So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
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God's Calendar
January 9, 2020
I used to play football. I loved it. I could not wait forAugust to come, for I knew football season was near.
Oh, I didn’t look forward to the two-a-days, hitting headswith those bigger than me. I was fairly fast and quick. Boy, how that haschanged!
But football, then basketball, and track, and summersoftball, these marked my calendar of life. You likely are similar, havinghobbies or likes that pattern your life.
We’re in the midst of a church season change also. Oh, how Ilove the Advent and Christmas hymns. “O Come, O come, Emman-u-el. And ran-somcaptive Is-ra-el…” Can you not hear it now in your mind?
And Christmas Eve. “Hark! The her-ald an-gels sin, ‘Glo-ryto the new-born King.”
Is there another night in all the year as Christmas Eve, themystique, peace, glory and excitement? The whole earth explodes in praise ofthe Savior who has come.
Now, we’re off into Epiphany season, where the readings showthe uncovering of the Savior whose love is for all, all who have ears to hear.His mission is to go to the ends of the earth. God’s sending of a miraculousstar to guide the Magi, oh, what a great story!
Following the Church Year, bending of knees and attuningears to the Lord’s Word, this is not merely “smells and bells,” but far beyond.It’s cosmic time.
This unfolding of God’s time, liturgical time, simply takesone into eternal moments beyond this earth. This is God’s cosmic calendar,revolving around the One who owns us by His blood. The whole cosmos revolvearound its Owner and Creator and Redeemer.
We’re most at home before the Lord, as Mary sitting atJesus’ feet (Luke 10:39).
Pastor Golter is the Senior Pastor at Trinity Lutheran
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Dressed Up for Jesus
January 16, 2020
This week’s visit to Trinity by Bishop Lytkin from theSiberian Evangelical Lutheran Church stirs up an unforgettable memory fromAugust 2013.
I was traveling with one of the professors from theirseminary, Alexey Streltsov, and several others from our International Center inSt. Louis. We were riding in a local Siberian Lutheran pastor’s car.
We had just finished teaching the Gospel to a group of veryhungry people from Chita, Siberia. Most of them were deaf. They had traveled 12hours by train to get to this teaching seminar. Amazing! That’s hunger for theWord. That preaches.
But now, the local pastor asked us if we didn’t mindtraveling a bit out of the way to make a home visit on two of his members. Ofcourse, we didn’t mind.
What happened, though, was quite amazing. We stopped at thishouse which had a roughly hewn, high wooden wall protecting it. We went inside,the pastor leading us. Then he set up the altar—he found a little, woodentable—and set up Holy Communion.
From the house came two Siberian Lutheran ladies, ready forthe Divine Service (see picture). What was remarkable was their apparel. Noshabby clothes here. They were dressed up, ready to go. They are dressed up tomeet Jesus in the Word and the Sacrament!
They understood who it was that was coming beneath and underthe cover of Bread and Wine. They were meeting God who was to give them HisSon’s Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins.
No fancy church walls. No elegant artwork. But His Wordpreached by His pastor and He Himself offering heavenly and divine gifts. Itwas an eternal moment.
“With angels and archangels and with the company of heaven”the liturgy says. But also with those dear ladies in Siberia with whom wepilgrim together, joined by the Christ, in the Sacrament.
Dressed up for Jesus.
Pastor Golter is the Senior Pastor at Trinity Lutheran
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Witness beyond death
January 23, 2020
150 years of Gospel work, that’s remarkable!
It was March 28, 1870, when a little group of Lutherans in Davenport purchased a lot at 5th and Myrtle streets for $500. They started building a frame structure to serve as a church and school, with a 2-story parsonage.
The building was 32 feet wide by 40 feet long. The 2-story parsonage was 12 feet wide by 32 feet long. Dedication was June 12, 1870; the cost was $2,128.90 to the penny.
To the penny, that’s how frugally generous these Lutherans were. Every penny given by the Lord’s people and stirred by Him, they worked to spread the Gospel.
And, look at what was built: a church to receive His divine gifts of forgiveness, a building to teach children Christ, and a parsonage to house the pastor and family, for the Word and the Sacraments are the life of the church.
Would not those dear saints rejoice if they could see now the unfolding of Gospel work over a century and a half?
In a very real sense, we are learning still from them. Their faith in Christ, dedication, confidence to move forward, their sacrifice of themselves and offerings, all of which, comes from the Father’s gift of His Son.
Even now they witness beyond their death.
