In Persona Christi

I just ran across a comment on Flickr to one of my pictures, a snapshot of the sainted Rev. Dr. Kenneth Korby, whom I visited with the Concordia Theological Seminary Kantorei (a 16-man touring choir) back in January 2003. We made a stop to the Washington (state, not city) nursing home in which he was living, having suffered a stroke that made speech difficult for him. We sang the Office of Matins from the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal (TLH), and Dr. Korby was able to sing the service with us. We also sang his favorite morning hymn, "Come Thou Bright and Morning Star" (TLH 539).

Anyway, a former parishioner recently left the following moving tribute to their beloved pastor who "stood in the stead of Christ" and ministered faithfully as a shepherd to his flock:

Thank you so much for your picture of our beloved pastor Korby. He was our pastor for several years and we miss him dearly. This picture really captures his cheerfulness. He married my husband and me. The pre-marrital instruction sessions have been like gold to us. He taught us about confession and absolution, completely life changing. Our church in St. Paul was very poor. There were many children who had rough homes. Pastor Korby would go to their homes, feed them and bring them to church. He did countless things like this. He was a tough teacher with strong words yet the same man was also kindly like a shepherd with the utmost gentleness. He prayed Matins every morning at church and Vespers in the evening. Our children now sing his favorite evening hymn, "Now Rest Beneath Night's Shadows", they call it Pastor Korby's lullaby. Thank you again for visiting with him. He truly was a pastor who stood in the stead of Christ.

The Palm family,
Oak Harbor, WA