GEMUTLICHKEIT

Homily on Psalm 133 by Rev. Harold Senkbeil

2012-01-21T15:58:00.001-05:00

Homily on Psalm 133

Preached by Rev. Harold Senkbeil

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! ² It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! ³ It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore (Psalm 133).

When the Lord has His ministry, He has it in community. There is a corporate nature to the ministry, just as there is to our salvation.

Although our gracious God claims us each one by one He does not leave us to fend for ourselves. He places us into one spiritual communion and fellowship - we all have the very same mother: the Holy Christian church which conceives and nourishes every Christian through the Word of God. Thank God, though we may at times be alone, we are never lonely – we have countless brothers and sisters in this family for whom the Savior died.

The marvelous Psalm which we have sung this evening from the pen of the sweet singer of Israel points us to the corporate nature of the faith, to be sure, but I am convinced it applies specifically and especially to the corporate nature of the ministry.

Make no mistake: divide and conquer is the devil’s tactic. Just as wolves seek to separate animals from the herd to take them down, so our ancient enemy prowls about like a roaring lion seeking to devour his prey – and his first move is to isolate each man from the company of his brothers and fathers in office.

Within that company there is strength. Collectively we are stronger than the sum of each man’s personal ability. We serve, each man here, at the beck and call of the Good Shepherd who has commissioned us to feed, defend and tend His sheep and lambs in His name and stead. But he knows us all too well and loves us far too much to leave us alone to fend for ourselves.

Our God is superabundantly lavish in His grace. He promises His grace and goodness in more than one way: first, through the uttered word through which the forgiveness of sins is preached in all the world, second, through holy baptism, then also through the sacrament of the altar and the office of the keys, to be sure. But there’s more. He also pours out His grace and goodness through the “mutual conversation and consolation of brothers.”

My friends, if you’ve been neglecting your colleagues in ministry, you’ve been missing something. You will soon discover that the mutuality of the ministry, our fraternal conduct and conversation, is a main emphasis in DOXOLOGY. In this mutual conversation there is God-given consolation – not because misery loves company, mind you; but because God is so surpassingly rich in His grace that He comes to us undercover in the guise of a brother in office.

King David provides two vivid pictures of this mutual conversation and its attendant consolation: It is like the holy oil of ordination luxuriantly flowing down from Aaron’s head upon his beard, then rolling on down to the very collar of his vestments. It is like the dew of Hermon falling down on Zion. So the LORD takes care of His own: Holy Office, Holy Place. Holy Priesthood, Holy Temple. Whomever God has set apart for His service, through that man He does His work. Wherever God has placed His Name, there He dwells on earth among men. And where God is at work on earth and wherever on earth He dwells -- there is life in all its fullness, even in the very midst of death.

Dear brothers and sons, never fall prey to the devil’s tactic. Never believe for one moment that you’ve been left all alone to carry on the work you’ve been given to do. That’s a lie straight from hell and the father of lies. Remember instead the promises of the Lord who bought you with His blood -- that the Lord Jesus who has commissioned and sent you has also borne all your sins in His own body on the tree and that He carries all your sorrows too. Where the Lord has His ministry, He has it in community. So turn daily to Him in His Word and also do not neglect to seek His help through the mutuum colloquium et consolationem fratrum – the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers.

Then you will know how good and how pleasant it is not to struggle on alone as best you can, but to live together with brothers in holy unity. Then you will know once more the joy of holy office and holy place: the lavish anointing of Holy Spirit who was poured out upon you when you were set apart for ministry. Then even in those parched and dry spells in your work you will know the abundant dew of God’s blessing – life forevermore! God grant, then, that He preserve for His holy church a pious and faithful ministerium. That among us even in these grey and latter days there still may be those whose life is praise: each life a high DOXOLOGY unto the Holy Trinity.

+ in the Name of the FATHER and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT +

Matthew 21:33-46

2011-10-06T15:20:00.004-04:00

It all sounds strangely familiar. God planted a vineyard and said be fruitful and multiply. “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the Lord God planted a vineyard in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Man and wife were naked and not ashamed. It was all very good. But not for long.

Soon enough Cain killed Able. And man rebelled against God from the very beginning, killing the prophets, and stoning the messengers. Through sin and unbelief, the universe has been rent and torn asunder.

If anything, today’s parable captures the absurd stupidity of sin. The tenants cry out “This is the heir. Come let us kill him and have his inheritance.” You might say this is like finding Bill Gates Son and thinking that by knocking him off, you would receive his inheritance. Sin is stupid and absurd. It doesn’t make any sense. Eve believing that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was harmless, was stupid and foolish. Adam failing to protect his wife from the attacks of the devil was foolish and stupid. Thinking that money brings happiness is ridiculous. Sleeping together before marriage is foolish. Thinking that drunkenness makes you socially likeable is stupid, it always does the opposite. Children, rebelling against your parents, simply because they care for you and look out for your good, is also stupid.

Thinking that God’s Word is just some fictional stories to teach children some good morals is also foolish and stupid. Thinking God’s perfect and holy law should change for our personal preferences and Twenty-first century cultural trends is stupid. It is not enlightened, progressive, or smart. It is unbelief. Plain and simple.

Jesus calls us to repentance, we are not called to hunker down and give crafty explanations for our behavior – or why our sins should be excused. Our parable today is about judgment: Jesus says “And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” When the Lord comes he will not seek explanations or stories from us, but repentance, faith, and holy living.

Today’s parable is all about love. Oh love how deep, how broad, and how high. The love of God for foolish and irrational sinners. Even after the wicked tenants, had beaten, killed, and stoned His messengers – the owner of the Vineyard kept sending servants – until finally He decides to send His only begotten Son, saying “They will respect my Son.” But the tenants saw the Son, and said to themselves, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him”

It was Jesus, the Son of the Vineyard Owner – the eternal Son of the eternal Father - who was cast outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Killed and cut off from the land of the living. Come let us kill him yelled the tenants. Just as the crowds cried out “Crucify Him – Crucify Him.” The fact is that it was our sin that brought about the death of God’s Son. This is the reality that every Christian must know in his heart and believe.

Peter preached his Pentecost sermon with these Words, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, YOU crucified and YOU killed by the hands of lawless men.” It was our sins – each and every one – that was laid upon the back of God Himself – the suffering servant – the Holy Innocent Lamb of God – that takest away the sin of the world.

He took your sins and paid the penalty. And by his stripes we are healed. To the wicked tenants – to us poor miserable sinners – He prayed for us “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And He gave up His spirit. God raised him up, losing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. He descended into hell to proclaim victory over sin, death, and every perverse evil – over Satan himself.

Jesus is the vineyard and the winepress – He is the blessed drink – He is the servant and the priest. He is the vine and we are the branches. He brings life – the bread of immorality and the drink of salvation. The great ironic twist of the Parable is that the blood-thirsty cry of those evil tenants, turns out to be a prophecy that comes true. They say “Let us kill him and have his inheritance.” Ironically, it becomes true. By the death of Jesus we become God’s heirs and receive His inheritance – We receive everything that belongs to him.

Oh Love, how deep, How broad, how high. What wondrous love is this? As we sang in our hymn “For us by wickedness betrayed, For us, in crown of thorns arrayed, He bore the shameful cross and death; For us He gave his dying breath.

God is for you in every way because God, in the words of St. John “is love.” God is love, a deep, broad, and high love. Beyond all thought and fantasy. He is nothing but love for you. God has no wrath or anger left for you, because Jesus has intervened. You are therefore blessed beyond measure and rich beyond your imagination. You are a son – an heir of heaven – adorned with the loveliness and righteousness of Jesus. You are faithful through the promise of your baptism – and receive the forgiveness of sins at this altar.

I have been asked to say a few words about the LWML. So let us consider just a few women in the Bible. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, and Esther. There is Mary and Martha. Elizabeth, Dorcas or Tabitha – a kind a gentle woman who produced clothing for the poor and needy. She dedicated her life to the Gospel and served the church and her community with acts of charity and mercy.Priscilla assisted Paul in his missionary journeys – serving as deaconess in the Corinthian Church, in Syria, and among the Ephesians.

And there is Mary, the mother of our Lord. She and Mary Magdalene were the first people to the tomb. The women believed in the Resurrection. They came to anoint the body of Christ – to anoint him with spices and oil. In this way, women were the first altar guild. They were preparing for the sacraments. Throughout the Gospel women believed in Christ and loved to serve him. And maybe more importantly they loved to be served by Him.

The church is the bride of Christ – feminine in the highest sense – receiving and being filled with the love of Jesus – her groom. Being presented to Him as a spotless bride. Absolutely beautiful! For the blessed women at St. Paul, your labor is not in vain.

God highly favors you as he favored Mary. She sang “My soul doth magnify the Lord and Spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he hath done marvelous things to me.” God has done marvelously for you, and your service at St. Paul in Wittenberg, causes the angels to rejoice in heaven.

You have brought destruction to Satan’s kingdom, by serving on the altar guild, by visiting the sick, praying for the needy, assisting with funerals, writing letters of encouragement in the name of Christ. Or simply by being a Christian friend. For Lutheran ministries and missions around the world. By supporting the seminaries, schools, and the work of God’s kingdom, by praying for your pastor and this whole congregation. These are not small things. Everything that You ask in His name He will give you. So know that you are appreciated. And that you service is blessed.

And may God move us all to serve willingly in our community in the strong name of Christ. And may we all be ready when he comes again, by being built on the rock of Christ – the chief cornerstone. Amen.

Get Behind Me Satan (Matthew 16:21-28)

2011-09-02T16:52:00.003-04:00

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

Last week we were able to sing the praises of Peter the Rock. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. It is the work of God that Peter believes and it is the work of God that you believe. But what does it mean that Jesus is the Christ?

After Peter’s confession, Jesus foretells his Death and Resurrection. From that time forth Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things…be killed, and on the third day be raised.

In today’s reading, mere moments after Peter’s confession, he desperately tries to convince Jesus that it doesn’t need to me this way. Jesus, You are the Messiah! The Savior, who will save Israel! Surely, not suffering and death. Not for the Christ, the Son of God. “Far be it from you Lord! This shall never happen to you.” It is hard to imagine exactly what Peter had in mind for the Christ. Maybe they thought Pilate and the Roman emperor could be overthrown by Jesus. Maybe they thought Jesus could give them power, fame, and better control of their lives. Maybe they thought Jesus could give them success and a better lifestyle. It is awfully hard to say exactly.

Nevertheless, Peter refuses the idea that the Christ should be tried and crucified by the authorities. I am unaware of anywhere else in the Gospels where Jesus seems more disturbed and upset than here. He turns to Peter “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

It seems easy to poke fun at Peter for trying to dissuade Jesus from going to the cross. But in modern Christianity we see common trends. Indeed we see the marks of a Christ-less, cross-less, pain-free, Christianity. It is common for false preachers to speak about Jesus as just a moral teacher – a guru for self help - interested in social justice crusades – or to co-opt religion for political ends.

When we in this country talk about “in God we trust” and “I believe in one nation under God” do we have the crucified Christ in mind – or some other god? Are we talking about Jesus born of the virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius pilate? The God raised to life and present in the sacraments of the church? I am unsure.

But there is something of a Christless, Cross-less, blood free Christianity that permeates American culture. There is a little Peter in all of us who thinks that God ought to have nothing to do with going to a cross to die the death of a criminal. Like Peter, this is against our reason and basic common sense. It’s disturbing and offensive. If we are honest with ourselves. That the same God who made the heavens and earth should be stripped naked and nailed to a tree.

Therefore, we should surely sympathize with Peter. Can’t God just give us prosperity and success, health and happiness? Can’t he do likewise. Blood, nails, suffering, death – good heavens, why! Can’t he just zap evil forces with a snap of his fingers. Anything but a cross.

Get behind me Satan, is what Jesus says. To look for God apart from his bitter passion and death, is for Jesus, at least, a trick of the devil.

Jesus describes following Him as taking up our cross, whereas the apostle Paul explained those words by saying, "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," Many today describe the Christian life as one continuous success story, with never a setback. Some claim that God doesn't ever want His children to get sick. Others maintain that God wants Christians to be wealthy. And still others promise certain and sure success in God's kingdom if only we use the right methods and programs, and implement the proper committees.

As Jesus took up His cross of suffering, so His followers have their cross of suffering to take up. It is by no means the same cross of suffering; His far surpasses ours. But there is a similar cross that we are to carry as followers of Christ crucified. Just as Jesus' mission as our Savior was not accomplished in the way in which the Jews expected it to be accomplished, so also the life of Christ's followers is not what we would expect. If you seek to find God apart from his bitter suffering, passion, and death, you are not dealing with the true God but a false god.

Even the secular world understands a basic truth here. As the saying goes, “There is no gain without pain.” As the Lord says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

God reveals his very nature in going to Jerusalem. Reveals his character and His heart in going to the cross. It is God’s nature – his personality – his will to suffer – specifically for your sins. It is for the sake of self-sacrificing love and self-giving love that Jesus goes as a lamb to the slaughter. That is who God is.

God, the true God, cannot be found apart from his suffering, death, and resurrection. That is where God desire that you find him. The religions that seek to find him elsewhere are all frauds. There is no other religion on earth that has a god that suffers, for they are all false religions. There is no other religion that offers the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The only true religion is the religion of the cross. The suffering servant.

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his lifewill lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. We are promised suffering. Saint Peter writes in his first letter “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” (1 Pet. 4:12-13)

Job asked, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10) Earthly suffering is used by the sovereign God to His purposes. “I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.” (Isa. 45:6-7) Indeed, the only path to glory leads us to the cross. And God is found in the cross. You have a God that suffers, and therefore a God who identifies with you and your sufferings.

He too was betrayed by a disciple and friend. They had gossiped against him. He too had lies told about him. God too toiled and did sweat blood in the garden. If you suffer in your body, aches and pains, and disease, consider the sufferings of the Christ.

Holy Scripture says “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (Jas. 1:2-4) “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” (1 Pet. 4:1-2) The cross is ours in this life, and glory shall not be ours until our perfection is complete through Christ the Lord.

He will do whatever it takes to make us holy. But for now, continue to take up your cross and follow him. Fulfill your callings. Be steadfast and vigilant in your station in life. Work hard at your employment. Suffer well and be kind in a marriage that is less than always happy. Care for your family. Love them. Children honor your parents, even if they are at times unbearable. Deny yourself for their sake. Lose your life for His sakes and you will truly find it. The way of the cross, after all, is filled with joy.

It is fitting that we finish with Luther’s Small Catechism. Deliver us from evil. What does this mean? We pray the following: “We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

In the name of Jesus.

Looking at the Liturgy of the Divine Service

2011-05-19T23:36:00.003-04:00

Introit really just means “entrance,” and calls for the use of an entire psalm during the entrance of the clergy (Pope Celestine, early fifth century). It marked the beginning of the service, and took place during the procession as clergy approached the altar. Many times either clergy traveled and entered the church at that time (urban liturgy) or the sacristy was located near the narthex. It is now more common to have the sacristy near the sanctuary itself, which slightly changes the practical need for a processional. Nevertheless, many churches make use of the processional during the Introit. The carrying of the processional cross and the singing is edifying for the congregation, as they confess that the living Christ, fresh from the grave comes among them to distribute his gifts and redeem them.

It was common for the introit to be sung antiphonally between two choirs alternating choirs. Otherwise clergy may chant, while choir repeats a response or antiphon. The structure proceeds from antiphon, psalm verses, Gloria Patri, and antiphon. It is a common practice in many Lutheran churches to simply sing a hymn out of the hymnal.

               The Holy Scriptures are filled with the cry of eleison (Mt. 9:27, 20:30, 15:22; Mk. 10:47; Lk. 16:24, 17:13).  Usually it is the full Kyrie eleison me, or eleison hemas.  The liturgical use is shortened simply to Kyrie eleison.  It is hard to think of a more lovely and shorter prayer than Kyrie eleison, for it is rich in its liturgical and theologically meaning.  Throughout Jesus’ ministry sinners in need of his mercy cry out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mk 10:47).  It seems fitting that the Divine Service begins with a Kyrie Eleison, that the church would respond to the Lord in desperate need of mercy and the gifts He brings.  The sinner comes before God as a beggar, with a boldness of faith, that desires that which the Lord has – namely his righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

               Apart from the biblical narrative, historically it is common for a prince or king to process into a town, while the people would say ‘kyrie eleison.’  While historically there is a secular usage here, the expression receives its truest significance and meaning with the advent of the true king and priest, Jesus Christ who comes into the midst of the worshipping congregation.  The Gallic Pilgrim Etheria details the Jerusalem liturgy in 390, starting the at the end of Vespers, “The bishop rises and stands before the rails, that is, before the cave, and one of the deacons makes the customary commemoration of individuals one by one. And as the deacon pronounces each name the many little boys who are always standing by, answer with countless voices : Kyrie eleyson, or as we say Miserere Domine? And when the deacon has finished all that he has to say, first the bishop says a prayer and prays for all, then they all pray, both the faithful and catechumens together.”[1]

Pope Gelasius is credited (492-496 AD) with introducing the Kyrie-litany. The list of petitions in this litany correlates closely with the themes of the general prayer prior to Gelasius, “We are justified in concluding that Gelasius had removed the general prayer for the Church, and had substituted the Kyrie-litany.”[2] This original text, known as the Deprecatio Gelasii is exceedingly rich in scope, the 15^th petition begging our Lord, “That our flesh may be free of blemish and our souls living in faith, Hear us, Lord, hear us.” In the Rule of St. Benedict the litania (or supplicatio litanie ed est Kyrie eleison) was part of the ending of every Daily Office and was used to introduce the Lord’s Prayer (true also for the LSB). In Lauds and Vespers, priest prayed a fuller litania, like that in the Deprecatio.

During the reign of Gregory the Great, the longer Kyrie was reduced to the simple threefold bid: “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.” This is what we commonly use for our Divine Service. A great treasure of the Lutheran Service Book is its Litany (the Altar Book offers a musical setting). There is a ninefold invocation of Christos and Kyrios which serves as a prelude to the public orations prayer. The litany plumbs the depths of the marks and holy mysteries of the church – incarnation, nativity, baptism, precious death and burial, and of course the resurrection. The eleison is orated as “Have mercy,” “Spare us, good Lord,” Hear us, O Lord,” and “Help us, good Lord.” The congregation asks for help in the hour of death, and mercy and deliverance for woman, children, and infants. The Lutheran Litany when prayed by a congregation sounds like a swelling symphonic prayer. Even when spoken, the varieties of eleisons have a deeply harmonious quality about them, given the lyrical rhythm and drama which moves from pestilence and bloodshed, then concluding with a threefold Agnus Dei. Alternative settings of the Kyrie include LSB 942-944. The Kyrie is also commonly used in Matins and Vespers.

The Gloria has its origins in Luke’s Christmas story where an army of angels appears, praising God saying “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those who have his good will!” The worshipper may see a connection with the proper preface during the service of the sacrament, “together with angels and arch angels and all the company of heaven…” Therefore, this is a Christological hymn that points clearly to the incarnation and long expected Messiah that has now come. He is the Son of God, the true Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. It is significant that the Christmas story and the doxological praise applied to incarnation is linked with the Lamb of God who atones for the sins of the world. The celebration of the birth of the child by angels means that this child is in fact born to die as a human sacrifice for sin. Therefore in the Gloria, placed at the beginning of the service, we are already pointed toward the Lord’s Supper, which is the sum and substance of the Gospel, accompanied with the preached Word. His resurrection is in view given that He sits at the right hand of God the Father as the crucified one – interceding before His heavenly throne. In this simple hymn one can see a restoration of all things in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10). The hymn also has a great deal of emphasis on the relationship of the Trinity in the Son’s redemptive work, for we see each Person of the Trinity addressed. It is helpful for a beginning hymn of praise to understand that all praise is doxological and Trinitarian in shape.

Jungmann notes that the Gloria, like the Kyrie was not created originally for the liturgy of the Mass, but was rather an heirloom from the treasury of ancient Church hymns.[3] It seems to me however, that given the frequency of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in the first two centuries, it is hard to imagine that this hymn was not intimately linked with the Supper. The Gloria is always a song of the congregation and not a special choir or t be done by the clergy. This hymn is indispensible in the liturgy, though it is often omitted during advent and lent. Besides that which is commonly sung in the hymnal setting, LSB 946, 947, or 948 might alternatively be used.

In ancient liturgies, that which preceded the Collect was considered part of the entrance rite. The Salutation marked the beginning of the actual service itself. It is a pastoral greeting common in both the old and New Testament (Judg. 6:12; Ruth 2:4; Luke 1:2; 2 Tim. 4:22). It has also been considered a sort of “little ordination,” calling to mind the Christological nature of the holy ministry. In John’s Gospel, Jesus, resurrected from the grave stood among the disciples and said, “Peace be with you,” showing them his pierced hands and side. The Salutation is used practically to reorient the congregation to the collect, Gospel reading, preface, post-communion collect, and the Benediction.

The erroneous way to see the Salutation is to see it as a mere “Hi, how are you doing…nice to see you” sort of greeting, which it is often made to be. The Salutation indicates a very special relationship between the pastor and people that is provided by Jesus Himself – who comes to preach and feed his people.

The Collect is prayed to gather together the petitions of the congregation, presenting them to God. I have also heard that the collect serves as a sort of summary for all the prayers. After the “let us pray” (Oremus), a congregation often observes a brief period of silent prayer, where each worshipper prepares himself for the service and prays for his specific need. The collect, which is prayed after this brief and individual silent prayer, serves as a unified petition on behalf of the whole congregation. The historic collects have been retained by Lutherans and placed to coordinate with the lectionary readings. The collects are always brief, closing with a Trinitarian praise. It is a preparation for the readings of Holy Scripture and the Service of the Sacrament. I am interested in restoring some of the historic collects (particularly certain feast and festival days) for use in the home for prayer. The collects are simple and can be internalized by use in catechesis and the daily office of prayer.

The offertory and offering take place after the sermon, and should be seen within the liturgy of the sacrament of the altar, and in the Divine Service as a whole. The offertory hymn is taken from Psalm 51, the most well known of the penitential psalms. This psalm is likely the most significant psalm in the Church’s liturgy, being in the opening vesicles for Matins and Vespers, as well as the Introit for Ash Wednesday. Though this hymn plumbs the depths of despair and is often categorized as a psalm of lament, it is certainly a song of praise and great delight. “Cast me not away from your presence” is a desperate plea for mercy that indeed knows that God delivers on His promises. To be cast away from the presence of God and His mercy is the worst of all possibilities. This prayer is a confession that God will forgive sins and create a clean heart through the blood of Christ.

The offering which accompanies the offertory chant has been expressed in numerous ways throughout the centuries. Bread and wine has been a common offering to be brought forth, with the bread being brought forth to the altar in a linen cloth or basket. Material gifts might also be brought forth from among the faithful, though those gifts are not brought to the altar. I am told from those who have visited Lutheran churches in Africa, that it is common to bring forth chickens or small game as offerings for the congregation. At my field work congregation in Wolf Lake, Indiana I once saw an elderly woman bring vestments that she has sewed up to the pastor during the offering. I was very much touched by the remarkable work of piety and devotion. Even more remarkable is that she understood that her gift was an act of worship to take place in the Divine Service.

It is most common simply to offer gifts in the form of money to sustain the congregation. These gifts support the parish pastor and go towards the upkeep and activities of the congregation. These gifts that are offered are not given out of compulsion nor out of fear but out of a joyful and thankful heart. Christ has come into the flesh to offer Himself as the sacrifice for sin, that we poor sinners may be redeemed and forgiven. Out of faith toward God and love toward the neighbor, the Christian offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving and tithes the gifts that God has given Him for the benefit of the congregation.

The prayers which precede the preface often call upon God for a right use of the Sacrament, certain blessings associated with the season of the church year, as well as for good government and special needs of the congregation. These prayers form a sort of bridge which leads to the communion liturgy itself. Saint Paul writes to Timothy, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Tim. 2:1). These prayers stand in some contrast to the Roman Mass, where the priest begins to inaudibly pray as a unilateral work, apart from the participation of the congregation.

The Sanctus is derived from the prophet Isaiah’s vision and has long been sung in the church’s liturgy. The emphasis on the holiness of God as the Holy One of Israel is significant. The word holy in Hebrew literally means “separate.” After the fall man has been separated from God by his sin. To stand before the presence of God meant death for the sinner, for sin cannot live before the holiness of God. Everything changes however, with the advent of Christ. Through his sacrificial death, which cleanses men from their sin, they can now access God’s holiness – come before Him and commune with holy things. Those who approach in the name of the Lord are blessed and holy because of the intervention and mercy of Christ. The threefold repetition is a confession of the three persons of the Trinity. All of creation bows to God’s holiness which fills earth and heaven. The word Sabaoth, which remains untranslated, can be rendered as “Lord of armies” or “heavenly hosts.” There is no doubt a sense of awe and wonder at the singing of the Sanctus, and a great deal of mystery is involved. Heaven is joined to earth through the person of Jesus who comes to forgive and bless His people. There is a sense of movement that the congregation is approaching (or being approach) by God and the holy things – namely the body and blood of the risen Christ.

Because the congregation may enter into the presence of God, through holy baptism and the mediation of Christ, the congregation can pray, “Our Father.” This is the prayer for the baptized and for those who can be admitted to the Lord’s Table. The holiness of God is reiterated as heaven meets earth in Jesus. Where the Sanctus evokes heavenly armies and the multitude and the incomprehensible holiness of God, the Lord’s Prayer makes it clear that God is indeed for me, in fact, that He is “Our Father,” or my Father. His supreme holiness is not in that He is far from me, or separated from me, but rather that He deigns to be close to me and with me. He desires to do so in an intimate and merciful way, through eating and drinking. His presence is not terrifying for me, but is good for me through the giving of His Son, along with His work and benefits. The Lord’s Prayer therefore can be seen as a Eucharistic prayer through the fourth petition, along with the prayer for forgiveness and deliverance from temptation. It is helpful to consider that daily bread also includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body and all that which is included in Luther’s explanation.

The Words of Institution immediately follow the Lord’s Prayer. The Verba is not a word for word reading of any particular Gospel or epistle text. It includes a number of texts and this might help suggest the fact that the Lord’s Supper was taking place in the church before any written Gospel or epistle text. We know that the church was “continually devoted to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42). There is therefore an oral tradition that has a pre-biblical tradition. For Lutherans the emphasis is no doubt on the forgiveness of sins which is what it’s all about. For where there is forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation and heaven itself. The Supper is no mere reenactment or memorial meal for Christians. There is no need for the Christian to ascend by faith to commune with a Christ who is far off in a distant heaven. Christ has come near and His true Body and Blood is eaten and drunk for the forgiveness of sins.

The Pax Domini recalls the risen Christ, fresh from the grave, showing his pierced hand and side to the disciples in the upper room. The peace of the Lord means reconciliation between God and man and therefore also love toward each other. In some of the ancient liturgies and still common today is the kiss of peace, as a concrete expression of the love toward each other found in the new life in Christ. The communion that God brings is not simply a matter of “God and me” but is also corporately directed outward toward love of neighbor and congregational life. The Lord’s Supper, along with the forgiveness of sins, absolves man of his sins before God but also liberates him from sins that stand between him and his neighbor. There is therefore a vertical and horizontal movement in the Divine Service. Man is reconciled to God and therefore to his neighbor. Many Christian churches find the kiss of peace to be a salutary part of the liturgy where the saints express their love for each other as forgiven children of God. Needless to say, this practice is somewhat culturally determined and Christian congregations are in freedom to observe this practice in whatever way they find edifying. Many congregations observe a greeting of peace that greatly obscures the simplicity and clarity of the Lord's Supper. The Peace is not some love fest where we shake hands and ask folks how their weekend is - that is for coffee hour. If congregations are to observe a greeting among one another during the communion liturgy it ought to proceed from a robust confession of the Verba and the peace that forgiveness and reconciliation offers. While the interest in kind greetings is itself a pious gesture, the practice can possibly detract from the more important meaning that it is God Himself who is present to serve His people. The Lord’s Supper is not a community event for all, but is given for baptized and penitent sinners who need the benefits that Christ brings.

The Agnus Dei recalls the words of John the Baptist who confessed Christ as He approached the Jordan to be baptized, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29). John alludes to the scapegoat who carries the peoples’ sins away (Lv. 16:21-22). The congregation confesses that Christ is the sacrifice who bears the sins of the world, taking them to the cross. In this hymn the Lord is present in flesh and blood offering Himself for the life of the world. Before Jesus can be understood as teacher or example par excellence, He is first to be understood as sacrifice and meal. Jesus is the spotless Lamb, the Son of God, perfect and holy in every way. He willingly takes the sins of humanity and places them on Himself. In the great exchange all that is rightfully Christ’s is given to the sinner – his righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. In the sacrament of the altar the Christian receives a tangible manifestation of that forgiveness – receiving Christ Himself with all His benefits. The sacrifice is to be eaten and drunk. There is a sense of wonder and awe in the Agnus Dei as the Lord’s body and blood are being distributed. The most common confirmation bible verse is best understood here in the liturgy as the true nature of God’s love is seen, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).

The Nunc Dimitis follows the distribution, recalling the words of Simeon who waited in the temple for the consolation of Israel. It had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ (Lk. 2:26). The Christian can likewise say that he has seen his salvation now that Christ has come in His Word and Sacrament to feed His people. The Nunc Dimittis is a Lutheran contribution to the liturgy and a salutary one. The hymn confesses that I have everything I need, namely Jesus Himself. I may now depart in peace knowing that my salvation has been accomplished. I have received His forgiveness and blessings. I have communed at the altar of God, being fully reconciled. The hymn ends with a Trinitarian and doxological praise. I may go out into the world in the freedom of the forgiveness of sins and the peace which Christ brings.

The thanksgiving and collect which follow conclude the communion rite with a prayer of gratitude for receiving the sacrament and the benefits it grants. There is an emphasis on faith toward God and love toward one another, suggesting that liturgy and worship can be taken out into the world where we are enabled to serve God and neighbor with the joy that Christ brings. The Benediction gives God’s blessing which is gracious. His face shines on the congregation with love and mercy on account of Christ.

Artwork at top: Joos van Cleve (1485-1540), detail "The Last Supper"

[1] Full text of Pilgrimmage of Etheria found here http://www.archive.org/stream/pilgrimageofethe00mccliala/pilgrimageofethe00mccliala_djvu.txt

[2] Joseph A. Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development (Benzinger Brothers, New York, 1959), p. 191.

[3] Ibid., 132.

Brief Reflection on St. Augustine's Confessions

2011-05-17T23:12:00.001-04:00

Humility has a very special place in Saint Augustine’s Confessions.[1] Though he writes rather extensively on virtues, be they kindness, love, charity, and so forth, it must be stated that humility is particularly set apart. What is so significant about humility for Augustine? What does this reveal about his personal life? How does humility inform how we think of Holy Scripture and how it is appropriated? What does Augustine’s concentration on the virtue of humility mean in light of his conversion to the catholic faith? What bearing does it have upon his conception of God? Any of these questions deserve a great deal of attention and can hardly be exhausted. I will however, provide a brief meditation on Augustine’s thinking on humility and its implications for Christology and Christian living.

In the narrative of Augustine’s conversion, the primal sin of pride is set in direct opposition to humility. It is precisely pride, the desire to be something other than what man authentically is in Christ, which wages war against Augustine in his desire to fully belong to God, and thereby enter into the catholic faith. Augustine roots pride in the first sin and the consequent fall, “My stiff neck took me further and further away from you. I love my own ways, not yours. The liberty I loved was merely that of a runaway.”[2] Pride, like evil itself, is irrational like the wandering of the prodigal Son. Augustine reflecting upon stealing the pears recalls, “I loved the self-destruction, I loved my fall, not the object for which I had fallen but my fall itself.”[3]

Prior to Augustine’s conversion he is primarily seeking one thing, “I longed for the immortality of wisdom with an incredible ardour in my heart.”[4] This questing apart from God’s divine condescension and humility of Christ will of course be a disastrous course and a dangerous one. Nevertheless, God is guiding and governing all things. Therefore, this pilgrimage for wisdom is not an inherently evil or ungodly thing. Movement and pilgrimage is good, for praise is the innermost and most powerful desire of man. As Augustine opens his confessions, “our heart is restless until it rests in you.”[5] For in seeking him they find him, and in finding they will praise him.

That main obstacle that clings to Augustine, which for so long delays his conversion and baptism is pride. This willful pride which directs the orientation away from God is not simply some vice or personal shortfall for Augustine. Pride is that which places one in direct opposition toward God as He is. Augustine often links pride with a willful wandering “but I traveled away from you into a far country to dissipate my substance on meretricious lusts.”[6] Pride moves one toward a dissolution and fragmentation of the self. Though pride and the pleasures of lusts come with certain promises, be they wisdom or enjoyment, honor or prestige, the result is the exact opposite. Augustine in book XIII reflects upon the corrosive nature of pride and its consequence:

The haughtiness of pride, the pleasure of lust, and the poison of curiosity (1 Jn. 2:16) are the passions of a dead soul. The soul’s death does not end all movement. It’s ‘death’ comes about as it departs from the fount of life, so that it is absorbed by the transitory world and conformed to it.[7]

The haughtiness of pride therefore brings with it death. A life filled with willful pride moves one to be cut off from the very source of life, and is therefore conformed to the transitory world bringing about what amounts to self-extinction – to be something other than what man truly is – in fact to be nothing at all. All of Augustine’s wanderings and intellectual achievements in the public arena as rhetor, professor, intellectual, follower of Mani, and neo-Platonist, ultimately does not result in continence and rest in God. As Augustine begins to make certain discoveries in his pilgrimage, it is precisely the on-going battle with intellectual pride that stands in his way.

As humility begins to be revealed to Augustine, it is not humility as such that is found, certainly not as a particular virtue or ethical principle. At this point Augustine is able to confess, “The Word was made flesh, so that our infant condition might come to suck milk from your wisdom by which you created all things. To posses my God, the humble Jesus, I was not yet humble enough. I did not know what his weakness was meant to teach.”[8] Augustine here reveals that humility is not a mere virtue among others, but has to do with the very existence and being of God Himself, and furthermore informs and shapes how Christ is appropriated to the sinner still bent on his own pride. Though disillusioned with Manichaeism, the wisdom of the Platonists is not yet able to instruct him in what the “humble Jesus” is meant to teach. Augustine writes: “Those pages do not contain the face of this devotion, tears of confession, your sacrifice, a troubled spirit, a contrite and humble spirit…In the Platonic books no one sings: ‘Surely my soul will be submissive to God…They disdain to learn from him, for he is meek and humble of heart.”[9]

When it comes to Augustine’s conversion and the way of humility, the haughtiness of pride most importantly leads astray from a more complete Christology. The way Augustine sets up the contradistinction between pride and humility it seems to point toward a misrepresentation of God. Over and above all else, it is intellectual pride that cannot grasp the coming of God into the flesh, born in the form of a servant. He writes, “You wanted to show me how you resist the proud and give grace to the humble,’ and with what mercy you have shown humanity the way of humility in that your Word was made flesh and dwelt among men”[10] The way Augustine speaks of humility is that it is indeed the very portal for knowing God and knowing one’s very self. Humility is “the way,” for Augustine, and descriptive of who God is in his nature. Through Augustine’s own narrative, he seems to make it clear that pride in one’s self distorts one’s conception of who God is and who He can be. Apart from the exercise of humility, how could God become man and why would he be willing to do so? What sense would there be in God humbling Himself in the form of a servant. Augustine writes what he considers to be his “principle error:”

In particular I had no hope that truth could be found in your Church, Lord of heaven and earth (Gen. 24:3), maker of all things visible and invisible. The Manichees had turned me away from that. I thought it shameful to believe you to have the shape of the human figure, and to be limited by the bodily lines of our limbs...That was the principle and almost sole cause of my inevitable error.[11]

Augustine’s feverish quest for knowledge and understanding in a sense undermines the search for continence that he is truly seeking, insofar as he seeks mere knowledge and noetic understanding apart from the wisdom of the Incarnation. Eventually, his intellectual pursuits lead him to despair and disillusionment, “I had no confidence, and had lost hope that truth could be found…I had lost all hope of discovering the truth.”[12] Only very slowly does Augustine come to see that God is not to be sought above but rather below. His own life bears witness to this movement. Augustine writes of what must eventually take place, “They are no longer to place confidence in themselves, but rather to become weak. They see at their feet divinity become weak by sharing in our coat of skin.”[13] Therefore, Christian faith cannot be understood without seeing the humility of God Himself. Only when we ourselves come down from our lofty places of pride can we see where God has come down to us. There is two movements, God’s divine condescension to man to be among us in our scarred humanity, and man’s descent from his pride and vain spiritual imagination. God works both descending movement. Regarding Augustine’s own humbling he writes, “My memory calls me back to that period, and it becomes sweet for me, Lord, to confess to you by what inward goads you tamed me; how you level me by bringing down mountains and hills of my thoughts and made straight my crooked ways and smoothed my roughness.”[14]

Humility, in addition to being a Christological reality, is also the hermeneutical key to reading and appropriating the Holy Scriptures. Reflecting on his days in Milan and approaching the Scriptures for the first time he writes, “The Bible offered itself to all in very accessible words and the most humble style of diction.”[15] In Augustine’s attempt to know and master, the simple humble texts of the Scriptures simply did not match the lofty prose of a Cicero, Seneca, or Virgil. Several years ago Benedict the XVI reflecting on Pope Gregory the Great spoke of humility, particularly in regards to approaching the Scriptures. Benedict says Gregory:

“energetically underlines this function of [sacred Scripture]: To approach Scripture simply to satisfy one's desire to know, means to give in to the temptation of pride and thus expose oneself to the risk of falling into heresy. Intellectual humility is the main rule for one who seeks to penetrate supernatural realities flowing from the sacred book…He was profoundly impressed by the humility of God, who in Christ made himself our slave; he washed and washes our dirty feet.[16]

Benedict went on to reflect on the ministry of the Gospel itself, saying that a bishop "must imitate this humility of God and, for love of God, be able to make himself the servant of all in a time full of tribulations and sufferings, to make himself the 'servant of the servants.” Augustine and Benedict are of one mind here: humility is central to the Christian faith and life in the church. Humility is descriptive of who God is and what man is in Christ for the neighbor.

In the opening prayers of Confessions[17] it is clear that the narrative as a whole will be indecipherable if one does not well note Augustine’s highly developed Christology: “In seeking him they find him, and in finding they will praise him. Lord, I would seek you, calling upon you – and calling upon you is an act of believing in you. You have been preached to us. My faith, Lord, calls upon you. It is your gift to me. You breathed it into me by the humanity of your Son, by the ministry of your preacher.”[18] The union of Christ’s humanity and His divinity, as second Person of the Trinity is no doubt central for the Confessions. As Augustine moves away from Manichean error toward neo-Platonism, and finally conversion, it is ultimately the “door” of the Incarnate Word that must be opened to him.

Augustine writes, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and the door is opened to the one who knocks’ (Matt. 7:7-8). These are your promises, and when the promise is given by the Truth, who fears to be deceived?”[19] In short, the door by which Augustine enters is the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ, found in the scriptures and sacraments. Although the Oxford printing heads this particular section with the title, “The Bible is the firmament,” I am not sure that Augustine himself would use this language, although he does write, “you have stretched out the firmament of your book like a skin.”[20] These scriptures however, for Augustine, are not a book as such, but rather the viva vox of a God who speaks, “marvelously speaking and marvelously creating in Your Word, Who is Your Son and Your strength and Your Wisdom and Your Truth”[21] In this way, Augustine can speak of the sacred writings as flesh and skin, for the content is Christ. This can best be seen in chapter 13 where the first few chapters of Genesis are opened up not as some ancient biblical history but as descriptive of the catholic church by way of preaching, sacraments, and worship.

Augustine would no doubt link his conversion with Holy Baptism, in which he took off his doctor’s robe along with the wisdom of the world, to descend into the wisdom of Christ. Although his conversion is found here, it must not be seen as a mere punctiliar or episodic event. Augustine’s conversion was long and drawn out, like many a post-modern man’s pilgrimage through a treacherous and dark forest of prideful ambitions, dangerous sects, and heresies, which all threaten to damn and confound. Augustine begins his Confessions with the prayer, “You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”[22] Therefore, the door by which Augustine enters through the scriptures and through the person of Christ, though rooted in baptism is a pilgrimage, to be sure – a lifelong journey to find rest in God Himself.

Augustine’s allusion to the door in light of Matthew 7:7-8 must be seen through the story of his conversion. The birthpangs of conversion in Book VIII, I believe, is a fine place to start. In many ways, the conversion of Victorinus prefigures his own conversion. Victorinus, an African professor of rhetoric himself, and translator of Neo-Platonic writing, might stand as a sort of microcosm of the entire narrative of Confessions. Here the great scholar, rhetor of Rome, confesses the catholic faith on the plank before the marveling crowd of commoners, and descends into holy baptism. Like Augustine, he had not held the catholic faith to be the embodiment of faith, and to a greater extent than Augustine had been hostile to the primitive religion: “The old Victorinus had defended these cults (pagan) for many years with a voice terrifying to opponents. Yet he was not ashamed to become the servant of your Christ, and an infant born at your font, to bow his head to the yoke of humility and to submit his forehead to the reproach of the cross.”[23] We learn that his conversion was brought forth by Simplicianus, who urged Victorinus to the reading of Holy Scripture, along with the fatherly admonition, “I shall not believe that or count you among the Christians unless I see you in the Church of Christ.”[24] Augustine links the conversion of Victorinus with the Prodigal Son, and therefore links the conversion to his very own. The dramatic conversion and baptism of the famous rhetor personifies the narrative of Augustine’s Confessions. The primal sin of pride, to rise over and against where God’s has placed one’s self, is at last overcome by virtue of humility and divine life in holy baptism and Christ’s cross.

During this time, Augustine felt increasing anxiety about his metaphysical speculations and philosophies independent of an external authority, “I chattered away as somebody in the know…Had I continued to be such an expert, I should have gone to my destruction.”[25] What follows is a discourse on the Romans 7, as a reflection upon Augustine’s sparring with lusts and the chains of sexual desire. Soon “Lady Continence” beckons Augustine toward a more chaste and pious life:

To receive and embrace me she stretched out pious hands, filled with numerous good examples to follow. There were large numbers of boys and girls, a multitude of ages, young adults and grave widows and elderly virgins. In every one of them was Continence herself, in no sense barren but ‘the fruitful mother of children’, the joys born of you, Lord, her husband. And she smiled on me with a smile of encouragement as if to say: ‘Are you incapable of doing what these men and women have done? Do you think them capable of achieving this by their own resources and not by the Lord their God?[26]

It is hard to over-emphasize this particular passage and its significance as Augustine will soon be converted, entering in through the narrow door. It shows the condescension that man himself must make to be made a partaker in God’s love and His grace. The example for a wisdom par excellence is set by children, boys and girls, grave widows and elderly virgins. The icons of wisdom are no longer Cicero or contemporary neo-Platonists. His entrance into Truth and the catholic church will not be some intellectual pursuit or worldly quest for a hidden wisdom, but is rather predicated upon a humility that allows one to be dependent upon another. Not dependent in the Schleiermacher sense of “ultimate dependence,” but rather upon a piety of posture that is despairing of one’s self, open to being addressed and spoken to by another – namely Christ.[27] It is this realization and shifting of orientation that plants Augustine in a state of lament under the fig tree, where he weeps in the language of the Psalter. The allusion of Adam is no doubt clear (Gen. 3:7, Jn 1:48), and one might even anticipates God’s own corresponding lament, “Where are you?”

It is in this state of bitter agony and despair that Augustine hears a child, saying, “Pick up and read, pick up and read.”[28] Under the fig tree, despairing of his own resources, only now is he ready to open up the Scriptures by way of humility. Concerning the Scriptures, Augustine recounted in an earlier stage of his life, “I was not in any state to be able to enter into that, or to bow my head to climb its steps…My inflated conceit shunned the Bible’s restraint, and my gaze never penetrated to its inwardness…I disdained to be a little beginner. Puffed up with pride, I considered myself a mature adult.”[29] Receiving the Scriptures, hearing them, and being addressed by them required a certain humility, which at earlier stages of Augustine’s life was simply not possible, “the Bible did not stand out by its high authority and if it had not drawn crowds to the bosom of its holy humility.”[30]

As the voice of the child beckoned him to the reading of the scriptures, we find that his countenance changed and in turn he interprets the voice as “a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find.” Upon reading from Paul, “All the shadows of doubt were dispelled. Then I inserted my finger or some other mark into the book and closed it.”[31] It does not seem a stretch of the imagination to see that Augustine has Thomas in mind, who demands to see and stick his fingers right in Christ’s side. It is fascinating that Augustine links Thomas’s encounter with the risen Christ to his immersion in the Holy Scriptures. The significance lies in the fact that the sum and substance of the Scriptures is the Word made flesh. That is to say Christ is the content of the Scriptures. Therefore, Augustine can pray, “Who but you, O God, has made for us a solid firmament of authority over us in your divine scripture? For the ‘heaven will fold up like a book’ (Is. 34:4), and now ‘like a skin it is stretched out’ above us.”[32] As Thomas was presented with the risen Christ as God and Lord, Augustine encounters God in the experience and exercise of Scripture and His Word. The Scriptures are not simply a text, but descriptive of the activity of the love between Christ and His Church mediated by the Word and sacraments.

[1] Henry Chadwick. Saint Augustine: Confessions. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2009.

[2] 38.

[3] 29.

[4] 39.

[5] 3.

[6] 70.

[7] 291.

[8] 128.

[9] 131.

[10] 121.

[11] 85.

[12] 90.

[13] 128.

[14] 159.

[15] 96.

[16] http://www.zenit.org/article-22801?l=english

[18] 3.

[19] 246.

[20] 282.

[21] 225.

[22] 3.

[23] 135.

[24] 136.

[25] 126.

[26] 151.

[27] I find that most adult Christian converts begin entry in the church by way of desperation, more so than any other particular factor.

[28] 152.

[29] 40.

[30] 96.

[31] 153.

[32] 282.

Institution of Daily Worship: A Brief Look at Israel’s Worship and Implications for Christ’s Church (Ex. 29:38-46)

2011-05-10T13:35:00.000-04:00

The context of this pericope is particularly significant for it frames not only divine worship but deals with the consecration of the priesthood and the dwelling place of God. It seems to me this pericope may be seen as a summation of God’s will to dwell with His special people in an intimate and mysterious way. This particular text, which deals in specifics of worship and the very nature of God Himself, must be seen along with the events surrounding it. Countless Old Testament themes converge in this pericope which ultimately points toward the Incarnation – the coming of God Himself into the flesh. This text therefore is not some remnant of a primitive religion, but is rather descriptive of the very nature of Christian worship – the preaching of the Word and the service of the sacrament. In order see this, we must know that God has led his people out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery, crossed the Red Sea, into the wilderness, and finally to Mount Sinai. The theophany at Mount Sinai provides a climax for the journey in which the 10 commandments are given to Moses. That we might understand this pericope on worship (29:38-46), it must seen that these commandments were not simply rules about right conduct or civic virtue. The commandments begin with a declarative word and promise that is the center of the Decalogue, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” The first three commandments describe right worship with God – they are primarily cultic in nature. The commandments therefore begin with a declarative word of promise that establishes God as not “a god” but “your God” or “my God.”

The reception of the Commandments and the laws about worship that follow are not simply rules that God arbitrarily sets forth. The Commandments and the institution of the Tabernacle is also about proper worship and being brought back into a relationship with God. The institution of the tabernacle and divine worship in Exodus 29:38-46, must be seen in light of Exodus 24. Moses builds an altar at the base of the mountain and has men offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings of oxen. Half the blood is thrown on the altar and half is thrown upon the people. Moses does this in the context of a preaching service, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with these words” (24:8). Therefore, true worship of God must involve these two means: the preaching and proclamation of God’s Word, along with sacrifice and blood. We might even say these two things are inextricably bound up with each other; for the Book of the Covenant has as its entire sum and substance in Christ crucified and the blood which pours forth into the chalice - ultimately placed upon the people, through eating and drinking. I hold that we can only understand Exodus 24 and surrounding texts on proper worship through these Words: “Forthis is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt. 26:28). The climax on the mountain for Moses is precisely this: to receive the gift of the tabernacle and the laws of worship. Only through sacrifice, ultimately of Christ Himself, can Israel truly be the spotless Bride of the Lord. Blood and this preaching of the Book of the Covenant (the promise of Christ) consecrates the people to make them a holy people.

Regulations concerning proper worship begin with the altar, “Now this is what you will offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly.” It is essential to note that the activity of sacrifice in Israel’s worship is not some punctiliar event for an occasional service. It is a continual and on-going sacrifice (תָּמִיד.). Worship is therefore a normative activity for Israel, a day by day service and devotion, in which God is already establishing or foreshadowing His means of grace. This day by day worship and sacrifice should be considered when looking at Christian worship. We must wonder whether daily worship is essential to Israel’s life and therefore the church of Christ as well. At the very establishment of the church following Peter’s sermon and Pentecost, we find that for these early disciples: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). The common translation of being “devoted” to the Lord’s Supper, preaching, and works of mercy in Christian fellowship, does not capture the full weight of their activity. They were rather adhering constantly and steadfastly (προσκαρτεροῦντες) to the breaking of bread and the divine service – both Word and Sacrament. It was not a periodic event for these worshipers but this breaking of the bread informed and shaped their daily lives. Likewise, Israel’s worship is not an occasional happening in the community but normative, dictating all other activities. It is not speculation to insist that these early disciples were daily having Gottesdienst (Divine Service) - continually, just as Israel was continuously worshiping in the Temple.

These regular (תָּמִיד.), daily sacrifices would be offered by the priest twice daily, “One lamb you will offer in the morning and the other lamb you will offer at twilight” (Ex. 29:39). Here we have grain offerings and burnt offerings as the daily order of worship. Worship as the first and last order of the day is no doubt important in the life of the church. The most essential service to accompany the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament are the orders of Matins and Vespers. A theology of sacrifice is essential to both Matins and Vespers, prayed at daybreak and twilight (times of sacrifice and atonement). These orders support and point toward the Divine Service, framing the day around Christ crucified and raised for the justification of the ungodly.

The point of all this sacrificing is not for itself, but is necessary for meeting God Himself – “It will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there” (אִוָּעֵד לָכֶם שָׁמָּה, לְדַבֵּר אֵלֶיךָ שָׁם. 29:42). Entrance to the tent, and therefore access to God is bound up with sacrifice. The altar guards the entrance to the Tabernacle, and therefore blood and sacrifice (atonement) must take place between God and sinful man. This sacrificing, again, is continuous (תָּמִיד) - a word repeatedly emphasized in this pericope. Most importantly, this is the way in which the Lord wants to meet (לָכֶם) His people, in order that He might speak to them. And this speaking establishes relationship, blesses, and sanctifies. The Lord’s desire to meet with “you” is in the plural, which can hardly be overemphasized, particularly in our own rigidly individualized culture. The significance is that the Lord desires to meet, dwell, and speak with His congregation, His holy priesthood and nation – He desires to meet in an intimate way with his church, a corporate body of people (אִוָּעֵד לָכֶם שָׁמָּה, לְדַבֵּר אֵלֶיךָ שָׁם.).

The consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests is central to God’s institution of Divine worship. This consecration is probably best understood with Leviticus 1-7 in mind, in which God lays out His revelations related to the sacrifices, in which they become partakers of His grace. The installation of Aaron and his sons is very much bound up also in sacrifice (Ex. 29:1-9). Prior to this pericope on Divine Service, we find that Moses must bring to the door of the tent a bullock and two rams, unleavened bread, oil, and wafers. Moses washes them and robes Aaron, anointing him by pouring oil upon his head, and dressing his sons. Ordination occurs via the robes and through sacrifice, as the blood of the bullock is offered on behalf of Aaron and his sons. The blood is smeared on the altar and poured at the base of the altar. The second ram completes the installation (vv. 19-34), in a cultic meal. There is a clearly a call for holiness and a linking together of preists, clothing, and altar. The linkage is all about blood – all atonement! The Venerable Bede writes, “For who does not know what the sacrifice of those animals and the sprinkling of their blood designate the death of our Lord and the sprinkling of his blood, through which we are set free from sins and strengthened for good works?”[1]

The consecration is all about the glory of the presence of God. Israel was brought out of the land of Egypt precisely so that God might dwell (tabernacle) with them. The tabernacling presence of God is what makes Israel His people. The tabernacle ( וְשָׁכַנְתִּי,) must be seen in light of John 1:14, in which “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Therefore, the tabernacle, with its order of worship, and later the temple find their fulfillment in God Himself who becomes Immanual (God with us). Therefore, although it is common to speak of the tabernacle as prefiguring or a mere shadow of Christ, we ought not think He is withholding Himself here. For the sum and content of the Tabernacle is Christ, amidst the sacrifice, the blood, and the worship. Heaven meets earth and God meets His holy people here. St. Methodosius can therefore writes:

The Jews were commanded to adorn their tabernacle as a proleptic imitation of the church, that through the things of sense they might be able to prefigure the image of things divine. For the exemplar which was shown forth on the mountain and on which Moses gazed when he constructed the tabernacle was in a way an accurate picture of the dwelling in heaven, to which indeed we pay homage insofar as it far surpasses the types of clarity and is far fainter than the reality. The fact is that the unmingled truth has not yet come to humanity as it is in itself, for her we would be unable to contemplate its pure incorruptibility, just as we cannot endure the rays of the sun with unshielded eyes. The Jews announced what was a shadow of an image, at a third remove from reality, wheras we ourselves clearly behold the image of the heavenly dispensation…But the reality itself will be accurately revealed after the resurrection when we shall see the holy tabernacle, the heavenly city, “whose builder and maker is God,”[2] face to face, and not in “in a dark manner” and “only in part.”[3] [4]

The Lord also says, “Then I will dwell among the Israelites and will be their God” (29:45). Only through this worship of sacrifice, speaking, and hearing can God truly be God for His people. This is where and how He wants to meet and dwell with them and how He Himself desires to be known. When we rightly see that this pericope is about worship and the Divine Service of the congregation we see also that worship is primarily relational. The atonement stands as the portal and way for God to truly dwell with His people, free from corruption and the sin; the devastating cause of the broken relationship. The great gift of God is His presence and all that He brings – namely His very Son, and therefore the divine life of the Holy Trinity as well. This relational aspect informs how we think of ourselves and our God - that indeed we dwell with God and are brought into the community of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The presence of God brings with it blessing and mercy, love and kindness. It informs how I think of my life in relation to the world and in relation to others. The presence of God for the forgiveness of sins is the point of the Exodus. The sum and substance is the person of Christ and the institution of divine worship. God can only be God when he is “for me.” That is to say, the Gospel is not truly the Gospel until it is for me. In this institutional text (29:38-46) the Lord is truly “for me,” for Christ the lamb has been sacrificed.

[1] Oden, Thomas C., and Joseph T. Lienhard. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament III. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001. 132.

[2] Heb. 11:10

[3] 1 Cor. 13:12

[4] Oden., 126.

President Harrison on LCMS Finances

2011-05-07T15:28:00.004-04:00

The Son's Marvelous Inheritance (Mt. 21:33-46)

2011-05-07T15:20:00.000-04:00

The whole story sounds strangely familiar. The landowner planted a vineyard with fruit trees each according to their own kind. He planted a fence around it and dug a winepress. He handed it all over to men as pure gift. He blessed them and said such things as “Be fruitful and multiply” – “take and eat…You may surely eat of every tree.” He saw everything and said “It is very good.”

Of course much has changed since then. Just about everything has changed since then. Things are not all good anymore. Since our first parents fell so long ago, death has entered in. Rebellion, strife, and murder. Wicked tenants. Blindness and hate. Wars and rumors of wars. Things have certainly changed. And it is not “very good,” at least right now.

God however does not change. Unlike us, He has kept true to His promises. He is fruitful and very good. He is love and kindness, tenderness and mercy. To change what has been done - and to make right what has gone horribly wrong, God has done something truly marvelous: THE FATHER SENDS HIS SON THAT YOU MIGHT BECOME AN HEIR OF HIS INHERITANCE.

In our lesson today, Jesus tells us the story of our salvation. That is to say, He gives a short history of the world. Since the beginning, God has been sending servants into the vineyard – prophets and preachers into His church – to preach the Gospel. To preach repentance and faith, life and salvation, law and Gospel, to kill and to make alive. To bring the holy life-giving Word of God into an often dead and lifeless world.

“When the season for fruit drew near, he (the landowner) sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.” Able was killed by Cain. Isaiah the prophet, whose song we read this morning in our Old Testament text, clearly preached the coming of the Messiah. According to tradition Isaiah was sawed in half by Manasseh. Ezekiel and Micah were martyred. Amos was tortured and put to a violent death. Zechariah killed for His message. The disciples of Jesus were hunted down and put to death for the Word of the Gospel that they spoke. St. Peter was crucified upside down. St. Paul martyred as well. In fact, we have just closed out the 20^th century – a period in which more Christians have been persecuted, tortured and killed than all centuries combined!

It is only by God’s inscrutable mercy and undeserved kindness that He continues to deal with us - sending prophets and preachers into the harvest. In our parable Jesus says, “And he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.” That is to say, again, they were beaten, killed, and stoned, just like the others. They came to get the landowners fruit – to find faith, repentance, and holy living. Yet, they were put to death at the hands of sinful and wicked men. Rebellious men who neither wanted to hear or head God’s Word.

God Himself laments and grieves over His rebellious people, of whom he desperately loves. God desires to speak His peace – to speak forgiveness and love, mercy and kindness, His life-giving Word to wicked and murderous men – and all He receives in return is dead servants and martyred prophets.

The landowner then does something truly amazing and utterly incomprehensible. To wicked and sinful men – to murderers and sinners He sends His own Son – into hostile territory. In a desperate act, the Father sends His Son. “Finally he sent his son to them, saying ‘They will respect my son.” We must say, “yea right! They certainly won’t respect Him! They have killed the prophets, why would they respect the Son?” Why would the Father risk the life of His own Son? And not just for any men, but murderous men! As Isaiah writes, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is. 55:8-9).

God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. The Son entered the world through the womb of Mary – born of the virgin mother. The eternal Word took on human flesh and blood in this Jesus – as one of us.

It was more than a dangerous mission. Jesus was cast out of Jerusalem, taken outside the gate, and crucified – dying the death of a criminal.

Those murderous and bloodthirsty tenants yelled out to each other, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.” They cried out “Let us kill the Son…and the vineyard will be all ours…if we knock him off the inheritance is all ours!” Like the most parables, there is always something ironic or puzzling to chew on for some time. This is certainly one of those instances. For ironically, murderous tenants receive that which they violently called out for.

What they meant for evil, God meant for good. And ironically the Son’s rejection is our acceptance and our life. The Father sends His Son that you might become an heir of His inheritance.

Jesus’ executioners – as they pounded nails through His hands – Jesus cried out “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” In that moment, God was truly reconciling his wayfaring and blood-lusting tenants back to himself, creating a new people for Himself – creating a new Kingdom and a new Israel. The Father sends the Son to you that you may be an heir to His inheritance – namely all that belongs to the Son – His righteousness, His innocence, and His blessedness. The Son offers Himself to the Father as the sacrifice for sin – a sacrifice to make saints out of the worst sinners. Jesus gives Himself freely to us. Risen and fresh from the grave He stands before you saying, “Peace to you - take and eat - I have made all things new. Be fruitful. Believe in me.” It is all very good, particularly for you. He richly blesses you and forgives you – all sins. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is (was) the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. Jesus says the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. That is to say, unbelief in Christ and His work means the wicked tenants die in their sins and are lost forever. God however, desires the fruit of faith and repentance from you. And through Christ’s work on the cross, it is surely yours. The violent cry of “He is the heir - let us take his inheritance,” for you has become a pious and salutary prayer for. It is your prayer: “Jesus, give me what is yours! – make me and heir and a stake in your inheritance. Prepare a place for me in your kingdom.” Dear Christian, you are an heir of all that is Christ’s and receive His inheritance through the washing of rebirth in holy baptism and through the faith granted you.

God always delivers on His promises. The Father sends His Son that you might become an heir of His inheritance. For you, this is very good. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. In Jesus Name.

Baptism of Lucia Anne Larson

2011-04-29T22:57:00.006-04:00

Christology and Care of Souls

2011-04-29T22:54:00.000-04:00

Pastoral care is the care of the soul. Lutherans have a heritage of the “Seelsorge,” meaning that the office of pastor tends to the cure of the soul – whose balm and healing is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Gerald Krispin in his article, “A Study in Luther’s Pastoral Theology,” observes that Luther saw the locatedness of the Resurrection in the mouths of angels and therefore the office of the holy ministry. Krispin writes:

"Luther indeed found in the ordaining and sending of the angels the certainty that God wants to give us the resurrection of Christ, and implicitly found here the point of connetion to the men who are now “ordained” and “sent” through the office of the ministry to proclaim the resurrection. It is in this office that Luther himself therefore declares the resurrection as giving Christ’s benefits for us, both as present consolation as an eternal hope."[1]

The church therefore needs a preacher for the care of souls. The office of the ministry is essential in the care of souls, for men need to be sent to speak the Gospel and administer the Sacraments in the stead of Christ. The true seelsorge and caretaker of souls is Christ and Christ alone, who is present in His church – teaching, preaching, and feeding His church with His life-giving Word. Pastoral care begins and ends with Jesus and His work. Care of the soul follows the Creed, confessing God as Father through Christ and His work. The Spirit sanctifies and delivers the gifts of Christ and calls sinners to repentance and faith. The subject of theology is that God justifies the ungodly through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Christian care of the soul flees to the God preached and revealed in Christ.

Lutheran theology, and therefore spiritual care as well, begins not from above but from below – from the womb of Mary where the fullness of God dwelt bodily, and to the cross where Jesus, though innocent, died the death of a criminal for our justification. Lowel C. Green in his article, “Martin Luther on Coming to God from ‘Below’ in Its Implications for the Church Today,” locates this “coming to God from below” theology as primarily a discovery of the vital distinction of law and gospel which framed Luther’s theology as a whole. At the heart of the law/gospel discovery is the revolutionary insight that the sinner is not saved by the righteous of the law (active righteousness) but rather through the righteousness of the gospel (passive righteousness). Of this reformational breakthrough Luther shared with his friends: “Previously I had lacked nothing except that I made no distinction between law and gospel. I took both to be one, and I said that Christ did not differ from Moses except in time and in perfection. But when I found this distinction, that the law is one thing and the gospel another, then I experienced my breakthrough.”[2]

Green notes that Luther often referred to the law as man seeking God above as opposed to seek God below. The gaze that looks up to God focuses on His divine majesty (God in his nakedness) where he only encounter me as wrath and terror (law). Luther likens this to the unsearchable mysteries of God which encounters man as law. In Luther’s rendering of Exodus 33:23, “Thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen,” he notes that the law is the back part of God, revealing wrath, sin, and his hiddenness. The Gospel of course is God’s face, how he wants to be truly seen and revealed to man. Or as Luther brilliantly penned the fourth stanza of Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice “He turned to me a father’s heart; He did not choose the easy part but gave His dearest treasure.”[3] This is why we must go below, to the cradle where God became incarnate to reveal Himself as the suffering servant and long awaited Messiah to save the people from their sins. Faith belongs to the revealed God, to the Gospel in which God shows his will and his Fatherly heart in Jesus Christ – by incarnation, life, teaching, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. This is the precise meaning of “Immanuel” (God with us). Spiritual care begins here, with Immanuel as “God with us” – as man, and most importantly “for us.” Green quotes Luther, “He remains a Child for us unto eternity. He gives himself to us, not in fourfold severity, not in frightening majesty, but he gives himself to us as a tiny Child and he plays with us unto eternity in his childliness.”[4]

True care of the soul is oriented Christologically – to Jesus Christ and His promises. Spiritual care and consolation does not speculate on the God not-preached in his terrified hiddenness. Care of the soul does not begin with theodicy but rather with theophany – with God revealed. Therefore the focus of pastoral care of the soul moves away from God along with his majestic attributes – be they omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. The Lutheran Confessions and therefore the care of souls does not begin there. The Confessions proceed rather by expounding upon the economy of the trinity – namely the Father’s giving of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit. In these latter days God speaks through His Son, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” (Lk. 9:35). In addition to the Scriptures, the most profound and simplest Christology is seen in Luther’s opening to his explanation to the 2^nd article of the Creed: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord…” Article III of the Augsburg Confession and article VIII of the Formula may very well be summed up in this simple prayer. Most importantly Jesus Christ, true God, is my Lord. Christian care and counsel cannot begin if God is not “for me,” for the Gospel is not truly the Gospel until it is “for me.” The starting point for the care of the soul does begin through a theocentric apparatus, in lofty speculation, but rather proceeds Christologically – following the outline of the Creed.

Along with the incarnation, a true care of the soul must be brought into the death and resurrection of Christ. This is not to say that death and resurrection are a metaphor or illustration for the Christian life, but rather the true sum and content. Christian consolation and care takes on a cruciform shape because its content is only Christ crucified and raised for sinners. Therefore, baptismal life, accompanied by the preached law and Gospel, actually puts the sinner to death and raises him up to live before God. In the care of the soul, man is exposed as a sinner. And all sinners must die, whether they die to sin or die in their sin, for God is just and holy. Dying to sin, means dying with Jesus. The cross of Christ, if taken seriously, destroys all loopholes for the sinner to bypass the judgment of God. The death of Christ therefore means that the old man cannot find an escape. He must also be put to death through repentance and a returning to baptism. This putting to death is by no means a onetime punctiliar event but a daily death to sin. The new life through baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection therefore “indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

This Christology of the care of souls must be understood through the 3^rd article of the Creed, namely that on the Last Day, “He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.” No amount of inaugurated eschatology can reign in that final rest in the here and now. There must be prayer and vigilant anticipation of finally dying as a Christian in the full consolation of the Gospel. Christian care of the soul must keep the third of article of the Creed ever before the ears and eyes of the church. Sanctification through Jesus and the giving of His Spirit to build and keep the church must be retained as an essential article of faith. Awaiting the Last Day and the resurrection of the body by daily reception of the forgiveness of sins is central to pastoral care, not simply for those near death but for all Christians, both young and old. It is true that we live in a culture that either naturalizes or ignores death. Both pitfalls must be avoided, that God’s full counsel and Holy Gospel can shine forth with the brightest light and truth. Care of the soul ought to make use of the psalms and Lutheran hymnody to orient one toward the realities of death and resurrection which stand at the heart and center of the Christian life.

Krispin postulates the idea, also observed by others, that all of Luther’s theological work took shape with pastoral considerations in mind. That is to say, Luther was first and foremost a pastor who took care of his parish and those souls entrusted to his care. His funeral sermons bring to light his third article theology that speaks only of Christ’s death and resurrection and the faith which claims these promises and his or her own. Death upon the confession of faith is repeatedly the foundation of his consolation and care. We see this in Luther’s own death, where Jonas seeing death was near asked the dying Luther, “Do you want to die standing firm on Christ and the doctrine you have taught?” It is recounted that Luther bellowed a loud “Yes!” – and died. It is only by God’s gift of the Holy Spirit that we can also die as Christians. A proper care of the soul puts the “yes” in the mouth of the faithful only by placing Jesus before their eyes and ears and upon their heart.

[1] Krispin, Gerald S. "A Study in Luther’s Pastoral Theology.” LOGIA: A Journal of Lutheran Theology . (2001 (article originally published Eastertide 2001) ): 127-132.

[2] Green, Lowell C. "Martin Luther on Coming to God from "Below" in Its Implications for the Church Today." LOGIA: A Journal of Lutheran Theology . (2001 (article originally published Trinity 1995) ): 53-56.

[3] LSB 556, stanza 4.

[4] Green, p. 53.

2011-04-25T14:10:00.001-04:00

(Katherine and Kristina on Easter Sunday)

Joy in the Lord's Supper

2011-04-25T14:04:00.001-04:00

In Luther’s questions and answers for those who intend to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, he outlines three questions why we should remember and proclaim the Lord’s death: “First, so that we may learn to believe that no creature could make satisfaction for our sins. Only Christ, true God and man, could do that. Second, so we may learn to be horrified by our sins, and to regard them as very serious. Third, so we may find joy and comfort in Christ alone, and through faith in Him be saved.”[1] It is noteworthy that Luther includes joy as a reason to faithfully receive the Lord’s Supper. Prior to Luther’s reforms the Lord’s Supper had in many ways become a source of superstition and terror rather than a true comfort and joyful gift. Luther recalls this sense of terror in his first mass, where he trembled with fear with the awful and abominable task of offering up the sacrifice. Though the Supper has been misunderstand since Jesus’ own ministry, we pray that all Christians would be led to a true knowledge of this Sacrament, holding fast to this gift as a source of comfort and great joy.

In the liturgy we ask that God give us joy. This joy is not simply a feeling or sentiment, but more so a way of life which has the cross and the resurrection at its center. The familiar words of Psalm 122, point to the joy of worship and holy communion, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘let us go to the house of the Lord.” Many of the feasts and festivals instituted by God in the Old Testament were times of celebration and teaching, particularly the Passover. The Psalms are full of such shouts of joy, recounting the Lord’s deliverance and saving presence among His people. In Peter’s Pentecost sermon set among the activities of baptizing and the Lord’s Supper, he preached the words of Psalm 16, “You have made known to me the ways of life, You will make me full of joy in Your presence.” Of the various Biblical themes that converge in the Lord’s Supper, “joy of the sacrament” might not be at the top of the list. After all, is not joy merely an emotion or byproduct of faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Therefore, wouldn’t it make more sense just to speak about the Lord’s Supper and its benefits? Maybe, but upon further reflection, I believe that joy is more than a positive emotive affect of the Sacrament and in fact a central biblical theme. That is to say, joy is more than an incidental aspect to worship and the reception of the Supper, but a central biblical theme that runs throughout scripture. Therefore it is good to speak of joy in the Sacrament!

It is good and right that we place emphasis on the objective character of the Lord’s Supper and its benefits in the context of worship. Spiritual care always points to the Words of Christ and His body and blood in the Sacrament. Lutheran theology is correct to orient the Christian outside of the inner recesses of the human heart to the certain and performative words of Jesus. We do not look to our emotions as an indicator of how God regards us, or whip up our emotions toward some mountaintop experience. What matters is the experience of Scripture and receiving the Gospel, not enthusiastically, but through the sensorium of hearing and upon the tongue in the blessed Sacrament.

There is some wisdom in speaking tepidly about joy in regards to the Lord’s Supper, insofar and where that joy is rooted and how it proceeds. It is not rooted in the Vatican II notion of “ecumenical hospitality,” nor is it some love fest where we all just get along to get along. Rather there is joy in receiving those gifts which God loves to give – namely His Son and all that belongs to him – life and salvation. Jesus and His life-giving sacrament comes to us poor sinners. Essential for a proper understanding the Lord’s Supper, and the Divine Service as a whole, is confessing the presence of the crucified and risen Christ in the flesh to serve His Church. For the presence of Jesus, in the flesh, fresh from the grave is linked with this joy. He is God with us and for us and in us. Therefore, there is no greater joy than receiving the Gospel and the Lord’s Supper. In many ways we cannot speak enough about the experience of joy in the heavenly Supper, and thanking God for this comfort and gift. For in a world that is increasingly being experienced as joyless there is all the more reason to speak of joy in the sacrament and forgiveness of sins.

Joy is granted throughout the Divine Service, in worship and praise, receiving God’s gifts and responding with thanksgiving. The service that frames Word and Sacrament worship is festal in nature. In many ways the entire Communion liturgy keynotes joy. It is important to see that the Divine Service revolves around preaching of the Word and the Lord’s Supper. Because we come before God with eleisons, we realize that His self-giving service and sacrifice to us is wholly undeserved and comes as pure grace. The Gloria erupts with doxological praise and thanksgiving. Angels and the heavenly host appear before the shepherds praising God, announcing the birth of the long awaited Messiah. God takes on human flesh, born of the virgin, to suffer and die for the sins of the world. The long awaited Messiah is now here. God is with us (Immanuel) in the flesh to be received in the most special and intimate of ways – through His preached Word and His holy body and blood. This hymn of praise cannot be sung as a stoic but proceeds as a Trinitarian hymn of praise that fixes our eyes on the Father’s sending of the Son to be a sacrifice for sin. This is good news and the only comfort for sinners. The Sanctus reminds us of Psalm Sunday, hearing the loud shouts “Blessed is He the cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” We also see Isaiah’s vision where we are taught that heaven, which had been closed to us because of sin, is now flung open for the sinner through the intercession of Christ’s cross. The sinner no longer stands in judgment, but like Isaiah is absolved through Christ’s Word. The angels sing because sinners receive gifts from God. The congregation sings because Christ and His forgiveness is what they love. In many ways, heaven and earth meet as the communion of saints in heaven and on earth meet in the body of Christ.

The greatest joy and surest comfort for the Christian are in the Words of Institution themselves. Nowhere in scripture is there a more succinct and clearer Gospel than the words, “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” The sacrament is the Gospel and the Gospel is the forgiveness of sins, nothing more and nothing less. For where there is forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation and heaven itself. Receiving the Supper is only a joyful event through self-humiliation and the gift of faith. Only faith can receive this Gospel – Christ’s true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.

Members are brought through holy baptism into the church, joining the body of Christ in a truly supernatural way. We are kept in this unity also through a participation in the sacrament of the altar as one body. Though congregations commune at their own local altars, they are joined to the true una sancta ecclesia, and there is great comfort and joy in this. As isolation and loneliness increase in this mad world, a confession and participation of the one holy Christian and apostolic church, as an article of faith is also a statement of great joy and a cause for celebration. Here all Christians are joined together with Jesus and therefore also joined with one another through a participation in His body and blood. Saint Paul writes, “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Cor. 10:16-17). Therefore, this communion (koinonia) is both a participation in the true physical body and blood of Christ in the sacrament as well as membership in Christ’s mystical body – as one holy church. Only by a confession of the physical eating and drinking of Christ’s body and blood can one understand and enjoy the company of the one holy catholic church. The epistles of the New Testament emphasize the joy and peace of this holy fellowship: “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; Rom. 16:16; 1 Peter 5:14). These joyful greetings are cues for the celebration of the Supper and fellowship in Christ.

Understanding the true presence of Jesus in the Supper and the greater mystery of the una sancta ecclesia does not take us out of the sufferings of this world, but brings us into greater participation with them. The joy of Holy Communion is not like the joy of the world, which to a greater extent views joy as mere pleasure or absence of pain or discomfort. Because joy is located precisely in Christ’s suffering, atonement, death, and resurrection, the Lord’s Supper helps us to realize the shape of the new life in Him – which is ultimately cruciform in orientation. If one member of the congregation suffers, all members suffer with him and attend to his needs. The Lord’s Supper when faithfully received by a congregation dashes the myth of autonomy and brings Christians into one body together. There is joy in the unity that Christ brings through His Supper and great joy in suffering together under the cross

[1] LSB, p. 330.

2011-04-25T13:58:00.002-04:00

Luther on Easter

2011-04-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

(Albrecht Durer Resurrection of Christ, 1510)

"Thus we see another picture at Easter, that no sin, no curse, no disgrace, no death, but only life, grace, blessedness, and righteousness are in Christ. With such a picture we should lift up our hearts. For it is put before us and presented in such a way, that we should receive nothing else than this, that God has himself awakened us today along with Christ. For as little as you see sin, death, and the curse in Christ, so you should also believe that God, for Christ's sake, will see these in you, when you receive his resurrection for yourself and receive its consolation. Such grace faith brings to us. When that day will come, however, one will no longer believe, but will see, touch, and feel."

(Luther's House postils Easter sermon, quoted in A Study of Luther's Pastoral Theology" A Reader in Pastoral Theology)

A Lutheran Pastoral Theology

2011-04-08T09:40:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite paintings is Lucas Cranach the Elder’s altar painting at the Marienkirche in Wittenberg (which happens to be the main at top, on this blog). Pastor Luther is preaching from the pulpit to an attentive congregation of women, bearded men, and infant children. Between the pulpit and the congregation is Jesus Christ hanging from the cross, with a crown of thorns, hands and feet struck through with nails, with flowing blood from his pierced side. The preacher has his left hand on the Holy Scriptures, while his right hand points toward the crucified Jesus placed before the attentive congregation. Luther is pointing toward Jesus, preaching of His works, and laying the Gospel richly upon the congregation. He is not pointing toward himself and one wonders whether anyone in the congregation is able to see anything but Christ and Him alone. Every ear and every heart is fixed on Jesus, especially the preacher.

I am reminded of John the Baptist, preacher of repentance and Christ, who points to Jesus saying, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He later testifies that his joy is complete, acknowledging that the bride belongs to the bridegroom. It is all about Jesus. He must become greater and I must become less. So it is with the pastor, that he directs all attention to Jesus who takes away the sin of the world. Spiritual care begins and ends in the person of Jesus Christ.

We are all sinners in this dying world. The world has gone to hell in a hand basket since Adam and Eve cut themselves off from God’s life giving Word. People come to church not as professional do-gooders but as professional sinners; real sinners who need a real Savior. They are broken down, sick, and addicted to sin. Preaching, catechesis, liturgy, and pastoral care are the ordinary means of bringing people into communion with God in Jesus Christ that grants life over death – and the final victory over sin, death, and the devil. Jesus is the great physician of body and soul to heal us fully and release us from the bonds of sin and death.

I firmly believe a pastoral care must proceed from a hearty confession of holy baptism. Baptism must be the very foundation for a pastoral theology; for within it contains all that we truly need for this life – forgiveness of sins and deliverance from death and the devil. Here the Christian is daily put to death and raised to new life before God. The first time I was asked whether I was baptized was by a Lutheran pastor when I was 19 years old. I was shocked that he would ask, for I came from a liberal reformed background in which baptism was seldom mentioned. When I said I was, he smiled, and proceeded to tell me what I had received as a child. When I saw that it was true from Scripture, I saw that the heavens were opened to me, a poor sinner. For the first time I was instructed in the sacrament and found that it was not merely something in the rear view mirror but a heavenly flood of regeneration that was good for today and tomorrow, fully completed in death. God had indeed granted me a promise in the externum verbum of Gospel, something I could truly rely on outside of myself, and the chaos of my own sinful heart.

For the first time in my life a pastor pointed me toward what God had done for me in the blessed sacrament of baptism. He pointed me to Jesus, who died for me, baptized me, and justified me through his innocent suffering, death, and resurrection. All the religious authorities I had consulted prior to this Lutheran pastor had pointed me toward moral purity, metaphysical speculations, or mystic contemplations. In my own seeking of God apart from Christ, with Luther, all I found was an unknowable God, wrathful, hidden, and indistinguishable from Satan. All of these pursuits came up short to address the fundamental problem of sin and suffering. Baptism and the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified for us poor sinners changed everything. It was no longer I who was required to perform the verbs, but God himself was the doer and the justifier. The content of a pastoral theology must introduce the hearer to Jesus and deliver His promise over to real sinners. Therefore the true content of pastoral theology is the sinful human and the God who justifies.

Given the centrality of baptism, I am constantly returning to Luther’s pastoral letters in which he very consistently and creatively thrusts baptism to the fore – right before the eyes and ears of those sin sick souls that he addresses.[1] To a man troubled with election Luther urges him to say:

‘I have been baptized! I believe in Jesus Christ. I have received the Sacrament. What do I care if I have been predestined or not?’ In Christ, God has furnished us with a foundation on which to stand and from which we can go up to heaven. He is the only way and the only gate that leads to the Father. If we despise this foundation and in the devil’s name start building at the roof, we shall surely fall. If only we are able to believe that the promises have been spoken by God and see behind them the one who has spoken them, we shall magnify the Word. But because we hear it as it comes to us through the lips of a man, we are apt to pay as little attention to it as to the mooing of a cow.[2]

Baptism must be the foundation of pastoral care. Luther writes in his large catechism, “In baptism, therefore, every Christian has enough to study and practice all his or her life. Christians always have enough to do to firmly believe what baptism promises and bring – victory over death and the devil, the forgiveness of sin, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with his gifts.”[3]

Preaching, which proceeds from the foundational theology of baptism, is not a presentation of one’s intellectual gifts or personal magnetism. It is the proclamation of the Gospel – of baptism - that men are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith and by way of pure gift. Cranach’s altar painting of Luther preaching illustrates this better than anything else. Luther is not illustrating or simply describing the life of Jesus. He is rather preaching Jesus, actually handing him over to the hearer – his righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. For preaching is not merely descriptive but truly gives the gifts of which it speaks. In the words of Forde preaching is the “act of election.” It is the raising of the dead. Preaching does expose the man as sinner and puts that man to death. Preaching is the living voice of the Gospel (viva vox evangelii) that raises the dead to life and faith in the Gospel. Forde describes his own discovery about the sacramental nature of preaching, a discovery that must be made by all evangelical preachers:

And so there was only one course of action left: I could only give them the treasure! Do it to them! I could only surprise them absolutely by daring to say to the hearers, ‘You lucky stiffs, you have stumbled unto it here and now because I am here to say that Jesus died and went into the blackness of death and still overcame for you. I am here to say your sins are forgiven! There it is! The hidden treasure! The kingdom of heaven. The preachers has to have the audacity to believe that the very moment of the preaching is itself the sacrament, the audacity to claim that from all eternity God has been preparing for just this very moment and thus to say, ‘Here it is, it is for you![4]

Iwand in a similar way writes, “In the gospel it says: today, here, and now! Today is the day of your salvation…The gospel says: he, whom you need, is present and is standing in your midst. ‘It is God who justifies…”[5] Therefore the Gospel does not come as a new morality but brings a proclamation that the promise and fulfillment is in the here and the now. Pastoral theology must hold that God does what He says and that He is not a liar. It is God’s will that sinners believe in Jesus. And it is God’s will that pastors preach the law in its sternness and the Gospel in its sweetness. God desires that sinners receive the consolation of the Gospel that Christ brings. God is committed to his creatures and He loves them, as is clearly seen through the life and death of His own son. God speaks directly to us and addresses us through preaching and the consolation of the Gospel. He is deeply entrenched in our lives.

In the presence of Christ, humans beings are allowed to be sinners, for only in this way can they be helped. Pastoral care ought to encourage a community that is at home confessing sins and receiving absolution. There is nothing more alienating than to enter a church whose orientation is only toward the law and self-righteousness, where people are not centered around the sacraments and the forgiveness of sins. Bonhoeffer writes of this sort of delusional community:

For the pious community permits no one to be a sinner. Hence all have to conceal their sins from themselves and from the community. We are not allowed to be sinners. Many Christians would be unimaginably horrified if a real sinner were suddenly to turn up among the pious. So we remain alone with our sin, trapped in lies and hypocrisy, for we are in fact real sinners.[6]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes “The goal of all spiritual care is the confession that we are sinners. This confession actualizes itself preeminently in the confessional. So the confessional is the essential focus for all spiritual care. The invitation to confession is the invitation to become a Christian.”[7] Exposing sin must be done in a gentle but honest way, for sin that remains in the dark and hidden within the human soul festers and stinks and takes violent possession of a man. Satan wants to keep sins un-confessed and convince a man that the law and condemnation is the only word that applies to him, and that mercy does not extend to him. Iwand writes, “Satan wants us to doubt and to despair of God’s mercy and forgiveness. He seeks to delude us so that we no longer dare to believe in forgiveness and to think that the law only exists for us and that grace is not intended.”[8]

Bonhoeffer later writes “Sin creates detritus in the soul. The serpent must stick its head out of its hole in order for it to be clubbed.”[9] Although Bonhoeffer no doubt has formal confession and absolution in mind here, I have come to appreciate the more ordinary ways in which sin is confessed and brought to light (not simply in the context of a more formal liturgy of confession and absolution). Many informal conversations that take place between pastor and Christian often proceed from an eagerness to confess sins (whether knowingly or unknowingly)! A pastor must have a keen ear and heart to listen to the tension of the human heart in its distress, and in time gently guide him toward a truthful confession, in turn speaking absolution.

Confession of sins means the death of the sinner. It is rarely (if ever) a particularly pleasant experience (though God does often grant us comfort by His Word). It is not a therapeutic exercise, though relief may indeed be a fruit of the absolution. It is the putting to death of the old Adam, exposing his secret sins – his pride, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, and exposing his idols – his incessant refusal to let God be God. Though confession is a spiritual and even physiological need (Ps. 32:3), the catechumen needs some instruction in the art of self-examination and confession. The 10 Commandments and table of duties (vocation) in the Small Catechism provide the essential diagnostic resources to make a confession of sins. Most importantly they help guide the penitent to “confess those sins alone which we know and feel in our hearts.” The art of self-examination and confession is learned through a lifetime of oratio, meditation, and tentatio – hearing, wrestling, and receiving God’s Word within the disorientation of Christian suffering and congregational life.

Although confession and absolution is located at the very center of pastoral care between pastor and penitent, I believe it must also be the normative activity of every Christian and household to exercise this gift among its own particular community. St. John Chrysostom often called the household a “little church,” in that it exercises the holy gifts of forgiveness, love, and discipline. Pastors, by catechesis and encouragement for daily prayer, should hand over the gift of absolution to the family. Members of the household should receive instruction of learning how to confess to one another when they sin and to proclaim forgiveness. The prayer office of compline can help center the Christian household around a vocabulary of confession, forgiveness – the peace may rule in the home.

Forde writes, “The way of absolution, that is, for both God and the sinner, goes through death. It is costly and dangerous, costly to God and dangerous to the sinner. I expect the reason why modern theology has been so skittish about the way of absolution is just this cost and this danger.”[10] That is to say, proclaiming absolution necessarily means that death is all around. The sinner needs to be put to death and the new man, in Christ, needs to be called forth. No theologian of glory has the stomach to come to terms with this. And no theologian of glory is looking for God who dies in the place of sinners – it is indeed costly and dangerous. The cross always puts things in perspective. Sinners do not need a reworking or a ten step program. The life of the Christian is a life of the cross, lived in death and resurrection. Iwand notes the following from the blessed reformer, “Luther coined a famous formula that is essential for the newly given righteousness of man: peccator in re, iustus in spe! (sinner in reality, righteous in hope). This formula means that we are sinners in the reality of our existence, but righteous in the hope that we have in God.”[11] This insight means that pastoral care also points toward the resurrection of the dead, which we daily confess in the creed. In this way “pastoral success” and “church growth” means in its finality burying a Christian into his grave.

The great consolation and joy of the Christian is that we are able to hear the final judgment ahead of time: righteous, innocent, and blessed – His very own. Iwand writes, “What happens in this event, in the death and intervention of Jesus for our sins, is not something that occurs contemporaneously, but it is an end-time event. The righteousness that Christ brings is dedicated to us finally and conclusively at the time of the last judgment.”[12] A pastoral theology and care should not be afraid to proclaim this message through preaching, administration of the sacraments, catechesis, and individual consolation.

[1] It is apparent for me that Luther’s finest theology can be mined from his letters of pastoral care.

[2] Tapper, Theodore, Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel (Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 1995), 122.

[3] Large Catechism 4:41-42; Kolb Wengert, 461.

[4] Forde, Gerhard. The Preached God: Proclamation in Word and Sacrament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2007. 157. Print.

[5] Iwand, Hans J. The Righteousness of Faith according to Luther. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2008. 41-42. Print.

[6] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Geffrey B., Daniel W., and James H. Life Together Prayerbook of the Bible. Fortress Press, 2004. 93. Print.

[7] Jay C. Rochelle, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Spiritual Care (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 60.

[8] I wand, p. 49.

[9] Ibid., 63.

[10] Forde, Gerhard. The Preached God: Proclamation in Word and Sacrament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2007. 157. Print.

[11] Iwand, p. 73.

[12]Ibid., p. 78.

Mama and Lucia

2011-04-06T13:12:00.001-04:00

Picture of mom and Lucia napping - so content

A Look at Buddhism from a Christian World View

2011-04-06T12:17:00.005-04:00

Last year a popular book came out titled, Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian, received with much fanfare.[1] The book is written by Paul Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, of World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary. The suggestion is that Buddhism and Christianity are in harmony with each other and are equal expressions of the same fundamental truths. In the introduction to the text, Knitter also proclaims that “without Jesus I could not be a true Buddhist.” Coming out of the liberation theology tradition, which is common among the broader theological schools in the west, his principle interest is social justice and radical pacifism, which he links to both Christian and Buddhist traditions. In academia and the university system it is common and highly commendable to think of all religions as equally true and valid. The popular illustration is to think of all religions as different ladders that eventually lift each person to the same goal – the “divine.”[2] Although Knitter’s book has taken off with great popularity, one must question whether to what extent harmony exists between the Buddhist and Christian worldview.

Eastern religions, and especially Buddhism, came into great popularity in the U.S. with the rise of hippy culture and a general acceptance of pantheistic monism (though historically Buddhism is essentially a non-deistic religion). Buddhism does not necessarily reject the idea of god(s) but is simply not concerned in deistic speculations. Therefore in regards to epistemological and soteriological conversations there exists a great chasm between the east and the west. Knitter’s text does not begin to deal with those gaping discrepancies but glosses over them and appeals only to the similarity of Buddha and Jesus in their concern for social justice. Therefore doctrinal formulations are not even important to the conversation. James Sire, in The Universe Next Door, notes the challenges of Christian missionary efforts in the East:

It is, I think, no wonder Western missionaries have made so little headway with committed Hindus and Buddhists. They don’t speak the same language, for they hold almost nothing in common. It is painfully difficult to grasp the Eastern world view even when one has some idea that is demands a mode of thought different from the West. It seems to many who would like Easterners to become Christians (and thus to become theists) that Easterners have an even more difficult time understanding that Christianity is somehow unique, that the space-time resurrection of Jesus the Christ is at the heart of the good news of God.[3]

While I agree with Sire’s observation of the far-reaching chasm and divergence in worldviews, there are points of convergence that must be looked at, particularly the emphasis on suffering and the problem of lusts and desires that feeds into their understanding of what is wrong with the cosmos. First we must take a basic look at the historical development of Buddhism.

Siddhartha Guatama, according to the Tipitaka scriptures was born in modern day Nepal in the year 563 BC. He was born into a wealthy aristocratic family, in whose palace he was forbidden to venture out of. At the age of 29 he began a series of encounters outside the palace walls, which in Buddhist literature is known as the four sights, in which he learned of the suffering of ordinary people, encountering an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and finally an ascetic holy man. The only man that was at peace with the world was the holy man, and it was this fourth and final site that encouraged him to the leave the confines of the family palace and embark on a spiritual quest. Guatama studies with all the famous religious teachers of the day, mastering all the meditations and teachings they had to offer. Yet, he was not able to overcome the permanence of suffering, and therefore continued his quest. He next attemped an extreme form of asceticism with the Shramanas, closely related with the Vedic tradition. Here he practiced extreme forms of self-mortification, including fasting, breath holding, and exposure to pain, and flagellation. Legend holds that Guatama nearly starved himself to death.[4] In his final commitment to achieving true enlightenment he sat under a fig tree (Bodhi tree), vowing not to rise before finding true liberation (Nirvana). After many days he achieved it and was free from the desires of his mind, and the cycle of suffering and rebirth.

Although the histories and contours are far different, one with a little imagination might see some strong parallels with the spiritual question of Martin Luther. Though Buddhism is non-deist in orientation, there remain some similarities that are hard to ignore. Both men sought out a very deliberate path of spiritual enlightenment. Guatama sought an end to suffering and complete liberation, while Luther sought a journey in which he wanted to find the favor and mercy of God. They both set out on their way through very rigid forms of self-mortification, that ultimately did not lead them to the enlightenment that they were looking for. Guatama brought about a reformation of sorts out of the Hindu religion, as a way to escape the anxiety and suffering of the caste system and the endless cycle of birth and death. For Luther it was to overthrow the Roman system, which had submerged the chief article through a system of works righteousness and the plank of penance. With Buddha we see a sort of anthropology worked out that sees man and his desires as a negation of the ultimate reality. Therefore, the diffusion of man and the suppression of the ego, ultimately lead to “true being,” which is non being.

Buddhism was founded upon the ancient Indian religion and might be seen as a sort of reformation of the ancient Hindu religion. The development can be traced to the broader tradition of the Vedas, Brahmanas and Upanishads. The Buddha himself and his teaching was not incredibly unique to his time, and therefore the religion should be seen as something entirely separate from the relio-philosophical marketplace of the time. Indeed, it was a product and collection of those ideas. Although Buddhism later came into greater conflict with Hindu orthodoxy, its adherent grew by incredible numbers in the north of India and eventually the greater part of Asia. Like Hinduism, the Buddhist worldview retains the foundational doctrine of karma. Karma is a universal moral determinism that spring from actions of body, speech, and mind. These actions bring about consequences that reverberate throughout the universe in the samsara cycle. For the western mind this is a challenging idea to fully comprehend, for there is no divine salvation or forgiveness for one’s negative karma. Karma is an impersonal force that is not dealt with individually or relationally with the divine. The great expanse of the universe is “unforgiving” and the laws of nature – of negative karma cannot be rewritten. Therefore on the karma balance sheet, there is no hope for cancelling a debt. The Buddhist is not dealing with a personal God, as relates to one’s negative or positive actions of body, spirit, and mind. It is a universal moral determinism that cannot be alleviated but through Enlightenment, and the extinguishing of the self. In certain forms of Buddhism, such as Vajrayana, the recitation of mantras is a means of cutting off or alleviating previous negative karma. Nevertheless, if true Enlightenment is not attained, these mantras do not ultimately release one from samsara cycle.

From a Christian worldview, it is striking to observe the awareness among Buddhists of a certain corruption in the universe. To be sure, they have no articulated doctrine of sin and depravity of man, but there is a sense of knowledge that bad action is a cause for disorder and suffering. Furthermore, they see suffering as a corruption or alien intrusion into the ultimate reality. I believe Christians have a significant inroad here to open up dialogue with the eastern religious worldview. Buddhists believe that suffering is predicated upon the lusts and desires of worldly and fleshly desires. Christians can certainly resonate with this and even agree, although we would see this through a confession of original sin and wanting to be our own Gods. Nevertheless, they are inroads to be sure.

Furthermore, that the Buddhist world view proceeds from an acute awareness of suffering is also helpful to prepare one for an appropriation of the Gospel. The Four Noble truths, which are foundational for the entire religious system, are dedicated solely to an explication of the reality of suffering and how to overcome it. In turn, the Eightfold Path lays out ethical and behavioral precepts that lead to the cessation of suffering (dukkha). The final victory, if it is to be achieved is found through Nirvana, which is a complete emptying or extinguishing. It is noteworthy to understand that the goal is a realization of a complete lack of inherent existence – a loss of the self completely. In a sense, a death of the individual, that is ironically a coming to life in the ultimate reality. From the Christian world view, the critical goal of the Buddhist seems to involve a denial of the self and of the very nature of creation itself. The motif of illusion in the eastern worldview is essential, so that everything seen exists only in the strata of relative knowledge, that is not to be trusted but viewed with a detached suspicion. The duality of the universe and the individual, as if they were separate realities, is an illusion that needs to be overcome through Buddhist meditation. In regards to a Christian apologetic here, reaching across this religio-philosophical chasm is a giant jump to make. The inherent value of the individual – every sinner – in the Christian worldview can hardly be emphasized enough. That God Himself, desired to become man – to suffer and die for the very worst sinner shapes and defines the value and importance of each human life. The incarnation and life of Jesus affirms the duality and distinction between creation and every man and woman.

In a Buddhist/Christian dialogue it seems necessary to lay out the narrative of the Biblical revelation of cosmology. Buddhism, which is predicated upon ancient Indian cosmologies, regards the human race as playthings of the gods, used for amusement. Though Buddhism is anti-deistic in orientation, it is clear that Buddhism has inherited the somewhat arbitrary value of the individual from Hindu tradition (I am not suggesting Buddhists are not compassionate and kind to one another). Therefore, the confession that man is made in God’s image is an idea so foreign to the eastern view that it makes soteriological conversations immediately divergent, given that man is robed with God likeness – realized fully in the advent of Jesus Himself. Therefore, I believe, in conversations with Buddhist the biblical revelation of creation must be systematically laid out. That man is formed in the likeness of His own creator and brought into communion is fundamental to laying out an anthropology, dealing with man’s existence and purpose in life.

A word must be said about the fundamental difference between Hinayana and Mahayana within the broader Buddhist tradition. When the Buddha obtained Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree there were two courses set before him. The first is to keep his knowledge for himself and to pass into the pure bliss of Nirvana. The other course is to remain in the world and to pass on the necessary wisdom for others to seek and attain nirvana for themselves. The idea with Mahayana is that attaining this valuable wisdom is for the sake of passing it on to others, and to work toward universal enlightenment. This is not to say that Hinayana is less compassionate, for there is no greater good that passing into a state of Nirvana. Each school of thought claims that its expression is truest to the Buddha. Hinayana claims that it’s interpretation of passing to Nirvana is closest to the teaching, while Mahayana insist that they have reached the real spirit of Buddha’s teachings, which they relate to helping others reach Nirvana through compassion and teaching. The predominance of Mahayana Buddhism eclipsed Hinayana about 500 A.D.

Foundational to Mahayana Buddhism is the idea of Dharma, which may refer to the teaching of Buddha himself, or simply the actual world as it is. Dharma is also spoken of as “universal law” or the “ultimate reality.” It can be used as simply a word for truth itself or an expression of the way the universe truly is. There may indeed be some parallel here with the western understanding of “natural law,” articulated most clearly by Thomas Aquinas, asserting that there is a certain discernable moral order to the universe based upon personal conscience and a distinction between right and wrong, that is experiential. Nevertheless, the understanding of Dharma deviates strongly from the western view of natural law, given that its interpretation is grasped only by self-elimination through a transcendental wisdom.

In Buddhist thought, a rendering of how they conceptualize a soteriology is so radically different than a Christian conception, that the word may in fact be better off avoided. Given the fact that the goal of Buddhism, in a sense, is self-extinction and nothingness, which to the western mind is completely contradictory to its own idea of being saved. Nevertheless I will stick with the word, for it is accurate if we correctly understand that the Buddhist idea of liberation lies precisely in a sort of self-annihilation and diffusion into nothingness.

In order to properly understand the Buddhist soteriological world view three fundamental principles are essential: 1. All is transitory, 2. All is suffering, 3. All is egoless, and based upon these the Four Noble Truths: 1. All existence is suffering, 2. Suffering is caused by desire, 3. The extinction of desire leads to extinction of suffering, and 4. The way to extinction of suffering is the Eightfold Noble Path, the steps of which are Right View, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right Behavior, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.[5] In the Buddhist worldview it is impossible to overestimate the significance of suffering as well as the broader eastern religions. For the Buddhist, suffering results from rebirth, which is due to Karma. In this series of rebirths the faculties cling to that which is illusive and temporary – which for the Buddhist has not real value and does not pertain to ultimate reality. In this endless cycle where one wills to live, one gets further caught up in karma and the endless cycle of birth and death. The goal then is a liberation from the atman to the non-atman or non-ego. This doctrine of the non-ego is incredibly difficult to understand and there are multiplicities of different interpretations of it. In short, the ego and individuality for the Buddhist is an illusionary idea that is precisely the problem that must be transcended. If there is an authentic ego or individuality it is only found in the realization of Dharmakaya found in the perfection of insight, in the all-encompassing one – of seeing ego, creation, and universe as one great indissoluble reality. This Dharmakaya is considered to be the most sublime and truest reality in the universe. This state however, according to the Buddha’s own teaching is “inconceivable.” Therefore, little can be said about it, other than the use of images such as rivers and the clouds to describe the complete dissolution of the ego.

A few words must be said about a Buddhist epistemology. According to Mahayana thinkers there are three different forms of knowledge and truth, Illusive (parikalpita), Relative (paratantra), and Perfect or Absolute (parinishpanna).[6] It is the object and goal of Buddhist meditation and instruction to lead to Absolute Knowledge (prajna). The first form of knowledge, which is an illusionary knowledge, is foundational for the Buddhist worldview. In this world view is it is very much a part of life that all is not what it appears to be. Many desires and experiences and even objects are likened to a mirage that has no reality in and of itself. A common analogy among Mahayana Buddhist is a rope and a snake.[7] The teaching proceeds that the ropes and the snake look essentially the same. Without a greater investigation that which appears to be true is not, often with a consequence that is fatal. The second form of knowledge deals with Relative Truth.[8] Relative knowledge [9] concerns the phenomenal world, which is universally experienced and real for practical purposes. Relative knowledge concerns the unenlightened and Buddhist put all world religions into this category, and reserve true knowledge as that which can only be attained through Buddhist meditation and teaching. Even for the adherent to Buddhism the great deal of normal daily existence is lived out in the realm of relative truth, for it serves ordinary life. The highest knowledge is “Void” (sunya), being named because nothing connected with relativity can be constituted in this knowledge. It is difficult to say much about it because no relative terms or words can be descriptive of it. It has no idea or logical representation. Void constitutes Enlightenment, also known as Nirvana.

Nirvana literally means “extinction,” and means a liberation from the disturbance of samsara that cycles through continuation of birth and death. When evil passions and desires from egoism are uprooted through Enlightenment, one can finally be “extinguished” and reach the “disappearance of form” merging with Oneness. The Buddhist however does not see this as a negation of being but rather its very establishment. In the Mahayana Nirvana Sutra we read: “When there is no more oil, the light goes out, but it means only the going out of the evil passions; as to the oil-container itself, it remains there. Likewise the Tathagata has all his evil passions extinguished but his Dharmakaya remains forever.”[10]

These are all the sorts of conversation necessary to begin a fruitful dialogue with the Buddhist. While the vast differences are certain to present challenges, the biblical revelation of creation, sin, and redemption are essential for striking up a bold witness to the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Buddhist worldview needs to be taken seriously and engaged with respect and dignity. Conversations will naturally have to proceed from an awareness that Jesus found it desirable to suffer for the Buddhist, the Hindu, those of the occult, and every philosophical persuasion. If this is maintained relationally, the confidence in dialogue must be apprehended through a belief that God’s Word is an efficacious Word that does and enacts what it claims.

[1] Knitter, Paul. Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian. Oneworld Pubns Ltd, 2009. Print.

[2] In my undergrad experience at the University of Milwaukee this was the generally accepted thesis about world religions.

[3] W., James. The universe next door: a basic world view catalog. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1988. 153-154. Print.

[4] Lopez, Donald S. Buddhist Scriptures. 2nd ed. New York: Penguin Putnum, 2004. 33. Print.

[5] Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path are outlined in Lopez, Donald S. Buddhist Scriptures. 2nd ed. New York: Penguin Putnum, 2004. 101. Print.

[6] These forms of truth are explicated in great depth here Von Glasenapp, Helmuth. Buddhism-A Non-Theistic Religion. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1972. 77. Print.

[7] Dasgupta, Surendranath. A History of Indian Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955. 197. Print.

[8] I have chosen to capitalize terms that are capitalized in Buddhist texts.

[9] Knowledge and truth are used interchangeably in Buddhist texts.

[10] Lopez, p. 182.

A visit from the Standfest Clan

2011-02-21T13:21:00.002-05:00

Go big when it comes to prayer: Luther's Large Catechism

2011-02-21T13:18:00.001-05:00

Luther's instruction on the 2nd petition of the Lord's Prayer "Thy Kingdom Come:"

...From this you perceive that we pray here not for a crust of bread or a temporal, perishable good, but for an eternal inestimable treasure and everything that God Himself possesses; which is far too great for any human heart to think of desiring if He had not Himself commanded us to pray for the same. But because He is God, He also claims the honor of giving much more and more abundantly than any one can comprehend,-like an eternal, unfailing fountain, which, the more it pours forth and overflows, the more it continues to give,-and He desires nothing more earnestly of us than that we ask much and great things of Him, and again is angry if we do not ask and pray confidently.

For just as when the richest and most mighty emperor would bid a poor beggar ask whatever he might desire, and were ready to give great imperial presents, and the fool would beg only for a dish of gruel, he would be rightly considered a rogue and a scoundrel, who treated the command of his imperial majesty as a jest and sport, and was not worthy of coming into his presence: so also it is a great reproach and dishonor to God if we, to whom He offers and pledges so many unspeakable treasures, despise the same, or have not the confidence to receive them, but scarcely venture to pray for a piece of bread.
(Large Catechism, 2nd petition of the Lord's Prayer)

Psalm 12: A Congregational Lament Against Man’s Deceit and Unfaithfulness

2011-02-14T12:54:00.002-05:00

Before examining this psalm a few things must be stated about its context. Although this psalm may be applied to every individual in an edifying way, it seems its corporate character ought to be emphasized to a greater extent. It may be seen as applying to a number of specific periods in David’s life. Others have placed it as related to Absalom’s revolt or of the persecutions and anxiety under Saul. With Hengstenberg, I am of the mind that this psalm is not simply orientated toward David the individual, but rather “composed from the first by David for the necessities of the church.”[1] There are suggestions from other commentators, including Delitzsch, that the lying deceitful ones are references to the heathen, that is to say those outside of Israel’s boundaries. I am not convinced this is the case, and see the conflict as an internal one, existing within a community of the righteous which must simultaneously deal with the wicked and chaff. Therefore, though I have later classified this psalm categorically as a lament, it may as well fit the category of “church” or “community.” Hengstenberg has thus summarized the psalm as follows:

The common complaint of the church at all times… to show, how the righteous must maintain themselves in the suffering which come upon them through the corruption of the world, reaching, as it does, even to the covenant-people, especially through prevailing injustice and deception, the artifices of a hypocritical and deceitful tongue, which appear to prepare for them certain destruction. The church must carry this affliction up to God, and with unshaken confidence trust in his help.[2]

The psalmist laments the absence of the ungodly and the faithful and opens with a direct plea to be saved (eushio·e). He sees that everyone around him speaks false things, even within the congregation, speaking smooth and deceptive things from a double heart infected with hypocrisy. The call to the Lord is to deal with these big talkers who claim that they have no lord or master. A turning point in the psalm begins when the violence done to the poor is recounted and that the needy are groaning. Now the Lord Himself speaks and determines to set those who pant for him in a safe place. The Lord has heard enough. And these words that the Lord speaks are not just any words but pure words that bring about a new state of affairs for those who call upon him. The Psalmist may confidently make the bold boast of faith “You, Lord, will defend them forever!” The psalm closes with a sort of lament that deals honestly with what the psalmist still sees during an earthly pilgrimage, that the vile and worthless ones are counted most worthy and most exalted!

This psalm might be divided into two strophes each containing four verses. The first four verses deal with the complaint and prayer, and the second four verses the answer and hope. It must be noted however, that the psalm opens up with a plea directly to God, sure that he will answer. This plea-praise basic form is normative for Israel’s prayer language. The psalm opens with the simplest and loveliest of prayers (eushio-e), “help!” or “save!” This call is addressed to the Lord, who is needed for restoration in the psalmic community. That the godly ones have gone or ceased to be, suggests that there is a deep longing for spiritual direction and counsel. Those who have stepped into the void of the faithful seem to be those who are uttering lies with a double heart. Hypocrisy has made its way into the congregation itself and is corrosive upon the spiritual being of the people. Unlike other psalms dealing with external enemies, this one deals with strife from within, probably the very worst kind of trouble. Hypocrisy and deceit within the psalmist’s community is devastating because it is at odds experientially with God’s promises of deliverance and safety. The worshiping faithful community is not supposed to be filled with hypocrisy and liars, but nevertheless it is. Any Christian who lives in congregational life can identify with this problem. The psalmists problem lies precisely in the fact that where should be peace and harmony there is hypocrisy and deceit. There is no betrayal like that which comes from within your own community or group, because you trust in them to act and behave according to the Lord’s kindness.

The third verse shifts from a recounting of the community crimes to the petition itself, “May the Lord cut off all flattering lips.” Now that the complaint has been set before the Lord, the psalmist asks for decisive action. Praying for violence to be done to the wicked is something that the post-modern Christian mind struggles with. This is why congregational singing of the imprecatory psalms is quite unpopular. The piety of these sorts of requests of the psalmist are located in the source to which they are addressed, God himself. It is more likely the habit of men to execute justice for themselves, to settle their debts, and repay those according to their wrongs. Yet, here the action is handed wholly over to God who deals with the hypocrites according to his own justice, which is always good.

The most significant turning point in the psalm is located in the fifth verse where the psalmist recounts that the poor are plundered (m·shd) or devastated – that complete violence is done unto them. Furthermore the needy are groaning. Here the speaker shifts from the psalmist to God Himself. Now the complaints have reached their climax and the initial call for help and deliverance becomes crystallized as God provides His reasons for moving into action, “Because the poor are devastated, because the needy groan, I will not arise.”[3] The psalm now involves a linguistic exchange between the psalmist (congregation) and the living Lord. There is actually something occurring here, both in the text and in the midst of the congregation itself. The psalmists petitions seek to move God’s heart, and are therefore spoken in faith that God may be stirred and affected. Concerning this communicative relationship Oswald Bayer writes, “If God in his mercy humbles himself – not only as Savior, but already as Creator – then it is part of God’s own nature to let himself be petitioned. In his commitment to address the creature through the creature, God reveals himself not as inexorable fate, but as biddable.”[4] This understanding of prayer is crucial to appreciate the psalmists confidence in a Lord who is, by his very nature, biddable in every way – to be petitioned and called upon for all needs.

The following verses of the psalm deal with the means by which the Lord will help and save his people, namely His Word and promises which will fight against the evildoers. It is significant that the saving agent or means that God employs is his Word. They are pure and sliver, refined in a furnace and purified. There is a parallelism here with the reference to words used by those who spoke with “smooth lips” and tongues that talks “big things.” God’s pure words therefore provides a counter distinction from those empty, puffed up words of the hypocrites. The Lord’s Words are edifying and work good things opposed to the vain words of the deceptive men. The psalmist responds to God with complete trust and confidence, “You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.” This is a sort of final doxological praise knowing full well that the Lord always delivers on His promises. The psalm closes with another lament verse, “On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.” A reader may as well say, “Hasn’t God saved them and done away with those wicked hypocrites?” Yet, even with the delivery of God’s promises and loving kindness the congregation must still deal with the vile ones in their midst. God’s answer to the psalmists plight does not immediately mitigate the sufferings but contextualizes them in His promises. Therefore, though God has arisen and has come among His people, the wicked still everywhere abound, just as Satan remains until the final consummation and Christ’s final return. Through this earthly life the psalmist must still deal with vain and deceptive men as carries the promises of God and awaits His final justice.

This psalm seems to be more of a community lament than anything. Although, it may as well be classified as a psalm of deliverance or praise, the basic structure seems to fit in categorically with psalms of lament. Walter Bruggeman has the following observation regarding why psalms of lament somewhat fallen out of favor with the contemporary church:

“The lament psalms are obviously a scandal in the church, because they cannot be prayed to a god who does nothing, and because they must not be prayed within a social system that cannot be changed or criticized. The lament psalms are unworkable and inappropriate in a situation dominated by idolatry and ideology. For that reason they have largely dropped out of the repertoire of the church. If we are to permit the church back into its pain, in order that the church may seriously praise, then we must recover the use of these lament psalms, or we must find some speech forms like them.”[5]

Israel’s praise typically proceeds from a context of complaint that is seeking a resolution. To speak to God with such hurt is indeed a bold and faithful act. It dares to seek a resolution from God rather than simply despairing with no hope. The particular cause of lament is somewhat unique in this psalm, for one gets a sense that the liars and hypocrites are in no way an external enemy but much closer. The lying hypocrites with double hearts are within Israel’s borders or within the congregation itself. Those who profess to own their own tongues and have no master or lord are possibly those within the covenantal community itself. Therefore, this may be a lament of internal churchly struggle. Anyone in a worshipping community understands the particularly cancerous nature of bitter strife within their own ranks. It is certainly one thing to identify an enemy from outside, but quite another to deal with hypocrisy and turmoil from within. The psalmist implores God with an imperative, an insistent hope that this trouble can and must be changed. These imperatives addressed to God involves a form of interaction in which the lesser party leans on the greater party to come and save. The psalmist community no doubt bases their confidence on God’s sure desire to act, rooted in promises going back to their deliverance from Egypt, “The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Ex. 2:23-24). Precisely at their most desperate need is when God moves into action to defend and save His covenantal people.

This psalm over and above all else must be seen Christologically. After all, who had to deal with more lies and deceptive men than Jesus Himself? He came into this world precisely for the poor who were plundered and the groaning of the needy. Most importantly He came for all sinners who panted for deliverance and respite in a sin-infected world. This psalm is descriptive of the corruption of this world, and more specifically descriptive of hypocrisy within the church itself. I find the unique value of this psalm in that it very accurately addresses the community of disorientation, where real sinners with real sin move about among the faithful. Every Christian congregation has hypocrites, and every human heart deals in deception. All Christian should make use of the mirror of the law here and see that they are guilty of deception and claiming ownership over their member, which in fact truly belong to the Lord. This psalm provides a voice to deal with this grim reality and to ask God for help and guidance, primarily His holy and pure Word – His Gospel, which mediates through all trials. In regards to the law, every Christian may take this psalm to heart and see that he is not without guilt with self-flattery and boasting. Law preaching may diagnostically apply this psalm to assert that God does not tolerate hypocrisy and deception. Our tongues and lips do have a Lord, and it is certainly not us. The heart and lips were made for worship and confession of God’s wisdom and His promises. Using the lips and tongue for self-promotion and manipulation is an affront to God and He seeks repentance and proper use of the body for praise and service to the neighbor, especially helping the neighbor and speaking well of him.

Jesus comes into the midst of hypocrites and liars however, to call to repentance and to bring about forgiveness through the merits of His blood and own righteousness. The psalmist’s plea for help is met by the suffering Christ sent by the Father. He comes for the oppression of the poor and the groaning sinners who are terrified of their sins and seek remission. He forgives and purifies by means of His Words, which are spoken in the midst of the congregation to heal, forgive sin, and raise the dead to new life.

(I have written in greater detail on a theology of lament HERE.)

[1] Hengstenberg, E.W. Commentary on The Psalms. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1939. 186. Print.

[2] Ibid., 188.

[3] This particular verse is sung in the fourth stanza of Martin Luther’s hymn “O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold” (TLH 260), “Therefore saith God, ‘I must arise, The poor My help are needing; To Me ascend My people’s cries, And I have heard their pleading. For them My saving Word shall fight And fearlessly and sharply smite, The poor with might defending.” The entire hymn in fact is a exposition of psalm 12.

[4] Lindberg, Carter, and David M. Whitford. Caritas Et Refomatio: Essays on Church and Society in Honor of Carl Lindberg. St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Academic Press, 2002, 214.

[5] Brueggemann, Walter. Israel's praise: doxology against idolatry and ideology. Fortress Pr, 1988. 140. Print.

2011-02-01T10:45:00.000-05:00

Kristina at 29 weeks - absolutely gorgeous

Difference between a Lutheran and Reformed view of the third use of the Law

2011-02-01T10:43:00.002-05:00

(painting:Rembrandt. Simeon with the Christ Child in the Temple. c. 1666-69. Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden)

The difference between the Reformed and Lutheran understanding of the law, specifically its third use, is significant. Although the Formula deals with the third use in a somewhat abbreviated way, Luther’s explanations to the Ten Commandments along with his catechism hymn, may be the simplest and most brilliant treatment of the law in its third use. While dealing with the first use of the law (usus civilis), and the second use (usus elenchticus), he proceeds to lay out a third use (tertius usus legis), which shapes and defines the new reality of the Christian life insofar as he is truly converted and Christian. Besides being a curb and mirror of sin, thus accusing and preparing for the Gospel, the law functions in a wholly new and different way for the life of the regenerate who is made righteous through Jesus. The law no longer comes by way of crushing imposition that destroys the sinner. The negative requirements and prohibitions are reversed and take on a positivistic role in the life of the believer, thereby becoming what Dr. David P. Scaer calls “Christological descriptions, first of Jesus and then of believers.”[1] When the law is fulfilled by Christ and appropriated into the life of the Christian, it no longer confronts the sinner as in its accusatory sense (2^nd use) and threat but as Christological statements that recall how they were received prior to man’s fall. Therefore the law of Moses (Torah) is apostolic Gospel in that it is descriptive of who God Himself is – realized in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

In the third use of the law, the Christian is and does that which corresponds to faith in Jesus. Maybe this is why Luther recommends that after morning prayer the Christian may sing “These are the Holy Ten Commands,” suggesting the Christian “…Then go joyfully to your work” (LSB Morning Prayer). The regenerate Christian does not move about by the coercion of the Law, but by the renewing of the Holy Spirit, voluntarily and spontaneously from the heart. The Lutheran understanding of the third use of the law proceeds from an anthropology that sees man as simul iustus et peccator. Even though the law becomes descriptive of Christ and therefore the life of the Christian, it is not to say he is no longer sinner but in fact remains one until death or Christ’s Second Coming.

While the Lutherans place a great deal of emphasis upon the accusatory nature of the law, the Reformed prefer to see in the law primarily directives for the Christian life. The reality of the simul iustus et peccator does not hold a significant place in their thinking. The Reformed are more interested in incremental sanctification rather than the centrality of justification through the merits of Jesus. The law holds an educational utility in that it actually leads to Christ. For the Reformed, Jesus is more like a help or instrument for another result, namely obedience and motivation. He never really gets anything done for the sinner beyond serving as exemplary model par excellence.

Lutherans have always opposed the idea that the Law by itself leads a sinner to Christ. Unlike the Reformed, Lutherans hold that believers fulfill the law not as command but as it has been fulfilled and completed in Jesus. Christians therefore are not moved by the law’s threats but are moved to do good works by the Gospel alone. New obedience (AC VI) is an article of faith, in which Lutherans confess that Christ in the believer brings forth good fruit by the work of the Spirit. This reality is rooted squarely upon the article of justification which produces those works ex-nihilo.

The idea of spontaneous works of the spirit and new obedience springing forth purely from faith in the Gospel alone, does not really fit into the Reformed understanding of the third use. The Gospel alone does not move the regenerate along in his daily sanctification, but the law remains as a force to prod the believer into good works. For Calvin and the Reformed, God’s glory is made manifest in proper moral behavior through discipline and adherence to the law. The law accompanied by faith produces good works. This is a false view of the third use and indicates a weak or more accurately an absent Christology and therefore leaves no room for justification. For Lutherans, faith hears the Gospel and partakes of Jesus righteousness and lives that righteousness (third use), because it has been fulfilled and won through Christ’s blood. The erroneous suspicion from Rome and the Reformed is that Lutherans are antinomian in orientation. It is helpful to remember that Jesus was charged with the same.

[1] Scaer, David P.. Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics Volume VIII: Law and Gospel and the Means of Grace. St. Louis: The Luther Academy, 2008, p. 68.

Nurturing our Children

2011-01-13T17:44:00.001-05:00

"Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:5-6).

The following is a meditation from the blessed pastor Martin Luther...

Thus it is true that parents, even if they had nothing else to do, might attain eternal blessedness through their children. And if they bring them up in the true service of God, they will have both hands full of good works to do. What else are the hungry, thirsty, naked, the prisoners, the sick, and the strangers here but the souls of your own children? It is for their sake that God makes your house a hospital and appoints you the master of it, that you may tend them, feed them, and quench their thirst with good words and works, so that they learn to trust in God, believe in him, fear him, and place their hope in him. This is in order that they will honor his name, neither swear nor curse, be diligent, worship God and hear his Word, learn to despise the kings of this world, bear misfortune meekly, not to fear death or to love this life! Oh, what a blessed home where such parents live. It is indeed like a true church, a select monastery, yes, like paradise.

And again, there is no easier way for parents to merit hell than through their own children, in their own home, when they neglect to teach them these things. What does it help them if they bring themselves to the verge of death through fasting, praying, going on pilgrimage, and doing such works? On the day of judgment God will not ask about such things but will demand of them the children he has given and committed to them (Martin Luther - Day by Day We Magnify You, p. 65).

You may purchase this little book of devotions HERE.

2011-01-13T17:29:00.002-05:00

Sermon on Slaughter of the Innocents

2011-01-13T11:33:00.003-05:00

(painting: Duccio di Buoninsegna

detail from

The Slaughter of the Innocents)

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
       ¹⁸ “ A voice was heard in Ramah,
      Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
      Rachel weeping for her children,
      Refusing to be comforted,
      Because they are no more” (Matthew 2:13-23).

Our Lord’s birth was heralded by angels and singing in heaven – it is so glorious to us and so sweet. Our voices are raised to the heavens thanking God for the true gift of Christmas – that the Son of God wraps Himself in human flesh and places Himself under the tree of the cross. He whom the sea and Wind obey comes to serve us sinners in great meekness.

Hark the herald angels sing - glory to the new born king.

But there was another sound in Bethlehem soon after our Lord’s birth. A voice was heard – weeping and lamenting, Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted, because “they are no more.”

As Bethlehem mothers were rocking their baby boys to sleep, Herod’s executioners broke down their doors, tore their babies from their breasts and slaughtered them without mercy. There was sobbing and shrieking. It must have been the most horrific sight.

It was a cruel and treacherous act to be sure – beyond human comprehension, beyond all excuse. But this is how the life of our Lord Jesus commenced, with the devil appearing soon on the scene to violently whip up all kinds of suffering and grief.

Where is the peace on earth and mercy mild? Where are those promises of God now?

If we think we can surmise a neat and tidy answer for why the Bethlehem babies were slaughtered or why God permits the unborn to be stolen from their mother’s wombs – we should repent. The ways of God are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s coming into His world is not in a way easily seen – born in a smelly stable in Bethlehem. Not all is as it appears.

God’s mercy and His love are not self-evident. He does not work in ways that we expect. His loveliness and glory are revealed but also hidden in a lamb led to the slaughter without complaint or resistance. That is why we are all led not by sight but by faith.

As incomprehensible as the slaughter of the innocents is, there is probably good reason why the church has placed this reading shortly after the nativity.

For we are all on a pilgrimage in this life. Out of Egypt he has called His sons and his daughters – out of the land of bondage he has called us. Like the holy innocents in Bethlehem we are not granted the knowledge of how long our sojourn through this earthly life will be. The Holy Innocents were sent to heaven before us – theirs was rather short. And ours shall be slightly longer.

The baby boys will not know what it is like to outlive their children. Their tears were few and short. They seemed to die but they really lived. What Herod meant for evil God meant for good. Herod handed them over to heaven, with peace and mercy mild – joy without measure. They praised God not by their speaking but by their dying.

It is true also for you. Though we seem to be dying, we are truly living. So do not mourn as those who have no hope. What God takes away, God restores. “Your children shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future. Your children shall come back to their own border.”

Yesterday, there was family missing at the altar and there were those missing at the dining table around the turkey. One was taken from cancer, another was silenced by Alzheimer’s, another fell victim to the crippling effects of depression. The Lord gives and he takes away. He works sadness and joy - life and death – and all in all.

But we do not mourn as those who have no hope. We have hope. Jesus Christ did not stay in Egypt. He came out of the land of slavery. He crossed the Jordan with the sign of the Dove and the opening of heaven. He cured the sick and opened the eyes of the blind. He went to the cross. He rose from the dead.

Dear Christians – Jesus has come among you as the true Holy Innocent. His conception was holy - His birth innocent – His life without sin. He kept the law perfectly. And from the cradle to His blessed cross He suffered the punishment that was our due. He rose from the dead holy and innocent – and victorious over the power of Hell and Herod.

And so you are innocent – holy innocents – holy not by what you have done but holy by what has done unto you. Made holy by the holy one who has come to you.

Children of God nursing from the Holy Blood and Holy Word of Jesus. Wrapped up and bundled warmly in the promises of God. No tyrant – no molester – no power on earth can restrain Jesus love for you – who journeys from heaven above to earth below to seize you and claim you as His own.

You are just a child to him – and a lovely one at that. Just a little baptized baby to your heavenly Father. He loves you and takes the greatest joy in you. Because the Father loves the Son – you are dearly loved.

In your daily dying to sin you arise as holy innocents. Free to worship Him without fear and holy in His sight all the days of your life.

Be comforted. God is not yet done with you. He has placed a magnificent promise upon your doors and over your households. And He loves to show you what he has done when all is crumbling around - and when you least expect it. He will bring it to completion in the Day of Jesus Christ.

We lost children will be brought home. To the place we have all been waiting for. In Jesus name+

Bach's Christmas Oratorio - "Schlafe, mein Liebster"

2010-12-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

(notice the Cranach painting in the background)

The Fatherhood of God by Father Stuckwisch

2010-12-22T12:34:00.003-05:00

painting:The Trinity by Jusepe de Ribera 1591-1652

(I am thankful that Rev. Dr. Richard Stuckwisch granted me permission to post his presentation on the Fatherhood of God - given at the Concordia Catechetical Academy's Annual Symposia 2010).

The Fatherhood of God is not simply an attribute of God, nor only a metaphor, nor even first of all an action or attitude of God, but His Fatherhood belongs to the essential identity of who and what God is; so also the Sonship of God. For the one true God is the Father from all eternity, as one and the same true God is the Son from all eternity. The relation of the Father and the Son within the Godhead, in the love of the Holy Spirit, comprises both the distinction and the unity and harmony of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.

The Father is the Father of the Son, and the Son is the Son of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, and this intra-Trinitarian relationship is the essential and eternal being of God. It is the “necessity” of His divine being, of who and what He is, and so also the fountain and source of His perfect freedom. God does not become a father because He creates and gives life, but He creates and gives life because He is the Father.

He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, and it is from and with and in that Fatherhood of God that He freely and graciously chooses to become our Father in Christ. For no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. No one comes to the Father but by Him.

He who is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, has also become true Man, our brother in the flesh, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that we might be “conceived” and “born again” by His Word and thereby receive the adoption of sons by His grace. What Christ is by nature, from all eternity, we become by such gracious adoption, unto the life everlasting.

We receive the adoption of sons, so that God becomes our Father, and so that Christ the beloved Son become the firstborn of many brethren. Our adoption is therefore rooted in Christ, both in His eternal Sonship and in His Incarnation by the Blessed Virgin Mary. His Sonship becomes ours by His grace through the Gospel, through the catechesis of His Word, by the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of our sins in His Name, and by our Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection. Such is our new birth of water, Word and Spirit.

So do we pray, as Christ has taught us and invited us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven,” and so do we cry out to Him in faith, “Abba! Father!”

These gracious good gifts of God are the fulfillment of His creation of man in His own Image and Likeness, even as we are recreated and made brand new, conformed to the Image of His Son by the way of the Lord’s Incarnation, Cross and Resurrection for us.

Earthly fatherhood is likewise rooted in that divine work of creation by our Father in heaven, as being a husband is rooted in the divine work of redemption by our heavenly Bridegroom, Christ Jesus. The fact that man is made in the Image of God, both male and female, the woman for the man, and the wife given to her husband to be united to him as one flesh, reflects the loving unity of the three Persons within the one Godhead. It is the Father’s love for the Son, and the Son’s love for the Father, which moves God in His perfect freedom to create man and call Him to Himself, to be His holy Bride, the Church.

As husbands and wives are fruitful and multiply by the gracious Word and work of God, so do Christ and His Church give birth to the children of God by His Word and Holy Spirit. It is for these reasons that a man leaves his father and mother to be joined to his wife and cleave to her in love, and for these reasons that fathers give their daughters in marriage. Accordingly, the first and foremost thing that fathers are given to do for their children, is to love and serve and care for their wives.

So marriage and family are rooted in the gracious freedom and love of husbands and fathers, who receive their calling from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This grace of God, in turn, is the inheritance that husbands share with their wives and fathers bestow upon their children.

Thus does Christ, the eternal Son, become the “everlasting Father,” not in His divine personhood in relation to God the Father, but in His redemption and reconciliation of the Church to God. As the Image of the Father, He is also like His Father in begetting children by His Bride, the Church. He cares for them and provides for them, serves them and protects them, teaches them and feeds them, gives them His name and bestows all His gifts and benefits upon them. For He is the new and greater Adam, the Head of a new humanity, and He is the One in whom all the promises of God to Father Abraham are realized, as a blessing to all nations, to all who are the children of Abraham by faith.

In Christ, therefore, is found the freedom and responsibility of fatherhood — in contrast to the different character and quality of motherhood. Mothers become such by receiving what is given to them, but fathers are such by the choice of love; not the "choice" of conception of new life, which remains the prerogative and work of God, but the willing choice and commitment to love and care for those children who are thus conceived. In that respect, every father chooses to “adopt” his children, whether they are his biologically or not, as St. Joseph chose to adopt the Son of Mary, who is the very Son of God.

In fact, there are many different kinds and types of earthly “fatherhood,” both large and small, which are granted in various ways by the vocation of God through His Word, and which are governed by His Word.

“Call no man father,” Jesus says, “for One is your Father, even God.” But He does not thereby prohibit a man from being called a father, for it is by God the Father that every fatherhood on earth is called and named.

Thus do Christian men adopt and care for widows and orphans in their distress, and in this way they exemplify, express and extend the Fatherhood of God on earth as it is in heaven, especially in and through and with His Church. Men receive this calling from God, and they take it up in faith and love, by His Word and Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus.

What it means, therefore, to be a man, is to be a husband and a father after God’s own heart — whether in relation to one’s own earthly wife and biological children, or by way of adoption, or by caring for widows and orphans in their distress, or by caring for the Lord’s Church, the Bride of Christ and the Mother of God’s children, by the spiritual fatherhood of the pastoral office. What it means to be a man is found in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who is the perfect Image of the Father. What it means to be a man is defined and determined by His Word.

Fathers, name your children, then, as God the Father names you in Christ with His own name. Love your wives, and love the Bride of Christ, and love the children entrusted to your care with the love that Christ has for you and for His Church. In such love, give and nurture life, guard and protect it. Feed and teach your children. Prepare them for marriage, or help them to discern the divine gift and calling of celibacy in service to the household and family of God. Teach your sons how to become men after God’s own heart, to become husbands and fathers like Christ. And likewise teach your daughters, by word and example, what a good and faithful man is like, and show them how a man is to care for a woman with gentle integrity and the strength of mercy and peace.

Catechize your children; pray and confess the Word of Christ with them. Lead them and guide them, again, by your words and by your own godly example. Discipline them in love, that they might learn the life of love. Do so with mercy, compassion, forgiveness and self-sacrifice, that they might learn to live by faith in the Gospel. Demonstrate the humility of repentance and the confidence of faith.

In all of this, the grace and strength of human fatherhood is the Fatherhood of God in Christ Jesus. He calls you and names you, sustains you and upholds you, by His own Fatherhood, which is steadfast and eternal in the relationship of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.

Rev. Dr. Richard Stuckwisch

2010-12-16T09:22:00.000-05:00

"Celebrating the Lord's Supper is officiating at a wedding. And when God takes His Bride to bed to bring forth children to Himself, He does not want the whole world staring into the bedroom"

Rev. Dr. Kenneth Korby
"The use of John 6 in Lutheran Sacramental Piety"

Baby girl is healthy and growing

2010-12-15T09:35:00.000-05:00

If children recognize their mother's voice in the womb, how clearly they must hear the voice of their Lord and the church's preaching, hymns, and prayers.

Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?

2010-12-15T09:21:00.001-05:00

(painting: Saint John the Baptist in Prison (1565-70), Juan Fernandez de Navarrette, Oil on canvas, The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg)

“Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

Matthew 11:2-11

Third Sunday in Advent

John, being locked in Herod’s rotting dungeon, sent word to Jesus asking if He was the one to come and redeem Israel – “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

As John was chained up and locked down in Herod’s cold jail – he needed the help and comfort of the Christ. He needed a sweet release – a rescue mission – from on high. He needed an advent – a coming of Jesus to set him free. Not to protect his neck from Herod’s cold sword but to preserve and keep his whole body and soul – to redeem Israel and forgive sin.

Jesus said that among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet here, the greatest of all men born of a woman, is locked up, likely tired and beaten. Here the greatest of all men sends a message to Jesus, asking “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Even the greatest of all men, the fiery preacher from the river Jordan needed his doubts to be expelled. Things were far from clear at the bottom of Herod’s damp dungeon. Death loomed over him, and what frantic fears must have taken hold of him. Surely he was not a reed shaken by the wind – to be sure – but he was a man, - a flesh and blood man – like us. Like us, John had to do battle against the sinful flesh that clung to him.

He was likely afraid of death, fearful over sin, and looking for comfort. Do not be offended by John’s question, “Are you the one, or shall we look for another.” It is a faithful question. John needed to know if Jesus was the one who would free the church from all her sins. The patriarchs of the church are invited by their Lord to inquire of Him.

Like a child asking his mother if she loves him, John asks, "Are you the Coming One or do we look for another?" He knows the answer but wants reassurance, wants comfort.

This is the language of faith and it is a sort of love language. Faith seeks reassurance and comfort. Faith seeks an answer where doubts spring up. And this is good. Faith goes to where God promises to be. Are you the one to come?

John is like a bride asking her husband if he truly loves her. The answer of course is “yes.” No matter how many times it is asked – it remains true. But with John we ask because we love to hear the answer. It is why we gather here, week in and week out. Lord are you the one? Where else shall we go? You have the word of eternal life? Do you love me? Do you care for me? Do you forgive me?

And this is the great surprise of being a Christian that is always new to us. To be taken back. Continually. Yes, I love you He says. I forgive you all your sins, He says. Do not be afraid. I am with you – He says.

You probably will not meet martyrdom in the fashion of John. But you will face crushing disappointments and trials along your way. And your time of waiting, of suffering, and persisting is worth it. Your trials are not insignificant – for your bear the marks of Jesus on your forehead – in your heart. In your wrinkles – in your bones.

You will not receive the cold blade of Herod’s sword but you will feel the cutting betrayal of a friend or the stabbing insult of a neighbor. Many will feel the crushing blow of loneliness in these cold dark weeks.

Like John’s musty, cold, and dark jail cell it is very messy down here – even amidst the joy the coming holy day. Our lives often feel like a dark prison – where no light shines.

There will be voids and patches of darkness this Christmas time. As you gather around the turkey, pie, and tom and jerry’s – there will be family missing this year from divorce – a son will be missing – another family member will be crippled by depression - parents will show new signs of Alzheimer’s.

Like John the Baptist – your pain and agony is temporary – and it all will soon pass. John’s question becomes our own. “Jesus are you the one who will come down and save us or shall we look for another?” The question is a good one. And Jesus is your “Yes.” He is your amen. He is your “Yes, I believe – help my unbelief!” Jesus is your man. He is your God who comes down to you. And you need not look any further. For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

John the Baptist was called the greatest among all born of woman, because he pointed to Jesus, and said “Behold the Lamb of God.” He was great because he waited for Jesus and believed in Him. And Jesus loved John, before He leaped in the womb.

You are called great in heaven because Jesus has made you His own. You wait for Jesus – like a child waits for his father to lift him up and into his lap.

Come Lord Jesus.

Unlike, Santa Clause, Jesus does not just come once a year to give you things to cover up the pain. He comes today. Drink this cup – it is me who is with you – He says.

There is a real mess down here. But He is down here among us. In the muck and sin of our lives He is with us. In your own prison – like John – He is with you. In your ears, in your heart. In your bones, and on your lips. Jesus has scrubbed you down – washed you clean from all sin – and has made living saints out of you. Waiting – persisting – and standing strong for his coming.

This is why Isaiah preaches to us, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, Be strong; fear not!”

The Lord is compassionate and merciful to you. He has gone before you to prepare the way – the way of the bitter cross – a cross that has become so sweet for you. And when the time is right He will exalt you – and lift you up. And you will behold His face – and He will shine like the Sun and so shall you.

There is no depression at His coming. There is no darkness and anxiety. We have a heavenly Father, whose heart we clearly see in Jesus – in his lowly birth, suffering, and cruxifixion. There is only Joy – for the kingdom of heaven has come near – that is to say – Jesus is coming to you.

The advent candles are being lit. And no light is comparable to the light of Christ – who will scatter all the darkness – He will bring you into his marvelous light. The dark gloom in which we fumble around – will dissipate – and this veil of tears will be lifted. That which you have lost will be doubled in heaven – and your sufferings will be jewels in your crown.

Jesus shall be born in Bethlehem to young Mother Mary. And soon we will have to endure and wait no longer. The singing of angels can gently be heard in the distance. He who has ears let him hear.

Blessed are you who hear the words of Jesus. And blessed are you who suffer and rejoice and wait for Him. Pretty soon now, you’re waiting will all be over.

In that day you will ask nothing of him.

Come Lord Jesus. Amen.

I don't see the harm in it

2010-12-07T15:40:00.000-05:00

God's Merciful Warning

2010-12-07T15:37:00.001-05:00

"Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly" (Luke 31:34)

From the blessed Dr. Luther...

"God in his great mercy does not will that the day of judgment should suddenly overtake us, and so, out of grace, he honors us with a merciful warning. God causes his Word to be preached to us, call us to repentance, and offers us in Christ forgiveness of all ours sins. God gives a sure promise that pain and guilt shall be abolished if we believe in his Son. He commands us to continue in our calling and to do our work well. If we obey him in doing so, he in no way grudges us food and drink or that we are happy and of good cheer. For eat and drink we must if we are to live on this earth. But we must not be forgetful of God and the life to come. Is not this a good and holy God, in that he looks on us with so fatherly a love? He ever speaks to us like a father to his children, and he says, 'Dear children, repent; believe in my Son whom I have sent to you. Be holy and obedient, and faithful servants in your work; then eat and drink and use the earthly good with which I have blessed you. But take care that you use the world and its passing goods like a man who is awaiting the last trumpet; so that when it peals and when the last thunders resound you are prepared and ready, walking in holy ways and with a godly spirit. If you live like that, you are in no danger" (sermon of Martin Luther from the year 1545)

Purchase this little book of meditation HERE.

2010-12-01T01:27:00.004-05:00

Advent Devotion

2010-12-01T01:20:00.000-05:00

"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear" Psalm 27:1

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” It is easy to pass over these words as if they were nothing special. But here God gives us a prayer and a song that gives our heart true courage and strength.

In these gray and latter days there is plenty to fear. Our families have been ravaged by conflict and despair. Our friendships and marriages are always in need of repair. There is little hope in the nighttime news as wars rage on – even against children in the womb.

In many ways we live in utter darkness. The Christian church is still oppressed with sorrow and misgiving. All our undertakings are filled with trouble and heart breaks. We pray to God, “Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!”

Dear Christian, take heart and stand strong. Jesus is coming. He is the light shining in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. He does answer your prayers. In Him there is nothing to fear. Wait for the Lord. For soon, the busy world will be hushed and your work will be done.

So also you have sorrow now, but your Lord is coming to meet you. He loves you and when you see Him your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of Him.

The Ship of Baptism never breaks

2010-12-01T01:11:00.000-05:00

(painting by Annibale Carracci "Baptism of Jesus" 1584)

Our Baptism abides forever. Even though someone should fall from Baptism and sin, still we always have access to it. So we may subdue the old man again. But we do not need to be sprinkled with water again...Even if we were put under the water a hundred times, it would still be only one Baptism, even though the work and sign continue and remain. Repentance, therefore, is nothing other than a return and approach to Baptism. We repeat and do what we began before, but abandoned.

I say this lest we fall into the opinion in which we were stuck for a long time. We were imagining that our Baptism is something past, we we can no longer use after we have fallen into sin. The reason for this is that Baptism is regarded as only based on the outward act once performed and completed. This arose from the fact that St. Jerome wrote that "repentance is the second plank by which we must swim forth and cross over the water after the ship is broken, on which we step and are carried across when we come into the Christian Church." By this teaching Baptism's use has been abolished so that it can no longer profit us. Therefore, Jerome's statement is not correct, or at any rate is not rightly understood. For the ship of Baptism never breaks, because...It is God's ordinance and not our work (1 Peter 3:20-22). But it does happen, indeed, that we slip and fall out of the ship. Yet if anyone falls out, let him see to it that he swims up and clings to the ship until he comes into it again and lives in it, as he had done before.

In this way one sees what a great, excellent thing Baptism is. It deliver us from the devil's jaws and makes us God's own. It suppresses and takes away sin and then daily strengthens the new man. It is working and always continues working until we pass from this estate of misery to eternal glory.

Large Catechism IV 77-83