Stewardship: More Than a Money Matter!

October 2016

Dear Friends in Christ,
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” Galations 5:25
Last week I was asked by the Tuesday afternoon Bible Study group to meet with them and discuss the topic “How could tithing better enable your congregation to accomplish it’s task to spread the Gospel?”  I believe such a question only addresses one part of the whole of Stewardship and Discipleship.  If we only address this part of stewardship, we are only addressing the need of God’s Church to receive.  Truly, this is an important part of the whole, for without faithful and loving givers there would be little ability for the Church to care for individuals and spread the Word of God near and far.  For every gift we have received, whether it be money or time or talents, we are truly thankful to each of you and those who have shared in your generosity are also thankful.
   However, there is another side to this issue and that is the need of the giver to give. Freely we have received from God all we need for this life and the next and freely we are to give of what we have received. In fact, Scripture is so bold as to relate this side of the issue to faith and the two Tables of the Law: Love of God and Love of Neighbour.  We are free in Christ from our burden of guilt and sin and brought into a new relationship with God and our neighbours through faith in Christ.  And exploring the Biblical examples of first fruits, proportional, sacrificial giving allows the Christian giver to devotionally consider their love and trust of God and love for their neighbour.  Again, we are thankful to whatever extent you have engaged in this process as you gave of your time, talents and treasures in this past year.
   But I am so bold as to ask even more!  I paraphrase St. Paul as he wrote to Philemon regarding a stewardship topic: “Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, I want some benefit from you in the Lord!”  In particular these next weeks we will explore stewardship together in our congregational life and  I challenge you to consider your  sacrificial, proportional, first-fruits offerings in relation to the blessings of faith, forgiveness and salvation that Christ has earned for you.  I challenge also that you consider the place that God and your neighbour have in your life -- particularly your fellow Christian brothers and sisters in this congregation!  And – as you enter into such a spiritual exercise – may the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit!

Peace to you in Christ!
Your Servant,

Pastor David Dressler

Easter: Foundation for Joy and Peace

Dear Friends in Christ,
    I try to imagine the surprise of Jesus' disciples on Easter as one by one they discovered the tomb where they had laid his body late Friday afternoon was empty. At first there must have been puzzlement and perhaps some worry because a Roman squad of guards had been set at the tomb in order to prevent someone stealing his body in order to claim Jesus had risen as he had prophesied. No wonder many of Jesus' disciples hid behind closed doors on Sunday as they would have been the first suspects searched out!
   But Easter didn't end there. That very day Cleopas and another of Jesus' disciples were heading out of town when Jesus walked with them and broke bread with them in their house in the village of Bethany.  They rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the others and when they found them and were discussing this great news they were startled as Jesus appeared, standing with them. Jesus showed them the wounds in his hands and feet and ate some fish -- proving himself to be more than a ghost.  It was too good to be true -- and yet it was true! Jesus, who was crucified as the Divine sacrifice for sin, was resurrected from the dead -- alive again! This good news changes everything!
    Indeed, Jesus' sacrifice for sin and the Good News of his resurrection from the dead is the foundation for joy and peace in every-day life even now.  Death and sin has been conquered and new life is found in Christ! That continues to be the message of Easter!
   I pray that true Easter joy will permeate your celebrations this season! I also invite you to join us this Easter in praising God for His Son Jesus and the new life we enjoy because of God's gift of Christ for all of us!
May God bless you and keep you!
In Christ,
Pastor David Dressler

Membership: Not so much a "Hoop" as a "Relationship"

Recently I was asked by a fellow pastor to comment on the importance of "Membership."  What follows are a few quick thoughts:

      "Membership" doesn't really seem to be an important thing to many people nowadays.  There actually might be some good reasons rooted in the past as to why such a concept has been all but lost. I suspect that the formalism of membership in the mainline churches has left many thinking that if someone can have their name on a roster somewhere but never attend or live according to what that name on the roster symbolizes then it is all pointless -- even a ruse.  And if that is all membership is then they would have a pretty valid point.  Most see membership as just a one-way street -- my commitment to the church.  Added to the confusion is a membership process that could feel more like jumping through hoops or meeting a theological checklist in order to join a club than it does discipleship and relationship.  Sure -- the church membership records are not the same as the list of Names in Heaven, but to ignore the importance of what happens in "membership" is to miss some of the central points of the call to discipleship.

     I believe that a healthier view of membership is rooted in the Scriptural call to proclamation/profession/confession of faith and also to the relational picture that Scriptures give to us of the Body of Christ. We have so individualized faith in North America that we have forgotten that the Scriptures rarely, if ever, talk about the practice of faith as an "I" but most always as a "We".   Faith is a relationship - but not just a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We always live out our relationship with Jesus Christ through relationship within the Body of Christ. Membership, therefore, is simply a recognition that we are called by the Holy Spirit to live in Christ as a part of the Body of Christ -- and the localized/particular part of the Body of Christ to which people relate is a local "congregation" - a "community" of faith. 

  The shared "faith" is a reflection of the grace of God through Christ and a reflected "confession" of what God has spoken through His Holy Word.  This is why Lutherans, in the historical and the classical Lutheran context, have never seen themselves as a "church" but simply as a "confession of the Christian Church."   All of this is to conclude that to whatever extent the concept of "membership" is seen as simply a set of hoops to jump through in order to fill out a roster or satisfy an outside demand it will be weak and unhealthy.  To whatever extent the concept of "membership" is viewed as a confessed and living relationship with Jesus Christ and His bride the local church -- the local Body of Christ --  it will be powerfully healthy.

In Christ,

Pastor David Dressler

   

God Connects: Online Adult Christian Education

Our congregational Online Education Portal now has a new course: God Connects!  Thanks to Lutheran Hour Ministries, we have been using this video-based Christian Adult study before worship services with discussion after the service.

God Connects is a course that explains the Christian faith, using today's technology and language. It presents God's work of salvation through Christ, the key tenets of the Christian faith, and various practical faith aspects of living the believer's life, in terms that are both in-depth and accessible.  In total, there are 12 sessions starting with the most important topic of all: Why Jesus?

Here at  LCOTGS God Connects will be used in a class setting as well as for personal and individual instruction.  Each session uses video instruction together with a .pdf study guide.  In cases of individual instruction personal study is supplemented with pastoral discussion.

For the next short while our God Connects Group will be open to the public on our Ning Online Education Portal.  An easy way to access this site is from the LCOTGS Calgary IOS or Android App which is available from your Google Play or Mac App Store.

It is our prayer that this resource would be helpful to all of us as we explore the Christian faith!

In Christ,
Pastor David Dressler

Worship: Parents and Families Together

Occasionally, well-meaning parents will ask why our congregation doesn't hold the children's education component of our ministry during the worship hour.  From a convenience 

 and time perspective it would make some sense to have both occur during the same hour.  However, we define worship as "being with Jesus" while primarily the Education Hour spends time "talking about Jesus."  As a result, we don't want to short-change our children or adult teachers by teaching them about Jesus at the expense of being with Jesus.

It is true that some parts of the regular worship service are difficult for younger children to understand. However, worship is something that children can grow into.  As children spend time with their parents praying, singing, listening to the Bible readings, sermons, children's lessons, and as they attend communion and are given a special blessing they participate in one of the few multi-generational experiences left in our culture.  

I find it interesting that recent studies have confirmed that families attending worship together is a healthier expression of worship.  Statistics show that when children attend an education hour while the rest of the community is in worship, they will be much more likely to never attend worship services as adults. 

Worshipping together as parents and children can be difficult sometimes. But the blessings are innumerable!

In Christ,

Pastor David Dressler

Issues: What's up with the Co-exist Bumper Stickers?

Several summers ago I spent a week with my youngest daughter in Southern California hiking in the Sierras and seeing the tourist spots in Los Angeles.  I noticed that the closer we got to the Sierra Trailheads and also to the trendier sections of Los Angeles the more frequently we encountered Co-exist bumper stickers.  

 Although I agree that people of all races, nationalities, religions and genders should love, honour and respect one another, I don't believe that the capacity to do so exists within many of the pictured religions, nor within the secular humanist framework that lies behind the creation and production of the bumper sticker.  

The sticker was submitted by Piotr Miodozeniec for an art contest sponsored by an organization in Jerusalem called the Museum on the Seam - A Socio-Political Contemporary Art Museum.  The museum curator, Raphie Etgar, correctly states "What is happening today in various parts of the world is a cycle that cannot be broken without brave and inspired leaders who must solve the problems with generosity, mutual understanding and non-violent thinking. What we need today in many places is more consideration, kindness, modesty and love." (http://www.coexistence.art.museum/coex/pages/curator.asp)

 However, the problem as I see it, is that the capacity for the needed generosity, kindness, modesty and love, is not found within humanity outside of the work of the Triune God who has revealed Himself as our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.  We have come to know this level of love only through Jesus Christ our Redeemer who is God come in the flesh.  Through Christ, the law of sin and death which characterizes many of the pictured religions, is cancelled, and thus providing a basis for a true and lasting peace, first with God, and then also with one another.

Blessings,

Pastor David Dressler

A Parents Christmas Dilemna: Santa Claus or Not?!

My wife grew up celebrating St. Nicholas Day in her family.  Every December 6th the children would be treated to candy and chocolates and a gift.  That left my in-laws free to celebrate Jesus' birth on Christmas (Christ's-Mass)  Eve and Christmas Day.  However, for myself and many of my friends the Christmas season was a strange mix of Christian celebration and Santa-stuff.  As hard as our family tried to distinguish between Christmas fantasy and the real Christmas story of Jesus and his birth, the growling secularization of the Christmas season, has made the challenge even more difficult for today's Christian parents.

Often the challenge is made even more difficult than necessary as parents are presented with a "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude to Christmas.  Many are told that Santa Claus, Christmas Trees and Yule Logs should be forbidden within Christian homes.  Consider, however, that it may be possible to recover some of the Christian festivals and traditions in an appropriate way, which will keep Christ central to the celebration, and at the same time give appropriate attention to the secondary characters of the season.

Saint Nicholas (Santa Niklaus) is a case in point.  Our culture has turned a real-historical man of the ancient Christian Church into a "god".  At Christmas time people sing songs about "Santa's" (Saint's) "Omnipresence" as he supposedly gives presents all over the world to every boy and girl all on the same night (December 24th).  As well, the mythical "Santa"  has "Omniscience" as he apparently knows whether any boy or girl has been naughty or nice and actually keeps a complete list for each person. Additional stories give "Santa" the eternal qualities and the "Omni-powerful" qualities that also belong only to the Divine.  No wonder many Christians show great concern about our current "Santa" culture.

 
Christian parents who want to avoid the gross idolatry of our culture towards "Santa Claus" can correct many of the abuses by acknowledging that there was a real "SAiNT(A) niKLAUS".  He lived approximately 270 - 340 AD and was the Christian Bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey.  His feast-day is December 6th  and is celebrated the world-over by the giving of gifts and candy especially to children.

Legendary stories support his generous-giving nature as a Christian minister while history records that Saint Niklaus was one of the Christian bishops gathered for the Council of Nicaea during one of the most serious gatherings of theologians ever recorded.  The Christian Nicaean Creed is the result of that historic gathering which defended the faith against the ancient heresy of Arianism. Niklaus would be horrified to learn that many people have elevated him to "god-head" status since he himself spent much of his life defending the orthodox Christian teaching that there is only one God in three persons - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  In fact, Saint Niklaus is even reputed to have punched someone who taught otherwise!  

While promoting the false stories about "Santa Claus" may create later doubt for the average child about the veracity of the rest of the Christmas story, acknowledging that there really was a "Saint Niklaus" who believed and worshiped Jesus Christ, supports a healthy celebration of Christmas.  

May God bless your Christmas celebration this year!

In Christ,

Pastor David Dressler