"United In Love"

Dear Friends in Christ:

Included in this newsletter is an abbreviated summary of the recent Assembly of our Southwestern Texas Synod held May 16-17 in McAllen. (Note: A more complete report will be in the June Vista publication. This issue will be available online only, as a cost-saving measure at: www.swtsynod.org/the_vista_issues ) Representing our congregation as elected lay delegates were Philip Drake, Laurie Donovan, and Joel Lehman. Pastor Lynnae and I were clergy delegates.

The theme for this Assembly was “United in Ministry— God’s Work. Our hands.” In our Synod, we have 178 congregations. We are all members of the greater Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 10,448 congregations, representing 4,709,956 baptized members.

I am thankful to be a part of a church that certainly has a diversity of people, but expresses a unity of purpose in our mission and ministry. We may not always agree on everything, but we do agree on one thing that is certainly the most important thing which is: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, Jesus” (John 3:16) so that everyone might know the saving grace of a loving God.

As I sat in our church this past Sunday worshipping with you, the Word of God spoke so strongly to me as part of the prayer of Jesus in Saint John’s Gospel, Chapter 17, was read. After church, I went to my office and read the whole prayer and these words particularly touched my heart: “May they be one as we are one … as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us … so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:11, 21 & 26)

At the Assembly we were able to save on hotel costs by staying two nights at a nearby Roman Catholic Campus Ministry Student Center adjacent to Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas. Wasn’t this an expression of the love of God that unites us even with our “differences” as Christians?

If we are to be true to the mission that Jesus has given us, we will not only be unified in the church, but we will be a unifying force in the world. As Jesus prayed: … “I have sent them into the world … so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:18 & 21)
A bishop of the United Methodist Church, Minerva Carcano, tells about being raised on a small farm outside the South Texas town of Edinburg. It was there that she learned that God’s love knows no barriers. Mr. Johnson, a black man, bought the field adjacent to their farm. He had plans to put his cattle there and raise his family there. This man spoke no Spanish.

Minerva’s father spoke no English. The black man belonged to an independent African-American Baptist Church. Minerva’s father was a Hispanic Roman Catholic turned Methodist. They became very close friends in spite of their differences! Ten years later, Mr. Johnson died. Minerva Carcano’s family attended the funeral. The Baptist Church was filled with Blacks, Hispanics, and Anglos. The entire town was represented. Mr. Carcano’s and Mr. Johnson’s love for each other had touched that little part of the world in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Bishop Carcano says: “Being ‘one’, as Jesus and God are ‘one’ is not so much about who we are, the language we speak, the color of our skin, or any other difference and barrier. Being ‘one’ in the unity of God and Christ is about the kind of love that Jesus teaches and models for us.”

Jesus Christ is still praying for us that we will be united in love for God, in love for one another, and in love for the whole world! The “Day of Pentecost” which we observe this Sunday celebrates the unifying power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-21).

—Pastor David Fetter

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A Sometimes Overlooked Church-Year Holiday (Holy Day)

Dear Friends in Christ:

On our Church-Year Calendar, Thursday, May 21st, is “The Ascension of Our Lord”.

Since it doesn’t fall on a Sunday, it can very easily be overlooked. I am thankful for the following article that has helped me in my continued appreciation for this event in the life of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that it will do the same for you, and that you attach it to your weekly calendar and pause on May 21st to celebrate The Ascension:

“Then Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him…” (Luke 24:50-52)

“The ascension of Jesus is hardly regarded by most American Christians as a primary religious holiday. We generally find little meaning in it because we find little personal application in it.
Our first error, of course, is to place so much importance on ourselves. An event does not have to involve us in order to be important to be celebrated. The fact is that Christ’s ascension is one part of the larger truth of his exaltation, and his exaltation is a prominent theme in the New Testament.
The exaltation of Jesus completes his victory. It is also understood as a symbol of his vindication. It relocates him in his rightful place—the side of the Father, from which he had come in order to save us. We love to recall his birth in a manger, but that is not where he belongs. We give thanks for his death on the cross, but that, too, is not where he belongs. Our greatest celebration should be of his ascension: for it represents his return to the place where he really belongs.
In the meantime, there is an element of personal application in this holiday, as well. The ascension marks the end of his ministry, and the beginning of ours!” And we have his promise, “I am with you always!” (Matthew 28:20)

Prayer: “Almighty God, your blessed Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things. Mercifully give us faith to trust that, as he promised, he abides with us on earth to the end of time, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”

—Pastor David Fetter

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