Dear Friends in Christ,
It’s one of the most common questions children get asked during their growing up years. And that question is: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I distinctly remember being asked that question by this lady here…my 2nd grade teacher, Miss Dobberstein. In fact, she asked our whole class that question one day. And my answer was: “I want to be a pastor when I grow up.” That’s the earliest recollection I have of wanting to be a pastor. And I stayed with it all the way through my grade school and high school years, though there were times when I questioned whether I could do it. On a Sunday morning I would watch my dad walk down the aisle of our church in Staunton, IL, and I would think to myself: “How does he do it? How does he come up with a sermon for each Sunday, not to mention holidays, funerals, weddings, and other special occasions?” And yet here I am 2199 sermons later having done that, but only by the grace and with the assistance of God.
Well, as I preach this final sermon of my 39+ year career as a full-time pastor, I definitely had plenty of time to think about it and in the process I finally settled on the theme “Lessons Learned.” What I would like to do this morning is share with you one important lesson that I learned from each of the four congregations I served between 1981 and 2020. Please understand these are not the only lessons I learned, but just some of the most memorable. So let’s get started with my first lesson that I learned from St. Paul Lutheran Church, rural Shobonier, less than 20 miles from here. And that lesson has to do with: How fragile and uncertain life can be.
I learned very quickly that death is no respecter of persons or age. It claims the young, the old, the in between; the rich, the poor, the weak, the strong, the male, the female, the Christian and the non-Christian. My first funeral took place less than 2 months after I took over the St. Paul congregation and it was for a 5 year old girl who died of leukemia. I didn’t know her personally, but her dad had been raised in that congregation and he came from a family of 10 kids, many of whom lived around the St. Paul area, so lots of people were touched and impacted by that loss.
Then about a month and a half later I had my 2nd funeral. One of our men and his wife were working that afternoon on a spot in the country where they hoped to retire. They called it their Ponderosa. He was trying to remove a heavy slab of concrete from their pick-up truck which his wife was driving and he was on a tractor with a scoop on the front end and 2 narrow front tires. When he got the scoop underneath the concrete he motioned for his wife to pull out from underneath it. As soon as she did, the weight of the concrete slab was too much for the tractor to handle and it flipped over and landed on top of him, crushing him beneath it.
Later on that 1st year the same thing happened to one of my Elders just minutes after my family and I had been out to his house to pick up a puppy from a litter they’d had, only his accident was caused by trying to pick up one of those large round bales of hay or straw. And just like that, his life came to an end.
I could share many other stories with you that demonstrate the unpredictability of life, all of which leads to this question: If life is so fragile and uncertain and death is no respecter of persons or age, then how do we live, how do we survive in such an unpredictable world. And according to the Bible there’s only one proper way to do that, and that is by living each and every day in close communion and fellowship with the one who said of himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So live your life in a state of readiness and preparation for death with your heart, mind, and soul fixed upon Jesus, believing in Jesus, trusting in Jesus, and you will be ready whenever and however your time on this earth comes to an end.
That takes us to my 2nd congregation. After 4 wonderful and unforgettable years at St. Paul, Shobonier, I accepted a rather challenging call to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Tuscola, IL. And there I learned a lesson about: The healing power of the Gospel.
I remember the night I received a surprise phone call from the Chairman of this congregation. After introducing himself to me, he told me that they had had a Voters meeting that night and that I was the one they decided to call to serve as their pastor. Then he added these rather ominous sounding words. He said, “I want to be honest and upfront with you. We are a troubled congregation.” Little did I know at that time just how troubled they were, but I soon found out. When Marilyn and I drove up for a visit one day to meet with some of the church’s leaders, we got separated from each other at one point as one of the Trustees wanted to take me downtown to show me a new copy machine they were considering getting for the congregation. Meanwhile, Marilyn stayed behind with another Trustee to check out the parsonage and he gave her quite an earful about what had been happening in that church. They’d had a major split over the previous pastor and the sides were almost equally divided. About 60% had wanted the pastor out of there while the other 40% wanted to keep him. When Marilyn and I finally got back to our car to drive home that night, the first thing she said to me was: “Do you have any idea what you’re about to get yourself into here if you accept this call?” My response was: “Dear, they’re just people.”
And indeed they were, but they were very angry people, very bitter people, and no matter where I visited, I heard and saw that anger and bitterness first hand. I remember coming home one evening and telling Marilyn, “We’ll give this place one year and then we’re out of here.” Meanwhile, I just kept preaching the Gospel, the good news, that great message of love, God’s love, for lost and hurting and undeserving people like all of us. And it was my contention that if God could love sinners like us, then surely we can in the power and light of that love do the same for one another. And you know what? After that first year I began to notice a difference in people. Those who were polar opposites were starting to talk to one another more. They were sitting by each other in worship. They were attending Bible classes together. And this church that had developed a pretty bad reputation throughout the community was beginning to gel and come together and people were taking note of it and wanting to be a part of it. Now listen, my friends, that was not due to me or anything I did. I refuse to take any credit for that because from the time I started there and from what I witnessed and heard in all my visits, this was a God-sized problem that only he could fix. And fix it, he did, through the healing power of the Gospel.
That takes us to a lesson I learned while serving my 3rd congregation, Grace Lutheran Church in Naples, FL, which by the way was another troubled congregation that had actually experienced a split before I got there, a split in which one rather sizeable part of the congregation actually left and started their own church. But the lesson I learned there was: Never underestimate the generosity of God’s people. Though I was there only about 2 ½ years, we undertook a rather major expansion program that was going to run about $900,000. Being a bit of a doubting Thomas, I had no idea how we could ever raise that kind of money. Now I’ll be the first to say that our congregation in Naples had its share of very wealthy people. And when we began that building program, the committee came up with what we called a pyramid of giving. At the top of that pyramid was $25,000 that we were hoping we might get from somebody in our congregation. Beneath that were 3 gifts of $15,000 each. And on and on it went to much smaller gifts at the base of the pyramid. Well, one Sunday we had a somewhat elderly couple join us for worship whom I went out to see that week. They seemed very interested in our building program and asked a lot of questions about it. Before I left, the man said to his wife: “What do you think, Honey? Do you think we should contribute something to this project?” She was all in favor of it, so he said, “How much should we give?” And without even knowing about our giving pyramid, he answered his own question. He said, “How about $25,000?” After I picked my jaw up off the floor and thanked them profusely for this totally unexpected gift, I headed back to the church with quite a story to tell about how we must never underestimate the generosity of God’s people.
I’ve seen the same thing here over and over again when at a budget meeting I would express my concern about the size of our budget for the coming year only to see our congregation rise to the occasion and not only meet the budget, but surpass it, or not just take out a 30 year mortgage for a building expansion, but also pay it off in just 10 years like we did with the project before our most recent one.
And that takes us to the lesson that I learned from this congregation where I’ve served for the past nearly 28 years. This was a hard one because there are so many lessons I’ve learned here. But I finally settled on this one. And it has to do with this question: Who ministers to the minister when the minister needs to be ministered to? The answer I’ve discovered over the years is YOU DO! His people do. You ministered to my family and me when Marilyn’s dad died unexpectedly in 1995. You ministered to us when her mom died in 2009 and a number of you showed up at the visitation in Steeleville riding our church bus. You ministered to our family when our older daughter got pregnant out of wedlock and a whole group of you were waiting in the narthex to welcome us and love on us when we came to church the following Sunday. You even threw a baby shower for her. You ministered to us when we moved my mom and dad to Salem and you made them feel so welcome here. You ministered to us when they could no longer make it to church because of declining health and when they died in the same year, 2011, you were there for us. You ministered to us when our daughter Kim was diagnosed with a brain tumor 2 years ago and you even held a prayer vigil for us the night before her surgery. You ministered to us most recently when she had a second surgery last month. In fact, a few days before that surgery, there was a knock on my office door about 6:30 a.m. and in walked our Board of Elders to show their support and pray for us. From the bottom of my heart and with every fiber of my being I say thank you for always being there for us, not just during the tough times, but the good times as well. And there have been plenty of those!
So let me close with one final lesson that I’ve tried to pass on to you and all the other congregations I’ve had the privilege of serving over the years and that I’ve included in every sermon I’ve preached. But first a story.
It happened at our 1st congregation. It was the Lenten season and I was trying something new there. It was a program called “We, the Jury.” It featured a drama each week in which key players in the Passion story were called to the witness stand to be questioned by the prosecuting attorney, who was Satan, and the defense attorney who was played by me. Well, one of those evenings my dear precious wife was to portray Mary Magdalene. She went back to put on her outfit before making her grand appearance on the witness stand. She had gone outside and walked around to the door on the back side of the church where it was pretty dark. There were actually 2 doors there, one of which led into the room where she was to get dressed; the other one of which led into the sanctuary. Well, guess which one she took? The door that led into the sanctuary which was locked. So she started knocking on it gently, I guess hoping that I would hear her and let her in. But when I didn’t come to her rescue, she started knocking louder and louder until finally one of the young men in the congregation got up, unlocked the door, and then opened it, leaving her standing there with a whole church full of people staring at her. All she could say was “Oh, I guess I’ve got the wrong door.”
Sadly, many people today are making the same mistake. They are trying to enter heaven through the wrong door – the door of Buddha, Mohamed, Confucius, the door of their own good works and merits, and so on. But just like there was only one correct door for Marilyn to use that night to get ready for her part in our Lenten drama, so also there is only one correct door to enter heaven. Like Jesus says in our text for today: “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved.” Oh how I pray that that precious Gospel truth will be on our lips and in our hearts and on our minds until the day we die and pass through the door of our Savior into his glorious presence for all eternity. Amen.
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYERS
GENERAL PRAYERS: Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can not only call you our God, but also our Father, for that reminds us of the deep love you have for us, your children. And to think that you would use sinful imperfect human beings like us for your eternal purposes is a privilege that goes far beyond our ability to comprehend. Thank you for the lessons that we’ve heard here this morning, the most important one of which is that there is only one true door that leads from this sin-cursed world to the beauty and glory and splendor of a life where you promise us there will be no more curse. And Father, I want to thank you for the four wonderful congregations you’ve allowed me to serve over the past 39+ years. Please forgive me for the far too many mistakes that I’ve made during my ministry and please receive the glory for any good that has come out of my years of service to you for you alone deserve it. And Lord, a very special thank you for this congregation – this wonderful family of God’s people – and for the many ways in which they have ministered to my family and me when we needed to be ministered to. Please allow your divine favor and blessing to rest upon Salem Lutheran Church and bring to them soon a shepherd who will truly be a living example of our great Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. LORD, IN YOUR MERCY…
And Lord, we pray that you would make a dramatic difference in the lives of all who appear on our prayer list this morning. As they do battle with the imperfections of life, they need a God who is greater than their problems and only you can fill that need. So come to them in all of your glory and power; lift their burdens from their shoulders; bring health and healing where it is needed; and use these difficulties to draw these people ever closer to you.
And Father, we rejoice with Seth and Leslie and Abbie, Austin and Amanda, and Rose as they became parents, grandparents, and a great-grandparent respectively this past week. We thank you for bringing these little ones safely into this world and we pray that you will now guard and protect them from all harm and danger. Grant to the proud parents the gifts of wisdom, patience, and strength as they go about the awesome task now of raising these little ones not just as their own but also and especially as yours.
And Lord, we pray for our nation, that you would allow peace, justice, morality, and an honorable way of life to prevail across our land. We pray for all in authority, especially President Trump, our governor, our lawmakers and our judges, that they would serve with integrity and be keenly attuned to your will. We also remember our military personnel, our law enforcement officials, our first responders, and we ask that you would protect them from danger in this very hostile and volatile world and grant them peace and contentment as they defend us from our enemies. And Lord, please bring an end soon to the pandemic that has disrupted life everywhere on our planet for the past 6 months.
And Father, we pray for all those who suffer from the devastation of Hurricane Laura. We ask that you would use the citizens of this land to provide for their basic necessities; that those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed would be given strength to endure the long process of rebuilding; and that the people of God would use this catastrophe to proclaim the comforting news of Christ’s presence in every time of need.
And grace us with your presence throughout the coming week. Bless our homes with your love, surround our families with your protection, and keep us all walking closely by your side, for we come to you in the name of our precious Savior Jesus Christ, who has also taught us to pray…
Farewell and Godspeed to a Pastor Entering Retirement