Pastor’s Notes

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This summer we are blessed to be having one worship service outdoors to celebrate the Lord’s goodness.  This will take place on Sunday, July 15 at 9:00 a.m.  Instead of the usual two worship services, all of God’s people will be together as a congregation.

Why the celebration?  If you are not up on Good Shepherd’s history, here is a synopsis.  Good Shepherd was started as a mission in 1993.  The congregation was chartered as a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod on February 19, 1995.  In her early history the congregation worshipped at varied locations from Wittenberg Lutheran Center on the campus of Illinois State to Eastland Suites.  By the time I arrived as the 2^nd called Pastor of Good Shepherd in January of 1999, we had an office and worship space at the McLean County Farm Bureau Building.

I like to tell the continued story this way:  in the summer of 1999 the building committee representing about 150 church mice (members) asked the District Church Extension Fund for $1.8 million . . . and they said yes!  We broke ground, had a mild winter and were able to dedicate our building in August of 2000.  We have been paying on the mortgage ever since.  We have refinanced, I believe twice, and we are faithful in our on-time payments.  We had cost overruns of $200,000 that we paid off directly to the contractor – thank you Lord!  That is why we are celebrating; we have paid off half of the cost of our beautiful building.  The mortgage in July will be at $1 million.

As a congregation of the Central Illinois District, we are blessed that the district has its own Church Extension Fund that loaned us the money.  We began working with Dave Goldhammer and have worked with Dave Rohe now for a number of years.  Dave Rohe is retiring at the end of May and I thanked him personally by phone for all of his and the board’s support over the years.  The new leader of the fund will take over in June and Dave assured me of her support going forward.  We have been blessed.

But then those of you who have been at Good Shepherd from the beginning or any time past that, know of which I speak.  The blessings we have received from God’s gracious hand have been innumerable.  From having pews that we didn’t expect, paying off our pipe organ in short order and completing projects and paying for them over the years.

These are only temporary gifts that we enjoy while inhabitants of earth.  God’s greater gifts to each one of us would be:  His Son’s death and resurrection for our forgiveness and salvation.  We look forward to that heavenly mansion but until then let’s enjoy our Lord’s Blessings and celebrate them!

In Christ,

Pastor

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The ancient Greeks knew the power of the conscience to rob a person of peace, and they referred to this power as “the cranes of Ibycus.”  They told of Ibycus, a merchant of Corinth, who was attacked by two robbers, Timotheus and another, who beat him to death and took his possessions.  As he was dying, Ibycus saw some cranes flying overhead.  Since there were no human beings to witness the crime, Ibycus appealed to the cranes to avenge his death and bring the criminals to justice.

The next day, satisfied that they would escape detection, the robbers went to the stadium to witness the Corinthian games.  There they imagined that suspicious eyes surveyed their every action.  Because of their condemning consciences, it seemed as though everyone in the stadium saw that their hands were red with the blood of Ibycus.  Then a flock of cranes flew overhead, and when the one saw it, he called out in fear, “Look!  Look, Timotheus!  The cranes!  The cranes of Ibycus!”  This outburst led to the arrest and execution of the men.

How about you?  Do you ever see the cranes of Ibycus?  Does your conscience rob you of peace?  Do you feel so guilty that you are certain that everyone knows or will find out about your secret sins?  I would imagine that all of us have experienced the cranes of Ibycus at one time or another – maybe you are going through it right now.

Know this.  Everyone has missed the mark of righteousness that God has demanded.  But through His great love God presented His Son Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood.  By the offering of His holy life, by the shedding of His blood on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins in order that our guilt might be taken away.  Since sin has been paid for in full, God no longer has reason to be angry with us because of sin.  Those who trust in the cross are declared righteous and are welcomed into the kingdom of heaven.  In Christ, our gnawing consciences are set free.  Despair gives way to joy.

To be assured of your forgiveness find the Lord in His Word and Sacraments, where His Word is taught in its truth and purity and the Sacraments are administered rightly.  Here our consciences are made absolutely clean.  I think I recognize that place – the Lord’s House.  See you in Church!

In Christ,

Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Two unbelievers were on a train together to Indianapolis.  One was an agnostic Colonel, the other an unbelieving Union General.  They were discussing Christ’s wonderful life and debating religious theology.  One said, “I think an interesting novel could be written about Him.”  The other replied, “You are just the man to write it.  Set forth the correct view of His life and character.  Tear down the common feelings as to His divineness and paint Him as He was, a man among men.”  The suggestion was acted upon and the novel was written.  The man who made the suggestion was a Colonel Ingersoll; the author was General Lew Wallace, and the book was BEN HUR.

Wallace did extensive research on the life of Christ and the book became the best selling novel of the 1800’s.  It was not surpassed on the all-time best-seller list until 1936 and “Gone With the Wind.”  Once the movie came out in 1959 and won 11 Academy Awards in 1960 the book was once again at the top of the best-seller lists.

As General Wallace wrote his book, first in Crawfordsville, Indiana and then in New Mexico, he found himself facing the unaccountable Man Jesus.  The more he studied Jesus’ life and character, the more completely he was convinced that Jesus was more, exceedingly more, than a man among men.  The power of the Holy Spirit had worked on the heart of General Wallace until at length, like the centurion under the cross, he could not help but cry out, “TRULY, THIS IS THE SON OF GOD.”

A Blessed Easter!  TRULY, THIS IS THE SON OF GOD.

In Christ,

Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying maritime laws.  Two battleships had been on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days.  The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”  “Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.  The lookout replied, “Steady, Captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.  The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship:  We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.”  Back came the signal, “Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees.”  The captain said, “Send:  “I’m a captain, change course twenty degrees.”  “I’m a seaman second-class,” came the reply.  “You had better change course twenty degrees.”  By that time the captain was furious.  He spat out, “Send:  I’m a battleship.  Change course twenty degrees.”

Back came the flashing light, “I’m a lighthouse.”

Jesus Christ is the lighthouse.  There are a lot of captains and battleships that would tell him this, that, and whatever.  But, all of these captains and battleships that do not submit to Christ are essentially from man.  Jesus is the one from heaven who died and rose victoriously for us.  Who’s the boss?  The answer:  He who is considered nothing but a seaman second-class.  The lighthouse!  He cannot be moved, and he will vindicate all those who believe in Him, because He is in charge.

As Paul writes, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

In Christ,

Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am always telling all of us not to miss the signs that God sends into our lives.  Recently God sent a sign about what you might ask – the sign project at church.

Through the years we have noticed the cars in the lower lot, the walkers on the Constitution Trail and the many others who traverse the grounds of our church.  Thinking a sign with messages would be a good outreach to Jesus and His grace, we went about accomplishing it.  Through everyone’s help we collected enough money to proceed with the sign.  Part of it will be permanent and the other part will have rotating messages.  This is where the sign of the Lord comes in.

In order to give an example to the board and the sign company the Holy Spirit led me to a message over a year ago.  It was presented to both entities and the sign company when designing the sign used that message.  The providence of the Lord was leading the way because when the sign company set the parameters for the sign they said each line should be 40 characters – this includes the letters, spaces and punctuation.  The original message when it came from the company and was shown in the mock-up of the sign came back with 41 characters on one line and exactly 40 on the other!  Take away the comma from line one and they each had 40 characters, the exact number needed for the sign.

As happened when we built this church, the Lord gave us many signs that we were doing his will and this is what the church should do and the building we should proceed with.  (Ask any long-time member and they can share one or two).  The same thing is happening with our new church sign.  The Lord is letting us know that He will bless this outreach idea.  It is His grace and love and mercy that will be shared with our neighbors in a creative way through our signage.

As the long-time song says, “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.”  Don’t miss the Lord’s – He will bless as you do.

And as we head into Advent/Christmas here’s another reminder.  “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)  See you in worship sign-seekers!

In Christ,

Pastor