Author: Julie Raffa

June 2021

The Pilgrim Herald
Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Vocational Holiness
“At best, we plant seeds. And die. And wait for resurrection.” (Eugene Peterson)
Centered Alignment

I look at my phone and I see all the notifications. Those tiny red numbers in the corner of the app that scream at me. They all clamor for my time. A plea to be a driver for my kids field-trip, hymns and services to plan for the next six months, bible study notes to prepare, a sermon to be skillfully crafted, newsletter material that needs to be complied, a number of people whom I need to visit amid Covid-19 protocols, a voicemail from my mom or dad I need to return, an appointment reminder for my TMJ doctor, a smattering of meetings that require my presence, and a few mass emails that routinely get tossed in the virtual trash bin. And this list could easily grow.
My brain can’t take the sheer volume of the notifications, the number of people needing a response, the sorting, the organizing, the deciding, and the reading and the writing that lies before me. My eyes glaze over. Sometimes I want to be somewhere else. Maybe a tropical beach, a rejuvenating bike ride or a visit to the gym to release those happy stress-fighting chemicals called endorphins. Occasionally, I simply back away from the screen in relieved defeat—bested by a 4.7 inch “phone.”
I know fellow pastors who are gurus with all these gadgets and read all these books on how to organize their life and work. I think they have superpowers. Their pores must sweat cheerfulness, optimism, and productivity. There are quieter days with less chaos and notifications, when I seem to gain ground, yet I have never been able to master a stress and anxiety free day, even with an apple watch telling me to breath for a minute. I am quite confident you know what I am talking about here. I’ve had a recurring dream that one day there will be three numbers etched on my tombstone as a legacy and a warning: my birth date, my death date, and the number of notifications still awaiting my attention.
With the benediction at the end of our Divine Service each week, we are sent out into the world. We have feasted on the Word of God and His Supper and are released back into daily vocations. In our Lutheran Service Book we have a post-communion prayer, “…You would strengthen us through the same in faith toward You (God) and in fervent love toward one another…” (LSB 201). From the Sacrament of the Altar we are refreshed in faith toward our Lord and impelled by His love to love sacrificially those in our midst. We are sent forth by God’s blessing.
There is no competition between the day of rest, the day of God’s service to us, and our service to our fellow humanity in our varied vocations. For us Christians, they complement one another. Yet many of us still struggle with the temptation to divide our “secular” work from our “spiritual” lives. We wonder, what does God’s divine service of us have to do with our work?
The forgiveness of sins and the life that we receive each week in gathered worship sends us into the work we do in our homes and offices. Likewise, our professional and vocational work is part of the mission and meaning of our gathered worship. We are sent by and with God’s blessing. This identity changes the way we view and embody our work in the world, in our week, even in our small day.
As Lutherans we tend to understand the Reformation as merely a conflict over doctrine. Justification. Grace vs. works. Ecclesiology. Indulgences. And it was. But what also fueled the Reformers words and captured the ears of the peasants in Europe during the Reformation was not only how we are saved before God, but also the earthly notion of vocation, how do we live in the world. The reality that all good work is holy work was groundbreaking. The Reformation toppled a vocational hierarchy that had placed monks, nuns, and priests at the top and everyone else below. The Reformers taught that a farmer worshiped God by being a good farmer and that a parent changing diapers was as holy and near to Jesus as the pope was. And this was a scandal.
Even now, often subconsciously, we tend to access some vocations as holier or more spiritual than others. Whether we place missionaries, hedge fund managers, artists, the rich, the powerful, the famous, or the ivory tower academics at the top, we tend to value certain types of work above others.
The Christian faith teaches that all work that is not immoral and unethical is part and parcel of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God not only comes through Word and Sacrament, but also in our daily vocations as we live in faith toward God and in fervent love toward our neighbors. Thus, all work, even a simple, small task, matters eternally. Vocation is integral, not incidental, to what we call the Missio Dei—the mission of God.
It’s easy for me to assume that the parts of my vocation that God cares about are the parts that I like. The rest is dross and doldrums and groaning and necessary evils. Luther quipped, “God himself will milk the cows through him whose vocation it is.” But could God Himself answer all the notifications of my phone through me? Could He balance a family budget, get dinner on the table at a respectable time and fold the laundry through me? Could He fill out all the necessary family history forms, get the kids to school on time in the morning, write a faithful and well worded sermon in a few hours, check email, return phone calls, visit shut-ins, and get back to school to pick up the kids on time, through me? Does He even care about any of this?
In his refreshing book, (and one I highly recommend) Under the Predictable Plant, Eugene Peterson uses the term “vocational holiness.” The idea is that we are sanctified—made holy—not in the abstract but through our concrete vocations. Christian holiness is not a free-floating goodness removed from the world, a few feet above the ground. It is specific and, in some sense, tailored to who we particularly are. We receive holiness from our Lord even as we display that holiness in the honing of our specific vocations. We are not holy in the abstract. Instead, holiness is bestowed. As we live “in Christ” we are holy farmers, or a holy mother, or a holy physician, or a holy janitor. We seek God in and through our vocations and place in life. As Peterson writes, “This life is vocational—a creative process set in motion by a God spoken word that brings something new into being, something never before known. The creator takes nothing and makes it into something. Vocation comes into being on that thin strip of sand between sea and land where Jesus, so recently of the fish’s belly himself, breakfasted with his disciples and commanded them to be pastors” (pg.156).
Each kind of work is thus its own kind of craft that must be developed over time, both for the formation of rightly order desires and for the good of our communities. As we seek to do our work well and hone our craft, we are developed and sharpened in our work. Our task is not to somehow inject God into our work but to join God in the work He is already doing in and through our vocational lives.
We learn the craft of vocational holiness day by day in the living of a particular life. The mission of God is lived out, not in the theological contemplation of motherhood or fatherhood (though that is important) but as a mother hones her craft in the small moments when she is frazzled and weary, when she kneels down on her kitchen floor to listen to her crying child; or when a father after a long day of work goes out to kick the soccer ball around with his son and kneels down with him to say his evening prayers. My identity as one blessed and sent into the lives of others must be embraced and enfleshed, even in the tedious and seemingly hum-drum acts of life. In these small tasks in which we live out God’s image before the world we live in an incarnational way, in the way that God created us to be.
As we are fed by Christ’s holy supper, we are sent out to be bearers of hope. We are part of God’s vision and mission of His kingdom—the redemption and restoration of all things—through the earthly craft of living out our vocation, hour by hour, task by task.
In bygone days, a carpenter could make a chair, stand back, gaze at a job well done, and sell it to his neighbor who he’d known for decades, knowing that his neighbor would be blessed by many hours in his good chair. Not so much today. There is far more abstraction and intangibility in our jobs. There are global, systemic forces that can make work in the modern world dehumanizing and prone to vices. There can be a deep sense of purposelessness in modern work, in our day in and day out punching the clock. We live in a world where I can sit in my study and email, talk, text, and facetime people around the world. And while we must fight against the conditions that make modern work intolerable, we must not create a new hierarchy of holiness that elevates ancient work above our modern jobs. Part of our task as Christians sent into the world is to learn to embody that vocational holiness not only in blacksmithing or carpentry, but in and through work that is inevitably shaped by modernity and technology. I must check my phone’s notifications, my texts, my emails. In this hour, that is the work that God has given me to do.
The carpenter of days past could make a chair and then leave it behind and move on to other tasks, rest, or be with friends. He did not face a culture of workaholism fed by a 24/7 world of connection and productivity. He did not have a smart phone. In our modern day society, when we are blessed and sent to do the work God has given us to do, we are sent into a culture where work can become all-consuming and boundless.
Our frantic work lives are disconnected from the rhythms of the seasons of day and night. We can work constantly. I can check my phone, text messages or email, twenty-four hours a day, rain or shine. We can feel like we are always at work, since work can follow us everywhere we go. With these changes comes an increased temptation to make work and productivity an idol to which we’ll sacrifice, rest, health, relationships, even our faith and faith of our children.
What might vocational holiness look like when technology can breed habits that feed an unhealthy and ungodly appetite for endless productivity? Like Martha, we can get too caught up in the kitchen, “anxious and troubled about many things” (Lk 10:41). It’s easy to be anxious and exhausted and miss the greater things, especially when work is always at hand—literally in our hand.
At the opposite extreme of workaholism, I can idealize and exalt escapism into a contemplative ideal. Even though I’d confess with the Reformers that a farmer’s work in a field is every bit as important and holy as a monk’s work in the monastery, when it comes to my own mundane work I often want to escape into a monastic cell.
We need a third way—neither frantic activity nor escape from the workday world, a way of working that is shaped by being blessed and sent forth with God’s blessing. This third way is marked by freedom from compulsion and anxiety because it is rooted in God’s benediction—His call and love. But it also actively embraces God’s mission in the world into which we are sent.
This third way avoids the frenzied workaholism that arises from our attempts to earn our own blessedness and steer our own destinies. And yet it doesn’t abandon our daily tasks, nor does it devalue them as less holy. Living in this third way of work—where we seek vocational holiness in and through our work even as we resist the idolatry of work and accomplishment—allows us to live with work as a form of prayer and worship. The entwining of work and prayer is part of ancient spiritual practice. We have the Latin phrase “ora et labora” or “pray and work.”
It’s hard for me believe that checking my phone’s notifications could ever be a place of prayer. I would prefer God to call me to other things, things that feel more important, meaningful and thrilling. But this work, in this hour, is a living prayer that I may work in His love and love the work that He has given me to do so as to bear His love to the world. Now, that doesn’t mean I have to be giddy about having a “electronic leash” called a smartphone. I’m sure I will always have a love/hate relationship with it. But I want to remember that we were made for a day when God’s chosen people will “long enjoy the work of their hands” (Is 65:22). We are sent forth by God’s blessing into the world, where we will face fallenness and toil. But even still our labor is not in vain. And one day all of it, even our smallest daily tasks—even our smartphone’s ringtone or buzzing—will be sifted, sorted, and redeemed.
In the Bonds of Christ,
Pastor Raffa

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Board of elders report
Pilgrim Ev. Lutheran Church Board of Elders Meeting Minutes
5/3/2021
Present were Pr. Fisher, Pr. Raffa, Bob Dennis, Brian, Gary, Jake, John and Tanner.
Absent was Patrick.
The meeting began with prayer at 6:30.
Schedules were made through July.
The elders discussed the sound in the sanctuary. The problem with that, while the microphones fed into our temporary systems sounds worlds better than before the upgrade, members watching the stream cannot hear the organ or congregation very well, since they do not have a direct mic feed. While we are looking to upgrade to a system that will allow us to mic these things properly, for the time being we are going to revert back to the streaming system as it was before Holy Week. Sound in the sanctuary will not change. Please pardon the inconvenience during this process-it will be wonderful when complete.
The elders have chosen to teach the congregation Divine Service Setting 2 this summer in order to incorporate it into the regular rotation of settings along with 1, 3, and 4. Setting 2 is essentially the same as setting 1 in content (and comes from the same source), but the music is different, which will give lovely variety. This will be the setting for a few weeks in June for teaching.
The elders have elected, on the recommendation of the pastors, to use the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds on a quarterly (3 month) basis for the sake of teaching the children the Apostles creed during the summer where Sunday School is out of session. This will be in lieu of our prior weekly alternation.
The elders apologize to any members or guests seemingly not greeted by us or the ushers; we hope not to miss anyone coming in and hope to do better with this immediately!
The elders discussed our covid signage and continue to support gradual return to normalcy as the comfort of members allows.
The elders thank all who helped during Spring cleanup day, especially on the chancel floor.
Many staples were pulled, but many hands made light work!
The elders have seen and approved of a proposal for the new chancel floor (to be donated), which will be installed early-ish June when the workforce is on his summer break. Services will be in the sanctuary during the process, though the pastors will obviously will operate off the worksite. Displacement will take about 2 weeks.
The elders discussed a concern raised by a member regarding having the American and Christian flags’ presence at the front of the church. The elders have studied this matter of the past month and have deliberated carefully about the matter. We have decided to retain the flags in their positions.
A brief explanation may be helpful:
Flags in the church are a relatively modern innovation. In fact, it was the Lutheran churches in the US that began the practice on account of wartime passions and concerns over German congregations during World War One. Their addition was solely a political/social purpose, demonstrating that the Lutherans, while in many cases largely German by heritage, loved and honored the USA as God’s gift to her countrymen. Theologically, however, it is important not to confuse these two estates. This it, church and state are both gifts from God, but both are fundamentally different kingdoms. The church is the mouth-house of God; the state is for the sake of good order in this life. We must not confuse these two estates.
On the one hand, it is important first and foremost that everything in the sanctuary be judged as to how it confesses Christ. For the reason, it is regarded as best practice to omit national flags from a sanctuary. The flag and those it stands for, while rightly and honorable and beloved, have no role in salvation before God. However, theology is not performed in a vacuum; everything has a context.

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Our context today sees a congregation including many veterans and patriots who could take offence at perceived disrespect in removal of the flag. The theological nuance in favor of removal does not, in our judgement, outweigh the possible offense give to our flock.
We note a few points for good measure and for consideration by the congregation. First, Christians are to be thankful for the state, for it is established by God (4th Commandment). Second, while a gift, it has no function in salvation, and many sacrifices symbolized in the flag do not offer what Christ’s sacrifice does. Third, removing the flags from the sanctuary would not be done to dishonor the flag – for it is antichristianly dishonored much these days- but out of desire for clear teaching. So, in time to come perhaps the flags could be displayed in their own honorable place, if the congregation wills it. Fourth, this concern is an adiaphora, and the Lord has not spoken to it. Therefore we are right to do whatever in our Christian freedom we see as just. Finally, those who rightly or wrongly perceive faults with congregations would do well to remember that only heretics are in a hurry; the Church has eternity. Gentle teaching is the only Christian way (or at least the only wise way) to change things in the church.
The elders are happy to address any questions anyone may have with this matter.
The meeting closed with prayer @8:30.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanner Schmidt

Church council Report Church Council May 10, 2021 Minutes
The Pilgrim Church Council May 10, 2021 meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by President, Bob Knuth. Other members of the Church Council in attendance were Pastor Fisher, Pastor Raffa, Rob Selzler, Mary Lehtimaki, Bonnie Leffin, Nancy Rosenthal, Tanner Schmidt, and Jim Behrens.
Pastor Fisher began the meeting with a prayer.
Minutes of the April 12, 2021 meeting were approved, following a motion by Tanner and 2nd by Bonnie.
Trustees Report – by Rob Seltzer
Rob presented a slide program showing the condition the church roof and provided information from the first quote for replacing it, from Great Lakes Roofing of Germantown. Total cost for replacement of all roofs, per their quote, would be $69,350. Additional quotes from other roofing firms are being obtained. This subject will be discussed at the June Voter’s Meeting.
Cleanup day went well.
The Chancel floor will have all new oak boards, as the current boards have nicks and scars. The boards and labor to make this improvement are being donated by members. Work is planned for completion in June.
Elders Report – by Tanner Schmidt
Pilgrim is getting a $1200 grant from the Siebert Lutheran Foundation to improve the sound system.
We will be rotating use of the Apostolic and Nicene Creeds in church services on a quarterly basis instead of weekly to facilitate better learning of them by the youth.
Treasurers Report – by Bonnie Leffin
Year-to-date budget report was given.
Tanner made a motion, Pastor Fisher 2nd, which passed on voice vote to accept the budget statement, subject to audit.
An up-to-date budget report will be published in the Herald.
Pastor Fisher’s Report
Pastor’s Conference went well.
Confirmation is planned for the 10:30 AM Sunday, May 23 Pentecost service.
Pastor Raffa’s Report
Completed catechesis of three students.
The possibility of having a church picnic the Sunday after Labor Day, on September 12, the first day of Sunday School, will be discussed at the June Voter’s Meeting.
New business
A motion to establish a fund for Lutherans in Africa was made by Pastor Fisher, 2nd by Nancy, and passed on a voice vote.
The next Voter’s Meeting will be June 27 at 12:00 noon.
A motion was made by Tanner and passed on voice vote to adjourn the meeting.
The meeting ended with a prayer by Pastor Raffa.at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Behrens

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Membership report
Baptized: None
Deaths:
Orville Heckendorf May 8, 2021
Confirmed May 23, 2021
Tyler Densow. David Hoffman, Ethan Hoffman,
Caden Olson, Luke Selzler, Abby Voll
Transferred In: None
Transferred Out:
Andrew Hoffman to Luther Memorial Chapel
Released from Membership: None

month volunteer schedule
Thursday, June 3: 7:00 p.m.
Altar Guild: Ginny S.
Elder: Patrick S.
Usher Team: B
Acolyte:
Sunday, June 6: 8:00 a.m. / 10:30 a.m.
Office Volunteer: Julie R.
Altar Guild: Laurie L. /
Elder: Tanner S. / John H.
Usher Team: 1 / 8
Acolyte: Victoria Mulvey / Wade Janssen
Thursday, Month Day: 7:00 p.m.
Altar Guild: Karen S.
Elder: Brian S.
Usher Team: A
Acolyte:
Sunday, June 13: 8:00 a.m. / 10:30 a.m.
Office Volunteer: Nancy A.
Altar Guild: Nancy R. / Julie R.
Elder: Jake H. / John H.
Usher Team: 3 /2
Acolyte: Rachel Raffa / Josiah Rockrohr
Thursday, June 17: 7:00 p.m.
Altar Guild: Ruth K.
Elder: Bob Knuth
Usher Team: B
Acolyte:
Sunday, June 20: 8:00 a.m. / 10:30 a.m.
Office Volunteer: Carolyn M.
Altar Guild: Norma B. / Carolyn M.
Elder: Dennis E. / Gary J.
Usher Team: 1 / 4
Acolyte: Matthias Raffa / Georgia Janssen
Thursday, June 24: 7:00 p.m.
Altar Guild: Ginny S.
Elder: Patrick S.
Usher Team: A
Acolyte:
Sunday, June 27: 8:00 a.m. / 10:30 a.m.
Office Volunteer: Linda M.
Altar Guild: Nancy R. / Rita F.
Elder: Tanner S. / Gary J.
Usher Team: 3 / 8
Acolyte: Victoria Mulvey / Wade Janssen

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The streets have become dangerous as business are burned down and looted. Police back away and have themselves become targets. Anarchy and disorder are the order of the day. What lies, we wonder, are at the heart of all the madness. What has changed? Many of us remember 9/11, when police officers and firefighters were the heroes. And now we start fires instead of putting them out and villainize those who put their lives on the line to serve and protect us.
The devil, we know, is the father of all lies, and he certainly is working his wiles in our society today. Racism, we know, is a great evil, and yet there is something else that is going on. Look at the website of Black Lives Matter Inc., and you will see that their issues touch upon race, but in new and strange ways. Those who read White Fragility by Robin D’Angelo may know what’s happening. It’s a Marxist ideology that has nothing to do with racism, but a new and radical “anti-racism.” According to this way of thinking every white person, simply by the virtue of being a white person, is a racist. If you deny your racism, that only shows how truly racist you are. How can you avoid the sin of racism? Well, you can’t. All you can do is own it, as it is systemic. What particular sins might we confess? If you ask that question, you are missing the point. Read White Fragility, and you will find no real evidence or analysis of the facts, but only an accusation that is assumed, and that transfers power to the accuser, to the one who claims to be aggrieved.
But make no mistake. This movement has little to do with Martin Lutheran King, Jr. or the Civil Rights movement of the past. It has nothing do with Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves on the proposition that we have all been created equal. These past leaders drew upon the natural law and worked to restore human dignity. If you want to know what is really going on, you have to go just a bit deeper. Look at the BLM Inc., manifesto, and you will see that they have more to say about transgenderism than race. They decry the nuclear family and patriarchy.
In a sense, this movement, though new, is hardly new at all. Patriarchy has been taking it in the chin for many years. Who can imagine a T.V. show like “Father knows Best”? Fatherhood has long been laughed at, its value denied. In T.V. show after T.V. show, the father was either a bumbling fool or absent altogether. Or perhaps, the father was portrayed as a bigot. This view of fatherhood has been reinforced at the colleges we have spent so much money to send our children to. Whether it’s Women’s Sudies, sociology, history, psychology, or just about any other discipline, patriarchy has become the enemy. Patriarchy is supposedly a great darkness as can been seen in “A Handmaid’s Tale.”
Yet, look at our society and ask what is really going on. Are some grievances due to racial prejudice? Surely some, though white supremacy is a culturally fringe and relatively powerless group. Other factors are at play, and we are judged in so many way, whether it is our looks, our height or weight, our age or accent. But there is one factor that dwarfs all the others. The leading indicator of a child’s success, psychological and physical health, financial stability, and yes, spiritual well being, is the presence of a father in the home. It may be strange to think, but the average African American child with a mom and dad at home fares better than a white child who lives with both present.
All of this is to say, there are other issues at play, and they are issues more fundamental to our humanity. Marriage is a good way of unpacking this. More than ever, the children of our nation are engaging in interracial marriage, and that is surely a good thin, a sign of progress. Interracial marriage is based on natural law, which is to say, we are all sons and daughters of Adam. We all belong to one human race, created by God and redeemed by Christ.
Male and female, though, are different categories altogether. We do well to say men and women are equal, but that is hardly sufficient. God created us in His image; male and female He created us. That is to say, we were made for each other. We compliment each other. Together we can do what we could never do alone. Every child comes from the blessed union of one man and one woman. And every child needs a mom and dad. As nature so obviously demonstrates, mom will be present at the birth of a child. Marriage is given so that dad will be there too, not just at the birth, but through his life. While the mother embraces the child, the father joyfully tosses the giggling child into the air. While mom offers comfort, dad gives strength and courage.
Look into the streets. Black, brown, or white: it doesn’t matter. We share one societal problem, and that is the lack of fathers in the home. Without a dad at home, a girl has a much more difficult time recognizing her worth, learning to wait to marry a man who is truly going to care for her. Without dads at home, boys are much less likely to harness their strength for the common good, in service to others.
BlackLivesMatter Inc. is really a tragic situation. They fight against the very things that would make life better for all of us. What we really need is reassertion of the family, and not just the nuclear family. A healthy institution of marriage creates a network of mom and dad, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins. When marriage is healthy, children are raised in an environment of both belonging and expectations. No government service or community center can make up for a missing dad, or grandfathers who are out of hte picture or unknown. Look at the restlessness in the streets, and you will see a people untethered by natural bonds.
But we must also note here the spiritual components. Satan is at work. He hates the Christchild and so promotes abortion. He doesn’t like to think about Christ’s love for the Church and doesn’t want us to think about it either, so he breaks up and distorts marriage among us. And, of course he hates our heavenly Father, so he does everything he can to make fun of fathers, to make us think that they are dispensable, even somehow sinister.
Feel sorry for those who riot, for they know not what they do. They are living out a dystopian world created for them by an elite culture that cares nothing for them. As Christians, we know a better way. It starts with the good God of creation and ends with Christ who is our Alpha and Omega, the Bridegroom who comes down to reclaim the rainbow as His own. For now, we pray and work. So many will be saved by a faithful witness. So, as we fight, we also rebuild. As we stand up to the oppressors, we offer shelter to those who have been deceived, confused, and left behind.
Bringing down the patriarchy will only end in a much harsher rule by those who do not care for us. What we need now are men with chests, men whose fatherhood is a picture of providence and whose fighting does not aim at destruction, but is a defense of those who are vulnerable. The Secular Left has gone after patriarchy as if for the jugular. It’s high time we recognize it and get into the game.
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This article appeared in the 1st Issue, Spring 2021, of Christian Culture: A Magazine for Lutherans.(pgs.4-5) Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is Chairman and Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN.
If you would like to subscribe to future issues (and I would highly recommend it) you can email:
subscriptions@lutherclassical.org
——————————————————————————Also worthy of note:
Another exciting nugget that comes from this magazine, is the Prospectus that editors outline for a future (opening 2024) of a Lutheran Classical College located on the campus of Mount Hope Lutheran Church and School, Casper, WY. I would greatly encouraged you to look at lutheranclassical.org for more information on this distinctively Lutheran College which is dedicated to Lutheran theological doctrine and practice, and the historical roots of a solid truly liberal arts education of the mind, heart, body, and soul.
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Lutheran Catechesis
Fatherhood, Patriarchy and Chaos

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Communal Prayers
For blessing in the work of one’s vocation: O Lord, who assign to each person a labor according to the measure given him and the desire that we should eat our bread in the sweat of our faces, live from the toil of our own hands, and so prosper until we return at last to the dust: behold, at Your word I will let down the net of my vocation. Let my effort and labor not be in vain, but help me to do honest work with my own hands, that I may have something to share with anyone in need. Let there always be success and blessing, on which all depends, that I may accomplish my task and do no wrong to no man, that I may honor the Lord out of my property and provide for those who belong to me, especially the members of my own household. Bless us ever increasingly, bless our basket and our surplus, for Your blessings makes the diligent hand rich without effort. O Lord, make my heart rejoice, make my face glad, give me health, life, and blessing. All this I ask, O Lord, according to You will. Hear my prayer. I commit my way to You; I trust in You, knowing You will act. Blessed be the Lord daily. Amen.
Prayer when a person has something important to do: O Lord, who do great things beyond searching out and marvelous things beyond number, whose power is made perfect even in weakness: I call on You, O Most High! Let my doings prosper, and graciously help me accomplish the work that I have undertaken with complete trust in You. O Lord God, strengthen me in this hour, and do not forsake Your servant, who puts all his hope in You and without You can do nothing. Clothe me with power from on high, and give me the wisdom that sits by Your throne, that it may be with me and labor with me. All depends on Your divine blessing. Therefore remember me for my good, O my God, and bless all that I do, and that I may begin all things wisely and finish them successfully. “Say yes to each endeavor /All to my good work ever; Beginning, middle, ending/ Lord, to the good be bending.” For to you I commend my going out and my coming in; to You I will also gratefully ascribe all the glory and progress of the task which I perform. Amen.
Prayer for the proper performance of one’s duties: Merciful, faithful God! You have directed that each person should occupy an estate and faithfully attend thereto. You see and know, omniscient Lord, what I ought to do and how, without Your grace, power and blessing, I can do nothing, and in how may way I can go astray. Therefore, I pray You from my heart that You would grant me understanding and strength and give me a bold and fearless courage, that I may act reasonably, confidently overcome all adversity that may arise, and by Your fatherly governance obtain a blessed end. O my God, in You I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exalt over me. Indeed, none who wait for You shall be put to shame. Make me to know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths, for You are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. Oh, guard my soul and deliver me, and save me from all my troubles. Amen.
Family and friends requesting our prayers: Inez Schwoch, Phyllis Fraedrich, Mark Selzler, Keith Gierach, Deb Sumner, Rev. Mark Eckert, Cindy Scheunemann, Jan Meyle, Sue Zell, Mark Soat, Carl & Lois Pritzlaff, Nancy Rosenthal, Jim Lathrop, Sue Vandlik Fox, Richard & Chloe Fisher, Ruth Mertz, Dot Miller, Joyce Virchow, Jerry & Gert Sullivan, Carolyn Bren, Donna Sommer, Kandie Darmody, June Fry, David & Olivemae Olson, Judy Clark, Jennifer Jensen, Eric Johanen, Diane Behrens, Marge Legate, Suzanne Stadelmayer, Elaine Kuenzel, Ray & Frances Neerhoff, Donald Teske, Connie Hackbarth, Jeanette Guillaume, Glenn Schnabel, Jenny Vickerman, Linda Lukas, Linda Borneman, Nancy Nicholas, Scott Biskobing, Rachel Davis, Marissa Flanders, Linda Schmidt, Vanessa Kuehne, Travis Winkler, Brian Vonlender, Scot Meisenheimer, Thomas Kramlik, and Jody Meisenheimer.

Voice of Faith

June 2021 — Page #

Birthdays
1- Hailey Gatzow
Warren Haeberle
Edmund Meier
2- Adrian Castro
4- Patricia Engmann
Austin Meier
Thomas Schellinger
Stephen Spalda, Jr.
5- Amanda Voelzke
6- Ranee Guyant
7- Lucas Gatzow
Cody Wiedmeyer
10- Carol Heger
Ron Kabitzke
11- Karen Haufmann
Janet Meisenheimer
12– Makayla Kabitzke
Adam Mayer
13– Janice Voelzke
14– Rebecca Loomans
15– Nancy Audley
16– Ashley Zenda
17- Kathy Kabitzke
18 - Paul Grosskreuz
19- Deborah Sumner
20 - Christine Fisher
22- Tyler Voge
23 - Violet Hand
Kayla Thames
25 - David Brehm
26 - Kathy Greve
27 - Russel Guillaume
28 - Chad Schellinger
29 - Heather Leffin
Jane Rockrohr
30 - Sarah Lotz

Anniversaries
1– Tom & Norma Benz
Russell & Jeanette Guillaume
2 - Paul & Susan Grosskreuz
4 - Dave & Bonnie Zenda
10– Daniel & Jennifer Schmidt
11- Thomas & Diane Zell
16 - James & Norma Krubsack
18- Gary & Pat Knuth
19- Dave & Tammy Fellenz
Randall & Edith Frank
20- Kristin & Ryan Thimmig
23– James & Yvonne Rosenthal
25- Peg & Frank Knaus
Austin & Elizabeth Meier
26- Katie & Dave Jakubowski
27- Scott & Bonnie Leffin
Jerome & Donna Sommer
28- Rob & Jodi Selzler
Bob & Diane Swanson

The Pilgrim Herald — Page #

June 2021		1	2 / 6:30p Adult Class:	3 / 7p Divine Service	4 / Office Closed	5 / 7a Men’s Breakfast & Bible Study
6 / 8a Divine Service / 9:30a Adult Class: / 10:30a Divine Service / 12:30p. 1st Samuel Bible Class	7 / 6:30p Board of Elders Meeting	8	9 / 9a. Quilters / 6:30p Adult Class:	10 / 7p Divine Service	11 / Office Closed	12
13 / 8a Divine Service / 9:30a Adult Class: / 10:30a Divine Service / 12:30p. 1st Samuel Bible Class	14 / 5:30p Board of Trustees Meeting / 7p Church Council Meeting	15 / 12p LWML / Ladies Guild Meeting	16 / 6:30p Adult Class:	17 / 7p Divine Service	18 / Office Closed	19 / 7a Men’s Breakfast & Bible Study
20 / 8a Divine Service / 9:30a Adult Class: / 10:30a Divine Service	21	22	23 / 9a. Quilters / 6:30p Adult Class:	24 / 7p Divine Service	25 / Office Closed	26
27 / 8a Divine Service / 9:30a Adult Class: / 10:30a Divine Service / 12:00 p.m. June Voters Meeting	28	29	30 / 6:30p Adult Class:

A Picture and a Poem
“Christ Blessings the Children”
“Lasset die Kindlein zu mir kommen und wehret ihnen nicht; den solcher ist das Reich Gottes.” Thus Martin Luther translated Mark 10:14 in German which appears with slight variation at the top of this painting. Or as we know it, “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for such belongs the kingdom of God.
In the 1530s through the 1550s, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger produced multiple versions of this painting. I’ve seen at least a dozen of them, and there are likely more. Christ blessing the children captured the heart of the Lutheran Reformation: “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15). We receive the kingdom of God. We don’t earn it or work for it. An infant can’t make his way to Jesus and scale His robe and climb into His arms for a blessing. The infant is completely dependent. He must have everything done for him. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
“Christ Blessing the Children” in all its iterations from the Cranach workshop, features Jesus in the center showing obvious affection for the babies whom the mothers are presenting to Him. The disciples stand off to the side with varying expressions of shame, confusion, and indignation, having just heard Jesus’ words of indignation toward them. Yet often in the paintings, at least one of the disciples is looking toward Jesus with awe and piety, as if humbling himself and seeking to learn from Jesus. The grace of Christ defies human wisdom and the self-trust that comes so easily to adults. When confused and at a loss, the best course of action is to listen reverently to Jesus and believe what He says.
Another staple in these paintings is the prominence of a mother nursing a baby. I’ve only found one version of the painting that doesn’t have a mother with bare breast giving her baby to suck. What’s is the significance of the nursing mother? The significance lies in the words of Psalm 22:9, “you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.” According to those words, a nursing babe can have faith in the Lord. Jesus spoke simiilarly in the previous chapter of Mark, taking a child in his arms and then speaking of him as “one of these little ones who believe in me (Mark 9:42). Denying faith to children is to deny salvation apart from works. By committing that error, the Anabaptists, albeit unwittingly, landed squarely in the camp of the Papists, together blasphemously confessing that some captivity in man had to be a prerequisite to his salvation. And against the Anabaptist and the Papist stands someone who can’t stand at all: an infant nursing at his mother’s breast, an infant who has faith in Jesus.
Rev. Andrew Richard.
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Longing for Family
The night has come without the usual noise, The girly giggles, laughter from the boys,
The occasional scream, and then a mom’s stern voice—
What sometimes bothered me, makes me rejoice.
If I could think to farthest lands and seas, I’d see You, Painter of the skies and trees, Reminding me of You, who beauty made, And beauties gave for which I had not prayed.
So far away they are! But you are near
To me, to them, and, God be near to her,
Who is my flesh and bone, who, after heaven,
Is greater than all the gifts to me You’ve given
I know Your beauty’s day, Lord, soon will come;
Until then, bring my family safely home.
Rev. Mark Preus

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Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
462 Meadowbrook Drive
West Bend, WI 53090

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Phone: 262-334-0375
Email: office@pilgrimlutheranwb.org
Website: www.pilgrimlutheran-westbend.org

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“In the daily rhythms for everyone everywhere, we live our lives in the marketplaces of this world: in homes and neighborhoods, in schools and on farms, in hospitals and businesses, and our vocations are bound up with the ordinary work that ordinary people do. We are not great shots across the bow of history; rather, by simple grace, we are hints of hope.”

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Inside this Issue:
Pilgrim News & Reports
3-6
Lutheran Catechesis
7
Communal Prayers
10
Birthdays & Anniversaries
11
Calendar
12
A Picture and A Poem
13

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Mocking Fathers
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“But now to pass from this to the shameless corruption of the stage. I am ashamed to tell what things are said; I am even ashamed to denounce the things that are done—the tricks of arguments, the cheatings of adulterers, the immodesties of women, the scurrile jokes, the sordid parasites, even the toga’d fathers of families, themselves, sometimes stupid, sometimes obscene, but in all cases dull, in all cases immodest.”
From On the Public Show, attributed to Cyprian of Carthage, 3rd cen.

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