Sermon for Easter 6C - John 16:22-33

            On this day that reminds us to be thankful for our mothers, Jesus reminds us to pray.  That is good.  We need both reminders – to give thanks to mom AND to God for blessing us with mom – and dad.  Our sermon hymn praises God for faithful mothers.  God is pleased when they behave like Lydia, the business woman in today’s reading from Acts.  They make it their business to see that their households are baptized, attend church and know God’s Word.  Christian mothers live lives that “bear clear witness to Christ, our risen Lord” (LSB 855.13).

            Years ago, I noted that we need to work on our thanksgiving prayers, since we tend to pray them so much less than our prayers asking God for stuff.  But we need to work on our prayers asking for stuff too.  Otherwise, Jesus would not have to tell us, “Ask, and you will receive.” 

            As Christians, we all know we should pray.  The problem is we tend not to do it.  When we do pray, it is kind of like when we were kids and we had a problem we could not deal with.  We did not want Mom or Dad to find out about the mess we got into, but we did not know what else to do than to ask them to fix it.  And so we go to God feeling a little guilty – afraid of the trouble we are going to get into, knowing we should be talking to Him more often than we do.

            Various people have encouraged us to be Prayer Warriors.  So then prayer becomes a sword, a weapon to use in our fight against sin.  Since even the best sword is only as good as the person holding it, naturally we think that is the way it is with prayer – that our prayers will only be effective if the words are put together well, if I am skilled and not distracted or weak.

            But no!  That is the way prayer may be taught, but that is not the proper Christian view.  In fact, I got that description of prayer as a sword from a Muslim teacher.  Jesus does not describe prayer that way.  In Islam, you better have your life just right, your prayers just right, your holy deeds just right so that Allah will care for your needs.  But listen to Jesus say, “The Father Himself loves you.”      

            And because “the Father Himself loves you,” do you think that now He will deny your prayers because you did not put the words together right?  Because you got distracted?  No way.  How many of you mothers or fathers, if your children asked you for something they really needed would say “no” simply because their grammar was wrong, or because they said hateful things in the past?  No, even though the child takes their parent’s love for granted, the love of parents for their children still remains. 

And God the Father’s love goes even deeper.  It is a tragedy that the worst fathers and mothers abandon and forsake their children.  Yet even the best mom in the world finds self-serving reasons not to give her children all the loving care they need.  Other things became more important.  Sometimes we make the right decision about priorities.  Sometimes we must pick the least bad option about which need to meet and which need to set aside.  Like with the rest of life, parenting requires sacrifice – and none of us can claim to have made all the right sacrifices.  Not when our selfishness remains. 

It is common to picture God the Father as a stern, grumpy and strict deity until Jesus comes along.  And when we break His command to honor motherhood and fatherhood we certainly give God plenty of reasons to leave us as orphans.  But at least we have Jesus, who is nice and smart and knows exactly what to say to change God the Father’s mind about you, to get Him to see it your way so that you get back on God’s good side – about the way that if you were in big trouble with mom, dad might help you by getting mom to calm down – or vice versa. 

But that is not the way it is with God.  Do not see God the Father as an old grump who is annoyed by you.  Jesus says, “The Father Himself loves you.”  Because He loves you, the Father sent His only begotten Son to be your Savior, to be a human like you spending nine months inside His mother’s womb before birth.  Because the Father loves you, the Son became your perfect substitute and never disobeyed the Fourth Commandment, but honored Joseph and Mary all the way to death.  Because the Father loves you, Christ willingly sacrificed Himself on the Cross to pay for your sins – for all the times you failed to treat your mother and father with respect and love and care; for all the times that you moms and dads have failed to be honorable and respectable caregivers.  Because the Father loves you – Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

[He is risen indeed, Alleluia] – because the Father raised Jesus from the dead so that you now hear you are forgiven of all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen!

It is in, with, and under that Holy Name that we pray and we say our “Amens.”  With faith IN that name, we use His name not to curse and swear and deceive, but we pray WITH His name as we call upon Him in our times of trouble, and praise and give thanks with His Name.  And we pray UNDER Christ’s name.  It is almost like we wear a Jesus costume when we go before God’s throne of mercy, as St. Paul says that all of us who have been baptized into Christ’s name are clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27).  Ephesians 2:18 says, “Through Him we… have access in one Spirit to the Father.”  Luther explains that praying in Christ’s name is the way that Jesus “unites Himself to us, really puts us on a par with Him, and merges our praying into His and His into ours” (AE 24:407).

God’s grace overcomes all our anxieties about praying and gives us boldness and confidence.  The Father answers all our worries about the performance and acceptability of our words by listening to them “as if they came from the mouth of Jesus.  He is just as pleased with us and our prayers as [He is] with Jesus and His prayers” (Kleinig, “Prayer – We Speak to God”, 44).  Luther goes on to explain that “there is really no difference [between Christ’s prayers and ours] except that our prayers must originate in Him and be spoken in His name… Aside from this, He makes us equal to Himself in all things” (AE 24:407).

All of us have room to grow in prayer.  We still have much to learn about praying with trust in the truth that you are as much a child of God as Jesus is, praying to the Father like little children chatter on and on with their parents throughout the day.

So we ask as dear children ask their dear Father.  “Father, I'm hungry - give us this day our daily bread.  Father, I'm lonely and the kids make fun of me at school.  Father, I am having nightmares and I can’t sleep.  Father, my friends are in a big mess and need some help too.”  And in the same breath we ask, “Father, can I have the keys to the car” - which I only thought of praying because Jesus this week says, “Ask” and I lost my car key and need some help to find it.  Or you ask, “Father, can I have some candy?  Or some cake?”  That sounds silly, but many of our requests are for silly things like candy and cake.  Yet even these prayers do not annoy God.  And God most certainly gives you things in life that you really do not need, but are pretty sweet to have.

              On this side of glory you always you pray in a world filled with trouble.  John 16 is only a few hours away from Jesus’ death, and His mother Mary will see that happen, and she will not be the last mother to watch her child die.  That is how Jesus has overcome the world.  But you still live in it.  Rejoice and thank God for those times when He gives you the joys of this creation – like dinner with friends and the love of mom and dad.  But also submit to His goodness and will.  We are still children.  We do not know best.  Sometimes God says it is not time for healing yet – or that it is not time for candy and cake, which will spoil your appetite for the Bread of His Word, or the Supper of His Son.  So we wait for Him to reveal His goodness, trusting that He will bring us to Himself in heaven, that Christ was forsaken by His Father at the Cross so that the Father would never, ever forsake you.  Because the Father Himself loves you, you will not be destroyed in Hell.  You look forward to the happy reunion in Heaven with faithful mothers and fathers– AND children – for Mary will not be the only mother who will see her child alive again after death.  Those who have died in Christ will be raised in His glory, so that the arms that wrapped around you in love will hold you again.  Because the Father Himself loves you, on the day Christ raises the dead, all your prayers for help and healing, faith and love – and candy and cake – will be answered.  Amen.

Leviticus readings - again

I rarely want to do this, but I thought that the resources I posted here last year would be good to re-run.

Pastor Weedon wrote this for those who find the Leviticus readings getting them down.

Rev. McCain wrote this about how to understand Leviticus.

and Pastor Petersen wrote this about the Levitical distinctions of holy and common, clean and unclean and the New Testament application for us.

365 days of posts

well, not really... plenty of days where some of you have checked my blog and found nothing.  But this is the 365th day of this blog's existence (though the anniversary according to the Church calendar happend some time last week.)  Kind of fun to look back to my comments on the same Scripture passages we're reading now (and to remember that my mom was my first commenter, and Rick Stuckwisch the second).  Also fun to note from SiteMeter how people found my blog - and, for some reason completely mysterious to me, a bunch of people find my blog searching for "Ascension Sermons" - all throughout the year too, not just in May. 
I'm still glad I started blogging, so I guess I'll keep on going.
Weedon has a fun little practice of reaching milestone visit #s and asking for people to introduce themselves - and SiteMeter says I'm at 1700 right now, so who are you?  How did you find this blog?  Have we ever met in person, or just online?

God grant you a heart open to His word, this day and always.

Easter 5 Wednesday - Psalm 116

I was hit hard last night when I found out from a friend about the wife of a friend's tragic death.  Rev. Michael Poynter was a few years behind me at Seminary, and then we would see each other every so often at St. Louis events like CPH's warehouse sale.  His wife Rachel and my wife Laura seemed to be pregnant at exactly the same times (except for our last pregnancy.)  Reading "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints" was a blessing this morning.
Please keep their congregation, children, and Mike in your prayers.

Luke 12

nice little dovetail in Luke 12:1-12 with what I preached in my sermon yesterday based on John 16:12-22. 
Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit would come to them (John 16:13-15, Luke 12:11-12), and no one would take their joy from them (John 16:22). 
Though the rulers and authorities tried (Luke 12:4, 11).  But when they threatened the Disciples with death if they would not give up on Jesus, the Disciples response was that the rulers might destroy their body - but the One who can destroy both body and soul in Hell forever, has said that by grace, He does not want to.
God will make them - and us - to be like Jesus.  Tormented by sin for a while, as dead as Jesus was on Good Friday, but then as alive as Jesus on Easter, raised up with sorrow turned to complete joy.

Monday of Easter 5 - Leviticus 21

I note that a son of my congregation is still a pastor by the grace of God.  Under the old covenant, Leviticus 21 would forbid him of continuing as a priest due to the breaking of his arm about 3 years ago (healed nicely through the wonders of surgery.  But it certainly was mutilated for a time.)

Also, though it may seem there is a bunch of Law in this book, don't miss the Gospel.  This book is about God's desire to relate to His people, and how sin must be dealt with for that to happen.  Also, note the grace in Leviticus 21:8, 15, and 23 - people do not sanctify themselves.  The LORD sanctifies you and His priests.

Thursday of Easter 4 - Leviticus 17

The fact that the disciples drank what Jesus told them was His blood testifies to the fact that they trusted He was the Lord - for who else could get them to behave contrary to the Lord's prohibition in Leviticus 17?

Not TDP - Prayer of the Church for the 40th Anniversary of St. Peter's Sanctuary

(revised from TLH's companion book, "The Lutheran Liturgy")

P    We thank You, Lord God, heavenly Father that Your Son has built Your Church upon His Word and Sacraments.  Through the work of the Holy Spirit, You have given us the privilege of enjoying Your Holy Gospel in this house of worship to this day.

      We humbly ask You to graciously preserve this beloved sanctuary for us, for our children, and for the strangers we do not yet know, but whom You love.  Let Your glory dwell in this place for many more generations.  Keep safe those who will work on its repairs in the coming months.  At all times give us godly preachers who will care for Your Church by feeding the pure Word to Your flock.  Open the ears of all who come here, so that they might listen to Your Son’s voice with gladness, and follow Him to eternal life.  We confess that we have turned a deaf ear to You far too often and we deserve for You to be silent.  But by the work and for the sake of Christ, we ask You to forgive our sins.  Restore and renew us daily in Your truth and faithfulness.  Do this work not only among us, but provide workers for Your harvest around the World, especially as You guide Rev. Sieveking and all the District Presidents in their decisions on where to send men to serve as Pastors.  Use them to do Your work of washing the robes of every nation, tribe, people, and language and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, bringing them safely through death to eternal life.

P    By Holy Baptism, continue in this and all places to receive little children into communion with You, and keep them in Your gracious covenant by Your mighty power.  Grant repentance and true faith to those who desire the blessing of absolution.  Comfort souls and strengthen faith at this altar with the true body and most holy blood of Christ. 

P    O Lord, when we bring to You our offerings of thanksgiving for the gifts of Your bounty, accept the sacrifice and bless us in all our labors, so that our joy may be full.  When we offer to You our prayers for the Church, for our nation’s President and all in authority, and for all sorts and conditions of people, may it please You to hear our supplications.  Pour out Your blessings upon all for whom intercession is made here – upon confirmands, husbands and wives, parents and children, the needy, the afflicted, and those who give thanks.  Especially today do we pray in thanksgiving for the pastors, teachers and members who have served St. Peter Lutheran Church.  Let Your holy angel be with them, that the evil foe may have no power over them.

P    O God, our help in ages past and our hope for years to come, we praise You that by the death and Resurrection of the Good Shepherd, You have brought our dead loved ones to dwell with You in Your House forevermore.  Grant us Your Holy Spirit, that we may together with them look forward to the joy of our resurrection; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

  

Monday of Easter 4 - Leviticus 9

The ESV title for Leviticus 9 struck me as one of grace.  We should not take for granted that our gifts given will be well received.  Most of us have heard horror stories or been on the receiving end of bad gift giving.  That "The Lord Accepts Aaron's Offering" should astonish and amaze us, for Aaron is a sinner like us.  But the gift is offered in faith according to the Lord's mandate, and accepted by Him.  This being the Easter season, it put me in mind of one of the things the Resurrection proves to us - that God accepted Christ's sacrifice as payment for our sins.  And once I was thinking of Easter, then when I read of Moses and Aaron coming out of the tent of meeting and blessing the people (after the sin offering), "and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people," (9:23), I could not help but think of Christ coming out of the grave and blessing His people in the risen Lord's glorious body as He appeared to the Disciples.

Thursday of Easter 3 - Gospel and Hymnody

On what has now been sown
Thy blessing, Lord, bestow;
The power is Thine alone
To make it spring and grow.
Do Thou in grace the harvest raise,
And Thou alone shalt have the praise. 

(by John Newton, who also penned "Amazing Grace")

 

Again, another much needed reminder of the Gospel and what is God's work.  Especially after I've been living under the self-imposed law of trying to figure out how to make fruits after the seed is planted.  But it is not in my power to make faith spring and grow.  That power is God's alone.  "Just say the Word", as my District President preached at my ordination 9 years ago, based on Luke 7.  Plant it home.

 

Oh, and Thrivent members, concerning today's prayer, you can partially (virtually?) embody in your life the mercy and charity of Christ by voting in the Thrivent Choice program for LCMS World Relief, LCMS Missions, or one of the others if you so choose.  Very simple, but do it before May 21.

 

And then there is also this from KFUO-AM, Thrivent and CPH - a drawing for $1000 upgrade for a K-8 school library.  I'd appreciate it if you voted for my kids' school, Trinity Lutheran, in Red Bud, Illinois.  But again, if you want to enter another school, I understand. 

Wednesday of Easter 3 - Psalmody

Great readings all around.  all very connected to stuff going on in life right now.  Exodus 35 relates as one of my parishes is getting ready to repair roof, paint walls, and replace carpet.  And boy, does that "shameful" woman from Luke 7:36-50 put me to shame for my lack of love.  Lord, increase Your people's faith in Your forgiveness that we may show our love for You in our lives.

But Psalm 84 has been quite special.  The wall behind the altar at my aforementioned congregation, St. Peter Lutheran Church, is a little further back than the rest of the wall - if you look, you can see the reflection of the stained glass windows on the wall to the right and left of the cross.  Sometimes birds (no idea if they were sparrows, swallows, or what) built their nests on the ledges outside that stained glass.  Beautiful to see Psalm 84:3 come to life at the altar of the Lord of hosts.

The psalm also brought to my mind this quote from CFW Walther, which I needed to read again (and I especially needed to read the part that I omitted in the quote below):

My Friends: -

   When a place has been assigned to a Lutheran cadidate of theology where he is to discharge the office of a Lutheran minister, that place ought to be to him the dearest, most beautiful, and most precious spot on earth.  He should be unwilling to exchange it for a kingdom.  Whether it is in a metropolois or in a small town, on a bleak prairie or in a clearing in the forest, in a flourishing settlement or in a desert, to him it should be a miniature paradise.  Do not the blessed angels descend from heaven with great joy whenever the Father in heaven sends them to minister to those who are to be heirs of salvation?  Why, then, should we poor sinners be unwilling to hurry after them with great joy to any place where we can lead other men, our fellow-sinners, to salvation?

... But now the question arises: What is the matter of chief concern to a minister who wants to attain this glorious object?  He must approach the Lord with hearfelt prayer and earnest entreaties in behalf of his congregation and, when preaching the Word of God with great zeal publicly and privately, jointly or severally, rightly divide the Word of Truth. (Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, pg. 207-209)

More on Wednesday of Easter 2

I noticed some interesting connections between Exodus 24 and Luke 5:

1. Both texts are useful in catechesis on the Sacraments - the Supper and Absolution, respectively.
2. Exodus 24:11 has this line, "And He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank."  If you forget about the prohibition on seeing God, this makes no sense.  However, Peter with his "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" reminds us why God should have laid His hand on the chief men of Israel.
3. God does not lay His hand on them and destroy them in Exodus.  God DOES lay His hand on the man in Luke, and his leprosy does not destroy him.

Wednesday of Easter 2 - Luke 5

Lord, you know the frustrations of work in this fallen world. Work is done that appears to be wasted effort. But You say we are not done - for there are fish for us to catch, there are fields ripe for us to harvest. As the Father sent You, You send us out to gather others into the Resurrection with the net of Your forgiveness and peace. Therefore, especially when we feel like being done, please be our strength and rest, our hope and joy, our peace and forgiveness. Free us from despair as You open our eyes, hearts, and minds to see that labor in Your kingdom is never in vain.

(This sermon by Pastor Weedon led to this prayer.)

Tuesday of Easter 2 - Exodus 23

Never noticed before that God had a reason for leaving the pagan "native-ites" in Canaan. "I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land" (Exodus 23:29-30)

Warning - not completely thought through thought ahead!

Could we say something similar about the unholy Trinity? That God does not keep the sinful world from attacking us, because then we would become easy prey for that beastie, the devil? Or vice versa? God uses devil, world and sinful flesh to drive us to prayer - but perhaps he also uses each one to keep the other two occupied, and keep us safer?

UPDATE: Or maybe it is something along the lines of the Luther quote my bride posted on her facebook page:

The most dangerous trial of all is when there is no trial, when everything
is all right and running smoothly. This is when a man tends to forget God, to
become too independent and put his time of prosperity to a wrong use. (AE44:47)

Monday of Easter 2 - Luke 4

Somewhere along the way I read the suggestion that "Physician, heal thyself" may have been a reference to the fact that the son of Joseph looked powerless when Joseph died. Which then leads to the response that it was not time for Jesus to heal Joseph, any more than it was time that day in Nazareth to die to save us. He walks away that day, but, thanks be to God, He does not come down off His cross - because that is when it was time to set us free from the oppression of our sin.

Tuesday after Easter - today's writing's author's seal

My aunt Millie just finished this window for a church. It's 15"X15", with 160 pieces. She added green to make it a square.

Alleluia! He is Risen!

The foe in triumph shouted when Christ lay in the tomb;
But lo, he now is routed, his boast is turned to gloom.
For Christ again is free; In glorious victory
He who is strong to save has triumphed o'er the grave.

(Paul Gerhardt, transl. by John Kelly)

Dear readers, God grant you His joy in the feast of His Son's resurrection, now and always!

"Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!" Psalm 96

btw, a friend asked what all the connections are between the Red Sea and Easter (besides Baptism). "And why did the Early Church associate the Red Sea Crossing with the Resurrection of Jesus?" Since we're at that part of Exodus in TDP, I thought I'd throw his question out to you readers.

Holy Saturday

If there is any day of the church year that best describes where we live as Christians in this world, it is today, Holy Saturday.

If you want to know how today describes all our life here and now in the in-between, you'll have to read Rev. Koch's excellent sermon here.

There is also this (HT: Matt Harrison)

What Others Said... errr... Drew

(Agnus Day appears with the permission of http://www.agnusday.org/)

On the Radio

If I remember correctly, KFUO-AM will be broadcasting a Tre Ore service followed by Bach's St. John's Passion this afternoon.
And according to KFUO-FM's site, they will be playing Bach's B minor Mass Sunday at 1 pm and Mahler's Symphony #2, Resurrection on Sunday at 8 pm.

What Luther Says - Exodus 12

Here our true Paschal Lamb we see,
Whom God so freely gave us;
He died on the accursed tree-
So strong His love -to save us.
See, His blood now marks our door;
Faith points to it, Death passes o'er,
And Satan cannot harm us.
Alleluia!

(LSB #458, stanza 5)

Wednesday of Holy Week

such good news in Hebrews 4:16 for those of us (pastors and others) going through the stress of Holy Week. Though others may try and stop us from worshipping the Lord (like Pharaoh did to Israel in Exodus 10-11), and though our own sin would make us deaf to the Lord's good news, so that we would not believe and fail to find rest (Hebrews 4), still we have a Jesus who gives mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. Exactly what I needed to hear today.

What Others Said - the Plagues

I keep meaning to alert you readers to Sober Peasant's Lenten Sermon series this year on the Plagues. I haven't read them yet, but his other sermons are usually quite good.

oh, and Weedon brought out this gem concerning Holy Wednesday from OP Kretzmann:

Holy week... The most important seven days in the history of man... Although the exact sequence of events is not always clear to us, we can discern, even now, the straight lines of divine order... Sunday: The garments in the dust - the Hosannahs as the prelude to the "Crucify."... Monday: Sermons with the urgent note of finality - the withered fig tree - Caesar's coin... Tuesday: The terrifying wrath of the Lamb over institutionalized and personal sin among the Scribes and Pharisees - the fire and color of His last sermon to the city and the world - the sureness of justice and the coming of judgment... Night and prayer in the light of the Easter moon on the Mount of Olives...

Wednesday is silent... If anything happened, the holy writers have drawn the veil... Everything that God could say before the Upper Room had been said... It was man's turn now... Perhaps there were quiet words in a corner of the Garden, both to His children who would flee and to His Father who would stay... Wednesday was His... The heart of that mad, crowded Holy Week was quiet... Tomorrow the soliders would come, and Friday there would be God's great signature in the sky... Thursday and Friday would belong to time and eternity, but Wednesday was of heaven alone...

Silent Wednesday... If our Lord needed it, how much more we whose life is the story of the Hosannah and the Crucify... Time for prayer, for adoration... Time to call the soul into the inner court and the Garden... In our crowded world we are lonely because we are never alone... No time to go where prayer is the only sound and God is the only light... We need more silent Wednesdays... In the glory of the Cross above our dust our silence can become purging and peace... God speaks most clearly to the heart that is silent before Him... [The Pilgrim, pp. 27, 28]

Thursday in Lent 5 and March 25

I preached this sermon in 2005, when Good Friday occurred on March 25, the Annunciation of the Lord (Luke 1:26-38). Fits well with today's reading from Mark 15.

How do you consider this? How do you find the words to describe this day? What is today? It is March 25. In nine months it will be Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Nine months. The amount of time God ordinarily takes to form a child in the womb.

How many parents were uncertain about their child’s future and wondered, “Do I really want to bring a child into this cruel world, filled with such heartache and suffering?” How many husbands and wives considered that question, and decided No? Whatever worries and uncertainties your parents had before your birth, God overcame them.

It is March 25. Nine months before Christmas – and Good Friday. God was not uncertain about what would happen to His Son. The Lord knew the torment His Son would face when He brought the Son of God into the world. He knew the mockery and the rejection. Yet He still sent the Angel Gabriel to announce to the Virgin Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her. The child born to her “will be called holy – the Son of God.”

It is seldom that we talk about the nine months before the birth of Jesus in the same breath as we talk about His death. Not often, but it does happen when the Church teaches us to confess that Jesus Christ “was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.” The Apostles’ Creed moves straight from the Lord’s conception, to His birth and then to His suffering and death.

Some people have criticized the Creed for not mentioning even a word about Christ’s life of merciful works and His word of truth. Yet in moving directly from Jesus’ birth to His Crucifixion, the Creed makes an important point. The Son of God became man to suffer.

The eyes of the man without faith see a tragic ending. They see a man born to a poor mother and father hung on a tree of death for no good reason. They see a sorrow-filled conclusion to an otherwise triumphant and well-lived life. The Suffering Servant Jesus Christ makes no sense for those who think that the goal of life is to avoid all pain.

O believer, it is not so with you. For you know this is at the very heart of what Jesus has come to do in order to reconcile the world to God. He comes to save us from our sins – our actual sins of thought, word and deed that reject God and mock His Holiness. But the Son of God also comes to save us from our original sin that we inherited from Adam through our parents, for we were all sinful at birth, sinful from the time our mother’s conceived. And our hearts are naturally inclined to doubt God. Yet Jesus Christ saves us from our times of uncertainty – when we have thought that God has forsaken us and removed His protection from us.

The Son of God and “the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom” for yours. He pays your debts to the Father. And that payment was a high price. The pain your Lord endures is real and raw. The death He dies is dark and cold.

Our eyes may be moved to tears, but He has told us not to weep for Him. Yes, His soul is troubled, but He refuses to ask His Father to save Him from this hour. It is for this purpose that He has come to this dark hour – so that the Father would save you from eternal darkness. Jesus endures it all for your sake.

“In perfect love He dies;

for me He dies, for me.

O all-atoning Sacrifice,

I cling by faith to Thee.”

His sacrificial death melts our cold hearts. And tears will appear in the life of faith – tears of sorrow over our sin and tears of joy that God would love us in this way. For it is no small matter that the Son of God “for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven” to be rejected and crucified for our salvation.

It is no small matter that the same God in the flesh who went the way of the Cross still comes to you today. But saying “Christ died for you” does not magically make all your problems disappear in a puff of smoke. This is not Hocus Pocus – but rather this is the body of Christ given into death for you. There will not only be tears of repentance and tears of overwhelming delight. There will also be tears of pain in the life of faith – for we are not yet at the Resurrection. Jesus has not shown us how get around suffering in this life or how to avoid it. Rather, He leads us through suffering, cross and death to Resurrection. Jesus says to His followers, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy” (John 16). Soon every tear from faithful eyes will be dried. Soon you will behold that He who died on Good Friday is now alive forevermore.

But until then, hold fast to your confession. With confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4). Walk by faith, not by sight. When unbelievers and your old sinful nature tell you to cry out, “Where in the world is God?”, you can honestly reply that God is hidden. And yes, darkness does veil His lovely face. But even though God is hidden in lowly flesh, His Word lights the way for you to find Him. The Lord is in the womb of the Virgin Mary for nine months, in the manger at Bethlehem, in the darkness of the Cross of Calvary on Good Friday, in the water and the blood that streamed from His pierced side. God in Christ was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us (2 Corinthians 5). Therefore God in the flesh today is present with you in His Word and in His Sacraments.

Today “your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” He will overcome all your worries and uncertainties. For Almighty God, our heavenly Father, has had mercy upon us and has given His only Son to die for us and for His sake, forgives us all our sins.

Praying before

One of the things I really appreciate about the Pastoral Care Companion is how it has reminded me to pray before various pastoral acts such as shut-in visits, funerals, etc, even as the hymnal has reminded me to pray before worship and communion.
Yesterday the Sober Peasant had a link to the blog of a conservative Roman Catholic priest and Latin scholar. While poking around on that blog, I found a prayer for use before connecting to the internet that the priest wrote in Latin (with his translation into English, plus translations in a bunch of other languages). Apparently he's seen it all over the Internet, both with and without attribution.
Because he is true to his theology and invokes a saint (Isidore), I can't in good conscience reproduce it here - though I did pray it this morning, minus the invocation of the saint, of course. If you want to see it for yourself, I've given enough info for you to find it (with or without Google.)

Saints of the Bible, warts and all

I can relate to Moses, Lord... sort of. For You called me to lead barely a fraction of the number of people you called him to lead. And yet I still ask "Who am I that I should lead even a few of Your children, members of the New Israel, out of slavery to sin, away from Hell and to the Promised Land of Heaven?" I know I am not sufficient for this task. I have done what I thought was right, yet been accused of evil (Exodus 2:11-14). With tears I see times when I behaved as if I did not know you (Mark 14:66-72).

And so I thank You, Lord, for giving Scriptures that do not whitewash the heroes of the faith, but show the failures and doubts of Moses and Peter and so many others, so that I might know there is hope for all who continually fail... like me. I have hope, O Christ, because You have promised You will be with me (Exodus 3:12, Matthew 28:20), and You have given this sign for me - when I have been brought out of this world, I shall serve you in purity and in truth on the heavenly Mount Zion because You worshipped to death Your Father on Mount Calvary.

Tuesday in Lent 5

While working on my sermon for tomorrow night on Isaiah 53:8 using Rev. Christopher Mitchell's book "Our Suffering Savior", I found this on p. 91-92 about today's reading of Mark 14:53-65:

These violations of the rabbinic laws for capital cases occurred during the trials of Jesus before the Jewish leaders:

1. Both the trial and the arrival at the verdict were to occur during the daytime.
2. Trials were not to be held on the eve of a Sabbath or festival day.
3. While a verdict of acquittal could be reached on the day of the trial, a verdict of convition was not to be reached until th eday following the trail (to help prevent the condemnation of an innocent man).
4. A charge of blasphemy had to be sustained by the alleged blasphemer pronouncing the name of God Himself. (Jesus remained silent during most of the procedings.)
5. The regular meeting place of the high court was to be the "Chamber of Hewn Stone" (not the home of the high priest).
6. Capital cases were to begin with the proclamation of reasons for acquittal, and not with reasons for conviction. (At Jesus' trials it seems that only prosecuting witnesses spoke.)
7. Witnesses were to be solemnly warned and carefully examined regarding their testimony. (The witnesses against Christ contradicted each other and were never cross-examined.)

Mark tells us that the testimony of the (false) witnesses did not agree (Mark 14:56-59)... There was no just, legal basis for convicting Jesus. He was deprived of justice.

Monday in Lent 5 - Mark 14:50

My chapel message today at Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School went something like this:

The basis for this morning’s sermon is the final sentence of the Gospel reading: “Then [the disciples] all left Him and fled.” (Mark 14:50)

Have you ever been left behind and abandoned?

Those of you who watched basketball last night probably saw how Michigan St. players wanted to be left alone after they lost to Purdue.

My mom knew how to get me to leave her alone - especially if I said I was bored, she would start listing all the housework I could do. I instantly deserted her. There was another, more serious time. We were on vacation and went to a mall. Something caught my eye, so I stopped to look at it. I did not realize that my parents had assumed that I was still walking with them. I turned around and they were gone. I remember being so scared, thinking I would never find them again. I went out to the car, but they were not there. I went back to the store and a woman helped me find them. Only since adulthood have I realized that they were probably as scared of being without me as I was without them.

I noticed a group on Facebook is called something like “I survived a Mrs. Ryherd class.” I’m guessing a few of you have felt pretty lost in her courses. Worse yet is when it seems like you’ve been left behind because everyone else understands the material better than you do.

Some of the mission offerings at our local LCMS churches go to the Lutheran Church in South Africa. Rather than pretend they were strong enough to handle one of their problems on their own, the South African Lutherans asked some of our Southern Illinois pastors for advice. They thought that since we had so much more experience at being Lutheran, we had the answer to their question of how to stop kids from abandoning church after they have been confirmed.

Christ did not create us to be “Lone Ranger” Christians. Christ created the Church for times such as these - for times when we feel alone, like we are the only one suffering what we suffer. By His death, He brought us into a community of other sinners who have no strength of their own. Relying together upon God’s strength, we share our burdens as well as our joys. As God says in Ecclesiastes 4:10, “If one falls down, his friend can help him up.”

That verse was probably not in the Disciples’ minds on this particular evening. Mark 14 emphasizes their abandonment with three significant uses of the word “all.” Earlier in verse 27, Christ told them that they would ALL desert Him. They ALL protested, saying they would follow Him even if they had to die. At the arrest of Jesus, “They ALL left Him and fled” to different places. The proud, self-confident assertions of a few hours earlier were forgotten.

It might be easy for us here and now to look down on the Disciples for being weak. But what about out in the world? When the moment comes for you to stand up for Christ or commit a sin, how often do we desert Christ, fleeing at the first sign of danger to seek an easier life by giving in to temptation. At those moments, we find it hard to believe that God protects us from facing more than we can handle.

We have not been deserted by God. Neither was this scared and scattered band of Disciples. What soon would happen to them was nothing short of a miracle. ALL eleven went through a major change. These same men who were scared to face imprisonment together go through much worse over the course of their later lives. Imprisonment, beatings, tortures, shipwrecks, all but one of the Apostles were put to death.

What changed these men was the day God abandoned His own Son to death on the cross. Jesus cried out in agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” The reason God turned His back on Jesus is so that He would not turn His back on us, so that He would not forsake us. By being abandoned, Jesus paid for all the times that we desert God, for all the times that we love our earthly lives more than we love our Heavenly Father.

But this is only part of the miracle that changed the lives of the scattered followers. The Father abandoned His only Son to the Cross. However, He did not abandon His Son to the grave. He did not let His Holy One see decay. On the third day, God raised Him from the dead. Then Jesus showed Himself to ALL eleven Disciples. In spite of their fear and desertion, ALL eleven were saved. ALL eleven were looked upon with God’s forgiving love. This saving and forgiving love is what transformed a quivering, scared and scattered band of men into heroes of the faith. Men who stood with boldness, confidently proclaiming that God had suffered a criminal’s death, abandoned by all so that you and I would never be alone.

It is these men who wrote down the words and actions of Christ so that we today would know that He is still with us. Men who wrote down what it was like when the road of life got rough for them and sometimes got lonely. But we have a God who knows how it feels to be alone. They tell us we have a God who is certainly on the “Holy” ground of church, but He does not keep Himself locked away in the sanctuary. He does not abandon you to the world. Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Not just the day you are baptized. Not just on Sunday mornings. Not just at church. As I send you out, I also go with you.”

Because God has walked with us when we were lonely, we can share Christ with the lonely people we meet along the way. Picture it this way: You are walking along with a friend, and you meet up with your friend. “How’s it going, Jaret? Have you met this friend of mine before? This is Jesus.” Maybe nothing changes immediately for Jaret, but a seed has been planted. Perhaps in the years to come, Jaret will learn that there are Christians who have faced many of the same things that he does. Then there will be one less person who is lonely and one more person who will know that he is not alone. One more person united by Christ to believers around the world and believers in Heaven. One more person who will know that God is with him. One more person who will know that Christ was abandoned to the cross so that we would not be alone in this life, nor in the life to come. Amen.

St. Joseph

I have a lot of admiration for St. Joseph, the silent man of the Scriptures, and all the more having read Dr. Louis Brighton great article in Concordia Journal's July 2005 issue, which used Joseph and Mary to illustrate the living out of Ephesians 5. Make time to read (even if you have read it before), "Where is the Holy Family Today?: Marriage a Holy Covenant before God - The Biblical Role of Man and Woman"
Friend and fellow "Doxologist" Rev. Randy Asburry has this today.
And Rev. Cwirla posted this "Ode to Joseph" a few Christmas Eve's back. He also once preached (in a sermon I can't find online anymore) that we say we believe in Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary easy enough. It wasn't so easy for Joseph to say that. He had to go on faith in the Word of God that she was still a virgin, though pregnant.

Tuesday in Lent 4

Father Jacob in Genesis 43:1-28 reminded me of this post by Rev. Rick Stuckwisch. As parents, we are given a sacred duty to care for and protect our children. Sometimes this responsibility goes to our heads, and in pride we make ourselves to be false gods, able to protect them as long as they are in our presence. I have only begun to face this as my eldest is only a first grader, and so is only rarely away from my wife or me. Rev. Stuckwisch writes in part,

For a certain number of years, and in a limited number of ways, I am given to serve my children and care for their needs, but their bodies and lives are always really in the care and keeping of their Father in heaven.

Jacob confesses this in the end. Son Judah pledges the safety of Benjamin (Genesis 43:8-9). But Jacob knows that unless the Lord protects his house, Judah's promise is in vain. Without the Lord's mercy, Benjamin will not return. Nonetheless, God's will be done as Benjamin goes (Genesis 43:14).
Now the Son of Judah has pledged to you safety, even the resurrection of your body and the raising of your dead (Mark 12:25-27). And the Son of God never makes vain promises, for the work of the Lord is never in vain.
O Risen Son of God and Son of Man, let us see the fulfillment of Your Scriptures which promise us Your protection.

Monday in Lent 3

Luther comments on today's Psalmody

Psalm 3 is a psalm of prayer in which we follow the example of David. He prayed this prayer in distress when his son Absalom expelled him, and his prayer was granted to him. At the end, David glorifies God for being a true helper and keeper for all of His people who call on Him in distress.

Genesis 42 doesn't record a prayer by Jacob, but he is definitely in distress on account of his sons - first that they got rid of his beloved Joseph, and now that Joseph has demanded Benjamin come to Egypt. In today's New Testament reading (Mark 12:1-12) Jesus speaks of sons of Israel doing more than expelling the Son of David and Son of God from the vineyard. Quite appropriate psalm for today.

Back to father Jacob. He can only see death for his son Benjamin - and his own death by sorrow (Genesis 42:38). But in the end both Benjamin and Joseph will be alive. So also the disciples see only death for Jesus on Good Friday - and their death by sorrow. But after Easter, Jesus is alive - and they have more life than they ever had before. So also us - the Lord calls us to follow His voice, and we see how we have to give up what we think is right, to do things we think will never work, to die to self. But even when we can only see death, in the end this is the path of life with Christ.

2 Follow ups

1. On Thursday, the Lenten Catechesis in TDP gave this quote from the Large Catechism: "It is not as though [God] did not forgive sin without and even before our prayer. (He has given us the Gospel, in which is pure forgiveness before we prayed or ever thought about it [Romans 5:8])." Now picture the Prodigal father in Luke 15 embracing and kissing his found younger son before the son has said one word. And read this (from a sermon by William Cwirla):

   We make our confession within the embrace of our Father’s forgiveness. That’s what the Bible calls “grace.” Undeserved, unmerited kindness, love, mercy on the part of God all for Jesus’ sake. When you confess your sins, when you admit that you are a poor, miserable sinner, when you acknowledge the worst of what you’ve done, you are doing it in the embrace of a Father who has already run down the road to meet you with open arms. You confess within the embrace of God’s acceptance in Jesus. Got it?

2. Again on Thursday, we read in the Gospel (Mark 10) of James and John's request. Follow them beyond the condemnation of the Savior, beyond His baptism of fire and His drinking the cup of God's wrath against our sin, see them dying and rising in Christ, and you will see a huge difference in these brothers. They stopped seeking their own greatness, and, following in the footsteps of Jesus, become servants, giving their lives for others. The change in these two is incredible. And it means there is hope for you and me. Do you think the change that needs to occur in you is too great - from loveless self-glory seeker to servant of all? Too much for even God to work and do in your life? It was a huge change for James and John, from sons of thunder (Mark 3:17) to love. The Lord who did this good work in them and brought them to Heaven has begun this same work in you

Friday in Lent 3

The man, though blind, sees Jesus better than James and John - and the other ten disciples who are indignant (Mark 10:41). We do not deserve the things for which we pray; all we can beg is that the Son of David have mercy on us (Mark 10:47).
Yet for all that James and John get wrong, they are correct in thinking that being at the right and left of Jesus is a good place to be. Mark later writes that with Jesus, "they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left."
It is not an easy place, it is a place of death, but death with Jesus, the One who pays the ransom none of us can pay to God - the price of our life (Psalm 49:7). For taking what was not theirs, the robbers suffered justly. But in death, by grace, the penitent received what was not his, as Christ served him with the opening of Paradise.

Antiphons

How do you choose antiphons? (page o-62ff in Treasury of Daily Prayer)
(for my non-liturgical friends, an antiphon is a verse of Scripture repeated at the beginning and end of a psalm or other liturgical texts.)

I usually let the date decide it this way - I divide the date by the number of antiphons for the season. For instance, there are three for Lent, so tomorrow, 10 divided by 3 has a remainder of 1, so I'll be using #1, Matthew 4:4. Today has no remainder, so I used #3, Isaiah 53:7, 6.
(I have also divided Lent into thirds, the first third using #1, second third 2, and third third 3.)

Sometimes, like today, this somewhat random way of choosing antiphons leads to interesting results. Isaiah 53 is very solemn and somber, but Psalm 105:5-11 is rather joyous in tone - doesn't seem to go together. Yet there is this connection - The same Lord who faithfully kept His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has now cut His covenant with us in the blood of His Son. He promises that He has laid all our iniquity upon Christ, that "To you I will give [Heaven] as your portion for an inheritance," and He will not go back on His Word.

So, how do you choose an antiphon?

Tuesday in Lent 3 - Mark 9, What others said

(from this sermon by Rev. James Douthwaite, aka Sober Peasant.)

The words that we heard in the Holy Gospel for today are powerful words. And imagine, for a moment, what all of us here today would look like if we actually did what those words say and cut off offending and sinning members of our bodies! What parts of your body would you have left? . . .

+ Our feet have taken us to places we do not belong and we know we should not be.
+ Our hands have touched what should not have been touched and taken what did not belong to us, and have been much too slow to help.
+ Our eyes have wandered where they should not have.

...instead of making us maim ourselves and cut off our body parts – which, as we read, is what should happen because of our sin – instead, Jesus came to deal with it personally. And He did -- by offering all the parts of His body on the cross, in place of all the parts of our body that sin. And all the parts of His body were, in a way, cut off. Think about it:

Image via Wikipedia

+ Our feet take us where we do not belong, so He offered His feet to be nailed in place.

+ Our hands touch what they should not, so He offered His hands to be pierced so they could not touch or close around anything.

+ Our eyes have wandered, so He offered His eyes to be closed in death.

Monday in Lent 3

Today's readings of Genesis 29:1-30 (the deceiver Jacob being deceived by Uncle Laban) and Mark 9:14-32 provide comfort to the Church today. All the human mischief, weakness, unbelief, victimization, demonization end up highlighting the Lord's kindness, strength, wisdom, faithfulness (for though we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself), mercy, and help. This is why the Church has survived the centuries - for our faith is still as weak as those in Mark 9. But the Son of Jacob (note - through LEAH!) has come to destroy the deceiving demon's work. Not to mention the most beautiful prayer that has blessed the Church for centuries.

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!

Thursday in Lent 2

In his podcast on depression, Rev. Todd Pepperkorn has an excellent devotion on Mark 7:24-30 (actually Matthew 15's parallel passage) titled, "When God doesn't seem to care"

I'd like to connect this same text to what he posted today ("Abandonment and the Pastor"). Our church's 3 year lectionary last Sunday (Luke 13:34) brought us Jesus weeping over Jerusalem's unbelief. Like the woman in Mark 7:24f, the church weeps as she sees the devil have his way with her children. We pray and pray, and it can feel like we are getting the silent treatment from the Lord. Yet Mark 7:24-30 assures us that the Lord does hear. And so we confidently pray such words as the Prayer on Thursday in the Treasury of Daily Prayer (p. 1308), knowing that the gates of Hell will not overcome the Lord's Church, for the same God who answered Abraham's servant (Genesis 24:12-14) will answer our prayer as well.

Wednesday in Lent 2

It was Prof. Mark Brighton at Irvine who pointed out to me how Hebrews 11:17-19 sheds light on what Abraham was thinking in Genesis 22:1-19 today.

Tuesday in Lent 2 - Mark 6:35-56

Lord, “you sowed in me the seed of Your grace so it may grow to become a harvest of kindness towards others. You have committed to me great wealth in earthly possession so I have the means to do good to my fellow servants. Streams of material blessings flow to me from You, the Font of all good things. Whatever I am, whatever I have, whatever I give to others, I confess that all of it comes from Your kindness. For Your boundless mercy, I give You eternal thanks” (Johann Gerhard, Meditations on Divine Mercy, p. 82).

Monday in Lent 2

It jumps out at me that Jesus' compassion first expresses itself in teaching (Mark 6:34). May the Holy Spirit grant pastor-teachers to be compassionate in bringing the Shepherd's Word to His sheep.

TDP Typo

In case you are using your Treasury of Daily Prayer and are wondering why the OT text cuts off at such a strange place in the middle of a story, it is because the assigned reading is Genesis 15:1-21, but the text reproduced is actually 14:1-21. You might want to make a note of that for future years.

Saturday in Lent 1 - Psalmody

Todd Pepperkorn was on Issues, etc this week discussing Psalm 32, bringing out its contrast of hiding from God and hiding in God.

Thursday of Lent 1

"Who then, is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?" (Mark 4:41)
He is true God, the creator of wind and sea, who does care that we perish (Mark 4:38) and does far more than the terrified disciples ask or imagine in their prayer. (In light of this passage, try and argue that answers to prayer depend upon you having a strong faith!)
But He is also true man, who is transported by a boat and sleeps; who is the promised offspring of Abraham (Genesis 12, Galatians 3:16) here to bless all the families of the earth.
Yet the blessing of His kingdom is endangered by Abram's plans to save his own neck with the infamous "She's my sister, Pharoah" event. For God is determined not to give the offspring to the families of the earth apart from the family of Abraham AND Sarah (though He has not explicitly said that yet.) So that the promised salvation does not die - and us die with it - God reunites Sarah to Abraham. Certainly we are saved by grace, and not only not by our works, but like Abram, DESPITE our works.
Our Father who art in Heaven, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. Amen.

Wednesday of Lent 1 - Putting Genesis 6-9 in Context

In the 35th year of my life, in the second month of 2009, on the seventeenth day of the month (I know Noah didn't enter the ark on February 17, but it's still funny how it works out), Miss Erin and Miss Sophia were born. If we had entered the ark that day with Noah, we still would not be out until this weekend! Yikes. Gives me a whole new perspective on what he went through.

Tuesday of Lent 1 - Gospel

"And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end" (Mark 3:26).
Well, that is just exactly what happens, isn't it? After the devil arranges to destroy Jesus to death, he finds in the end that he has brought about the end of both himself and death. Christ dangled on the cross like a worm on a fishhook, and the devil and death took the bait.

"But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house" (Mark 3:27).
Reminded me of this quote by CFW Walther (HT: David Juhl):
This battle [of the Temptations between Jesus and Satan in the wilderness] was the first engagement touched off by the Lord of our salvation, in order to tread down Satan under our feet. It was the first defeat of the infernal host to show them that now a Stronger one had come. Scarcely had Christ begun His ministry when immediately He attacked Satan. He did not leave the field until He had won the last engagement for us on the cross and could cry out, “It is finished!” (emphasis added)

Monday of Lent 1 - Writing

Scratching your head over Luther's writing? I'm glad to know I'm not the only one, as the Sober Peasant wrestles with it today, and then Pastor Weedon provides some background info, and then Sober Peasant responds.

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Wow, amazing how all the texts fit together. Whoever chose Psalm 12 had great wisdom. The faithful vanish as Adam and Eve fall. Everyone utters lies and speak from double hearts (Psalm 12:1-2) as they respond to God about their sin. But then God promises to cut off the tongue of the serpent that made great boasts (Psalm 12:3) when the seed of Eve crushes his head (Genesis 3:15).
So that man does not live by bread alone (after he tried finding life apart from the word that comes from the mouth of God - Lenten Antiphon 1), the Lord God exiles man from the garden.
Though man brought sin into the world, and death through sin, the LORD places man into safety (Psalm 12:5) in the Mark 2: 1-12 reading - first dealing with sin through forgiveness, then dealing with death through making the lame man to walk. Was the paralytic disappointed when Jesus "only" forgave him? I used to think so, but I'm not so sure anymore. He could have had friends like Job's telling him he was suffering terribly because he sinned terribly - or his parents did (see John 9). And even if his "friends" didn't, his mind could have been accusing him of past sins - or it could have been cursing God for treating him this way. At any rate, I now think the man was actually greatly relieved when the Lord told him to rejoice that his sins were forgiven.

Friday after Ash Wednesday

O Christ, it is a hectic time, with many demands placed upon us, even as there were many needy ones searching You out in Your time on earth. If you, Lord, needed to go off to desolate places to pray (Mark 1:35), how much more do we weak mortals need this in our service to You? And so help us to devote time to Your word and teach us to pray.

February 18

It's worth your time during Lent and Easter to check out "The Time of Easter Addition", especially Luther's writing for today (pg. 1281). Reebok used to have a commercial slogan saying, "Reebok lets you be you." Luther could be paraphrased as saying today, "The Lord is the Lord - and He lets you be you" when he writes, "It is he who without our help, counsel, thought or effort has brought his kingdom forth and has advanced and preserved it to this day. I have no doubt that he will consummate it without our advice or assistance*... He is called the Lord who can and will help in a wonderful, glorious, and mighty way, particularly when the need is the greatest. We are meant to be human beings, not divine."

* = quite the comfort to men who fail as pastors, let alone Christians! Ironically, I was talking with Rev. Doug Nicely today at the hospital about this very fact, that if God hadn't been with the Church, foolish human mismanagement would have put it out of business a LONG time ago!

As for the Scripture readings, Mark 1 tells us that Jesus silences the demons after we have let the Devil have his say in our life for far too long. On the first Sabbath (Genesis 2), God could rest. On that Sabbath in Capernaum, He had work to do to free us from the devil's work. Reminds me of this post by Rev. David Peteren some years back, which helps me think of last night's Divine Service in a new light, granting me rest before an extremely busy day today of serving the Lord and His people (three hospitals-five visits, plus a shut in communion):

During the course of his lectures Kleinig made some profound, off-hand
remarks about the 3rd commandment and the prohibition of labor on the Sabbath. I
am surprised it never occurred to me before, but Kleinig talked about how
strange and magnificent it is that God commands His people to worship Him by
doing nothing. What are we to do? Nothing. God does it all. How do we worship
Him? By doing nothing, by reception of His gifts. The Divine Service is not
where we appease God's wrath or primarily where we serve Him, but where He
serves us. How did I go so long teaching the Catechism and not see this?

Ash Wednesday TDP readings

St. Mark has no Christmas. He begins the Gospel in the wilderness. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and it was good. But we thought we could live apart from every word that comes from the mouth of God (Lenten antiphon). And as a result this whole world became a wilderness.
Yet by God's grace, the wilderness is not as bad a place as it could be. In fact, He makes it to be a place of blessing - the place where God trains Moses, and Israel, and Elijah, and John the Baptist and his listeners to have no other gods, to learn to live again by every Word that comes from His mouth. We are in the wilderness, but Mark says Jesus is in the wilderness with us to save us.

Two TDP links

Scot Kinnaman has this intro to TDP and tips on how to vary its use.

He also gave this link to another TDP blog - Alex Kirk means Nurture the Church

(and remember to flip back to the start of the book for Lenten readings - unless your continuing with Job)

February 16

O Christ, the Scripture's witness to You - even the "mists and rocks and quicksands" of Job's life "still guides, O Christ, to You" (LSB 523.2):

• Who, though our King, was bound with a wastcloth as You washed Your disciples' feet;
• Who, though our Priest, was stripped as You made sacrifice for us;
• Who, though God's greatest Prophet, was deprived of speech in death, when contempt and mockery was poured upon You at the Cross (cf. Job 12:18-21),

so that You might take away our shame and give us Your eternal life. May Your Father's Word abide in us so that we believe in You, whom He has sent (John 5:38). Amen.

February 15

O Christ, who gives more good than our guilt deserves, let us hear Your voice so that we might rise from the deadness of our sin and be onesimus/useful to one another through reconciling forgiveness. Amen.

TDP, Job and Lent

about the only thing I don't like about TDP (actually, it's not really TDP's fault, but the lectionary calendar it follows from Lutheran Service Book) will soon make its annual appearance - we abandon Job in the midst of his sufferings. If you follow this lectionary religiously, you will not get to the end of Job until 2038 (when Easter is the absolute latest it can ever be.) This year we miss John 6-8 and return to chapter 9 of his Gospel after Trinity Sunday, but because of the way Easter slides around, we'll cover the unread chapters in other years.
So what to do about Job?

1. Abandon him in his suffering.
2. Read the Job text as the Old Testament reading one year, and the Genesis reading the next year.
3. Add the Job text assigned for the secular date to the readings assigned for the day in Lent.

February 9 - John 3

while I was reading it, I had all these thoughts about what to write. Though, praise God, I wasn't so much distracted by the thought of this blog, as the thoughts led me devotionally deeper in prayer... but now I cannot remember so well what I was going to write exactly, but it went something like this:

The first response of Jesus to Nicodemus catches one off guard. It's not what was expected. Nicodemus greets with pleasantries, but it's almost like Jesus says, "Enough with the flattery - are you going to treat me like I am a teacher from God." Will we? We call Jesus Lord, Savior, Christ annointed to preach good news to us poor ones, the Word of God made flesh. At least that is what our words call Him - but our bodies and minds do not do so good of a job confessing/same saying the truth of those words. Lips may draw near, but hearts and minds wander far from Him.
Nicodemus has come to the Light in physical sense, yet comes at night, loving the darkness at this point rather than the Light because he does not want his work to be exposed to his fellow teachers of Israel. Not yet. But after the darkness covered the earth for three hours one Friday, he very publicly goes to care for the body of the Light, and it is clearly seen that his works were carried out in God for God.
But I get ahead of myself there, for first, while the teacher of Israel is still failing to understand, slow to believe, hiding in and loving the darkness, etc, he is taught the tremendous love of God in giving up not a creature (what kind of love is that? as Hilary points out in the Writing (WOW! - make sure to read this if you haven't), but His Only-begotten Son.

February 4

O Father, many are feeling the losses of family, friends, and other earthly blessings in these days. Though their losses may not reach the level of Job's, mercifully hear their prayers and grant us peace, that we may have Job's faith, who was able to say, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Amen.

another TDP blog

HT: Todd Pepperkorn, for pointing this out

February 2 - Writing

a member who has TDP asked me this morning about turtles. I'm guessing 1) Cyril had a corrupted Greek mss and 2) he didn't know Leviticus well. But it still bugs me. Though I do love how he then sees Christ in the Song of Songs passage. Would that more people could see Christ in the Old Testament like that.

oh, and I thank the Lord that He has given me such Biblically literate members who would know that sacrificing a turtle would not be kosher!

UPDATE - my dictionary, in the second definition of "turtle", says it is an archaic way of saying "turtledove" (which is what Pr. Weedon said.) Glad to know that Cyril didn't get it wrong.

January 25 - Psalmody

Psalm 6 is the subject of a segment on today's Issues, etc.

not TDP - on the Why question

Prof. John Pless has just contributed this article to the Lutheran Witness online edition concerning Haiti and recent human-caused tragedies. I would assume it will appear in an upcoming print edition.

January 12 - How does this apply?

Certainly, if you are a brother in the office, then you have probably felt Ezekiel 34's words cut you to the heart as I have. Or if not in the office, but you are a brother in Christ, perhaps you feel the sting of v. 17-22. For I have shepherded for my own gain, and I have consumed the Lord's goodness while trampling down His blessings for others.
Certainly that is a true and valid application. But maybe we should find joy in this passage by recognizing the Lord's gracious goodness in it. For we could also validly see ourselves as the ones saved in this passage. Other false shepherds and sheep before us would have ruined and cut us off from the Lord's blessings - yet He would not have us be scattered forever. And so the Lord Himself comes as the Son of David to gather us as His sheep into His salvation. Yes, we have been victimized by others, but the Shepherd binds up our wounds.
Getting back to the first part, our own failures to be the shepherd and/or sheep highlight all the more that we cannot boast, but have been justified by His grace as His gift (Romans 3).
(Not that we should try to highlight the goodness of God's gift with more evil from us, but then that was yesterday's reading - Romans 3:5-8).

January 9 - Ezekiel 3

This passage can bring about a lot of guilt, as one thinks of whom one has not warned against their sin and how our love has been cold to them. Certainly, "On God rests my salvation and my glory" as the Psalmist says today, for it cannot rest upon my works. Yet Paul notes that we must not use this salvation as authorizing us to go back to sinning after forgiveness, for that would be to "presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience" (Romans 2:4).

But before chapter 3 ends, God says that Ezekiel must go shut himself within the house, and that God will make his tongue mute - which makes it pretty hard to warn the wicked and the righteous. The Lutheran Study Bible notes provide a resolution for what seemed like a contradiction to me - Ezekiel is to be God's watchman, not a morality cop. "As the following instructions will amplify, Ezekiel is to do nothing without God's explicit command, esp in public" (v 24 note). His muteness "is lifted whenever God speaks to him" (v 26).

Keep me from saying words that later need recalling;

Guard me lest idle speech may from my lips be falling;

But when within my place I must and ought to speak,

Then to my words give grace lest I offend the weak.

Lord, let me win my foes with kindly words and actions,

And let me find good friends for counsel and correction.

Help me, as You have taught, to love both great and small

And by Your Spirit's might to live in peace with all.

(LSB 696.3-4)

January 4

In truth, we cannot say the words of Psalm 40:9-10 on our own. Yet we are not on our own - we are in Christ. For despite our withholding the Good News of great joy from people in many and various ways, God's Son delivers it to us.

As for the Gospel text, Rev. Aaron Koch once wrote this (find the rest of the sermon here):

Because Jesus is without sin, He is all the more easily neglected and taken for granted by sinful parents, who travel for an entire day utterly unconcerned about a Boy who has never demanded anything of them or been a problem for them. What Jesus is doing during this three day separation is His Father's business in His Father's house. His Father's business is saving Mary and Joseph and people like you and me. And so when His mother asks Him, "Why have you done this to us?" meaning the worry and the suffering she and Joseph have endured, the 12-year old Jesus replies with words that basically mean, "Because I love you." His Father's business is not to torment Mary and Joseph, but to redeem them. But caught up in their own self-focused perception of things, they didn't understand it. They forgot who Jesus was, even who His Father was, and therefore who they were.

Don't we also sometimes do that? We get so used to Jesus that we forget who He is. We whittle Him down to someone who fits manageably into our plans. And then when He behaves as the Lord of our lives, we get all upset at having to fit into His plans. But Jesus again reveals the truth of who He is to Joseph and Mary and to us that they and we might be called back to repentance and faith in Him who has come to save us. That is His Father's business.

January 2

Now I know where that nagging feeling that I needed to read devotions in TDP was coming from (thanks God.) What a glorious reminder to speak to the Lord's bride tomorrow with His love. And Loehe's description of the Divine Service is not to be missed as we enter a Sunday not just as an island in between the waters of two weeks, but also between the oceans of two years. (Weedon has the first bit of the Writing here.)