October 2015 – A Seminarian’s Letters Home

To the membership of Circle of Faith Parish:

Greetings to you all from Evanston, IL! Welcome to another season of changing leaves, harvesting crops, hunting season, cooler days and longer nights! We are now officially in the fall of the year, and are preparing, as we always do, to celebrate Reformation at the end of October. Meanwhile, of course, it’s harvest time.

On October 17, the Church remembers a saint named John the Dwarf. He had a funny name, and a funny story. In the late fourth century, he went to the Egyptian desert to become a monk. His mentor felt that he needed to learn patience and persistence, so he stuck a stick in the ground, and instructed John to water it every day until it bore fruit. John thought it was ridiculous, but kept on watering it every single day for three years straight, until a seed concealed within the stick finally sprouted and grew into an apple tree.

Funny how that kind of thing happens in Christian life, isn’t it? John the Dwarf couldn’t have known what would happen as he kept on watering that tick. Luther could never have known when he nailed the 95 Theses to a door that his ideas would fuel one of the most powerful movements in Western Christianity. Our ancestors could not know, when they set up our three churches, that in time we would grow to become the area parish we have. All they had, and all we have, is faith, and the promise that God can and will do something with even our simple lives, and with such basic stuff as a book, a bowl of water, a piece of bread and a glass of wine. But that’s the point of Reformation, after all – that God makes amazing things happen in the last place on earth we’d think to look.

Heading through harvest toward Reformation and the feasts of the saints, let us pray for God’s blessing, using these words:

Almighty God, gracious Lord, we thank you that your Holy Spirit renews the church in every age. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon your faithful people. Keep them steadfast in your word, comfort and protect them in times of trial, defend them from all enemies of the Gospel, and bestow upon your church your saving peace, through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. [ELW, Reformation Sunday]

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Your fellow member and pilgrim,

Carl P. Rabbe, M.Div.