ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH
(The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod)
Alma, Kansas
A family united by faith in Christ gathering around God's Word and Sacraments.
To reach out in Christ-like concern and Christ-borne love to each other and to those without Christ!
In This Month's
St. John Witness
JUNE WITNESS
Pastor's Message
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
In 1813, General Armistead commissioned Mary Pickersgill to make a huge flag that would wave over Fort McHenry near Baltimore to be seen be any enemy from miles away. Pickersgill and her 13-year old daughter Caroline labored long hours that summer until the flag was completed. That flag was 42 feet by 30 feet. It was made from a combination of cotton and dyed wool bunting. It cost about $5,377 in today’s money.
When the British attacked by land and by sea, they could see that flag in the distance. Defenders of
Baltimore faced a bombardment by the guns, rockets and bombs of the most powerful navy in the world on the days and nights of September 12 through September 14. For 25 hours the British navy fired every gun they had on the fortifications of Baltimore. In the dawn's early light of September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key saw not the Union Jack but the stars and stripes of our country's flag. On that occasion, he wrote the words to our national anthem. At the end of the battle our flag was still there and it is a great symbol of patriotism to Americans.
This flag is now displayed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. However, on the other side it is a symbol of failure and defeat to the British. The issue is not the contents, the cost, or the beauty of that flag. The issue is what that flag represents. Symbols are powerful things.
The cross of Calvary is also a Symbol as well. For those who lived before the death of Christ, the cross represented the horrible death of the most heinous of criminals. It was not something onyone looked to with awe or reverence, but rather with angst and disgust. For the Jews, it was a sign of weakness, as they could not think of their Messiah dying. For Greeks, the cross was a sign of foolishness, as they could not think of a God who would die for everyone. But, as Paul says, for those of us being saved it is a sign of God's power.
For us, the cross is also a symbol of God’s enduring love, the price paid for forgiveness, and Christ's vicarious victory over death. We are saved from sin’s power. Heaven is now our home, too!
Rejoice for God’s grace! Pastor Grimm
