Necessary Roughness

I surprised Pastor Borghardt by showing up at his church, St. Mark Lutheran Church in Conroe. As he tells it:

Parishoner: “There’s a tall guy looking for you, Pastor.”
Pastor: “Jeesus?”
Parishoner: “No, taller.”

Pastor Borghardt was the liturgist, administering p.41 Vespers from TLH. Pastor David Quail preached the sermon, which will be posted on St. Mark’s sermon page shortly. The fact they have a recorded sermon page is quite cool.

Pastor Quail started with the calling of disciples John, Andrew, and Peter in John 1:35-42, and the calling of James and John in Matthew 4:18-22. He noted that Andrew spends less than a day with Jesus and yet tells his brother, “We have found the Messiah”—not, “Come and see if you also think He is”. Andrew is called with a purpose, to become a fisher of men, as are all in the pastoral ministry. We are also called for a purpose. Not by fear, that we should do what God says for fear of His punishment, nor by decision-making. We are called, by the Gospel, to glorify God, to be empowered to say “no” to sin, to accept ridicule from the world, and to stand and speak the truth.