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Higher Things
de n si n o In io es at nc rm re fo fe In Con ‘09 HT
Inside this issue:
• Ten Things You Don’t
Know About Your Pastor
• Happy Holidays. You’re a Baboon. • Honor Our Fathers and Mothers (Which Commandment Is That Again?) W W W. H I G H E RT H I N G S . O R G
/ WINTER / 2008
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Contents T A B L E
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FEATURES 4 The Top Ten Things Teenagers Don’t Know (or Want to Know) About Their Pastor
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By Rev. Prof. Jeffrey Pulse They’re mysteries, those pastors. What do they do in their spare time? Do they all live like monks? And how much do they really know about you? In a tell-all glimpse into the secret lives of pastors, Pastor Pulse divulges the truth you’ve been waiting to hear.
It Takes Time
By Mr. Mark Pfundstein It’s hard to be mature.You’re trying to act grown up, but for now you’re in this middle, awkward stage.You’re not a baby, but you’re just not quite an adult yet. So what’s a teenager to do? Start by reading Mr. Pfundstein’s advice on how to act your age.
10 The Lord Has Good Use for You
By Rev. Brent Kuhlman To do good works or not do good works . . . that is the question. Or is it? Do we do them to make God happy? Or do we do them in service to our neighbor? And really, what’s going to happen to us if we don’t do any at all? When it comes to good works, Pastor Kuhlmann has the answer.
12 Honor Our Fathers and Mothers (Which Commandment Is That Again?) By Dcs. Rachel Thompson Sometimes it’s more fun to be naughty than nice. Sure, our parents taught us to be respectful, kind, considerate, and thoughtful. But do we have to be perfect all the time? Can’t we just act up now and then? Pleeeease? Dcs.Thompson knows a thing or two about disobeying parents, and she’s ready to fess up.
20 A Call to Defend
By Rev. Bernie Schey The elections are over.The political ads are done. The hype has died down. But through it all, families of soldiers are still missing their loved ones and waiting for their return home.You can help. If you know a family of a soldier, Pastor Schey will help you help them.
HigherThings Volume 8/Number 4/Winter 2008 Editor REV. TIM
Adriane’s New Look
Volume 8/Number 4 • Winter 2008
22 Happy Holidays. You’re a Baboon.
PAULS
Managing Editor ADRIANE DORR
The Lucky Guy JACOB CORZINE The Date JULY 31,
2009
By Rev. Tim Pauls That’s right. We said it.You’re a baboon. Actually, you’re not.The American Humanist Association said you were, but Pastor Pauls disagrees.You’re not an animal.You’re a child of God.You’re created in His image. So, merry Christmas! You’re not a monkey after all.
The Unlucky Guys “TAKE A NUMBER.”— GRUMPY SINGLE GUY,
By Rev. George F. Borghardt III Peter is the frustrating disciple. He’s always speaking out of turn, saying what he shouldn’t, making a ruckus, and being obnoxious (and no, we’re not talking about your little brother). But, believe it or not, Pastor Borghardt’s found a time when Peter actually got things right. Check out this article for Peter’s confession of Christ that speaks for us all.
REV. GREG ALMS REV. PAUL BEISEL REV. BART DAY REV. DAVID PETERSEN
24 Peter and His Rocky Confession
26 Homosexuality: Not Gay and Not Biblical
By Rev. Eric Andrae You’ll hear about it from your teachers and college professors, from friends who are Christians, and from the society: it’s not a sin to be gay. But Scripture says differently. To get in on the conversation, read Pastor Andrae’s critique of what the culture tells you is okay about homosexuality.
COLUMNS 8 Christ on Campus:
About the Father’s Business
By Rev. Marcus Zill College is a time of seeking truth and answers. Students want to know what’s right and wrong and why. But Pastor Zill encourages your college years to be a time of seeking Christ, who is truth incarnate, and who can only be found where He has promised to be: in His water, Word, and forgiveness.
14 An Answered Prayer
By Kathy Luder Maybe Kathy’s been reading too much Twilight or maybe it was a late night out watching it at the movie theater. But either way, she’s got vampires on the brain, and coming into contact with them turns out to be more than a deadly nightmare.
28 Something Good to Say
By Rev. David Petersen The Eighth Commandment is easy to break. After all, your grandma’s purple hair is just begging to be made fun of. But it’s a commandment nonetheless. So what happens now? No worries. You have a Friend who never gossips about you, and Pastor Petersen tells you He is anxious to speak good things about you on earth and in heaven.
FORT WAYNE, IN
Assistant Editor JULIE BECKWITH Art Director STEVE BLAKEY Editorial Associates
Business Manager LYNNETTE FREDERICKSEN Financial Manager
CONNIE BRAMMEIER Subscriptions Manager
ELIZABETH CARLSON Webmaster STAN LEMON
___________ Christ on Campus Executive REV. MARCUS ZILL
Conferences Executive REV. GEORGE F. BORGHARDT
III
Internet Services Executive REV. MARK BUETOW Publications Executive CAROLYN COCKEY Retreat Executive LANDON REED
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Board of Directors President REV. WILLIAM
CWIRLA
Secretary SANDRA OSTAPOWICH Treasurer
LYNN FREDERICKSEN REV. JOEL FRITSCHE REV. DAVID KIND REV. BRENT KUHLMANN REV. LARRY NICHOLAS MARK PFUNDSTEIN ___________ Higher Things Magazine ISSN 1539-8455 is published quarterly by Higher Things, Inc., 5009 Cassia, Boise, ID 83705. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the executive editor of Higher Things Magazine. Copyright 2008. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri. For subscription information and questions, call 1-888-448-2359 or e-mail subscriptions@higherthings.org. (This phone number is only used for subscription queries.) For letters to the editor, write letters@higher things.org. Writers may submit manuscripts to: submissions@higherthings.org. Please check http://higherthings.org/magazine/writers.html for writers’ guidelines and theme lists.
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Ten Things Teenagers Don’t Know About Their Pastor By Rev. Jeffrey Pulse
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t first, he was “that man up there” in long flowing white robes, doing all manner of strange and interesting things. He was Jesus! But that did not last long.Then he was the teenage torturer with his weapons of memory work and sermon summaries, somehow in cahoots with your parents to deprive you of all manner of free time with your friends. Now, well, now he is the pastor, your pastor, but what does this mean? We have a general idea on this pastor thing, but we are not too sure about our pastor. Who is he really? Is he different from other pastors: Lutheran pastors, your friends’ pastors, pastors around the world? Who is this guy anyway?
The Top Ten Things Teenagers Don’t Know (or Want to Know) About Their Pastor
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Does my pastor have a life? Yes, he does, although some pastors’ lives are livelier than others. He has friends (even non-members!), hobbies, and responsibilities that are not directly part of the church. Please do not tell the elders. What does he do in his free time? While the old joke that pastors only work one hour a week is most certainly not true, they still have free time. Most of us spend that time with our families and friends doing what families and friends do. What about his family? What about his family?
What is his home life like? Does it involve lots of candles and prayers? I suppose the candle thing is a matter of preference, and although Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing, your pastor’s home is no monastery (I hope!).You would probably feel right at home sitting around his table, asking to borrow the car. Will my pastor loan me his car? Probably not. What does my pastor think about me? What does he know about me? He probably knows more about you than you realize. (Be afraid. Be very afraid! Ok, just kidding.) As far as what he thinks about you, that is the tough question.Tough, not because I have bad news, rather, tough because the feelings that pastors have for their congregations, especially the young people, run pretty deep and are hard to express. Maybe that is why you ask the question. Concern, responsibility, love . . . that scratches the surface. Does he have time for me if I want to talk? If I do talk, how much will he tell my parents? Your pastor will make time to talk with you. After all, he only works one hour a week. Wait, we’ve already covered that. Pastors take the privacy rule of counseling very seriously. However, if what you share with him involves your physical and spiritual safety, his love for you may cause him to talk to your parents.
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Why is he a pastor? How did he get the job? First, it is important to understand that being a pastor is not a job. Being a pastor is a calling—a calling from God. Your pastor is a pastor because God called him into the Holy Ministry, and he is addicted to the big paychecks and lucrative book deals. What does he think about his job, I mean, calling? Depends which day it is! Some days chickens and some days feathers, which means it is not always an easy calling.There are days when it is pretty tough because of the things a pastor has to deal with. Other days are so amazing and full of joy you forget about the hard days. What exactly is his job (oops, you know what I mean)? A pastor is called to be a shepherd and a servant. He is a shepherd under Jesus Christ who has a flock (your congregation) entrusted to him. He is a servant just as Jesus came to serve and minister to our needs. In other words, your pastor is called by your congregation with the guidance of the Holy Spirit to preach God’s Word and administer the Holy Sacraments. He is shepherd and servant as he leads you day by day in the paths of God surrounded by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.That may sound like a lot of church speak, but it helps us to see why pastors do what they do and who they do it for. Where do I fit in with all of this? Now you’ve finally hit on the really big question! In the eyes of your pastor, you are one of those entrusted to his care. When I was your age, I kept my pastor pretty busy, but he was faithful and loved me even when I was unlovable, which was most of the time. (Hmm. My students say that some things never change.) Pastors care very deeply for every member of their congregation, and that means you! So, who is your pastor? At first he was Jesus. And then he wasn’t. But rest assured that he does work very closely with Him. Rev. Prof. Jeffrey Pulse is Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and also serves as pastor of Shepherd of the City Lutheran. He can be reached at jeffrey.pulse@ctsfw.edu.
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It Takes Time By Mark Pfundstein
How many times have you been told to act your age? Your mother may have said this to you once or twice because even though she gave birth to you fifteen years ago, you were behaving like a five-year-old child.You probably weren’t kicking and screaming on the floor, but you may not have been behaving appropriately for someone your age. But what is acting your age? It is sometimes hard to know. You are neither a child nor an adult.You are too old to play with toys but not old enough drive yourself to the mall or to sit around the dinner table with adults as they discuss politics, work, and life in general. So what is a teenager to do? What, indeed! It is important to put everything in a little perspective. People don’t spring forth as adults, fully formed and ready for life. Instead, we enter this world completely helpless. It is only as we grow that we acquire what we need to mature and become an adult. Essential to this is the guidance and wisdom of our parents. Your first steps were most likely hesitant and unsteady steps between your parents, who stood ready to catch you when you fell. Gradually, your steps became more confident. Still, you were unable to stray any farther than your front yard without your mother or father. Little by little you were able take on more responsibility and more complicated activities. Eventually, you were able to cross the street or walk to the park, at first with your parents, then by yourself. At some point, you were able to go places farther from home without your parents. Each milestone builds on one another. Some come quickly. Others come slowly. Sometimes they seem painfully slow. As a teenager, I was often impatient for grown up things.“Wouldn’t it be great if I could drive?” or “I wish I could have my own house where I make the rules,” I thought to myself. As teenagers, we believe ourselves to be ready for real life and act as though we know what we’re doing. Sometimes we strut around acting like we have all of the answers and know how to handle things. In reality, we are just pretending. But as much as I liked to think so, as a fifteen-yearold, I was completely unready to live without my parents.There is no way I was mature enough to have a job, maintain a residence, pay bills, and have a family. Surviving high school was stressful and responsibility enough. At this time, however, I was ready to learn how to drive, have my first job, and manage the money I made from my work.To be sure, it wasn’t truly real life, but I was gradually making my way there. Through all of these things, my parents nurtured and instructed me. As my parents and as adults, my mother and father were mature people who had experienced these things before and could teach me
the skills needed to be a mature adult.They could see when I was ready for some things but unready for others.They were prepared to encourage me, correct me, and discipline me when appropriate. Finally, I left my parents, went to college, and eventually started life on my own. I had reached maturity, or at least maturity of a sort. I have come to find that no matter how old one is, there are always aspects of one’s life that will continue to mature and develop.There are always different parts of life that will challenge you, improve you, and make you grow.The most important part of life where we are never fully mature and where we are continually challenged is spiritual maturity. Unlike our physical, emotional, and intellectual maturity, our spiritual maturity is not something that will naturally develop, nor is it something that we can achieve ourselves. While earthly maturity continually pushes toward independence, growing in spiritual maturity is an ever-increasing realization of our absolute dependence on God.This is not something that comes naturally, since the doctrine of salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection is foolishness to the unbeliever. But in our Baptism, we were reborn, and as we grow in our Baptism, we are continually instructed by the Father through His Word. The world and our sinful nature are always pushing us toward trusting in our own strength, knowledge, and wisdom. Relying on our own strength, knowledge, and wisdom is the height of folly; we cannot save ourselves. Our salvation and our spiritual maturity come by understanding that because of our sin, only the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ can save us. It is also important to realize that God forgives our lack of maturity and does not expect us to be perfect before accepting us. As teenagers and Christians, it is hard to know how we fit into this world.The maturity we require takes time to develop. Our parents and our heavenly Father are ready, willing, and able to help us realize our full maturity. But be patient; it takes time. Mr. Mark Pfundstein is a member of the Higher Things Board of Directors and lives in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at mpfundstein@gmail.com.
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