Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and from
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
On October 30th, my wife and I returned home from a vacation. It was a very relaxing and enriching get-away which included a lot of my wife’s family history and the history of our nation.
While traveling, we were privileged to attend services in three different LCMS churches. I was pleased to see that each one of them used our new hymnal, Lutheran Service Book. The very high point, though, was Reformation Sunday when we witnessed the baptism of our great granddaughter, Grace Patton. What a joy it was to see this newest member of our family born again into Christ's holy family.
On our first Sunday home, many of our congregations in Iowa District East were observing All Saints Sunday. Marjorie and I happened to worship at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Waterloo that day. The Epistle reading was one of my all time favorites, from Revelation chapter seven. What a beautiful picture the Apostle John gives us of that eternal home:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice,“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Rev. 7.
Two of the hymns used at Immanuel were All the Saints and Behold the Host Arrayed in White. This caused us to pause. These two beautiful hymns were sung at our daughter Lonny’s funeral several years ago. So you see, we went from one Sunday, with the joy of seeing the rebirth of a great granddaughter in Baptism, to the next Sunday, being reminded of the death of our dear daughter Lonny and her continual presence before the throne of the Lamb. What a blessing it is to know that Grace and Lonny are connected in the blood of Jesus Christ. Both are members of the household of God, one in the Church Triumphant and the other in the Church militant.
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I recently received an email from Dr. Darius Petkunas, pastor of the Lutheran church in Palanga, Lithuania. Because of the escalating prices there, they continue to struggle to get that project completed. Here is a picture of the project as it now stands.
There is a group from St. John, Hubbard preparing to travel to Lithuania, at their own expense, to do some work on the interior of the church. We can use some more work groups like that so if you have an interest in this, please feel free to contact me or my assistant, Dean Rothchild.
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In early November, I had in my office the Rev. Simon Yiech, a Sudanese pastor who is serving a group of Sudanese in Des Moines. He is also the President of a Sudanese Mission Society. Here is another group that has very legitimate needs as they try to minister to people in Sudan. In the near future, we will be providing a bulletin insert or information about the needs there and how you might be able to help meet those needs.
God’s blessings to each of you as you prepare for the Thanksgiving Holiday and the Advent Season.
