Trinity Lutheran Church (LCMS) - August 1, 2010

On Sunday I attended Trinity Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Van Meter, which this year is celebrating its 125^th Anniversary. For an ELCA pastor attending worship at a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod congregation is kind of like drinking Pepsi instead of Coke; I know they’re both colas but they don’t taste quite the same.

I chose this church for two reasons. First, it was close and I was too tired from RAGBRAI to drive very far. Second and more importantly, my Grandpa Bernau was baptized in this church.

I love this congregation. I love the setting and the gift it was to my ancestors, who were married and baptized and buried there. The red brick church sits a few miles outside of town on the top of gentle hill at the intersection of two gravel roads. You can enter from the South or the East, but the South entrance is best, because it requires you to drive through the church cemetery. When you enter from the South, look to your left as you get close to the church and you’ll see BERNAU etched into a large granite stone marking the final resting place of my great-great grandparents: Wilhelm and Wilhelmina Bernau. (I was named after this grandpa; but my brothers use to claim that I was really named after this grandma.)

These are not my first ancestors buried near Van Meter. Wilhelm’s dad was named August Carl Bernau. He was an immigrant and is buried at Fairview Cemetery on Highway 169 between Van Meter and Winterset. He is buried there because when he died in 1883 the church and church cemetery hadn’t been established. (My dad and Joe like to point out the Fleur de Lis on August Carl’s tombstone. My great, great, great Grandpa was French. All these years later, Joe and my dad like to think of themselves as Frenchmen still.)

Not only does Trinity have a great setting, but it’s beautiful inside too. Instead of trying to describe it, look at my attached pictures. Old and traditional, it just feels like “church.”

Like the ELCA, the LCMS has a new hymnal. The liturgy felt very familiar and slightly more traditional than the settings we usually use. The congregation is currently served by an interim pastor who gave a fine sermon. After worship, everyone was very nice and welcoming. I introduced myself to one guy, who immediately asked if I was related the Bernau’s who use to live there. My grandpa and his family moved away in the 1920’s! What’s more, I was related to half a dozen people in worship, all of whom greeted me like the long lost relative that I was.

It was great fun. I didn’t go forward for Holy Communion, because the LCMS doesn’t welcome non-members to the communion rail. They have there reasons for this policy, but if I could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the LCMS, that would be the thing I would change. At a minimum, it would be nice if they welcomed other Lutherans for Holy Communion.

All in all it was a great Sunday and I thank God for Trinity Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod for all they have done for my ancestors over the last 125 years.

Peace,

Pastor Bernau

PS – I’m signing my blog “Pastor Bernau” instead of “Pastor” because this summer we’ve been reminded that we are served by other pastors too: Pastor Holmes and Pastor Woodley and Bishop Burk and others.