On The Passing of a Pastor

The Lord Jesus called His servant Rev. Armand Mueller home last Friday at the age of 80.  He was in the 55th of ministry following ordination.  Armand was born into a Lutheran pastor's family in Argentina.  He knew German and Spanish before learning to speak English.  You would never know it for he had no discernible accent. Following graduation from seminary in 1957 he was called to his first parish in Idaho followed by churches in Washington, Nebraska, Kansas and finally at Trinity, Prairie, Illinois, the one where the grave of Martin Stephen is in the church cemetery.  Pastor Armand Mueller spent his last 19 years of parish ministry at Trinity before retiring in 1997 and moving to the town of Red Bud three miles away.

Retirement allowed Armand time to translate German, serve as a guest organist and do supply preaching.

In the fall of 1982 a freshly minted vicar was learning the art of ministry in a neighboring congregation.  Rev. Armand Mueller was always friendly, welcoming and supportive.  He treated the vicars as colleagues rather than the raw rookies that we were.  He shared stories from his ministry.  What stood out about Armand was his constancy, steadfastness and devotion to the pastoral office.  He served faithfully and well.  He put the interest of others ahead of his own.  He was Lutheran through and through without apology or arrogance. Pastor Mark Nebel captured this well in the funeral message.  Armand was the embodiment of a pastor.  The line between pastor and person merged into one.

The former vicar turned pastor returned to Southern Illinois in 2001.  Armand was the guest organist one Sunday.  Eighteen years had passed since they last spoke. Both served in the Northwest District.  Armand at Moses Lake, WA and the newly installed pastor fresh from seven years in Wenatchee, WA both in the same circuit. They quickly caught up with the vitae of one's life as reacquainted pastors do.  Always the disciple of Jesus, Armand continued to listen and learn in retirement, attending lectures and symposiums. My church had much less need for a guest organist in the ensuing years.  Our paths crossed less. I am the poorer for it.

Those involved in the Office of the Holy Ministry bear a burden for their people and congregations.  They shoulder that responsibility until called to a new field of service, to new people in a different setting.  Pastors are privileged to have access into the pivotal moments in the lives of people.  These include birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage, hospitalizations, crises, graduations, funerals and rites of passage. Pastors are called by the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus to their flocks.  Preaching, teaching, visiting, admonishing, encouraging, comforting, guiding, praying, baptizing, celebrating the Eucharist are ways in which this is done.  Pastors rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.  All the while they are haunted by sins of omission.  Who have I not visited?  How could I have handled that situation better?  Is my preaching and teaching what these saints of God need?  Am I directing them always and only to Jesus and not creating a following for myself?

Like every other sinner, pastors are saved by grace and grace alone.  They too are baptized and redeemed by the Lord, saint and sinner simultaneously.  Their hope is the same Jesus they deliver to the flock.  They trust that the Lord is true.  His Word will not return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it.  How they cling to the promise that one's labor in the Lord is never in vain. Jesus works through His Word and Sacrament creating a people for Himself in time and for eternity.  The Word of the Lord endures forever. The prophet Daniel saw from afar the importance of the pastoral office with heavenly eyes.  Those who are wise shall shine like like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

Every Christian longs for the resurrection of the body and the bliss of heaven, when they will be in the Lord's presence with all the company of heaven.  They long to hear the words of Jesus:  Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).  Rest in peace, Armand!  I look forward to catching up with you again.