September 26, 2025

Bishop’s Convocation Closing Worship Sermon • September 14, 2025

By Bishop Craig Schweitzer

1 Corinthians 1:18-24 | John 3:13-17

Sisters and brothers, friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus who is the Christ, the one who draws all creation to himself. Amen.

I’m grateful for the past few days that we’ve spent together in this beautiful part of God’s creation at Lake Metigoshe – walking together on holy ground, surrounded by water and woods, prayer and laughter, scripture and song, campfires and fresh donuts.

And we gather in this closing worship service of the 2025 Bishop’s Convocation of the Western North Dakota Synod, united in the cross of Christ. The Apostle Paul seems to think the cross is important to people of faith for some reason. He is constantly grounding us in this truth like he does again today – “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Now…you might be asking…why in the world is the bishop closing the convocation with the cross.

Well … depending on which branch of the Christian tree you connect to most, you were invited to celebrate the lesser-known Christian festival, Holy Cross Day this past Sunday, or maybe yesterday, or even today. Again, it kind of depends on which Christian tradition. As I’ve prepared for today, I found that interesting. And kind of confusing and foolish too. So why not head to the cross again???

I mean, isn’t it interesting, that Christians still can’t agree on the proper date, or even which scripture readings to use when celebrating, a still relatively unknown festival day even though it’s been part of the Christian tradition since the fourth century? After all, the cross is one of, if not the most important and central things that we should pay attention to as people who claim to follow Jesus.

So, how in the world are we going to find unity around things like baptism or the inerrancy of scripture or transubstantiation or the location and date of a convocation of church leaders in the western North Dakota synod. If we can’t agree on something as simple as the date for Holy Cross Day, hmmm.

This year, our gathering in western North Dakota Synod featured a different name – I’m grateful for the feedback I’ve received about the name change; it has been held in a different location – I’m grateful for the feedback I’ve received about the location change; and it was held on different dates and followed a different schedule than we’ve used over the past 20 or so years – of course, I’m grateful for the feedback I’ve received about that too.

Just like the church’s seeming inability to agree on the proper date for the festival day of the Holy Cross, I hope and pray this for us today and in this season of ministry leadership in the church of Christ.

I hope and pray that all of the radical change for this year’s fall gathering has given you a little space to breathe.

I hope and pray that you have been able to set aside everything that you brought with you on Sunday afternoon, even if you were able to set those things aside for just a moment or two, I hope and pray that you’ve been able to do that.

And, finally, I hope and pray that this time together has given you the chance to remember once again, that God is the one who has called you into ministry leadership and in the cross of Christ Jesus, you never walk alone as a leader in this church.

Today, and every day for that matter, may this short time together that we have each year in the fall – regardless of its location or name or schedule – may this time together help us remind one another of the truth, that we are loved, that we are united as one in the cross of Christ.

And because of that truth, may we always remember that nothing else matters.

Nothing else matters.

The cross stands at the center of our faith. It always has. It always will.

But it rarely looks like good news in the world’s eyes.

For the world, the cross looks like loss. Defeat. Weakness. Foolishness.

And, if we’re honest with ourselves and with each other, even as leaders in this church, we sometimes feel that way about the cross too.

You pour yourself out with everything you can possibly give, and nothing changes. Feelings of defeat are real and raw.

We expect more and more and more of ourselves and all that happens is exhaustion. It’s frightening how weak we are.

Many days ministry leadership feels like managing decline, breaking up fights, and trying to figure out which evil thing you should pay attention to next. We feel that our leadership rarely brings forth growth or renewal or new life. Those things actually seem foolish because they are often so distant.

Maybe Paul was onto something, wasn’t he?

“God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom,” Paul offers to us, “and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

The cross is not failure – it is God’s wisdom.

The cross is not proof that we’ve come up short.

It is proof of just how far God’s love will go.

Which is, at least in part, why I felt drawn by the Holy Spirit to have us conclude this year’s convocation by returning to the cross. As leaders in the church who often are okay when we let our emotional, physical, and spiritual health suffer in the name of Jesus, we need to return to the cross and recenter ourselves once in a while.

In Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton’s sermon during opening worship at this year’s Churchwide Assembly, she said this about the cross of Christ – “This – meaning the cross –  is the wisdom of God made perfect in weakness, demonstrated in a failed Messiah on a cross, humiliated by those in power, and one that sometimes we don’t or we shortchange because we don’t realize this incredible miracle of a crucified and wounded Christ who died for us so that we might have life.”

Leaning into the theme of this year’s Bishop’s Convocation that Dr. Frambach has so graciously led us through, we stand at the cross, and learn yet again…to expect less: less of ourselves, less of ministry metrics focused only on numbers and fame, less of the lie that we are the ones who save.

And at that same cross, we learn that we need to nourish more: trusting that God does in fact love the world, that it’s perfectly okay to be gentle with ourselves and with each other once in a while, that making space for Christ’s love to do what we cannot do is not a symptom of failure, but connection with the God of all creation.

These days on the shores of Lake Metigoshe have been made available to us as nourishment for every part of our being. Remembering again that we are not machines or programs or superhero robots capable of working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year.

You are a beloved child of God.

As beloved children of God, the cross is God’s foolish way of saying that nothing, nothing, will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord.

 Many of you know this, but I have a spiritual practice each week of joining online worship in many different congregations. I worshiped with about six of you just a few days ago. Your proclamation of grace and love is a beautiful and life-giving gift to the world. May the words you proclaim to the people God is calling you to serve, always speak deeply to your own soul too, so you never forget that you are loved and claimed as God’s own child too. And that nothing can separate you from that truth.

As you and I go from this sacred place, we are invited to go, expecting less of the burdens that say it all depends on you, instead, we go nourishing more of the gospel that says it all depends on Christ; we go expecting less of ministry that serves only the most powerful so let’s just forget about those who are weak, instead, we go nourishing more and more each day of the strange, foolish, and beautiful wisdom of the cross.

Because, as Jesus says to us, the Son of Man was lifted up not to condemn the world, but so the world might be saved through him.

That is the promise we are called to proclaim.

That is the power that sends us back into the world.

That is the foolishness that unites us together as one.

I paraphrase Bishop Eaton’s closing from her Churchwide Assembly sermon in order for it to speak to our gathering in North Dakota.

I hope and pray that this convocation has been a time for us to cling to not our own effort or understanding, not relying on our own brilliance.

I hope and pray that we cling to this truth and testimony and witness of God stooping to be weak and taking on our mortal flesh, dying on the cross, being raised from the dead, breathing the Holy Spirit into us so that we too might live in the assurance of the foolishness and wisdom of God.

In the name of the crucified and risen One, we go forth from this holy place to love and serve.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

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August 23, 2025

Ordination Sermon on August 23, 2025

By Bishop Craig Schweitzer

Ordination of Giselle Loucks, Sam Trottier, & Peder Stenslie

August 23, 2025 * Faith Lutheran Church, Bismarck, ND

Isaiah 52:7-10, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Mark 10:35-45

 On Saturday, August 23, 2025, the Western North Dakota Synod had the joy of celebrating three ordinations! Giselle Loucks, Sam Trottier, and Peder Stenslie were ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament at Faith Lutheran Church in Bismarck, ND. These new rostered ministers in the ELCA will serve congregations in Keene, Turtle Lake, Mercer, Underwood, and Washburn, ND!

This blog post contains the sermon I offered during this great celebration!

If you’d like to watch the video recording of the entire worship service, you can find that here – https://www.facebook.com/reel/760550723362711?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e

Peace in Christ,

Bishop Craig

Sisters and brothers, friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus who is the Christ. Amen.

Sam, Giselle, Peder – this is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

For some of you, the journey that has led us to today has been something that all of us who know you and love you have known would come sooner or later. For at least one of you – we didn’t think it would be quite this much later. BUT, regardless of how long it has taken us to get to this day, we join the saints of all creation and give God thanks and praise that this day is here!

 I’m honored to be invited to proclaim the good news during this worship service and to preside at the rite of ordination – these are two of the most joyful things I get to do serving as your bishop.

I am grateful to everyone that is joining us in this beautiful sanctuary or online around the world.

I’m grateful for Pr. Sylvia Bull, Pr. Derek Harkins and the members of Faith Lutheran Church for serving as our host congregation for this unforgettable time in the life of Christ’s church. And to Heart River Lutheran Church for coordinating hospitality today.

And to First Lutheran and Clear Creek Lutheran in Keene, Birka Lutheran in Washburn, St. Olaf Lutheran in Turtle Lake, Augustana Lutheran in Underwood, and Our Savior’s Lutheran in Mercer for extending calls to these soon-to-be pastors in Christ’s church.

Martin Luther had a lot to say about Christian vocation. One of the things that we believe he said is that, “Christian vocation is not about production (though production will result), just as it is not ultimately about my own satisfaction (though it will surely satisfy), but it is about the neighbor, about giving oneself to the other in love and service in the glorious freedom of the gospel. And God will welcome all our efforts to that end, however skilled or hesitant they might be.”

So, finally, I’m grateful for the scripture that you have chosen to accompany us on our journey today. They help center us in the variety of ways that God is calling us to live as God’s children who seek to live out our Christian vocation as followers of Jesus.

And, of all the ways we could begin today, the scripture we received begins by wanting us to look at our feet. Our beautiful feet as the prophet Isaiah calls them. Now, one of the only times that I’ve known a Lutheran Christian to be concerned with their feet is when they are being asked to volunteer for something they don’t want to do – and in those situations, they look at their neighbor’s feet.

Isaiah isn’t offering prophesy to force someone to volunteer for something that they don’t want to do or remind us of the importance of wearing the latest fashions in footwear, or even whether or not we should do foot washing during Maundy Thursday worship.

God speaking through Isaiah, is reminding us – as the messenger’s – that the one who is brave enough to strike out on an unknown journey in order to bring the good news of God’s kingdom to the ends of the earth will bring forth peace and salvation.

It’s not the feet that are beautiful necessarily. It’s the mission and ministry our feet carry and the good news for all creation that they deliver.

Sometimes those feet will carry us to places that feel like mountaintops. And sometimes, those same feet will carry us into deepest, darkest valleys. In all of the places that our feet will take us, they are beautiful. Because where they go, you go, and God goes with you. Beautiful, isn’t it.

Of course, the Apostle Paul doesn’t let us get stuck thinking about our feet – or looking at our neighbor’s feet. Paul reminds us over and over again in his epistles, and directly today in the first letter to the church in Corinth, that the center of our faith is not our feet, but the cross of Christ Jesus. And that this center of faith is foolishness to the rest of world.

The cross, where God uses the humble, not the conceited.

The cross, where God works through weakness, not strength.

The cross, where God changes the world, not with military might or while sitting on a golden throne of privilege.

Peder, Giselle, and Sam…as you are set apart today for ordained ministry in Christ’s church, may you discover anew each and every day that ministry is rarely what you might expect it to be. It rarely happens as you have planned, no matter how hard you’ve worked at planning something. No matter how sore your feet might be from time to time on this journey.

A mentor of mine once told me, “There will be moments in your life as a pastor that will take your breathe away. And they will happen most often when you are small enough for Christ to be big in you.” Or as Paul says, “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

I remember a few weeks after I was ordained, I was called to the hospital to be with a member who was dying. Of course, I was fresh out of seminary, so I was still convinced that I had to do something impressive and super holy to prove that I truly was worthy of being called a pastor.

I grabbed my red pastoral care book, found a few scripture readings and prayers that I knew would be awesome and make me look even more awesome. I even practiced them in the car on the way to the hospital.

I got to the room. It was quiet, aside from the humming of many machines keeping this child of God alive so the family could gather and offer their goodbyes.

I was invited into the circle of family and friends who had gathered, simply holding hands. Quiet. We sat in that quiet for a long time.

Finally, I broke the silence and offered a prayer. Stumbling for words. Nothing that I had prepared or practiced. Nothing from the red pastoral care book that I had spent so many hours studying and reading from during seminary. I left feeling miserable, thinking I had done nothing to care for this family in their time of great need.

A few days later, I met the family at the funeral home to plan for the funeral worship. One of the family members asked if they could speak to me privately.

“Sure,” I said. “Pastor, I just want to thank you for what you said and the prayer you offered the other day at the hospital. It meant the world to our mother and to all of us.”

As I walked away, I thought “What did I say?” I couldn’t remember anything that I had said or done.

Here’s what I learned that day and carry with me to this day. God does not call people like you and me because we’re remarkable. God calls you and me because God is faithful. And sometimes the most holy thing we can do in ministry is simply to show up, to be present, and to trust that Christ is enough.

Ordained leaders in the church don’t always believe that good news. That Christ is enough and all we need to do is to get out of Jesus’ way.

Jesus closest friends didn’t always realize that either.  James and John in our gospel reading today seem to have forgotten. They want a special seat for important people who are just as great as they are.

In true Jesus’ fashion, he turns their arrogance upside down – “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant…for the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.”

As the church gathers to celebrate the gift of ordination for Sam, Giselle, and Peder today, we will lay hands on them and bless them – not so they receive a golden crown or triumphant seat of glory beside Jesus that makes them better than everyone else. We lay hands on them and bless them as they begin a vocation of service as ministers of word and sacrament.

Peder, Sam, and Giselle, in your ministry you will stand at the table, at the font, at the bedside, in a church meeting room, in the food pantry line, serving in Christ’s name. The authority of a pastor or of the church does not come from having the best seat in the room. It comes from washing the feet of the ones nobody else notices.

So, Giselle, Peder, and Sam, and sisters and brothers in Christ from wherever you are joining us today…GO…

…with beautiful feet,

…with foolish courage,

…with the servant’s heart of Jesus.

Because…

…the One who calls you is faithful,

…the One who sends you walks beside you always,

…and the One who meets you on the mountaintop or prairie buttes; in the darkest valleys or at the cross: at the table or the font,

…that One, Jesus, will never let you go.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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