What follows has been gleaned from e-mails I have sent, and phone conversations that I have had with new and hurting Lutheran pastors. These "nuggets" of mine were originally designed for their personal comfort and encouragement, not for their people. I responded at their request, often with very specific details of their situations in mind, but only ever knowing their side of the story. I took what they told me at face value. I attempt to respond to the parishioners here at Redeemer in the same way. I don't question their stories, either. I try to see good motives in the speaker. Rather than pit member against member, or pastor against congregation, I simply believe the one who is talking to me. God knows the truth. It is not my job to catch men in lies, but to unburden them from the guilt for which Christ died. Thus I seek to comfort my own parishioners and those who have sought my counsel with the Good News that God is on their side, has forgiven their sins, and will not abandon them in this vale of tears. He has a purpose and has not forgotten them. The crosses they bear are neither to pay for sins nor are they borne in vain.

The reader needs to be forewarned that many of these "nuggets" address things from the perspective of a faithful pastor serving in a hostile environment. That is not because that is always the case in every place, but because that is how these men felt when they wrote me. And the harsh reality is that the world is hostile to the Truth and that is often the case. While these "nuggets" are basically concerned with the particular duties and burdens of the Office of the Holy Ministry, I hope there is something buried in here that is also helpful for all Christians and in no way discourage laymen from reading them. But the context of these remarks is tearful, doubting men struggling to be faithful to God and Church in the Office to which they've been placed. I would write quite differently if I was addressing a Bible Class or the Ladies' Aid or seeking to comfort those who are suffering under tyrannical pastors of false doctrine and political aspirations. Soli Deo Gloria