Soli Deo Gloria: At Easter There Will Be Trumpets
By the Rev. Dr. Bruce K. Modahl
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in the Virginia Tidewater had a lovely pipe organ and a talented musician. On 51 Sundays of the year that instrument and musician led the congregation’s song. For Easter the congregation hired a single trumpeter.
Church council member, Ralph Jacobs, objected to paying for a trumpeter. At a council meeting he made a motion to that effect. No one offered a second. The motion died, because there will be at least one trumpet at Easter.
Ralph could have cited our Easter hymns to bolster his argument. One must pay close attention to find a trumpet mentioned in our Easter hymns. And in the Scriptures, Easter was a quiet and private affair, except in Matthew. The guards at the tomb must have seen and heard something dramatic to be struck down like dead men. Perhaps they heard the trumpet blast the way the people of Israel heard it at the foot of Mount Sinai.
In the Bible the trumpet most often sounds a war cry. The walls of Jericho collapse. Jeremiah cries, “Flee for safety, blow the trumpet, raise the signal fire for evil looms out of the north.” The trumpet sounds God’s war cry against his wayward people. “Blow the trumpet in Zion for the day of the Lord is near, a day of darkness and gloom,” says the prophet Joel.
The sculpture “The Trumpet in the Universe: Soli Deo Gloria,” by the Romanian artist Liviu Mocan, is part of a series on the five solas. It is 18 feet high and located at the entrance to Wheaton College’s Amerding Center for the Arts and Music. PHOTO COURTESY OF LIVIU MOCAN
This is what the trumpet signals up to a point. And then it seems God appoints a new mission for the trumpet. Isaiah says that on the appointed day a great trumpet will sound and those driven into exile will return home to Jerusalem to worship. In 1 Corinthians, Paul does Isaiah one better: the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised from their exile.
The Revelation to John is replete with trumpets. When the seventh angel blew his trumpet, loud voices in heaven proclaimed, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever.”
With Jesus at table among his disciples, we see and hear what takes place every Sunday for us. He takes bread and cup, blesses them, gives them to his disciples, and tells them, “This is my body given for you. This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
At the Lord’s Supper table, Jordan’s opposite shore draws near as the river narrows. The opaque curtain separating worlds turns gossamer.
On Easter there will be trumpets because we hear the angels from Isaiah sing antiphonally with the angels from Revelation, “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.”
Easter is the eighth day, the last day of the old order and the first day of the new creation. Easter is the day two worlds collide. There will be trumpets at Easter.
At the Crossings conference in January of this year, Steve Albertin told us that everything Jesus did and said was from the perspective of his death and resurrection.
It is from the perspective of the new creation that we make use of all of Christ’s benefits. As God’s new beings, we shoulder the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to us. We are agents of God’s mercy for a world in desperate need. We counter grievance and resentment with forgiveness. We feed the hungry, care for the poor, and shelter the homeless because after the last trumpet sounds there will be no hunger, poverty, or tears, and no warriors’ graves over which the trumpeter sounds Taps.
At Easter there will be trumpets.
January Conference Proclaims the Gospel for an Exhausted World
By the Rev. Dr. Bruce K. Modahl
A Crossings conference veteran could not help but notice that a new generation of leaders had come to the fore for the January conference.
The Rev. Ella Moehlman moderated the conference with good humor and firm time management. The Rev. Matt Metevelis was the first keynote speaker, introducing the conference theme. Six younger pastors reported on the second year of the Preaching Mentor Initiative. Still others joined Crossings veterans on panel discussions.
The Rev. Alexis LaCahapelle, one of the learners in the Preaching Mentor Initiative with his mentor, the Rev. Dr. Marcus Felde
Dr. Carol Braun led a session taking us through the Crossings six-step method for studying Scripture. The Rev. Dr. Steve Albertin preached a sermon to show us those steps at work in a sermon that gave glory to Christ and offered comfort to troubled consciences.
Under the title “Hearing Christ: The Gospel for an Exhausted World,” Sabbath was the conference subject. The presenters unanimously claim Sabbath as God’s gift to us.
The conference speakers were all first-rate. Of special note was the presentation by the Rev. Dr. Adam Morton, an ELCA pastor who is a research fellow at the University of Nottingham in England where he received his PhD. The Rev. Dr. Jerry Burce, the president of Crossings board, said, “I was dazzled by Morton’s grasp and employment of the distinction between law and gospel.”
Conference Speaker Adam Morton talks with Roz Norman of St. Louis.
Morton led the conference audience along the same path that the Apostle Paul followed when he recognized the bind in which the law holds us. Seeking to be righteous, Paul coveted righteousness and was thus unrighteous (Romans 7). Morton held Sabbath as gift and Sabbath as commandment in the same tension.
Comprehending the bind he is in, Paul says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Paul pivots abruptly to doxology, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” That is precisely the pivot Morton made when, at the end of his keynote, he turned to us and pronounced the absolution over the assembly.
The Rev. Dr. Steven Turnbull gave us an overview of how Sabbath is presented in the Bible. He said Sabbath is best understood as a day of God’s reign. To remember the Sabbath, he said, is to confess and learn and share the reign of God.
A New Testament scholar, the Rev. Dr. Amy Lindeman Allen, reexamined the story of Mary and Martha. Allen suggested Mary and Martha complement each other. She said the sisters can be read as two aspects of each individual’s approach to the mission of Christ. On the one hand we are all obliged to answer the demands of the law. On the other, we all get to enjoy the Gospel-gift of God’s rest and reconciliation in Christ.
Amy Lindeman Allen (left) and Carol Braun—both conference speakers
New to the conference this year was Taizé worship for morning and evening prayer. This new venture was motivated by the keynote address from the Rev. Dr. Jason Brian Santos. He focused on Taizé as a Sabbath community. Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote the forward for Santos’ book, A Community Called Taizé. Sherman Lee said that the discussions revolving around Taizé and sabbath helped the audience appreciate the distinction between law and gospel.
The Rev. Lori Cornell preached the sermon for the conference eucharist. She proclaimed that Jesus binds himself to our death, and gives us his life. You can read her sermon, posted on the February 6 Thursday Theology on the Crossings Blog.
Another new feature to the conference was free time for conversation, board games, swimming, napping, hiking, book reading, or whatever anyone chose to do.
The Rev. Christina Schultz, attending her first conference, said this down time was a necessary break in the midst of what she called an intense learning environment. Schultz said that even though Crossings has “a bit of a reputation for being male dominated,” that didn’t stop her from coming because she wanted to learn the six-step Crossings tool and looks forward to using it for sermon preparation. Schultz asked to be part of the next round of the Preachng Mentor Initiative.
Crossings President Jerry Burce chats with Ella Moehlman, moderator for the January conference.
The Rev. Paul Theiss came from Vallejo, California, to the conference because he believes “the Crossings community is the best Christian group to address the crisis of Christian nationalism on a Scriptural and confessional basis.” He appreciates the flexibility of the conference leaders for adding the topic as one of the breakout sessions.
Karen Scherer of St. Louis talks with Tihitina Telemos Dora, pastor evangelist from Ethiopia.
International participants this year came from Ethiopia and Singapore. Tihitina Telemos Dora is a pastor evangelist in Ethiopia. Admond Tan and Allan Ng serve the Chinese language congregations at their churches. Tan and Ng said it is common in Singapore for a church to have three congregations serving those whose primary language is either English, Chinese, or a Chinese dialect.
Crossings staff members made the conference happen: Sherman Lee, Crossings executive director, Bethany Dreher, project and development manager, and the technology wizards Ron Coulter and Alfred Gorvie. Week after week, their efforts translate into robust support for all the communications and operations that enable Crossings to be a lively community of faith and learning.
Conference photos © Bethany Dreher
See more photos from the Conference here!
A Message from the Executive Director
Executive Director: Sherman Lee
Generous giving last year from many in the Crossings community played a big role in the success of this year’s January conference—underwriting scholarships and other assistance for young pastors and first-time attendees.
Continued giving from you and others in 2025 will fund preparations for the 2026 Crossings Conference. Your gifts also provide critical support for online resources used by more and more people—including Table Talk, text studies, and Thursday Theology.
In addition to tax-deductible contributions, Crossings welcomes donor-advised fund gifts, charitable IRA distributions, and Thrivent Choice Dollars. You may make a secure online gift at crossings.org/give.
Join Us Online for…
- Table Talk, the monthly online discussion forum
- The Crossings Book Club every other week
- Lectionary text studies posted every Sunday
- Thursday Theology with essays, sermons, and other thought-provoking writing
To learn more and sign up, visit crossings.org/join-us
Crossings Newsletter Staff:
Writer/Editor: Bruce Modahl
Executive Secretary: Cathy Lessmann
Executive Director: Sherman Lee
Project and Development Manager: Bethany Dreher
