Orate pro nobis

The people of Bethany Lutheran Church in Fairview Heights, IL have extended a call to me to serve as their pastor. Pray for us as we seek to discern the best place for us and the best situation for the people of Bethany and the people of Hope in Jerseyville.

Hope Cares: A Network of Mercy

I sent this email to members of Hope last week abot a new opportunity for doing works of mercy here at Hope.

Members of Hope,

I'm excited. Time and time again, when people have had need, you have responded mercifully, showing Christ's love and compassion as you were able. Last year, when a lady and her family fell on hard times, you responded with a door offering that collected a few hundred dollars for her. When earlier this year, a family lost their house and all their posesssions in a fire, you responded with donations totallyng around $350. When a mother with four kids, two of whom are disabled, needed a huge amount of help to avoid having her power shut off, you came up with over $500 toward her $800 bill and with help form a couple other sources, we got her power turned back on. That's fantastic. It really is. And it's what the Church is meant to do: show Christ's mercy.

As people hear about how the members of Hope have helped people in this community, word has spread. I regularly get calls from people needing assistance of every kind. Someone gave me $200 a couple weeks ago that he received for doing work which he thought was volunteer work. We've used that money to help find lodging for a lady getting out of an abusive situation and to help two others struggling to pay power bills. The word is getting out. You are earning a reputation around town: These are people who care, people who will help. Awesome.

At the council meeting last night, we discussed making this a regular opportunity for those interested. I'm tentatively calling this network of mercy Hope Cares. Here's how it will work. Anyone who would like to be part of this network can tell me whether they'd like to be contacted via phone or email. Then, whenever anyone comes to me with a need, I'll have them fill out a little paperwork, and I'll pass that need along to the network. If you are willing to help in any situation and have the ability, simply give me your contribution (cash or check made out to Hope is fine). I'll then get a check from the church made out to the collector (utility, landlord, etc.) and deliver it to the person in need.

If you don't want to be a part of this network, this is the last email you'll get from me asking you to opt in, so you don't need to worry. If you would like to be a part of the network, though, even if you cannot help each time there's need, simply reply and let me know whether email or phone is the best way to reach you (or both).

Thanks for your generous outpouring of mercy when there have been needs, and I look forward to what God can do through you in the future.

+Pastor

And, readers of this blog, if you're in the Jerseyville area and would like to participate, let me know via email.

Eating like Kings

We generally eat very well in the Hemmer household. Today was the epitome of fine dining. It began with a breakfast of eggs over medium, covered with pepperjack cheese and served on spinach leaves, bacon, and toast with orange-ginger-pear honey.

Then dinner was flatiron steaks with balsamic reduction, made-from-scratch dinner rolls, and fresh-from-the-garden salad with strawberries.

Awesome.

Product Placement

During an emergency run for diapers this morning, I noticed the proximity of two items across the aisle from each other in Wal-Mart that brought to mind this song from 80s band The Fixx. Across from the rack of diapers is the rack of ladies' unmentionables. That's right, kids. One day you're shopping for pink and black thongs. The next it's diapers. One thing leads to another.

Driving Out of My League

There's a very new, very fast, very expensive car sitting in my driveway. There are lots of people who speculate what pastors should drive. Google it. I don't think a new BMW 535xi is on anyone's list, except maybe the prosperity gospel hucksters'.

The short story:

It's not mine.

The long story:

I have a bit of a soft spot for old German cars. I've never owned a new car and never even made a car payment. I've owned one car from the same decade in which it was made, and then only for the few remaining months of 1999. Owning cars that are half as old as I am (and older) has caused me to learn to do a fair amount of my own work on them, so I can drive something that's a bit higher mileage after someone else has taken the hit on most of the depreciation.

A couple years ago, I bought a then-12-year-old BMW 7-series. I wanted a V-8, rear wheel drive sedan (you know, something pastoral). If it were American-made, it would have helped me fit in better in Jerseyville, but American V-8 sedans are rare, and ones with different wheels for going forward and steering are rarer still. But the Germans came through. The good news is that two+ years and 35k miles later, the Kelly Blue Book Value is about the same as I paid for the car. The low price of these things used and the treasure trove of information collected on the Internet for just this model and year range of 7-series makes it the quintessential car for the casual do-it-yourselfer. Want to know how to troubleshoot the front suspension, reassemble the oil pump, or change the cabin air filters? It's all there.

While I can do a lot of my own service to the car, there are a handful of things I can't do, one of which is an alignment. That takes dealer skills and tools. So I took my now 14-year-old car to a dealer in St. Louis to get the alignment done. They promised me a loaner so I could run some errands while I was in St. Louis, and the car was supposed to be done in a couple hours. That was yesterday.

I have this fantasy that car manufacturers would find a need for a pastor--who is in his mind a race car driver, but who in his real life is just a pastor driving to visit his parishioners--to drive and review their cars. There are car blogs by moms, dads, teens, right-handed people, coffee drinkers, and people with multiple middle names. Why not a Lutheran pastor? Who wouldn't want to read that? Well, okay...everyone.

So there it is in my driveway, a nearly-new car, as a loaner for my it-would-be-new-in-Cuba car, a car worth eleven of my cars (seriously), a car that depreciates more than a dollar a mile. But man is it fun to drive. And when people see the guy in a clerical collar driving it, they must conclude I'm one of those fat-cat, synodical bureaucrats.

Trick or Treat

Consistent Life Ethic

This post from Anthony Esolen got me thinking about the Consistent Life Ethic. The idea is largely attributed to Cardinal Bernadin, who argued that life issues are to be considered and treated as a "seamless garment." That is, if you tear one piece of the garment out, you've irreparably damaged the entire garment. If you're pro-life when it comes to abortion but not when it comes to other life issues (euthanasia, war, poverty, death penalty, contraception, etc.) your pro-life garment is ruined.

The criticism of Bernadin is that his approach has been misused by pro-abortion politicians to justify their support of abortion. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, for instance, can justify spending federal dollars on "family planning services" because reducing the number of poor people (by keeping them from being born, presumably) has an economic payoff.

But that approach is indefensible using Bernadin's logic (and, no matter what Pelosi says, not Catholic). If you tear opposition to abortion out of the "seamless garment," your position on poverty, global warning, or whatever is ruined. If you don't care about the life of an unborn child, your defense of the lives of the poor is diminished at best, destroyed at worst.

The Jerseyville Ministerial Alliance has a book club. We were exiled from the monthly meeting because not everyone wanted to allot part of our 2 hour meeting to discussing a book. Nevertheless, a few of us continue to meet to discuss an agreed upon book between regular meetings. Most recently, we read Pope Benedict's encyclical Caritas in Veritate.

The encyclical deals with the global economic crisis, but it does so with what seems to be a "seamless" approach to life. Central to any discussion about human development, economic recovery, environmental protection, business ethics, etc. has to be an openness to life. "Openness to life is at the center of human development," argues the pope.

While Esolen's warning about missed opportunities is well heard, the misuse of a consistent life ethic doesn't make it invalid. It only makes those who misuse it look foolish.

Sorry, Lady, Lutheran Masses are Free.

or

Why wearing a clerical collar is a good way to deliver Meals on Wheels

This month, the Jerseyville Ministerial Alliance has been delivering the hospital's meals on wheels. (They find different volunteer groups for a month, Hope has a month, usually in the spring.) This is my week. And, like anything else pastoral I do, I've worn my uniform.

Today a lady stopped me and said, "Father, what are Masses now?" I assumed she meant when are masses now. She didn't. She clarified, "How much do they cost?" It's moments like this when I realize just how apostate Rome is and how little the Reformation accomplished on the other side of the Tiber, despite few reforms. Picking my jaw up from the floor, I responded, "Ma'am, I'm the Lutheran pastor. You can't buy our Masses; the Mass is a gift from the Lord. So it's free."

As a side note, as well as offering opportunities like this to refute Roman falsehoods, a collar adds distinction. None of the other men who've been delivering meals this month wear one. They all dress in normal business casual, which makes them blend in. Six months from now (or less), most of these people receiving meals won't remember the people who delivered their meals and blended in. But they might remember the Lutheran pastor for his distinctive dress. The man deserves no distinction, but the Office he occupies is Christ's Office. It is distinct from anything else. It's the Office through which Christ distributes His gifts. The man is dispensible; the Office indispensible. You might as well dress like it.

The week of Trinity 9

Inspired by his own sermon, but only remembering the part about the servant who was "too weak to dig," Pastor Hemmer embarks on a week-long, patio-building staycation.

Done.

From

and

to

before becoming

and

in only 3 months.

Spectacle of Spectacles

Some people post things on their blogs to make them seem sophisticated. Not here.



What else were you going to do with your old car? Park it in your front yard up on blocks? This is a much better use.

Pentecost Tuesday

This is the Old Testament reading for Pentecost Tuesday.

"For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever,
a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
And it will hail when the forest falls down,
and the city will be utterly laid low.
Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free." -Isaiah 39:14-20

Well, Pentecost Tuesday at about 3:15, the forests fell indeed. A huge oak tree in the corner of my back yard toppled in the wind. While it displaced the corner of my new fence, took out some power lines, and snapped off the fire hydrant, it didn't fall on any people, buildings, or anything of any value. That's particularly miraculous considering the line of cars along the street (into which the the tree fell)picking kids up from school at exactly that time. Thanks be to God.

I came back froma hospital visit at about 5:00 to see the street closed by police cars, city workers with a backhoe, and an Ameren truck. Little did I realize they were attending to my tree. The high school kids getting into their cars at 3:15 report quite a spectacle.

So, nothing a little hard work can't take care of. But we are going to miss having a shaded back yard...