Welcome, New Members!
Sunday, August 24, was a big day at Christ the King as we welcomed 20 new members into our church family by affirmation of faith, adult instruction, or transfer. The new members gathered in the rotunda to be pinned with corsage or boutonniere to help people recognize them, and photos were taken individually and as a group by our photographer Caroline Johnson.
During the service, the new members were called up to the chancel and led through the Rite of Membership, after which they were introduced individually to the congregation by Pastor Mark, who shared information about their interests and backgrounds.
After the service, everyone was invited to the Church Potluck where new and current members mingled and shared food and fellowship. We look forward to integrating our new members into life at CTK, building on the time and talents the Lord has given them. Welcome, all!
Two Milestones, One Ministry
On Sunday, June 1, Christ the King Lutheran Church celebrated two milestones in ministry — the one-year anniversary of Associate Pastor Matt Lynch, and the 10th birthday of Job Comfort Dog. After a combined single service for which Pastor Matt served as proclaimer, the congregation gathered in the Fellowship Hall for a Fish Fry and fellowship. Hosted by CTK’s Future Comfort Dog Team, headed by Dianna Garner, the celebration included creative decor, a slide show of Job through the years, a kids’ craft table, a photo booth, door prizes, and a special song written by Pastor Emeritus Chuck Neugebauer (find the video on CTK’s Facebook page or App). In recognition of Pastor Matt’s ministry anniversary, a collage of special moments was presented by Job’s Top Dog Genie Swan. Pastor Matt’s parents, Gregg and Allison Lynch of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Nashville, were present for worship and the party.
Fans and followers of Job Comfort Dog came from near and far to celebrate with him, including Persis Comfort Dog and his handlers Steve and Roxy Hurry, who made the trip from Oklahoma to be with their furry friend and deployment partner. Other friends of Job came from Connecticut and Arkansas, and several of the many local people Job visits regularly came to add their word of thanks for his Comfort Dog ministry. In honor of Job’s birthday, the congregation collected items for the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County. Boxes of toys, supplies, and gift cards were presented to HSMSC in Job’s honor, thanks to the generosity of CTK members and friends.
It was the perfect day to combine the celebration of ministry and mission as CTK looks to the future — many more years with Pastor Matt, the continuing ministry of Job Comfort Dog, and the eventual addition of a Future Comfort Dog! Senior Pastor Mark Goble summed up the day this way: “It brought such joy to see our congregation celebrating both our Associate Pastor Matt and our Comfort Dog Job, who happen to be best of friends. The energy and excitement were palpable. God continues to have great things in store for Christ the King and its ministry.”
Soli Deo Gloria
GS
Three Wise Men and a Dog
Our three Pastors — Senior Pastor Mark Goble, Associate Pastor Matt Lynch, and Pastor Emeritus Chuck Neugebauer — invite you to join CTK for one (or more!) of three Christmas services happening on the 24th and 25th of December. Candlelight, special visitors, favorite Christmas carols, beautiful choral music , Holy Communion — we celebrate Christmas in a holy and festive way at Christ the King! And don’t forget everyone’s favorite dog: LCC K9 Comfort Dog Job!
Pastor Chuck: Singing unto the Lord a new song!
When I read an obituary or preach a funeral message, I am always humbly aware that the short inadequate summary of a person’s life is never in fact the totality of who that person was. Not even close. It is in many ways unfair to even try to encapsulate a person’s rich and complicated life with a few warm stories at the time of their death. As far as I know, I’m not on a fast track to having either an obituary or funeral sermon written or preached over me…but after years of trying to faithfully do what is impossible to do when a dear one leaves us, it makes me recognize how futile it would be to use this posting to try to sum up my 30 years of ministry here with you at CTK. It can’t be done.
So I won’t. My dearest friend Pastor Goble and my new friend Pastor Lynch have been brought together especially for us by our Lord and they are called, ready, ordained, anointed, and blessed to take our CTK family of forgiven into the unknown future with the Holy Spiritually-known love of God. How blessed we are! I hope you will thank God with me for how gloriously generous God has again been in blessing us at CTK with such a pair of inspiring pastors. God’s grace in Jesus will be faithfully offered through the Word and Sacraments with the same Lutheran doctrinal and liturgical integrity that we at CTK have enjoyed way before I got here and will continue long after I’m gone.
I’m excited for us! Our new pastoral team will build upon what has come before, bringing their own new energy and creativity to our rock-solid congregational history. Going through my files as I attempt to consolidate what I have neglected to do for over 41 years, I am running into names and mission/ministry/fellowship memories that are making the process super-slow and a little bitter and a lot sweet. I keep stopping in amazement. We’ve had some fun! We’ve come a long way, baby! It’s taking so long because I constantly sit back into my chair in moments of “Wow” (which I say out loud!) as I re-discover times and blessings that I long ago let get pushed out of my memory by new things that came along. When it comes to the rich history of CTK, what’s new doesn’t take the place of the old; it just puts another important really cool layer on it.
So I encourage you to do what I’m doing: Sing unto the Lord a new song! He makes everything new! Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice! Pastor Goble is in the process of making a wonderful future Senior Pastor, Pastor Lynch is already an awesome associate…and me? Stay tuned! I’m going to be a pretty sneaky emeritus pastor…because in concert with these younger pastors…you’ll never know when and where I might turn up!
My sincerest love in Christ to all of you!
Pastor Chuck
Beginnings, Endings, and Beginning-Agains
Spring always moves at a frenetic pace; especially for families with school-age children, the days seemingly rush by towards the end of the school year. We at Christ the King pause on several occasions to recognize that time is inexorably passing and milestones are being reached and new paths are being created in the footsteps of ones already traveled.
On two such occasions, we focus on our young people in their different stages of life: Confirmation and Graduation. Confirmation is both an ending and a beginning: two years of study are at an end, but the students’ journey into Christian adulthood is still in its formative stage. Publicly confessing before the congregation their faith in the Triune God, and undergoing the Rite of Confirmation in which they vow to defend their faith to the death, twelve young people, through their affirmation of faith, accept a responsibility to witness and to be an instrument of the Lord in sharing the Gospel. Their opportunity to now take part in the Sacrament of Holy Communion carries with it the blessings of strengthening of faith and forgiveness of sins in ongoing sanctification through the Holy Spirit by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We celebrate these young Lutherans!
Another milestone Christ the King members are privileged to acknowledge is Graduation, whether it be from eighth grade, high school, college, or professional school. In the following video, we rejoice with our students’ accomplishments and pray for their future plans.
A Passionate Passion Week
What a March this has been! Tradition called for Romans to put down their swords in a ceasefire with whomever they were fighting during January and February, which meant that their wars would have resumed on March 1. Many experts believe that the Romans named March after Mars, the Roman god of war. March was for them a return to battle.
What a March it continues to be at CTK! This March we remember, worship and commemorate that our Lord and Warrior Jesus Christ returned to earth to battle Satan, the Sanhedrin, many of His own disciples and yes, the Romans…in the most important conflict of all time. It was a battle to win the epic universal war against sin and death once and for all. St. Paul writes that “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Newsreel pictures show the overwhelming emotions expressed all over the world when the Allies defeated Hitler in Word War Two. No more bloody battles, no more hellish war, no more death and separation from loved ones. Peace had been declared, our enemy had been defeated…and because of the horrible cost of that victory all the emotions of the world were released in celebration and relief.
How do we get that kind of emotional response to the eternal peace won for us at horrible cost by God in Christ? The battle of Lent runs all through March this year and ends with what the church calls “Passion Week.” Our Lord certainly must have run the gamut of emotions as He shared a Last Supper with His disciples, then saw them abandon Him in His darkest hours. From His Garden prayers to the cross was a tremendous swing in our Lord’s relationship with God His heavenly Father. First He passionately cried out to Him, calling Him in an intimate way Abba (which loosely translated means Daddy), and then He was torn apart for the sins of the world by that same heartbroken Father, rejected and forsaken on our behalf. Let that sink in….
That’s passion. That’s compassion. He seems to have way more of it towards us and our battles than we ever have towards Him and His. What can change that? We miss so much when all we receive is information without inspiration. This Passion Week will be especially emotional for me. I pray that it will be for you also. Lose yourself in worship and prayer this holy month until you are emotionally and spiritually spent; broken for a time with Christ Jesus your Lord and Warrior all through March. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are the darkness before the dawn…but, oh, that Easter morning Dawn! Peace has been declared between God and humankind! May all the emotions of the world be released in celebration and relief. God is passionate about your salvation! If the words “He has Risen Indeed! Alleluia!” don’t choke you up more than a little bit on the last day of this month of March…you aren’t paying attention.
Pastor Chuck
Christmas Blessings
Christmas 2023 at Christ the King saw standing-room only attendance at the 6PM Candlelight Service. The sanctuary was beautiful and the singing from both the choir loft and the nave was awesome. As we reflect on our beautiful Christmas services, the Board of Worship wishes to thank all the volunteers who regularly assist in ensuring that each service is conducted in an orderly, God-pleasing manner and in such a way that worship itself becomes an act of praise and thanksgiving for our Lord.
The ELDERS, who assist the Pastors in leading worship by lectoring and offering Communion;
The ALTAR GUILD members, who quietly go about readying the chancel, decorating and -un, preparing Communion, and a myriad of other tasks;
The CRUCIFERS AND ACOLYTES, who begin each service with the Cross and the Light and complete their duties with a measure of poise and reverence;
The USHERS, who greet, direct, welcome, and assist members and guests, and are always up for other duties as assigned;
The MUSICIANS AND CHOIR, instrumentalists and vocalists, who add beauty and depth to our worship with their God-given talents;
The NURSERY VOLUNTEERS, who care for our littlest members and friends in a cheerful, attentive manner;
The GREETERS, who offer a friendly face and hand to all who enter;
The SOUND AND LIVE-STREAM TECHNICIANS, who ensure the Word reaches not only those present but also those at home and away;
The BULLETIN STUFFERS, without whose attention to detail we would surely lose our way;
And to everyone else who helps to make Christ the King Lutheran Church a “worship-full” place to honor our Lord, we thank you and wish you a
VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
O Church, Arise!
Dear Christ the King Family,
We all remember when our mom or dad would call us to get up in the morning and our reply would be “I’m up! I’m up!” as we snuggled deeper under the covers. It took a lot of prodding and not-so-gentle urging to get us up and going for the day.
In this Stewardship season, we hear the clarion call to action: “O Church, Arise!” God bids us to metaphorically get out of bed, wipe the sleep from our eyes, and face whatever pitfalls and challenges lay ahead, armed with the Gospel and a deep desire to proclaim and live out the love of Christ in full view of an increasingly secular world.
As your Head Elder, I daily pray for our membership, our Pastors, and our Church here on earth as we struggle to fight the good fight of faith. Let me assure you: when joined together as Christ the King Lutheran Church, we are more than able to rise to meet the overwhelming voices of hate, bigotry, anti-Christian rhetoric, and our own jealousies and worries, and bring the Light of Christ to shine on this darkened world. Arise, O Church!
As we approach Stewardship Sunday on October 29, I ask you to prayerfully consider your giving in light of the selfless sacrifice and bold witness that the apostles and other followers of Christ through the ages evinced in the face of temptations from the devil, the world, and their sinful selves. Through prayer, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and through a thoughtful, intentional giving effort, we can effectively equip our church to win souls for Christ through devoted, mission-minded ministries.
So, Christ the King Lutheran Church…arise! Stand firm! For your saving faith in Christ Jesus will carry His name forward in victorious battle throughout all generations.
Dave Swan, Head Elder
Established by God
From the September issue of The King’s Messenger….
I was about to begin writing a sermon on Romans 13:1-10 when I was reminded that it is my turn to write a newsletter article for our monthly publication. Since my “older-yet-better-like-fine-wine” mind does not transition well, I decided to meld this article into some side thoughts our Lord was planting in me to share from the pulpit. I will probably still preach it, but in case you sleep in on Sept. 10….
Just this morning I read in our local paper that most all national polls show that people around our country are very unhappy with the two frontrunners seeking to be our next president. Not only that, but many if not most folks who are for one guy are angry and aghast at the other side for being for their guy. “How could you possibly support such a person?!?”
I think we are all experiencing that. People I talk to are already exhausted from the fray. Many if not most people this election year will be voting against the other guy more than voting for theirs. That’s where the energy is. But in the meantime I have a bit of an admonishing to do among us as the election rhetoric heats up. We need to be very careful as disciples of Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit to flavor our speech and opinions with love, obeying the eighth commandment even though it’s not as much fun as bashing and lampooning those who disagree with us.
My dear family of forgiven: our diverse membership and pews with people in them to receive the means of grace have both republican and democrats in them. Every Sunday and during the week, you worship and serve right next to both prolife and prochoice advocates, people for and against gay marriage, those who want more immigration and those who want less, second amendment enthusiasts and others desperate for stronger gun control limits. When visitors and guests come, we can assume that at least some of them bring a broad range of opinions and world views that are completely foreign to us, maybe even hostile to the Gospel we love.
Jesus loves us and them, all. He died to atone for our sins and theirs. Put downs, crass jokes, hateful speech and professed indignation have no place in God’s house or among our fellowship. Please watch your social media posts, your side comments assuming everyone is on board with your point of view, and your judging other’s faith for their point of view.
What unites us is so much greater than anything that could divide us. But our dark often sarcastic comments can make it seem less so. James 3:1-12 is true, as is Galatians 5:16-26. Please read both int he context of the subject of this newsltter.
News organizations and political parties will increasingly seek to enrage and divide us for their own priorities and benefit as the election draws nearer. Let’s rise above that and seek first the KIngdom of God…with all that means for our families and CTK congregation. Let’s put the best construction on those we don’t get how they could possibly think as they do, reminding ourselves that we are first and forever brothers and sisters in Christ…and with the strength of Christ-like humility let us love one another on a level way above the manipulations of those seeking to make us mean.
May God have mercy and shower HIs grace upon our nation and upon each one of us as He always has, and always will…no matter how we vote!
Pastor Chuck
Graduate Recognition 2023
We celebrate Christ the King’s high school, college, and professional school graduates. May God continue to richly bless them.