Yesterday,
October 4, 2009, was my farewell service at Our Savior Lutheran Church (and
School) in Lansing, MI. It was
truly a celebratory service in which God’s past forgiveness and faithfulness
were recognized as hallmarks of His future gracious presence, care and
blessing.
As the members of Our Savior said Godspeed and Farewell to my family and me, it was difficult to do the
same to such a precious family of God, with whom I have had the privilege of working
alongside for the past 20 years. Here
we arrived with two children and under God’s blessing had two more. Here ALL of our children received their
Christian education from the gifted teachers and principals in our day school
and in their Sunday school classes as well. Here they were all confirmed and grew in their faith in the
High School Youth Ministry. Here
we have been fed by godly pastors like Rev. Eldor Bickel, Rev. Rob Appold, and
Rev. Roy Olsen, III. Here we
weekly experienced a taste of the coming kingdom in our worship services. Here we experienced God’s blessing and
guiding through the many gifted and courageous lay leaders in the
congregation.
Here
the family of God prayed for me when I had emergency surgery for a tumor (it
turned out to be lymphoma) that
caused a bowel blockage. Here they
prayed for my son Joel when it was discovered that he had a brain tumor at the
beginning of his junior year in High School. Here they stormed heaven’s throne room as Joel and I
subsequently went through our chemo and radiation (Bexxar) treatments. The church and our family experienced together
God’s peace in knowing that no matter what the outcome of surgeries and
treatments … If
God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us
all -- how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32) As God’s
children, and because God is gracious to us because of the death and
resurrection of His Son, we are always in a win–win situation!
So
what does one say? I found Abe
Lincoln’s, February 11, 1861, farewell to family and friends in Springfield,
IL, to be uncannily, though more succinctly, similar to what I would like to
have said to God’s people at Our Savior.
Lincoln’s address was an unforgettable tribute to his friends and
neighbors as he began his inaugural journey to Washington, D. C. Known as “The Farewell Address,” he
wrote, ...
“My friends, no one, not in my
situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place,
and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed
from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is
buried. I now leave, not knowing
when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that
which rested upon Washington.
Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I
cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go
with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently
hope that all will yet be well. To
His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid
you an affectionate farewell.”
I did share Lincoln’s Farewell address, but commended God’s
people at Our Savior, Lansing, to His care using Paul’s farewell words to the Ephesians
Elders in Acts 20:17-37. I encourage you to read all these
verses, but for the service yesterday, special emphasis was put on verse 32: “Now
I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and
give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
We
explored this Word of God and endeavored to sum it up in this brief outline of
simple truths to remember: Christ for us! Christ in us!
Christ through us!
As
I begin a new journey in ministry in the President’s Office of the Michigan
District, I pray that I will hold on to, and be shaped and motivated by, these
same, three simple truths. I pray
that they will be the ensigns of the ministry that God has placed before me in
the District. May God be with me
to proclaim …
-
Christ for us! … Paul puts it best
in 1 Corinthians 2:2: For I resolved to know nothing while I
was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. God loved us so much that He gave His
one and only sin to pay the price for ALL people, that can set them free from
sin and its consequence.
-
Christ in us! … By God’s grace we
are not only freed from sin’s guilt but also from sin’s power! Joined to Christ in our baptisms
(Romans 6:1-14) we have recourse to His power to overcome sin in our life. Sin should NOT be our master. We are enabled to live transformed
lives guided and empowered by God’s Word.
- Christ through us! …
Paul puts it like this in Acts
20:22 and 24: 22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to
Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. … 24
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race
and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me -- the task of testifying to
the gospel of God’s grace. Please
join me, as I look forward to joining all the congregations in the Michigan
District, in praying for the determination, zeal, and life that will finish the race that God has set before us,
individually and corporately, of boldly, unashamedly, continuously … testifying
to the gospel of God’s grace.
(Matthew 28:18-20)
Friends,
without the assistance of the Divine Being – the Lord God Almighty -- we cannot
succeed. With His assistance we
cannot fail. Trusting in Him who
can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for our mutual good and
blessing, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. As I pray for you, please pray for me …
as together we go forward with this certainly: He will never leave
or forsake us.
Ephesians
3:20, 21: Now to Him who is able
to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His
power that is at work within us,
21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout
all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
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