The Canadian Lutheran January/February 2018

The

CANADIAN

LUTHERAN www.canadianlutheran.ca

Volume 33 Number 1

Post-Reformation Whirlwind INSIDE • A Reformation Unleashed • Meet the President • Observing Lent • Star Wars movie review

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Contents Features www.canadianlutheran.ca Volume 33 Number 1

January/February 2018

A Reformation unleashed 6 Observing Lent in an impenitent world 9 Meet the President 10 Back to the Catechism: Daily Prayers 12

Departments Table Guest

Bible-reading habit A Reformation unleashed Page 6

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In Review

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

38

Presidential Perspective

Doing nothing?

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News Section International News

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LCC, LCMS, and NALC partner to encourage Bible reading • LCC signs Fellowship Declaration with Finnish confessional Lutherans

National News T h e C a n a d i a n L u t h e r a n is the national publication of Lutheran Church–Canada, published in Winnipeg six times per year: January/ February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/ October, November/December under the auspices of the Board of Directors (Committee for Communication and Technology).

ISSN #0383-4247 Member: Canadian Church Press Interim Editor: Ian Adnams Advertising: Iris Barta District News Layout: Marion Hollinger Subscriptions: $20/yr E-mail: bcs@lutheranchurch.ca

All material and advertising should be in the office of The Canadian Lutheran five weeks prior to publication date. Advertising rate card available upon request.

The Canadian Lutheran 3074 Portage Ave. Winnipeg, MB R3K 0Y2 Telephone: 204-895-3433 FAX: 204-832-3018 E-mail: communications@lutheranchurch.ca Materials published in The Canadian Lutheran, with the exception of Letters to the Editor, news reports, and advertising, receive doctrinal review and approval before publication. Contents of supplements are the responsibility of the organization purchasing the space. ©2018 Lutheran Church–Canada. Reproduction of a single article or column for parish use does not require the permission of The Canadian Lutheran. Such reproductions, however, should credit The Canadian Lutheran as the source.

S c r i pt u r e t a ke n f ro m t h e H O LY B I B L E , N E W INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

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New LCC president installed • New executive director for CLWR • Change ahead for LLL-Canada • LCC benefits and pension services transform for the future

ABC District

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Stony Plain outreach to the needy • New shoes minister to local children • Small town, big milestones

Central District

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Across the district…Advent and Christmas • Catechumens stuff toys for charity • Board changes convention date

East District

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Spa day benefits body, soul & community • Walking in the footsteps of Martin Luther • Circuit celebrates Reformation 500

Mission Update

31

Ukrainian Lutherans celebrate blessings • Greek classes continue for Nicaraguan pastors• Rebuilding continues in Cambodia

Education Report

37

Canadians eligible for financial support at U.S. Concordia • Open House planned Classifieds

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Supplement

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Lutheran Bible Translators of Canada THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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Re-Forming Our Church

Congregations receive materials for LCC Constitution vote CANADA – Lutheran Church– Canada (LCC) released a package of resource materials in December for congregations as they prepare to vote on changes to the synodical constitution adopted at the 2017 synodical convention.

“These proposed changes in structure were all adopted by the 2017 LCC Convention by a strong majority,” explained Pastor Nolan Astley, former LCC First Vicepresident, in an executive summary on the congregational ratification

process. “Because some of these changes require amendment of the Constitution of LCC, a congregational ratification vote is necessary to approve the changes to the constitution. In order to be adopted the constitutional amendments must be approved by two-thirds of the congregations participating in the ratification vote.”

The resource package provides congregations with the tools needed to participate in the ratification process. The package, mailed in

“Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Saviour, and my hope is in You all day long.” - Psalm 18:2 A message from

Great is the glory of the Lord!

mid-December and available through www.canadianlutheran.ca/lccrestructuring-process/ includes: • An Executive Summary on Constitutional Amendment Ratification • A detailed letter to congregations explaining the changes • The final draft of the Synodical Constitution as amended • A Comparison Document showing the Synodical Constitution before and after amendments • The Ballot for Congregational Votes “The Board of Directors of LCC, together with the Commission on Constitutional Matters and Structure, urges member congregations to give prayerful consideration of these amendments to our Constitution and exercise their right to vote,” writes Pastor Astley in his Executive Summary.

Congregational votes on the proposed changes must take place on or before April 16, 2018. Ballots may be submitted electronically or by mail, but those sent by mail must be postmarked no later than April 17, 2018.

Convention videos online

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LIVING CHRISTIAN VALUES

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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BUILDING A BETTER WORLD

ONLINE - Video from Lutheran Church–Canada’s 2017 convention is now online. The video includes both the opening worship service and all six business sessions. Links to the videos are found on www.lcc2017.ca

Table Guest

Bible-reading habit

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e are creatures of habit, aren’t we? And those pesky bad ones are extremely hard to break. Just ask anyone who has tried to lose a few pounds, or stop biting their nails, or count to ten instead of letting anger erupt in a curse word. The truth is that supplanting bad habits with good ones is nearly impossible.

I’ve certainly had my fair share of bad habits and one of the worst was neglecting God’s word. Therefore, when our church started a daily Bible reading program covering the entire Bible in two years, it was that extra boost I needed and I decided to give it a try. However, as a layperson I didn’t expect to get much out of the unfamiliar passages which, to be honest, were numerous.

Now, I should back up for a moment. As a child, I recognized that learning Bible verses was good for me, and as a young adult, I knew Bible reading was a positive habit to cultivate (there’s that word again). Once I had a family to raise—whereupon I frequently failed the “counting to ten” technique when dealing with three squabbling children—the need for God’s Word in our lives became painfully obvious. But did I read the Bible regularly? Nope. Knowing something is good for you and doing it are two different things.

Original sin has a firm hold on our psyche. It says, “I don’t want to obey,” and it never stops tormenting us. Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” No matter how frustrating my days, I stayed stuck in my bad habit rut, leaving the Bible to languish on

by Lenora Buffi the shelf despite what I knew to be true. Yes, I attended church and was involved in many aspects of church life, but committing to daily Bible reading was always too much of a chore. After all, I told myself, I was doing enough as a Christian and I knew the most important sections anyway.

Fast-forward several decades.

There have been heartaches and losses, times of terrible illness and despair, and by God’s grace, occasions of real joy too. In January 2016 when I began the daily Bible

God had formed a good habit in me—despite my foolishness! reading schedule, I didn’t give much thought to the outcome. I chose to obey, but it was mostly so I could put a check-mark beside the item: “Read the Bible in Two Years.” I plugged along chapter by chapter like a dutiful plough horse, picking up speed during the familiar sections and slogging through the tough ones (such as Numbers—trudge, trudge).

At the end of those two years— finishing a week early—I gave myself a pat on the back, ready to move on to enjoying that bit of extra free time each day. But then … something strange and astounding took place.

I missed it.

In fact, I yearned for its pure teaching, for the sternness of the Law and the sweetness of the Gospel. And so, I grabbed my One-Year Bible (that

I had purchased many years ago), and on January 1, 2018, I started again. That’s when it finally sank in.

It had taken two years, but God had formed a good habit in me—despite my foolishness! Instead of being a chore, reading the Bible was now a joy. When my eyes focused on the familiar “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” it was like drinking a tall, cool glass of refreshing water on a hot summer day, soothing and restoring those dry, hardened, stubborn recesses of my heart and mind.

In Isaiah 55:11, God says, “So is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” In humility, I must claim ownership of that disobedient Old Adam, that sinful nature that kept me from reading the Bible as I ought. Yet at the same time, I can joyfully proclaim God’s mercy in calling me through His Word. When the storms of life gather, as I know they will, I can turn to the scriptures, with complete trust in His good and gracious will.

Praise God for the comfort, strength, joy and reassurance His Word gives! I urge everyone to set aside time for daily Bible reading.

God will accomplish that which He desires, which is to create and sustain faith and to fit us for service, ready to witness to His love and the salvation won for us in Christ Jesus.

Lenora Buffi is a member of Zion Lutheran Church in Plumas, Man., where she has served as the congregation’s pianist for 31 years. She and her husband, Howard, have three grown children and one grandson.

Lenora works in a public library and is also pursuing a career as a writer.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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A Reformation unleashed What were the false teachings that had sprung forth from the coat tails of the movement Luther had inaugurated?

by John Stephenson

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he closing words of President Teuscher’s acceptance speech at last October’s synodical convention caught my attention at the time and have retained it since: “And may the Lord have mercy on our poor little Lutheran Church–Canada!” In the world of public relations, positive “spin” is everything, the magic ingredient that causes people to be selfsatisfied and feel good, the factor that can presumably be relied on to make the dollars flow in.

In the setting of divided worldwide Christendom we need to be careful not to get caught up in playing the “numbers game,” an exercise that invariably involves manipulating statistics. Yes, there are way over one billion Roman Catholics on the face of the earth, but how many of them were at Mass last Sunday, and how many of them know and embrace the basics of the Catechism? Since the Soviet Union fell, the numbers of Orthodox Christians have shot up: a huge proportion of Russians are now happy to be associated with their national church and to use it for rites of passage such a being “hatched, matched, and dispatched.” But how much of their gripping Divine Liturgy do they know by heart?

For at least a couple of generations past, Lutherans and Anglicans have jostled for third place among Christendom’s “big players”, but the answer to the question which communion is the larger of the two depends on discerning which side has more artfully cooked the books. The number of Lutherans worldwide can soar to 70 million if we include most of the population of heavily secularised Scandinavia and a good number of church bodies that have not been meaningfully Lutheran for generations, even centuries.

And Anglican numbers can rocket towards 80 million

if around 27 million baptised Anglicans in England are placed in the balance, notwithstanding the fact that practising members of the Church of England have dipped way below the one million mark. Moreover, to the discomfort of both Anglicans and Lutherans, the Pentecostals are by now likely the third, if not the second largest group of Christians here below.

What then were the heresies that had followed Luther’s brave testimony?

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

What did Luther begin?

1527 was in some ways a watershed year for Dr. Martin Luther. Married now for two years and a father for one, by the standards of the day he was closer to old than middle age. From his table talk and some comments in his lectures, we know he was pondering what all he had unwittingly unleashed in the closing months of 1517, some ten years earlier. During 1527 the Reformer wrote a major, brilliant, and powerful defence of the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. He also lectured diligently at the university. He and Katie stayed in town during a virulent outbreak of the plague which put their own lives on the line. And in 1527 Luther suffered a terrible breakdown which put him out of commission for a couple of months during which his Anfechtungen (temptations/afflictions) returned in full force.

As he began his university lectures on Titus, Luther came out with an unexpected remark: ”Blessed be God that He did not reveal to me [ten years ago] that heresies like these would follow; [had He done so, I would not have begun” (see AE 29:8). The Reformer certainly believed that the Pope and many clergy and teachers of the Church had been teaching a terrible mix of heresies when the Reformation began, and they were manifestly still doing so. What then were the heresies that had followed Luther’s brave testimony? What were the false

teachings that had sprung forth as it were from the coat tails of the movement Luther had inaugurated?

Quite against his intention, by refusing to buckle under the pressure exerted by Cardinal Cajetan, Pope Leo X, and Emperor Charles V, Luther unleashed an epoch of pluralism within Christendom, whose full consequences would take more than a century to become plain. He had so “let the genie out of the bottle” or “opened Pandora’s Box.” In the aftermath of last year’s Reformation 500, it is worthwhile reviewing the slow process by which religious toleration and the coexistence of separated Christian churches became the norm with which we are familiar today. But for now, let’s stick to the topic of Luther’s dismay in 1517.

of words. Luther’s powerful treatise in refutation of Karlstadt, Against the Heavenly Prophets, spelled out core doctrine and breathes what from that point on has existed as a “Lutheran ethos”.

Andreas Karlstadt was one of the first to deny that the consecrated bread and wine in Holy Communion are our Lord’s true body and blood. So zany was his line of argument that Luther believed his novel errors would have no traction. But a lawyer in Holland (Cornelius Hoen) had already gently argued for the same position back in 1521.

Then Luther was troubled that the Bohemian Brethren, a small church body across the border of Saxony that should have been his natural ally, were hesitant and ambiguous Ulrich Zwingli on this central article of faith.

But these phenomena were minor in comparison with what burst forth from Switzerland in the mid-1520s as Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich jumped on Karlstadt’s bandwagon and attacked Luther as a major heretic for his confession of the real presence.

Cracks began appearing Pandora’s Box started to let out some weird characters while Luther was holed up in Elector Frederick’s protective custody in the Wartburg Castle for most of 1521. Don’t think for a moment that Pentecostals and Charismatics only showed up within the last century—the three “Zwickau Prophets” won that race when they showed up in Wittenberg and claimed God was talking to them directly, even apart from the Scriptures; infant Baptism was one of the targets in their sights. Given that Andreas Karlstadt nature abhors a vacuum, the Wittenberg faculty needed a leader while Luther was away. Senior professor Dr. Andreas Karlstadt already thought he could lead the new spiritual movement better than Luther, and he now stepped forth promoting liturgical vandalism and the destruction of religious art. Twentieth-century scholars have described Karlstadt as “the first Baptist,” and he became a major bogeyman for the orthodox Lutherans of the sixteenth century.

When Luther returned without Elector Frederick’s permission from the Wartburg to Wittenberg and preached a sermon series during the first week of Lent 1522 (the so-called Invocavit Sermons, which remain a masterpiece of pastoral theology), he soon grabbed the steering wheel of the Reformation back from Karlstadt’s unsteady hands, but within a couple of years the two former allies engaged in a mighty battle

Further reforms appear Zwingli’s attack not only on the Reformer personally but—more importantly—on the Lord Himself in the upper room was perhaps a major factor in Luther’s breakdown of 1527. Even before the warring parties met for their famous Colloquy at John Calvin Marburg Castle in October 1529, the unity of what would soon be called Protestantism lay smashed to smithereens. Since that time Lutheran Christendom had been caught within a pincer. While Luther lived, the Roman side seemed dispirited and depleted, but from the 1540s onwards the Counter-Reformation was building up a head of steam which remained a powerful spiritual force till the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. And now we must consider the successors of Karlstadt and Zwingli the movers and shakers of Reformed Christendom.

The French theologian John Calvin (1509-1564), who spent much of his career in exile in Geneva did not factor greatly on Luther’s radar, but in the 1550s he emerged as the leading teacher and guide for much of Protestantism. For the next century Calvin, and especially his monumental Institutes of the Christian Religion, were perhaps the major force in the spiritual THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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life of the Netherlands, the British Isles, some of France, and—before long—North America. Most troubling from our perspective, not a few German princes who had brought their territories into the sphere of the Lutheran Reformation came to believe that Calvin completed a Reformation Luther had only half implemented, with the result that around the year 1600 a noticeable chunk of Germany had switched from Lutheran to Reformed Christendom.

In 1555 the Reichstag at Augsburg avoided the outbreak of war within the Empire by acknowledging the right of two confessions to coexist within its bounds.

Still centuries away from modern concepts of human rights, the Reichstag decreed that the prince of a given territory could opt—with executive effect for all his subjects—between the “old religion” and the Augsburg Confession. To begin with, this a r ra n g e m e n t b o d e d we l l f o r Lutheranism since three of the Empire’s seven leading princes, the so-called Electors, professed the Augsburg Confession. But by 1600 around ten princes had defected to the Reformed side of the aisle, most prominently the Elector Palatine of the Rhine who finally turned his territory Reformed in 1583. A glance at the map of the confederated Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) will show that in some significant parts of Germany the Reformed have a monopoly of the “Protestant” franchise!

two world wars. Within three centuries, the huge majority of Lutherans in Prussia had caved in to the religious agenda of their royal rulers with only a small minority resisting King Frederick William III’s proclamation of the Prussian Union (of Lutherans and Reformed into one Church) in 1817.

As he spoke candidly and with horror in his lecture room in 1527, Dr. Luther was spared the knowledge that three different Churches would spring on German territory from the movement he had unleashed. Some Germans would knowingly embrace Reformed Christianity with its different perception of Christ, the Gospel, and the Sacraments.

Many—indeed, numerically by far the largest of the German Protestant churches in the early 20th century—would succumb to Union with the Reformed. Only a shrinking minority would remain meaningfully Lutheran. Faithful Lutherans have been pushed to the margins of the churches now gathered in the “United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany” (VELKD), with the result that the strongest Lutheran presence in Germany is supplied today by the heirs of those who resisted the Prussian Union, the “Old Lutherans” who now form the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, our sister— indeed, mother—church, Selbständige EvangelischLutherische Kirche — SELK.

Switching sides In 1613 the Elector of Brandenburg personally renounced the Lutheran and embraced the Reformed confession. John Sigismund expected his subjects to follow suit and was taken aback when the mass of the nobility, the clergy, and the common people stuck to their Lutheran guns. Initially, the Elector backed off insisting he would not violate the consciences of his Lutheran subjects. But within a few years the House of Hohenzollern (the surname of the rulers of Brandenburg) began a steady war of attrition against Lutheranism within their territories; the saintly clergyman, theologian, and hymn writer Paul Gerhardt was one of the more notable casualties. Tragically, through inheritance, marriage alliances, and a string of aggressive wars, the Hohenzollerns carved out a major state which morphed from Brandenburg-Prussia to the Kingdom of Prussia, the aggressive, militaristic state that bore major responsibility for the 20th Century’s

A remnant remains Statistically, this has been an unhappy tale but statistics aren’t everything. Remarkably, the strongest congregation in the SELK is in the Hohenzollerns’ backyard. At Trinity Church in the suburb of Steglitz, Pastor Gottfried Martens preaches a message and celebrates services that would have landed him in jail two centuries ago. A marvel of this secularist age has occurred as more than a thousand former Muslims have embraced the Small Catechism in faith and practice resulting in the number of faithful Lutherans in Germany inching slightly upwards for the first time in decades.

Christ remains Lord, whatever the rulers of this age may say and do to the contrary.

Luther was spared the knowledge that three different Churches would spring on German territory from the movement he had unleashed

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

Rev. Dr. John Stephenson is Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Observing Lent in an impenitent world

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by Kelly Klages

oday’s world feels more and more polarizing.

Hostilities and rage seem to always buzz, especially if you’re a frequent consumer of social media. The ideas of repentance and forgiveness have fallen by the wayside, frequently misunderstood or even vilified as a sign of personal weakness, complacency, or antijustice. Those who deign to admit they were wrong and try to make amends are still pilloried. In a world without forgiveness, there are only eternal grudges, debts that can never really be repaid, and perpetual selfjustification. When the only recognized kingdom is an earthly one, there is only Law, and the result can be merciless.

But Christians are citizens of another kingdom as well, one ruled solely by grace. Our faith is built on forgiveness, and this calls for humility—a willingness to confess where we have broken God’s Law, and to cling to the Gospel of the forgiveness for that sin through Jesus’ atoning death. This doesn’t mean rejecting God’s rule in the temporal realm and our participation in it (what theologians call “the kingdom of the left hand”). On the contrary: only by forgiveness, reconciliation, and communion with Christ through His Church (the “kingdom of the right hand”) are believers strengthened and empowered to live grace-filled lives of love and service to our neighbours.

This winter, to combat the spirit of cultural burnout among us and its brutal promotion of gracelessness, here are some ideas to help us refocus on forgiveness. Included are not only spiritual disciplines, but also some practical personal habits that can help facilitate these disciplines and seeing the “bigger picture.”

• Ash Wednesday is on St. Valentine’s Day this year.

Show your love for family and loved ones by taking them to church! If you’re in the habit of making elaborate plans on the evening of the 14th consider switching those plans to a different day of the week.

• Mark your church’s midweek Lenten services on your calendar. It’s a step towards prioritizing spiritual growth within your own congregation, and by extension the millions of Christians who are joining together to focus on Christ’s Passion in this season. Communal faith is necessary for believers and reminds us that spirituality is much bigger than our individual selves.

• Consider listening to portions of the Bible this Lent.

Listening to God’s Word has advantages– it is how the Word was originally meant to come to us (“So faith

comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). It also forces us, whose ears may have grown dull in a sound-bite world, to focus. It is good practice for listening to the audible Gospel in church and to our own family and neighbours throughout the week. Audio Bibles are available for purchase, or for free on sites like www.Biblegateway.org.

• Here are few devotional reading r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s : Re a d i n g the Psalms With Luther, Sacred Meditations by Johann Gerhard, Authentic Christianity by Gene Veith and A. Trevor Sutton, The Story Bible (for children) all available from www.CPH.org.

• Step out of the rage machine. If there is a media outlet, online or otherwise, that merely raises your hackles and promotes your own selfrighteousness, turn it off. Discover the “mute” and the “unfollow” settings on your social media. Listen to others and consider different opinions, but find those who can do so in reasoned, civil tones, not in conspiracy theories or shrill outrages-du-jour.

• When it comes to reading for entertainment, try something old. React against the endless, often-trivial stream of the “now” in favour of what’s stood the test of time. Reading old books is a great way to gain humility and perspective about our own era. You may discover surprising themes of faith as well as finding new favourites. Another benefit? An amazing amount of the greatest literature of all time can be found free online.

• Cultivate gratitude and giving.

Make donating to a charity a family project this year during the forty days of Lent.

Grab some note cards and send some thank you notes to those who have blessed your life.

• Pray for the person you are least interested in praying for. Not praying in the style of the Pharisee of Jesus’ story, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like other men,” but in positive terms, as if they were already a friend.

You may know the verse, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Read its context in Psalm 46, and you will find God speaking of how He shuts down the rage machine on a massive scale. As God-With-Us, Jesus entered our raging world to save us and to be our fortress and comfort.

That promise is ours this Lenten season and throughout the year.

Kelly Klages is a writer and artist living in Morden, Manitoba.

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Meet the President An interview with President Timothy Teuscher

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elegates to Lutheran Church–Canada’s 11th Convention elected Rev. Timothy Teuscher to serve as president for the next four years. Through email The Canadian Lutheran conducted an interview with the new president to learn more about him.

What priorities have you identified for your presidency and for LCC over the next four years?

As I wrote in an article included in The Canadian Lutheran last summer, the priorities for myself and LCC have already, in a sense, been set down for us in the Large Catechism where Luther says, “Everything in the Christian church is so ordered that we may daily obtain full forgiveness of sins through the Word and through signs (i.e., the Sacraments) appointed to comfort and revive our consciences as long as we live.”

Such order or priorities begin with the order our Lord Himself has established – the order or office of the holy ministry; i.e., the proper calling of pastors by congregations to preach and teach the pure Word of God and administer the Sacraments according to Christ’s institution; the supervision and support of pastors; the recruitment of future pastors; and the need to address the matter of non-calling vacancies and the status of retired pastors. It includes, as a result, matters pertaining to the proper order of worship, the financial support of Word and Sacrament ministry in congregations unable to do so on their own, and is the bottom-line, so to speak, of missions. And it is also the basis upon which and the reason why congregations and the synod itself are constituted and ordered.

You have served all of your pastorate in the East District, and the church-at-large as a member of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations in the ‘90s. What are your plans to reacquaint yourself with the national church?

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

Since I am unknown to many in LCC, I decided, soon after my election as president, to have my installation in Winnipeg rather than in the East District. Shortly after the convention I received invitations to attend a church workers conference and a circuit forum in the ABC District both of which I immediately accepted. I plan to attend more gatherings in the ABC and Central Districts in order to get to know the pastors and people and to hear about some of the concerns and issues they are facing.

You are president at a turning point in the history of LCC; the new structure is a work in progress and calls for a major shift in how the church operates.

How will you address all the changes required?

The list, as it were, is almost endless and there are a number of practical matters that will need to be addressed—unified compensation guidelines and remittance forms for congregations; simplified and standard forms for Regional Pastors and Circuit Counsellors to use in their visits; establishing a format for assessing financial requests from missions and congregations across Canada; job description for and the appointment of the new national mission executive who is to be in place at the beginning of next year; setting up some type of policy and procedures for the new Regional Councils and Convocations; Memorandums of Understanding to be written between LCC and various auxiliaries and organizations. These, and many other re-structuring matters, will be dealt with not just by myself, but by the Vice-president, the Board of Directors (BOD), the Committee on Constitutional Matters and Structure, the Council of Presidents (President’s Ministry Council), the Treasurer (Administrator), and, more than likely, by various committees appointed by the BOD and in consultation with the three existing districts.

As we embark down the road of this new structure of our synod, it will be wise to remember this counsel from Dr. Luther: “Experience will show that many things in this order must be changed, while with others no one will bother about them. But if some things prevail and come into use, then it is easy to add to them and to arrange them in order. To make laws is indeed a great, glorious, and important thing, but without God’s Spirit nothing good will result from it. Therefore it is necessary to proceed with fear and humility before God and to observe these bounds: short and sweet, little and well, tender and always onward. After these things have become rooted, then more will be added as is necessary.”

W h a t d o yo u s e e a s Lutheran Church–Canada’s role in the context of Lutheranism and the Christian church in Canada and internationally?

Apart from what I have read in The Canadian Lutheran or in convention reports, I have little experience with and knowledge of LCC’s role in these matters. Past President Bugbee gave me a “crash course” last fall, but this will be a learning curve for me and I will lean heavily upon and seek the counsel of those in our synod who are currently involved with such endeavours—whether it be in the foreign missions of LCC, dialogues with other church bodies, or our work together with various partner churches around the world.

From your perspective, what major challenges face LCC and how do you believe they can be addressed?

Aside from those mentioned above, there is, as I stated in my address to the convention last fall, the reality of aging and declining congregations . . . and with that declining revenue for congregations and the synod; the turmoil in many congregations due to the financial collapse of the ABC District; the fact that we are living in an increasingly pagan environment and godless nation and anti-Christian society; and, as a result of all this, the temptation to thus ignore and forsake our priceless Lutheran heritage in an effort to survive and supposedly be more relevant and appealing to people and so build and grow the church by our means and efforts.

In the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, our Lord Himself tells us, in effect, how to address these and any challenges that might come our way; namely, to “hold fast what you have until I come,” to “remember what you have received and heard, keep

it and repent” (Revelation 2:25; 3:3).

Tell us about you and your family.

I was born and raised in North Dakota where my father served as pastor in Kongsberg and then Great Bend, and attended high school in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Following stints at colleges in Minnesota, Colorado, and Nebraska. I graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln with a BA degree in ancient and medieval history. Shortly thereafter I enrolled at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

While attending college in Seward, Nebraska I met my wife of 43 years—Paula Anderson. Unlike myself who grew up in the US Midwest, she, due to her father working for an oil company, was born in India and also lived in Pakistan, Egypt, Greece, and Norway, with intermittent stops in Oklahoma. She attended St. John’s College in Winfield, Kansas and graduated with a BSc degree from Concordia Teachers College in Seward.

She enjoys doing crossstitch and other kinds of needlework.

The Lord has blessed us with four children and three grandchildren. Joshua and wife, Nina Cesaratto, and their six-year old son, Roman, live in suburban Seattle, Washington; Amanda and husband, Matt Pollock, live in Chicago, Illinois; Jennifer and husband, Chanmo Park, and their children, 7-year-old Isaac and 5-yearold Chloe, live in Suwon, South Korea; and Kimberly, Jenn’s twin sister, lives in Sparta, Ontario.

What pastimes, hobbies, or sports do you enjoy?

I like to watch most sports, especially baseball – having played and coached for many years until finally “hanging up the spikes” a few years ago, and I look forward to attending a few Winnipeg Goldeyes games. I dabble at fishing and golf, and enjoy visiting museums and art galleries with Paula, reading novels of various genres, and listening to classic rock music and the blues.

How can God’s people in Lutheran Church–Canada support you?

I would ask for your patience, cherish your prayers, seek your counsel and advice, and urge individuals to be ready and willing to serve in various positions when and if called upon—and to do so in light of the apostolic exhortation: “All of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1 Peter 3:8).

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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Back to the Catechism

Daily Prayers

by Martin Luther

How the head of the family should teach his household to pray morning and evening Morning Prayer In the morning, when you get up, bless yourself with the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Then, kneeling or standing, say the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.

If you choose, you can also say this little prayer: I thank You, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Then go to your work joyfully, singing a hymn, such as the Ten Commandments,* or whatever your devotion suggests.

Evening Prayer In the evening, when you go to bed, bless yourself with the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Then, kneeling or standing, say the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.

If you choose, you can also say this little prayer: I thank You, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray You to forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night.

For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

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Then go to sleep promptly and cheerfully.

How the head of the family should teach his household to ask a blessing and return thanks Asking a Blessing The family shall go to the table reverently and with folded hands, and say: The eyes of all look to You, O Lord, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

[Psalm 145:15–16]

Then shall follow the Lord’s Prayer and this prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, bless us and these Your gifts which we receive from Your bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Returning Thanks Likewise also after the meal they shall say reverently and with folded hands: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. He gives food to all flesh. He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

[Psalm 136:1, 25; Psalm 147:9–11] Then shall follow the Lord’s Prayer and this prayer: We t h a n k Yo u , L o rd G o d , heavenly Father, for all Your benefits, who live and reign forever.

Amen.

This translation is by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England (2016).

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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The Prayers

by Edward G. Kettner

O

ver the past year we looked at the six chief parts of the Catechism and have seen how the Scriptures have set forth the description of the content of the Christian faith and how it is played out in the Christian life. But Luther did not stop there. He provided further material to guide Christians in their lives, to help them keep their eyes on their Saviour. After the chief parts are covered, Luther goes on to provide specific prayers for Christians to pray, and gives instructions for incorporating prayer into their daily lives. As with the six chief parts, he notes that the heads of households and schoolmasters should use these prayers as models.

Luther was not the first to put forth models for prayer as a means for establishing a disciplined life of prayer. In fact, he models his prayers on those in the Roman breviary, purging those prayers of their moralistic content and focusing on the God who has saved us and still preserves us. In these prayers we see elements of the first article of the Creed (God has made me …, given me all I need to support this body and life …, defends me and protects me …, for all which it is my duty to thank, praise, serve and obey Him); the second commandment (call upon God’s name in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks); and the Lord’s Prayer (give us this day our daily bread).

Luther specifically includes prayers for morning and evening, to help children (and adults) Luther wrote a pamphlet entitled “A Simple Way to Pray,” which is included in Volume 43 of the American Edition of Luther’s Works, and is available in a translation by Matthew Harrison in an inexpensive edition from Concordia Publishing House (www.CPH.org).

understand how our lives are to be ordered by prayer. Even the apostles felt the need to ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and Jesus gave them a form to follow in the Lord’s Prayer, a form which the church uses to this day. As we look at the morning and evening prayers we see the rhythm of the Christian life played out. In the morning, Luther says, make the sign of the cross a n d i n vo ke the name of the Triune God. Then say the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.

The morning prayer which follows specifically thanks God for His protection the previous night and asks Him to keep us from evil during the coming day. Luther then suggests that Christians then joyfully go about their day’s work, entering into it with a hymn to the Ten Commandments or whatever one’s devotion may suggest. Here we see Luther acknowledging that the law serves as a guide to the Christian as they go about their daily task. What could be more joyful in our life in this world than,

by God’s power, living our lives in accordance with His will?

When evening comes, as we retire for the night, Luther provides a prayer in similar form. Again, it begins with thanks to God that He has kept us from harm and danger.

While the day begins with a prayer that our doings and life may please Him, the evening prayer includes the petition that He would forgive all our sins where we have done wrong. Confession of sin, therefore,

may and should be made directly to God, as well as confessed to one another so that verbal absolution can be given.

The morning and evening prayers reflect the rhythm of daily life. We begin each day thanking God for His protection and praying that we might live the day in a way which is pleasing to Him. Then at night we pray for forgiveness for those things we have done wrong, for even though we are His children we still sin daily.

Only when we remember this and know that we have forgiveness can we, as Luther puts it, lie down and sleep in peace.

Luther also provides prayer to be used “at table,” that is, at meals.

He saw it important to both ask for a blessing as one is about to eat, and then to give thanks after the meal is over. Prayer before eating begins with verses from Psalm 145, “The eyes of all look to you …,” acknowledging God as the giver of food, not just to us human beings, but to every living thing. Saying He “satisfies the desires of every living thing,” means that we recognize we have from Him all we need, therefore there is no need either for greed or anxiety. In view of this, we then pray the Lord’s Prayer, which includes the petition asking for daily bread, then asking God to bless us and to bless the gifts He is giving to us.

Then, following the meal, a prayer of thanks is to be said, also based on the Psalms, and including the Lord’s Prayer. One might see here that good manners toward God prevail, as before the meal we say “please,” and after the meal we say “thank you.”

As Christians we desire to grow in our life of prayer. The prayers given in the Catechism provide an excellent place to start.

Rev. Dr. Edward G. Kettner is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Concordia Lutheran Seminary (Edmonton).

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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International News www.canadianlutheran.ca

LCC, LCMS, and NALC partner to encourage Bible reading ONLINE - Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) has partnered with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) to develop a Bible reading plan entitled Reading the Word of God. “In order to encourage the people of our church bodies in the daily reading of Holy Scripture, we have compiled a three-year plan of daily Bible readings and a year-long series of weekly readings on Martin Luther’s approach to the Scriptures,” an introduction to the reading plan explains. “The suggested readings are offered for one reason only— to enhance devotional life as an individual or a family daily examines, and is examined by, the Word of God, and then responds in prayer to the heavenly Father.”

Each day features a reading from the Old Testament, a Psalm (or portion of a Psalm), and a reading from the New Testament. The guide will take readers through the entire Old Testament one time in three years, with the exception of Psalms, which are read twice each year. The New Testament will be read twice in the three years. Certain church festivals—Christmas, Easter,

Pe n t e c o s t , a n d s o f o r t h — h ave special readings appointed for the specific occasions.

A selection of brief weekly readings on Martin Luther are also included as a companion in helping Christians better understand the value of reading God’s Word regularly. “While we in no way intend for these to replace or be understood as equal to the value of daily Bible reading, we do believe they will be helpful, especially for Lutherans,” the introduction notes. The selections, which come from Johann Michael Reu’s classic work Luther on the Scriptures, “speak to us of the clarity, simplicity, trustworthiness, and infallibility of Scripture,” the introduction goes on to say. “It is our hope and prayer that each member, household, and congregation will turn daily to the biblical readings with renewed desire for the Word which is a ‘lamp to our feet and a light to our path’ (Ps. 119:105).”

Download the Introduction to the Bible Reading Guide, as well as the selection on Luther’s understanding of Scripture, in pdf form here. The daily Bible Reading Guide calendar is available to download in three parts, one for 2018, 2019, and 2020.

The reading plan arose out of ongoing LCC/LCMS/NALC dialogues. Those dialogues resulted in the recognition of a common understanding of the nature and authority of the Holy Scriptures.

Participants in the dialogues lamented “to a great degree the membership in each of our church bodies suffers from a declining familiarity with the Bible.” The reading plan is intended to help rectify that decline.

LCC signs Fellowship Declaration with Finnish confessional Lutherans WINNIPEG - As part of the Installation Service for President Teuscher, Vice-president Kruesel and members of LCC’s Board of Directors, the president signed a Declaration of Fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF). The head of the church body, Bishop Risto Soramies joined President Teuscher for the ceremony.

The 2017 LCC Convention i n O c t o b e r vo t e d t o a p p rove altar and pulpit fellowship with the Finnish church body upon the recommendation of LCC’s Commission of Theology and Church Relations (CTCR). Former chairman

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Bishop Risto Soramies and LCC President Timothy Teuscher sign the Declaration.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

of the commission, Rev. Warren Hamp noted that in its research for providing the recommendation the CTCR members “were impressed by the church’s confessional mindset and mission vigour.”

The ELMDF has already supported LCC missions activity by teaching seminary classes in Ukraine. The new declaration allows for pulpit exchanges and sharing of the Lord’s Supper with members of either church body.

LCC currently holds similar agreements with confessional Lutheran church bodies in Australia, Brazil, England, Germany, Hong Kong, and the United States.

National News www.canadianlutheran.ca

New LCC president installed WINNIPEG - More than 1200 people gathered at Saint James Lutheran Church in Winnipeg and online Sunday, January 28, for the installation of Lutheran Church– Canada’s fourth president, Rev. Timothy Teuscher, Vice-president Rev. Thomas Kruesel (Campbell River, B.C.) and members of LCC’s Board of Directors.

Liturgists for the Vespers Service were Rev. Jim Schnarr, pastor of Saint James, and Rev. Marvin Bublitz, 1st Vice-president of LCC’s East District and pastor at First, Logan, Ont. and Redeemer, Monkton, Ont. who served his vicarage with Pastor Teuscher.

The Lectors were clergy members of the Board of Directors, Pastors Warren Hamp, Alex Klages and Thomas Kruesel.

P a s t P r e s i d e n t R e v. D r .

Robert Bugbee (2008-2018) and Presidents Emeritus Rev. Dr. Edwin Lehman (1989–1996) and Rev. Dr. Ralph Mayan (1996-2008) officiated the Rite of Installation f o r t h e p re s i d e n t . A f t e r h i s installation, President Teuscher installed the Vice-president and Board of Directors: Arnold Drung (Holy Cross, Kitchener, Ont.); Deacon Suzanne Eberhard (First, Windsor, Ont.); Kirsten Guggenmos (Our Saviour, Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask.); Rev. Warren Hamp (Faith, Kitchener, Ont.); Grace Henderson (St. Peter’s, Leduc, Alta.); Rev. Alex Klages (Trinity, Winkler & Zion, Morden, Man.); Cam Pelzer (Mount Olive, Regina, Sask.); and Cindy Sholdice (St. James, Winnipeg, Man.).

Rev. Kurt Reinhardt (Trinity, Gowanstown, Ont.) was unable to attend.

Following the custom in some of LCC’s international partner churches, which was adopted by Past President Bugbee when he was installed, President Teuscher served as preacher. In his sermon, titled “His Service of Self-Service” the president noted that in a self-

serve world, that kind of approach is “not so good when it comes to things that pertain to God and to our spiritual life.” He went on to explain that Jesus said of Himself “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). “[Jesus] is still coming and serving,” the president said.

“He continues to send pastors to be with His little flock to care for the lambs and sheep of His fold.”

As a result of this service from God in His Word and Sacraments “those who receive Christ’s service through His called servants of the Word…also become servants of Christ…who ‘pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest’ who pray for their pastor and all pastors…for our seminaries… and those who are preparing to become pastors.” He concluded encouraging all believers to “joyfully and frequently receive the service of the Suffering Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ, from his called servants.”

International guests included Rev. Antonio Reyes, president of the Lutheran Church in the Philippines, who brought greetings from the International Lutheran Council.

President Timothy Teuscher preaching at the Installation Service

At the end of the service the newly-installed president and Bishop Risto Soramies from the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland signed a Declaration of Altar and Pulpit Fellowship between LCC and the Finnish church body. The formalization of the agreement ratified the action of the 2017 Synod Convention.

A Red River Circuit choir under the direction of Richard Appler and Laura Little, sang two anthems.

President Teuscher was elected at Lutheran Church-Canada’s 11th Synodical Convention in October 2017 and will serve a four-year term.

The service is available for viewing online at www.lcc2017. ca and Lutheran Church–Canada’s Facebook page.

LCC President Emeritus Rev. Dr. Ralph Mayan; Past President Rev. Dr. Robert Bugbee; President Emeritus Rev. Dr. Edwin Lehman install Rev. Timothy Teuscher, LCC’s fourth president.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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National News www.canadianlutheran.ca

Government employment program creates firestorm of criticism OTTAWA - Changes to a popular Government of Canada employment grant program drew strong criticism from faith-based organizations early this year. The Trudeau government changed the guidelines for the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program requiring organizations which apply for funding to employ a student over the summer months to attest support for individual human rights according to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that include LGBTQ2 and abortion rights.

The application stated: To be eligible, the core mandate of the organization must respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) as well as other rights [italics added].

These include reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

The attestation is required for the application to be considered complete and eligible for assessment.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) responded on its website saying the government’s guidelines could in fact violate religious freedoms under the Charter even though the government stated on the CSJ website that it is consistent with both the Charter and case law. However, the government website also emphasized that the changes were within the scope of the government’s priorities in the area of women’s rights and gender diversity.

The EFC expressed concern that the changes meant churches, Christian charities, and summer camps would lose the funding they need to hire staff. Applications that didn’t check the box agreeing with the attestation on the online application were immediately denied funding.

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Director of Legal Affairs Barry W. Bussey at the Canadian Council of Christian Charities (CCCC), an organization representing 3600 independent and church-affiliated Christian ministries across Canada, called the new policy “vague” and called efforts to prevent young people from “exposure” to the government’s interpretation of charter values a troubling characterization of organizations that do not share its position on abortion and sexuality. The CCCC wrote a letter of concern to Patty Hajdu, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Labour in which it stated: “We cannot but be anxious when government, by making this policy, has unjustly slurred the reputation of the religious community who hold views different from the government. Such views, they are entitled to hold without government interference.”

In a January 11 statement, the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops said the attestation “seriously undermines the right to religious freedom since the Government of Canada is directly limiting the right of religious traditions to hold, teach and practise their principles and values in public.”

Bussey and the EFC encouraged Christian organizations to still apply for Canada Summer Jobs funding using the paper forms which allow for applicants to explain why they disagree with the attestation policy.

The online forms do not provide space for an explanation.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

In late January the president of Lutheran Church–Canada, Rev. Timothy Teuscher, joined 90 other Canadian religious leaders and faith-group representatives by signing a letter calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Government of Canada to “amend the Canada Summer Jobs guidelines and application process so that it does not compel agreement or belief, and allows religious organizations to stay true to their communal identity and beliefs.”.

The letter affirms that “the promise of a free and democratic society is that there be no religious or ideological tests or conditions to receiving government benefits or protection.”

The president noted that while upholding the Lutheran twokingdoms understanding—God’s kingdom of the spiritual realm and the earthly kingdom dealing with temporal matters—“we need to speak out when there is an intersection of the two that clearly violates Scripture and our confession.”

A number of LCC congregations and affiliated organizations apply for the federal student summer jobs funding to provide children’s and other community-focused activities during the summer. This is the first time a government funding program has applied a values-based eligibility test to applications.

Labour minister Patty Hajdu has not ruled out using a similar attestation for other governmentfunded employment programs.

National News www.canadianlutheran.ca

President Bugbee sends farewell letter to Synod WINNIPEG- In his final communication with members of Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) sent to congregations in early January then-LCC President Robert Bugbee expressed his thanks to God for the almost ten years he spent serving the Canadian church. “For anything I was able to do or say that ended up building Christ’s kingdom and helping you, I owe all the credit to God and His mercy,” he writes. He goes on to ask forgiveness from God and His people “for actions of mine that were defective or hurtful.”

One of the major accomplishments during his tenure was the restructuring of Synod passed at the 2017 convention and currently in congregations for approval of the new Constitution which details the operational aspects of the new structure. The president expresses the hope that “with a simplified ‘machinery,’ all of us will give clearer focus to what should really

Then-president Robert Bugbee preaching at the Opening Divine Service at LCC’s October convention.

matter most in our churches: First, to root our congregations ever more deeply in the Word of Christ; and, second, to reach out with the love of Christ to the staggering number of people around us who do not confess Him, even though they need Him as much as we do.”

The letter notes the daunting scope of the work ahead for President Timothy Teuscher and the new Board of Directors. He asks the church to pray for the new president and “I implore you to be patient with him and the new Board of Directors, even as God in Christ has shown His endless patience toward you.”

The Synodical Convention elected Pastor Bugbee in 2008 in Winnipeg. In addition to serving as President of Lutheran Church– Canada he was Vice-chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) and participated in and encouraged inter-church dialogue in an effort to find common theological understanding.

Assuming the official synodical title of Past President, Rev. Dr. Bugbee was installed as pastor of First Lutheran Church, Windsor, Ontario on Sunday, February 4. 2018.

New executive director for CLWR WINNIPEG — The Board of Directors of Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) announced the appointment of Rev. Dr. Karin Achtelstetter as CLWR’s incoming Executive Director. She began her service February 5, 2018 allowing a six-week overlap with retiring Executive Director Robert Granke.

At the time of the January announcement Lutheran Church– Canada’s then President, Dr. Robert Bugbee, noted, “CLWR has had a long history of addressing human need ever since its original work with refugees and displaced persons after the Second World War” and observed that in recent years, the agency has “rededicated itself to a renewed effort in priorities like that.” He said that Lutheran Church–Canada is “deeply grateful for the wise and collegial leadership of Robert Granke, for his dedication to the agency’s mission and his sensitivity to the faith convictions of our church. It is clear that CLWR has found a

Rev. Dr. Karin Achtelstetter and CLWR President, Marcus Busch.

gifted and experienced leader in Dr. Achtelstetter, and we are very hopeful that the strong ties between the agency and LCC will continue under her guidance.”

Currently the General Secretary of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), Rev. Dr. Achtelstetter brings to the position extensive experience working with CLWR partners including The Lutheran World

Federation, ACT Alliance and the World Council of Churches. Through her years of executive leadership and serving as a Lutheran pastor she has first-hand experience working with churches, grassroots communities, a n d p ro j e c t p a r t n e r s a ro u n d the world. Dr. Achtelstetter also holds various post-graduate degrees and certificates from universities in England, Germany and the U.S. CLWR’s President Marcus Busch observed that “CLWR has been blessed with outstanding executive leadership during its 70-year history.

The recent appointment of the Rev. Dr. Karin Achtelstetter as the agency’s next Executive Director continues that line of blessing.”

CLWR is an agency of Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) conducting international development, refugee support and resettlement, and emergency relief work on behalf of both Canadian church bodies.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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National News www.canadianlutheran.ca

Change ahead for LLL-Canada KITCHENER, Ont. - After serving for more than 30 years, Stephen Klinck, managing director of Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada (Lutheran Hour MinistriesCanada) informed the league’s Board of Directors that he plans to retire at the end of May 2018.

Mr. Klinck began his service to the league in September 1986 as Manager of Field Services becoming Managing Director ten years later in 1996.

“We give thanks to God for the service Stephen has provided our organization over the years,” noted Ian Adnams, president of LLLC. “We wish him God’s richest blessings in his future endeavours and service to God and His people.”

In addition to heading the daily operations of the league at its Kitchener office, Mr. Klinck also served as an advisory member of Lutheran Church–Canada’s Committee for Communications and

Stephen Klinck, Managing Director of Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada cuts LLLC’s 50th anniversary cake at LCC’s October convention.

Technology and the East District C o m m u n i c a t i o n s C o m m i t t e e.

Over the years he conducted numerous outreach workshops and presentations across the country, and assisted with national and regional convention arrangements

including chairing the Local Arrangements Committee for the 2015 East District Convention.

In 2016 Stephen received the Delta Chi Medal from Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St Catharines in recognition of this service to the church.

“Stephen brought a unique combination of organizational and management skills, creative talent, and a passion for sharing the Gospel that allowed the league and Lutheran Hour Ministries-Canada to flourish under his leadership,” President Adnams said.

The five-member volunteer Board of Directors has begun a search for a successor. An advertisement for the position on Page 40 and the job details are available online at http://www.lll. ca/HR. Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada is an auxiliary organization of Lutheran Church–Canada.

LCC benefits and pension services transform for the future WINNIPEG-After serving Lutheran Church–Canada’s church workers since 1989, LCC Worker Benefit Plans became an independent corporation, LCC Worker Benefit Services Inc., on January 1, 2018.

Adopting the new name and revising its internal governance does not change any group health benefits or the pension for the 891 active and retired pastors, deacons and other church employees enrolled in the plan. Neither does it fundamentally c h a n g e i t s re l a t i o n s h i p w i t h employers which are congregations, institutions, and organizations.

“LCC Board of Directors began looking into establishing an independent delivery organization for worker benefits with us in 2015” explained WBS Board of Directors chairman Rev. Dr. Dieter Kays.

“With its approval we renewed the benefit plans’ mandate for the future thereby allowing LCC’s BOD

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to concentrate on mission and ministry matters rather than the operational details of health benefit and pension plans.” Kays noted that the change is unrelated to LCC’s restructuring.

The transformation is designed to provide a more responsive and agile management. Under the new corporation WBS has its own Board of Directors elected by LCC’s Board to which it is accountable. The WBS board will have the responsibility for making all operational decisions regarding group benefits and pensions. To assist in the decision making the WBS board will include more members with experience and expertise in benefit and pension plans.

Dr. Kays explained that since a new entity has been created,

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

employers will need to sign new agreements outlining current policies, procedures, expectations, and accountabilities involving the new WBS. “We have a great relationship with our employers and these agreements help both WBS and employers recommit to what’s already in place.”

To familiarize congregations and other employers with the renewed direction and agreements WBS will conduct presentations across Canada. At the events congregational leaders and key decision makers will have the opportunity to understand the rationale behind the changes and explore the agreements.

“We’re looking forward to a renewed mandate that will allow us to continue ‘Caring for those who serve’” said Dr. Kays.

ABC District News

Alberta and British Columbia Laura Goerz, editor

Celebrating 90 years of life

DRAYTON VALLEY, Alta. - Adam Eckert, long-time member and builder of Emmaus Lutheran Church, celebrated 90 years of Godblessed life with his cousin, retired Pastor Cliff Haberstock who was celebrating 73 years.

New shoes minister to local children DRUMHELLER, Alta. - The evangelism committee of Grace Lutheran Church once again made its presence known to the community by sponsoring the second annual New Shoes for School campaign.

This campaign offers new shoes to low-income families who may be struggling with the costs of children returning to school. Children could pick out a pair of shoes—no strings attached. Approximately 20 pairs of shoes were given out to families in the area.

New Shoes for School was the mission of the month for Grace Lutheran and the generosity of the membership was greatly appreciated.

One note of thanks read: “Thanks to the grace of God and those who follow His teachings, my children are unburdened of a worry that they shouldn’t have.” Another

Drumheller shoes

recipient wrote: “making sure that our children have shoes is the most noble and gracious deed.”

Rosalie Nimmo

Stony Plain outreach to the needy STONY PLAIN, Alta. On October 28, 2017 St. Matthew Lutheran Church held its annual October Clothing Giveaway. The congregation’s Board of Outreach has a giveaway every June and October. The congregation opens its doors to anyone in the community in need of clothing, bedding, or household items. As they come through the The semi-annual clothing giveaway attracts hundreds church doors, congregation in Stony Plain, Alta. members greet them like day before the event place sandwich they would someone coming into board signs in strategic spots. their own home.

Set up begins one or two days It starts with volunteers giving before the giveaway transforming their time to help sort all the donated the church into a shopping area for a clothing, bedding, jewellery, books, day. Visitors are offered coffee, juice, and miscellaneous household items. hot dogs, and fellowship; Christian Donations come from church booklets are available for everyone. members, neighbouring churches, This year a couple of ladies asked and people of the community who about receiving a Bible. hear about this mission.

After the Giveaway day, volunteers A couple weeks prior to the event, bag the clothes left over adding they put up posters, advertise in the them to other donations received for paper and radio, email or deliver Hall Lake, Sask. where a Lutheran posters to different groups, and the

of

Association of Missionary Pilots (LAMP) team, headed

by Brian and Judi Luckhardt, travel in June and December.

This year they went between Christmas and New Year’s to conduct a Christmas Bible Camp.

Every year the Giveaway team receives feedback from the families that have received the benefit of the clothes. One lady who people found herself a winter coat thanked the ladies and Jesus.

A gentleman asked what he owed and when he was told nothing, he gave the volunteer a big hug! Seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces keeps the volunteers wanting to continue God’s work.

The volunteers are blessed with the joy of serving their community and helping so many families with such a great outreach. Even though it’s a tiring day it is a great feeling for volunteers to know they have shared God’s love with the community.

Submitted by Edith Schoepp

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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ABC District News

Alberta and British Columbia Laura Goerz, editor

Lego illustrates the Reformation

Luther Rose made with Lego bricks.

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. - During October members of Zion Lutheran Church invited the community to join them in recognizing the 500th anniversary of the Reformation by assembling a Luther Rose mosaic made with Lego. Everyone who came received a handout of Luther’s explanation of his seal. Through free advertising in the community events section of the local paper’s

From the President Fishers of men The following is an abbreviated message, based on Luke 5:1-11 (cf.

Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20), that I preached at the East District Evangelfest in 2007. uke says, “They pulled their boats up on shore, and left everything and followed Him” (v.11). Mark tells us that, “[James and John] left their father in the boat with the hired men and followed Him” (1:20). Peter, Andrew, James, and John left their boats because they knew they could not catch the lost fish of the world by remaining in their boats.

To catch lost fish, fishers of men have got to get out of their boat! If we’re going to be serious fishers of men we have to fish where the lost fish are!

But here’s the problem: many of us think having the presence of the “boat” (i.e. the church building) docked in a community will catch lost fish! Many entertain the notion that the activities that go on within the boat (e.g. worship services, Bible classes) will somehow cause the lost fish of the community to magically jump into our boat.

When we leave this boat (this church building) behind, the Lord sends us to fish for the lost fish in our family, our neighbourhood, our workplace, the coffee shops, the hockey rinks, the soccer fields, hospitals, nursing homes, and so on.

When fishing for lost fish it is important to develop relationships—to be a friend. It’s wise to take our neighbour to his doctor’s appointment, to visit the lonely person in the hospital or nursing home, to provide a shoulder for someone to cry on, to visit the person who is grieving the death of a loved one. But all too often that is where our witness ends. Essentially, we’re fishing without our God-given “gospel nets.”

Maybe you have heard this fishing tale: A game warden observed that each evening a certain fisherman brought back more fish than everyone else combined.

L

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

website, people from as far away as Calgary attended. Members of the congregation shared the Gospel with visitors during the event.

On All Saints Day the congregation celebrated with a wind-up supper, with everyone bringing their favorite German dish to share. Ginger ale and root beer were donated by a local brewery for all to enjoy.

Penny Bobier

The warden became leery and inquisitive. As a result, he decided to go fishing with the fortunate man to see how he did it. The fisherman navigated his boat to an isolated lagoon. Dropping anchor, he opened his tackle box, withdrew a stick of dynamite and lit the fuse. The game warden watched dumbfounded. The man held the dynamite until the fuse was short, then hurled it into the water. As it struck the water, it detonated. Immediately many dead and stunned fish floated to the surface. As the fisherman collected the fish, the infuriated warden shouted, “Stop! This is outrageous. It’s illegal! You can’t fish this way.” As the game warden railed on and on, the fisherman took out another stick of dynamite. He lit the fuse and put it in the warden’s hand with the words, “Are you gonna talk or are you gonna fish?”

We know it’s not appropriate to fish for fish with dynamite, but it is essential that we use “dynamite” when fishing for men, women and children! St. Paul writes, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the “dynamite”—the power of God unto the salvation of those who believe!” (Romans 1:16). Paul asks, “How can they call on the one whom they have not believed in? (v.14). “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!” (v.15). And “…faith comes from hearing the message and message is heard through the Word of Christ” (v.17).

The key to catching the fish is sharing the Word of Jesus! As you take your neighbour to his doctor’s appointment tell him about the Great Physician who heals wounds and diseases. As you visit the lonely patient in the hospital or the elderly person in the nursing home share with her that Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life, is her daily Companion. As a neighbour cries on your shoulder assure him that Jesus invites, “Come unto me all you who are weak and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” As you visit the person who is grieving the death of a loved one assure her that He who is the Good Shepherd journeys with her through the valley of the shadow of death. These are examples of fishing with the gospel nets provided by the Lord.

May our Lord grant you an abundant catch as you serve as a fisher of men!

Rev. Glenn E. Schaeffer

ABC District News

Alberta and British Columbia Laura Goerz, editor

Small town, big milestones MILK RIVER, Alta. - Milk River may be a small town, but it offers a rich history of southern Alberta and the people who live there. The year 2017 marked some major milestones for the town, but there was also special meaning for the people of its LCC congregation, St. Matthew Lutheran Church.

Every summer Milk River hosts the Annual Bonanza Days, an event that in 2017 celebrated 50 years.

The town celebrated 101 years since being established; St. Matthew Lutheran Church celebrated its anniversary of 105 years; Canada’s birthday marked 150 years; and 2017 marked 500 years since the Lutheran Reformation began! St. Matthew Lutheran Church participated in Milk River’s Annual Bonanza Days in August with a float commemorating these big anniversaries.

What an exciting time to see how God’s Word goes out, from Paul’s preaching to Luther’s preaching to today’s preaching, to all corners of the earth—no matter how big or small that corner might be.

Laura Richert

St. Matthew’s parade float.

Greeting from on high FORT McMURRAY, Alta. - An angel from on high greeted the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, proclaiming, “Do not be afraid.

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

That joyous truth was good news 2000 years back and it’s the same good news today.

In Fort McMurray the Trinity Lutheran Church family proclaims that same good news.

With the incredibly gracious assistance of Matt and Terry at Brand West Marketing the congregation proclaimed from the jumbotron

Proclaiming the Good News of Christmas

screen directly beside its new worship space the real reason to celebrate the holiday season. The prayer was that the Spirit would use the congregation

and the sign to lead a soul back to their Saviour or—for the first time— one or many to their Saviour King.

Missionary Pastor Keith Haberstock

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ABC District News

Alberta and British Columbia Laura Goerz, editor

An international celebration of the 500th anniversary Rev. Brian Bowes served as the OKANOGAN, Wash. - On Sunday, liturgist and host pastor. Rev. Dr. October 29 an international Lutheran Glenn Schaeffer, President of the Reformation service was held at Our Savior Lutheran Church. The s a n c t u a r y, narthex, and b a l c o ny we re packed with more than 120 attendees from at least four congregations of ABC District’s O ka n a g a n Circuit and eight c o n g re g a t i o n s of the LCMS Northwest Rev. Jonathan Asmus and some members from Redeemer Lutheran District. in West Kelowna, B.C. who attended the Washington event.

Alberta-British Columbia District, preached on Martin Luther’s favourite Psalm—Psalm 118— focusing on verse 17, which was Luther’s motto for life: “I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.”

The celebration also included a choir, two dramatic presentations, lots of congregational singing, and a great meal.

Installation at Prince George PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. - On September 10, members of Vanderhoof and Zion Luthe ran churches welcomed guests and pastors to the installation service of Rev. Peter Van Katwyk held at Zion, Prince George. The service was followed by a fellowship supper attended by members of other congregations in the far-flung Caribou Circuit and by

people from other denominations in Prince George.

Both congregations are pleased to come together as a newly-minted dual parish and, with the help of God, are looking forward to working together to witness Christ to the communities in which God has placed them.

ABC District Youth Gathering July 5-8, 2018 Augustana Campus, Camrose, Alberta Registration deadline April 2 Check out

www.abcdyg.ca for more details

Visit the ABC District website at www.lccabc.ca Send news, photos, articles and announcements six weeks prior to publication month.

Laura Goerz, District Editor editor@lccabc.ca (back, l-r) Revs. Al Lewis (emeritus), Lorne Reddemann (Circuit Counselor, Trinity, Quesnel), Jim Heinbuch (emeritus), Alan Visser (emeritus); (front) Revs. Peter Van Katwyk, Noel Smith (St. John, Williams Lake).

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

Next deadline: March 2, 2018

Central District News

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NW Ontario Elaine Stanfel, editor

Across the district…Advent & Christmas

REGINA - Rev. Lucas André Albrecht and his wife Djenane of Mount Olive Lutheran Church sing a song in Brazilian Portuguese at a musical evening hosted by New Beginnings Lutheran Church in support of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission.

HUMBOLDT, Sask. - Every year members of St. John’s Lutheran Church set up a nativity display at the Humboldt Festival of Lights.

REGINA - On December 22 a group of singers from Mount Olive Lutheran Church shared the message of Christmas through music on the Global News Morning Show.

OXBOW, Sask. - (Right) St. Peter Lutheran Church held a Christmas mini vacation Bible school the afternoon of December 8. More than 60 children had fun celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus in stories, crafts, games, and singing. (Below) Members of St. Peter & St. John Lutheran Parish again put on a live Nativity— complete with live animals and free hot chocolate—and sang Christmas carols at the Christmas in Oxbow event November 23.

WINNIPEG - The members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church demonstrated their generosity and support for LWMLC by the food items donated for Christmas hampers and the toasty-looking Tree of Warmth in the church narthex.

SASKATOON - Holy Cross Lutheran Church invited the community to a Come and Go Nativity Display Open House on November 25. There were activities for the youth, Christmas music and goodies, and an opportunity to view dozens of nativity scenes.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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Central District News

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NW Ontario Elaine Stanfel, editor

Leap of faith

Ponderings from the president

Whatever the weather f you want to “break the ice” and begin talking to a complete stranger, one of the socially acceptable ways, at least currently, is to talk about the weather: “Cold enough for ya?” Everyone seems to have an opinion about the weather: “That was quite a storm we had last week!” We certainly like to complain about the weather: “It’s too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too windy, too humid, too…whatever!”

And, of course, the weather always makes life more miserable for me because it has this way of changing my plans: “They closed the highway because of the snowstorm. Now I can’t get to my appointment!”

“With the ice on the sidewalks, my daily walk is on hold because I don’t want to fall and break any bones!” “We planned that family gathering, picnic, wedding, or church service to be held outside, but it continues to rain all day, so we have to implement Plan B.” No matter how the weather afflicts or comforts us, life goes on whether the skies are cloudy or sunny.

As we know all too well, the weather can mess with our emotions.

People diagnosed with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) find late fall and early winter challenging as the days are short (meaning less sunlight), and often more cloudy. They feel more sad, lethargic and depressed than normal.

The Bible doesn’t give us much in the way of weather reports at major historical events in the life of God’s people. It really isn’t an issue whether or not it was a sunny day when Moses parted the Red Sea! Was there a threat of rain when King Solomon dedicated the temple?

It’s not important. Did Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus have to deal at times with dust storms whipped up by ferocious winds when they fled to Egypt? We don’t need to ponder that point.

No matter how the weather may affect us, we have our Lord’s assurance that He will be with us through the dark hours, and the cloudy, rainy or cold days. While He may not provide the weather we want at a certain moment, He is still there to comfort us through dark and challenging days with the promises of His holy Word. As He suffered on the cross for our sins, the darkness during that period mirrored our sin for which our Lord was suffering. Through the darkness of that sin, He penetrates with the glorious light of His saving love.

We don’t have a weather report for Easter morning. We assume it was the beginning of a sunny day when the women and disciples found the empty tomb, only because that matches the joy we feel at our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. What we do know is what the apostle Paul writes, “…for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

I

Rev. Tim Barone jumps in his suit and clerical!

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - Rev. Tim Barone (Calvary Lutheran Church) jumped from the 10 metre platform in support of Thunder Bay charity PRO Kids (Positive Recreation Opportunities) during its Conquer the Tower fundraising event. Aurora Lutheran Bible Camp partners with PRO Kids to provide camp opportunities to families who may not be able to afford camp on their own. from Aurora Lutheran Bible Camp Facebook page

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Rev. Thomas Prachar

Central District News

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NW Ontario Elaine Stanfel, editor

Catechumens stuff toys for charity

BEAUSEJOUR, Man.- Finding themselves with a large supply of unstuffed toys from Build-ABear, the Catechism class of Grace Lutheran Church decided to stuff them and donate them to the less fortunate. On Sunday, November 19, members of the Catechism class, Sunday School class, and their families gathered to stuff the unstuffed toys. Later, they donated the completed bears to the Salvation Army’s Toy Mountain toy drive at Polo Park Mall in Winnipeg.

About the project, Grace member Colette Marr said, “Fighting for the Faith founder (and pastor at Kongsvinger Lutheran Church in Minnesota) Chris Rosebrough provides small skits that help his listeners understand topics with a bit of humor…One of these skits is the ‘build-a-god’ project. This informative and humorous skit teaches how the world, which doesn’t like the God of the Bible, has been making a god of their own understanding to suit their

purposes; in short, they are building their own god much like the BuildA-Bear project.

Praise God the children in Sunday Catechism classes are not learning how to ‘build-agod’. They are learning about our Triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.”

D u a n e Ve r l s u i s , f a t h e r o f catechumen Rebecca Versluis, wrote, “As Christmas is a time to share the gift of joy with others, the young ladies of the Confirmation class thought it would be a great way to demonstrate their faith as they, in addition to all believers, await the anticipated arrival of the Saviour into this world.”

Rev. Ward Yunker

Lappe congregation wraps up anniversary year T H U N D E R BAY, O n t . - A celebratory service November 5 marked the 500 th anniversary of the Reformation and All Saints Day at Lappe Lutheran Church.

Worship opened with the hymn, “For All the Saints,” reminding those present of the congregation’s Finnish ancestors, who by faith confessed Jesus Christ as Lord. The joint choir consisted of members from area churches Epiphany, Trinity and Lappe. The cast of the skit “Martin Luther Brings Hope to Lappe”, the music, the organist, the trumpeter, the pianist, the choir director, the congregation, the door with the 95 theses nailed on it—all contributed to the celebratory atmosphere.

Rev. Neil Otke led the service; Rev. Jorma Tuomisto and Rev. Dan Repo read the Scripture lessons. LCC

President Robert Bugbee delivered a powerful sermon, “When God Acts” based on Acts 13:38-41.

Everyone gathered for food

and fellowship after the service.

December 31st marked the last service of the anniversary year.

100th Anniversary Committee

Actors perform “Martin Luther Brings Hope to Lappe.”

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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Central District News

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NW Ontario Elaine Stanfel, editor

Big shave raises funds for disaster response

Rev. Yunker shaves off his beard.

BEAUSEJOUR, Man. - While on vacation in September 2017, Rev. Ward Yunker of Grace Lutheran

Church heard about Hurricane Harvey devastating the Texas coast. When he returned home, he challenged his congregation to a unique fund-raiser. He invited the congregation to vote whether he should keep his beard or shave it off. They cast their vote by putting money in the “Save It” bag labelled with a portrait of a bearded Martin Luther disguised as Junker Jörg, or the “Shave It” bag with a portrait of a clean-shaven Luther.

With the results announced on October 29, Reformation Sunday, it was decided the pastor would shave his beard. The referendum raised C$305 for LCMS Disaster Response.

Board changes convention date WINNIPEG - Following LCC’s convention decision to restructure Synod, the Central District Board of Directors has changed the date of the next District Convention to October 1-3, 2018 in Winnipeg. The change was necessary due to the shift of the synodical convention from early summer to fall 2017, as well as the fact that positions open for election at the district convention (Regional Pastor, Circuit Counsellors, and a lay person from each circuit for the Regional Mission and Ministry Council) will officially begin their LCC duties on January 1, 2019.

LCC’s other districts have scheduled their respective conventions for October 2018: East – October 14-18; ABC– October 19-21).

With minimal elections and less business, a shorter convention than usual is planned. In thankfulness to God for the district congregations’ faithful support of the district conventions over the past 96 years, and as the Board of Directors considered how to be good stewards in dispersing the assets of the Central District, it was decided there will be no convention assessment for this final convention.

District office bids farewell to faithful servant

Gail Bugbee

WINNIPEG - On Tuesday, December 12, the Central District bade farewell to Gail Bugbee. Gail has greatly assisted Lil Kozussek, the district’s Administrative Assistant, by coming in once a week to do filing, data base entries, and lately by arranging and sorting items in the archives.

Members of the district thank God that He has blessed Gail with the health and strength to serve in these ways and pray the Lord will bless her and President Robert Bugbee in their January move to Windsor.

Winding up the corporation known as the Central District raises many questions, both legal and practical, for which answers will be sought in the coming months.

Visit the Central District website at www.lcccentral.ca

Central District Board of Directors: (back, l-r) Daryl Walter, Eldon Harper, Michael Maunula, Don Paulus, Rev. John Kreutzwieser, Rev. Rod Parker; (front) Rev. Alex Klages, Gloria Rathgeber, Eileen Turner, Roberta Nixon, Rev. Arron Gust, Rev. Tom Prachar.

Missing: Rev. Jacob Quast.

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Send news, photos, articles and announcements six weeks prior to publication month.

Elaine Stanfel, district editor, 509 Airport Road, Pembroke, ON K8A6W7 613-687-6620 elaine.stanfel@gmail.com

Next deadline March 2, 2018

East District News

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia Ilene Fortin, editor

Spa Day benefits body, soul and community The ladies observeda DA S H WO O D , O n t . moment of silence for Zion Lutheran Church’s Remembrance Day and a education committee related trivia sheet helped hosted another jam-packed participants more fully learning experience at Zion understand some very Lutheran Ladies Spa Day, interesting statistics.

November 11, 2017. The 45 Anita and Lisa from participating women raised We s t l a n d G re e n h o u s e a greatly-appreciated $920, taught the ladies about plus $300 from FaithLife p l a n t i n g and caring F i n a n c i a l , w h i c h wa s for succulents. Each lady donated to the studentsattending received a table in-need program at South favour of a succulent plant Huron District High School. they planted in a teacup Guest speaker Patty from Arc Angels Thrift Ollie grew up in Zurich and now lives in Milverton, (front, l-r) Elizabeth Trembulak, Patty Ollie (guest speaker), Joanne shop (proceeds support the Ontario. She had a burn- Maguire, Bev Brown, Barb Reschke, Brenda Schroeder, Cathy Skinner; Community Living program out about a year ago and (back) Julia Burton, Patti Hill (musician), Anna Marie Cook and Sandra in South Huron).

There was even some as a widow, mother, and Newton (the exercise ladies). time for exercise led by Acknowledge you are God’s child; daughter, is a grateful follower of Anna Marie Cook and Sandra Change your self-talk; Invest in Jesus. Using a fancy glass, Patty Newton who encouraged ladies to yourself; Accountability; and Love showed how we fill up at different join them in their regular sessions deeply. times with our stuff and look provided in the community.

The group was also blessed with great on the outside, but we need Lunch was a wonderful collection a number of songs by Patti Hill, an to be totally filled by the Holy of different soups and desserts. accomplished Christian musician Spirit. She also used field and The community ladies who look who won Best Original Song in harvest analogies, stating “Seeds forward to this event each year and United Christian Broadcasters of discouragement cannot grow Zion’s own members were again (UCB) Canada’s Talent Quest in a grateful heart.” Patty also blessed by the education committee contest in October 2004.

Her encouraged participants to have which once again provided all this in humour and talent were thoroughly a daily FACIAL—the acronym six short hours. enjoyed. standing for: Forgive yourself; Doris Osgood

Circuit celebrates Reformation 500 STRATFORD, Ont. - On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, congregations of the Stratford Circuit held a celebration at St. Pe t e r ’ s L u t h e ra n C h u rc h o n Sunday, October 29, beginning with a worship service at 3 p.m., with guest preacher Rev. Esko Murto, professor at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines.

Following the service, the more than 115 attendees enjoyed a sausage and sauerkraut supper provided by each circuit congregation. Rev. Timothy Teuscher welcomed all and led the meal prayer. This was the fourth year the Stratford Circuit congregations have celebrated Reformation together:

first at Zion, Dashwood; then St. John’s, Seebach’s Hill; and last year at St. Paul’s, Tavistock. The plan

for next year’s host congregation is Redeemer, Monkton.

Doris Osgood

(l-r) Revs. Dan Kitsch (St. Paul’s, Tavistock); Marvin Bublitz (First, Logan/Redeemer, Monkton); Timothy Teuscher (St. Peter’s Stratford and newly-elected LCC president), Esko Murto (guest preacher, Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary); John Trembulak (Zion, Dashwood/Berea, Goderich), Will Kramer (1st Johns, Seebach’s Hill/2nd St. John’s, Wartburg) THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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East District News

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia Ilene Fortin, editor

Walking in the footsteps of Martin Luther WATERLOO, Ont. - On Saturday, October 28, Messiah Lutheran Church hosted a Reformation Walk (created by CPH) to commemorate t h e 5 0 0 t h a n n i ve r s a r y o f t h e Reformation. More than 90 people, divided into six tour groups, were guided through ten educational stations which featured key events in the life of Martin Luther. Dressed in full medieval costume, 38 volunteers from eight local LCC congregations all came together to bring this living history event to life.

Characters included Martin Luther, Katarina Von Bora, Johann Tetzel, Frederick the Wise, Ursula

Cotta (Luther’s school teacher), Margaret Luther (his mother), Leonard Kopp (the merchant who helped the nuns escape in fish barrels), and Hans Lufft (the printer who published many of Luther’s writings). Attendees enjoyed homemade pretzels at Café Wittenberg (after being enticed by Tetzel to buy an indulgence!) and tried their hand at Bible translation with a feather quill at Wartburg Castle. Of course, the highlight of the Walk was watching Young Martin Luther pound his 95 theses to the wooden doors of the Castle Church.

At the end of their tour, the time travellers were treated to a sausageon-a-bun lunch (with sauerkraut, of course) and had opportunity to browse through a fantastic display of Reformation posters, books, souvenirs, and medieval paraphernalia.

The organizers of this event—Udi Scott, Roslyn Zehr, Donna Sauder, and Mara Verlis—thank all the many willing participants who gave their time and talents to share the most important message underlying this Reformation 500 celebration: It’s still all about Jesus!

Roslyn Zehr

Photos by Udi Scott and Deb Ritter, Historic St. Paul's, Kitchener

Reformation Walk tour guides: (l-r) Harrison Taplay, Gregory Taplay, Rose Emrich, Mike Emrich, Penny Roth, and Richard Roth.

Young Martin Luther (and assistant priest) in front of the wooden doors of the Castle Church. (l-r) Rev. Marcus Kuehn and Thomas Taplay

Attendees doing “Bible translation” with a feather quill dipped in ink. (l-r) Jenn Sargent, Rev. Roger Winger, and Dolores Orlando helping her granddaughter.

Young Martin Luther (Thomas Taplay) pounding his 95 theses to the wooden doors of the Castle Church Hans Lufft (and assistant) at his print shop. (l-r) Kyle Zehr and Delton Zehr.

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East District News

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia Ilene Fortin, editor

Leonard Kopp finds a nun in one of his fish barrels! (l-r) Ashley Snyder and Jamie Hill.

Johann Tetzel (Joe Das) selling indulgences in the Market Square.

Waitresses at CafĂŠ Wittenberg: (l-r) Angela Holliss and Mara Verlis

Frederick the Wise (holding his relics) along with German peasant woman (left) and Ursula Cotta (Luther’s school teacher). (l-r) Udi Scott, Harry Drung, and Ingrid Drung.

Father Rennbrecher (the priest who baptized Luther) and Margaret Luther holding baby Martin on his baptism. (l-r) Rev. Rick Frey and Debbie Kerkhof

Greeters at the registration table: (l-r) Kathryn Kahle, Donna Sauder, Udi Scott, Bev Barr, and Roslyn Zehr.

Martin and Katie Luther and their two daughters. (l-r) Felicity Zehr, Eva Smilek, Sylvia Das, and Steve Ritter.

Sylvia Stahle (right) explaining her elaborate medieval display.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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East District News

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia Ilene Fortin, editor

From the president Like a little child And Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew

18:3) n the Saturday, December 30, 2017 religion section of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record newspaper an article caught my attention. The title was: “How Declining Church Attendance Harms Society.” The author began by noting how the pews in most churches are noticeably fuller during the Christmas season. However, once the Christmas season is over, most churches return to “normal”—meaning that following Christmas, church attendance decreases significantly—and how this is “bad news” for everyone. Bad news, in that going to church benefits not only those who are in the church, but also those outside of the church. In his opinion, the writer declared the benefit of attending for those within the church is that the church creates community and the benefit for those outside of the church is that church attendance increases the socio-economic status of society as a whole. In other words, a churchgoing population generates a greater level of social capital—a higher level of social and moral relationships amongst all people.

While the writer missed the boat as far as I was concerned, in pointing to the real reasons for attending church, he offered some valid reasons as to why declining church attendance does harm society, why declining church attendance should be a matter of great concern for church people and also non-church people, and why we should be making a greater effort in directing our children and young people to be church attenders by leading by example.

What is the real reason for attending church? The most wonderful thing God has done for us was to send His only Son to bridge the gap between Himself and us. That gap was created by our own making. That gap came as a result of our own self-centeredness, our greed, our lust, our envy—in other words, our sins.

When we realize what a wonderful thing God has done for us in Christ Jesus—how freely our Lord Jesus

I

went to the cross to provide for us the forgiveness of all our sins and to give us the gift of life with Him forever—we just cannot stop worshipping, thanking, and praising Him! Worshipping is our response to what God has done for us!

Consider the following scenario: One day our Lord Jesus was lecturing to the Pharisees about some divorce matters. Near Him were some mothers with their children clamouring for attention. The disciples, thinking the Master would be disturbed by the confusion, went to them and said, “Our Master is a busy man. He has a full calendar. Can’t you see you are disturbing Him?” Jesus heard them speak these words and said, “You are very mistaken. I am happy to bless these children. Allow them to come to Me. Do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven; and if one does not become as a little child, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

If we think it through carefully, it is not difficult to understand why Jesus indicated that we enter the Kingdom by being like a little child. Little children often exhibit endearing qualities that Christ wants for all His children. We are aware of how dependent they are. They have absolute faith in their parents, and they trust that the words they speak to them are truth. They are willing to rely on their parents’ decisions, and if ever they get into trouble, they turn to them for help, confident they will receive it. And what imitators they are! My youngest granddaughter just celebrated her first birthday. She already knows how to fold her hands while sitting in her highchair when the table prayer is spoken before eating. She wants to do just as her mom and dad do.

So, God would have us all be imitators of Him. He has revealed Himself to us through Christ His Son, and each day we should try to live as He did when He walked the streets of this world. Anyone may enter the kingdom of heaven. We do not need long merit lists, nor do we have to possess a college or university degree or great material riches. But we need to be childlike, humbly confessing our need of God’s forgiveness.

Rev. Paul Zabel

Send news, photos, articles and announcements six weeks prior to publication month.

Ilene Fortin, district editor East District Office,275 Lawrence Avenue, Kitchener, Ontario N2M 1Y3 E-mail: ilene@lcceast.ca Fax: 519-578-3369

Next deadline: March 2, 2018

Visit the East District website at www.lcceastdistrict.ca

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

Mission Update www.canadianlutheran.ca

Ukrainian Lutherans celebrate blessings

by Rev. Leonardo Neitzel

The alliance between Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) and the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine (SELCU) since 1996 has been a blessing for our joint ministry and mission in that country.

Rev. Roland Syens and Rev. Keith Haberstock were commissioned as LCC’s missionaries to Ukraine in 1993 and started the work which today shows its fruits for the Lord’s kingdom. Since the partnership began LCC, with support from generous donors, Concordia Lutheran Mission Society (CLMS), and Lutheran Women’s Missionary League-Canada (LWMLC), has sponsored SELCU Marriage enrichment conference attendees. missions and humanitarian care Reformation along with seminars projects; coordinated and supplied on Lutheran doctrine and confession the resources needed for the have taken place. theological education of pastors Here are some highlights from at Concordia Lutheran Seminary LCC missionary Rev. in Osatowo, Odessa; Oleksiy Navrotskyy maintained a full-time who serves SELCU’s missionary originally congregation in in Dnepropetrovsk Nikolaev. and now in Nikolaev; More than 50 and regularly provided people attended a SELCU with human and marriage enrichment financial resources for conference put on by its summer and winter the congregations in ministries and mission Dnepropetrovsk and outreach.

Nikolaev; Coinciding with the Summer camps for celebrations of 500 years children restarted with of the Reformation, good attendance; 2017 was a special year S eve ra l m i s s i o n for SELCU’s Gospel teams from Germany proclamation. As an Summer camp craft time. visited and joined outcome of its summer i n o u t re a c h t o c o m m u n i t i e s camp ministry the church body reports surrounding the Nikolaev new people receiving instruction congregation. “Such visits not only in the Bible leading to baptism inspire our congregants, but testify or confirmation. Bible studies in to others outside the church,” reports congregations are increasing as well Rev. Navrotskyy. “We walked out as youth attendance. Congregations on the streets inviting neighbours report increased involvement in to evening services at our church.” congregational activities and in the Improvements to the Nikolaev front line of Gospel outreach. Special sanctuary are completed, Sunday care ministries continue providing School and Bible study rooms for people with special needs. The equipped, the sacristy is completed, seminary program rejoices over the the church office was refurbished, admission of a new student. And and a new computer and printer many special events and celebrations installed, and the church’s registry of the 500th anniversary of the

and archives organized.

Increased interaction with non-church members, supporting individuals and families undergoing financial difficulties, and those with emotional or psychological needs.

Regular pastoral visits to a regional hospital and to secured units for those addicted to drugs and alcohol. “During our visits we proclaim the Gospel, hand out literature, pray with patients, provide food, clothing and bedding for the unit,” Rev. Navrotskyy noted.

Renewed emphasis on regular Elders meetings, Bible studies for the public, youth group Bible studies and activities, Sunday worship, and prayer services.

In the conclusion to his report Rev. Navrotskyy writes: “I continue to look to the future with hope in the Lord and much optimism. My dream is that the Lord may create a team of friendly and devoted people who are ready for mission work in Nikolaev and in the surrounding regions. This is not an easy task, but with God it is possible. I pray about this and believe that the Lord will help us build these relationships with people and so, this dream will become a reality. I can say that today we are closer to this goal than when we started a year ago.

May the Lord help us.”

Rev. Dr. Leonardo Neitzel is the mission executive for Lutheran Church–Canada.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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Mission Update www.canadianlutheran.ca

Greek classes continue for Nicaraguan pastors CHINANDEGA, Nicaragua Pastors from all over Nicaragua gathered at Chinandega’s Mission Centre in mid-November arriving with open hearts and minds, and their Greek New Testaments. The goal of the week-long continuing education class was to dig deeper into God’s Word by studying the New Testament in its original language.

The daily classes covered Greek grammar, key biblical terms, and New Testament texts from the Church year. The instructor, Pastor Brian Dunlop from Faith Lutheran Church in Desboro, Ont., paid particular attention to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The classes were part of Lutheran Church–Canada’s (LCC) commitment to continuing theological education for pastors of the Lutheran Church Synod of Nicaragua (ILSN) and the fourth session focusing on biblical Greek.

More than simply an academic exercise, the ongoing Greek classes seek to help the pastors apply God’s Word in preaching, Bible study and pastoral care. Each day the pastors learned ways to move from reading the scriptural text to writing and preaching a sermon.

In addition, Chapel sessions included hands-on teaching using the Pastoral Care Companion a new resource pastors can use for daily care of members, and for unique occasions of celebration.

Instructor Pastor Brian Dunlop (Faith, Desboro, Ont.)

To help the church workers plan and organize their time more effectively, the pastors and deaconesses received a gift copy of the 2018 Desk Diary in Spanish. The planning resource used in Canada by many pastors was translated, printed, and published by Rev. Donald Schieman of Redeemer, St. Thomas and Grace, West Lorne, Ont. “We pray these desk diaries will be an annual gift to bless the Nicaraguan church” noted Pastor Dunlop.

At the end of the classes the pastors expressed their heartfelt thanks to Pastor Dunlop, to his congregation in Desboro, and to LCC for the Greek class and for all the continuing education opportunities it provides.

Rebuilding continues in Cambodia

CAMBODIA - Rev. Dr. Leonard Harms, who provides oversight for LCC’s mission activity in Southeast Asia, spent two weeks in January with LCC’s partner church the Cambodia Lutheran Church (CLC). During the visit he was “onthe-road” working with pastors, deaconesses and congregations in various communities discussing and planning the continuation of their work after the breakdown of the old synod. Despite the challenges faced by church workers and congregations the churches still thrive in their witness to the Gospel and working with children in Christian education

Dr. Harms visiting with Southeast Asia church workers.

settings. “We see this as a new blessed beginning for the CLC,” said LCC’s mission executive Rev. Dr. Leonardo Neitzel. “By God’s grace, all projects that were on hold in 2017 will be implemented in 2018. After the tempest, comes the calm.”

LCC’s Mission Work For information on LCC’s overseas missions visit www.LutheranChurch.ca.

Yo u c a n s u p p o r t LC C ’s overseas missions through online giving, or by sending donations by mail: Lutheran Church–Canada 3074 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3K 0Y2

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

Lutheran Bible Translators of Canada

137 Queen St S, Kitchener, ON 519-742-3361 info@lbtc.ca www.lbtc.ca

language of their hearts.

To help bring the Word of God to all people in the

, and Of the 7,000 known languages, many other translation projects are far from complete.

Bible translation is a meticulous process requiring strong faith, academic rigour, , a home where translators have and teamwork. It also permanent and easy access to resources and technology.

Our Latest Project: Bible House NgaoundĂŠrĂŠ

Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Jesus is building His Church, and all that the enemy tries to do to resist is not prevailing. Why? Because the Church is built on the Word. Jesus the Living Word, and the Bible, the written and spoken Word.

Without the Word, a “church” is not God’s Church.

Some church bodies have stopped seeing the Word as central to the life of the Church. At LBTC we see the Word as the foundation of the Church, and that our passion for the Word involves some serious work—among other things, the work of translating that Word so it is understood by the hearers.

Lutheran Bible Translators of Canada works in Cameroon directly with the EELC, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon, in support of several Bible translation projects, focusing especially on Kwanja, Nizaa, and Dowayo. The EELC, right from her beginnings nearly a century ago, has always sought to bring The Word to each people group in the language they understand best. In Cameroon, this is quite a challenge! because Cameroon is very “rich in languages”. More than 270 distinct languages are actually spoken here!—and that doesn’t count the various dialects (mutually intelligible variations) within those languages!

The EELC, counting over 400,000 members, is one of many protestant denominations in Cameroon. But she has a unique distinction—she has a whole department dedicated to the translation and distribution of the Scriptures in the heart languages of her people. The EELC has been working for decades to translate the Word, teach literacy, record these translations – and get people engaged in taking in the Word – in Worship, in Bible studies,

and in other ways. By the Grace of God, there have been results. A complete Bible is now being devoured by the Gbaya people group (the “biggest” language in the EELC). New Testaments are now published in Dii, Pere, Dowayo, Samba, Kwanja, and Vute. LBT has had a big role in the last three of these.

Now, three partial Old Testament projects (Lectionaries) and one New Testament project (Nizaa) are underway.

The EELC believes in Bible Translation! The national leader of the EELC is Rev Dr. Reuben Ngozo. Just about every time I meet with Bishop Ngozo, he says “Your work is important. Very important. Don’t get discouraged! We need the Word and we need it in all our languages.

Bishop Ngozo was chosen to lead the EELC in 2013, and continues today. Early in his tenure, he asked LBT to build a center for Bible Translation work. At first, we were somewhat reticent, since we do not usually put the building of buildings as high priority.

But as the Bishop and the Director of the Translation Department continued to share their vision and their reasons for needing such a building, I [Martin Weber] became convinced.

WHAT IS THE BIBLE HOUSE? WHY DO WE NEED IT? 1) A quiet, well-equipped place for Bible Translators to do serious, focused, quality translation work.

2) Applying modern technology.

3) Training and mentoring.

4) Teamwork and vision-sharing.

5) Visibility, Prominence. The Word for you— right there!

6) Making a Statement to the whole Community: This Church is about the Word!

WORKPLACE: Much Bible translation has been done in the past few decades by teams led by expatriates who make significant sacrifices living in small

villages where modern conveniences like electricity and running water do not exist, unless you do it yourself. Some projects are still doing it this way.

Other projects are trying to do it differently – the highly trained expatriates are still there in-country, (and they still have to make significant sacrifices since “city water” and “24-hour power” can be off for days!). But these expats serve more than one language at a time. They can do this if the translation team that works in the village where the language “owners” live are highly trained themselves and are set up with the necessary equipment right there in the village. And, if the village workers (be they expatriates or nationals) have a good, quiet, furnished, dedicated place to work outside of the village setting, as well as the translation center in the village.

THE NATIVE BIBLE TRANSLATORS TASK of studying the source languages, internalizing the message in a biblical book or text, reaching a good understanding of how that very message can be rendered into one’s native tongue, drafting the translation, then discussing in depth your proposed translation with other native team members is not “normal village life”. Normal village life is going to the field and working hard to produce food—then coming home to the village to rest, socialize, have family life, prepare food, etc. Farmers who show up at a

translation office to socialize can be a serious distraction! And in a face-to-face society where nonparticipation in village life is highly suspect, many other elements of village life must be dealt with when one is in the village, whether you are an expat or a national. How can you get some concentrated time to work on the translation? The solution which many expatriates have employed is to have not only a village home and translation office, but also a dedicated place in a larger center where some speakers of the language being worked on are there, but it is not village life as usual!

INTERNET AND COMMUNICATIONS In this somewhat more modern setting, on a good day, there is adequate power and internet to do serious office work. And the distractions of village life are back in the village. The translations which have been drafted in the villages and checked with villagers to ensure clarity and “natural-ness” now need to be tweaked to get to the level where a qualified Translation Consultant can check them and approve or make suggestions to improve them.

NOTE: Translation Consultants take their work very seriously indeed. They know that at the dedication ceremony they will be called on to proclaim to a people “People of XXX language, we the Bible Societies bring you this book with the assurance that it is indeed the Word of God in your language. We have checked it very carefully.” With a decent internet connection and phone communications, advice can be sought from the consultant and other colleagues to get that book done and done right!

MASTERS DEGREE HOLDERS haven’t mastered everything! The beginning translator may not have, despite many years of training and some years of experience, mastered all the skills (and tricks of the trade) needed to make their translation the best it can be. In the larger center setting, there are often ample opportunities for further training and mentoring. And there are those formal or informal

of their work—but also be encouraged in their personal lives.

WHAT IS THAT NEW BUILDING OVER THERE? A Bible House? Do they sell Bibles? Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it can also draw in the doubter. As well as a calm well-equipped workplace for translators, the Bible House will have publications and recordings of all Scripture in the languages used in the EELC. Visiting Pastors, lay-workers, and anyone who is interested can come in and discover to their delight that God speaks their language, and has some-thing important to say to them!

SOME BUILDINGS by their very existence make a statement. The EELC wants to make a statement— to themselves first of all, and also to the community around at all levels—Muslims as well as Christians, non-believers as well as believers—that this Church is a Church built on God’s Truth contained in God’s Word, the Holy Bible.

We at LBTC gives all thanks and praise to God for gifted translators like Martin, and for the kind gifts of time, talents, and treasures of LCC Churches and members across Canada. By God’s grace, and with your support, we are helping to reduce the number of persons—currently around 300 million—who have no access to the saving Word in any form. It’s a challenge, but God approves, and He blesses us.

discussions with other translators of other languages who might have actually struggled with the very same problem in rendering a word or concept that has you “up against the wall”!

ANY MINISTRY can be very lonely, but isolation takes a special toll. Many seminars and workshops have been held in Cameroon over the years where national translators come together to tweak their training, and one of the biggest benefits to participants is the fellowship and solidarity which they experience when together with others who face similar challenges. The Bible House in Ngaoundéré will be their place for all EELC translators—a place where they can be not only helped in all the technical and professional aspects

Please check out our website, www.lbtc.ca , for updates on the Bible House and other LBTC projects.

Lutheran Bible Translators of Canada 137 Queen St S, Kitchener, ON N2G 1W2 519-742-3361 Info@lbtc.ca

Education Report www.canadianlutheran.ca

Canadians eligible for financial support at U.S. Concordia ANN ARBOR, MI - Canadian Lutheran students heading to university or college are eligible to apply for a student assistance program at Concordia University, Ann Arbor according to Rev. Charles Schulz, Pre-seminary Director at the LCMS institution.

The Luther Promise awards US$16,000, $18,000 or $20,000 per year for four years for all Lutheran students interested in any area of study, with amounts depending on the student’s academic qualifications. More details are available at: http://bit. ly/2DEqkbP “Undoubtedly, a Christian education provides the best preparation for Lutheran laity and church workers to enter into their careers as service to their Lord,” notes Rev. Schulz. “The Christian worldview integrated with the skills of a specific discipline becomes a powerful combination of head and

heart, body and spirit for holy work for the neighbour.”

The director believes that with the financial assistance from the university a Concordia education is well within reach. “Total tuition, room, board and fees is estimated at US$39,000 for 2018-19,” he explained. “With these top awards, that cost is brought down to US$19,000. Additional outside

New book: Atheism and the Christian Faith E D M O N T O N - Rev. Dr. Bill Anderson, Professor of Religious Studies at Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE), is pleased to announce the publication of his third book, Atheism and the Christian Faith. Dr. Anderson is a pastor on the roster of Lutheran Church– Canada (LCC).

Atheism and the Christian Faith is an edited anthology of the proceedings from the 2016 conference of the same name published b y Ve r n o n P r e s s .

The book advances arguments around serious philosophical issues of direct relevance to contemporary society. It will be of interest to a broad range of scholars in philosophy, theology and epistemology—the investigation of origin, nature, methods, and limits

of human knowledge.

The foreword is by noted philosopher Richard Swinburne of Oxford University, who contributes two chapters to the book. Another contributor is CUE’s Rev. Dr. Jonathan Strand, writing on “Theism, Atheism, and the Ethics of Hope.” Dr. Strand is also an LCC pastor.

Atheism and the Christian Faith is largely driven by philosophers and p h i l o s o p h y, a n d re p re s e n t s a w i d e gamut of views from atheists, agnostics, and theists. It is dedicated to a beloved CUE faculty member and LCC pastor: “In Loving Memory of Russ Nelson: A Truly Brilliant Scholar and the Epitome of Christian Faith.”The book is available on Amazon.ca.

funding lowers the cost even more.”

“Nothing beats the value of a Christ-centred education in a Christian community,” Rev. Schulz observed.

Open House planned ST. CATHARINES, Ont - Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary (CLTS) will open is doors Thursday, February 22, 2018 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to anyone considering studies in CLTS or simply desiring more information about what the seminary education might be.

The LCC seminary invites university students or those already finished with college to come learn about its graduate degrees, attend chapel and classes, socialize with students and meet the professors, and visit the beautiful Niagara area. The goal is to provide a glimpse of what studying in CLTS is all about, either in the classroom or around a shared meal.

If visitors require accommodation, the seminary will make sure room and board are available.

Anyone interested in attending or needing more information can contact the seminary’s Director of Recruitment, Dr Harold Ristau either via phone (905-688 2362, ext.

25) or email hristau@brocku.ca.

A similar event for high school students is planned for Thursday, March 15. Contact the seminary for details or watch the website www. concordia-seminary.ca.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

37

In Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi In a galaxy too close to home...

I

n Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi (2017), Resistance warrior Rey (Daisy Ridley) continues her mission to convince the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to return from his self-imposed exile to assist the Resistance in its fight against Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), his apprentice Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), and the First Order. Despite suffering great losses, Luke’s sister Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), leads the Resistance’s escape from its nowexposed secret base. With the First Order hot on their heels a covert plot is hatched to help the Resistance slip through the fingers of its pursuers.

In the face of waning hope the two forces are set against each other.

One desires the death of the past, seeing it as the only way forward; the other views winning the future by saving what is loved. In the balance is the question: “Which side will have the spark to light the fire for the future?” And viewers are left asking: “What’s the hope driving the characters?” As Luke Skywalker says in the film’s trailer, “This is not going to go the way you think!”

And maybe that’s a good thing.

Some complained that J. J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was too much like Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) and lacked originality. While The Last Jedi includes references to previous Star Wars films, and may be tonally similar to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), it is still its own film. The originality some hardcore Star Wars fans desired from this new film may wind up being a point of criticism!

Conflict drives drama. By setting characters against each other, breaking trust with betrayals, or adding an unexpected (or if expected, unwanted) death into the unfolding story, drama emerges. While some of that is found in The Last Jedi

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by Ted Giese

much of the drama is driven by frustration—situational conflict.

Things simply don’t go the way characters expect. Rey expects to collect quickly the legendary Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and return to the fight. When that doesn’t work she assumes he will teach her the ways of the Force, but that doesn’t happen the way she expects. In the

More than in any other Star Wars film this one presents the idea of “balance” in the Force film’s trailer Skywalker observes, “I only know one truth: It’s time for the Jedi to end,” and yet this doesn’t go the way he expects either. It’s common to find a villain’s plans frustrated, however it’s unusual to find almost every effort of the heroes frustrated and stymied. Yes, there are

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

often hurdles and setbacks for the heroes to overcome, but in The Last Jedi they face true frustrations and real failures.

What is behind this? More than in any other Star Wars film this one presents the idea of “balance” in the Force; that the Force—an energy field created by all living things surrounding and penetrating everything and binding the galaxy together—seeks a balance between the light side and the dark side and that a balanced universe is one of stasis, or a frustratingly sublime stalemate. In such a system fighting for balance is futile. Eventually the Force will get what it wants. As a result, in The Last Jedi, the light and dark sides seem closer than ever before, and the closer they become the more they start looking the same. Skywalker’s failed student Kylo Ren’s conflicted heart and Rey’s zeal to “not fail” her mentor Skywalker come across as fluid expressions of the same thing.

And amid all this emerges a great emphasis on feelings.

This direction allows director Rian Johnson to dive more deeply into what the Force is and what it is not; who it belongs to and who it doesn’t belong to. In a typical

postmodern take on spirituality, and for the first time in a Star Wars film, the Jedi possess ancient sacred texts only to have their importance downgraded along with the importance of the whole religion and the Jedi order itself. And while the Force’s omnipresence and agency is explained in a way that starts to border on St. Paul’s description of God as being, “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6), it is presented as not belonging to the Jedi or Sith religion and by extension the religion of the Jedi or the Sith don’t belong to the Force. This frees Rey and Kylo Ren to make it up as they go along—to be spiritual but not religious.

Individuals who ought to be their “heroes in their faith” permissively let them abandon what had been handed down for centuries.

This makes The Last Jedi a film of its time. What it gives with one hand it takes back with the other and then sometimes gives back again making its religious landscape more conflicted and tortured than other Star Wars films. Again, the frustration theme emerges. For many fans hoping for answers, they may need to realize that “these are not the [answers] they’re looking for” and instead of trying to resolve their frustration, they’ll simply need to “move along.”

For Christians it’s best to remember that Star Wars in general, and this film in particular, act as a mirror reflecting the spiritual and religious ideas and attitudes of our time. The film’s philosophical focus is eastward with more in common with the metaphysics of Taoism than with Christianity. Fans have known this for years, but The Last Jedi Johnson seems to double down on this connection. On the sacred Jedi planet Ahch-To the production team even included a kind of yin/ yang symbol (taijitu) in a shallow pool in a cave. This highlights the

idea of the Force’s light side/dark side balance. Viewers seeking a concrete systematic presentation of what is going on in the Force will be disappointed, and maybe that’s good since Star Wars is fictional and the whole Force thing is made up, held together with spit and baling wire, ripped off from actual real-world religions. As such is not a legitimate basis for a true, lasting, eternal faith.

One last theological consideration: before the prequels, the original

universe but victory of good over evil.

In many ways, with its focus on frustration and failure, the film sets an opportunity for character growth.

As St. Paul says, “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,” (Romans 5:3–4). The question is whether the frustrated characters in the depths of their failures will end up rejoicing in their sufferings and failures and thereby learn from them. Will these character-building experiences produce a new hope in them? The answers are out of Rian Johnson’s hands as J. J. Abrams takes over the directing duties for Episode IX. M a ny b e l i eve t h a t The Empire Strikes Back (1980) remains the best Star Wars film. For the time it was certainly a film that took some big risks. The Last Jedi takes some big risks. Will they pay off?

Johnson has made a good film, better than some other Star Wars films. However, it isn’t perfect and has some major plot holes typical of every Star Wars film. Some will love it because they love all things Star Wars; others will not, mainly because it didn’t go the way they thought it should, leaving them frustrated. It’s interesting that the feeling of frustration may put them in balance with the same theme expressed in The Last Jedi!

Such viewers may end up looking around at everything that appears and sounds like Star Wars only to say, “I don’t know … I have a bad feeling about this.”

The two questions raised in the film could be asked of the Star Wars franchise in general and of The Last Jedi in particular: Does the past have to die to move forward or is the future won by saving what is loved?

At Good Friday’s cross Jesus’ death didn’t bring balance but defeat to sin, death, the devil, and hell.

Episodes IV, V and VI presented a more clear-cut heroic tale of good triumphing over evil—a kind of galactic David and Goliath story with a family drama twist. With the emphasis shifting to this idea of balance in the Force it’s good for Christians to remember that Christianity is not about finding or maintaining a balance between good and evil. God is not equal parts good and evil. God doesn’t use death dispassionately to help create a balance with life. For Christians The End will not be one of balance because on The Last Day “[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). At Good Friday’s cross Jesus’ death didn’t bring balance but defeat to sin, death, the devil, and hell. In fact, Jesus is not a balance of light and dark He’s “the Light [which] shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). As a result, Christianity is not a religion teaching balance between the light side and the dark side of the

Rev. Ted Giese is lead pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church (Regina, Saskatchewan). He is a contributor to Reformation Rush Hour on KFUO AM Radio, The Canadian Lutheran, and the LCMS Reporter, as well as movie reviewer for the “Issues, Etc.” radio program.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

39

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ADVERTISE HERE! The Canadian Lutheran sells advertising space to help offset the cost of printing and shipping the magazine to congregations and subscribers.

Classified space is sold at $0.45 per word, minimum 50 words ($22.50).

To purchase classified space, or to receive a rate card for other advertising opportunities with The Canadian Lutheran, please email pres_sec@ lutheranchurch.ca or call 1-800-588-4226.

40

LLL Canada

Help share the Gospel across Canada

Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada (Lutheran Hour Ministries-Canada), a non-profit organization, is seeking a managing director to oversee the day-to-day operations of its Christian outreach programs, fundraising, and business activities.

Located in Kitchener, the LLLC office works with volunteers and members of Lutheran Church-Canada and LCMS congregations in Canada to create and distribute outreach resources, and provide training for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Accountable to the volunteer elected Board of Directors, the successful candidate will be responsible for: • General Operations including:

Developing and delivering programs and services Fundraising Communication • Relationships with churches, volunteers and donors • Administrative support for the volunteer Board of Directors Those interested in applying for this position should possess: • Commitment to reaching out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ using all media • Strong interpersonal and communication skills • Ability to assess Christian outreach needs and opportunities and present creative solutions • Proven fundraising track record using all forms of media • Experience in public speaking, workshop facilitation, and teaching • Familiarity with and understanding of Lutheran Laymen’s League, Lutheran Church-Canada, and Lutheranism in Canada • Proficiency in all aspects of Microsoft Office and computer media skills • Five-10 years experience in communications, marketing, and/or nonprofit management • Post-secondary education in marketing or communications • Experience in budgeting, book keeping, accounting, and investing is desirable as is an understanding of office and human resource management Applicants should be a communicant, active layperson, and member of an LCC congregation or LCMS congregation in Canada and be willing to travel as required.

A more detailed job description is available at www.lll.ca/HR If you or someone you know is interested in this position the LLL-Canada Board of Directors Search Committee is accepting applications until February 28, 2018. Send resume and salary expectations to Ed Tiefenbach, secretary of the Board of Directors: careers@lll.ca or Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada, 270 Lawrence Ave. Kitchener, ON, N2M 1Y4 LLLC and Lutheran Hour Ministries Canada has been producing programs and resources for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ using radio, video, television, print and social media in Canada for more than 50 years.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

Transitions

Classified

Rev. Jef fer y Dul, pastor Trinity Lutheran Church, Churchbridge, Sask. to ABC District, Candidate Status

CAMP KOINONIA ON LAKE ISLE in central Alberta may just be the perfect location for your family reunion, wedding, retreat or VBS! Our heated Pavilion is available throughout the year for use by the week, the weekend, or the day. Campsites adjacent to the Pavilion and closer to the lake may be rented as well. Members of a Lutheran church are invited to consider joining our unique lake community by taking out a renewable license to use one of our lake lots. An affordable and familyoriented Christian camp that features playgrounds, a spor ts cour t, and outdoor chapel, and Sunday worship throughout the camp season, we may be just what you’ve been looking for.

For more information, please visit www. lakeislelutherancamp.com or contact us today at 780-727-2477 or LCA.Camp@ outlook.com.

Rev Larry Gajdos, pastor Historic St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Kitchener, Ont. to Emeritus effective January 31, 2018 Rev. Garry Heintz, pastor Redeemer Lutheran Church, Kakabeka Falls, Ont. to Synode de France effective December 2017 Rev. James Schnarr, pastor Saint James Lutheran Church, Winnipeg, Man. to Emeritus effective January 31, 2018 Rev. Forrest Stroup, pastor Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Edmonton, Alta. to Emeritus effective January 31, 2018

Classified Saint James Lutheran Church in Winnipeg will celebrate their 50th Anniversary on Sunday, June 3, 2018.

We welcome all former and current members, guests and friends to the Church Service at 3:30 pm followed by a reception and banquet with a guest speaker at Breezy Bend Country Club at 5:30 (ticket required).

Contact Saint James Lutheran 871 Cavalier Drive Winnipeg MB R3Y 1C7 204 837 8268 or sjchurch@mts.net www.saintjameslutheran.ca

For Rent: Foothills Lutheran Student Residence, 3102 34 Ave NW Calgary.

The residence is a COED 4-bedroom house, on church site in Brentwood and a five- minute walk to the U of C. Rental rate is $500 monthly. Rate includes utilities, local telephone, laundry, high speed internet access, basic digital cable, private bedroom, shared common areas (large kitchen, living room with fireplace). Common areas are furnished but students to furnish private bedroom.

Partnering with you in HIS mission

Do you use?

• Facebook • Twitter • Websites • YouTube • other social media Would you like a way to share the good news of Jesus Christ with your social media contacts?

Solas Alive uses short videos based on the Reformation Solas: Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone, to engage viewers and then invite them to www.SolasAlive.com to find out more about the basics of the Christian faith and even how to connect with a local Lutheran congregation.

Preference will be given to Lutheran students. Letter of reference from Pastor required.

“The Box” - Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)

Gift Coordinator Needed Are you passionate about mission and ministry?

Do you enjoy helping people?

We wish Al Feth God’s blessings in his retirement, and thank him for his 10 years of faithful service.

His leaving means the Foundation requires a new Gift Coordinator to work throughout the East District.

If you, or someone you know, might be interested in this full-time employment opportunity, go to www.lutheranfoundation.ca to get further details.

Applicant must be a member of Lutheran Church–Canada.

Solas Alive – NEW from Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada.

Click the icon on our webpage www.LLL.ca for more information.

Then share it through your personal and church social media.

Listen to The Lutheran Hour at www.lutheranhour.ca Also available an an App Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada 270 Lawrence Ave., Kitchener, ON, N2M 1Y4 1-800-555-6236 or e-mail info@LLL.ca www.LLL.ca LutheranHourMinistriesCanada THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

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Presidential Perspective

Doing nothing?

President Timothy Teuscher

W

hen I was elected president, I mentioned to the convention that I wasn’t even sure what I was supposed to do. After receiving a crash-course on the many things that needed to be done, I went from being uncertain to being greatly overwhelmed. Fortunately, Dr. Luther came to my rescue as I remembered his cryptic and profound words: “We serve God best by doing nothing.”

He spoke those words in connection with one of the most shocking sections in all of Holy Scripture—the account of Jesus’ visit to the home of those two sisters Mary and Martha. In these few verses we hear Jesus praising the adoring, dreamy-eyed, attentive, inactive Mary who sits at His feet doing nothing and, instead, rebuking the hustling, bustling, active Martha who, after all, is only hustling and bustling about in His interests and for His welfare.

But does not Jesus say His disciples are to follow and serve Him? Does not St. James say we are to “be doers of the Word and not hearers only” (James 1:22)?

And to all outward appearances and to our way of thinking, Martha was doing the right thing, the Godpleasing thing. In fact, so sure is she of the rightness of her activity that she says: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me” (Luke 10:40).

And how does Jesus respond?

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary

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has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). What a shock these words of Jesus must have been to Martha! And what a shock these words still are to us today!

After all, we are not talking here about those who reject Christ and who chase after and set their hearts on the things of this world, rather we are talking about the distractions over “much serving” that goes on within the church. And, yes, many a congregation can easily find itself so busy with meetings and activities, many a Christian can become so preoccupied with his or her work and involvement in the church, that they lose sight of what Jesus calls the “one thing necessary.”

But why? Why is Mary’s action of doing nothing except sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to His Word “the good portion, the one thing necessary”? The Scriptures answer: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). And further: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). And what does this mean? Just this: you cannot really serve the Lord unless and until He first serves you. You cannot be a Martha, whose service is pleasing to God, unless and until you are first a Mary who sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to His Word.

And that is why the heart and centre, the chief and primary emphasis and activity of every congregation, of every Christian, is to be one thing and one thing alone: “to hold God’s Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it,” as the catechism explanation of the Third Commandment puts it.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN January/February 2018

On the other hand, however, as soon as God’s Word is put out of sight and ignored, where the hearing of God’s Word is regarded as only one thing among the many activities that might go on in the church, errors in doctrine and faith, in practice and life begin creeping in so that little by little we lose Christ altogether. And what good will all our serving and doing then be?

T h e Re f o r m e r s u m s i t u p this way: “It is better to omit everything except the Word of God. In fact, nothing deserves to be fostered more than the Word; for the entire Scripture shows that this is to be in common use among Christians, and Christ Himself says that one thing is needful; that Mary sit at the feet of Christ and hear His Word often.

This is the better part that is to be chosen, and it will never be taken away. For it is an eternal Word.

All the rest, however, must pass away, no matter how much work it gives Martha to do. Therefore, no more splendid work exists than to simply receive and hear the Word of Christ.”

And what better time for pastors and people in the congregations of our synod to “do nothing” than during Lent.

As the rite of the Ash Wednesday service says: “From ancient times the season of Lent has been kept as a time of special devotion, selfdenial, and humble repentance born of a faithful heart that dwells confidently on His Word and draws from it life and hope” (LSB Altar Book, p. 483).

CANADIAN

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