From the Senior

By all accounts the 2007 general retreat was our best so far. Even the horrendous thunderstorms that wreaked havoc with travel didn't seem to dampen the spirits of those who attended, judging from the e-mails written to me since the general retreat. The high caliber of the worship (thanks to David Wendel, STS, and our preachers), the lectures (thanks to Amy Schifrin, STS, and Professor Maxwell Johnson), the anniversary celebration (thanks to Richard Niebanck, STS, and Andrew Senn) made even the Spartan dorms seem less severe. And undergirding the whole experience was the hospitality and genuine helpfulness of the administration and staff of Concordia Theological Seminary. CTS was simply delighted to have us on their campus. That went a long way in overcoming the one serious issue that we encountered—the prohibition of women in the pulpit of Kramer Chapel.

I'm personally grateful to the women members of the Society for the grace they showed, in what was clearly an uncomfortable situation for them, and their affirmation of the way the leadership handled the situation. We need either to change this policy as regards the Society's own events or find another venue. For several reasons, I'm inclined to go back to a September date at our old campus in Mundelein, Ill., which would make this issue moot.

In the meantime, I offer these reflections on what we did substantively at Fort Wayne. I was struck by the sheer enthusiasm that the retreatants expressed at the opportunity to sing liturgy and hymns in an acoustically helpful worship space under strong musical leadership from the organ. Some asked whether Andrew could become our stated organist. Two members whose Hispanic and African-American ministry situations require them to use culturally specific music spoke of their gratitude in returning to church music of their youth with tears in their eyes. There is a northern European culturally specific content to our Lutheran identity. We are not limited to it, but neither can we ignore it. When we do it authentically and with conviction it has its own winsomeness. That's what we try to model at our retreats.

There is also a theological content to our tradition. We are focusing on that in our exploration of the marks of the church. It is not any preaching of the Word, but preaching that rightly divides Law and Gospel, that Lutheranism models. It is not any baptism, but Baptism that is a dying and rising with Christ, that Lutheranism practices. In our congregations we have people who are disillusioned with the trajectories of our Lutheran denominations. Before they go to other congregations representing other traditions, we need to point out to our congregants what we believe, teach, and confess concerning the Word of God and the Sacraments of Christ and ask if they discern these teachings and practices in the other churches to which they may be attracted. And, of course, we need to examine ourselves on these issues when we are of a mind to look for more congenial faith communities elsewhere. What issues are so important that we are finally willing to go into schism over them? What are the theological issues underlying potentially church-dividing issues and what bearing do they have on the Gospel?

Naturally we don't all agree with what's happening in our denominations. Chances are that we wouldn't be members of the Society of the Holy Trinity if we were completely satisfied. And, as I said in my opening address at the general retreat, we exist as a pastoral oratory, an inter-Lutheran ministerium, on the margins of our church structures. That's where we can best serve our Lutheran bodies and also receive the nurture that we need to fulfill our callings to the pastoral ministry of Word and Sacrament. But the whole church of Christ on earth is called to be on the margins of society. Christians are to be a pilgrim people who "have here no abiding city." Our congregations are most deeply into the mission of God's kingdom when they are on the margins of society standing in solidarity with those who are marginalized, but at the same time calling all people to repentance and faith. Our pastors and congregations may also need to be on the margins of our church structures, leveling a genuine prophetic critique at what is transpiring in our solemn church assemblies and well-oiled bureaucracies. How can we exist on the margins and still exercise leverage to guide our denominations toward faithfulness?

I will never forget my experience about ten years ago at solemn high mass on Sunday morning in Uppsala Cathedral at the meeting of the free synod of the Church of Sweden, Bishop Bertil Gärtner presiding and preaching. It was simply the most uplifting liturgy I have ever experienced, encompassing a musical range from African songs to Swedish chorales with brass and full organ. During the communion of the hundreds of people gathered in this immense gothic nave, a layman whom I had met after my lecture came over to my wife and me and said, "You must understand that this is the best witness we can make to our society and to the rest of the Church. We simply do church as it should be done." I would like to think that this is also the witness of our Society and the congregations that we serve.

Frank C. Senn, STS, Senior

Report of the Secretary

Among the 171 members and friends of the Society who attended the recent general retreat at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., were the following 22 pastors who subscribed to the Rule:

        Joseph L. Combs - Metro New York Chapter
        Joyce A. Dix-Weiers - Passavant Chapter
        Joshua Elliott-McGuffie - California Chapter
        Robert A. Gago - Northeast Ohio Chapter
        Peter Carlyle Garrison - California Chapter
        Paul W. Gausmann - Susquehanna Chapter
        Jeffray Greene - Great Rivers Chapter
        Philip A. Gronbach - Northern Illinois Chapter
        Marshall Eric Hahn - Iowa Chapter
        Clinton Kersey - Chesapeake-Potomac Chapter
        Kenneth C. Kimball - Iowa Chapter
        Kenneth W. Lahners - Wisconsin Chapter
        Lloyd H. Linder - Northeast Ohio Chapter
        Michael Lockerby - Minnesota Chapter
        Steven Middernacht - Susquehanna Chapter
        Ryan Dale St. Maur Mills - Member at large
        Michal Mišina - Metro New York Chapter
        James Pike - California Chapter
        John Charles Ragan - Member at large
        Robert M. White - Northeast Ohio Chapter
        Ian Jacob Wolfe - Iowa Chapter

This brings to 230 the current membership of the Society.

When pastors subscribe to the Rule, they make the following pledge: "Before God and my fellow pastors gathered here, and for the sake of the vows I spoke when I was ordained to the Holy Ministry, I, (name), hereby subscribe to the Rule of the Society of the Holy Trinity, asking the help of God and seeking the support of the Society." Please remember these new subscribers to the Rule in your prayers, that they may be encouraged and persevere in their callings.

John E. Priest, STS, Secretary

Report of the Bursar

The following report from the Bursar of the Society is for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007.

    BALANCE FORWARD, 6/30/06:                $49,079.02
        Deposits:                           $77,070.21
        Interest:                                   184.40
    TOTAL DEPOSITS                                     $77,254.61

    EXPENSES
        Administration:                         476.00
        Fund Raising:                            667.18
        General & Council Retreats:  32,511.40
        Newsletter:                             3,000.00
        Chapter Visitation:                    972.62
        Travel Equalization:             10,669.75
        Seminarian Support:               2,000.00
    TOTAL EXPENSES                                   ($54,296.95)

    GENERAL ACCOUNT BALANCE              $68,616.68

Mark A. Hoffman, STS, Bursar

Supporting Our Seminarians

A little over a year ago, the Leadership Council of the Society determined that the support of seminarians should be an area of concern for the Society. A Seminarian Support Committee was established with the intent of helping students who seek to be faithful to the orthodox teachings of the church, as well as the vows they will make at ordination. The concern of the Society would seek to address two major areas—how we are able to broadly support seminarians who are interested or sympathetic to the intent of the Society as part of their training and formation at our seminaries; and how we are to financially support such students throughout their time in seminary.

The first goal is best achieved through the parishes represented in the Society who have students attending seminary. But additional support for our students can also be provided by those pastors and/or chapters that are located near a seminary. In such cases, seeing that the students are aware of the Society, inviting students to chapter retreats, and making time available to meet with students who have concerns can all be very helpful. Some of our students feel very isolated on the seminary campus and the Society can help nourish and sustain them in their journey toward servant leadership in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.

The second way that we can support our seminarians is through financial support. The Society has now established a separate fund for such support, and it has already been put to work in a couple of different ways. First, the Seminarian Support Committee has received a gift from a parishioner in one of our congregations and has been instrumental in distributing some of that gift to another of our smaller parishes. In this smaller parish, an intern was taken this year because that intern specifically wanted to be in an STS parish. In addition, one or more STS congregations have made additional gifts available to that same parish. In this manner, a number of members in the Society have been able to help a colleague in ministry prepare a student for future ministry.

In addition, another of our parishes has, for some time, had a special fund for seminarians from which they are able to draw the interest and disburse it to students. Last year the committee was able to recommend the names of five students to that parish so that distribution of funds could be made for their ongoing support. All students supported through this fund were identified as orthodox and favorably inclined toward the purposes of the Society.

Patrick J. Rooney STS, Chair
Seminarian Support Committee

Thank You

The Society of the Holy Trinity would like to thank the following Archangels, Angels, and Saints for their financial contributions during the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2007:

    ARCHANGELS—for contributions of $500 or more
        Pr. Francis D. Bonadonna
        Mr. and Mrs. Franklin W. Burk
        Mr. Robert C. Cauble
        Pr. James A. Clark
        Mr. and Mrs. Paul Keller
        Mrs. Deborah Schmitt
        Mrs. Helen M. Smith
        Mr. Charles H. Solem

    ANGELS—for contributions of $250 or more
        Pr. Thelma Megill-Cobbler
        Pr. George R. Muenich
        Pr. Erma S. Wolf

    SAINTS—for contributions of $100 or more
        Pr. Cathy A. Ammlung
        Mr. David L. Anderson
        Mr. Arthur D. Birkenstock
        Pr. David M. Darling
        Pr. L. George Detweiler
        Pr. Rodney A. Juell
        Mr. Robert Kern
        Pr. and Mrs. Richard Niebanck
        Pr. David G. Poedel
        Pr. Ralph W. Reitmeyer
        Pr. Amy C. Schifrin
        Pr. Frederick J. Schumacher

Chapter News

The chapter looks forward to its retreat with the Northern Illinois Chapter on November 12-13.

From the Vicar

It is humbling and gratifying to have the impact of this year's general retreat continue to roll into our lives. Through these first ten years that impact has shifted from the implicit to the explicit. In marvelous ways the Church's seven marks have been lurking in the previous retreats. People can recall the sainted Robert Bertram opening up Luke's Gospel to a chapter's members. Other people can recall the sainted Michael McDaniel brightly announcing at a breakfast in the general retreat in Maryland that the particular day was the date of his Baptism.

This year the shift from implicit to explicit occurred in brilliant ways, leaving us humbled and gratified. As we stepped into the Scriptures (with the Cross) and Baptism (with the Cross), the Life of the Holy Trinity thundered through the confessing and worshiping, the preaching and teaching of the retreat. These marks, along with the other four to follow, reminded us that they are an authentic template of the Holy Trinity's Life.

In these years together we have come to understand that our task is not to create a new church structure, one that combs through the existing ones and emerges with a much better version. Instead, our task is to let the Holy Trinity work us back into the template of its Life while, with much difficulty, we remain in the structures where we were prepared and ordained. This does not rule out the surfacing of a new Lutheran structure, but our task is really defined by the template of the Church's seven marks.

In Martin Luther's introduction to the marks (Luther's Works, Volume 41), he noted that the Holy Spirit works on a daily basis to break the old life down and restore us to the new Life through the forgiveness of sin. Where that work gets pushed to the side or is assumed, then we have preaching that skims biblical passages or turns into an ecclesiastical speech or displays a religious cultural view. Where the Spirit's work is waved off, then we have little awareness of the day when we were brought into the Holy Trinity's Life, leaving us with the notion that our decision for the Lord is more important.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is consistently working to break the old life down and restore us to the new Life through the forgiveness of sins. Thus, we have Society members working hard every week to take the biblical passages for preaching and teaching seriously. We push into those passages so we can see the Lord's Word clearly and, through the Lord's guidance, apply that Word to the situations where we are carrying out the Church's ministry. Thus, we find ourselves going back to our own baptismal dates, recognizing they do eclipse the birth dates. This enables us to remember when we were brought into the Holy Trinity's Life and encourages our parishioners in the same remembering.

This template of the Church's seven marks guides and powers the carrying out of the Church's ministry. We often run into situations where the energizing love of a marriage has now turned to a frightening hatred, where minor illnesses balloon into serious ones, or where understandings get broken because a person's old life looms larger than anything else. These situations (and many others) cause our lives to sag while we note the ferocity of the unholy trio's life (sin, Satan, death) and its unrelenting drive to crush all people (inside and outside the parish).

We are humbled and grateful that this template of the marks is becoming more explicit. It will serve to spark and sustain the ministry for which we were prepared and ordained.

Carl A. Voges, STS, Vicar