The Pastor's Windshield article for July 2023

I haven’t watched a lot of the classic sitcom, “Cheers,” but I do know the refrain of the opening song. I wonder if you remember it? 

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name

And they’re always glad you came

You want be where you can see

Our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody knows your name

Now, if you frequent a bar like “Cheers” so much that everybody literally knows your name, that’s probably not a healthy thing! More seriously though, don’t you appreciate being in a setting in which you’re known and welcome? Isn’t it nice to be called by name? Don’t you love it when someone lets you know they’re glad to see you?

Being a place “where everybody knows your name” is a good goal for a Christian congregation like ours, wouldn’t you say?

I hold in my hands the first draft of St. Matthew’s new pictorial directory. It’s a simple printout of names of individuals, couples, and families with our photos and contact information. And it’s a tool to help us learn just a little bit more about one another.

I want to challenge our members to use this directory to learn as many names as you’re able. Then, when you see those folks, call them by name. Help us make St. Matthew an even more warm and inviting church than it already is.

Our new directory, coming in this 25th year of St. Matthew’ ministry, is another step in looking ahead to our next 25 years. In the coming years, the individual faces will change. New faces will be added. Faces will mature. Photos of some faces will remind us of saints who departed to be with Christ.

We confess that our Lord’s church isn’t built on you or me, or on any other individuals, past, present, or future. It is built on Jesus Christ our Lord! He is our one Foundation. He is the Rock on which we stand firm, no matter what may be happening around us in this troubled world.

Peter called us Christians “living stones … being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). Paul used a metaphor for the church of one body and many members: “all the members of the body, though many, are one body … For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). 

I would suggest an additional metaphor for the church: we are a people whose faces, names, and lives reflect the loving face of Jesus. 

A photo in our church entryway is designed with this in mind. Each individual photo from St. Matthew is blended into the portrait to become part of a much more important image, that of Christ Jesus.

It's the same for us. Each one of us who is part of the life of this congregation has been united with the other members to reflect the life and love of Jesus, both within our fellowship and in our service to those outside of the congregation. Knowing this, let’s continue to learn one another’s names and stories within our congregation, and then together, let’s share the great name of Jesus and reflect Him both on our individual faces and in our personal acts of witness and throughout our shared life as His church.

In Christ’s peace,

                        Pastor Kory Janneke

Jesus' Invitation to You

This past Sunday we reflected on the Third Commandment:  "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."

At the outset of Christianity, the first disciples set aside Sunday to gather together for early Christian worship. This was a departure from the Old Testament practice of ending the week with the Sabbath on Saturday. Sunday stood out to these New Testament believers for two primary reasons. First and foremost, Jesus rose from the dead early on a Sunday morning, the first day of the week. Second, the Holy Spirit whom Jesus had promised was sent upon the first disciples on another Sunday, fifty days later at the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Stemming from these two world-changing Sundays, the first Christians began keeping the Sabbath on Sunday.

They also kept the Sabbath differently than God's Old Testament people or their Jewish contemporaries. More than ceasing to work and taking a day to rest physically, New Testament Christians kept the Sabbath as a Christ-centered day. They gathered together in their homes and in the temple courts in Jerusalem and gave thanks for Jesus' life and ministry among them and for His death and resurrection for their salvation. They recalled and discussed Jesus' words, along with His ancient words through the pens of the Old Testament prophets. They sang the songs of Jesus as recorded in the Bible's songbook - the Psalms. They received Jesus' body and blood for their forgiveness in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. In short, they sought to keep the Sabbath by gathering in remembrance of Jesus, trusting His promise that He was with them as they gathered in His name, and by receiving the gifts of His Word and Sacrament.

So how can you keep the Sabbath as a New Testament Christian 2,000 years after those first Christians?  In much the same way as they did - receive God's Word! Hear the voice of your Shepherd & Savior Jesus. As Martin Luther put it in his Small Catechism, God wants us to gladly hear and learn God's Word, both in public reading and preaching of the Word and in our personal and family devotional reading of Scripture. In that sense, keeping the Sabbath is not just something to be done on a set day of the week (such as Saturday or Sunday) but everyday! We keep the Sabbath "holy" when God's Holy Word is on our hearts and minds and lips.

Along with Sunday, the day most Christians have set aside for public worship services, every day, is a day to rest in God's Word and promises - to rest in Jesus Himself and His amazing grace and in the salvation He has already accomplished for you and which is yours as a baptized believer in Him.

Both every day and every Lord's Day (Sunday), Jesus invites us, as He does in the words of Matthew 11, "Come to Me ... and you will find rest for your souls."

Making a Name for Yourself?

The world pressures us to make a name for ourselves. Pad your resume. Show off your feats on social media. Climb the corporate ladder. Seek awards and accolades. 

But one episode in the Bible in which people were collectively working to make a name for themselves didn’t end so well. That happened at a place called Babel where people were building a great tower as a monument to their own achievement. But the Lord put a stop to it. He confused their languages and thwarted their designs at making a name for themselves apart from Him. (See the full story in Genesis 11:1-9.)

This past Sunday, we resumed our summer series on the Ten Commandments by focusing on God’s name. The Second Commandment teaches us, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:7). This Commandment shows that God cares about how His name is used among us. After all, He’s both our Maker and our Savior! Why would we want to do anything to dishonor His great name?

God reveals Himself to us most personally by taking on our human flesh and assuming a human name, the name of Jesus. This name was revealed by angelic decree as the name which Mary and Joseph were to give to her son, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). 

The name Jesus means “the Lord saves.” Every time we hear that name, we’re meant to be reminded that that is why Jesus came for us – to save us from our sins, from hell, from hopelessness, and to save us for an eternity in the joy of His presence!

Because of Jesus, we don’t have to make a name for ourselves in the eyes of the world. He sets us free! We don’t need to live under the tyranny of what other people think of us and our achievements because we know what our God thinks of us!  In Jesus, God sees you as His new creation, bearing the name of His Son Jesus Christ to whom you now belong, by Baptism and belief in Him. 

God has made a new name for you! He makes you His Christian, calling you by the name that is above all names, that of His Son, your Savior Jesus Christ.

Don’t stress about making a name for yourself in this short life on earth. Instead, thank God for giving you access to Him through Jesus, so that you can call on His saving name, and joyfully bear His name as His beloved son or daughter in Christ.