence. In previous calls, this would be cause for anxiety. But tonight I submitted the following in my absence:
Greetings friends,
In my absence please accept this brief:
1. It’s all good.
Things are amazing right now. I’ve never been in a congregation so full of zest and overflowing with talk about the Christian faith. The spaces are full and bubbling with fellowship that cannot be missed. The wide swath of visitors passing through thanks to Dark Shore (Hebron) can taste it, and they’re always taking SOS packets with them in bulk. I don’t think I overstate the case: we are quickly becoming a major hub in the pan-American-Lutheran world. Pray for wisdom, and praise God for hope!
2. We live in crazy times.
My game plan is to go down fighting, and by that I mean singing the praises of Jesus Christ by psalm, proverb and preaching. I have many, many irons in the fire right now, more than are suitable for a brief. But I do believe that crazy times come and go. Proverbs 22:3 has been my pastoral game plan for the parish since 2020. By that, I also mean that 1 Timothy 4:14 is a mandate for my office and I am ordination bound to preserve our parish communion at pain of conscience and life. That actually excites me, as does my certainty that if you all haven’t already looked up those two verses and discussed them that you soon will. :)
3. I’m going to XYZHAHA.
I love you bye! (I’m confident that even if the world burns down while we’re gone, under Gods will, we will all feel the stronger for it come my return to the pulpit).
4. Optimism is mandatory. :)
I recently repented of a decades long spirit of cynicism. It is rampant among the ministerium. Many pastors are constantly on the verge of breakdown, and discouragement quickly becomes despair. SP members who were here during the decades of school decline and closure remember how that feels. What has blessed me with repentance is a combination of 3 years of conversation with Rev Dr Koontz on our weekly A Brief History of Power podcast (which he will fly solo in my Alaska absence - you might tune in for a burst of you haven’t yet: he is an amazing teacher,) and realizing that the Doctrine of Election (AC XVIII and FC II) is the effective Christisn fact of Romans 8:28. It’s unavoidable. You must have hope. You don’t get a choice. Life is a gift. You believe it. You’re an optimist.
5678910. This week, Dark Shore not for profit, an NGO dedicated to designing better futures by telling upright stories, publicly launched its platform ownership of the Mad Christian Discord, a communications server with over 800 active users, many SOS disciples, and a background team of leaders devoted to creating and sustaining a truly “Lutheran” (meaning Christian/catholic) social network. The best way to learn more is to ask myself or Meridith for a tour of the Hebron facility, or to venture into #Citadelia on Discord. (But if you’re over 35 and haven’t read *Ready Player 1* Discord can be quite jarring, a bit like Cloud Kukoo land in the Lego Movie.) Imagine it as a city in the sky, where everyone is a superhero with a day job, and we all believe Jesus is our King. Stick around, ask a question, find a nook, and then stop burning time on your phone and go do something glorious!
As Jesus Christ lives, a rising tide lifts all ships. Proverbs 22:17-21, Isaiah 45:2-7, Revelation 3:8-13
Pastor