Rev. Dr. Jonathan Blanke, Senior Pastor
Pastor’s Corner for October 4-10, 2026
Deeds…from Creeds?
(Isaiah 5:1-7)
Every weekend at RLC we do something remarkably unspontaneous—yet altogether crucial—for our life together as followers of Jesus Christ. We speak out loud the content of our faith according to one of the primary Ecumenical Creeds (either the Apostles’ or Nicene) with the words, “I believe….” Confession of faith according to one of the historic creeds of the Church may seem divisive or behind the times. In the context of worship, it might strike some as downbeat and unexciting. Wouldn’t it be easier—and more inspiring—just to encourage folks to get together for a weekly celebration and let dogma and doctrine get sorted out later? Aren’t deeds just as important as…some may even say, MORE important than…creeds?
Of course, Jesus DOES call his disciples on more than one occasion to “bear fruit.” This is picture language meaning “to produce good works” (Matt 21:43). But here is why creeds are as important to good works as good soil is to an amazing vintage: creeds focus on where good works originate. They keep us grounded, reminding us that we are real, ordinary people in need of a Savior who came “for us”! Based on ourselves and even our best intentions the fruit we produce in God’s vineyard would be like the bitter fruit of Isaiah’s parable. Creeds turn our attention away from our personal worship experience itself to the God we worship. Or to put it differently, the creeds move us from what we are doing—or not doing—to what God has already done. They begin to convert our default human preoccupation with the Law and its demands to the thing we could never manufacture on our own…the thing that always delights and always astonishes: the Gospel, the Good News of God’s rescue, in Christ! Good deeds by themselves create heroes and heroines inclined to steal the limelight for themselves. Good deeds flowing from creeds confessing “‘I believe…in Jesus Christ...who was crucified, died, and was buried’ yet ‘on the third day…rose again’” are the fruit God produces even in an otherwise dead vineyard.
This weekend we gather together again as real people who not only confess what God has done for us and all the world. We are privileged to live out that confession all week long!
Won’t you join us?
Peace and joy in Him,
Pastor Jonathan
Pastor Jonathan Blanke grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He received his Bachelor's degree from College of William and Mary in Virginia and attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, where he earned a Masters of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biblical Studies, Book of John. He served as a Vicar at Messiah Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas.
The Blanke family lived in Japan while he served as pastor and missionary to Okinawa Lutheran Church and taught Biblical Studies at Japan Lutheran College in Tokyo.
Pastor Jonathan lived in southern Maryland from January 2014 to November 2019 and was thankful to have served as the Sole Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lexington Park, Maryland.
He and his wife, Juli, have two grown children. In his free time, Jonathan likes to travel, "play around" on the piano, and enjoy the outdoors.
Click HERE to view a brief video from Pastor Jonathan.