Photographs of People and Churches around the CLC

Pastoral Letter

October 2009

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

We continue our study of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. In this letter the Apostle Paul presents the glory of the Gospel and the Gospel ministry in contrast to the weakness of those called to proclaim the Gospel. This Reformation month, Paul reminds us of the essence of the Gospel Ministry entrusted to us. God through Martin Luther restored the Gospel truth of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The sedes doctrina of the universal Gospel of reconciliation is revealed in this section of Paul’s second letter to the saints in Corinth.

In This Year of Jubilee We Are Reminded that the Ministry of Reconciliation Is That

“In Christ God Was Reconciling the World To Himself”

The message of the Gospel is what God has done for the entire world. This reconciliation is not something we did or agreed to. God in one act of grace unilaterally reconciled the entire world to Himself. This reconciliation took place solely through Jesus Christ. For God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

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Interview with LW Schierenbeck

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From the President

At the Foot of the Cross

Fellow Servants of Christ:

Pastoral Letter February 2010

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Save in the death of Christ, my God;

All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.

TLH 175:2

Next Wednesday, we begin another Lenten journey that ends at the foot of the cross. The cross is where the saving glory of the Lord is revealed to sinful men. The foolishness of the cross is indeed the power of God. Our lives and our ministries are lived under the cross. The cross is the proclamation of the Gospel of God’s saving love. Second Corinthians reveals the paradox of the Gospel and the Gospel ministry of reconciliation which has been entrusted to us. The preaching of the cross is foolishness and weakness to the world. The glory of the Gospel and the glory of our ministry is hidden to the world because it is the opposite of what the world considers important and world-changing.

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