Today is the sixth anniversary of my ordination into the office of the holy ministry at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
I am eternally grateful to the people of Zion, to Pastor Doug Punke, and all the the clergy who came to lay hands on me - especially Rev. Dr. Fred Baue, my former pastor and the first person to lead me to the seminary.
Also, a shout-out is due to my dear friend and brother Deacon (then Seminarian) Latif Gaba who served as the subdeacon at my ordination. Thanks also to Pastor (then Seminarian) Jon Bakker who played trombone, Professor Chad Bird who preached the sermon, to Professor Peter Scaer, who taught me Greek and was a great friend during my pastoral formation, to Kantor Mike Hollman and the magnificent choir of Zion, to Seminarian Sony Lawrence the videographer, as well as to my dad, my parents-in-law, my brother- and sister-in-law, classmates, professors, participant clergy, friends, and of course Mrs. Hollywood (and the fetal Leo) who made this a momentous day for me, yet one more unworthy servant of Jesus Christ in a chain of presbyters stretching back to the apostles who have been given the gift and vocation to preach the Gospel, administer the sacraments, and to serve the saints of the Lord's Church.
To quote Bishop Bo Giertz's fictional Pastor Fridfeldt: "Finns det något större än att få vara präst?"
Deo gratias!
Also, a shout-out is due to my dear friend and brother Deacon (then Seminarian) Latif Gaba who served as the subdeacon at my ordination. Thanks also to Pastor (then Seminarian) Jon Bakker who played trombone, Professor Chad Bird who preached the sermon, to Professor Peter Scaer, who taught me Greek and was a great friend during my pastoral formation, to Kantor Mike Hollman and the magnificent choir of Zion, to Seminarian Sony Lawrence the videographer, as well as to my dad, my parents-in-law, my brother- and sister-in-law, classmates, professors, participant clergy, friends, and of course Mrs. Hollywood (and the fetal Leo) who made this a momentous day for me, yet one more unworthy servant of Jesus Christ in a chain of presbyters stretching back to the apostles who have been given the gift and vocation to preach the Gospel, administer the sacraments, and to serve the saints of the Lord's Church.
To quote Bishop Bo Giertz's fictional Pastor Fridfeldt: "Finns det något större än att få vara präst?"
Deo gratias!
Congratulations on your special anniversary! May God continue to bless and guide you as you serve his church.
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter side, when I clicked on the video and the organ started to play (volume set higher than it should have been), both of my cats were startled awake and had to jump down and investigate!
Congratulations Pr. Beane! I pray the Lord will continue to use you in preaching His Word faithfully.
ReplyDeleteThis is Hannah Bevills, Editor for Christian.com which is a social network made specifically for Christians, by Christians, to directly fulfill Christian's needs. We embarked on this endeavor to offer the ENTIRE christian community an outlet to join together as one (no matter denomination) and better spread the good word of Christianity. Christian.com has many great features aside from the obvious like christian TV, prayer request or even find a church/receive advice. We have emailed you because we have interest in collaborating with you and your blog to help us spread the good word. I look forward to an email regarding the matter, Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGod Bless
|Hannah Bevills|Christian.com|
hannah.bevills@gmail.com
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteAmy and I had the same reaction; we thought it was more like eight years.
Here's to many more years plus eternity!
Dear Sue:
ReplyDeleteThanks, and please apologize to your kitties for me. :-) I should have put a warning. The organ at Zion is as awe-inspiring to look at as it sounds.
One of our cats would freak out at the ringing of a doorbell for many years. He is much better now, but it still gives him a start.
Dear Jim and Mike:
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words!
All 3 of us - cats and me - still jump at the doorbell - I'd love to replace it with something that sounds nicer.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the organ - nothing like a wonderful instrument like that. My church put in a new one about 1992-3. Just prior to its installation, my then-10-year-old son asked what the organist would play the first time she sat down at the console(who but a child would think to ask). So I asked her. She said, that's easy: Jesus Loves Me! Besides it's being well-loved, it's easy to play one-handed while you mess around and learn the new stops. (She was our organist for over 60 years, is now 85 and only retired about 5 years ago. She had 2 years of piano lessons, plus some coaching by a previous organist. God gave her a wonderful gift. The professionally trained organists we have had since are not as good as she was.)