CHRIST LUTHERAN NEWSLETTER

Official Newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Augusta, MO 63332

September 2010

Bible Study/Sunday School: 9:00 a.m. Church Phone: (636)228-4642

Worship Service: 10:00 a.m. Pastor's Phone: (636)228-4773

Website: http://clcaugustamo.org

From the Pastor's Desk......

Climbing down into the Grand Canyon, hiking up Angel's Landing and walking the Narrows in Zion National Park, scaling the highest dune in Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park...these were some of our experiences last month as we went out with our son to Prescott, AZ where he goes to school. Some National Parks are great just to view as you drive through; others you need to experience. And an interesting thing happens during these experiences - you share a close camaraderie with others making the same journey.

For example, reaching the summit at the Great Sand Dunes National Park, I was greeted with smiles and "high-fives" from people who made the ascent before me. Although we were total strangers, we conversed together like we were old friends. For those ascending after me, I was able to do the same thing for them. I greeted them and offered congratulations for making the difficult ascent. A special bond is created when people share the same difficult, sweaty, but exhilarating journey (just ask my mother-in-law..she made it to the top too!)

All of this reminds me of our journey together in the church. Whether you feel it or not, there is a special bond which Christians share with each other. We're making the same journey. It may not be a sweaty journey, but it is difficult. There are dangers all around you when hiking up Angel's Landing. In this world there are many dangers that we face as God's people. There is a solid chain to hold on to on Angel's Landing when the way is steep and narrow. We who worship together and commune together hold on to Jesus who keeps us steady on the narrow way.

Climbing the Dunes is very exhausting. It is near impossible to make your way to the top without stopping at different times to rest and take water. At different times in the journey people who were coming down from the top encouraged us by saying, "You're almost there! It's not easy, but it's worth it!" That kind of encouragement we can do for each other in the church. As we journey together in the Faith, we all need encouragement at various times. We grow tired of the "same old routine" Sunday after Sunday. Walking up a sand dune is not easy, nor is it easy walking the higher path with Christ in this life. Our flesh wants to experience all that this sinful world has to offer. It's not always convenient to make time for God's Word each day and to sit still and listen to His Word from the pew. But these times of rest we desperately need. As Dune climbers will fail unless they take time regularly to rest and drink, so we will fail in our heavenly quest unless we rest ourselves regularly in God's refreshing Word and Sacrament. How good it is for us to encourage each other: "You're almost there! It's not easy, but it's worth it!"

And it is worth it, isn't it? We haven't arrived yet, but others have. The Bible is full of stories for us which encourage us to press on in our journey. The view from the top of the Dunes, or from Angel's Landing is spectacular. The view in heaven, we're told by God in His Word, is well worth whatever difficulties, whatever set-backs, whatever pain we have to endure now in our journey. So let's keep encouraging each other! We're in this together. We share a close camaraderie. Not one of us is above another. We're all sinners together; yet we're all forgiven in Christ together. When we gather at His Table we who are individuals are drawn together by Jesus' flesh and blood. We are one body, as St. Paul puts it. So be encouraged! You're not in this thing by yourself. We're together in the journey, and Jesus is with you all the way.

In Christ' Service, Pastor Bell

From the Elders

Over the course of time we have worked with many members who have needed our encouragement to return as active members of the congregation. It is always a joyful thing when members respond positively to the work we do. It is, on the other hand, always discouraging when we receive a negative response. We are now in the process of sending out letters to members who have shown little if any desire to be active, worshiping members of Christ's flock. It is our hope that God will stir their hearts and bring them back to His fold. Please pray for us as we attempt to encourage these delinquent members, for they are neglecting their eternal soul. Any words of encouragement you can give them are also appreciated.

It may very well be necessary, in the near or distant future, to inform some of these members that they will be removed from our rolls here at Christ Lutheran Church. This will need to take place if they stubbornly persist in their unfaithfulness or if they simply refuse to respond to us over time. However, before we bring a member up for removal, we will always bring that name to you at a future Voters meeting and ask if anyone there believes they can work with the individual. If so, we will allow time for this to take place - most likely until the following Voters meeting. When, at such a meeting, all who are present are in agreement that all inroads to the heart of that member are closed, we will then ask for that member to be removed from our rolls. Please feel free to speak with us or Pastor about these things. This is the work of God we do, and all of you also share in this work.

Church Attendance: August 1 - 58 August 8 - 77 August 15 - 84 August 22 - 65

You are cordially invited to attend the Service of Installation for Rev. Matthew C. Harrison, president-elect of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, and for the Synod's newly elected vice presidents and other officers, board and commission members. The service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 in The Chapel of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Lunch, bluegrass music and festivities will follow in the seminary Quadrangle. If you can't attend in person, you can watch the service online at www.lcms.org/live.

A Country Store will be held again this year at our Sausage Dinner. Items of baked and canned goods, garden vegetables, jellies, candies, crafts, quilts and blankets all will be appreciated.

Anyone wanting to help cook Applebutter please write your name on the signup sheet located on the table in the lobby area. The date set is Saturday, Sept. 25. (alternate date is Oct. 2)

Rally Day is Sunday, Sept. 12. Sunday School begins on this day. After church we will have a balloon launch with a potluck luncheon in the basement. All are invited!

A new loveseat is now in the east Sunday School room. (Thanks Carol.) All are welcome to enjoy it, but it may be appreciated most by mothers with small (and crying?) children.

A reminder that Midweek students will now be meeting with Pastor on Sundays. See him for more information.

Higher Things Reflections by Rev. Mark Beutow

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10:14)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You can't be a Christian without a pastor. That's right. That's what St. Paul says. How can you believe in Christ if He is not preached to you? Probably many of your friends go to churches where the exact opposite is taught. Faith is something personal that you discover on your own. It's between you and Jesus.

But that's not how the Lord does things. He doesn't give you life by spawning you in a forest and letting you grow up on your own. He gives you parents who give you life and provide for you. He doesn't shower money on you out of the sky. He gives you a job and a boss so that you can be provided for.

Just so, Christ does not expect us to fend for ourselves, figure Him out on our own and get some faith that way. No, He gives us a pastor, whose job is to preach and teach God's Word. To put God's Word into your ears. To baptize you and absolve you and feed you with Christ's Body and Blood. You can't get those things for yourself. But the Lord provides them for you through the man He has called to give those gifts to you.

This is for your comfort. When your sins trouble you, that pastor whom Jesus has called will remind you of your Savior's death on the Cross, which takes away your sins. When you are troubled and need guidance, more than just “advice” the world would give, your pastor is there to counsel you and teach you what the Lord's Word says, to strengthen you against the devil and your enemies. Indeed, your pastor, like your parents who gave you life and took care of you, is given to you by God to give you eternal life by giving you Jesus.

Most churches don't make much of preachers. But preachers are the means by which the Lord comes to us with His gifts. They aren't anything in themselves, but as they deliver Jesus faithfully and give out His forgiveness, pastors are essential—a gift from God for our salvation. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. (Luke 22:24)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Can you imagine those disciples? Peter says, “I'm pretty much the leader of the Twelve.” James and John say, “No, we are! We're going to sit at Jesus' right and left!” Perhaps Matthew joined in, “Wait a minute! I've got business experience! I should be in charge!” Who knows what they said? It doesn't matter. There were certainly some of Jesus' apostles who seem to be more famous than the others. But perhaps it is in answer to this argument that the Holy Spirit doesn't really tell us anything else about St. Bartholomew, other than that he was an apostle. He was one of the Twelve the Lord ordained to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His name to the ends of the earth.

Bartholomew was a witness of Christ. He saw Jesus and saw Him alive after His resurrection. We don't know anything else about him, but if he was an apostle, then wherever he went we can be sure that he proclaimed Christ crucified for sinners.

We don't need to know anything else about Bartholomew than that. Preachers don't preach so they can impress people and prove they are the greatest. Pastors aren't the most important people in Christ's church. They're just the ones He calls to teach and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins, to baptize and to administer Christ's Body and Blood.

Bartholomew (or Nathanael, as he is called in John's Gospel) was called by Jesus to be a witness to Christ. As far as we know, he died as a martyr to the name of His Lord. Bartholomew, like all the apostles, is truly great not because he wielded some earthly authority or could out-argue the other apostles! His greatness was in his being a man through whom Christ's Word came to sinners and saved them. All praise to Christ for Bartholomew, through whom Christ went to the ends of the earth. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.