The Canadian Lutheran March/April 2022

W W W. C A N A D I A N L U T H E R A N . C A

VOLUME 37 NUMBER 2 - MARCH/APRIL 2022

Resurrection

Life

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CONTENTS

FEATURES W W W.C A N A D I A N L U T H E R A N . C A Volume 37 Number 2

March/April 2022

The Most Powerful Weapon is Not Nuclear: 6 Jesus and the War in Ukraine Witnesses to the Resurrection: Honouring the Women at the Tomb 9 I believe in the Resurrection of the Body 12

DEPARTMENTS table talk

The Cruciform Cosmos Resurrection

Life Cover Art by Alex Steinke The Canadian Lutheran is the national publication of Lutheran Church–Canada, published in Winnipeg six times per year: January/ February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, November/December under the auspices of the Board of Directors (Committee for Communication and Technology).

ISSN #0383-4247 Member: Canadian Christian Communicators Association Editor: Mathew Block Design: Alex Steinke Advertising: Angela Honey Subscriptions: $30/yr Or Buy-One-Gift-One: $50/yr Email: a.honey@lutheranchurch.ca All material and advertising should be in the office of The Canadian Lutheran five weeks prior to publication date. Advertising rate card available upon request.

The Canadian Lutheran 3074 Portage Ave. Winnipeg, MB R3K 0Y2 Telephone: 204-895-3433 FAX: 204-897-4319 Email: editor@lutheranchurch.ca Materials published in The Canadian Lutheran, with the exception of Letters to the Editor, news reports, and advertising, receive doctrinal review and approval before publication. Contents of supplements are the responsibility of the organization purchasing the space. ©2022 Lutheran Church–Canada. Reproduction of a single article or column for parish use does not require the permission of The Canadian Lutheran. Such reproductions, however, should credit The Canadian Lutheran as the source.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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regional pastors West: A Joyous Debt Central: The Paschal Pillar of Fire East: In the Midst Of...

20 22 24

president’s PONDERINGS

The Eighth Day of the Week

34

NEWS SECTIONS International news

15

national news

16

Christianity on Trial: Finnish bishop and politician acquitted on all charges

Convention Workbook released, presidential nominees announced • Not-Just-Communications Internship

west region

Children’s ministry pivots in Chilliwack

central region

Regina church featured on CTV News

east region

Author dedicates book to Grace Lutheran Oshawa

mission news

Relief and Pastoral Care for War-Torn Ukraine

education news

Serpents in the Classroom – New Book from CLTS professor

19 21 23 25 28

announcements

33

supplement

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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TABLE TALK THE CRUCIFORM COSMOS

by Mathew Block

I

n his book, Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton writes that the shape of the cross makes a good symbol for our faith’s explanative power.

Starting from a single point, the arms of the cross reach out in four directions. And no matter how far you draw those arms, it remains a cross.

“Though it has at its head a collision and a contradiction,” Chesterton says, the cross “can extend its four arms forever without altering its shape.” In the same way, Christianity starts from a single point and stretches out its arms to encompass the entire universe. Like the arms of a cross, it reaches out and embraces the whole of reality.

I thought of this passage a few years ago when astronomers announced that the stars in the centre of our galaxy form an x-shaped structure. The ‘x’ symbol has a unique place in Christian symbolism. In Greek, it is of course the letter chi—the first letter in the name of Christ. But the ‘x’ can also be interpreted as a rotated, or “portate,” cross (think of Jesus bearing the cross on His shoulder on the way to Golgotha).

The image struck me as terribly beautiful—the idea that, even in the centre of our galaxy, the cross should be emblazoned, its arms reaching out, as Chesterton once envisioned, to fill the entire universe.

The mechanism which gives the centre of our galaxy—and others—their cross-shape arises of course from natural causes. It’s easy to dismiss it as a result as mere coincidence. But our God is God also over natural causes. There is such a thing as divine coincidence. There is such a thing as providence.

Consider our own language. It is coincidence that the words “sun” and “son” are homonyms. And yet

this coincidence has a beautiful effect: every evening we watch the setting of the sun and the coming of darkness only to see it rise anew in the morning—a perpetual witness to the Son who likewise descended into the deep places of the earth and rose in glory three days later. Sunset and sunrise become a symbol for us of the death and resurrection of Christ. The coincidence takes on new meaning through the providence of God. In the same way, Martin Luther and countless other Christians down through the centuries have interpreted the change of seasons as a symbol of the promise of the resurrection. “God has written this article of the last day and resurrection of the dead not only in books,” Luther says in one sermon, “but also in trees and other creatures… For this wretched life on earth is like the unfruitful winter when everything dries up, dies, and decays. But it shall then have an end, and the beautiful, eternal summer shall come.”

We may meditate similarly on this cruciform (i.e., cross-shaped) cosmos in which we find ourselves. After all, is it too much to believe that the God who wrote His glory in the stars (Psalm 19:1) might also have written there His love? “For God so loved the world”—the Greek word here is literally “cosmos”—that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The cross of Christ—the love of Christ—reigns over all creation. It is the crux—Latin for the “cross”—on which all things depend.

The author Richard John Neuhaus says something similar when he writes that Good Friday and the days surrounding it are the pivotal point not

only of our faith but of all creation: “Everything that is and ever was and ever will be, the macro and the micro, the galaxies beyond number and the microbes beyond notice—everything is mysteriously entangled with what happened, with what happens, in these days. This is the axis mundi, the centre upon which the cosmos turns.”

We see this clearly in the Scriptures.

For when Christ is crucified, it is not only His followers who grieve; creation itself shudders at the death of the One in Whom all things hold together. Darkness envelops the sun.

The earth groans and trembles. The entire cosmos rebels—and, like the centurion, we cry out: “Surely this was the Son of God!” At the cross, God tastes death.

But—glorious mystery!—He is not overcome thereby. He vanquishes death. He swallows it up in life. He rises from the grave triumphant, destroying death and hades, utterly breaking their power.

And He turns to us too, invites us to be united with Him in His death that we might also be raised with Him to new life. He sets the cross of Christ not merely in the stars but before our eyes. He erects the cross not only at the centre of a galaxy but in the innerplaces of our hearts. He transforms the world that He might become our world—that we too might share in His mercy. He gives us, and all creation with us, new life—His life—through the power of the cross.

“In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.” | Colossians 1:19

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THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON IS NOT NUCLEAR

Jesus

and the War in Ukraine

by Rev. Roland Syens

I

had the privilege of serving Lutheran Church–Canada as her missionary to Ukraine from 1993-2005.

After receiving a call back in Canada to serve as an Assistant Pastor in Kitchener, Ontario, the congregation there graciously allowed my wife, Anita, and me to return to Ukraine almost every year to continue to support and be encouraged by the mission there. We served the Lord by working with the Alpha and Omega Christian Student Society’s many university students (some of whom now live in different countries) and with our partner church, the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine (SELCU).

I connect daily with our Ukrainian pastors as they struggle, with broken hearts, to care for their families, congregation members, and others during the Russianimposed war on Ukraine. They serve in many ways: by transporting refugees to the borders, finding and delivering food to those in need, providing shelter for those fleeing the war, and sharing the lifegiving message of the Gospel in many other ways of incarnational ministry. My wife and I struggle with broken hearts and tears as we see the needless destruction, horrific deaths, and millions of displaced people. It is heartbreaking to see husbands and fathers send their wives and families off to another country, not knowing if they will ever see each other again. Our hearts are breaking.

If the situation we see in Ukraine were to happen in Canada—if you had to make the life and death decision to stay or to flee—what would you do? How would you react?

These are the questions facing Ukrainians on a daily basis. And alongside them is another: where is God in all of this?

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Our Ukrainian pastors find themselves counseling soldiers and others that pass through the shelter of their churches, giving them the opportunity to share that God is with them. He is right here in our midst, and He too is brokenhearted. He is the grieving Christ. He did not cause this war to happen; this is not His doing. There is a deeper problem at work and it is in the heart of man. It is a problem humankind has faced since the very beginning when Adam and Eve chose to do things their own way.

Their perfect relationship with God was broken, and then sin, death, and evil entered into the world.

Sometimes we forget the fact that we are sinners and that this world is a broken place. Without understanding God and His Word—His Story which makes sense of our story—we can fool ourselves into believing that, with all our education and cultural advancements, we have left war far behind. We are amazed then to see what is happening now in Ukraine and its ripples affecting all of Europe and the rest of the world. But God’s Word helps us understand that the origin of the war in Ukraine is sin.

A world without God is a world without hope—a world that has forgotten the real truth.

In 1948, during the communist era, Anatoly (Natan) Sharansky was born in Donetsk, Ukraine. Sharansky was a brilliant man who received his degree in applied mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Because of disagreements with communism, he later spent thirteen years in a Russian prison. Much of that time was spend in solitary confinement, but it was here that he first encountered the Word of God. His wife had sent him a small copy of the book of Psalms from

Israel. In prison, he began to work through it, finding unexpected comfort—unexpected truth—in its words.

Prior to his arrest, Sharansky had served as an English interpreter for Andrei Sakharov—the nuclear physicist who became famous first by giving Russia the hydrogen bomb in the 1940s and then by becoming an activist for disarmament, winning the Noble Peace prize in 1975.

Sharansky and Sakharov became good friends. Years later in 1997, Sharansky would visit the grave of Sakharov, and remember words from one of his final speeches: “I always assumed that the most powerful weapon in the world was the nuclear bomb, but I have since changed my mind. The most powerful weapon in the world is truth!”

As Christians, we know the truth—or rather, the Truth, for it was Jesus who said: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And because we know the Truth, we can find comfort even in the midst of the horror and pain of war.

“Let not your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says. “Believe in God; believe also in me (John 14:1).

We often lose hope because we lose sight of who God is and what He done for us. A Ukrainian pastor shared with me that he had long prayed for his church to grow and for people to come to believe in Jesus—but it was heartbreaking to see so few respond in faith to the Gospel.

Now, however, in the midst of this horrific war, he sees people are open to his words. They want to know where to find hope—to know what remains when everything else is gone. He tells them that we are all fallen and sinful, something which manifests itself in broken relationships, pain, suffering, wars, and death. God knows this, and He came to this earth in the form of a man, Jesus. He did not run away from pain and suffering, betrayal and death.

No, He came specifically to die for our sins—to take our place and exchange His perfection for our sin, to make us right with God.

This is the Jesus who knows our pain, sorrow, and grief. This is the Jesus who comes alongside us as the grieving Christ. He knows. He hurts. He sees our tears and pain. That is why He came—to take all that pain upon Himself and provide us a way out. And though we still grieve, He grieves with us.

Jesus is the Truth. And the truth of God’s love for us is more powerful than any nuclear weapon. A nuclear weapon can only cause death. But Christ—who died for you and me, and then rose again from the dead—brings life: life for eternity.

Too often we pin our hopes on false messiahs, those who might bring satisfaction for a moment but in the long run have nothing to offer. But in times like we are experiencing now, when war takes away everything… or when we deal with cancer and illness… or grieve the loss of loved ones… in times like these, when we look death in the face, what can we can hang on to? What is it that lasts? What remains true when everything else fails and we fall?

A nuclear weapon can only cause death. But Christ—who died for you and me, and then rose again from the dead—brings life: life for eternity.

Throughout this time of war in Ukraine, we grieve what Christ grieves: the loss, the destruction, the broken lives, the hurt, and pain caused by sin and evil. But there is hope. God gives hope.

It is the risen Christ. It is His Easter joy that carries us to the other side. It is the grieving Christ who wins salvation for us and leads us in joy to the celebrating Christ.

Our pastors in Ukraine are experiencing great heartbreak. They and their families often run out of tears. But they also have the wonderful joy of sharing the only hope that people have when everything is taken away: God’s saving love for them in Jesus. That puts everything into perspective.

I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel throughout Ukraine alongside our partner church’s pastors. I remember just a few weeks ago talking to a family who, at one time, were against our sharing Christ in their village.

My wife is a hairdresser and would offer to cut hair in the village. When I led a Bible Study for students, she would cut hair for the teachers and adults; and when I would lead Bible Study for the teachers and adults, she would cut hair for the students. One local boy was learning English but was not allowed to come to the Bible Study; his parents did not want him to be exposed to Christian teaching. But when my wife cut hair, he was allowed to translate for her to improve his English.

Over time, he was eventually allowed to come to the Bible Class, and he responded in faith to the Gospel. As more time passed, so did his parents and brother. Now, both boys are married with families who also believe in Jesus. When Ukraine was invaded, they were afraid they would all be separated. But the family of my wife’s translator and his parents were able to stay together in their village. His other brother and his family left for Poland a day before the invasion, and they were safe. As we spoke with the family who remained, the mother of the boy who once served as my wife’s translator asked to speak to my wife. She said: “Thank you and Roland for sharing Jesus with us. Thank you because we are all together and our whole family knows Jesus. If a bomb goes off and we are all killed, we will still all be together with our Jesus in heaven. Thank you.”

Throughout this time of war in Ukraine, we grieve what Christ grieves: the loss, the destruction, the broken lives, the hurt, and pain caused by sin and evil. But there is hope. God gives hope.

We are reminded in our Lenten journey that Jesus took the way of suffering, pain, and death to give us life.

He died the death we should have died. He took the sin of the whole world upon Himself on the cross to free us from that sin. We are not promised a life here without pain, suffering, hurt, or brokenness. We are not promised a life without war and catastrophe. But even in our grief, we are not alone—for Christ grieves these things with us.

In the end, however, we know that grief does not get the final word. Jesus did not stay on the cross. He paid the price of our sin and rose again, proclaiming victory over sin, death, and the devil. This is the truth that God brings to us as we struggle and suffer and grieve. He has won the ultimate victory and gives to us this victory so that we can celebrate what Christ celebrates. This is Easter victory! This is life on the other side of the cross. It is a celebration for eternity.

The most powerful weapon in the world is not nuclear.

It is the truth—the truth found in Jesus, who is the Way the Truth and the Life. Every single person—you and I and everyone else—can receive new life in God through Jesus. That changes everything. In the end, that is all we need. Yes, there is hope. Even in war, sickness, and the face of death, God gives hope in Jesus. So, we grieve what Christ grieves and celebrate what Christ celebrates: new life in Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Rev. Roland Syens served as a missionary pastor in Ukraine for Lutheran Church–Canada from 1993-2005. He subsequently served as Assistant Pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Kitchener, Ontario until his retirement in 2020.

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"The Three Marys at the Tomb" by Peter von Cornelius (1822).

The angel said to the women: " Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

HE IS NOT HERE,

FOR HE HAS RISEN..."

WITNESSES TO THE

RESURRECTION Honouring the Women at the Tomb

T

by Kelly Klages

he women at the tomb, who had come to anoint Jesus’ body after His burial, were in for the surprise of their lives. This greatest miracle of Scripture is recounted in a way that seems curiously humble, even unlikely. For those witnesses of the empty tomb, the message of angels, and finally our Lord Himself, the drama of the resurrection unfolds with both wonder and trepidation. What a great privilege and honour was granted to these women by Jesus, to be the first witnesses of the resurrection and the first messengers of the news.

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The honour given the faithful Christian is not an end in itself but is always meant to

TURN OUR EYES

TO CHRIST.

How do we regard these women today, and how should we as the Church honour them? Much ink has been spilled on the significance of these women and their task—the true and the helpful, as well as the questionable and unbiblical. Our Lutheran Confessions, in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, have a useful summary of the honours due the saints that can help us in how we think of these fascinating witnesses of the day of resurrection.

Thanksgiving “Our Confession approves honours to the saints. For here a threefold honour is to be approved. The first is thanksgiving. For we ought to give thanks to God because He has shown examples of mercy; because He has shown that He wishes to save men; because He has given teachers or other gifts to the Church. And these gifts, as they are the greatest, should be amplified, and the saints themselves should be praised, who have faithfully used these gifts, just as Christ praises faithful businessmen” (Ap. 21:4).

All good things—the gifts and mercies of God, His plan to save us, and the news His people are given to share—are cause for thanksgiving. This is the Church’s worship of God. Our confessions warn against the worship of saints, instead encouraging that we praise their faithful use of God’s gifts and not neglect these gifts ourselves. The honour given the faithful Christian is not an end in itself, but is always meant to turn our eyes to Christ.

Thanking God for His varied gifts of grace means recognizing that each person is gifted differently. We all have many differing vocations in which to build up the Church and love our neighbour. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). The honour of confessing our faith and speaking of Jesus to others is granted to all believers. Many faithful women in Scripture engaged in loving tasks for the Christian community that are still

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carried out in the Church to this day, including: bringing friends to hear the words of Jesus (John 4:39), providing financial support for the apostolic ministry (Luke 8:13), meal preparation (John 12:2), creating garments for the needy (Acts 9:39), opening homes (Acts 16:15), training children in the Word (2 Timothy 1:5), and funeral preparation (Matthew 26:12; Mark 16:1). It was frequently in the very course of those tasks that these faithful women, including those at the crucifixion and empty tomb, ended up with a spectacular front-row seat to some of Jesus’ most powerful works and words.

If salvation from Christ’s empty tomb is before our eyes, and our response is a grudging of God’s gifts to us—if our response is anything less than worshipful thanksgiving— then we’ve missed the point.

Strengthening our Faith in God’s Mercy “The second service is the strengthening of our faith; when we see the denial forgiven Peter, we also are encouraged to believe the more that grace truly superabounds over sin” (Ap. 21:5).

How incredibly touching are the many facets of human frailty which we read about in the Passion narrative. That mortal uncertainty, met with the comforting reassurance of Christ, continues into the accounts of the resurrection.

One of the worst takes I’ve ever seen (in the form of an internet graphic) on this resurrection passage was a roasting of the apostles for being faithless and stupid, while the women at the tomb were held up as proof of the alleged spiritual superiority of women everywhere. That kind of hubris contradicts the whole narrative—and it is notable that Jesus is conspicuous by His absence in that graphic. After all, the apostles and Gospel writers were very frank in recounting their own sins and shortcomings in the biblical accounts; and

women certainly had their own moments of cluelessness too.

Scripture is not written for us to speculate or brag about who among us should be accounted the greatest (Luke 9:46). It is written that we might be humble and recognize our universal fallen nature, as well as the abundant mercies of God which covers over our sins.

We have no record of the brave women at the cross and tomb heaping scorn on the apostles for their doubts, denials, and lack of faith (Luke 24:11). No, these women still recognized the authority that those apostles had, which had come from Christ Himself, and went to them swiftly with the news. In doing so, they had a unique role in the announcement of the resurrection that we still honour today.

When we see the reactions of the women and the apostles on that Easter Sunday, we become aware of the doubts and failures of Jesus’ followers and learn to take comfort in the patience and mercy of Christ to save sinners.

Imitation of Their Faith and Works “The third honour is the imitation, first, of faith, then of the other virtues, which everyone should imitate according to his calling” (Ap 21: 6).

Throughout the Gospel accounts, Jesus calls attention to the imitation-worthy faith and deeds of those who followed Him. He directs the busy (and irritated) Martha to the virtue of Mary listening at His feet to the Word. He stops in the crowd for the woman who touched the hem of His garment for healing, praising her faith. He reacts to the woman who anointed Him with expensive ointment with a promise of memory eternal for her act of love. The Church, after the pattern of Christ’s example, has designated honours and remembrances of faithful women—and the women at the tomb are among the foremost. In doing this, the Church is called to imitate. We celebrate Mary Magdalene’s festival

day on July 22, while the commemoration of Joanna, Mary, and Salome falls on August 3. Even more significantly, these names are forever bound up with the greatest feast day of all, Easter itself!

In the eleventh chapter, the writer of Hebrews encourages us to imitate the faith of the saints, explaining how their faith manifested itself in their deeds as a response to God’s promises. Having said that, we saints don’t all have the same calling and vocation, and certainly aren’t called to take up just any task we want to ourselves. Our works done in faith must be in harmony with the will of God as revealed in His Word. As well-intentioned as the task of anointing Jesus’ body was, the women still waited and rested on the Sabbath in accordance with the Third Commandment (Luke 23:56). Because they rested with Christ on Holy Saturday, they were on hand to see the fulfillment of Scripture on the third day.

It is always of greatest importance, when speaking of the honours due the saints (including these faithful women), that our focus remains not merely on these fellow believers, but on the Person who is the object of their faith and ours.

At the end of the day, the honours are all with Jesus.

KELLY KLAGES is a writer and artist living in Morden, Manitoba.

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I believe in the Resurrection of the Body.

by Thomas M. Winger

L

ike many in my generation, I spent a lot of time in childhood watching classic cartoons like Tom & Jerry and Bugs Bunny. Their violence was sanitised compared to today’s offerings, and when characters were flattened by a falling piano their souls arose from their bodies to receive a heavenly reward.

Semi-transparent, decked with a halo, they would float on a cloud with a peaceful smile and a harp in hand. It’s an image that arose in a broadly Christian culture, but does it express the genuine biblical faith?

Of course, it’s a great comfort to know that when our faithful loved ones die after a hard life or a long illness they’re immediately freed from pain and have rest. As in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:25), we know that the souls of departed Christians are carried by the angels to God’s presence. The thief who trusted in Christ was promised paradise with Him “today” (Luke 23:43). Those souls gathered around God’s throne praise Him with all the heavenly hosts and pray for us who are still on our earthly pilgrimage (Revelation 7:9). But they also cry out to God, “how long?” (Revelation 6:10), as they ache for God’s judgement on their persecutors and long for the day when their bodies would be reunited with their souls.

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From the moment God first formed Adam from clay and breathed life into his body (Genesis 2:7), God has intended us to be creatures composed of both flesh and spirit. That’s why the intermediate hope that our souls will rest with God is simply not enough. When Lazarus, Martha’s brother, died before Jesus arrived, He directed her to this ultimate gift: “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23). This is the great Christian hope of the resurrection of the body on the Last Day. The resurrection of the dead was a confession that set Christianity apart from all other religions, and even divided sects within Judaism. The Sadducees tried to trap and ridicule Jesus with a silly story they thought proved the foolishness of resurrection (Matthew 22:2333). At the Areopagus in Athens, Paul’s audience lost interest when he preached the resurrection, because their Greek (Gnostic) philosophy aimed at ridding the soul of the body, not keeping it (Acts 17:18, 32). When brought before the Jewish council, Paul went so far as to say that he was on trial for the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6)—it was that central to the Christian message. In fact, to be an apostle was to be a witness to the resurrection (Acts 1:22; 4:33).

The Thessalonian Christians were troubled when some in their midst were dying before the expected appearance of Jesus in glory. Like Jesus, Paul doesn’t point to the rest their souls were now enjoying, but instead proclaims the fact of the coming resurrection.

As Jesus died and rose again, so also will those who fell asleep in Him rise on the Last Day to meet Him when He appears and they will be always with the Lord. Paul’s final words are critical: “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18 RSV). This, the message of resurrection on the Last Day, is the fundamental Christian comfort in the face of death.

In Paul’s lengthiest teaching on the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), he warns that if we lose our hope in the resurrection of our own bodies, we risk losing the true confession of Jesus. The equation runs in both directions.

If we are not going to be raised from the dead bodily, then Jesus didn’t rise bodily. If He didn’t rise bodily, then it is impossible that we will rise bodily. And without these twin realities, the Christian faith is simply worthless (1 Corinthians 15:12-14).

Paul connects our bodily resurrection to Christ’s in two ways. First, he draws an image from Old Testament sacrifices in which Israelites brought a tithe of grain to the tabernacle as a thank-offering representing the fullness of the harvest still to come. So also Christ rose as the “firstfruits” of the full harvest that would be gathered in by the angels at the resurrection of all flesh on the Last Day (1 Corinthians 15:23; Matthew 24:31). Because He is the firstfruits of our harvest, our resurrected bodies will be just like His—“spiritual” in the sense of incorruptible

and glorious (1 Corinthians 15:42-44), but physical and “fleshly” in the way that our bodies are now, just as Jesus by eating and drinking showed that He wasn’t a ghost (Luke 24:39).

Secondly, Paul teaches that we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection in Holy Baptism. In a very real, though hidden way, we died with Him when we were washed or drowned in the font, as if we entered into His tomb with Him (Romans 6:4). Having died to sin in Baptism, we’re given the promise of new life with Him. In fact, Paul can even say that we have already risen with Him sacramentally (Colossians 2:12). So, then, in a real but spiritual way we can already enjoy eternal life here and now (John 5:24).

But the life we enjoy now is itself a kind of firstfruits, a deposit of the greater and final gift of the resurrection of the flesh when Christ returns. That final gift, leading to the blessed eternal life we will enjoy in God’s presence, is the special work of the Holy Spirit. While we might think of resurrection as part of the doctrine of Christ, the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed places it at the conclusion of the Spirit’s work in the holy Christian Church. How does the Spirit make us “holy”, that is, fit to be in God’s eternal presence? Through the forgiveness of sins, that is, Holy Baptism and the absolutions that return us to it, and through the final resurrection of the body. For just as Baptism cleanses our souls from sin and corruption, so by the resurrection will the Spirit make our bodies holy and pure.

We confess the link between Baptism and resurrection through the traditional use of the paschal candle in our churches. Representing Christ’s resurrected life, this special candle is lit for the season of Easter, and then again at Baptisms and funerals. Visually it reminds us that the body that was once washed at the font will rise again on the Last Day, just as truly as Christ rose from the dead at Easter.

Comfort one another with these words.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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Funerals are, then, a continuation of Baptism pointing us to the sacrament’s fulfilment at the resurrection.

Because we believe that our bodies are a precious gift of God for this life and the next, we treat them as sacred.

We’re not done with them yet, and neither is God! We cover the coffin with a white pall to remind us of the robe of Christ’s righteousness bestowed in Baptism (Galatians 3:27), of the linen shroud placed around Jesus’ precious body (Matthew 27:59), and of the white robes of the saints before God’s throne (Revelation 7:13-14)—where we came from and where we’re going. And then we lay the body gently in the ground in a cemetery—from the Greek word for “sleeping place”—to await the trumpet call to arise at Christ’s return. And so, on the Last Day our baptismal union with Christ’s death and resurrection reaches its goal.

As Paul has said, “comfort one another with these words.”

Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Winger is President of Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario.

The photos in this article were originally captured by Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Winger and were modified for use in The Canadian Lutheran with permission. The photos feature the seminary’s paschal candle from 2013, which was donated by Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Torgerson and his sisters, Susan and Anneliese, in memory of their parents, Anneliese and Ralph Torgerson.

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

INTERNATIONAL NEWS www.canadianlutheran.ca Christianity on Trial: Finnish bishop and politician acquitted on all charges

Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Dr. Päivi Räsänen speak before trial proceedings on February 14, 2022. (Photo: ELMDF).

FINLAND - On March 30, 2022, the District Court of Helsinki acquitted Bishop Juhana Pohjola of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF) and Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen on all charges. The two had been charged with hate crimes for articulating historic Christian teaching on human sexuality.

“This is not only a victory for us but for freedom of speech and religion in Finland and beyond,” said Bishop Pohjola in a statement after the ruling. “In seeking to criminalize Christian teaching on sexuality, the prosecution cast a shadow of fear over society. It was important to receive a strong signal from the District Court defending our fundamental rights as citizens and Christians.”

“I would like to thank all of those who have provided support and encouragement during this long process,” Bishop Pohjola continued.

“There has been a tremendous outpouring of intercession from all around the world. Ultimately, this is a spiritual battle and a matter concerning the Gospel of Christ.”

The trial and its implications for religious freedom in Finland drew worldwide attention. Dr. Räsänen had been charged for authoring a 2004 booklet which discusses the Church’s traditional teaching on sexuality, in the

context of the then-ongoing debate in Finland on the legalization of same-sex marriage. Bishop Pohjola was charged for his role as publisher. Dr. Räsänen also faced two other charges for public statements on sexuality, including for a tweet in which she included a photograph of a Bible verse.

The court proceedings drew particular concern, as the prosecution focused on examining the defendants doctrinal beliefs—a “conflation of juridical and theological argumentation,” in Bishop Pohjola’s words, which seemed worryingly out of place in a civil court.

In a unanimous decision, the three judge-panel of the District Court of Helsinki ruled that Dr. Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola be acquitted on all charges, declaring that “it is not the role of the district court to interpret biblical concepts.” It further ordered the state to pay the legal costs of the defence.

The Prosecutor General, who decided to press charges despite an initial investigation by Helsinki police which determined no laws had been broken, had been seeking steep fines against Dr. Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola. The prosecution had asked the court to fine Dr. Räsänen the maximum criminal victim compensation possible—equivalent to 120 days of personal income. Bishop Pohjola faced the possibility of a fine equivalent

to 60 days of personal income. The ELMDF’s legal entity, meanwhile, was threatened with a corporate fine of €10,000 for publishing the booklet.

The court’s decision to acquit was welcomed by the International Lutheran Council (ILC), which has covered the situation in Finland extensively. “There is a dangerous movement in western societies today to impose a progressive secular religion on others, at the expense of freedom of speech and religion,” said ILC General Secretary Timothy Quill.

“This new orthodoxy seeks to stamp out all opposition, including those who uphold the traditional view of human sexuality, which is supported by both Holy Scripture and natural law. The proponents of the new orthodoxy may find today’s ruling a jarring speed bump to their agenda but not, I fear, a stop sign.”

“Thank God for the Helsinki District Court, which still respects the principles of freedom of speech and action, and responded with a unanimous, clear decision to acquit on all charges,” Dr. Quill continued. “And thank God for Bishop Pohjola and Dr. Räsänen, who have given a bold and graceful witness to both God’s Law and the saving proclamation of the Gospel of forgiveness in Christ. They are faithful examples to Christians the world over.”

After the prosecution brought charges against Bishop Pohjola and Dr. Räsänen in 2021, the ILC issued a public protest signed by the ecclesiastical leaders of 45 confessional Lutheran church bodies worldwide. It further sponsored a lecture tour by Bishop Pohjola to draw attention to the case and its implications for freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

The ELMDF is a member of the ILC. While the decision to acquit has been welcomed by many, the case is not necessarily over; the prosecution still has the opportunity to appeal the decision to Helsinki’s Court of Appeal.

ILC News

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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CONVENTION NEWS www.canadianlutheran.ca Convention Workbook released, presidential nominees announced CANADA - Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) has released the workbook for its upcoming synodical convention taking place June 10-13, 2022 in Edmonton. Included in the workbook is information on nominations as well as other important convention information, including overtures and reports from synodical departments, auxiliaries, listed service organizations, and other entities.

The workbook is available for download at: www.lutheranchurchcanada.ca/ convention-workbook-2022/

Haberstock currently serves as the Central Regional Pastor and Rev. Mohns currently serves as the West Regional Pastor.

The slate of candidates for vice-president includes Rev. Alex Klages, Rev. Kurt Reinhardt, and Rev. Michael Schutz.

Further information on candidates is available in the workbook, as are the names of those who declined nomination. Also included in the workbook are the nominees for positions on the Board of Directors, Commission on Adjudication, Commission on Theology and Church Relations, Commission on Nominations and Election, Commission on Constitutional Matters and Structure, and the Boards of Regents for both Concordia Lutheran Seminary (Edmonton) and Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary (St. Catharines, Ontario).

to enable discussion, document sharing, event planning, and more within these groups. Almost all of the content on the site is available only to those who have an account and who are signed in. A very small amount of public-facing content may be created by administrators, but all user-created content will be visible only to those who are signed in to the site. User accounts will be moderated; those who sign up for an account must have their account manually approved.

Discussion Group

Nominations for president were received from 59 congregations, and a total of nine different pastors received at least two nominations for the position of president. Of these, three have accepted the nominations.

The slate of presidential nominations includes Rev. Timothy Teuscher (40 nominations), Rev. David Haberstock (2 nominations), and Rev. Robert Mohns (2 nominations).

Rev. Teuscher currently serves as President of Lutheran Church– Canada and was first elected at the synodical convention in 2017. Rev.

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An Open Group on Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)’s Servant Leader Network has been established for anyone interested in discussing the business facing LCC related to the upcoming Synodical Convention that’s been called for June 1013, 2022. This forum provides the opportunity for respectful discussion of matters concerning the forthcoming 2022 LCC Convention.

Participants are asked to refrain from campaigning or circularizing beyond this forum on any business matter or nominated candidate.

The Servant Leader Network (SLN) is essentially an “intranet” (an internal website) for the people of LCC. Both formal and informal groups can be created by users

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

SIGN UP FOR LCC'S SERVANT LEADER NETWORK

https://servantleader.network Yo u r a c c o u n t w i l l b e reviewed within a day or so and, once approved, you’ll be able to sign in and join or create groups within the Network.

ALREADY ON SLN? Go right to the Convention Discussion Group: servantleader.network/sc2022

NATIONAL NEWS

www.canadianlutheran.ca

LWMLC looking for Seminar Committee Members CANADA - Lutheran Women’s Missionary League–Canada (LWMLC) is currently looking for women to produce a seminar planned for 2023. Work with other Lutheran women from across Canada to develop a theme, and select Bible studies and other relevant resources. No experience is needed, just a desire to share God’s Word with other women and to grow in the understanding of God’s Word together. Some travel may be involved.

If this interests you, please contact Vice-President Member Development of LWMLC, Annette Borchardt, at: vpmemberdevelopment@lutheranwomen.ca

PAID, SUMMER

INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY

Not-Just-Communications Internship with LCC & LLL-C CANADA - Exciting News! Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) and Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada (LLL-C) are teaming up again to offer a paid, part-time intership opportunity for the second summer in a row.

Last year the internship was primarily focused on the area of communications. However, this year we would like to offer more flexibility to interested applicants. If you are interested in serving the church in any way at all—whether it be in communications, graphic design, donor retention, office management, or even through music or art—we would love to hear from you!

This internship is less about finding someone to work in a specific area of service, and more to inspire young people to consider their gifts and how they might be used in service to God’s people. Do you have an idea as to how you think you could get involved with church work, but don't have the resources? Tell us about it in your cover letter!

This paid, part-time internship will provide the chance to explore your God-given gifts and employ those skills in service to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

SKILLSET: • Possesses high levels of self-motivation and selfefficacy, and comfortable serving in a deployed fashion • Desires and willing to learn and explore new tools • Exhibits strong communication skills, both written and oral, and communicates effectively with people from different backgrounds • Has familiarity with and understanding of the Lutheran Laymen’s League, Lutheran Church–Canada, and Lutheranism in Canada (desirable) • Organizes and manages own time, with minimal supervision • Enjoys working in a less structured work environment where tasks and deadlines are fluid • Flexible to manage inquiries from all Canadian time-zones COMPENSATION: • $16.00 per hour at approximately 20 hours per week DATE: • July & August 2022 (Schedule TBD)

PLEASE SEND YOUR COVER LETTER AND RESUME TO ALEX STEINKE, LCC DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: MAY 30, 2022 | EMAIL: COMMUNICATIONS@LUTHERANCHURCH.CA

MORE INFO AT WWW.LUTHERANCHURCHCANADA.CA/INTERNSHIP THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022 17

NATIONAL NEWS

www.canadianlutheran.ca

KWFLE seeks grant applicants KITCHENER, Ont. - More than 40 years ago in Kitchener, a group of interested parents from local Lutheran churches realized a dream, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Harald Tomesch, to provide education to their children. First Lutheran School started in Historic St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and remained there until a new site was purchased and the name was changed to Christ Elementary School. An additional name change followed to become Christ Lutheran School. High school students went to Christ Lutheran Collegiate Institute in another location.

The school also ran a daycare called Christ Lutheran Early Learning Centre. It was a time of growth and preparing young people to face their future with a solid Lutheran background.

Sadly, the school that once ministered to 300-plus students prayerfully decided to close as student enrollment numbers declined and the school could no longer justify the physical assets and financial responsibilities. Both campuses were sold and after a period of reflection, the school has now been transformed into a foundation that supports Lutheran education.

As of 2019, the Kitchener-Waterloo Foundation for Lutheran Education (KWFLE) is an incorporated organization and registered charity operating out of Historic St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. The foundation is led by an elected board of volunteer directors, all who are currently members of Historic St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Our mission is to support Canadianbased charitable organizations that are providing Lutheran education.

We encourage mission departments, outreach projects, Lutheran schools and seminaries, circuit projects, individuals, and pastors on behalf of an education project for their church or organization to apply for a grant to help the KWFLE fulfill our purpose to help you fulfill your mission.

The focus of the grant application must be on Lutheran education and the process is simple.

Our website explains the steps with the option of contacting us if you have any questions.

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

Recipients of grants are making a lasting difference with the funding they received.

They include: • BC Mission Boat Society • First Lutheran Academy, Windsor • Zion Mission Team, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Waterloo • Christmas Cantata, Historic St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Kitchener • Hands for Humanity - Back to Bolivia, Kitchener • And, our most recent recipient, Rev. David Somers, who is making a huge difference in the francophone Lutheran world with weekly lectionary-based activity “Hands on Gospel” for children.

No materials with a solid Lutheran foundation for Sunday school teaching have been available in French anywhere in the world until now.

That changed in 2022, with the production of a Children’s Christian Education program Viens Et Vois Jésus (an adaptation of Lutheran Church of Australia’s Come And See Jesus series) aimed primarily at lesson preparation. A grant from KWFLE has allowed the translation and adaptation weekly lectionary-based handouts based on the Lutheran Laymen’s League of Canada children’s pages to complement the new program’s lessons. In addition to being used in Canada, they are being distributed to rapidly growing Lutheran churches throughout francophone Africa as well as in Haiti and in the Malagasy Lutheran church.

Visit www.kwfle.ca for more information or to apply for funding for an organization or project.

KWFLE’s mission is made possible when organizations and individuals like you are creative. KWFLE believes that when the church joins hands and voices in this effort, the impact will be significant and Lutheran education will continue to prosper.

Marilyn Jacobi for the KWFLE Board of Directors

FIND

lcc ON social

media

WEST REGION NEWS

Alberta and British Columbia - Michelle Heumann, editor

Tree lighting at King of Kings Lutheran SPRUCE VIEW, Alta. - King of Kings Lutheran Church hosted their fourth annual tree lighting party on November 28, 2021. The community was invited to join in the outdoor festivities, and the weather did not disappoint. It was a beautiful day, and the congregation was pleased to welcome about 150 people. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with neighbours and friends, make new acquaintances, and to kick off the Advent season.

A big campfire was the perfect place to visit and sing Christmas carols with live music. Hot drinks and cookies were provided. A few weeks before the event, children were invited to register to receive a free Advent bag from King of Kings. The gift bag included an Advent devotional from Lutheran Hour Ministries, an Advent

calendar, four weekly Christmas card crafts, and glow sticks. Forty families, adding up to 75 children, received Advent bags at the tree lighting party. The event culminated in the lighting of the community Christmas tree, singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

The congregation is grateful to the support of community partners. Before the event was even planned, two local organizations approached the church to offer their services if the church hosted their tree lighting again in 2021. Their generosity helped get the ball rolling in the uncertain times of the pandemic.

JR Adventures partnered with the church, donating horse and wagon rides for the attendees. Pam Hetu from Red Deer County Family Services also collaborated, handing out gift bags to the children. In addition, food

donations were gathered for the Spruce View and Community Food Bank, with five boxes of food collected.

The congregation thanks God for a wonderful opportunity to share God’s love with the community and pray for our neighbours and friends that “the God of hope fill [them] with all joy and peace in believing that [they] may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

Elaine Kure

Children’s ministry pivots in Chilliwack CHILLIWACK, B.C. - St. Paul’s Lutheran has taken a major pivot in children’s ministry and as a result has seen some big successes. The classic Sunday School structure was proving difficult to carry out, with few teachers willing to help during worship service and attendance issues.

Beginning in September 2021, the church introduced Friday Night Kid’s Club, a once-per-month big event that is easy to commit to and attractive to both kids and helpers.

Each two-hour event includes supper, games, a craft, chapel time, and small group Bible lesson time. Each session is one lesson from a VBS kit to give the event a great energy and atmosphere, especially during chapel time.

The December session had 19 kids in attendance, and, as a direct result, four new young people attended the youth event a few days later. Children’s ministry is supplemented with outdoor family events, including the second annual “Martin Luther Candy Farm”

(held on a member’s farm), and “Kid’s Club in the Park Easter Egg Hunt.”

The church praises God for giving children’s ministry this meaningful direction and purpose, and hope for continued growth as the Gospel of Christ is shared with more children.

Amanda Gervais, Children’s Ministry Leader

SHARE YOUR STORIES Contact Michelle Heumann, Regional News Editor | regionaleditor@lutheranchurch.ca |

WEST REGION Contact Rev. Robert Mohns, Regional Pastor | rmohns@lutheranchurch.ca | 1. 855. 826. 9950 | THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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WEST REGION NEWS

Alberta and British Columbia - Michelle Heumann, editor

A JOYOUS DEBT from the regional pastor, rev. robert mohns

D

ebt. Over the course of our lifetime, we can accumulate a lot of it. I am talking about our sin and the accumulation of the debt of guilt as a result of it. We have sinned against our God in thought, word, and deed. We have sinned against His name, His kingdom, and His will. The debt owed to God is astronomical, beyond comprehension.

Likewise, the sin and guilt we have accumulated with one another is incomprehensible. We only need to think of these recent years. We have sinned grievously against one another, and we have accumulated a ridiculous debt of guilt. This is a miserable debt we carry around in us.

It is soul-destroying and life-sucking.

Several years ago, I went on a very long walking journey with some friends. At the end of a particularly difficult day, I unpacked and noticed that the heavier items that should have been in my sack were not there. A friend came along and explained that they had noticed I was struggling. At breakfast, while I was eating, they had taken my heavier belongings and put them in their own sack to lighten my load. My friend explained that they knew my pride (stoic nature, I corrected), would get in the way of their being able to provide the help I needed.

They were right, of course. I didn’t know the danger I was in, but they did, and they did something.

They lifted my burden and maybe even saved my earthly life.

Long before we were ever born, our heavenly Father knew our need.

He saw the sin and its great weight that would bring about our destruction. In His great love, He sent forth His Son

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to walk the dusty way of the cross to carry our sin and the burden of guilt and shame. We didn’t even know what He was doing, and in our sinful state our pride would not allow Him to carry it for us, nor would we want Him to remove it from us.

Yet in spite of us—no, for the love of us—He did it. Our Lord’s passion, His suffering, and death is for us.

Good Friday is the good work that Jesus did for us to forgive our sin. He took upon Himself our sin, and bore in Himself the debt of guilt and shame. It was a debt we could never bear.

The Lord taught His disciples to pray: “Dear Father, do not hold us accountable for our debts, as we do not hold our debtors accountable” (Matthew 6:12). This fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, or the “Our Father,” often makes no sense in our day. In our world, when things go badly we seek to hold somebody accountable.

But here in this petition we pray that God would not hold us accountable.

In the fifth petition, our loving heavenly Father bids us daily to acknowledge our sin and the debt of guilt, the condemnation of our conscience, and to turn to Him for forgiveness. It is true, we already have the forgiveness of sins, for the Lord has provided Holy Baptism, but He calls us to acknowledge our sin—our great debt of guilt—that our anxious hearts might be comforted and our consciences relived.

In a prayer based on the fifth petition, Martin Luther writes: “Teach us, dear Father, not to find reliance or consolation in good deeds or purposes, nor in merit, but teach us simply to venture all upon

THE THECANADIAN CANADIANLUTHERAN LUTHERAN ||march/april march/april2022 2022

Your boundless mercy, committing ourselves with utter firmness to it alone. Likewise, let not our guilty and sinful life bring us into despair, but may we regard Your mercy as higher, broader, and stronger than anything in our life.

Repay our wickedness with Your goodness, as You have commanded us to do [to others]. Silence that evil spirit—the cruel backbiter, accuser, and magnifier of our sin— now and in our last hour, and in every torment of conscience, just as we, on our part, hold back from slandering and magnifying the sins of others. Do not judge us according to the accusations the devil or our wretched conscience brings against us, and pay no heed to the voice of our enemies who accuse us day and night before You, just as in turn we will pay no heed to the slanders and accusations of others against us.

Relieve us of every heavy burden of sin and conscience so that in life and death, in enduring and in doing we may trust in Your mercy, completely and with a light and happy heart.”

Easter’s proclamation, “He is risen!

He is risen indeed!” is God’s amen to our Spirit-wrought prayer. Living our lives in Christ and in His resurrection, St. Paul exhorts us: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). This is the joyous debt we now bear!

God grant His Church to plead for His mercy and in true faith to bear one another up in divine love.

Vivit! Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! God grant you a joyous Easter.

CENTRAL REGION NEWS

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and NW Ontario - Michelle Heumann, editor

Regina church featured on CTV News

REGINA - A recent CTV news broadcast discussing how churches have adapted to online streaming over the course of the pandemic highlighted the ministry of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and its pastor, Rev. James Chimirri-Russell.

“Two years ago, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church was pushing around a camera on a tea trolley to get the right shots for its virtual service,” a reporter explains. “Today, a camera mounted above the congregation allows for a direct stream to Facebook and YouTube.”

At the time of the report, Good Shepherd was holding two in-person services on Sunday and one on Wednesday, but digital streaming had also allowed the church to continue to minister those unable

Rev. James Chimirri-Russell talks with CTV News to attend in person. Retaining the hybrid-format also allows the church to transition to online-only streaming in the event provincial regulations change.

Yo u c a n w a t c h t h e r e p o r t online at: www.regina.ctvnews. ca/video?clipId=2363091

Worship at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church featured on local television

SHARE YOUR STORIES Contact Michelle Heumann, Regional News Editor | regionaleditor@lutheranchurch.ca |

central REGION Contact Rev. david haberstock, Regional Pastor | dhaberstock@lutheranchurch.ca | 1. 800. 663. 5673 | THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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CENTRAL REGION NEWS

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and NW Ontario - Michelle Heumann, editor

THE PASCHAL PILLAR OF FIRE from the regional pastor, rev. DAVID HABERSTOCK

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n Easter Eve, congregations introduce a new Paschal Candle. This is when the Church marks the beginning of the 2022nd Year of our Lord (Revelation 11:15).

About half the churches in Central Region have a Paschal candle.

This was not always the case, and I remember when a Paschal candle was “reintroduced” into the parish of my youth. I put that in quotation marks because this ancient tradition was never really introduced to most North American Lutheran churches prior to this, although in recent decades many congregations have acquired one, even if they don’t know what to do with it. Traditions such as this are neither commanded nor forbidden by God, but are valuable as a means to confess and teach something about Jesus.

So what is a Paschal candle?

What do you do with it? What does it teach us?

The word “Paschal” comes from the Greek word “Pascha” which means Passover. This “Passover” candle is a very tall, freestanding, white candle with several symbols for Christ Jesus on it, set in a candle stand meant just for it.

It is lit for 40 days from Easter Eve (Easter Vigil) until the Feast of the Ascension (Acts 1:3). On Ascension, it is extinguished and removed after the words of the Gospel, “He was taken up into heaven” (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51) have been read. Thus, it represents

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Jesus’ physical presence on earth for the 40 days from His resurrection until His ascent into heaven.

The height of this candle reminds us that Jesus—before taking on flesh—was present with the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). Our risen Lord Jesus is the new “Pillar of Fire” who protects us as we sojourn in this dark world and leads us into His new promised land. Another reason it is so very tall is that it is meant to burn day and night for 40 days. I’ve tried in a couple parishes to burn it day and night, but—go figure—there is a lot of concern about the safety of an untended candle in modern church buildings.

Not knowing what they represent, people often invent their own practices related to Paschal candles, but here is what I have learned.

If you burn this tall candle for 40 days, it is no longer so tall. Thus, a new candle is needed in the new year of grace. The Ascension and this candle memorialize Christ’s coronation at the right hand of His Father (Revelation 4-5). While lit, it is a visible reminder of Christ’s miraculous presence with us.

Throughout the rest of the year, we light it only at baptisms and funerals, reminding us that life and death are in His hands.

At Holy Baptism, a baptismal candle is lit from the Paschal candle and given to the newly baptized with

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

the words, “Live always in the light of Christ, and be ever watchful for His coming, that you may meet Him with joy and enter with Him into the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which shall have no end.”

For Jesus—the Paschal Pillar—is the Light of the World (John 8:12).

In Holy Baptism, He passes over sin (Exodus 12:12-13), and imparts His light, driving out the forces of darkness. Thus, it is good to keep the candle near the font when it is not lit.

It is also lit at funerals because “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15). It is Jesus Christ Himself who keeps vigil with us in the long hours of our pilgrimage through this vale of tears (Psalm 84:6). He is the one who watches over and shepherds us through the shadow of death with the light of His word (Psalm 23:4; 119:105). This is why the Agenda for the Lutheran Service Book directs that the lit Paschal candle be placed at the head of the casket during a funeral; Christ shepherds us in death as in life.

The Paschal Candle teaches us then that Christ is with us in every moment of our lives—from the new birth of water and the Spirit, shepherding us through death and the grave, and unto our resurrected life in His eternal sheepfold in which He Himself is our light (Revelation 21:23-25).

EAST REGION NEWS

Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada - Michelle Heumann, editor

East Region church workers’ conference NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. - After more than two and a half years’ hiatus because of COVID-19, lockdowns, and mandates, some of the pastors and deacons of the East Region were able to enjoy an in-person conference at Mount Carmel Retreat Centre in Niagara Falls. Excellent papers were presented by faculty of Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary: Rev. Drs. Thomas Winger, John Stephenson, and Thomas Korcok. We gathered, we learned, we worshiped, we talked a lot, and enjoyed the company of one another. Sadly, not all pastors and deacons who would like to have come were able to attend.

Rev. Donald A. Schieman

Author dedicates book to Grace Lutheran Oshawa OSHAWA, Ont. - This spring, writer Daniel Bhata is publishing a book titled Rescued, about his experiences as a refugee with serious health concerns. In the dedication, he thanks his family – parents, wife Fanos, and children Ebenezer and Manna – and the congregation at Grace Lutheran Church.

In 1990, Daniel arrived in Oshawa, having been sponsored by the refugee committee at Grace. Daniel is from Eritrea and had been injured in a work-related accident in Greece while he was awaiting permanent refugee status. After arriving in Ontario, he received a prosthetic hand.

Daniel particularly expresses thanks to the Hansel family from Grace for access to knowledge through their home library and for their encouragement to attend college. Daniel writes in the dedication to his book that Grace Lutheran “showed me new life and new opportunity through the love of Jesus Christ that shines so brightly from within you.”

Author Daniel Bhata (right) and family.

SHARE YOUR STORIES Contact Michelle Heumann, Regional News Editor | regionaleditor@lutheranchurch.ca |

EAST REGION Contact Rev. marvin bublitz, Regional Pastor | mbublitz@lutheranchurch.ca | 1. 855. 893. 1466 | THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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EAST REGION NEWS

Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada - Michelle Heumann, editor

IN THE MIDST OF... from the regional pastor, rev. marvin bublitz

I

recently heard it again. As I stood in the cemetery at the graveside of a friend, the pastor said those familiar words: “In the midst of life we are in death.”

Taken from an old hymn, those words have long had a place in the Committal Liturgy of the people of God. They describe the situation in which we find ourselves in this world. St. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:8-12: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

In the midst of this life, we are surrounded by death. Death hunts and haunts us from conception to grave. As soon as the Lord God creates a new life, it starts on the road to death. For the wages of sin is death, and all are born sinful. In the midst of life we are in death.

If that were all we had to look forward to, we would be lost in constant despair. But there is more. He Who creates life here, also bestows everlasting life in His kingdom for all who

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believe. We are on our pilgrimage to that Promised Land, and, like the Children of Israel of old, we will face all manner of trials and turmoil, disease and death on this wilderness journey. We will be attacked by evil. We will face wars and rumours of wars. But the evil of this sinful world does not have the last word. The father of lies does not have the last word. Sin, death, and the grave do not have the last word.

The last word came from the Word made flesh. On the cross He spoke the last word, “It is finished.” The redemption He came to bring, the salvation of the world, the Father’s plan since before the creation of the world, the promise since the Garden are fulfilled in the Messiah on the cross.

As we consider the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness, we would do well to remember how the Lord was with them. Pharaoh’s word of slavery was not the last word for them. Almighty God spoke His word of deliverance. The waters of the Red Sea against the shore was not the last word. The sound of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots was not the last word. Almighty God guided and protected them on their journey. He was with them at every step of the way, and He is with us every step of our journey. Jesus Himself said, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. He is always with us to guide and protect us. His love surrounds us. In the midst of sickness, Jesus, the great Physician of body and soul, is with us. In the midst of war, the Prince of Peace surrounds us.

In the midst of death, Jesus, who is the Life, surrounds us. In the midst of the grave, Jesus, who is the Resurrection, surrounds us. In the midst of Lent, we are surrounded

by Easter. “Behold, I am with you always.”

In the midst of death we are surrounded by Life. Since the Garden of Eden, Satan has been trying to lead the people of God into hellish despair. He whispers in the ear, “Look at the trouble you have. God has forsaken you.”

But he does not have the last word: Jesus has the last word. He is with us always, and gave His life that we could be with Him always in our Father’s Kingdom for eternity.

No matter what evil this sinful world brings you, Jesus brings greater good. No matter what pain comes your way in this sin-cursed world, Jesus brings heavenly relief.

No matter what disease befalls you, Jesus brings greater healing.

No matter what loved ones suffer death, Jesus brings resurrection and reunion to all who believe.

The last Word and our only hope is always JESUS.

MISSION NEWS

www.canadianlutheran.ca

RELIEF AND PASTORAL CARE

FOR WAR-TORN UKRAINE

UKRAINE - On February 24, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. In the midst of this difficult time, Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) is supporting the ministry of the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine (SELCU) as it provides pastoral care and emergency relief to the Ukrainian people.

“We call on all our members and congregations to pray for Ukraine,” said LCC President Timothy Teuscher in a call to prayer the day of the invasion.

“Pray for an end to war and bloodshed in the region and the restoration of peace.”

More than four million people—mostly women and children—have fled the country since the war began. An additional six and a half million others are internally displaced within Ukraine. Thousands of civilians have been killed, and many more are unable to safely access necessities like food and water.

In order to provide direct care for the Ukrainian people, Lutheran Church–Canada quickly established a “Ukraine Aid Fund” to channel support directly through our partner church in Ukraine. As of April 4, 2022 the fund has raised more than $346,000 for emergency relief in Ukraine. With LCC’s support, the pastors and congregations of SELCU are providing desperately needed care for people affected in the ongoing war.

The type of care being offered varies from place to place. Some communities with SELCU congregations have been directly invaded; others have seen the conflict grow gradually nearer. SELCU pastors have helped transport hundreds of refugees to the borders of friendly

nations; there they have met with Lutherans from other countries who are arranging emergency accommodations and support for refugees. Congregations have also made their buildings available to shelter those in transit from one place to another.

Of course, not everyone has left the country. All men between the ages of 18-60, for example, are restricted from leaving Ukraine. And many others—the elderly among them—are either unable or unwilling to flee. SELCU congregations have offered their buildings to such people in need of safer accommodations and those whose homes are damaged or destroyed. Pastors are also serving in other circumstances as situations allow, including as chaplains in hospital settings. Pastors have been distributing food, fuel, medicine, and other necessities to hundreds of people.

“When you serve God, despite such difficult circumstances, the essence of life and our ministry does not change—we continue to serve God by serving His people. Together with the pastors and people of our synod, we are now serving in various roles: distributing humanitarian aid; evacuating people from conflict zones; caring for people seeking refuge through our churches; and ministering to people whenever we have the opportunity."

REV. VALERY VERBA SELCU PASTOR

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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MISSION NEWS

www.canadianlutheran.ca

More recently, SELCU has received shipments of humanitarian aid from Germany, which they have distributed to those in need. These shipments have included mattresses, blankets, clothes, diapers, and canned goods.

“I was able to deliver food and medicine to members of my own congregation, and to share God’s Word and Holy Communion with many. It was a rare opportunity to see my people and speak God’s lifegiving Word to them… It was a comfort to them, and also to me, since most of my communication with parishioners has had to be via phone or messenger. Many are afraid to go out because of air raid alerts and the sound of explosions."

During the worst of the conflict, that care sometimes takes place via phone and internet. But whenever possible, the pastors of Ukraine are meeting with their people to provide practical and spiritual care—including, in some instances, in areas which have earlier been the scene of armed conflict.

REV. OLEKSIY NAVROTSKYY, LCC MISSIONARY

“The war has brought a lot of destruction and separation and a lot of terrible death; but it has also brought new opportunities for us Christians, for us pastors, to reach out to people we love and to reach out to people we maybe wouldn’t ordinarily reach on the streets. Now God has placed these people in our vehicles and He has made our vehicles to be the church today."

REV. OLEG SCHEWTSCHENKO SELCU PASTOR

In the midst of all the bloodshed and heartache, the proclamation of the Gospel continues. “The war has softened human hearts and turned them to the church to hear the Gospel of hope, and also to receive help,” notes Rev. Oleksiy Navrotskyy, LCC Missionary in the region.

“I cannot—and do not want to—speak much about the devastation, woe, and pain that war has brought to our land and our people. It is too heavy not to cry. We need much strength, patience, comfort, and love from above to accomplish our mission—to proclaim the Gospel message of the forgiveness of sins, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and care for the people."

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

You can support the ongoing relief work in Ukraine.

Donations can be made online through Lutheran Church– Canada’s website or by cheque to Lutheran Church– Canada’s synodical office in Winnipeg (please note gifts are for the “Ukraine Aid Fund”). Cheques may be mailed to: Lutheran Church–Canada 3074 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3K 0Y2 Please also continue to pray. LCC has made the following prayer available for congregational and individual use during this difficult time:

MISSION NEWS

www.canadianlutheran.ca

Heavenly Father, God of all concord, it is Your gracious will that Your children on earth live together in harmony and peace. Defeat the plans of all those who would stir up violence and strife, war, and bloodshed, and, according to Your will, end the current conflict that now rages in Ukraine. Protect those who are suffering and being displaced from their homes. Bring a restoration of calm and security, and heal the wounds that have been inflicted.

We especially commend to Your care and keeping our Lutheran Church– Canada missionary in Ukraine, Rev. Oleksiy Navrotskyy and his family; Bishop Alexander Yurchenko; and all the pastors and members of the congregations of the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine.

Preserve them from all harm and danger. Grant them an extra measure of Your Holy Spirit at this time that they would remain steadfast in the one true faith in Him who is Lord and Saviour of all. In the midst of this conflict, empower them to reach out to others with the precious Gospel of God’s peace and love in Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Lutheran Church–Canada has been involved in mission work in Ukraine since 1993.

Today, it continues to partner with the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine to support Gospel proclamation, seminary education, and social ministry.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

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EDUCATION NEWS

www.canadianlutheran.ca

Serpents in the Classroom – New Book from CLTS professor

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - Rev. Dr. Thomas Korcok has released a new book entitled Serpents in the Classroom: The Poisoning of Modern Education and How the Church Can Cure It. Dr. Korcok is Associate Professor of Theology at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Dr. Korcok’s new book, published by 1517, is geared towards Christian parents, pastors, and teachers, and answers the question that so many ask: “Why do children so often reject the Christian faith?”

“The answer is found in the theological presuppositions that undergird much of contemporary education,” notes promotional

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material for the book. “Though the educational establishment often presents its models as products drawn from evidence-based research that is theologically neutral, they are anything but. Rather, they are founded on theologies that are diametrically opposed to orthodox Christian teaching.”

Rather than continuing in the same educational system that has had such detrimental effects on the faith of young Christians, Dr. Korcok encourages parents and educators to return to the classical liberal model of education—the model which undergirded education in western society for centuries until being mostly rejected in the 1900s.

THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

That might sound a bit academic.

But “this is not a purely academic book,” Dr. Korcok explains in the introduction to the book. “It is written from the perspective of a college professor who has taught students preparing to teach in Christian schools, a pastor who spent years catechizing young minds, a schoolteacher who struggled to develop a curriculum that was appropriate for a Christian school, and a father whose children have grappled with the issues raised in this book.”

In that sense, the book will find a welcome audience among all Christians who have misgivings about contemporary models of education and are looking for faithful ways to teach their children.

Prominent Lutheran author Gene Veith has praised the book and its emphasis on classical Christian education, noting that Dr. Korcok offers a “helpful explanation” of what classical education entails, “built around the pursuit of what is true, good, and beautiful,” and “grounded in biblical catechesis.” Dr. Veith is himself the co-author of a popular book on classical education entitled Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America.

Dr. Korcok’s is a recognized authority on the liberal arts and Lutheranism. His earlier book, L u t h e r a n E d u c a t i o n : F ro m Wittenberg to the Future, traced the history of the liberal arts model in Lutheran education down from the time of the reformers to the present. That book is available from Concordia Publishing House.

You can order Dr. Korcok’s new book, Serpents in the Classroom, directly from the publisher at https:// shop.1517.org/products/serpentsin-the-classroom-the-poisoning-ofmodern-education-and-how-thechurch-can-cure-it. The book is also available through Amazon.ca.

LUTHERAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY LEAGUE–CANADA

Lutheran Women Today HELPING WOMEN GROW, SHARE AND SERVE IN HIS NAME

“TOGETHER WE CAN DO MORE” TAKES ON FRESH MEANING A recent chart outlining how the many parts of LWMLC work together has a circle of hands reaching out with “together we can do more” in the centre.

Traditionally LWMLC has been based on groups of women meeting face to face to dig into God’s Word and reach out in mission and service. For many women, however, time—whether the time and day for such gatherings or the time needed for family and work—makes that face-to-face concept unworkable.

Still, the desire to be part of

er h t e g To re! o m o d e can

w

opportunities to grow in God’s Word and be in mission to His people doesn’t disappear.

RESOURCES TAILORED TO FIT NEEDS Many congregational groups meet once a month for Bible study.

LWMLC provides three studies (one for each month) in the league’s publication, Tapestry.

If you are looking for a devotion, a Bible study, a skit, etc., on a specific topic or perhaps a pattern for a service project, we have many available via email at no cost through our Download on

Demand program.

Most of the resources available through the Download on Demand catalogue are written by women of Lutheran Church– Canada for women of LCC. Perhaps you write such materials for yourself or your society. Please share them. The vice-president of Christian Growth would be delighted to hear from you.

DOWNLOAD ON DEMAND program Catalogue - https://lutheranwomen.ca/ resource-centre-and-catalogue-2 Order - dod@lutheranwomen.ca TO SHARE YOUR WRITING: vpchristiangrowth@lutheranwomen.ca LWML–Canada

One of the blessings God provided during the pandemic is the ability to see new ways we can work together, ways that fit well alongside the traditional. On these pages we will share some of those blessings and we invite you to explore them and use them creatively in being part of a great mission effort even when face-toface doesn’t fit. If you need more detail, please contact the vicepresident of communication, Becky Wandio, at vpcommunication@ lutheranwomen.ca and she will direct your request.

Retreats, rallies, workshops, renewals and the like are tailored to fit a variety of schedules and needs. Some may be as short as an hour, others a whole weekend.

They may be in person or online or a combination of both. They may draw women from a local area, a larger region or districtwide. They may focus on a special speaker, take a deeper look into God’s Word or put together packages for those in need. 'ŝŌƐ ƉĂĐŬĂŐĞĚ ĨŽƌ ŐŝǀŝŶŐ ƚŽ ĂŶ ƟŬŽŬĂŶ͕ KŶƚ͕͘ ĨĂŵŝůLJ͘

The Canadian Lutheran March/April 2022

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LUTHERAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY LEAGUE–CANADA

Lutheran Women Today

HELPING WOMEN GROW, SHARE AND SERVE IN HIS NAME

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL, PERHAPS On the previous page the illustration of the hands represented women in groups and individually joining together across Canada to accomplish more. But we can also consider the idea within a congregation.

How might several small groups within a larger group provide more ways to encourage women to “grow, share and serve”?

Smaller groups can be more flexible regarding when and how they meet.

Some societies are made up of groups like an altar guild, a quilting group and so forth. Let’s consider some additional ideas.

One group might lead the gathering of items for various purposes while another might enjoy crafts.

With some coordination they could bring these

WEBINARS & VIDEOS LWMLC webinars come in all shapes and sizes and happen in real time. Some are half an hour and focus on a Bible study. From there they can range in length up to a full day. Some are presentations by guest speakers on a wide range of topics. Up to 90 women from across the country may participate in any individual webinar. But that number can grow exponentially when one woman registers and invites a group to join her at the church or in her home.

Watch for dates and times of future webinars in LWML– Canada Update and LCC’s InfoDigest.

Participating in real time is the ideal but sometimes life interferes. When that happens consider ordering the resulting video, available shortly after the webinar, at no cost. To order videos check the Download on Demand catalogue (see info previous page). Consider showing it with others who weren’t able to participate.

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together but work separately as they are able. her Toget more!

Do some like to knit? n do Maybe one group wants to we ca meet only for Bible study.

Do you have several artists or those who would enjoy a writers’ group?

Whatever draws a group together the key would be to use it to help women grow, share and serve.

All groups might meet as one large group once or twice a year, making it a special occasion. How business is conducted will need creativity but with God’s guidance, it can be worked out to fit those involved.

GIFTS, TREASURES AND MORE The LWML–Canada Resource Centre has many great items to order for yourself or as a gift for someone else.

Find the catalogue and order form at https:// lutheranwomen.ca/ resource-centre-andcatalogue-2.

Watch our Virtual Resource Centre tour at https://youtu.be/ J3eaGcZOVdE.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES What works for you? Shortterm? Long-term? Do you write? Or do artwork? Organize something? What is close to your heart? After this spring’s district conventions each district will no longer be required to plan and hold a convention every three years. As a result, they will be exploring new ways to support

The Canadian Lutheran March/April 2022

the zones, societies and individual women that they serve. Perhaps God has gifted you with a skill or talent that has gone unused or is under-used.

One of LWMLC’s immediate needs is a committee to plan and prepare a seminar for 2023.

See the request elsewhere in this magazine.

LWML–Canada

LUTHERAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY LEAGUE–CANADA LUTHERAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY LEAGUE–CANADA

LutheranWomen WomenToday Today Lutheran

HELPING WOMEN GROW, SHARE AND SERVE NAME HELPING WOMEN GROW, SHARE AND SERVE IN IN HISHIS NAME

MITES IN ACTION THROUGH MISSION GRANTS Did you know that all mission grants support the work of our church in some way? Some support the mission work of LCC directly, often focusing on support for women. Other grants support aspects of our life together like youth camps and Lutheran schools. Grants provide support for special projects at our two seminaries.

This spring the list at right is set to grow. The four districts of LWMLC are completing the grants to the mission projects they chose three years ago. In this, their final convention as a district, they will choose new projects to be added to this list. All are to be completed before the national convention in 2024 when new projects to receive mission grants will be chosen.

LWML–Canada

CURRENT NATIONAL MISSION GRANTS ^ƚƌĞĞƚ ZĞĂĐŚ DŝŶŝƐƚƌLJ͕ ZĞŐŝŶĂ͕ ^ĂƐŬ͘ zŽƵƚŚ ǁŽƌŬĞƌ͕ ZŝĐŚŵŽŶĚ Θ sĂŶĐŽƵǀĞƌ >ĂŶĚ ƉƵƌĐŚĂƐĞ ĨŽƌ ĐŚƵƌĐŚ͕ ŽƐƚĂ ZŝĐĂ EĂƟŽŶĂů zŽƵƚŚ 'ĂƚŚĞƌŝŶŐ ϮϬϮϮ ůĞĐƚƌŽŶŝĐ ůŝďƌĂƌLJ ƵƉŐƌĂĚĞ͕ ŽŶĐŽƌĚŝĂ >ƵƚŚĞƌĂŶ ^ĞŵŝŶĂƌLJ͕ ĚŵŽŶƚŽŶ &ƌĞŶĐŚ ^ƵŶĚĂLJ ƐĐŚŽŽů ŵĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐ EĞǁ ŵŝƐƐŝŽŶ ƐŝƚĞ͕ >ǀŝǀ͕ hŬƌĂŝŶĞ zŽƵƚŚ ĐĂŵƉ͕ :ĂĐŬĮƐŚ >ĂŬĞ͕ ZŽďůŝŶ͕ DĂŶ͘ ŝĂĐŽŶĂů ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ͕ EŝĐĂƌĂŐƵĂ DŝƐƐŝŽŶ KƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƚLJ &ƵŶĚ dŽƚĂů

ΨϭϮ͕ϬϬϬ Ψϭϴ͕ϵϬϬ ΨϭϬ͕ϬϬϬ Ψϱ͕ϬϬϬ Ψϭϱ͕ϬϬϬ Ψϭϰ͕ϬϬϬ ΨϭϮ͕ϬϬϬ Ψϴ͕ϱϬϬ Ψϴ͕ϲϬϬ ΨϮϲ͕ϬϬϬ ΨϭϯϬ͕ϬϬϬ

The Canadian Lutheran March/April 2022

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LUTHERAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY LEAGUE–CANADA

Lutheran Women Today

HELPING WOMEN GROW, SHARE AND SERVE IN HIS NAME

TAPESTRY ~ a magazine for today’s Lutheran woman Visit https://lutheranwomen.ca/publications/ tapestry for information to receive inspiring issues each year.

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Consider being a contributor.

Guidelines and information are found on the same web page.

An ordinary faith

CONNECTING WITH LWMLC Website͗ ůƵƚŚĞƌĂŶǁŽŵĞŶ͘ĐĂ Facebook͗ ĨĂĐĞŬ͘ĐŽŵͬ >tD> ĂŶĂĚĂ dǁŝƩĞƌ͗ ƚǁŝƩĞƌ͘ĐŽŵͬ>tD> LWML-Canada Update͗ ƐŝŐŶ ƵƉ ŽŶ ǁĞďƐŝƚĞ ^ĞƌǀŝŶŐ ŝŶ ,ŝƐ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚ ďůŽŐ͗ ƐĞƌǀŝŶŐŝŶŚŝƐƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚͬǁŽƌĚƉƌĞƐƐ͘ĐŽŵ WƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƚ͗ >ŝŶĚĂ͕ ƉƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƚΛ ůƵƚŚĞƌĂŶǁŽŵĞŶ͘ĐĂ sW ŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƟŽŶ͗ ĞĐŬLJ͕ ǀƉĐŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƟŽŶΛůƵƚŚĞƌĂŶǁŽŵĞŶ͘ĐĂ sW ŚƌŝƐƟĂŶ 'ƌŽǁƚŚ͗ WĂƚƌŝĐŝĂ͕ ǀƉĐŚƌŝƐƟĂŶŐƌŽǁƚŚΛůƵƚŚĞƌĂŶǁŽŵĞŶ͘ĐĂ sW ŚƌŝƐƟĂŶ DŝƐƐŝŽŶ͗ /ƌŝƐ͕ ǀƉĐŚƌŝƐƟĂŶŵŝƐƐŝŽŶ͘ĐĂ sW DĞŵďĞƌ ĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚ͗ ŶŶĞƩĞ͕ ǀƉŵĞŵďĞƌĚĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚΛ ůƵƚŚĞƌĂŶǁŽŵĞŶ͘ĐĂ

…All my life I was looking for some grand purpose. To do some extraordinary amazing deed which would justify my whole existence… from Tapestry, Spring 2021

Learning ~ by heart

…”Sing it, you’ll never forget it. If you’ve something to remember put it in a melody.

Who can think of any way to learn more naturally?”… from Tapestry, Winter 2021

The mission of Lutheran Women’s Missionary League–Canada is to EQUIP, MOTIVATE and ENCOURAGE WOMEN… The national level of our league and its districts bring zones—and the individual women and societies that form them—together, supporting them by providing resources and opportunities that enable them to put the league’s mission into action.

Mission projects are also supported by grants from mission offerings (mites).

DISTRICT – made up of zones in a specified region of Canada

LWML–CANADA – made up of districts and all those within them – a unified LCC auxiliary organization.

…to GROW IN GOD’S WORD, SHARE GOD’S SON and SERVE GOD’S PEOPLE Individual women come together as a society in a congregation. They are LWMLC’s key to serving God’s people in their congregations and communities. Several societies meet together as a zone around Bible study, speakers and service activities as they encourage each other in mission.

INDIVIDUAL WOMEN of Lutheran Church–Canada 4

The Canadian Lutheran March/April 2022

SOCIETY – a group of women in an LCC congregation

ZONE – several societies in an localized area LWML–Canada

TRANSITIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS www.canadianlutheran.ca/calls-transitions Rev. Jakob Valsson, Trinity (Abbotsford, BC) accepted a call to Faith (Middle Lake, SK).

Rev. Christopher McLean, St. Paul’s (Dawson Creek, BC) accepted a call to North East Saskatchewan Parish (Nipawin, Melfort, Hudson Bay, Mistatim, SK).

Living Christ Lutheran Church (Lipton, SK) disbanded.

Tina Etzl of Windsor, Ontario has applied for reinstatement as a deacon to the roster of Lutheran Church–Canada.

Responses to this request should be directed by no later than May 15, 2022 to Rev. Marvin Bublitz, East Regional Pastor, 31 Circlewood Drive, St. Thomas, ON N5P 0A6; mbublitz@lutheranchurch.ca.

CLASSIFIED Immanuel Lutheran Church (Lethbridge, AB) urgently seeks a called full-time permanent Director Christian Education or Director Parish Services to enhance our Family and Youth Ministry! Reporting to our Pastor, you will develop and implement strategies to enhance our engagement with young families and youth; both already in our Church Family and others in the community. You will build relationships with families, recruit and equip volunteers and act as an intergenerational link both within the Church and with the broader community. You will be a key driver of lifespan Christian education for those from pre-school through university years. You will support our existing pre-School. You, along with the Pastor and Lay Leaders, will regularly evaluate and adapt as necessary, the effectiveness of our Family and Youth Ministry. The successful applicant will be strong in the Word, have proven leadership skills, a record of being a self-starter, a proven ability to work collaboratively with others, as well as a record of creative, energetic, and effective results. We offer a competitive salary based on Lutheran Church–Canada guidelines, as well as assistance with relocation.

Please direct questions and/or apply in confidence by May 6, 2022 to: admin@immanuellutheran.ca

CONCORDIA LUTHERAN MISSION SOCIETY

Want to express your mission heart?

WWW.HOPELCS.CA

Through your directed donations CLMS supports pastoral care, humanitarian aid and theological education in Ukraine, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia and Canada.

Contact Pastor Mark Lobitz for the 2022 CLMS Project Poster mclobitz@gmail.com

WE'RE HIRING A PRINCIPAL FOR THE

2022-23 SCHOOL YEAR!

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Learn more about this exciting opportunity and how to apply by contacting Mr. Carl Schmidt at: Partner

416.869.7618 jkriwetz@garfinkle.com

cschmidt@hopelcs.ca PORT COQUITLAM, BC

PRESIDENT’S PONDERINGS

THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE WEEK by president timothy teuscher

A

week, as we all know, is a seven-day period of time usually considered to extend from Sunday to Saturday. This pattern has been going on ever since the beginning of creation when God created the heavens and the earth in six days and then rested on the seventh day. As far as we human beings are concerned, a week has seven days. It’s part of our created nature. A week has a beginning, a middle, and an end—a lot like life itself. And you don’t get an eighth day.

That’s what those women were thinking who “on the first day of the week, at early dawn, went to (Jesus’) tomb, taking the spices they had prepared” (Luke 24:1). It’s Sunday morning, the first day of a new week; and the first day of the rest of their hopeless lives—hopeless because the One who was their hope was now resting in a tomb.

That, after all, is how it works in this world. For whether it be a week or a life, there just isn’t an eighth day.

In the Old Testament, however, we see that God makes a big deal about an eighth day. Newborn baby boys were to be circumcised on the eighth day—the day when they became part of God’s people. When a leper thought that he was healed of his disease, he was to show himself to the priest; and the priest would declare him to be clean only after eight days had passed. When Solomon’s temple was built, the people celebrated for an entire week, and then the next day, the eighth day, the temple was dedicated, while the cloud of God’s glory and His presence filled the Holy of Holies.

Note this well, for the eighth day was set aside for consecration, for deliverance, for cleansing, for healing, for restoration. It is as if God was saying: “Life in this world takes place in seven-day units. But when it comes to eternal life, to life with Me, you must look for an eighth day.”

And so, along comes Holy Week which begins on Palm Sunday and ends with Easter Sunday—eight days actually. The very One who created Adam on the sixth day and breathed into his flesh the breath of life, now suffers in His flesh on the cross and breathes His last on that same day—Good Friday. The One who rested on the seventh day from all His work of creation, now rests in a tomb on that same day—Holy Saturday. The next day—the eighth day— sees angels greet the women at Jesus’ empty tomb

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN | march/april 2022

with these words: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:5-6). And the reason or purpose of this? St. Paul answers: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep…. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 22).

The early church father Cyprian put it this way: “The eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be that on which the Lord should rise again, and should quicken us, and give us circumcision of the spirit.” Or as St. Augustine wrote: “God brought it about that Christ’s body rested from all His works on the Sabbath in the tomb, and that He rose from the dead on the third day, which we call the Lord’s Day, the day after the Sabbath, and therefore the eighth day.”

For this reason, Christians for the past 2,000 years or so have traditionally gathered for worship on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, because it is the day of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead—the eighth day. Today, whether we gather on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning or Monday evening for worship, it is still always the eighth day—the day when, because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, God the Father Almighty heals and delivers, cleanses and restores, recreates, consecrates, and dedicates people like you and me to Himself forever—in the Absolution, in His Word, in the Holy Supper of His Son’s body and blood, and in Holy Baptism (which, by the way, was traditionally administered from an eight-sided font!)

And it will still be that eighth day of the week when, at the end of this age, “the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Yes, on that eighth day at the end of time, the risen Lord Jesus Himself will call out to you in your resting place in the grave: “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Have a blessed Eighth Day!

Custodial Fund Investments

How Your Congregation Can Benefit!

Many congregations across Synod have reserve or gifted funds set aside in various financial institutions and may not realize that Lutheran Foundation Canada provides an investment option for these funds. Currently, the Foundation has approximately $20 million in assets under management, with $10 million invested as ‘endowment’ funds and another $10 million invested as ‘custodial’ funds. Endowments a re e s ta b l i s h e d w i t h f u n d s gifted to the Foundation and typically invested into perpetuity, with annual distributions that support the LCC synodical family.

Custodial funds however, are not donated but only transferred to

the Foundation for investment purposes, and remain the property of the organization that transferred them. These funds may be returned to the investing organization at any time. Both types of funds are invested using similar strategies as outlined in the Foundation’s Investment Policy Statement.

As a service to member congregations and organizations of Lutheran Church–Canada’s s y n o d i c a l f a m i l y o n l y, t h e Foundation accepts funds ($25K min.) for investment purposes.

These funds are pooled with other similar funds and placed in the Foundation’s Custodial Investment Accounts. The Foundation uses

When comparing these returns to a typical GIC where rates are usually below 2%, the overall value to a congregation can be significant in the long term.

Further information is available on the Foundation’s website at www.lutheranfoundation.ca, or contact Allen Schellenberg, Foundation Executive Director, at 877-711-4438. You can download our Custodial Fund Agreement and Investment Policy Statement through our website’s Resources section.

the same investment consultant (Ellement Consulting) and some of the same investment managers (TD Asset Mgmt, Romspen Commercial Mortgages, and Mawer Investment Mgmt.) as LCC’s pension funds.

This approach creates substantial economies of scale, reducing investment management fees, and providing access to investment options typically unavailable for smaller investment amounts.

Investment returns for Custodial Funds have averaged 6.42% in the Balanced Mandate and 4.50% in the Conservative Mandate, NET of fees. The chart below shows annual performance by year. (Note: Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.)

Be near Your people,

Lord, we pray Be near Your people, Lord, we pray, In war’s dark terrifying hour; Do not let fear their faith dismay, Uphold it by Your Spirit’s pow’r.

Their lives are in Your watchful care And can’t be snatched away from You; You number each strand of their hair; And walk with them their whole lives through.

When all the world is crashing down, As death is raining from the sky; Remind them that Your thorny crown Led to Your vict’ry up on high.

You stretched Your arms out on the tree To pay for their sins with Your life; Your wounded hands that set them free Now bear them home through worldly strife.

You know their fears and all their woes, How hard it is for them to cope; Deliver them from all their foes And be their sure and certain hope.

Have mercy, Christ, and bring an end To this war waged against their land; Arise, O Lord, Your cause defend; Restore peace with Your mighty hand!

kurt e. reinhardt