Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Trusting in Jesus During Changing Times


Dear Fellow Children of God,



The last two Sundays have seen exciting additions to the Lutheran Churches in Alaska.  On Sunday afternoon, July 9, I was present in Kenai for the installation of Pastor Dustin Atkinson as pastor of Star of the North Lutheran Church.  The very next week I was privileged to share God’s Word as Pastor Jake Dickerhoff was installed to serve as Pastor of Beautiful Savior Lutheran in Anchorage.  Both young men are married with children.  We in Alaska are blessed to have these servants of God working in our midst.



However, the world into which Pastor Atkinson and Pastor Dickerhoff, Dustin and Jake, are beginning their service of our Lord and His people is a much different world than when I first graduated from seminary in 1979.  In my recent reading many writers and authors have noted and commented on the different culture we face today.  Rev. Dale Meyer, President of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, has written of new behaviors in a “Millenial” generation, and has also written of rapid changes in our world due to technology.  Pastor Michael Newman in the book “Gospel DNA” has written of changes in the world, and also about changes in churches.  But perhaps the most helpful picture I have read of the change we’re facing is in the book, “Canoeing the Mountains – Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory” by Pastor Tod Bolsinger.



Pastor Bolsinger described the trip of the Corps of Discovery led by Captain Merriweather Lewis and his friend, Lt. William Clark.  As Bolsinger writes, the Lewis and Clark Expedition planned to navigate the Missouri river in rafts and canoes to the Pacific Ocean.  But, then they encountered the Rocky Mountains!  What do you do when your trip is prepared for river travel and then mountains loom before you?  Bolsinger suggests that the Christian Church in America and Western culture is facing a similar dilemma.  Because of decades of history, the Christian Church is prepared to conduct mission and ministry in a society where the church is part of the very fabric of society, where the Christian Church is accepted and valued.  But that is not the world we live in today.  The Christian Church is not conducting its work for our Lord and His people in a culture that predominantly accepts or shares the values of the Church.



So, if you are a young minister seeking to pastor God’s people and to reach out with the love of God, like Pastor Atkinson or Pastor Dickerhoff, what do you do if the world has changed so drastically?  What did Lewis and Clark do when they faced the unexpected?  Did they give up?



In a way, we should not be surprised at the changes around us.  It sounds like an oxymoron, but “change is a constant reality.”  We live in a world of sin and rebellion against our Creator and Lord.  Perhaps we should be more surprised of the relative peace faced by the Christian Church for the majority of the last 2000 years.  In fact, some would say that current change has only brought us back to the kind of world faced by the apostles and the early church.



However, in this changing world there is one thing that does not change.  We are told in Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  The Lordship, the power, the mercy, and the love of Jesus remain.



And, this unchanging Jesus told Peter, after he had confessed Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” (Matthew 16:16),  “. . .on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)



Some misunderstand this statement of Jesus to say that the attacks of Satan on God’s Church will not be ultimately successful.  That is a statement of defense.  But, what Jesus actually says is that hell and Hades cannot resist the good news of Jesus and the spread of His kingdom.  In other words, the world may be changing, and the church’s work may seem more difficult, but God’s Word will create faith in Jesus and people will be led to eternal life in heaven, even when opposed by the gates of hell, even when the world is as changed as our world is.  When God’s Church speaks words calling people to repentance, and assuring them of God’s forgiveness, God fulfills these promises based on His commands.  In other words, the work of God’s Church may seem to have gotten more difficult, but God is still working through His Church! Jesus’ words are really a statement of offense. 



Each article or book I have read has various ideas about how to face our changing world.  Most say God’s Church needs to work together, stay committed to God’s truth, and needs to be willing to adapt.  After 38 years as pastor I’m not sure I have the answers.  But I know who has the answers and who has sent me.  I trust in the unchanging authority and the mercy of Jesus.



Go preach the Gospel, Pastor Atkinson and Pastor Dickerhoff!



A Child of God, Trusting in Jesus during Changing Times,

Pastor Jonathan



P.S.  Here are some pictures from the installation of Pastor Dustin Atkinson at Star of the North, Kenai, on July 9.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/0Clg67Vl9nK7nIit1



P.P.S.  Here is a picture from the installation of Pastor Jake Dickerhoff at Beautiful Savior Lutheran in Anchorage on July 16.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/BMm93GgS93RAorCD3



P.P.P.S.  Here are some pictures from our fishing trips.  We did not catch any salmon.  They were not in very well yet.  But Pastor Tony Schultz and I enjoyed a day of relaxing and trying to catch fish on the river.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/DV4KUn0eSxmjfkmg2



We did go halibut fishing with Mike Sweeney’s cousin, Fred Vasilie.  We had a great time with Fred and his family, AND we caught some halibut.  Here are some pictures from that trip.








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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am regularly adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you do not want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.





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