Pastor's Pen
A monthly message from the hand of Vacancy Pastor Renstrom
June: Dear Sisters and Brothers at Zion Lutheran Church,
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:9-10 RSV-- You really should open your Bible and read through at least to verse 21!)
Hi! I am Pastor Tim Renstrom. I have been asked to serve Zion as your vacancy (or interim) Pastor. I am honored to be asked and to be able to do so. I thought I should maybe write a couple things for the news letter so that you might know me a little better.
What you need to know about me: I am a “stickler” (as we used to call it where I come from!) for Word and Sacrament, Law and Gospel shepherding. We need to regularly hear the Law. When it is proclaimed to is and we are willing to hear it, it shows us our sinfulness. If we don’t see our sinfulness, it either hasn’t been proclaimed rightly or our hearts are hardened to reject the work of the Holy Spirit. Rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit to show us our sinfulness leads to bad eternal consequences - loss of faith and eternal damnation. Hence, we often sing, in Lutheran worship, “renew a clean heart within me.”
We also need to hear the Gospel. It needs to dominate. Once the Law has done it’s work to show us our sin, the Gospel brings the salve of healing that turns our hearts, our very selves, to hear the words that we are forgiven because of the work of out savior Jesus. His death was our death to sin, death and the devil. His resurrection is our resurrection to new life in Him. Our sins no longer stand against us. We live by grace, through faith in Jesus.
These come to us in Word and Sacrament. Hearing the Word of God. Receiving the Sacraments regularly.
This is the Christian’s life, and when this is the Christian’s life, it is reflected in the actions we see described in Romans 12:9-21 (and following). We build each other up... we never tear each other down. We do not insist on our own way... we look for the way of God, and we go on living from these beginnings.
Because it is the way of Scripture, when I see sin, wherever I see it, I will call it sin and the person doing it, a sinner - all the while recognizing that there are 3 fingers pointing back at me. (I am no better than any of you.) And I will tell you about Jesus, over and over, so that we might hear about the love of god in Christ Jesus.
By the way, my favorite Bible Verses are: Romans 8:37-39 and 1 Peter 3:15. What are yours?
What you might be interested in knowing about me: I grew up in Grant County at the headwaters of the Pomme De Terre River. I attended High school in Elbow Lake. I farmed (until I ran out of money in the ‘80’s,) Worked as a carpenter and ran carpentry crews in Sitka and Juneau Alaska. Attended Concordia College, Portland Oregon, for my undergrad work to prepare me for Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. I have had the privilege of serving God’s congregations in Newport and Toledo, Oregon, Appleton, Braham and Rush City, Minnesota. My wife Charlotte, and I have 2 children and 5 grand children.
I look forward to working beside you in God’s kingdom and getting to know all of you. But a word of warning...I have to work very hard at remembering names. (for some reason, one of the most important parts of being a pastor comes very hard for me.) So, I’ll keep asking you over and over - to try to learn them. Please forgive me and work with me.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Tim J. Renstrom