Washed With the Word: Catechism Retreat 2022

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: June 27 2022 June 27 2022

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18b–20a). At the end of his Pentecost sermon, the apostle Peter proclaimed, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself" (Acts 2:38–39).

God’s gift of Holy Baptism stands at the center of the Christian life. In fact, as Robert Kolb notes,

Baptism frames the whole of the Christian life and brings the action of God to the heart of our lives. For in baptism God has transacted the joyous exchange of our sinfulness for our Lord's innocence. He has used baptism to put us back in the right relationship to himself, and through it he has given us new identities, as his beloved children. ¹

Baptism connects us to Jesus, plunging us into His death and raising us up with Him in His resurrection! Saint Paul uses the strongest language possible to declare that we have been “united” with Christ in Holy Baptism. Like a broken bone that fuses together as it heals and becomes one again, our life and Christ’s life are fused together and become one life (Romans 6:5).

There is no distance or separation between us so that what happened to Christ happens to us. When Christ died to sin, we died with Him. When Christ was raised from the dead, we were raised to new life with Him! Sin and death have no power over Him, and it has no power over those joined to Him in Holy Baptism. This is our new reality, our new identity in Christ! This reality defines and determines our whole existence, our very life.

Tragically, many people today do not have a sense of identity. They are lost and end up searching for a sense of identity and acceptance in all the wrong places, everything from wealth and worldly status to sexual promiscuity (immorality) and gender orientation. Living in a culture that promotes and encourages such debauchery, perversion and ungodliness, it is imperative and ever important for our young people to cling to and rejoice in their identity given in Holy Baptism.

This past week (June 20–23) five youth accompanied me to the Catechism Retreat hosted at Lutheran Valley Ranch and Retreat near Woodland Park. We joined up with nearly 200 other youth, adults and pastors from Lutheran churches as far away as Texas, Iowa and California. Together we spent three days studying the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and its importance in our lives as God’s people. Of course, youth also spent the week participating in various activities led by the LVR staff such as rock climbing, horseback riding, archery, fishing, climbing the high ropes course and going down the zip line! It was a great week!

When we begin our prayers by making the sign of the holy cross or when begin the Divine Service “In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit” we are essentially remembering our Baptism into Christ, remembering who we are and whose we are. We remember that the name of God has been placed upon us in Holy Baptism; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are God’s holy, righteous, beloved and precious children in Christ Jesus. This is who we are! This is our God-given identity in Christ.

The prophet Isaiah declares to God’s people in his day and ours,

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. (Isaiah 43:1–5).

God did not simply give nations or men in exchange for you, He gave His one and only Son as a ransom in exchange for you. In Holy Baptism, God placed His name upon you! You are His! He is yours! Rejoice today and always in your God-given identity as a beloved child of God and sing “I am baptized into Christ; I’m a child of paradise!” ²

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Nettleton

1. Robert Kolb, Teaching God’s Children His Teaching: A Guide For Study of Luther’s Catechism (Concordia Seminary Press, 2012), 119.
2. Erdmann Neumeister, “God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It,” in Lutheran Service Book (CPH, 2006), 594.

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

“A Prayer for the New Year”

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Written by Johann Friedrich Starck Johann Friedrich Starck

Created: January 12 2022 January 12 2022

Lord, Lord, merciful and gracious, ever patient and of great faithfulness, You are from everlasting to everlasting, and with You there is no variation or shadow due to change. Under Your protection I have again entered upon a new year. How excellent is Your loving-kindness, O God; therefore, the children of men take refuge under the shadow of Your wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of Your house; the river of God is full of water.

My God and Father, during the past year I have fully experienced all this. And so I begin the new year in Your name with prayer, sighing, and supplication. Lord, be pleased to hear my voice early, on the very threshold of the new year. Give ear to me in its first hours. O Lord, I know not what may befall me during this year. A year is long; its days are many. Human misery is manifold, and the calamities that may befall us are countless. And so I come to You, O mighty and loving God, and wish to commend myself at its very beginning to Your mercy and faithfulness.

Now that all things are about to be made new; the earth again to be covered with green vegetation; the sun ascending higher and higher, and everything is to be filled with new vigor, let Your goodness and mercy be renewed upon me. I commit my soul into Your fatherly mercy and protection. Guard it against sin, that I may not contaminate it by willful and intentional rebellion. Lord Jesus, sanctify, wash, and cleanse me with Your holy blood. God the Holy Spirit, dwell in my soul, and let it be Your temple. What a blessed year it will be for me, if I, Heavenly Father, abide in Your grace and live as Your child! How happy I will be if I continue in Your fellowship, O Jesus! How beautifully shall I be arrayed, O precious Holy Spirit, if you dwell in me and rule me! The King's daughter is all glorious within; I too, thus adorned will be pleasing to You.

And since You have up till now bestowed on me the precious gift of life and health, be pleased, if it is Your fatherly will, and if it is for my salvation of soul, graciously to preserve this gift to me during this year, that I may become more fit to serve You and fulfill the duties of my calling. But if it should please You in Your holy counsel to visit me with sickness or pain, do not depart from me. When I suffer, alleviate my pain, and let me also welcome with joy the hour You will refresh me and relieve me of my burden. O Lord, my God, hold Your protecting hand over my loved ones and my possessions. Be a wall of fire around us, as You were around Elisha. Hedge us all around as You did the house of Job.

Grant me the power of Your Holy Spirit that I may become truly godly during this year and live as a true child of God, that I may be devout in my prayers and be a careful hearer and doer of Your word. Grant that in the new year the condition of my heart may be described like this: “The old has passed away; behold the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Let there be in me new longings for You, new love toward my fellow human beings, a new zeal to enter into communion with You and to abide in it. Sanctify me wholly, that my entire spirit, soul, and body may be kept blameless until the day of Jesus Christ. Give me new zeal in my Christian faith that I may grow and increase in whatever is good. Bless my calling and labor, my going out and my coming in. Give me whatever blessings You have in store for me.

However, let me also remember that sometime the last year of my life will begin. Grant that I may always keep myself in readiness, live in a state of repentance and faith, have my lamp burning and dressed to welcome You, my Bridegroom and my gracious God, and to enter into the Kingdom You have prepared for me from the foundation of the world. Give me a new mind a new spirit in conformity with Your will, teach me unwaveringly to fulfill what You command and keep me, body and soul, the habitation of Your Spirit.

Now greet the swiftly changing year
With joy and penitence sincere.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace. AmenLSB 896:1

An excerpt from Starck's Prayer Book: Revised Concordia Edition, pages 71–72.

January and The Sanctity of Human Life

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: January 12 2022 January 12 2022

As we have celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus in a real flesh and body human body, so now in the season of Epiphany we unwrap the gift of our Heavenly Father gazing in praise and thanksgiving at the light of life that shines from the face of Jesus!

It is appropriate in this season of life and light in Christ Jesus that Christians confess and support the sacred gift of human given by our Heavenly Father. On January 13, 1984, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation designating January 22 as the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day. While some Christian congregations chose to celebrate the Sanctity of Human Life on the Sunday closest to January 22, other congregations devote the month of January to promoting and supporting God's gift of life. This month, I'd like to defer my newsletter article and commend to you the excellent letter on life written by President Matthew Harrison.

In Christ,
Pastor Nettleton

The Gift of Life
by Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

As I sat in the hospital room holding my first granddaughter the week before Thanksgiving, I wondered what the world would have been like if my son and daughter-in-law had bought into the lie sold to them by their adversaries, the devil, the world and their own sinful flesh.

Their sinful selves would not have chosen to have a baby. The old Adam does not want anyone to be dependent on him but instead wants to enjoy the soft, self-indulgent life. And old Eve would never, of her own will, choose to endure the life-and-death ordeal of childbirth. She, like Adam, would prefer to stay safe and comfortable, “curved in” on herself. Bringing a child into the world is an act of rebellion against the old sinful Adam and Eve, one that calls the new people in Christ out of their selfish existence.

The world would have this young Christian couple believe that adding another person to the eight billion who already exist pushes the earth ever closer to a climate crisis. It would have them believe that the way to serve their neighbor is to prevent more children from crowding out the ones who are already here. And it would have them believe that adding another mouth to their fledgling family would jeopardize the life they share as husband and wife. Shouldn’t they keep it simple and adopt a dog from a shelter first?

Then there is the devil, who absolutely hates babies as he hated Christ and the innocents of Bethlehem. Every baby—especially every baby born to Christian parents—is a potential citizen of heaven, a candidate for Baptism, one whom Jesus will raise from the dead on the day of His return. The devil hates babies because babies are an act of resistance against his regime of death and decay. He seeks to convince this couple of these lies and convert them into evangelists for his demonic cause.

The devil knows that those ten little fingers of my new granddaughter will very soon fold in prayer and seek her heavenly Father’s protection against the devil’s wiles. He knows that her little ears will continue to be totally receptive to the Word of God, over which he has no authority. He knows she’ll be in church from the get-go, hearing the Gospel in the liturgy, and that it will stay with her until the day she passes from this life to await the resurrection.

The devil knows that my granddaughter’s parents will bring her to the baptismal font and, in her stead, renounce him and all his works and all his ways. He knows that she will be instructed in the clear Word of God until she is ready to confess with her lips—which cannot yet articulate words—that Jesus is Lord. He knows that the first word her perfectly formed little lips will say in church is “Amen!” He knows that the crucified and risen Jesus wants more mouths to feed with His body and blood. And he knows that some day the children of this little baby girl will place her body in a grave “in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection” unto life everlasting.

The devil hates babies. The devil hates it when mothers in crisis are cared for. The devil hates it when Christians provide for moms, babies and dads. The devil hates it when we supply what young mothers need to turn a crisis situation into a blessing. The devil hates it when a young couple marries and welcomes a child. The devil hates adoption, thousands upon thousands of which happen via our Lutheran agencies. The devil hates it when courageous parents welcome and love a child with developmental disabilities. The devil hates it when children are celebrated at church; loved by their extended church family; and taught the liturgy, catechism, hymns and Bible stories.

Young Christian couples continue to stick it to the devil every time they are open to God’s gift of another child into their family. It’s little wonder that we see so many young Lutherans with big families. We were amazed a few years ago when a study found that our LCMS young married couples where having more children, on average, than Roman Catholics!

Meanwhile, those who are not called to the vocation of mother or father stick it to the devil every time they embrace life, however they are called to do so, in their own vocations—by helping care for and teach the young, esteeming the old, and upholding and defending the sanctity of life at every opportunity.

Throughout this month, I’ll join with many of you in person and in prayer as we march for life. The LCMS will be at the March for Life in Chicago on January 8 and the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., on January 21. We won’t be there because, as some say, we’re opposed to women or we’re single-issue voters. We’ll be there to carry out our baptismal vows to renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways. We’ll be there to give voice to the vulnerable and unborn. We’ll be there to pray and proclaim the Word against the forces of hell that would oppose life, children, mothers, fathers, marriages and families. We’ll be there to counter lies with truth, shine light into darkness, and oppose the devil with the love of Jesus.

In the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, when Jesus came in the flesh and was revealed as the Savior for all people, we rejoice that, though His life was opposed by many, He was brought safely into the world. And we draw great comfort and courage from His sacrifice for us on the cross. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16).

I give thanks for you and for the courageous ways you promote life in a culture of death. May God grant you strength and encouragement in these gray and latter days.

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

Abide in Jesus’ Word and Be Free

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: September 30 2021 September 30 2021

To the Jews who had believed in Him, Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and truth will set you free” (John 8:31b–32).

Over the centuries, many a people, Christian and non-Christian alike, have used our Lord's words here in John 8 in and out of context, as a firm unwavering belief in the Christ who sets one free or simply as a wisdom maxim, slogan or punch-line for whatever so-called truth one wishes to profess.

As we approach our annual remembrance and celebration of the Lutheran Reformation on October 31, we give thanks to our Lord for the work of the Martin Luther and company who brought to light the clear teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Holy Scriptures that truly and only sets men free from slavery to sin, death and devil! And yet, Martin Luther would be the first to deflect any credit for this historic movement that unleashed the good news of Christ upon people who were thirsting and yearning to be set free from the guilt and burden of their sins!

As Luther once famously said,

I did nothing; the Word did everything … I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philips and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it … I did nothing; I let the Word do its work. ¹

Of course, one rightly celebrates the Lutheran Reformation properly when we remember it as the work of God through His Word and give thanks to Him for what He has done! At the same time, we would be well served to heed Luther's confession of the power and efficacy of God's Word in our own lives.

“If you abide in my word,” says the Lord, “you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and truth will set you free.” What does it mean to abide in Jesus’ Word? Does it mean that we should hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest His Word? Yes. Does it mean that we should walk in its truth as a light to our path? Yes. Does it mean that we should cleave to it, hold on to it with everything we have, never let it go, as we endure and suffer trial and cross? Yes! Absolutely! It certainly means all these things. But above all, it means listening, hearing, being open to hear again and again, hearing anew and hearing afresh the words of Jesus.

Jesus’ Words are spirit and life (John 6:63). His Word is light in the darkness (John 1:5, 9–11), life in the midst of death (John 5:24) and truth in the midst of relativity and falsehood (John 17:17; 18:37). Those who abide in His Word live in the light of His life and freedom. Those who abandon His Word for another word, who are indifferent to His Word, whose ears and hearts are not open to hearing His Word remain slaves to the darkness of sin and death.

Commenting on John 8, Luther observes the importance of abiding in Christ's Word and remaining His true disciples,

The divine Word alone is our cornerstone, the I-beam, the girder, the stanchion, and the pillar undergirding our constancy. Therefore it is imperative that we hold to the plain Word of God, that we cling to the words of Christ. Then we will experience God’s help in the midst of danger and upheaval … If we rely firmly on the Word, then we need have no fear … Here is where disciples of Christ come to the parting of the ways. The false disciples begin to believe, but they defect. The true disciples remain on the hard path or enter through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:14), namely the Word of God, saying: “I am helpless. May God help me. It all rest in His hands. He promised and said: ‘Just cling to the Word, and I will uphold you. When you find yourself in any extremity or distress, you will learn to continue in God's Word. This will liberate you and make you a true disciple.’” ²

Since the garden of Eden, man has and continues to be lead astray by the words, whims and teaching of the world. Amidst the cacophony of voices in our world that question, contradict, reject, deny, oppose and seek to silence Jesus' Words, faith clings to and abides in His Word. And abiding in His Word, we remain His disciples who are truly free.

True freedom is not the liberty to do, say or believe anything we want, but to abide in Jesus who “wants us to discard and abandon everything else … to give up the illusion that anything else will avail to make us free … [and] look to Him alone” who sets us free. ³

Jesus words are not a slogan or punch-line, but the very truth of His salvific work for you and me. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and truth will set you free.”

The Lutheran Reformation isn't just something that happened long ago, but is something that God is in the business of doing in you and in me today and always; opening our ears, opening our hearts, opening our minds anew, afresh with the words of Jesus that we might abide in His Word and be free.

In Christ Alone,
Pastor Nettleton

1. Martin Luther, Eight Sermons at Wittenberg (1522), in Luther's Works, Vol. 51, 77–78.
2. Martin Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of John (1531), in Luther's Works, Vol. 23, 400.
3. Ibid., 412.

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

Lord Teach Us To Pray

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: September 01 2021 September 01 2021

After observing the prayer life our Lord Jesus, His disciples asked Him, “Lord teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1b). This request reveals at least two things about the disciples and about us. First, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer notes, “in making this request, they confessed that they were not able to pray on their own, that they had to learn to pray.” ¹ And secondly, since we need to learn how to pray, we are essentially always learning how to pray.

To borrow a line from John Kleinig, Jesus is the only “expert at prayer.” ² For the rest of us, we are always learning from Jesus and from His Word how and what to pray. Just as a child learns to speak by listening to his parents and others speak, “so we learn to speak to God because God has spoken to us and speaks to us … Repeating God's own words after him, we begin to pray to him.” ³

Of course, our Lord Jesus gives us the most excellent and most exemplary prayer of all to pray. He gives us His very own prayer that He prays to His Heavenly Father, literally “The Lord's Prayer” as we have properly named it. His prayer covers all the bases. There is nothing that we need to pray for that is not covered in this prayer! Each petition is “so great,” as Luther observes, “that it should impel us to keep praying for it all our lives.” ⁴ For “in these seven petitions are found all our anxieties, needs, and perils, which we ought to bring to God” and the “great things” He intends to give and do for us. ⁵

In a very real sense then, the Lord’s Prayer serves as the source, guide and norm for all other prayers, petitions, intercessions, supplications and thanksgivings. And while our Lord's Prayer should be prayed daily and often, there remain many other prayers for which God’s people may learn to speak in boldness and confidence to our Heaven Father. The Old and New Testaments give us numerous prayers to use as our very own, most especially the Psalter which Luther considered the Christian’s prayer book.

In addition, there are many fine prayers that have been handed down to us over the centuries through the church’s liturgies, daily prayer offices, hymns, collects and catechetical materials such as the Small Catechism that all have their roots in the Scriptures. Luther, in fact, intended his Small Catechism to be a prayer book as much as concise summary of Christian doctrine for teaching.

One of the greatest prayers that we have preserved in our church body is “The Litany.” ⁶ The name “litany” comes from the Greek litaneia which means “prayer, supplication or entreaty.” It is one of the most ancient forms of prayer dating all the way back to the fourth and fifth centuries. Our Litany is based on Luther’s revision of the Great Litany (1529) and follows the English translation made by Thomas Cranmer (1544). ⁷ Purged from the Litany of All Saints, Luther removed the unbiblical prayers to the saints and enlarged the element of intercessory prayer. Today, “the Litany stands as a great and comprehensive pattern of prayer for the Church, the world, and for all sorts and conditions of people.” ⁸

The Litany is appropriate for penitential seasons such as Advent and Lent or for special days of repentance and prayer. With the recent state of the world, especially the last few weeks, I have found myself on my knees in prayer much more these days. And in moments of frustration, anxiousness, deep concern and even anger, I have personally found the Litany to be an exceedingly helpful prayer to lift before our Heavenly Father. ⁹ During these trying and uncertain days, I invite you to join me in praying this great prayer for the Church, the world, and for all those in need.

As we continue to learn to pray from our Lord, from His Word using some of these ancient forms of prayer handed down us, we approach the Lord with sure and certain confidence that He hears our prayer, that He desires to help us, to give us and do for us great things in Christ our Lord. For as Luther quips, God “did not command [prayer] in order to deceive you and make a fool, a monkey of you; he wants you to pray and to be confident that you will be heard; he wants you to open your bosom ¹⁰ that he may give to you. So open up your coat and skirt wide and receive God's gifts for which you pray in your prayer.” ¹¹

Serving you in Christ,
Pastor Nettleton

1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible (Augsburg Fortress, 1970), 9.
2. See John W. Kleinig, Grace Upon Grace: Spirituality for Today (Concordia Publishing House, 2008), 156–161.
3. Bonhoeffer, 11.
4. Luther, The Large Catechism, III, 34.
5. Martin Luther, Ten Sermons on the Catechism (1528) in Luther's Works, Vol. 51, 181.
6. You may find “The Litany” on pages 288–289 in Lutheran Service Book (Concordia Publishing House, 2006).
7. Cranmer (1489-1556) used and included Luther's version of the Litany in the Book of Common Prayer (1549).
8. Lutheran Service Book: Altar Book, (Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 410.
9. Interestingly, Luther was prompted to revive the Litany when the Ottoman Turks threatened the faith and freedom of Christian Europe. He then insisted people pray or sing it during the Matins and Vespers.
10. Luther is either referring to the chest or the innermost part of body.
11. Luther, Ten Sermons on the Catechism, 171.

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

Youth Events June 2021: Vacation Bible School & Catechism Retreat

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: June 28 2021 June 28 2021

After a missing last year’s in-person VBS and a whole year of junior and senior high youth events, June 2021 turned out to be a great month for our youth here at Saint John’s!

Thanks to those who volunteered their time and talents, we were able to host a three day Vacation Bible School in early June. Our theme this year was “God’s Wonder Lab” where Jesus does the impossible. 31 children joined us for those three days as we focused on the marvelous, wonderful and amazing things our God has done and continues to do for us in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

On June 20, six youth accompanied me to the Catechism Retreat hosted at Lutheran Valley Ranch & Retreat near Woodland Park, Colorado. We joined fifteen other Lutheran churches, fourteen pastors and 130-plus youth in studying the various petitions of the Lord’s Prayer and God’s desire to give us all the wonderful and good things we pray for in this blessed prayer. Youth also spent the week participating in various activities lead by the LVR staff such as rock climbing, horseback riding, archery, fishing, climbing the high ropes course and going down the zip line!

The Catechism Retreat was a great and eventful week of growing in faith, connecting with the larger body of Christ and having a lot of fun! Dates for next year’s Catechism Retreat are June 20–23. Youth confirmation age through high school are welcome to go with us next year!

The psalmist proclaims, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds” (Psalm 72:17). Thanks be to God and this congregation for providing our youth the wonderful opportunities this summer to be instructed in the faith, grow in Christ and fellowship with His body of believers in the Church.

Serving with you in Christ,
Pastor Nettleton

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

June 2021 Letter to the Congregation

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: June 01 2021 June 01 2021

May 31, 2021

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

A year ago I wrote to you as we set to reopen our doors and begin in-person worship after two months of online only worship. We have been down a most difficult path over the past year, but the Lord has been with us every step of the way. This coming Sunday, June 6, we will begin having "mask optional" services as we continue to transition back to life and worship we knew prior to the pandemic.

While not everything will be back to "normal" yet, some changes have been made as we make this transition. With respect to the Sacrament of Altar, we have adjusted our communion distribution and will no longer be serving from individual tables. Instead, we will be using a modified version of continuous communion. Those serving the host, will drop the communion wafer into the communicant's hands (same will apply for the gluten free wafers). Those serving the cup will hand the individual cup to the communicant. For now, those serving the Lord's Supper will continue to be masked and wearing gloves. Those coming forward for the Lord's Super are asked to respect distancing as they come forward and move through the communion line.

I would like to thank our lay ministers, ushers, greeters, our re-opening task force and our church council for their extended help, guidance, and support over the past year in helping make our in-person worship services safe and accommodating for our entire membership.

As we move forward, I would ask that we continue to show the same respect and care for one another that we have over the past year. St. Paul writes, Ephesians 4, "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:1–6).

Let us keep these words of St. Paul ever before us as we care for one another in this body of Christ "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Finally, we give thanks to the Lord God Almighty for His faithfulness to us over this past year in keeping our congregation and its membership safe from serious illness and even death during this pandemic. We pray that He will continue to protect, guide and care for us as we move through this time of transition and beyond. For as the psalmist reminded us on Sunday, "I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:8–11).

God's Peace to you always in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Pastor Nettleton

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

Summer Intern Paul Mroczenski

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: April 29 2021 April 29 2021

A few years ago Saint John's was blessed to have seminarian Benjamin Vanderhyde serve here as a summer intern. Ben is currently finishing up his last year at Concordia Seminary St. Louis after serving a two year vicarage in Sri Lanka.

This summer we will be welcoming Paul Mroczenski to serve as our summer intern. Paul is a Junior at Concordia University Wisconsin where he will graduate in December with a major in Theological Languages and minors in Philosophy and Youth Ministry. After graduation, Paul will be preparing to enter one of our seminaries in the fall of 2022.

Paul is a native of Wisconsin where he grew up on a small dairy farm in Athens. He loves fishing, enjoys the outdoors, playing any and all sports (especially ping pong), watching movies and reading.

After graduating high school, Paul served ten months in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, through the Lutheran Young Adult Corps program. There he met his girlfriend Courtney Haag, a college student at CSU who attends Saint John's and is an active participant in our ChristLife campus ministry group.

On Monday, April 26, Saint John's Foundation approved a scholarship to be given to Paul for his time with us this summer. Paul will be installed on Sunday May 23 during the Divine Service. We invite you to join us that day and welcome Paul to Saint John's.

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

Everything Hangs on Christ's Bodily Resurrection from the Dead

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: March 30 2021 March 30 2021

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.1 Corinthians 15:12–23

It's an understatement to say that there is a lot riding on Easter. St. Paul makes it clear that everything is riding on the resurrection of Christ! It is not just another article or confession of the faith, it is the very foundation of the Christian faith. No resurrection, no Biblical Christianity. Period. As C. F. W. Walther once said, “The resurrection is not just the shining jewel in the crown of our redemption, it is the crown itself! Without Christ's resurrection, the world would still not be redeemed.” ¹

Without the resurrection of Christ nothing else in this life matters! Absolutely nothing! Without the resurrection of Christ sin still condemns and death still reigns. Without the resurrection of Christ there is no life beyond the grave, no hope for eternal life, and the Christian faith is nothing but a bunch of hot air. “If Christ has not been raised,” Paul writes, “then our preaching is in vain” (v. 14), “your faith is futile,” “and you are still in your sins” (v. 17).

Paul is writing these words to people who liked Jesus' teachings, who viewed Him as a good moral teacher, a good spiritual guru, but that's it! They didn't believe that Christ rose from the dead because the resurrection didn't fit within their world-view. Dead people don't rise and so belief in the resurrection was utter nonsense. Maybe someone should have passed that information on to St. Paul! Of course, Paul and his contemporaries also knew that people don't rise from the dead, but instead rot, decay and disintegrate in the grave.

The game changer, so to speak, is that the resurrection isn't a strange idea that Paul and the apostles cooked up! It really happened in real time and space! If Christ, like every other human being in history, had stayed rotting in the grave and didn't physically and bodily rise from the dead, our faith is indeed empty, worthless, pointless, and “we are of all people most to be pitied” (v.19). “But in fact,” Paul emphatically writes, “Christ has been raised from the dead” (v.20)! The resurrection of Christ was not any man's idea, but “in fact” God's wondrous action in history that has changed everything!

Without the resurrection, we are all dancing toward death and the grave with false hope and illusion! Without the resurrection, Christ's death on the cross was just one more heroic, selfless act of love, but has no power to do anything! Without the resurrection, our despair, our anguish, our tears, our sins, our death and eternal destruction remain forever.

But friends in Christ, Christ Jesus has “in fact” been raised! He is risen from the dead! Death did its worst to Jesus and it lost! Christ Jesus has kicked death in the teeth! Death is dead. The enemy has been conquered by the bright light of resurrection life! Your sins, your death, your anguish, your despair and your tears will not last forever because Jesus lives! Praise be to Thee O Christ!

The resurrection of Christ is the central theme of every sermon recorded in Acts. It is the sine qua non of Christianity. It is the beating heart of our faith, our living hope and our glorious future.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Almighty God, by the glorious resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ, You destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light. Grant that we who have been raised with Him may abide in His presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen (Collect for Easter Wednesday) ²

Blessed Eastertide!
Pastor Nettleton

1. C.F.W. Walther, “Easter Sunday,” in God Grant It, (CPH, 2006), 345.
2. A version of this article was emailed out as a weekly devotion for April 21, 2020.

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.

Life in the Desert of Lent

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Written by Pastor Shawn Nettleton Pastor Shawn Nettleton

Created: February 25 2021 February 25 2021

Several years ago something rare occurred in California's Death Valley National Park. Death Valley, appropriately named, is one of the hottest places in the world; ground-level temperatures can reach up to 200 degrees in the summer. We drove through Death Valley in the summer of 2002 moving from southern California to St. Louis Missouri to attend Concordia Seminary. Death Valley is a hot and desolate place to say the least!

The winter storms of 2004 brought unusual and record amounts of rainfall to southern California including six inches of rain to this dry desert. This small amount, three times more than normal, produced a rare super bloom that hadn't occurred in almost fifty years. A vast and wide array of wildflowers sprouted up and bloomed in this dry and desolate valley of death. Experts say that these wildflower seeds can hibernate for decades and then sprout to life with just the right amount of moisture. The very waters that brought mudslides, death and destruction to the western part of the country brought with it life in the desert!

Sound familiar? If this doesn’t remind us of the flood account recorded in Genesis, then it should at least remind us of our own baptism. Like those dormant seeds that were raised to life in a valley of death, we too have been raised from death to life through our baptismal waters. St. Paul writes, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).

Life through death, life in the dry, desolate, desert like places of this world through our death and resurrection with Jesus. This is the Christian life. This is especially true for us in the holy season of Lent as we journey over these forty days through the desert, the wilderness, with Jesus to Holy Week and Easter. And so, Lent and Baptism, Baptism and Lent, go together.

In the early church, Lent was a time when catechumens completed their catechesis instruction, preparing to renounce the world and be baptized into the Christian faith at the Easter Vigil. The connection of Lent and Baptism, however, is much deeper than this historical tie. Even as Lent is a time that the church focuses more intently on the suffering, passion and cross of our Lord Jesus, so there is an inescapable bond between Jesus' death and our baptism.

As one theologian put it, “We never speak adequately about Christ's passion unless we also eventually speak of our baptism, and we never speak adequately of our baptism unless we connect it to the cross and grave of our Lord.” ¹ This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer had in mind when he famously said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” ² Bonhoeffer spoke of our death to sin and self in the context of baptism. He continued,

Every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ means both death and life. ³

The penitential season of Lent calls us to die to sin, to die with Jesus, that we may also rise and live with Him. This is what our baptism into Jesus did and continues to do for us.

Luther reminds us that the whole “Christian life is nothing else than a daily baptism, begun once and continuing ever after.” ⁴ Why? Luther explains, “For we must keep at it without ceasing, always purging whatever pertains to the old Adam, so that whatever belongs to the new creature may come forth.” ⁵ That is, we must die daily to sin with Jesus and rise with Him to new life.

Repentance, Luther says, “is nothing else than a return and approach to baptism … What is repentance but an earnest attack on the old creature and an entering into a new life? If you live in repentance, therefore, you are walking in baptism, which not only announces this new life but also produces, begins, and exercises it." ⁶

Lent and Baptism, death and life, repentance and faith, are all connected to Jesus. Like those wildflowers that sprouted up and bloomed in Death Valley, so our Lord has raised us to new life even as we live in this valley of sorrow and death. And as we follow Him through the valley of Lent He bids us to die with Him; to die to our self-seeking wills, our self-centered agendas, our coveting, our envy, our greed, our pride, our hatred, our unhealthy attachments to this world, our lack of faith and trust in Him and His Father's will. He calls us to die with Him so that we may also live with Him.

And so the only way to really live is to die with Jesus. Or as Harold Senkbeil puts it in his book Dying to Live, “There's no other way to live than through the death of Jesus. We're all dying; we can either die alone, or we can die in Jesus. But His death brings life, and it's when we die with Him that really begin to live." ⁷

Thankfully, what God began in our baptism, connecting us and grafting us into the death and resurrection of Jesus, He continues to do for us today by the power of His Word and Spirit, burying us with Christ Jesus and raising us anew to live in and with Him. Life in the desert of Lent comes through our baptism into Jesus. And in this same Jesus life sprouts up, blooms and bears the abundant fruit of new life (John 15:16) even in the deserts and wildernesses, the valleys of sorrow and death, in this world as we look forward to and pray for the fullness of life in the world to come.

Blessed Lententide,
Pastor

1. Gilbert Meilaender, Love Taking Shape: Sermons for the Christian Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 4.
2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York, NY: Touchstone, 1995), 89.
3. Bonhoeffer, 84.
4. Martin Luther, The Large Catechism, IV, 66.
5. Luther, IV, 66.
6. Luther, IV, 79, 76.
7. Harold L. Senkbeil, Dying to Live: The Power of Forgiveness (St. Louis, MO: CPH, 1994), 55.

Rev. Shawn Nettleton is Senior Pastor at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You can reach him in the church office, by email at nettleton@StJohnsFC.org or at 970-305-2420.