Farewell to Karen Weirich, Installation of Karen Hasley
July 18, 2004
 
	Karen W, today you sort of say goodbye to “your preschool.” I don’t think those 
last two words are much of an exaggeration either, because from the start, it’s sort of 
been your preschool. These classrooms contain cute dolls, brightly colored pictures, 
educational toys and just about anything a 3 or 4-year old could want—but they also 
contain something not easily seen—a good portion of you--your heart and soul and sweat 
and tears. You’ve poured those things into this preschool for the past two years, and there 
is no denying that the preschool bears your distinctive stamp. 
	But now that it’s been all said and done, now that you will finally have an 
opportunity to sit back and reflect, how will you, how should you look back on these two 
years? How should we as a congregation look back on these past two years?
	With pride? Proud that you were not merely a part of building a preschool from 
the ground up and making it a success by every human measurement, but that you were 
pretty much the central figure in making that happen? Proud not merely at the results, but 
also at the effort? Proud at the amount of self-sacrifice that you brought to the table? No. 
If you or I—or for that matter, any of us here today—are tempted to be prideful of such 
things when it comes to our service in his church, we ought to remember that God 
expects and in fact demands such effort and self-sacrifice from us. Therefore even if you 
had served perfectly, even if we as pastors, as Boards of Education, as a congregation had 
served perfectly, we would have no cause for pride, for Jesus says, “When you have done 
everything you were told to do, [you] should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have 
only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:10).
	Of course, you haven’t served perfectly. I know that I haven’t either. And I know 
that there isn’t a person here who can say that they have served perfectly. Our effort, our 
self-sacrifice has at times been lacking, and at times even when our actions measured up 
to God’s standards, the attitude with which we did them at times did not. Those are sins 
that are not excused simply because these last two years have still been successful ones 
for the preschool.
	Considering all the times in the past when you have failed to do your duty as a 
teacher and administrator, considering all the times in the past when we as a congregation 
and as individuals have failed to do our duty to God in connection with the preschool and 
countless other things, now how shall we look back on the past two years? With regret, 
with guilt, with sorrow, with fear of God’s just punishment? I suppose. A proper 
recognition of sin and its offensiveness before God can and ought to cause all those 
emotions. But may it only cause them for a moment.
	May it only cause them for a moment before we remember what these last two 
years have been all about. They have not been primarily about teaching 3 and 4-year olds 
to say “please” and “thank you” and teaching them to obey their teachers and their 
parents. They have been primarily about teaching 3 and 4-year olds about their Savior, 
about the one who always did his duty towards God and did so in our place. These past 
two years have been primarily about assuring them that they have a God who loves them 
and forgives their sins for Jesus’ sake, that they have a God who loves them enough that 
he would send his own Son to die for them. That message also applies to you, their 
teacher, Karen. God loves you that much and he forgives your sins just as he loves and 
forgives each one of us here. 
	So with the sins of the past two years not merely behind us but having actually 
been removed entirely, let’s all of us look back at the past two years again. And now we 
can look back with joy. You, Karen, can look back with joy that all the times when you 
gave willing, thankful service to your Lord, service that was not given in hopes of 
receiving applause from all of us, but service that was interested only in applauding God, 
in glorifying God. You can give thanks for it because that’s exactly what it did—gave 
glory to God. You can look back with gratitude—gratitude that God not only took 
someone like you and received you into his family, but that he took someone like you and 
called you to feed his precious lambs.
	Karen, two years ago when I preached for your installation I preached on the text 
“Feed my lambs.” I said that if you did that, you would be able to sleep the sweet sleep of 
a conscience at rest, a soul that has fulfilled its call, a soul that knows that its labor in the 
Lord is not in vain, a soul that knows that it will one day hear the words that Jesus speaks 
to those who faithfully feed his lambs—“Well done, good and faithful servant!”
	May you do just that now and always. May you look back at your service here as 
God looks back on it—seeing a soul that has fulfilled its call, a conscience that has reason 
to rest securely, labor that has not been in vain—and may you look back confident that 
God says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
	And do also accept our thanks for your faithful service on our behalf, and please 
join with us in glorifying God for what he has accomplished through it. Thanks, Karen. 
Farewell and God’s continued blessings as you continue to serve him. 
 
	And that brings us to you, Karen H. It’s been a long time since you did this, hasn’t 
it? It’s been a long time since you’ve attended your own installation service. It’s been a 
number of jobs ago and perhaps even seems like a couple lifetimes ago.
	You’re older than that fresh-faced kid clutching her Dr. Martin Luther College 
diploma and heading off to South Dakota ready to set the world on fire. You’re wiser 
than that kid too. And it wouldn’t be surprising if you felt that you were a bit more 
realistic than that kid. It wouldn’t be surprising if you felt that you have been around long 
enough to know that one person doesn’t set the world on fire. It wouldn’t be surprising if 
you felt that you had been around long enough to know that one job is pretty much like 
the next—you put in your time, maybe sell a couple tires or a spa along the way—but in 
the end the world keeps right on going as it always has. 
	You might be inclined to feel that way about this job, too. And considering that it 
is a job that will bring you into contact with the souls of human beings—a species that 
has time and again shown itself to be stubborn, resistant, and hostile towards the Word of 
God—you might be especially inclined to think that it’s by and large a losing battle—that 
a couple positive things might happen, but for the most part you’re not going to set the 
world on fire.
	Don’t fall for that. Don’t ever believe the devil’s lie that this is no more 
important, no more meaningful than any other job. And don’t believe that the world 
won’t be set on fire by it. It will.
	Not because you are so old and wise. That’s not what will set the world on fire. 
But the world will be set on fire because you will be using the fire that is the Word of 
God—a fire that the Holy Spirit has fanned into a roaring blaze in the hearts of countless 
people who have heard it.
	And that includes children. In fact, it especially includes children, for Jesus 
himself spoke at many times of children as having faith, and he even went so far as to 
encourage all of us to imitate their faith. 
	Hannah set the world on fire. In the Old Testament she gave birth to a son named 
Samuel. She raised him through infancy and probably through a good portion of what 
would have been his preschool years. Then she sent him away to assist the priest Eli at 
the temple. What she sent away was a boy on fire—on fire with the certainty that God 
would keep his promise to send a Savior from sin. And the fire spread from there, for 
Samuel spent the rest of the years of his life as a faithful servant of God, proclaiming 
God’s law and God’s saving gospel to those around him. 
	Lois and her mother Eunice set the world on fire. Through their words and 
through their actions, they taught Lois’s son Timothy about his Savior and they taught 
him what it meant to be a Christian. They did this “from infancy” and the Holy Spirit 
used it to strike a spark of faith that was then fanned into flame. Timothy ended up 
becoming a great aide to the Apostle Paul and even ended up being a pastor of some 
churches of his own.
	Consider the opportunities that Hannah and Lois and Eunice had, and then 
multiply it by about 40—40 kids, that is—and you can see what an opportunity you have 
to set the world on fire through this call. These women were probably not as old—and 
therefore probably not as wise—as you, and yet the world was set on fire by their words 
and actions.
	Such things still happen today—and they happen right here at Precious Lambs. 
Karen W and Kim and others can tell you stories of just that sort of thing happening—of 
some precious lamb’s world being set on fire by the good news of Jesus Christ as the 
Savior from sin, of some precious lamb confessing their confidence that their Good 
Shepherd will lead them to heaven. You’re going to see similar evidence on a regular 
basis, and we ask that you share such anecdotes with us so that we also may continue to 
be encouraged and excited about the Holy Spirit’s working.
	Yes, the world is a sinful place that works together with the devil to war against 
the souls of these precious lambs. Yes, even their own sinful nature will be warring 
against them. Timothy and Samuel were born into a similarly sinful world with similarly 
sinful natures. But Hannah and Lois and Eunice had something more powerful than all of 
those put together—they had the news of God’s forgiveness through Jesus. So do you. 
Now go set the world on fire. Amen.