Meet Adam Homann!
“Hi, my name is Adam Homann, and this will be my third year on staff, but my 9th year going to camp. My favorite thing about camp is Chapel and UC. In the summer, I will have completed my freshman year at Concordia University Wisconsin in the Director of Church Ministries program. After college I hope to be serving in a church or camp. I am super excited for camp and can't wait to see you there!”
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Meet Ethan Theilen!
"My name is Ethan Theilen. I currently attend Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. I am a member at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Sherman, Illinois. This summer will be my third year as a counselor and my sixth year on staff. Before becoming a counselor, I was a camper for four years and a junior counselor for a year. My favorite parts of camp are getting to meet and interact with the campers, as well as underground church." Meet Matthew Moldenhauer!
“Hello! My name is Matt. I am excited to be a second year counselor at Camp Cilca for the summer of 2024! I look forward to enjoying time doing activities and being immersed in God's word. A little about me, I enjoy being outdoors during my free time doing my favorite hobbies, fishing and golf. I am from Auburn Illinois, and my home church is Trinity Lutheran Church in Auburn. I am currently a student at Missouri University of Science & Technology pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I hope to see you at Camp this summer and have the opportunity to share my faith with everyone!” Meet Kelsie Gerhardt!
“My name is Kelsie Gerhardt. This will be my third summer as a counselor at Camp CILCA. I love many different camp activities especially swimming, creek walking, mud volleyball, chapel, and UC. In the fall, I will attend Concordia, Wisconsin, to become a Director of Church Ministries. I am from Decatur, Illinois, and am a member of Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Decatur.” Meet Laura Kauffman!
“Hi! My name is Laura Kaufmann. I am a freshman at Baylor University with a major in social work. In my free time, I love playing sports, hiking, cycling, and hammocking. My home church is Trinity Lutheran in Auburn, IL. I can’t wait to spend the summer growing with God, his people, and his creation!” Meet Joely Dolen!
“Hi, my name is Joely!!! I have been working at camps since I was 15, but this is my 1st year working at Camp CILCA. I am excited to be back at CILCA as I went here as a camper and to bring all my prior summer camp knowledge and experience with me. I will be working in the kitchen and as a counselor! The camp activities I am most excited for are Counselor safari and devos.” Meet Grace Drews! Howdy Hi! My name is Grace Drews, I am a freshman at Concordia University Nebraska, in the DCE Program with a double major of Christian Education Leadership and Theology. I ring Handbells in the Concordia Ringers choir, and am active in Concordia Youth Ministry. When I’m home I attend my church which is Bethel Lutheran Ministries in Morton, IL. I have attended different summer camps for a while, but this will be my first summer as a counselor. I love all of the things associated with summer camp: hiking, swimming, creek walking, morning/evening chapel… and I can’t wait to do all of those as a counselor at CILCA this summer! First Peter 2:21-25
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. ________________________________________________________________________________ The suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is our salvation. It brings us back to our Shepherd and Bishop. Jesus’ work results in “the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” (Nicene Creed) He wins our freedom on the cross. Freedom, however, is not what we typically think it is. In the common usage today, freedom means being able to come and go as I please. It means having the right to do what I want when I want. It means being free from obligation and necessity. This is not the kind of freedom that Jesus wins for us, however. Jesus is, of all people, truly free. He has no sin. He is the Son of God, rightful ruler of the universe. If anyone should be without obligation it would be Him. Yet, Saint Peter teaches us, He left us an example of humble obedience to and perfect faith in God His Father. Jesus was truly free as He obeyed God. He was perfectly free in His suffering as He trusted God to save Him and judge His enemies. This is the kind of freedom that has been lavished upon us. You are not free to do as you please. Rather, the freedom that God gives is the freedom to be what God created you to be. It is the freedom to live as a son of God, to do good and not evil, to speak the truth instead of lies, to trust God to save rather than taking matters into our own hands. Living in any other way would not be freedom, but slavery to sin and death. Ours is the freedom to follow Jesus through death to sin and into real life. We have been brought back from our wandering, slavish ways to follow our Shepherd through suffering and into righteousness, doing good even to those who hate and revile us. The implication here is that the Christian will be different from the surrounding world. You will stand out like a straight line in a crooked world. Let the world bury their noses in smartphones, wallow in pornography, and puff away their worries in marijuana smoke. You will look straight at your Savior, bask in the glory of His salvation, and live unburdened of worries because He cares for you. Standing out is not easy. It makes us easy targets. Some people enjoy watching the straight line go awry. Others just hate what is truly good. When those moments of trial come, we can simply follow the example of Jesus who has been there and done that, not deceiving, hating, or attacking, but trusting. We can trust that we have died to sin and have been raised to righteousness. We rest in the unfailing care of our Shepherd and Bishop. First John 5:4-10
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ________________________________________ “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.” But how are we to believe such a thing? How are we to dare to believe that sin, death, and devil can all be outdone simply because we have been adopted as sons of God? Saint John’s answer is that we believe it on the authority of credible witnesses. The world provides us with many sources of authority. The anchor on the nightly news, books filled with quotes and footnotes, pundits, preachers, teachers, parents, journalists, and experts of various fields all serve as sources of authority. They tell us things and we tend to believe them. They speak and we listen, and very often obey. Yet, not all authorities are created equal. If a random man with a doctoral degree meets you on the street, looks you over, and declares that you must certainly have stage 4 cancer, you would be right to regard him with suspicion. If, however, your personal physician tells you that you have stage 4 cancer after running various medical tests and consulting with other experts in the field, you are almost certainly bound to believe him. Why do we ignore the intelligent stranger and listen to our family doctor? Credentials. The stranger has at least one credential. He has a doctoral degree, which makes him an expert in a very narrow field of study. The family physician, though, has many other credentials: years of experience, medical tests, familiarity with the patient, access to other experts, knowledge of family history, a medical degree, and more. These all add to the credibility of the later and lead you to ignore the former. When someone wants us to believe what they say, they often establish their credentials. This is why physicians hang their medical degrees on the wall in their offices. It is why authors cite their sources. It is why journalists often like to get a first hand report. Credentials make authorities more believable, more credible. Even the Bible establishes its credentials for us. Take, for example, Saint Paul’s comment to the Corinthians in his first letter: “Then [Jesus] appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” (First Corinthians 15:6) When trying to establish the credentials of his testimony to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, Paul refers the reader to 500 eyewitnesses to the event. It is as if Paul is daring the reader to question him. “If you don’t believe me, just go ask one of those 500 other witnesses.” Saint John tells us that there are three witnesses who bear testimony to Jesus being the Son of God. The Spirit, the water, and the blood testify to the fact that Jesus is not a mere mortal, but God in the flesh. These three establish firm credentials for faith to latch on to. The Holy Spirit, through the verbal preaching and teaching of the Apostles, and now through the written Scriptures, testifies that Jesus is truly the Son of God. This is not something any man invented, but revealed to us through the power of God speaking via the disciples and eyewitnesses. At His baptism (the water) God revealed that “this is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) John the Baptist also confessed that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) We might take the baptism of Jesus as a summary for all of the miraculous things that occur around and through Jesus, showing time and again that He is God’s very own Son. It is at His death (the blood), however, that it becomes clear as to why Jesus’ identity as God’s Son is so important. Certainly, this event establishes Jesus’ credentials as the Son of God. It is at the cross, when God-in-the-flesh has poured out His blood for the sins of the world, that a centurion declares, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54) But it also establishes the fact that this Son of God died, not randomly, but according to the will of His Father for us, for you. Why else would God die? He does not need death. He does not need me or you. Then why die? Because He has deep compassion for us. Because He is merciful. Because He loves us. The God who loves you enough to die for you must be trustworthy. That is a witness with credentials beyond all others. So anything that He says, we should believe. You can stake your life on His every word and promise. So when John writes, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” he is right on the money. (I John 5:5) The three witnesses have firmly established God’s credibility. He is the one authority that we can believe without the shadow of a doubt. Jesus is God’s Son, the Lamb of God whose death takes away the sin of the world. We can absolutely trust Him to forgive our every sin, to trample down the plans of the devil, and to raise us from death on the last day. By faith in the Son of God, all of God’s children overcome the world. WEDNESDAY, April 3
First Corinthians 15:51-57 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s reading begins with a radical statement: “We shall not all sleep.” Saint Paul is using the word “sleep” to mean “death.” In other words, what Paul is saying is, “We will not all die.” That is a wild departure from our typical reckoning of things. We tend to live and behave as if death is the unavoidable “end” of life, that it is something everyone must endure. And because of this depressing belief, we tend to try and distract ourselves from it until it is staring us directly in the face. In times past, people actually built their homes with two front doors so that when a member of the family died they could hold the wake at the home. Guests would arrive, enter one front door, make a loop around the body of the deceased, and exit through the other front door. Their entire life as a family was lived acknowledging the reality of death. Today death is pushed to the periphery. It is sequestered away in hospitals, nursing homes, and funeral homes. It is as if we know what is coming, but we want to pretend that it is not. Whether we run from it or confront it, death is the one enemy we cannot conquer, the one fact we cannot overcome. Yet Paul firmly asserts that we will not all die. Death is not the ultimate end. It is not the goal. It is not the demon from which to run and hide. The actual, ultimate, inescapable reality is this: Jesus Christ is coming! Jesus will return, raise the dead, judge between the sheep and the goats, and give everlasting life to all believers. I get the impression from this passage that Saint Paul lived his life, not expecting death, but expecting Jesus around every corner. He might not die, but Jesus will return and transform his lowly body into an immortal one. Now, by the grace of God, we can live with that eager expectation too. “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (I Thessalonians 5:4-11) We, too, should live as if Jesus were just around the corner. It should not surprise us to hear that last trumpet, to walk outside and see Jesus descending with a cry of command. (I Thessalonians 4:16) In fact, it should delight us. It should not just be expected, but eagerly anticipated. The return of Jesus means our resurrection (or transformation!) and our victory. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 15:57) To put it another way, Christians should not live as if we were packing up our things and getting ready to go home. Victory is not attained on some ethereal heavenly plane of existence. Victory is given to the believer here when Jesus returns and overcomes every evil, including death. We should not be packing to leave, but putting down roots to better love and serve the world around us. There is an apocryphal saying of Martin Luther. Supposedly, when asked what he would do if he knew the world was going to end tomorrow, the reformer replied, “Plant an apple tree today.” I do not know if Luther really said that, but I like the point either way. The Christian does not live his life hiding from death, nor sitting around hoping that Jesus will take us out of this world. Rather, the Christian eagerly awaits the victory that is given by Christ alone at His inevitable return. You might die. You might not. But Jesus will return, the dead will be raised, and we will all be changed from mortal to immortal, from weakness to strength. That is the ultimate reality. That you can take to the bank. You can live life eagerly expecting it around every corner. |
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