Presentation 3

The Third Article

"I Believe in the Holy Spirit: From Your House to the Lord's House"

The Third Article brings the great work of creation and re-creation (redemption) to bear on you personally. However, salvation is never about, well, just about YOU! No Christian is an island unto himself. So far from becoming “self-feeders” in a fend-for-yourself kind of Christianity, the Holy Spirit instead ushers us into a catechetical life that finds meaning and belonging through one’s relationship to God and each other through the means of grace within the Church. In other words, the Holy Spirit busies Himself with getting my eyes off of me as the focal point of the Christian life and fixes them firmly onto Jesus Christ and those united to him. The Holy Spirit does this through some pretty amazing ways, all of which flow from God’s Word and Sacraments. In the end, we find that, by God’s grace through Jesus, we have wound up in a pretty fantastic family with a life full of hope and meaning.

The Rev. John J. Bombaro is parish minister at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, San Diego, and a lecturer in the Theology and Religious Studies Department of the University of San Diego. Pr. Bombaro, who hails from Philadelphia and served in the USMC, pursued baccalaureate degrees at Rutgers University (1988-1991) and Columbia International University (1994-1995). He undertook at Masters of Theology (1997) at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as a Doctorate in the Philosophy of Religion (2002) at King’s College, University of London. The academic portion of his Masters of Divinity was completed within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England at Westfield House Theological College and the Divinity School at Cambridge University (2005). His colloquy into the LCMS was by way of Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne (2007).

Pr. Bombaro helped establish St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Koloa, Kauai, Hawaii, and has been the Sr. Minister at Grace since April 2007. He and his Canadian wife Melinda have four young children: Sophia, Marie, Anna and newborn son, Luca.