First and foremost: a big thank you to everyone for all of your support over the last 26 months! Over the last 26 months, you have received a new pastor (an unordained student), managed your way through a pandemic, welcomed 4 new members into the congregation (with more to come), witnessed 6 baptisms, 3 weddings, 6 funerals, and joined 2 new Lutheran organizations. That is a lot of things happening in two short years! Clearly things are happening at Spring Valley Lutheran Church!
On that note, you no longer have an unordained student serving you, rather a fully ordained minister that you have called! I look forward to continuing to serve you and grow with you in faith! However, as Dr. Croghan said in his sermon during my ordination service, I do not wield any more power than I did before, nor do I really have any more power than any of you. As you are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you are given all the Christian authority! You have the full power to name and forgive sins! This forgiveness is in fact the great gift that Christ has given us all, a gift that has no end. While I do not have any special power, I am called to serve you in all matters particularly concerning the proclamation and teaching of the gospel as well as the proper administration of the sacraments. And I could not be more honored, proud, and humbled to be called to that role for you.
Coming up soon is our service of Affirmation of Baptism. It is at this service that the children that have spent the last 26 months with me being educated in the Christian faith will stand up in front of the congregation and affirm their beliefs and the promises that their parents and sponsors made at their baptisms. This is not a rite of passage. This is a serious matter in that they are actually believing and understanding what it is they are confessing to. They are by no means done learning and growing. As we do confirm them as a congregation, we must continue to watch over them and help them grow in faith and love toward one another.
And of course the Reformation. On October 31 we celebrated the 504 year after Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle of Wittenberg. While it is Luther’s name and writings that we use, all of his work is founded in the Scriptures. And it is in the Scriptures that Luther found our Christian Freedom which is what we celebrate each October 31 (and Halloween I guess…)! We are sinners, and we continue to sin each and every day. But it is through Christ that we are saved from our sinful selves, the devil, and the world. Christ has freed us to live each day in fearless service to one another, boldly living our lives knowing that Christ has died once and for all and in his resurrection, we too are brought to life in his name! What a glorious freedom it is indeed!
“Christianus homo omnium dominus est liberrimus, nulli subiectus. Christianus homo omnium servus est officiosissimus, omnibus subiectus.” And for those of you who don’t read Latin: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” ~Martin Luther, On Christian Liberty, 1520
Peace be with you all.
In Christ, Pastor Max
