Dear HLPC family,
As my family and I draw near to the end of our internship and prepare to start the final year of my seminary training, there are several observations that I’m grateful to our Lord to have experienced this summer at HLPC that will frame my labor in this final academic year:
1) God’s people love to be with God’s people. From our first week here during VBS to lunch meetings, and everything in between, both Kelli and I have personally experienced the rich fellowship within the body of Christ between the Lord’s Days, when we corporately gather for worship. Through joy and grief, idleness and busyness, it’s undeniable that God’s people love to be with God’s people.
2) God’s people hate the sin and misery of this world. It goes without saying the frequency and degree of grief this particular expression of the body of Christ has been subjected to this summer. We, having the mind of Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can see the world unlike those who don’t. We can see that this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. We not only see that but know it to be true through our “sanctified affections,” knowing that our pain and suffering are not due to chance but as a result of the sin and misery of our fallen world. As I finish my studies this upcoming academic year, the grief and pain I witnessed during this summer will remind me that I (and other brothers preparing for pastoral ministry at Mid-America and other seminaries) are not merely studying the fine distinctions of Reformed theology for academic’s sake, but to in turn apply biblical and confessional gospel truths to the hearts and lives of God’s people, suffering under the weight of sin and its effects on God’s good creation.
3) God’s people love their Lord, His work, and His imminent return. Finally, I’ve learned something here this summer that monographs, scholarly journals, and theological textbooks couldn’t teach me: the palpable love and hope God’s people have in their Savior, Redeemer, and Lord and His redemptive work on their behalf. Though the trials are many and seemingly unceasing, the faith of the saints here at HLPC has been unwavering. I’ll be reminded this school year that the joy and hope of God’s people isn’t dependent upon the apparent success or failure of a seminarian, pastoral candidate, or minister (though our Lord is pleased to use both “success” and “failure” for his purposes), but the perfect application of the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ to their hearts by the Holy Spirit, for God’s glory. To that end I pray like Paul did to the Corinthians, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge…as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:5-7).
Thank you for welcoming my family into your family. We love this church and this people. We will miss you all dearly.
In Christ’s service,
Franz