LIFE WORLD of the For the July 2006. Volume Ten, Number Three Because Christ Is for All, the Church Has a Corporate Life of Mercy - p.4 Complete in One Body - p.7 Christ in the Parish - p.9 What Does This Mean? - p.11 page 4 F E A T U R E S page 11 For theLIFE WORLDofthe PRESIDENT Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe PUBLISHER Rev. Scott Klemsz EDITOR Rev. John T. Pless ASSOCIATE EDITOR COPY EDITOR ART DIRECTOR Jayne Sheafer Trudy Behning Steve Blakey For the Life of theWorld is published quarterly by Concordia Theological Seminary Press, 6600 North Clinton Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46825. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher of For the Life of the World. Copyright 2006. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at Huntington, Indiana. To be added to our mailing list please call 260-452-2150 or e-mail Rev. Scott Klemsz at klemszsc@ctsfw.edu. For the Life of the World is mailed to all pastors and congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in the United States and Canada and to anyone interested in the work of Concordia The- ological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. CONTENTS JULY 2006 page 7 page 30 Called to SERVE 4 Because Christ Is for All, the Church Has a Corporate Life of Mercy By the Rev. Matthew C. Harrison, Executive Director of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s Board for Human Care Ministries and World Relief, St. Louis, Missouri I have met the President of the United States. I’ve been all over the world and met dignitaries of all sorts. But I’ve never been so humbled and honored to be doing the work of LCMS World Relief and Human Care in behalf of the church. 7 Complete in One Body By Mrs. Patricia S. Nuffer, a Concordia Theological Seminary deaconess intern with the LCMS Board for Human Care Ministries and World Relief, Fort Wayne, Indiana One body, different members, it is an exciting challenge for the church to be one body, an exciting challenge for CTS to equip pastors and deaconesses to welcome the vulnerable, to celebrate each one’s gifts in their differences, and to be complete in one body. 9 Christ in the Parish By the Rev. Everette E. Greene, Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Cincinnati, Ohio For me, being a confessing Lutheran has nothing at all to do with race or color but everything to do with the Gospel that makes us one in Christ! 11 What Does This Mean? A Noble Task p. 12 Christ for All People p. 14 First Deaconesses Placed for Service p. 16 Baccalaureate and Graduation Mark Close of 160th Academic Year p. 18 Thank You from the Crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Maui p. 23 New Workers Join CTS Family p. 25 Seminary Guild Ends Year with Many Activities p. 29 page 9 3 JULY 2006 7 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:12-13). One body, different members, eachuniquely gifted to make the whole.This we hold to be true and this we teach to future pastors and deaconesses of the church. But this has not always been so.Adapting the Concordia Theological Seminary campus to be disability friendly began in 1988, with a task force meeting in the living room of Professor Richard Muller’s wife, Kay. Years later, with elevators and accessibility equipment installed, the barriers are no longer mainly architectural. Now the barriers are often attitudinal and experiential. Many students have not been exposed to the unique differences that come with blindness, mental retardation, mental illness, and other disabilities. Their life experience may have been limited educationally or socially so as to allow old stereotypes to persist. Yet disabilities are widespread. It has been estimated that one in every four Americans experiences a disability of some sort and one in ten people is affected by a significant disability. While we know no barriers exist to God’s love, sadly there often are barriers of fear and ignorance toward people with disabilities. The church often has not welcomed people with disabilities because of such bar- riers. TheAmericanAssociation of Mental Retardation (AAMR) relates that “individuals with developmental disabilities and their families still experience mixed responses to their presence, gifts, and needs from the congregation and limited support for religious participa- tion.” The needs are great but so is the response. Like the thrust of the new curriculum, integrating what was once separated into departments, CTS students are being exposed to a multitude of disability awareness opportunities. Guest speakers in field education and counseling classes share personal experiences and Complete in One Body It has been estimated that one in every four Americans experi- ences a disability of some sort and one in ten people is affected by a significant disability. While we know no barriers exist to God’s love, sadly there often are barriers of fear and ignorance toward people with disabilities. By Mrs. Patricia S. Nuffer 8 For the Life of the World insights with future pastors and deaconesses with practical ways to support families impacted by disabilities. The first six-hour, elective module was created by Lutheran Disability Outreach and taught by the Rev. Brian Pratt. Bethesda, Lutheran Blind Mission, and other Recognized Service Organizations (RSO) hold convocations for the CTS student body. Fieldworkers and deaconesses gain valuable experience in Friendship Bible Classes for people with cognitive challenges; these classes are organized and taught by Lutheran Disability Outreach in local churches, nursing homes, and on the CTS campus. Second-year student Dave Lingard taught the Friendship Class on campus along with Rev. Pratt. He reflects upon his experience as an absolute joy to teach the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, to people with developmental disabilities. “For me personally, it has been a tremendously uplifting experience. It is a chance to put into practice what we are learning here at the seminary,” commented seminarian Lingard. Megan Mohr, a first-year deaconess student, works with Bethesda Lutheran Homes and relates that forgotten parishioners come in many guises. She works to give people with disabilities access to God’s Word, and feed their faith just like everyone else. “The experience has opened my eyes to the fact that caring for each person, with or without disabilities, incorporates more than personal hygiene and more than Bible studies: it’s both. In true diaconal service, all needs are met–both physical and spiritual,” explained Ms. Mohr. Three internships were arranged for CTS deaconess students to work with people with developmental disabilities. Through opportunities such as these, students gain valuable experience that changes stereo- types about what people with disabilities can do and breaks down barriers to including people with disabilities in the life of their future congregations. One man’s presence on the work force of the campus is breaking down those barriers as well. Carl Teegarden, 59, a man with cognitive challenges, has been working for the CTS Security Department for almost seven years. His reliable presence and sociable personality have gone a long way in underscoring the capability of people with disabilities. Tony Marquart, Carl’s boss in the Security Department, relates that he has learned more from Carl than Carl could ever learn from him or the job. “Carl has taught me patience and acceptance. A lot of our men don’t have much experience with people with disabilities; this is where the theory they learn in class can be put into practice by interacting with Carl.” Another Carl with some disabil- ities, Carl Nuffer, lived in one of the dorms for a quarter last year and worked part time for Creative Dining Service. For the body does not consist of one member but many . . . if the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as He chose. (1Cor. 12:14, 18) These differences remind us that God has chosen to hide in the weak, the humble, and the outcast. These differences remind us that we, like all human beings, live with limitations; that it has been God’s design to place His breath of life into fragile earthly vessels; and we all live lives marked both by the good of creation and the broken- ness under the cross. These differences remind us that at the heart of our theology it is the church that honors the weak and the vulnerable; it is the church that becomes the place where disabilities are not viewed as problems to be solved but ways of being human that can be understood, valued, and included. Our church has had a clear, historic stance of pro-life: that God has created all life, able-bodied, able-minded and not, and that all life is sacred to God. Human life is not an achievement but a gift with intrinsic value at every stage, at every level of ability. The source of that dignity is that all life is God’s creation, and no life is excluded from those for whom Christ died. Our church has taken an uncompromis- ing stand for human life “from womb to tomb” amidst a culture that says otherwise. This is an important aspect of the preparation of men for the Holy Ministry and women for diaconal work. As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand,“I have no need of you,”nor again the head say to the feet,“I have no need of you.”On the contrary, the parts that seem to be weaker are indispensable. (1 Cor. 12:20-22) One body, different members, it is an exciting challenge for the church to be one body, an exciting challenge for CTS to equip pastors and deaconesses to welcome the vulnerable, to celebrate each one’s gifts in their differences, and to be complete in one body. Mrs. Patricia S. Nuffer is a Concordia Theological Seminary deaconess intern with the LCMS Board for Human Care Ministries and World Relief. She will be working locally with LCMS churches to attain mean- ingful inclusion for people with disabilities and traveling abroad in Sudan and Kenya to establish congregational support for people with disabilities. Our church has had a clear, historic stance of pro-life: that God has creat- ed all life, able-bodied, able-minded and not, and that all life is sacred to God. Human life is not an achieve- ment but a gift with intrinsic value at every stage, at every level of ability. The source of that dignity is that all life is God’s creation, and no life is excluded from those for whom Christ died. Our church has taken an uncom- promising stand for human life “from womb to tomb” amidst a culture that says otherwise. This is an important aspect of the preparation of men for the Holy Ministry and women for diaconal work.