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Easter 5, May 15, 2022

Easter 3, May 1, 2022

Easter 2, April 24, 2022

April 17, 2022 Easter Sunday

Pastor's May Reflection

Dear Friends,

Grace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This year, the Fourth Sunday of Easter falls in May. It is better known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year we hear from a portion of Chapter 10 of John in which Jesus proclaims himself to be the Good Shepherd. On the 17th of May this year, 2022, I will celebrate the 35th anniversary of my ordination. These two things, along with the careful moving forward of the call process for your new pastor, invite some reflection on what it means to be a pastor.

Pastor is the Latin word for shepherd. Pastors, called by God and the church, seek to lead the flock of Christ through the ministry of word and sacrament. The candidate for ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is asked a series of questions that offer deep insight into the meaning of pastoral ministry. I am including here some excerpts from the ordination rite as a way of focusing on what is at stake in the call process.

1. The church in which you are to be ordained confesses that the holy scriptures are the word of God and are the norm of its faith and life. We accept, teach, and confess the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds. We also acknowledge the Lutheran confessions as true witnesses and faithful expositions of the holy scriptures.

Will you therefore preach and teach in accordance with the holy scriptures and these creeds and confessions?

2. Will you be diligent in your study of the holy scriptures and faithful in your use of the means of grace?

3. Will you pray for God’s people, nourish them with the word and sacraments, and lead them by your own example in faithful service and holy living?

4. Will you give faithful witness in the world, that God’s love may be known in all that you do?

As the call process continues to move forward, we do well to ponder how a pastor’s yes to these questions might be lived out here at Grace. We also pray for an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit as you all discern what comes next.

Pax,

Austin

Interim Pastor

Grace Padlet of Information