Saint Paul Lutheran Church - Wheaton, Illinois

ACTs Newsletter

Worship & Music

Witness/Nurture

A message from Senior Pastor, Melody Eastman		A message from Associate Pastor, Mark Williamson
Highlights of a Sabbatical Writing this article is pretty much my first official act since coming back from Sabbatical -- other than leading at worship on Sunday. What am I bringing back from Sabbatical? Oh my, where to start? I’ll try to let you know the highlights here, and we’ll be talking more over the next months. A truly rested mind and heart I love what I do, and I love the people I serve with—but I had forgotten what it means to just stop. What it means to be right where I am, receiving an abundant outpouring of blessing that I can see because I’m not focusing on what I need to do next week or what I messed up yesterday. Now the trick is to realize that finding this deep rest should not—and must not—depend on someone giving you a grant to go away for three months. We don’t all get this chance (and I’m really sorry about that!), but we can be more intentional about letting those sacred spaces grow in the cracks of our crazy lives. A deep appreciation for the community of faith OK, actually I had this when I left. But, oddly enough, going away on pilgrimage means I went five weeks without worship, communion, communal prayer, or someone proclaiming the Good News to me. Wow, I miss you. I’m starving for the Body of Christ, gathered to be forgiven and shaped and sent with me. It’s really, really good to be back in worship—especially with the people who know my sins and accept me anyway. A profound, urgent, impatient conviction that the world needs us Not just the Church at large (which is true, of course), but specifically the unique and sometimes-uncomfortable witness that is St. Paul. I had a lot of conversations with people regarding faith, church and God while in Spain, and over and over again, I encountered young adults who said, “How can we get a church like yours where I live?” This includes a lot of people who said they didn’t believe in God, or were agnostic. They came from Spain, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, Canada and more. Even though many of them had no faith in God, every single person I talked to was out there seeking some guidance or discernment. (If there’s no God, what are they seeking guidance from?) What did they love about what they heard of St. Paul? Acceptance of questions, the way we study Scripture, willingness to tackle the difficult issues, being Open and Affirming, engaging with the world, cultural diversity, relevance, the kind of music and preaching we worship with. Oh yes — and Jesus. Some of them had never before heard anyone speak of Jesus with passion and love. “I have chills down my back,” one young woman said through an interpreter. “How can I get my faith back?” (I wept inside — I knew I had to walk away in a few weeks, and I didn’t know where she could go.) An ability (I think) to carry that impatient conviction along with the peace that comes from knowing that God is in the moment. This is really what it’s about, isn’t it? Knowing that God is with us, knowing God loves us so much that God has given us a purpose, knowing God has provided for everything needful, and knowing that the journey, at any given point, consists only in taking one more step. But living in that place of one-step faithfulness, there comes a time when you look back and marvel at where you’ve come.		The Lutheran Movement Lutheranism is not essentially a church but a movement. It is not essentially an independent church in competition with other denominational churches. It is a confessional movement that exists for the sake of reforming the whole church of Christ by the canon of the gospel. --Carl Braatan, Principles of Lutheran Theology Have you ever considered the Lutheran church as a movement before? St. Paul as part of a movement? You as a member, or potential member, of a movement? Likely we don’t. Lutherans have been around for awhile now. We usually get lumped in with other established or “oldline” Protestant denominations, and the signs in front of our rather permanent-looking worship spaces (with the notable exception of some college campus ministries) typically say “church,” not “movement.” But that wasn’t the idea, not for Martin Luther and his collaborators. They strove to reform the church; not separate from it to start a new one. Oftentimes we are all too eager to pat ourselves on the back for really nailing it (to a door, specifically) 500 years ago, when we ought to be recommitting ourselves to God's as-yet-unfinished reformation of the church. To get us back in the “movement” frame of mind, I offer the following hopefully unsettling points: There is only one church in Wheaton. In fact, there’s only one church, period—just check the Nicene Creed. Usually I tell people that we’ve got churches on every corner in Wheaton, of every sort. And it’s not just a matter of street addresses and branding; they have some very real differences. But that doesn’t change the truth that the Holy Spirit—as only the Holy Spirit can possibly manage—unites them as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Body, destined for a single future. This puts our church-ness at St. Paul in proper perspective and also suggests... You can’t convert to Lutheranism. Not really. I know it can be a very substantial change to join a community like St. Paul after years in a different Christian tradition. Still, if you have been baptized into the one church of Christ, then that comes first and takes precedence. Convert derives from the same word as repent, which means turn around, do a 180°. Becoming a Christian is a 180°. Becoming a Lutheran from some other sort of Christian is more like a 30°. You joined a movement. Now you flow at a little different angle, but you’re part of the same river. Newer isn’t always better. Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda (the reformed church always reforming) is one of the great slogans that emerged out of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It’s an important reminder for any Protestant community that has grown too comfortable or satisfied that the task of reform continues. But it also sometimes gets conveyed as “constant change is good” or “newer is always better.” Neither of these is what was intended. The full motto ends with secundum verbi dei—“according to the word of God”—or, as Dr. Braatan puts it, “by the canon of the gospel.” The Lutheran movement moves ahead not through sheer innovation but by being firmly tethered to the Bible. “About that plank in my eye…” At this point in the church’s fragmented history, with denominations galore and the ELCA one of them, it can be hard to believe that the “whole church,” including the Church of Rome, is paying any attention to our movement. But if we strain for the God’s eye view, we’ll only hurt our eyes. Our calling lies in a particular time and place and begins in our own faith community. Reformation, like discipleship, happens first and foremost by example. So in what areas does our practice fail to reflect our confession of faith? Do we listen for God’s word as both Law and Gospel, commandment and grace? Do we intercede for one another daily in prayer, believing that every Christian is a priest? Do we rely on Christ and his cross alone for our salvation and worth, or do we strive to save and prove ourselves through our own merits? Ask only a few of those sorts of questions and this much is certainly true: we Lutheran Christians of St. Paul have a deep need for being reformed by our steadfastly loving and patient God. When we admit that, the movement is poised to begin afresh.

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515 S. Wheaton Avenue - Wheaton, Illinois - 60187

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