Address on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Holy Cross Lutheran Church

(This is what I shared with people at the dinner celebrating the 150th anniversary of Holy Cross Lutheran Church on April 19, 2015. Pastor Ken Klaus spoke right after this.) 

            I want to begin by simply thanking everyone for their kindness to me and Julia since we first announced this ordeal just three weeks ago. We know that there has been a tidal wave of prayers soaking God’s throne of grace not only from here but from throughout the world. We can say that our prayers have been answered. God has been very good to us and merciful to me. The surgery went very well. The cancer was limited to the area of colon which they were able to remove. So far, I’ve been able to make a good recovery. It’ll still be a while before I’m back to full strength, but I’m feeling better each day. 

            We want to thank all of you not only for your prayers but also for all of the meals, cards, and words of encouragement you all have given. They have meant so much to me, Julia, and Hannah. Once again you have taken care of us in absolutely wonderful ways.

            If this ordeal has taught me anything already it’s this: As a pastor, I am replaceable. God’s work in this congregation does not necessarily depend on me. This is actually a great comfort. Look at what happened. I had surgery on Tuesday of Holy Week. Yet all of the Holy Week and Easter celebrations happened without me—they were even well attended. The Easter Egg hunt was again a huge success. The planning for the after school care program continued to move forward—look for a presentation of that plan at the voters meeting next week. All of this could keep moving while I’ve been recovering. To God be the glory!

            This is okay. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains this. The congregation there had a serious problem with people being too devoted to one or another of the pastors who had served them. Here’s what he says in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

            No one understands this better than a congregation that can boast 150 years of God’s blessings. We’ve had twelve pastors now. Almost all of you remember Pastor Swanson. Many of you remember Pastor Brandt or Pastor Schumpe. Fewer remember the first Pastor Hepting or Pastor Harting. Is there anyone here this morning who remembers Pastor Demetrio? If not, it’s okay, he retired in 1926.

            All of them did important work and so did the ones before. I’m encouraged when I read about guys like Pastor Hermann Wille. Unless you’ve been digging in the history book, you’ve probably not heard of him. He served here from 1874-1886. In those twelve years some important things were accomplished. The congregation wrote its first constitution and (more importantly) helped to start Immanuel Lutheran Church in what would become Sweet Springs. He also conducted more funerals in one year than any pastor before or since (24 in 1876—I think there was a typhoid epidemic that year).

            It’s okay that no one remembers the work he did. The work of comforting people with the Gospel, setting up a new congregation where the Word will be proclaimed and the sacraments administered and even gathering the church together are all God’s work. As Paul wrote, it doesn’t matter who the man is, God is working through it all anyway.

My time here has been less than 2% of our congregation’s history. But when I came here, you were all already Christians. I was just able to fit right in to the work that others had been doing for almost a century and a half. Knowing that coming in was a huge relief for me.

It’s a huge relief going forwards as well. Let’s not forget that today our prayers are not just thanking God for the past, but also asking Him to bless our future. Our prayer is that 150 years from now, our great, great, great, great grandchildren will be here celebrating the 300^th Anniversary of Holy Cross Lutheran Church. It won’t matter if they remember our names or not as long as they still keep Christ crucified at the center of our church’s life and ministry. Who knows what exciting things they will have to add to the story of what God will do in this place?