Pastor’s Message

 „Du stellst meine Füße auf weiten Raum.“

“You have set my feet in a broad place.”

(Psalm 31:8/9)

Dear members and friends of Zion,

Have you ever heard of a village named Breklum in Germany? This is where I spent a week on a conference recently. Breklum is located in Schleswig-Holstein, on the North Sea, close to the border between Germany and Denmark. Breklum’s fame and its unique character was the result of one man’s vision and determination: Pastor Christian Jensen (1839-1900). He was a rural pastor, a Lutheran pietist, a gifted preacher, stubborn and wide-hearted at the same time. He campaigned against having a train station in Breklum (he considered it too „worldly“), yet on the other hand the village became the place from which hundreds of missionaries were sent out to Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Jensen placed a deep sense of the church’s mission and outreach into the hearts of many congregations in North Germany through annual „Missionsfeste“. He identified the need of pastoral supply for the growing numbers of German emigrants to the United States, and so from the 1880s to the 1920s, more than 200 men were trained here to become pastors of American Lutheran congregations – our own Pastor Evers actually received his training not far away, in the sister seminary at Kropp.

One quote of Christian Jensen serves as the motto of the present Christian-Jensen-conference center:

“Unsere Zeit ist zu ernst, um über Kleinigkeiten zu nörgeln; Menschen, die in der Gegenwart leben und für Jesum arbeiten, müssen einen weiten Horizont haben.”

“Our time is too grave to groan about trifles; people living in the present and working for Jesus must have a wide horizon.“

Well, up there at the North Sea, the wide horizon comes almost naturally with the flat land, the wide sea, and the breezy air. You can almost feel physically what the Psalm says about „set my feet in a broad place.“

And both the seriousness of our time and the wide horizon were very much part of the conference that I attended in my capacity as president of the DELKINA, the German interest conference in North America, bringing together German Pastors serving congregations in Beijing/China, Sydney/Australia, New Delhi/India, Nairobi/Kenia, South Africa, Brasil, La Paz/Bolivia, Mexico City, Toronto/Canada … and Baltimore. I learnt a lot about church life and work in such diverse circumstances, and enjoyed German fellowship (including, but not limited to watching the Soccer European championship). One night, I entertained a group of 8 seminarians with a presentation on life and work as a Pastor in North America, trying to give them a realistic yet inviting perspective, and advertising three open positions in Canada. I also had talks with the Personnel Department of my home Synod and discussed future options.

Coming back (having gotten my „Creen Card“ a couple of weeks earlier, for the first time I was able to use the “US Citizens and Permanent Residents only” line at the airport, which gave me a great feeling!), it was diving back into business with

-        the Lutheran-Catholic Dialog (thanks to all volunteer hosts, you were great!)

-        a double baptism on July 11^{th :} Christopher and Stephanie Schupe from Tenessee (their parents had been married here in 1998)

-        a funeral on the 17^th: Theresa Ritter Beane, our oldest member, at age 100

-        and another baptism on the same 17^th: Domenico Manuel Zuniga

Zion clearly is a destination church – even in the summer!

Now, Sabine Evans has gone to Germany until August 16 (DANKE to all volunteers staffing the office!), A/C construction has started, another Yoga-group has begun twice a week – summer has been anything but quiet so far …

Have a good summer! Einen erholsamen Sommer wünscht Ihnen Ihr

Pastor Dr Holger Roggelin

Bishop Belá Harmati of Hungary,
the Lutheran co-chair of the International Dialog Commission, addressing Zion’s congregation
at a Q+A session on Sunday, July 11, 2004.

Pastor Roggelin's Archive of Past Messages From Zion