Pastor David Irgens is a native of Minnesota and the son of the late Dr. Lawrence and Patricia Irgens. His grandparents, the late Ted and Margaret Litsheim, lived in Eau Claire, and his mother attended school here.
He received Bachelor's degrees in English and psychology from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and his Master of Divinity degree from Luther Seminary in St. Paul. In 1998 he was inducted into the Luther College Athletic Hall of Fame for his accomplishments in swimming and contributions to the college. He holds a couple of swimming records at Luther and competed nationally.
Pastor Irgens was Associate pastor at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Arlington Heights, Ill., where he also was lead pastor for 1½ years while the congregation sought a new senior pastor. He previously served churches in Brookfield and South Milwaukee.
He was previously involved with small group ministries and evangelism, and will continue to focus on those areas. “I look forward to working side by side with the members of Grace to invite, inspire and involve others, to make Christ known.”
Our Associate Pastor writes:
12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14 But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 4:1 Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 3:12-14, 4:1-2)
I still remember sitting in the kitchen talking with my brothers about the interpretation of scripture. Since they are both lawyers they had plenty of arguments. They had plenty of thoughts on the matter and they offered them as only a lawyer can, as if they were the first one in all of creation to think of it. So I answered them graciously and asked them questions guiding them along until they saw what scholars knew. It’s interesting. When I have questions concerning the law, I go to them. They often have an answer, but I never presume to possess the knowledge in their area of expertise.
Our understanding of God begins with the revelation of Him in Jesus Christ. “In the cross of Christ we have redemption, here and nowhere else.” (Walther VonLowenich, Luther’s Theology of the Cross. Pg. 17, 1982.) “For him Christ is the mediator between God and man, the only mediator. He is the mediator by his blood. Through his death he effects reconciliation between God and man. God’s wrath is, for Luther, a reality that is removed only in Christ. “For Christ’s sake.”” (Ibid) This is Luther’s theology of the cross, that Jesus Christ is the beginning of our understanding of who God is, yet God still remains hidden (deus absconditus) illusive, and beyond our comprehension. Nevertheless it is because of Jesus Christ that we have hope to act with such boldness as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians. We leave behind the shameful things of the past through Christ’s power to change us. Paul continues his argument by saying, “For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and our selves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5)
When we begin to look at scripture and who God is in scripture, we start by looking through the cross of Christ. We start by looking at Jesus who came as the Messiah, God in the flesh, by whose blood we have been saved. We start with God as the object acting in our lives through Jesus Christ death and resurrection and we are the subject of his action bringing redemption to those who believe in his name. This is the gospel. Not that we have attained favor with God in someway or that God is revealed in other religions or even culture itself, but that Jesus Christ is the revelation of who God is.
Christ has called us into His presence that we might be changed. “And all of us with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) So we see the reflection of who God is in Jesus Christ. We see a partial revelation of God our Father, only what we can endure to see. That is why we trust, that it is “by grace that we have been saved through faith, and this is not of our own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8)
Seeing who God is through the cross of Christ is the beginning of understanding God’s grace for us and we are simply His servants.
Guide us Lord, to marvel at your grace through the cross of Christ.
In Christ,
Pastor David Irgens
