The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for April 29, 2021

Yesterday was a cloudy, rainy day in Collinsville, a lazy day. Diane and I sat on the back porch and listened to the birds. One bird, a cardinal I think, chirped loudly from the tree next door, and from a tree in our yard came an answer. This “conversation” went on for a long time. Diane imagined that the first bird was saying, “I’m going to the grocery store. Do you need anything?” The other bird answered, “Yeah, could you pick up some worms?” Sitting there, doing nothing, was good for our souls. 

A robin hopped to the edge of the roof ridge on our neighbor’s garage. Sat there for awhile, looking around, and then flew off to… I don’t know where but obviously the bird had something to do. I thought of people who had things they had to do, whose days are filled with work. Dr. Thomas Egger, my successor at Concordia Seminary, Pastors Kyle Wright and Arthur Eichhorn, who now serve congregations where I was pastor many years ago, came to mind. I don’t know the specific tasks they face, but I know very well the general nature of their work. Been there, done that, for many years. I reflected on all of you have to, get to, go to work every day. 

The other day in class a student shared an article from the New York Times about “languishing.” The reporter said many people are “languishing” these Covid days. I wonder if that’s caused, at least in part, by our always being so busy that we don’t know how to sit and do nothing, to sit and just be. These days I am spending much of my time thinking earnestly about the life to come, and am reading deeply in theology and the Bible. There’s biblical reason to think this satisfaction I feel sitting quietly in the goodness of creation may be a little glimpse of heaven. 

“I’m going to the grocery store. What do you want for supper?” “How about toasted-cheese sandwiches?” That wasn’t the birds; it was Diane and Dale. Whatever your busyness today, may you find time for the peace that passes all understanding. “A man who would live in this frenzied time without being himself in a frenzy must learn that life has room enough for solitude, and creation, but much of one’s solitude is caught in a crowd” (Carlyle Marney).   

The Meyer Minute for April 28, 2021

Sometimes God seems slow in answering our prayers, but today we see prayers being answered. “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). It’s Call Day, and interns and concluding students at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis will receive their assignments.  

Permit me to thank Concordia’s donors. There is much about seminaries today that people don’t know. For example, “Few theological schools any longer have students from only one denomination. Many do not even have a majority of students from one Christian family. In these schools Unitarian-Universalists, Pentecostals, Anglicans, Baptists, and historic black church members are all preparing for ministry together. While this diversity provides multiple educational benefits, it makes it difficult to educate all students in the particularities of their own communities” (Daniel Aleshire, “Beyond Profession,” 101). Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, are unusual, only providing pastors to our denomination, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.  

That means the Seminary knows and serves a specific “market,” Christians who share the same biblical faith. It also means that we place our graduates into first ministry positions, whereas students at seminaries that serve many denominations often must find their own places. This tight connection between Seminary and congregations is reflected by the amazing support of donors. About 90 per cent of Concordia’s income comes from donors. Because people in local congregations know the importance of the Seminary to the present and future ministry of their congregations, they are generous. Students at LCMS seminaries have their tuition paid by the generosity of donors. 

God can be in the details. Congratulations, students. You continue to be in our prayers. And thank You, Lord, for answering prayers this Call Day! You can watch our prayers being answered by going to the website, CSL.edu. 

The Meyer Minute for April 27, 2021

The news this morning is about the 2020 census, especially how it will change representation in the House of Representatives. Here in Illinois, we will lose one House seat. Other states will also lose one seat: Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and California. Those seats are going south or west where, interestingly, states gaining tend Republican and have lower taxes. All the reporting led me to this conclusion: I don’t matter. You don’t either. You are simply one number in the monstrous, impersonal scheme of things.  

But an effort of the will, let’s call it faith, says, “No, I am not an inconsequential number. God knows me, me, “just as I am.” About all His people, He says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name” (Isaiah 43:1). And that comes down to you and me individually. “Nathaniel said to him (Jesus), ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you’” (John 1:48). “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name” (John 10:3). “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him” (Nahum 1:7).  

This comfort takes some effort on our part, further growing in our life of faith. God gives this maturation through His Word, but the impersonal nature of this world doesn’t hurt either. Like a child needing a hug, the stuff of this world makes Jesus' invitation so welcome, “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28). “I know my own; My own know Me. / You, not the world, My face shall see. / My peace I leave with you. Amen.” (Lutheran Service Book, 645:5) 

The Meyer Minute for April 26, 2021

I had a good laugh over the weekend. I came across a small, old book of selections from “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” Benjamin Franklin, who published “Poor Richard’s Almanac” from 1732 to 1758, introduced each year’s almanac with a short preface he wrote under the name “Richard Saunders.” My laugh came from the 1738 preface, allegedly written by Saunder’s wife. 

“Dear Readers, my good man set out last week for Potowmack, to visit an old stargazer of his acquaintance, and to see about a little place for us to settle and end our days on. He left a copy of his Almanack seal’d up, and bid me send it to the press. I suspected something, and therefore, as soon as he was gone, I open’d it, to see if he had not been flinging some of his old skitts (jokes) at me. Just as I thought, so it was. He had put into his preface, that his wife Bridget was this, and that, and t’other…. In short, I thought the preface was not worth a-printing, and so I fairly scratch’d it all out, and I believe you’ll like our Almanack never the worse for it.” 

I once preached about the passage that says, “the husband is the head of the wife” (Ephesians 5:23). An elderly woman wrote to me, you could infer her age by her fine penmanship, and said, “Don’t forget, the wife is the neck that turns the head.” 

“Upon looking over the months I see he has put in abundance of foul weather this year; and therefore I have scattered here and there, where I could find room, some fair, pleasant, sunshiny, etc., for the good women to dry their clothes in. If it does not come to pass according to my desire, I have shown my goodwill, however, and I hope they take it in good part. Your loving friend, Bridget Saunders.”  

I’m always uncomfortable when we say that God has a sense of humor. Who can know? But certainly we creatures can look at ourselves and smile. Maybe we preachers would be more effective preaching the Law of God if we made more of our human foibles.  

The Meyer Minute for April 23, 2021

This Sunday many worshippers will meditate on the Good Shepherd. Our congregation in Collinsville has a beautiful stained-glass window of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leading His sheep beside peaceful, still waters. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). 

A Concordia Publishing House podcast contrasts Jesus’ peace to what the world gives us. Dr. Mark Koschmann of Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, was interviewed after the Chauvin verdict. He cites the 1968 report of the Kerner Commission, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal.” Describing how things have not gotten better, he also describes ways we church people can try to make a difference.    

When host Elizabeth Pittman asks, “Where’s God at work in all of this?” Dr. Koschmann directs us to the Spirit of God working in us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. “We don’t always know how or where but we know that God is consistently with us in Jesus.” We desperately need that truth for these soul-shattering times, but it is not an excuse for us to ignore society’s problems. “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11) “My sheep hear my voice…and they follow me” (John 10:27), not only in peaceful devotion but also carrying His cross to our neighborhood, community, and country.  

It’s a thought-provoking podcast for this pew sitter. You can listen at cph.buzzsprout.com. “I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice” (John 10:16). Is our Good Shepherd leading us from Sunday’s sanctuary into the city?  

The Meyer Minute for April 23, 2021

This Sunday many worshippers will meditate on the Good Shepherd. Our congregation in Collinsville has a beautiful stained-glass window of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leading His sheep beside peaceful, still waters. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). 

A Concordia Publishing House podcast contrasts Jesus’ peace to what the world gives us. Dr. Mark Koschmann of Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, was interviewed after the Chauvin verdict. He cites the 1968 report of the Kerner Commission, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal.” Describing how things have not gotten better, he also describes ways we church people can try to make a difference.    

When host Elizabeth Pittman asks, “Where’s God at work in all of this?” Dr. Koschmann directs us to the Spirit of God working in us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. “We don’t always know how or where but we know that God is consistently with us in Jesus.” We desperately need that truth for these soul-shattering times, but it is not an excuse for us to ignore society’s problems. “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11) “My sheep hear my voice…and they follow me” (John 10:27), not only in peaceful devotion but also carrying His cross to our neighborhood, community, and country.  

It’s a thought-provoking podcast for this pew sitter. You can listen at cph.buzzsprout.com. “I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice” (John 10:16). Is our Good Shepherd leading us from Sunday’s sanctuary into the city?  

The Meyer Minute for April 22, 2021

Thanks to all who answered my question, “What simple advice would you give to a person about to begin full-time pastoral or diaconal ministry?” More answers than I could process in a day but scanning them showed one overwhelming hope: Be approachable, be outgoing, be one of us.

A few years ago, the Association of Theological Schools published an article about seminary education. “Simply teaching the basic skills of preaching and teaching will not help students assemble the disparate pilgrims moving through the city to hear what they have to say. Simply ensuring adequate scriptural and theological knowledge may or may not help a student hear the halting questions of a young adult who has never been to church… All the things seminaries have learned to do are still essential, but they are no longer sufficient. Today’s religious leaders have to invite people into a spiritual community where worship introduces connections to God, fellowship introduces connection to one another, and service introduces connections to a larger mission in the world.” (Nancy Ammerman, “America’s Changing Religious and Cultural Landscape and its Implications for Theological Education” in “Theological Education,” 2014).

I know Concordia Seminary is doing this, other theological schools throughout the United States are as well, and many are moving in this direction. St. Paul said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). That obviously applies to our graduates and to all church workers but note that Paul addressed his words to all the people, lay and pastors, in the Corinthian congregations. The qualities you identified should be seen in us all, a work that the Spirit of Christ himself can do in us. Together we are members of the Body of Christ, and He is our Head. 

The Meyer Minute for April 21, 2021

A different kind of Minute today. Next Wednesday, April 28^th, our concluding students will receive their assignments into pastoral and diaconal ministry. I’ve been asked to speak to them two days later. While I certainly have ideas, I’m wondering what you might say to a young person setting out to his/her first position in ministry. 

So, if you have a thought and are willing, a man-on-street interview. What simple advice would you give to a person about to begin full-time pastoral or diaconal ministry? 

Thanks

The Meyer Minute for April 20, 2021

“Within the kingdom of His might / All things are just and good and right” (Lutheran Service Book, 819:2) 

The Chauvin case has gone to the jury but even after the verdict, no one will say “all things are just and good and right.” Look to other cases and to controversies dividing America and we have ample reason to lament so much that is wrong in our society. In 458 B.C. the Greek tragedian Aeschylus presented the “Oresteia,” three plays dealing with murders. Here’s earthly justice: “‘For hostile words let hostile words be paid’ so Justice cries out aloud, demanding what she is owed—'and for a bloody stroke let the payment be a bloody stroke’” (“Libation Bearers,” 306ff.). 

Christians are among those who suffer injustice; where shall we find true justice? The quick answer is “heaven,” the glorious kingdom that will be ushered in when the ascended Christ returns visibly. True, but where’s God now when you, when I suffer injustice? Real life is filled with tragedies that we can’t escape, that won’t be erased. Escaping to heaven is not the immediate answer; the cross of Christ is. Injustice leads to suffering and death, something so common in this world, but when the One who died unjustly was raised and exalted, we know God has dealt directly with all the unfairness of this life.    

“‘I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die” (John 12:32-33). The “bloody stroke” that justice demands was paid with the bloody stroke upon Christ for the sins of the whole world. “All things are just and good and right.” We believe that now; we’ll see it when the crucified Jesus visibly returns. 

The Meyer Minute for April 19, 2021

We like to think we’re in control of our lives, but often we are not. Think of your genes. What predisposition to a disease do you have? Think of employment. You work hard for a company, but it gets in financial trouble and you’re out. Think of impersonal government. They pass laws that affect your daily life, often burdensome laws. And crime. What terrible act by another can rob you of possessions, a loved one, or even your own life?  

Just like everyone else, followers of Jesus are assaulted by outside forces. We’re in a time of the church year when pastors are trying to keep our spirits up with the message of Easter, not an easy thing to do when the lilies have lost their beauty and problems overwhelm us. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17), but faith moves forward in light of Easter. So does the church calendar. Ascension is ahead of us, and Christ who removed His visible sight from us will return to our sight. “Set your hope fully on the grace being brought to you by the revealing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).  

Writing about ancient Greek tragedy, Simon Critchley says, “The gods are names for powers not under our control” (“Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us,” 68). You and I are at the mercy of so much, but the God we know has given us His mercy through the resurrection of Christ. Believing that, we look ahead to His revealing. Forward!