I’ve found that of all the sermons that I have prepared to be preached from this pulpit, this one that I have to preach today has perhaps been the most difficult to write. For starters, it’s an emotional one because this is the last time I will preach to you from this pulpit as your Pastor. If you ever hear me preach again, it will either be that you have invited me to come back as a guest speaker, or you’ll perhaps be visiting one of the congregations in the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish, or another church where I’ll be preaching. Another factor that makes this a tough preaching assignment is the question of what do I talk about? How does a Pastor go about summarizing his thoughts as he leaves a congregation he has served, and people in it that he has come to know and dearly love, but also knowing that there may well be some in that same group who aren’t so sad to see him leave? It makes for a tough assignment. Especially when you want to make sure the sermon points people to Christ and His Word one last time before you leave.
Over the past couple of weeks, as I thought about this day, I came across the sermon text I chose for today from the book of Acts and it seemed to be a perfect fit for me. In it, the Apostle Paul is faced with a similar situation to what we have together this morning. Allow me to set the scene. Paul was of course one of the greatest missionaries that ever lived. At one point in his ministry, Paul had been in the city of Ephesus, preaching about Jesus Christ, and had planted a Christian congregation in that city. Paul had also spent some time away from his congregation at Ephesus. For a moment in his travels, he had the chance to return to Ephesus one last time to address the leaders of that church, and give them some encouragement as he would be leaving them. In a lot of ways, you could say this chapter is his “farewell sermon” to the leaders at Ephesus. There are some things in this last sermon that he wanted to make sure the Ephesians remembered after he left. Things I also want you, the people of God at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, to keep in mind as I leave you today.
The first thing I want to leave you with is this: Remember why God brought us together in this pastor-parishoner relationship. Paul says to the Ephesians “For you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v.18-21) Here, Paul tells the Ephesians the reason God brought them together, so that Paul would not cower in fear, but boldly declare to all in Ephesus the truth that we are sinful in thought, word, and deed, and faced the wrath of God, but that Jesus Christ had died for our sins, and risen again so that we would die to sin and rise to new life with Him.
For you, the people of God at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, I want you to take these words to heart and remember: that’s the reason God worked through the call process in the summer of 2007 to bring me into your lives. God called me here to proclaim to you two things every time I stepped into this pulpit, God’s Word of Law, and His Word of Gospel. He placed me here so that you would hear the Scriptural truth that you were “sinful from the moment of your birth, sinful from the time your mother conceived you” (Psalm 51:5), that you had sinned in thought, word, and deed, and that you faced God’s wrath and judgment in the end if you did not turn from your sinful ways to repentance and faith in Christ before the day of grace had ended. And then, it was my joy to proclaim to you the Gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ has lived the perfect, sinless life you and I were not able to live on the cross, and because of what Christ has done for you, you were forgiven of all of your sins. It doesn’t matter if you were Danish, or Swedish, or German, or Norwegian, or even Lutheran for that matter. That promise was for each and every one of you who believed in Jesus Christ, and turned to Him in repentance and faith. That was the reason God allowed our paths to cross these past couple of years, so that you would hear that message from the Word of God each week. So that you would be able to hear of God’s great love for you. I wasn’t the one giving the forgiveness, I was merely the chosen instrument God called to bring this about so that you would either 1) be brought to faith in Christ, or 2) be strengthened in your faith in Christ. And it has been a great joy to see many of you grow in your understanding and faith in that time. It has been a privilege to bring that comforting message of the Gospel to you in good times, and bad times. At the baptismal font, on a wedding day, or by the graveside of one you loved who had died in the faith. So that’s the first thing I want you to remember on this day of separation, remember why God brought us together in the first place.
That covers the beginning. But today marks the end of my ministry in your midst. And Paul talks about that as well with the Ephesians in our text. He tells them: “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.” (v. 22-23) What Paul is telling them is that while it won’t be easy, it’s time for him to move on, to proclaim that same Gospel message to others in Jerusalem that He had been proclaiming in Ephesus.
Likewise for you, it’s time to talk about why I’m leaving. I know many of you since I made my announcement back on December 16th that I had accepted the call to McConnellsburg have come to me and expressed your feelings about our move. Truth is, anytime a Pastor leaves a congregation to serve another, there are a range of emotions that go through the members of that church. I know some of you are sad to see me leave, and in some cases, don’t want me to leave. Others of you are angry, either at myself, or others you want to blame for my decision to leave. And yes, there are always one or two in a congregation who don’t appreciate a particular Pastor’s ministry, and are relieved or happy to see a particular Pastor leave. There are going to be a variety of feelings and opinions this day on where you stand regarding my leaving Our Saviour’s. And that’s okay. Everyone is entitled to feel the way they do, and even express that in an appropriate manner. And while there are other factors of things that happened here that went into my decision to leave, the deep down, ultimate reason I made the decision I did is found in Paul’s words here: “Constrained by the Spirit.” For Paul, it wasn’t His choice where he went on his journeys and how long he would stay in a particular city or congregation, it was God’s choice. Likewise, that’s the way it is for me. Ultimately, just as it was the work of the Spirit through a call process to bring me here to Our Saviour’s, it was the Holy Spirit’s work that led the congregations of the McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish to extend a call to me, and cause me to wrestle with that call, and in the end, I was indeed “constrained by the Spirit,” and God made it clear to me through that process and through input by people here, in McConnellsburg, my family, and friends in the ministry that it was time for me to hand this ministry at Our Saviour’s off to someone else, and go on to McConnellsburg. In the end, I’m not the one who is in charge of my life, where I will live, or what congregations I will serve, It’s God’s call, not mine, not yours.
Up to this point, we’ve talked a lot about the past. But now, it’s time to focus on the future. Both for you and for me as we go about our separate ways. What will we be about in our Father’s kingdom in this world before we are re-united together in the splendors of heaven again someday? For me, the task of “testifying to the gospel of the grace of God” will continue. The message will be the same. The only thing that will change is the setting. Instead of preaching in one larger church on a Sunday morning, I will be preaching in three smaller churches. I will be spending more time traveling to serve these congregations that I have serving you. I will not have as many active committees in the three congregations of the parish as I have here, but I will have three sets of council meetings each month, and a few joint parish council meetings each year. Instead of a strong Danish heritage, and the old UELC and American Lutheran Church influencing life in this congregation, I will be serving congregations with a German background and heritage that comes from the old United Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church in America, which is a bit different than what you are accustomed to. While the names and places and heritage change, the ultimate task I have been called to do will not, proclaiming God’s Word of Law and Gospel to the people under my spiritual care.
And likewise for you, your ultimate task as a congregation doesn’t change just because I’m not your Pastor anymore. Paul talked about that with the Ephesian congregation when he warned the elders there : “Pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert…” (v. 28-31a) Paul recognized the great danger that would lie ahead for the Ephesian congregation: the temptation to abandon the true Gospel and adopt a false one instead, one that was no gospel at all. Now I happen to be acquainted with your incoming Interim Pastor, Rev. Larry Lystig, and I know that Pastor Lystig is a solid, confessional Lutheran pastor, and you will have some solid preaching from him. He will be a tremendous blessing for you during the interim, and I encourage you to give him your utmost attention and respect as he works with you through some issues and serves you through Word and Sacrament during the interim. But, my concern for your future as a congregation at Our Saviour’s is this: the temptation to abandon the Word of God, and water it down or change it to fit in with the world out there. Some of you already pay attention to and see what larger churches are doing in other places, and you’ll want to grow like they are, so you’ll want to adopt their methods, whether they are truly Scriptural or not. Don’t be so quick to do that! The fact is, I’ve seen this temptation arise in some of your hearts already. I know what that pressure is like! I know some of you want to give into that. But don’t do it! Stay in the Word. Continue to center your life together as a congregation around Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified for sins of the world. There is no more uplifting message than to hear that your sins are forgiven, and that you have the assurance of eternal life. People will be watching this congregation to see what happens in the months ahead. If you abandon your doctrine, the solid Biblical, scriptural truths you have heard from this pulpit, in favor of being popular with the world,
Following it’s definition of what’s “uplifting” by taking Christ out of the picture or changing Him into a false Christ that is not the Christ revealed to us in the Scriptures, you will have nothing to offer this community, and you will not be the church that God intends for you to be. Don’t let numbers and the ever changing statistical report rule the day, let the Word of Christ do that instead!
You see, I am leaving you with this. The Holy Bible. God’s unchanging Word to us. This is “The word of (God’s) grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (v. 32) This book is God’s Word. It isn’t a doctrinal buffet table for you to pick and choose from. This is what will build you up as Christian men, women, and children, in the faith. This is where you will hear about your inheritance of eternal life won for you by Jesus Christ! This is where you will learn what the Christian life is really all about. You won’t find it in the world out there, or in your ever changing emotions and experiences, you will only find it in God’s Word! It’s here you learn that the Christian faith isn’t about the stuff of the world, stuff that will easily break, or fade away. It’s about eternity. Stay in the Word! Study it. Get reacquainted with it! Center your lives around it!
Today is a difficult day. It’s a “transitional day” if you will. It marks the end of one era, and the beginning of another. For me, today marks the end of my time as Pastor at Our Saviour’s and the beginning of a new chapter in McConnellsburg. For you, today marks the end of one Pastor’s time with you, and the beginning of a process to call your next one. It’s rather appropriate then, on my last day, as my final Pastoral act at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, to baptize little Aiden Kyle Kjergaard. On a personal note, it brings my time with you full circle, as my first burial was Aiden’s grandfather. They are united together not just through blood, but through the promises of Christ and His Word. Today, Aiden’s Christian walk begins when his parents bring him here to this baptismal font. They, and you as a congregation, are going to promise to put the Word of Christ into this child’s hands, and teach him about the great love his Savior has for him. This baptism on my last day is a vivid reminder to all of us that the work of testifying to the Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t end today, but that it is an ongoing task both for myself as a Pastor moving on, and for you as a congregation moving forward from this day.sa
So don’t stop proclaiming that message of Law and Gospel from God’s Word just because I won’t be here anymore. Remember that once I leave here, I will continue to proclaim that same message to the people of St.Paul, McConnellsburg, St. Paul’s, Big Cove Tannery, and Mt. Zion, Little Cove. Remember that God has called you to stand firm in His Word. Remember that there is a reason that this church is named Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. This isn’t your church. This isn’t my church. This is Christ’s church. He is the head of it, we are merely the caretakers of it for the brief time we have in this world. This is where He wants to give you the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation through His unchanging Word and Sacraments, in the midst of a world that’s constantly changing and seemingly out of control. So don’t ever take your focus off of that. And if it is for you personally, I encourage you to get your focus straightened out, so that you don’t lose those precious gifts for yourself and for future generations!
Remember that although we will be separated by geography, for those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as our savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil, we are always united together in Christ, and we will see each other again one day; maybe not in this world, but in the splendors of paradise where we will see with our own eyes these promises fulfilled.
It will be our ongoing prayer that God will richly bless the ministry of Word and Sacrament at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, giving thanks to Him for the time we have had with you. May He bless each one of you with His Grace for Jesus’ sake until we meet again. Amen.
