Visit to Concordia, Cedar Rapids

First, a warm welcome to Walter, whom Jesus himself baptized on Sunday morning and added to his Church.  "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me" (Mark 9:37).

Sunday morning I was at Concordia Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids with Pastor Brad Brown and the saints Christ has gathered there.  I preached at the two services and presented on St. Silas during the Bible class time in between.  I also had the chance to meet Harlan Ketelsen, a man who for years has been making small wooden crosses to give to people.  These little crosses have been distributed all over the world.  Pastor Brown was sharing some stories.  One time a woman from Russia was here in the States and someone gave her one of the wooden crosses.  She looked at it and then pulled one out of her pocket that was the same.  When asked where she had already gotten one, she said some missionaries came through her town in Russia some twenty years prior and had the crosses with them.  That corresponded to about the time Harlan made a bunch of crosses for the missionaries to take with them.  There were a number of these sorts of stories.  The crosses are about 1.5" x 3" and made of two pieces of walnut.  Harlan gave me 300 of them in a coffee can for use in North Liberty, along with a couple of pectoral crosses, a cross on a stand for my desk, a wall cross, and a palm cross.  Of special note, Harlan and his wife will be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary this coming week.

Thank you for welcoming my family and me.  I was glad for the opportunity to meet my neighbors to the north, to preach God's Word, and to share with you about St. Silas.  The sermon manuscript can be found here: "So Easy a Child Can Do It."  Continue to remember me in your prayers.

In Christ

Pastor Andrew Richard

St. Silas Lutheran Church
www.stsilaslutheran.org
www.facebook.com/stsilaslutheran
stsilaslutheran@gmail.com