SERMON, JANUARY 2.2011-2ND SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS
January 2 the church remembers Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe, a renewer of the church who died in 1872.
Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe (1808 - 1872) (often rendered 'Loehe') was a pastor of the Lutheran Church, Neo-Lutheran writer, and is often regarded as being a founder of the deaconess movement in Lutheranism and a founding sponsor of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS).
He was a pastor in nineteenth-century Germany.He sent pastors to North America, Australia, New Guinea, Brazil, and the Ukraine. His work for a clear confessional basis within the Bavarian church sometimes led to conflict with the ecclesiastical bureaucracy.
His chief concern was that a parish find its life in the eucharist, and from that source evangelism and social ministries would flow.
Many Lutheran congregations in Michigan, Ohio, and Iowa were either founded or influenced by missionaries sent by Lõhe.
Despite being confined to a pastorate in an out of the way village, which he never left, Löhe nevertheless exhibited a keen interest in missionary work. He was particularly concerned about the state of German immigrants to North America.
He solicited funds through a variety of sources to help bolster the spiritual state of the immigrant population beginning in 1841. He also encouraged the sending of pastors to North America to assist the settlers and help with conversion of the Native American populations.
To this end, he constructed two schools to train missionaries. One of which became Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
Individuals sent by Löhe were instrumental in the founding of the Synod of Ohio, though Löhe withdrew his support from the Synod in 1845 over doctrinal differences.
Löhe’s emissaries also founded the Missouri Synod in 1846. In 1853, Löhe supporters established the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Iowa. While Löhe is most well remembered for his encouragement of missionary activity in the United States, he also supported work in Brazil, Ukraine, Australia, and New Guinea through his Foreign Missionary Society.
In addition to being concerned about foreign matters, Löhe retained a concern for domestic social matters.
In this spirit, he founded the first Deaconess house in 1849. The house became a place of social and education activity, hosting schools, hospitals, and other social agencies.
Löhe died on January 2, 1872 at the age of sixty-three, having influenced the life of the Lutheran Church on five continents.
The chapel at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa is dedicated to his memory.
Despite his significant influence on missions, confessionalism, and liturgics as it relates to Lutheranism, there is no comprehensive biography in English.
Truly amazing for a man who left such imprint on the Lutheran Church that continues to this very day!
Our second reading for today was from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Paul wrote this letter from prison in 60 AD.
Unlike so many of his letters, this one was not written to correct any errors!
Rather Paul wants the readers to have a better understanding of God’s purpose and grace.
Paul says that believers in Christ have been marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.
In those days a seal marked ownership!
So God owns us!
That is great news for each of us who believe in and follow Christ!
When we baptized them we mark their forehead with the sign of God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit and we baptized them in the name of all 3.
Our gospel reading for today was from John.
Without a doubt, John was the 4th and final gospel to be written.
It was probably written in 85 AD or perhaps even a little later.
John was evangelistic!
He wanted to win others to Christ and that was his purpose in writing his gospel.
John starts right out saying that Jesus has always existed!
Jesus came into the world and the world came into being through him yet the world did not know him.
He came first to his own people-the Jews, but they did not accept him.
But for those who do accept him there is great news!
Great joy!
Because from Christ we have received grace!
Amazing grace!
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
John says the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ!
John says no one has ever seen God!
In the Old Testament we read of people seeing God but it was not God they saw but rather the form he took temporarily for the occasion.
This is, of course, our first worship service of a brand new calendar year!
2011 is now here!
Looking back 2010 was most certainly a year of challenges!
After a long struggle we were finally released from the ELCA.
Only those who served on the church council can truly appreciate what a struggle that was!
But our church council held tight and refused to cave in and we were officially dismissed June 3,2010.
Then we were kicked out of the Lutheran Foundation in late September which costs us $2000 in grant money.
But last Sunday we put in the mail our application for reinstatement and we should be back in very soon.
8 funerals is a lot for a church our size!
We were tested with having 3 funeral dinners in one week, the same week as we had a food booth at the Pickle Fest!
The economy forced some families to leave Saint Joe and as a result we lost around 12-15 youth who had been attending worship here.
So our average attendance dropped for the first time since I have been your pastor!
From 83 to 67 just like that.
Active, confirmed, baptized membership dropped from 95 to 78!
5 went to eternal life and one transferred after moving out of state.
11 did not take communion even once in 2010!
Those 11 could be restored to membership simply by taking communion in 2011.
But its not the membership which bothers me!
It’s the number worshipping God each week!
We can all do better!
But let me tell you the word defeat is not in my voculbary!
The Wednesday evening service was not working out after over 5 years and so we ended it!
But that just means we charge in a different direction!
We do not retreat, we just regroup!
You know despite the economy we did not have to borrow from the Building Fund and we actually paid back about half of what we had borrowed.
But, lets be honest here, our giving should and could be way better!
God has blessed us for very richly and let we just can’t seem to give him back the ten per cent the Bible says we should give back.
I know one of my great failings as your pastor is not getting enough of you to give more.
And yet when I took over as your pastor, my biggest success in church had been raising money.
When the largest offering of the month, month in and month out, is the first Sunday of the month you know it is the retired people who are carrying the church!
That is not a good sign for the future!
With the new addition paid off I think many people slacked off in giving!
We must start giving back to God a bigger portion what he has first given us.
We have the potential right now to have all the money the church needs to run a top notch program!
We could build another addition of classrooms!
We could build a multi purpose room!
We have the money but its in your pockets!
The other thing that all most of us seem to have slacked off on is inviting others to come and see!
The number of visitors was way down in 2010!
We have a lot to offer people!
We are a Bible believing church and we have proven that to everyone!
We are a great fellowship!
We show genuine care for all our members!
We are happy to let new people get deeply involved in the church!
But we all need to be out telling our story!
Once we get back in the Lutheran Foundation they want the $10,000 yearly grant money used primarily for outreach!
After Vacation Bible School and hopefully some for needy families the rest needs to go to a real program of outreach!
Advertising the church to the community!
Letting the community know just what St. Mark has to offer!
There is no reason why with a good outreach program we can’t reach 100 people worshipping each week!
I can see the day when we have two services on Sunday!
I can see the day when we add classroom space!
I can see the day when we add an activity center!
God has blessed this church beyond all belief!
Look at where we were about 2002 and look at where we are now!
If we just match for the next 8 years what we have managed to do in the last 8, we would be at 150 worshipping each week!
I am convinced God wants St. Mark Lutheran Church in Saint Joe, Indiana to grow!
God wants all of us to win and nourish souls for his kingdom!
Christ has told the fields are ready for the harvest but the laborers are few!
Will you be one of the laborers who helps bring in the harvest?
I pray that you will!
I pray that like me you will come to see that truly the best is yet to be!
If in 2011 each and every one of us can get just one person to attend worship who is not now worshipping our worship numbers double!
If we each get 2 people, they triple!
Now let me warn you, Satan will fight you on this!
Satan will fight you big time on this!
He will sow doubts in your mind!
He will discourage you!
But remember God is on our side!
If God is on our side it does not matter who is against us!
Because they can not prevail!
So lets all pull together in 2011 and help win and nourish souls for our Lord’s eternal kingdom!
In the end God wins and Satan loses!
I always want to be on the winning side!
What about you?
Let me finishing today by telling you about a little story!
I used to coach Pony League baseball right here in Saint Joe.
We had a team comprised of players from Saint Joe and Spencerville.
We played teams from Hamilton, Fremont, Waterloo, Butler, Garrett and Angola.
Now of those 7 towns guess which one was the smallest?
Saint Joe and Spencerville, of course!
Yet we managed to get better each and every year and have winning records year after year!
We even ended mighty Garrett’s 85 game winning streak!
Let me tell you in those days Garret was a team of mighty giants!
They had a big pitcher named Moose Miller who would later go on to star in basketball as well as baseball!
Why did we beat mighty Garrett?
Because we had confidence we could beat anybody on any given day!
We never gave up!
We never looked at Garrett and said it is impossible to beat Garrett!
No, we looked at Garrett as a challenge!
Bring them on, we said!
The first time we played them we got beat but it was close!
In fact so close we knew we could beat them the next time and we played a round robin schedule, each team home and away.
But the second time we played them we beat them!
Now since today you and I are playing on God’s team how we can possibly lose?
We are playing for a great team!
We need to go forward with confidence and win and nourish souls for God’s kingdom!
AMEN
HYMN OF DAY-BORNING CRY-732