Pastor Roggelin's Newsletter at Zion Church of Baltimore

ZION NEWSLETTER

Volume 21, Number 4
The Summer issue
June/July/August 2006

Pastor Roggelin's Archive:
Past Messages From Zion

„Es soll nicht durch Heer oder Kraft, sondern durch meinen Geist geschehen,
spricht der Herr Zebaoth.“

„Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

(Sacharja/Zechariah 4:6b; Wochenspruch/Verse for the week of Pfingsten/Pentecost)

Fitting for the day when the faithful were enabled by the Spirit to hear the Good News in their different languages, we joined in a single, multi-language service.

And we rejoiced in confirming four young people – one more is to be confirmed on Trinity Sunday due to a conflict with school graduation.

We once again followed the tradition of confirmation verses. - Do you remember yours?

Simonne Cruz: Enter through the narrow gate: for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Samantha Cumor: My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. (JOHN 10:27-28)

Steven Grabner: I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (PHILIPPIANS 4:13)

Nicole Meneveau and Katie Whitman: Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your GOD will be with you wherever you go. (JOSHUA 1:9)

Confirmation like Pentecost is a multi–layered affair. For many of us, it brought back memories: of our own confirmation,

the day, the church, our family, of confirmations celebrated at Zion, memories of past Pastors, and of co-confirmands …

As much as confirmation is a milestone, it is a milestone on a road, on a pilgrimage journey.

Confirmation is rooted within the larger ministry of the Church. The confirmands had been nurtured by Sunday School and by learning and practicing faith at home.

Confirmation ministry, our church says, is a pastoral and educational ministry of the church

that helps the baptized through Word and Sacrament to identify more deeply with the Christian community

Identification and participation – both are key issues. The statement may sound “churchy”, but identification and participation are key questions for young people. As they are growing up, a lot of questions come up. Sometimes it may seem overwhelming. What does give orientation, where do we come from, where are we headed, what is steady in the midst of all change?

What we need is a compass in this world that has to be grounded in more than secular education, it has to be pastoral, sacramental, as well as educational. What happens in confirmation is deeply rooted in baptism. The practice of confirmation is an implication of Baptism, a ministry to help Christians, to help us realize Baptism's gracious benefits, as Luther says in the Small Catechism: forgiveness of sins, deliverance from death and the devil, and the bestowal of everlasting salvation to all who believe what God has promised.

As much as we would like, we cannot reenact the first Pentecost, just as we cannot turn back the clock in our lives. But what we can do, is going ahead with our lives, living faithfully to the blessing that has been bestowed on us, remembering the benefits of baptism and confirmation, keeping on praying for the help of the Advocate and Comforter, God’s Holy Spirit.

One good way to do that is joining your brothers and sisters in church regularly, making good use of the means of grace, as it were.

See you at your (now air-conditioned!) Zionskirche; have a blessed Summertime!
Eine gesegnete Sommerzeit wünscht Ihnen Ihr

PS: This is a summer issue covering the three months of June, July, and August.
The next newsletter will be published for September/October and mailed to you at the end of August.

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