Pastor Kory’s Page for May 11, 2025

What is the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML)?

On this weekend of Mother’s Day, we thank the Lord for the gift of our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and all the loving women He has graciously placed in our lives, homes, and churches. In this Easter season, we’ve also remembered how the Lord chose Mary Magdalene and other women as the first witnesses of Jesus’ empty tomb.

As we give thanks for faithful women both in Bible times, among us today, and throughout the church’s history, I’d like to share a little about a women’s organization in our church body. The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) is an auxiliary ministry of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). The LWML was organized in 1942 and has been integral to the LCMS on both a local and national level ever since. 

To borrow a summary from their website, “the LWML has focused on affirming each woman’s relationship with Christ, encouraging and equipping women to live out their Christian lives in active mission ministries and to support global missions.” (Speaking of the LWML website, I’d encourage you to check it out yourself at lwml.org.)

I’ve been around LWML folks and activities for most of my life as both my mom and grandmother served in the LWML. Through my Lutheran education (5th grade – seminary), I received support, books, and scholarships from LWML groups on multiple occasions. As a pastor, I also worked with LWML groups in my previous congregations. Last year, I was elected to serve as a pastoral counselor to our Mid-South District LWML. In this capacity, I’ll be traveling to the national LWML convention next month in Omaha, NE. 

Next month we’ll also have an opportunity to learn more about the LWML here at St. Matthew. On Sunday, June 8 following the service, we’ll be joined by representatives from nearby LWML groups in our sister congregations. They’ll share about their experiences in the LWML and describe the process for St. Matthew’s women to potentially form a new LWML group. I encourage women of all ages in the congregation to stay and learn more about this possibility.

Generally, women in the LWML meet for regular Bible study and fellowship with their local group. Each LWML group also raises funds to support mission projects, missionaries, our seminaries, non-profit organizations, and more. A local recipient of a recent grant from our Mid-South LWML is the City of Hope Outreach (CoHO) here in Conway. Each LWML District also has regional retreats and workshops, giving women the opportunity to gather with those from sister congregations in the area. (Other nearby congregations with LWML groups include Peace Lutheran in Conway, Hope Lutheran in Jacksonville, and Our Savior Lutheran in Cabot.) You can learn more about the mission grants provided by our Mid-South LWML and other happenings in our region at their website, midsouthlwml.org.

In closing, I’d simply like to share a primary Scripture verse that inspires the women of the LWML: “Serve the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 100:2).  May that verse describe all of us as Christ’s faithful people!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kory Janneke

Pastor Kory’s Page for Easter 2025

            Blessed Easter to you! I want to take a moment to share some background and explanation about a detail pertaining to Easter. The communion liturgy this Easter Sunday refers to Jesus as the “Paschal Lamb.” Recently, another order of service included these words: “Jesus Christ, our Lord … overcame the assaults of the devil and gave His life as a ransom for many that with cleansed hearts we might be prepared joyfully to celebrate the paschal feast in sincerity and truth.”

            What does it mean that Jesus is our Paschal Lamb, or for us to celebrate the paschal feast? In short, “pascha” is the Aramaic word for the Passover. The Passover features prominently in the Bible. On the last night that the Old Testament Israelites spent in Egypt, the angel of the Lord “passed over” Egypt, bringing sudden death to firstborn Egyptians. This was the tenth and final plague which the Lord used to bring about the exodus of His people from slavery. But the Lord provided a means of sparing His people from this final plague: each Israelite family took an unblemished lamb, slaughtered it, painted their doorframes with it, and ate the roast lamb as their final supper in Egypt. Thereafter, the Israelites ate an annual Passover meal as a remembrance of how the Lord delivered them from Egypt. (You can read about the first Passover and the Lord’s instructions for it in Exodus 11-12.)

            More than 1,400 years later, Jesus and His family attended the Passover feasts at Jerusalem (Luke 2:41). Jesus also celebrated several Passovers during His ministry. None was more important than the Passover that took place during Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday, Jesus and His disciples shared the Passover meal one last time, eating the roast lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. The next day, on Good Friday, Jesus became the ultimate Lamb of God and the final sacrifice to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). 

            While Christians no longer observe the Old Testament Passover, we recognize that Jesus is our Paschal Lamb. Early Christians simply called Easter the “pascha.” Today, we celebrate the “paschal feast” by worshipping the Savior who fulfilled the Passover and the entire old covenant for us. We believe that our crucified and risen Jesus is the Passover Lamb, slain for us. As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we also receive the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, given and shed to set us free from sin. Because we’ve been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish (1 Peter 1:19), we joyfully celebrate the paschal feast this Easter!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kory Janneke

Pastor Kory’s Page for February 2025

I’ve been reading a book lately on the science of walking and running. It’s entitled Born to Walk. Its main point is that the human body is designed for walking. This is evident from our human anatomy. Our metabolism also responds best to walking and being on our feet throughout the day. Walking is also an important component of maintaining our mental health. God knew what He was doing when He designed our feet, joints, heart, lungs, and brain for walking.

 Consistent walking is one of the best things we can do for our long-term health. Regardless of how fit we are, we all need to walk. We were not created for sedentary lifestyles. Thankfully, even small doses of walking are still beneficial, especially when done consistently over time. I’m trying to integrate more short walks into daily life, whether around the church building on a cold day, or by parking at the back of a parking lot when I go to the store, or by leashing up our dogs, who are always eager for an outing around the neighborhood!

Through much of history, unless you owned a horse, you had no choice but to walk! In today’s world, walking is merely a form of recreation or something we do in short stints as we navigate around our homes or workplaces, but the people we read about in the Bible walked almost everywhere. Other than a short ride on a colt into Jerusalem, Jesus spent His life walking around the Holy Land, making many long North-South trips between Galilee and Judea. 

Walking was such an essential part of life that the Bible uses it as a metaphor for our relationship with the Lord. Some 200 times, the Bible talks about walking, usually in the sense of walking before the Lord, walking in His ways, or when warning us about walking in darkness.

Just after Adam and Eve fell into sin, “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8), but instead of walking toward Him, they began to hide from Him. Ever since that day, it’s been a struggle for us to walk with the Lord and to walk in His ways. Our sinful human nature would rather walk away from the Lord and the perceived restraints He puts on our lives. Left to ourselves, we’d be walking a direct route to hell.

God be praised, though, that He didn’t abandon us. He sent His Son, Jesus, to enter our human flesh and walk in our shoes. In a sense, Jesus’ life on earth was one long, deliberate walk toward His cross. He did many other great things along the way through His neighborly care and teaching and miracles, but ultimately, Jesus came to lay down His life for us. In doing so, He took the punishment for all our failures to walk according to God’s Commandments.

Then, on the same day that Jesus triumphantly rose for us, what’s one of the first things that He did? Jesus suddenly appeared and went for a walk with two disciples who were leaving Jerusalem (Luke 24:15). In their conversation, Jesus revealed to them how the Old Testament Scriptures revealed Him and pointed toward His death and resurrection.

Because Jesus came and walked blamelessly in our place, carried our sins to the cross, and rose for our redemption, we can look forward to walking with the Lord eternally, just as Adam and Eve did for a brief time in Eden. Revelation 21:24 tells us that, in eternity, the nations will walk by the light of the Lamb. What a day that will be! And what a day it will be when we walk with our Lord, face-to-face, with no more aches and pains and no more stumbles into sin.

Until that day, we continue to “walk by faith, not by sight” (1 Corinthians 5:7); and “walk in the light, as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7); and “love one another’’ and “walk according to His commandments” (2 John 5-6). Just like physical walking, walking with the Lord is also good for you. It’s what you’re made for! How we walk spiritually and behaviorally is a witness of our faith and a way of giving thanks to the Savior who walked the road of the cross for us. So, let’s keep encouraging one another, not only to get in our physical steps, but also to keep walking faithfully with our Lord throughout all the seasons of life.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kory Janneke