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King of Glory - 2008 Clergy Renewal Grant Recipient
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As a 2008 grant recipient, this sabbatical was made possible to King of Glory (and 21 other Indiana congregations) through a Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal program. Pastor Paul is Senior Pastor of King of Glory Lutheran Church returned from his sabbatical, and after sharing some of his experiences in these blogs and congregational talks, he continued through a series of sermons.
The following, in part, was in the Lilly Endowment Press Release, dated July 9, 2008. (Click here for entire Press Release)
The Rev. Paul F. Swartz and his King of Glory Lutheran Church in Carmel offered a “prepositional proposition.” One of his seminary professors told Swartz that “the smallest words, prepositions, were the most important words in the Bible.” He has been intrigued ever since. Thus the theme of his renewal: the directional thrusts of ministry.
His congregants report that he is troubled by what we often see in congregations, the subtle self-centered emphasis that directs our focus inward and thwarts our outward ministry. He has diagnosed this malaise and sees a corrective in reversing the directional indicators of the four celebrated prepositions: up and down, in and out.
He maintains that it is always the “downward reach of God that creates the upward life of his people. And it is the outward thrust (mission) of the church that engenders the inward pull of Indiana Clergy Renewal Program individuals to Christ.” The members report: As we leave the shallow role of Sunday church attendees and move toward being committed Christ followers, there is a new sense of excitement in the congregation.
Next summer Swartz‘s time will be filled with visiting the Lutheran Chautauqua/Summer Assembly at Lakeside, Ohio, his childhood vacationland; meeting with his four siblings and their families for the first time in 10 years; engaging in a silent retreat at the Benedictine Inn and Retreat Center near Indianapolis; and serving as pastor-in-residence at Wittenberg University.
Then he and his wife will head for Berlin and the Lutheran Heritage Tour which will¨ “underscore the initiating downward reach of God‘s love and the upward lift of those who respond in faith.” They will travel to Eisleben, Wittenberg, Weidach, Wurttemberg, Frankfort and Prague.
Along the way, Swartz will meet with Luther stamp collectors and philatelic clubs. To his wife‘s amazement, he has amassed a large collection of Luther/Reformation stamps, postcards and other related material from which he is organizing the “Life of Martin Luther Illustrated Philatelically."
The Footsteps of St. Paul tour will take them across Greece and Turkey, a trip that should reinforce the outward thrust of being sent. He will return to enjoy “Re-Formation Sunday – Re-Engage! King of Glory Vision Night” with the congregation.
Swartz believes the renewal period will show him once again “how the downs of the Bible are followed by ups and how the outward thrusts of the church bring people into the heart of God.” He predicts that the program will give him a renewed sense of his Lutheran heritage and a chance to recapture that missionary zeal.
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Thursday, 05 November 2009
(Pastor Paul will continue sharing his experiences through several ongoing sermon series throughout the upcoming months. This will be the final blog entry.)
Pastor Paul continues sharing from his travels with this sermon series. The mission of the church does not change with the date, whether it is during the early church’s expansion with St. Paul, during the Reformation with Martin Luther, or our own day. There is only one mission and it is God’s mission to the whole world through His Son, His Spirit and His Church. But the ways of carrying out this mission are determined very often by a variety of historical situations, by the questions individuals ask, the needs they feel, and the forces that condition them. These are variables. The Christian Gospel and the Christian mission are constants. Both are “given!”
In this sermon series we will explore the reversal of our typical ways of expressing directions. We usually say “up and down,” “in and out” without thinking too much about the egocentric focus this usage implies. It is my contention that this has much to do with what “ails” the Church today—not at all unlike that which Jeremiah was prophesying 600 years before Christ, or Paul proclaiming in the 1st Century, or Luther 500 years ago, and us in our day. There is still that “human” tendency to want to “get to God,” to be sure we are good enough, have done enough to assure heaven as our final destination. And once within the family of the church, even though we still have our doubts, we find our interests centering “in” upon ourselves, our wants, and our ways instead of the needs of others for whom we have been called to be the very heart, hands, and voice of our Lord.
The first two prepositions we will examine—“down and up”— form the vertical structure of mission as that between God and His children. The second pair of prepositions—“out and in”—describe the horizontal movement of mission as between the Church and the world. For the next four Sundays, we will view how the Bible uses these prepositions.
Oct. 31 and Nov. 1: The Downward Reach
We begin this sermon series, where mission begins, with God! It is He who “for us and for our salvation came down from heaven.” This downward reach of God in the incarnation of His Son is affirmed by all who recite the Nicene Creed. God has always been in the world from the moment of creation, but only once did He enter into it as a human being and He did that solely to fulfill His purpose of saving the world—including you and me—which He loves. Is it any wonder that we see Jesus “moving down,” doing the humblest jobs, urging His disciples to take the “lowest seat?” The downward reach is the pattern of mission for all time.
Nov. 7th and 8th: The Upward Lift
“He who descended is no other than He who ascended far above the heavens, so that He might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10). The “downs” of the Bible are usually followed by “ups”. Mission can never be less than a rescue operation in a world that has fallen, a reuniting of relationships in a world that is estranged and out of joint. God reaches down in order that He may lift us up! The upward movement is not so much our response in itself—for even though we like to speak of lifting ourselves up by our bootstraps—we cannot lift ourselves up very far. But the upward lift begins to happen morally, socially, and spiritually when we begin to respond in faith to the divine reach and touch on our lives.
Nov. 14th and 15th: The Outward Thrust
The word “mission” is the Latin form of the word for “being sent.” Those who are sent to do something are on some kind of mission: diplomatic, commercial, or military. Jesus sent out the Twelve, then the Seventy, and then the Church “to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The church has always been called to be an “out-church.” It exists in depth and effectiveness only insofar as it goes out and keeps going out bringing the “Good News” of God’s saving love in Christ to all people.
Nov. 21st and 22nd: The Inward Pull
Today, we have seen widespread concern to get people into the church, to reach the “unchurched.” But is that the aim of the Church? The inward pull is a magnetism from Jesus Christ Himself. The trust and the pull, the propulsion and the magnetism, are the work of the Lord with His Church. “I will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:32). This is not only the meaning of the inward pull, but of the whole Christian mission. Notice that the Church is not featured in this at all, yet the Church is both His body and His chief instrument or agent in mission. The drawing is by Himself, and to Himself, not by the Church or to the Church. The calling of the Church is to communicate, to mediate Christ, not to obscure Him.
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