Monthly Concordia Cares - Pastor Hennig

Concordia Lutheran School
2300 Wilshire Road
Springfield, Illinois 62703

February 2010 Concordia Cares

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PASTOR HENNIG

Grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

P

Do you this day in the presence of God and of this congregation acknowledge the gifts that God gave you in your Baptism?

R

Yes, I do.

P

Do you renounce the devil?

R

Yes, I renounce him.

P

Do you renounce all his works?

R

Yes, I renounce them.

P

Do you renounce all his ways?

R

Yes, I renounce them.

P

Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?

R

Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

P

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord?

R

Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

P

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?

R

Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

P

Do you hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God?

R

I do.

P

Do you confess the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from the Scriptures, as you have learned to know it from the Small Catechism, to be faithful and true?

R

I do.

P

Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord's Supper faithfully?

R

I do, by the grace of God.

P

Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?

R

I do, by the grace of God.

P

Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?

R

I do, by the grace of God.

P

We rejoice with thankful hearts that you have been baptized and have received the teaching of the Lord. You have confessed the faith and been absolved of your sins. As you continue to hear the Lord's Word and receive His blessed Sacrament, He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

C

Amen.

How many of you recall these words, or words very similar to these? These were taken from the Rite of Confirmation. With these solemn words of promise we pledge our lives to the doctrine of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and then also to the local congregation. As we become members of the local congregation we are pledging our faithful attendance and support; support by attendance of events including The Divine Services, meetings, social functions, and Bible studies; support also includes prayers for our congregation, her people, the pre-school and school, staff and all auxiliaries of Concordia such as Lutheran High, the Central Illinois District and Synod. A huge part of the support is daily prayers for our congregation, district and synod. We need to set aside time every day to pray specifically for Concordia, for our preschool and day school, for Lutheran High, for the Central Illinois District, and for the Missouri Synod. This should be done intentionally, regularly and with out compulsion. Another part of support is involvement, be a part of what is going on and receive the blessings from God as He gives them through our church family not only in the Divine Service but through social functions as well. One other means of support that no one likes to talk about but must be mentioned is our financial support. It goes with out saying that with out this Concordia would not exist. However, we do not exist for this reason.

We as a church exist for the proclamation of The Word of God. We do this through the preschool and school through our support of Lutheran High, and through the district and synod. We have each made a pledge and promise to God in response to His grace and love for us, to be a part of this congregation and church body. By failing to meet the pledge of support we lie to God and to each other. As a congregation we face some financial difficulties. At the January Council meeting it was pointed out that we have made gains on our deficit (deficit has been cut from about $62,000 to about $54,000) by about $8,000 since July. Where as this seems to be good news it hides the fact that we have done so by not paying a couple of things we have committed ourselves to, namely Lutheran High and our commitment to the Central Illinois District. We are currently six months behind in our payment to Lutheran High, and seven months behind in our payment to the Central Illinois District. We could total up these amounts and divide by the number of members and assess the congregation but this would be incredibly unscriptural. We could post bills on the board and have people "adopt-a-bill" to pay but again that goes against the scriptural understanding of freely giving to God. We individually need to reevaluate the incredible blessing from God we have received and stop lying to God and each other about what we can and can not do financially. Do we in faith honestly consider our tithes and offerings first, or does God get the "leftovers" if that? Do we truly trust God will take care of us as we make our financial plans?

As we look to this year of revitalization perhaps we need to revitalize our attitudes about our commitment to our congregation that we made when we became members. We need to recommit to Bible class and Bible study. We need to recommit to growing in our faith and this will increase the realization of the blessings God has gifted us with that we may be more giving, as we see that we can not out give God.

In His Name

Pastor Hennig

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P	Do you this day in the presence of God and of this congregation acknowledge the gifts that God gave you in your Baptism?
R	Yes, I do.

P	Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?
R	Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

P	Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord?
R	Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

P	Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
R	Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

P	Do you hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God?
R	I do.

P	Do you confess the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from the Scriptures, as you have learned to know it from the Small Catechism, to be faithful and true?
R	I do.

P	Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord's Supper faithfully?
R	I do, by the grace of God.

P	Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?
R	I do, by the grace of God.

P	Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?
R	I do, by the grace of God.

P	We rejoice with thankful hearts that you have been baptized and have received the teaching of the Lord. You have confessed the faith and been absolved of your sins. As you continue to hear the Lord's Word and receive His blessed Sacrament, He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
C	Amen.