Author: Rev. Johann Caauwe

I am a Lutheran pastor in Wood Lake, MN.

Bruce Nehring Consort

Rev. Johann Caauwe2 Comments

Bruce-sketch
Last Friday night Sara and I went to a Christmas concert here in El Paso called the "Navidad de Las Luminarias." It's an annual event put on by the Bruce Nehring Consort, "El Paso's Professional Singers and Chamber Players." It's a sacred music concert and is held at the chapel at Loretto Academy. It was really quite good, and I appreciated the selection of music. Here are my favorites:

I think this was the first time I've been to a sacred concert that was not a part of our church or schools. Like I said, I really enjoyed it and appreciated it. But I did notice that the pieces that were the most edifying, the deepest (and I think, the most beautiful) were the ones written by Lutherans. Lutheran pastors like Cyriakus Scheegaß (1546–1597) and Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608). Lutheran cantors like Johann Kuhnau and J.S. Bach. So much of this kind of music was created for the church by her servants, and while it's fun to listen to it today by "professional singers and chamber players," it makes me a little disappointed that many—including Lutherans—are completely unaware of the musical heritage of the Lutheran church. IIt would be a shame if we relegated this rich heritage to museums and community groups dedicated to furthering "the arts." Shouldn't such music be most and best used in places where it was originally conceived—where the music's original purpose of teaching and comforting the saints could continue even today? 

That's not to say Lutherans no longer write and perform good, spiritually edifying music. There are many good things happening all over the place—though it's harder to find in outlying areas (like West Texas). There have also been a few wonderful efforts recently to encourage this very thing. One is the Singing the Faith DVD, which helps to teach people about this heritage and why it's important. The other, more recent project, is the DVD Children Making Music, which encourages us to pass our heritage on to the next generation. Ultimately, encouraging young musicians is the best way to make use of and carry on the rich music of the past and to encourage the development of similar music for our day—music written to carry the proclamation of the gospel, to sing the faith into the hearts of God's people.

A Tale of Two Books © 1956 CPH

Rev. Johann Caauwe1 Comment

DSC_6623
I just finished a book called Spiritual Power for Your congregation: A guide to lay activity in the church. It was published in 1956. I have had it on my shelf since 1999, but had never read it so I thought I should. It wasn't sure what to expect, but it was actually quite good. It is certainly dated, so some of the book's advice is no longer as useful as it might have been in the 50's.

But here's the really interesting thing. Reading through this book made me think of another book on my shelf that I didn't think would be that good. It is a book on preaching called "Preaching with Power." But again, I found that it was actually a very good book. In fact, I've read it a couple times now. So I checked the date on the preaching book and noticed that it was also published in 1956 by Concordia Publishing House.

Both of these books are out of print. If you go to the Amazon.com link for the first one, you can actually find some used copies, but the preaching book is gone. 

A couple things impressed me about these books. First, it's always interesting to see how little things change over time. Over the course of 50 years many things change, but more often the church is really struggling with the same things as ever. In both of these books the authors described current attitudes in our churches, our families, and our societies. They described our culture and society, and the affect that they have on our work as Christian congregations and preachers. And I thought to myself more than once, "He could be writing this today."

The other thing that impressed me is that both authors relied heavily on the power of the gospel to be the power in preaching and in a congregation. Preaching with power is preaching that is the Word of God. The preacher doesn't need to add something to make his preaching more powerful. Preaching with power is proclaiming the power of God through the Word of God, no more, no less. Lay activity in the church makes a congregation powerful when members are hearing the Word of God in their homes, when they are studying it with others in Bible Class/Sunday School, and especially when they are gathering around Word and Sacrament in the Divine Service.

Catching Up

Rev. Johann CaauweLeave a comment

I realize that it's been pretty quiet here on the blog lately. I don't know where the time goes. But I do have a few ideas that I hope to write about shortly. In the meantime, here are a few quick updates on what we've been up to here.

  • Military Contact Pastor's Conference — was held here in El Paso at the beginning of November. Especially valuable to have that held here. We got to tour Fort Bliss and meet with the installation chaplain. Ministry to the military is a large part of our work here, and will only increase as Fort Bliss expands by 300% in the next few years.
  • Year of Jubilee — Last Sunday we took the time to give attention to the synod's Year of Jubilee celebration/offering. It was a nice opportunity to study something that many people didn't know much about. 
  • Scenic Drive — Last Friday we took the kids for a little drive to a little park up on Scenic Drive that overlooks El Paso. You can see some of the pictures from that here. 
  • Thanksgiving — We held a service this evening. Tomorrow we'll be having dinner at a member's house. 
  • Advent —I'm pretty excited to start another church year. I realize that it means that busy times are ahead, but I wouldn't trade Advent for anything. I've been thinking lately about how much the church year reflects our life in Christ. Someday I'll write a post on that.

Prayer at the Close of Day on Baptism

Rev. Johann Caauwe1 Comment

One of the services at this summer's worship conference was a Service of Prayer at the Close of Day (Compline) that centered on Baptism. If I remember correctly, we sang two of my favorite hymns from the Supplement, "I Am Baptized into Christ" and "Lord Support Us All Day." The setting of compline that we used was fantastic, and well done. The whole thing was tightly wound around the thoughts of baptism as we come to the close of another day. But I'd have to say that the highlight of that particular service was the commentary/sermon. I won't say anything more about it—you can watch it for yourself. I'll give you the link so that you can watch it on Streams.

Prayer at the Close of Day Sermon on Streams

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Three

Rev. Johann Caauwe2 Comments

Today is our Lydia's 3rd birthday. Three years ago just after the daylight savings time change (if she had been born an hour earlier, she would have been born at exactly the same time), this sweet little girl entered our life. 

After about 18 months of "terrible twos," we're ready for this milestone. Now we'll see if she will really do all the things she said she'd do "when I'm three."

Lydia's favorite Disney character is Ariel, from the Little Mermaid. You'll see and hear that in the video. There's a picture of her hugging Ariel at Disneyland, taken just after she said, "You're my favorite." In the video clip at the beginning of the slideshow, Lydia isn't really directing a fanfare—she's really singing "O Jesus Christ, Your Manger Is". But it works. Happy Birthday, Ariel Lydia!

WELSTech Podcast

Rev. Johann Caauwe2 Comments

Image001
A number of weeks ago, I did an interview for the WELSTech podcast, which is produced by our Synod's Technology office. The episode with the interview was released today.

The interview was about how the iPhone can be used as a tool for ministry. I had written a little about that here some months back. Follow the link above or click on the picture to read about or listen to the episode.

I would like to say that is was a privilege to talk about this topic. Many of you know that I'm always happy to talk about Apple hardware and software. I would also like to welcome any new readers who found their way here through this podcast. 

Children in Worship

Rev. Johann CaauweLeave a comment

With four children (and soon-to-be five) under the age of six, I am naturally interested in the topic of children and worship. But it's not just for my own children. As a pastor I am interested in all the little lambs who need to hear the voice of their shepherd.

I believe that Lutherans approach this topic from a rather unique perspective. (Unique because so many others do do not approach it in the same way.) The biblical teachings of original sin, the way the Holy Spirit works faith through the means of grace, and the understanding of the primary purpose of public worship as God's service to us—all these affect the way we think about the place of children in worship.

I want to share with you an audio segment from the Lutheran radio show "Issues, etc." It is a discussion about this topic that I found useful. You'll can listen to it here on the website or click the link below if that doesn't work. I also included a link to another book that talks about children and worship.

The picture here is part of an altarpiece in Wittenberg. I shared this with our school kids in chapel this morning. The point is pretty easy to get. Martin Luther preaches in such a way that Christ is the center of his preaching and the people's worship. But take a look at the congregation. Notice the kids right in the front. Even an infant sitting on a lap. Receiving God's gifts right along with the others. Someday I hope to have a good-sized print of this painting hanging in my study.

Predella

Kid Pictures

Rev. Johann CaauweLeave a comment

This evening I uploaded a couple albums of pictures from the kids' cameras. Both Hannah and Andrew have the Fisher-Price Digital Cameras, which they got as Christmas presents. The cameras don't take great pictures, but they're fun for the kids, they really do take pictures, and every once in a while a good picture comes out. As I emptied the cameras tonight, Andrew's camera had over 800 pics; Hannah's had almost 300. On our gallery page, you can see the selection of pictures that were better than most. Enjoy.

Videos

Rev. Johann CaauweLeave a comment

You might know that for a while now I've put together videos for the kids birthdays. They're mostly slideshows of pictures from the past year. Every once in a while we go back and watch them with the kids. Tonight we watched a bunch of them, including this video of Andrew from his second birthday. Since this was before I started posting on YouTube, I just uploaded the video now for you to see if you wish. Do you think Isaiah looks like Andrew did back then? Let me know in the comments.

October 4

Rev. Johann Caauwe1 Comment
Yesterday I taught the hymn "All Depends on Our Possessing" for hymnology. Today I have the words of stanza two on my mind as I give thanks for thirty years of God's grace.

He who to this day has fed me
And to many joys has led me
Is and ever shall be mine.
He who ever gently schools me,
He who daily guides and rules me,
Will remain my help divine.