Volume II, No. 2 Syndouloi October
10, 2000
The Periodical of the Pre-Sem Club
Fellowservants of Christ
Thoughts From the Other Side of the Fence
The purpose of this Club is to help Pre-Sem students begin to prepare for the pastoral ministry. There is something more than what is now present; there is a goal to be reached. You want to get to the Seminary and then out into the field. Being “pre-seminary” is therefore, somewhat analogous to being in the “Pre-Heaven Club,” that is, being a Christian.
Like the Pre-Heaven Club, the Pre-Seminary Club is somewhat of a misnomer. The fact is, we already have eternal life (Jn. 3:18, Rom. 8:1ff), we just haven’t been able to enjoy its fullness yet. This already-not-yet syndrome applies to you pre-seminarians as well. Your studies at Seward are every bit a part of your formation for the pastoral ministry. You just haven’t been able to enjoy the “Big House” yet.
Without a doubt you probably have moments when you really wish your studies there at Seward would just get over so that you can get on to the Seminary. Christians have those kinds of thoughts about Heaven all the time, and well they should! We should never lose sight of the goal. But if we truly focus on our goal, we will focus more intently on the here-and-now. The goal of Heaven gives our lives on earth a much deeper significance. Likewise, the goal of a seminary education and serving the church as a pastor lends your current studies added weight. Having now experienced the “Big House” for a few weeks I can tell you that I’ve already had opportunities to use my preparation at Seward, and to wish that I would have prepared more.
So, be watchful! As Christians we do not know when our Lord will return, so we must always be diligent in preparing for his coming. But as pre-seminarians you do know “when the end will come.” It will come all too soon. Prepare yourselves well, the Bride of Christ needs your service.
Rest always in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Him, Heath R. Curtis (heathrc@hotmail.com)
Vice-President, President, and Editor Emeritus of
the Pre-Sem Club
Currently at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
As many of you may know, St. Louis Seminary had its annual Fall Symposium last month on Lutheran Confessional Identity. It was an interesting experience since that was the first time I have ever been to the Seminary.
It would be rather difficult to talk about all the speakers in such a short space, but I will try to give a few main ideas that came out. On the first day there were speakers from WELS, ELCA, ILC and, of course, the LCMS. They all took different positions on the continuum of confessionalism and evangelism.
One speaker said the two positions represented a polarity like the positive and negative terminal on batteries. An effective Church could not operate on pure confessionalism nor on pure evangelism. Confessional adherents won’t expand the Church and the evangelizers may have big numbers, but won’t know what they believe. While we would consider the ELCA to be more on the evangelism side of the issue and the WELS to be on the confessional side of the coin, the LCMS is left somewhere in the middle.
This, of course, can cause problems as we then experience a pull from both sides. Nature abhors a vacuum. Catholics call us Protestant and Protestants call us Catholic. While at Concordia, pray for guidance in that conflict. It’s very easy to be swayed one way or the other, but without an identity the Church will be invisible in all the wrong ways.
~Ed.
After attending the Symposium, one student wrote this:
Those 48 hours were quite eye opening for me. I was frustrated by
a lot of what I heard. But you know, that whole time, it seemed like everything
I heard didn't sound like what I would expect from an institution established to
train men to be shepherds of God’s sheep. Instead it seemed like they were
training robots to dress alike, think alike, and communicate in their own
language, one completely foreign to the average lay person, wrapped up in big
words, clichés, and self-appointed authority. This "haughtiness," if
you will, seemed to me to detract from what ministry is all about: sharing the
Gospel with people. This persona, combined with the workload of a seminarian,
my lack of understanding, and even the architecture of the campus (quite
gothic) made me doubt my calling for a few brief seconds during more than one
point in the time I was there. Frankly, I now know that I want to get out of
there as quickly as possible and get into a parish of my own, to form
relationships with people and minister to them, sharing God's unfathomable love
as I serve Him with my life.
The
call to the ministry is important to the utmost. At times it seems like the
weight is too much or that we may not measure up to the someone else’s standards
or even God’s own standards for that matter. Yet God’s call does not come back
without fruit. Talk to your fellow pre-sem’s. Ask them why they chose to pursue
the ministry. You may be surprised with the different answers you find.
Also
consider the many different kinds of people God needs in his sheepfold. We’re
not all Greek scholars (though we might wish we were sometimes J), we can’t all quote
the Bible verbatim (yet) and we are all sinners. But God still calls us His
own!
~Ed.
· Make plans to be in
the Pre-Sem Room tonight at 8pm to talk with Rev. Mike Scudder and another
professor from Ft. Wayne. Don’t miss this opportunity to ask questions to
representatives from the Seminary.
· Syndouloi is still looking to expand its
authorship. If you have a book review,
devotion, story, opinion, prayer request, or anything else that you think would
be a good addition to this publication, please send it to the editor, Michael
Hanel, in campus mail.
One issue that Syndouloi would especially like to cover is Bible translations.
Which translations are good translations? What makes for a good translation?
How do different translations affect our theology? What about God’s Word, a recent Lutheran effort
into the wide range of available translations? These and other issues would be
worthy to explore and would be sure to find a space in Syndouloi, so please get your thoughts to the editor soon.
· If you have any questions about the Pre-Sem Club or program
contact either: Pres. Dan Wing, 643-9574; V. Pres. Ryan Oakes, 8676;
Sec./Treas. Josh Lowe, 8563; Editor, Michael Hanel, 8596; or Sponsor, Prof.
Block, 7442.
· The next meeting is Wed..
Oct. 11 at 9pm in the Pre-Sem Room,
Founders 203. If you haven’t caught on, our meetings are weekly on Wed.
nights. These one-hour meetings usually consist of free pop and cookies, a speaker or Bible study, and prayer. If you,
or someone you know, would like to lead one of our weekly meetings, please
contact Dan.
· In the absence of any controversial subjects, please also
consider submitting book reviews and or good websites to the Editor. With so
many different ideas out there, it’s important that we help each other find the
good and avoid the bad!
· If you know someone
who did not get a copy of Syndouloi,
but would like one, please send a note to the Editor or call him. One need not
be in the Pre-Sem program to participate in or just watch this exchange of
ideas.
One of my favorite authors has been Dietrich Bonhoeffer lately. I haven’t
read anything new by him since July, but he says a lot of things that speak to
me. He was a German theologian who was hanged in a concentration camp for his
participation in a movement that was attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
In his well-known work, The Cost of Discipleship, he speaks
about numerous things, but specifically in one chapter he addresses Matthew
9:35-38, and makes a few helpful insights.
“There were no longer any Shepherds in Israel.
No one led the flock to fresh waters to quench their thirst, no one protected
them from the wolf. They were harassed, wounded and distraught under the dire
rod of their shepherds, and lay prostrate upon the ground. Such was the
condition of the people when Jesus came….
”Jesus is looking for help, for he cannot
work alone. Who will come forward to help him and work with him? Only God
knows, and he must give them to his Son. No man dare presume to come forward
and offer himself on his own initiative, not even the disciples themselves.
Their duty is to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers at the
right moment, for the time is ripe.”
No shepherd likes to see a flock in danger,
but God promised to send laborers to collect his harvest and shepherds to watch
over his flocks. We humbly submit to his holy will and live under his Word.
~Ed.
