Some of you are “cradle Lutherans” who were on the Cradle Roll of the congregation you were baptized in. Our ecumenical partners, such as United Methodist, Episcopalians and Presbyterians had similar “pipeline” programs. The process of faith formation was very structured and intentional. Sunday School attendance was a proud achievement. You started off your religious academic career with a pin to wear on your lapel (because us boys always wore a sport coat and tie). Girls, I don’t know where you put yours. I wouldn’t notice the fairer sex until I was at least eight, I reckon. Then after the first year of Sunday School, I think it was, you got a pin with a wreath encircling it (“ooohhh; aaahhh”). Then every year completed gave you a bar to hang from the wreath. So, if my calculations are correct, thirty-six Sundays a year times fifteen years equals 540 hours, one pin, one wreath, fourteen bars. I took great satisfaction in walking with a little lean to the left into church because of all that jewelry on my lapel. That began to coincide, from the age of ten, with my music career. Solo and Ensemble competitions. More trinkets for the jacket pocket. Medals with blue or red fabric. Tokens of accomplishment. It carried on into the Navy with more medals and ribbons, some of which were just because “I was there”.

Now my garb of supposed distinction is the clerical collar and the stole or yoke around my neck. The marks or symbols of pride have now become signs of the pastoral office. There are certainly many great minister/preachers who are dressed casually in button-down shirts and skinny jeans on Sunday mornings. I wonder how many of them “came up through the ranks” of Sunday School pins, wreaths, and bars. Does it matter one wit in the overall scheme of things? Of course not. That is not to say that us younglings were duped into thinking that closeness to and favor with God were tied in with accoutrements. Never missing a Sunday School class or worship service used to be badges of honor. We were not entirely wrong, nor were we clearly right. These days, regular participation as a church member is considered one or two Sundays a month. I wonder if God is perturbed by our lessened standards or, to borrow a Latin term used by Luther, is just adiaphora – small stuff, of little consequence. Truly God demands, expects, even commands our obedience. For many a century now the way that Christians have most commonly demonstrated that is by simply showing up. Showing up matters a great deal; don’t get me wrong. But it is only the starting point. The Lord requires more: “to seek justice and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8). It’s hard to walk humbly with a pin, wreath, and fourteen bars. Or a breast pocket overloaded with solo & ensemble medals. Or a rack of service ribbons. I confess that for me, even, with a stole and a clerical collar. Dressing down without robing on Sundays during the hot, humid summer feels nice. I forgot to even put on a stole this past Sunday. Members of Joy, you know we had a lot going on. I pray that God was not offended. Something tells me He was not. I tell our worship assistants that if they forget something or do something incorrectly, Jesus will still talk to them. After all, it is behind our “trinkets” and vestments that Jesus cares about. What is within the heart that Jesus loves unconditionally. Pride in achievement means nothing or may be just adiaphora.

Pastor Art