Fedder (Romania) Update – February and March 2024

Fedder Family Newsletter

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we approach Good Friday and Easter, I am reminded again of why we spread the Gospel. For so many in North American Easter is a time to eat candy and hunt for eggs. Here in the Balkans it is a time often focused on eating rich foods and welcoming the spring. While there is nothing wrong with family time, rich food and candy, that is not why we are here. We preach Christ and him crucified to bring people to the cross, to repent of their sins and in baptism unite them to his death, so that they may also be united to his resurrection. This is the point of Holy Week and Easter the death and resurrection of Christ for sinners like you and me. This is the point of the Gospel to bring sinners to Christ and his cross so they may be freely forgiven and given eternal life.

As I was on the train to the airport this last month I was able to share this with a man next to me. He asked me who I was and what I did for a living. I shared with him that I was a Lutheran Pastor. We talked at length, and this man like so many Balkaners said he was a Christian but knew very little about Christ or the Scriptures. He hoped that he had lived a good enough life for Christ to accept him despite his sins. He was genuinely worried that he had not done enough to escape hell. I told him that he had not done enough to escape hell and earn heaven, nor even have I as a pastor earned salvation. He was devastated but then I spoke of the crucifixion. I explained that all of his sin was taken by Christ and crucified with Jesus on the cross, that for Christ sake he was forgiven and that he was saved already, not by his paltry works but by the work of Christ on his behalf given to him in his baptism. He began to smile a bit.

Holy Week and Easter are a gift from our Loving God to us. It is Christ crucified and risen for sinners like you, me and that man I spoke to on the train. I pray you have a blessed Holy Week and Easter. I pray that your time is filled with family and good food, but most of all I pray that we would lift up our eyes to Christ and rejoice that it is finished, salvation and eternal life are freely ours.

Christ bless you all,

Pastor Andrew Michael Johnson Fedder