Thank You Professor Marquart!

On Friday, September 22, I attended a marvelous celebration of the life of professor Kurt Marquart at Kramer Chapel. Processing in with dozens of other LC-MS clergy was one of the highlights of the 8 years of my time serving as a pastor. The service was beautifully done. The liturgy was rightly reverent. Pastor Hill preached a fantastic Gospel-centered sermon. The hymns were perfect. It was such a honor to be there.

I have many memories of the professor. He was a top notch teacher in and out of the classroom and will be greatly missed. I especially enjoyed visiting with him at the library, where I worked while at the seminary. He was a learned and gentle man at the same time. I remember, especially, during my fourth year at the seminary, at one of the parties, he read the classic Dr. Suess book, "Green Eggs and Ham" in his trademark Australian accent. "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I am."

Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with his wife, family and friends. At the viewing, I thanked his wife for sharing her husband with the synod for all these years. Her response I will never forget. "He wasn't mine from the start. He was God's creation and it was time for him to go back with him."

So, then, thank you, professor and pastor Marquart for your faithfulness and dedication to our Lutheran faith. You were and continue to be an inspiration. As St. Paul says, "To live is Christ and to die is gain."

Soli Deo Gloria!