To have Him walk in the darkness of my face ...

Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face … Psalm 89:15 (ESV)

God my God, my Father God,
I must confess to Thee that too often I am like those who does not know the festal shout.
Surely I have heard it from Thy servants!
Surely I have read it from Thy sacred Scriptures!
Surely I have proclaimed this festal shout!
Yet just as surely, I have not known this shout!
For too often my itching ears long for some other shout that will say and save what my sinful flesh hungers for.
And I have made my walk, not in the light of Thy face, but in the light of men’s faces,
Hoping that in the light of their faces I shall hear the shouts that will set me free to indulge myself and forget my responsibilities to God and my neighbor.
Yet, I find that in the light of their faces and in the sounds of their shouts –
there is no light, no shout that can that set me free from me and the darkness that is mine in sin.
How sadly do I lament that so often it is only here, in the bondage of my own sinful darkness,
that I long to hear and know that festal shout.
How sadly do I lament that too often it is only here,
in the darkness that all human light brings,
that I long to see the “light of your face”,
let alone walk in it.
Yet it is here, in this darkness that I fear the festal shouts,
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11 (ESV)
What God, what a glorious God is He who has loves us, loves me!
What God is so loving that He sends His Son,
to have Him know my sinful shout,
and know the deafening silence of God against my sinful shout,
that I might forever hear and know the festal shout of God’s forgiveness in His Son.
What God is so loving that He sends His Son,
to have Him walk in the darkness of my face and walk in the darkness of God’s face against my darkened face,
that I might forever walk the light of Lord’s forgiving face upon me in His Son.
What is the Festal shout?
What is the light of God’s face?
Surely it only and always the Lord Jesus Christ, 
only begotten Son of God and Son of man. 

Give me ears to hear Thy festal shout!
Lead my heart to walk in the light of Thy face!
Make my spirit to exalt in Thy name!
Exalt me in Thy righteousness,
because Thou art the glory of my strength,
and by Thy good favor, my horn is exalted.
Exalt me in Thy righteousness,
because my shield belongs to Thee O Lord,
my King, my Holy One, my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. (Ps 89:16-18)

- pmwl

Power to still all that storm tosses ...

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalms 46:10-11 (ESV)

When all seems as if you will fly to pieces because of some inner storm or turmoil,
Hear His words and heed them well, "Be still, and know that I am God."
With these words He declares to you in no uncertain terms,
“It is enough for you, for your storm, for your turmoil, that I am your God.”
“If it was enough for you that my Son has quelled the turmoil of your sin and my wrath against you for your sin, how much more so is enough for you and all that is surely less than these – that I am your God?”
“Be still, and know that I am your God and thus greater than you or your troubles.”
Let these words put both you and your turmoil into perspective that you might have real peace even in the midst of them.
This word has power to still all that storm tosses you within or without.
This word made flesh for you, this Lord of hosts is with you and He is your strength and your stillness in perfect peace.

- pmwl

How December 25 Became Christmas Day

by Andrew McGowan

 TALKBACK  Add Your Comment

Click to view a slide show of larger images and captions.

On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods—these all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus’ birthday?

SEE THE REST OF THIS GREAT ARTICLE  @  http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp

... no believer ought expect another person to make it possible for them to live their faith ...

Just as you cannot make out of the gospel a sacrifice or a work, so you cannot make a sacrifice or a work out of this sacrament [of the Lord's Supper]; for this sacrament is the gospel.
Therefore, in this matter no one can achieve anything for another person.
Each one must believe for himself just as I must believe all the Gospels for myself.
I cannot hear or believe or keep for anyone else so much as a single letter of the gospel, even as I cannot be baptized for anyone else.
In living the faith, no believer ought expect another person to make it possible for them to live their faith.
What wolves in sheep’s clothing put conditions upon others which must be met before one will worship and serve with such fellow believers.
Nothing manifests the falsity of one’s faith more than the conditions they set upon other or the church before they will do what saving faith freely and gladly does.
This is a rejection of the faith and Christ because it is a rejection of right worship and service out of love for God our Savior.
Yet when it comes to good works, that is serving,
I can always do to another person and for another person.
Indeed, I have to do them for somebody else or they are not good works.
For example, I can pray for you, serve you, work for you, suffer for you, and so forth.
There is a great difference between faith and good works, just as vast as the difference in value between the tree and the fruit.
Fruits disappear and return each year, but the tree remains always.
Faith also remains always, but works disappear. ...
Be careful, therefore, to stay on the track.
Don't let anyone pull you away from the Word through any statement of man … [Gal. 1:8].
"The elect will be led astray," says Christ [Matt. 24:24].
Therefore we cannot build on the mere word of one of the elect saints, without Scripture.
Christ has warned us faithfully enough, and our own experience has probably taught us, that saintly men can make mistakes and have made mistakes. ...
No good work can free us of our sins or give us grace or life or salvation.
But this sacrament [of Lord's Supper] does give life, grace, and blessedness, for it is a fountain of life and of blessedness.

-Martin Luther
The Adoration of the Sacrament Vol. 36]

THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY

How Shall I Journey By Faith?

How shall I journey by faith?

Live baptized soul, live in repentance and faith each day until the last day.

Never in days of ease feel too secure, never so sure, but walk in Godly fear.

Never in days of defeat in sin, believe all is lost, for yet again you shall praise the Lord as He visits you with His salvation.

Walk with King David and John the Baptist, becoming lower and lower in your own eyes.

You have learned to lay your sins on Jesus and you have found healing under His wings.

Never abandon your first love [Rev 2:4].

Live by the Spirit’s enlightening through the Sacred Word, then you shall see yourself more and more clearly and grow in a deepening awareness of your need for grace.

Trials, troubles and worldly temptations shall not be lacking as tutors in your daily wakening to your weakness and your need for the hollowed humblings that follow.

By the hand of Christ you shall be led from the judgment hall to the way of sorrows toward Golgotha.

Turn not away from this journey oh baptized soul, let the journey take you deeper into a fellowship with His sufferings, and deeper into the sweet communion of His grace!

This is the journey that leads to the mount of the Ascension.

This is the journey of faith by which our Lord will bring you with unveiled eyes you shall see the Lamb on throne who makes all the saints rejoice with eternal joy.

Live baptized soul, live in repentance and faith each day until the last day.

- pmwl.

A prayer when there is too much

Blessed Father, there is much I need to do this day, much I would like to do, and much that I cannot do.  As You are able to do much more that I can possibly the think or imagine, let Your much be sufficient to do for me, in me and through me, all that is pleasing in Your sight.  In Christ. Amen.

O LORD, I AM EMPTY – LEND ME....

An Advent prayer according to our emptiness and the fullness our Lord brought, brings today, and will bring.

O Lord, You and You alone are full, and the fullness of all that was, is, and ever will be.
O Lord, I am empty of all that is good and by myself can only remain empty.
O Lord, I have a fullness, that fills my every thought, word, and deed with what is sin and vice.
O Lord, of my sinful fullness, I cannot ever make myself empty of it.
O Lord, You allowed Yourself to be filled with the fullness of my sin so that my fullness might be emptied by the fullness of God’s wrath against me and my fullness.
O Lord, You emptied Yourself of Your fullness that You might meet me in my emptiness and there fill me with Yourself.
O Lord, empty me of my sinful fullness that I might be filled with You.
O Lord, even in their perfection, Adam and Eve were created to live as borrowers of all things, Your image, life, and all that Your perfect creation provided for them.
O Lord, being so empty in sin, how much more must I surely borrow from You, if I am to be full.
O Lord, lend me Your goodness, for I have no goodness of my own that works good in all things.
O Lord, lend me Your truth, for I have no truth of my own that is eternal truth.
O Lord, lend me Your love, for I have no love of my own that is a saving love.
O Lord, lend me Your wisdom, for I have no wisdom of my own that is proved by its children.
O Lord, lend me Your passion and death, for I my passion and death is not sufficient for my sin.
O Lord, lend me Your life, for I have no life of my own that lives in God my Redeemer.
O Lord, lend me Your Word, for I have no words of my own that speak of God my Savior.
O Lord, lend me Your grace, for I have no ability of my own to do that which is necessary to be right with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
O Lord, lend my prayer the name of Jesus so that it might acceptable and pleasing in Your sight. Amen.

- pmwl

Selah - Rose of Bethlehem

Praying to He who has come, comes now, and it coming again.

Petitions to, and according to, He who has come, comes, and is coming again.

Blessed Jesus, Word of the Eternal Father, convert me.
Teacher of Truth, teach me that I may learn.
Only Prince of Peace, give me Your peace.
Eternal Refuge, receive and secure me.
Good Shepherd, feed my soul and shepherd me.
True Consolation, comfort me.
Pure Patience, wait for me.
True Humility, humble me.
Truly Meek, give me peace in my humiliation.
Blessed Redeemer, save me.
Everlasting Truth, instruct me.
Source of Life, make me to live in You.
Sure Support, strengthen and sustain me.
Just Judge, judge me.
Divine Grace, justify me.
Mediator From On High, reconcile me to Your Father.
True Physician, heal me and make me whole.
Holy Justice, pardon me.
Sovereign King, rule over me and in me.
Sacred Sanctification, make me holy.
Abyss of True Goodness, grant me Your good.
Living Bread from heaven, feed and nourish me.
Oldest Brother of the prodigal and his older brother, welcome me.
Eternal Joy that the world cannot give, make me joyful.
Peace that the world cannot give, make me peaceful.
Holy Help, aid, assist and help me.
Perpetual Protection, defend me.
Sure Hope, fill me with confidence.
Fountain of mercy, refresh me.
Sacrificial Victim, atone for me.
The End of All in Glory, be my end in all things.
Glory of the Father, glorify me in You.
True God, lend me my all.
All in All, possess all of me.
THE Savior, save me and be ever saving me, for I am a sinner in need of Your constant salvation.
Name Above all Names, Jesus Christ. Amen.

-pmwl

Christ empties Himself to fill my emptiness with His eternal fullness

In this Advent season, we do well to ponder this Christ who has come, is come, and is coming again.
On such point to ponder, I offer you from Ephesians 1:23 “… the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Bound in sin, I have no fullness, I am bound in emptiness. Christ empties Himself to fill my emptiness with His eternal fullness. What is my part in this? Repentance and faith! Repentance through which I am emptied of myself and faith that I might receive His filling and fullness. Emptiness and fullness is the echo of Christ’s journey in my salvation and my journey in His salvation.

CHRIST WAS:
Emptied of heaven to fill earth,
Emptied of pure divinity to fill humanity,
Emptied by divine justice to fill us by divine justification,
Emptied of God’s presence to fill us with God’s presence,
Emptied in death to fill us with eternal life,
Emptied from a tomb to fill us with resurrection,
Emptied physically from us to be fully in us spiritually through His Spirit.

WHERE WE ARE:
Emptied by sin, He fills us with His forgiveness.
Emptied by despair, He fills us with His hope.
Emptied by fear, He fills us with His courage.
Emptied by rejection, He fills us with His invitation.
Emptied by pride, He fills us with His humility.
Emptied by perversions of thought, He fills us with His pure and holy thinking.
Emptied by the words of others or our own, He fills us with His Words of eternal life.
Emptied by weakness, He fills us with His strength.
Emptied by death, He fills with life ever-lasting.
In Christ, we have no fullness that His emptiness cannot receive.
In Christ, we have no emptiness that His fullness He cannot so fill that our cups, our lives shall surely run over.

pmwl

Giving Thanks that Our God has neither brim or bottom

How good is our God whose mercies never come to an end.
Our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit has neither a brim that He might say, “Enough for you!”, nor a bottom that He might say, “There is no more for you!”

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalms 106:1

A Blessed Thanksgiving to all through Jesus Christ!

pmwl

The Face of the Church is the face of one who is a sinner, troubled, ...

“The church, which, as he demands again and again, should be believed, is ‘invisible’ in exactly the same sense as all the other constituents of faith are invisible. 

It must be believed contrary to all appearances.

What can be seen of the church is anything but ‘glory’.  

‘The Christian Church cannot be without suffering, persecution, and dying, yes, not without sin either’ (WA 7, 684, 9). 

‘The face of the church is the face of one who is a sinner, troubled, forsaken, dying, and full of distress’ (Erlangen edition ex. lat. 18, 213). 

Nevertheless, faith sees the opposite, the saint, the ‘glory of God’, the ‘glory of the Christian brotherhood’.”

Elert, Werner: The Structure of Lutheranism.  262

LIVING BY FAITH IN GOD'S WANT TO DO A DEED "IN" ME

Luther is often quoted as saying: "Let no one give up the faith that God wants to do a deed through him." Whether this is what Luther said or not, there is an inscription on an archway at Wittenberg seminary that reads almost the same, but with one word changed. "Let no one give up the faith that God wants to do a deed in him."
This change may seem as a trifling thing, yet it is so critically important. How often do both pastor and people get themselves sideways in their faith to the point of despair because they are living only for the deed the Lord would do through them. When such people fail to see the deed they would accomplish come to fulfillment, they quickly descent into despair and depression. All this because their faith is fixed first and foremost on what they think the Lord ought to do through them, and when He doesn’t, they jump to the false illusion that the Lord has thrown them off and has no further use of or for them.
As the redeemed, we live by faith in Christ and His redeeming grace that daily rescues us from our sin and our sinfulness. We have been saved by God’s grace to do the good works that He prepared in advance for us to do. Let us not be so foolish to believe that He who has accomplished all that is necessary for our eternal redemption, is somehow ignorant of when, where and how best to use our redeemed lives in and for His Kingdom. If you would know what is the will of God for you as His redeemed child, look not to what you would do for Him, but look His Word, to His 10 Commandments, here you will find more than enough to occupy your time and your faith.
In all that the Lord gives you to do and in all that He has set you free from doing – make sure that you do not take to yourself what He has not given you. In what He has given you to do, rejoice in both the opportunity to serve and the boundaries that come with it. In what the Lord has relieved you from doing, rejoice that it sets you free to do more in your given areas of service and it sets you free for the potential of new opportunities of service.
The great hazard of taking to ourselves to do what our Lord has not given us is that it will only get in the way of doing what He has set us free to do in Jesus Christ. This will then only escalate our sense of uselessness and frustration and make us a willing and prime target for the illusions of Satan.
Inasmuch as “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.” (Heb 13:8), His want to do His saving deed in us is eternally almighty today as it was before time began. So almighty is our Lord’s want to work His saving grace in us that, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lam 3:22-23
Wherever you would look for the deed our Lord would do through you, look first and always to the deed our Lord is doing in you and you will always have hope.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Psalms 42:11

The peace and blessings of Christ be with you!

... the “Word,” as the organ and transmitter of ...

For Luther the “Word,” as the organ and transmitter of the Holy Spirit, as the “life and substance of the church” (vita et substantia ecclesiae), is, in the strict sense, a sacred element of the church. 

As a word spoken by human beings it is a piece of the world—and yet not the word of the world, but God’s Word.  It not only consecrates the acts of Baptism and Holy Communion, but it also imparts a spiritual character to all “worldly things” with which it has to do (umgeht). 

Accordingly, it gives them a character that is not worldly. By constantly re-creating and preserving the church it impresses on it a sacred character.

Elert, Werner: The Structure of Lutheranism. CPH, 2000, c1962, S. 263

... to see what spirit you follow:

When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.” Matt 17:24-27 (ESV)

If Jesus is God's Son, He should hardly have to pay tax to the Temple which is His Father's. Yet by what Jesus says here, He testifies about His divinity. Thus by what Jesus does, He shows in deed His almighty power and His omniscience by telling Peter to take a coin from the fish’s mouth. But Jesus, who is God's only-begotten Son, the Almighty Lord, who did not have to pay tax, pays the tax.

Christ's love is the spirit of true humility and peace forming and strengthening society. In this love He has given to His people, the members of His body, so that His spirit in us conquers over the flesh and the unlawful spirit of the devil at work within us.

If you would be a Christian in more than name only, then examine yourselves, so see who you really follow.

Search yourself and your ways to see what spirit you follow: Christ's spirit of obedience and humility or the power seeking / " my way or the highway" spirit of the world.

Do you follow Christ's love which willingly bears the burdens of your companions or the spirit of selfishness and self-serving which murmurs and complains because others refuse your vision or way of how things ought be done?

How many people who stand on their Christian freedom, stand on this freedom not for the sake of humble service to those whom God has joined them or obedience to those God has placed over them, but the sake of escaping any true forms of humble service or obedience.

Such people who talk a great deal about Christ and the freedom they have in Him, are so far from the humble obedience of their Savior and the true freedom that the Christian uses to love and serve their Lord and neighbor. They are enslaved and toil under the yoke of self-will and are controlled by a perverted spirit of freedom which divides and tears apart both the church of which they are a part and human society.

“If you want to belong to my kingdom," the Lord says: “then deny yourself. If you want to rule with me, then put on my humility and my servitude and my obedience. If you want to wear a crown of glory there in heaven above, then bear the cross here and walk in my footsteps of humble service."

The freedom of faith in which we follow Christ can never be used to turn away from Christ in His Word.  The one who uses this freedom to turn away from Christ as He gives Himself in Word and Sacrament, has turn away from the very faith that receives Christ and His salvific work.

Many are the times when we so misuse our Christian freedom, thanks be to God that if we be faithless, He remains ever faithful (2 Tim 2:13). 

So draw me to you with a repentant heart, Lord, and let me be led in Your humble way. Give me grace through faith, to put on Your mind and to follow You faithfully. Let me be a faithful member of Your holy church on earth which You established – and in heaven a blessed member of the Church triumphant, to which You gather all Your saints. Grant this grace to me and to all who call upon Your name most merciful God. Amen.

Nils Jakob Laache

Book of Family Prayer
Lutheran Synod Book Company - Mankato, MN
Editing and additions by Pastor Mark W. Love

All Sizzle, No Substance

By Rev. Scott Murray - Memorial Lutheran Church - Houston, TX
Tuesday of Pentecost 23 - 2 November 2010

Worry transgresses the first commandment. Yes, of course. We should believe that God is in charge and that there is nothing to worry about. When we worry, we are ultimately saying that God can't take care of us. But there are far more destructive kinds of worry than our garden variety worries about money, home, family, and future. The worst kind of worry is the worry that church leaders often exhibit about the church and her future. Church leaders agonize when it appears the church is dying because its adherents are defecting to the world. It is easy to suffer this worry, when all that we read and see shoves into our face the declining membership in Christian churches today. The very leaders of the churches themselves are constantly beating the dead horse of declining church membership in the churches. The result of these beatings is that we begin to think we had better do something about this weakness and decline in our church body or congregation. If we would just do something, we could reverse the trend and grow.
This is a far worse idolatry than garden variety worry. This is worry that attributes to God the inability to care for, watch over, and guard His church. He needs us to help Him do that of which we think Him incapable. This kind of worry drives us to try to fix what is not under our control. This kind of worry motivates us to employ the manipulative marketing methodologies of the world to woo the "dying" church back to life. The church's life cannot be created nor maintained by such methods. If we use these methods we will be treating the chaste bride of Christ as though she were an adulterous woman, who can be wooed by the techniques of the procurer. The church will suffer under the signs of death until the Lord who suffered and died returns in glory on the Day of Judgment. We dare not worry her out of those signs into the signs we prefer. We dare not deck her out in the glad rags of the adulterous woman. She is our mother, not our girlfriend.
No matter how much people rave about the latest techniques by which they think they can "grow the church," we must not succumb to them, but faithfully testify to the power of Christ to preserve His church and save His people though the divine Word alone. Such techniques were foisted on God's people as a better way to reach people with the Word, but in such situations, the "better way" finally overcomes the word and the sizzle substitutes for the meat. One of the restaurants near my office is "Ruth's Chris Steak House," which advertizes that their steaks arrive at your table on a sizzling 1,200 degree plate. What if they began serving the plate without bringing the steak on it? The sizzle would fail to feed and satisfy the restaurant patron and very soon the restaurant would be empty. I am hearing a great deal from people who are attending Christ-less churches where Christ is not preached for fear of offending the congregants. This is the triumph of sizzle over substance.
The church needs to be committed to preaching Christ and His mercy for sinners, without counting the cost. Will some turn back and no longer walk with Jesus (Jn 6:66)? Yes, but that is God's business, not ours. We should not worry about making God more successful and let God be who He is, under the humble signs of the Word. Let God worry about His church. He can manage it.

Martin Luther
"This doctrine (of the cross) is especially necessary at the present time, when we see the pope and his accomplices raving and raging in a cruel manner. Many good and saintly men, together with their wives and children, are being driven into exile, stripped of all their goods, and atrociously slaughtered. Similarly, the Turk is also raging monstrously. Accordingly, we are in the midst of death, and the world is being driven to ruin, but the Lord still lives. Everything belongs to the Creator, who is the almighty Father. Therefore we should have no regard for the size of the calamities and for the power of those who persecute us. Nor should our own dangers or those of our wives and children make us afraid. Thus Joseph does not look at prison, disgrace, death, and the very sad and horrible things that befell him (Gn 45:7). No, he clings to the Word and believes in the almighty Father. What if the Turk or the pope swallow us alive? What are they doing? They are devouring our death, miseries, and tribulations, and are exchanging this calamitous life for eternal life, provided that we believe in the almighty Father.
"But you will say, 'Meanwhile, however, religion is being destroyed.' What will happen then? What of it? Let God rule. Let Him take care of this. The Lord will take care that the church and a holy seed are preserved on earth. Certainly Joseph was sent to the Egyptians, a barbarous and godless nation with no knowledge of God, where there was great danger that his tender soul would be seduced after being imbued with depraved dogmas and superstition. But the outcome bears witness that that very mission and danger was the cause of many blessings. Thus it is possible for God also to preserve some of us to be a nursery for the church when the Turk and the enemies of God have been destroyed. For He allows them to rave and rage so that they may be destroyed and perish. In the meantime, however, the light of the Gospel is gradually being propagated more and more. Only let us keep on believing, teaching, suffering, and dying; for they, too, will have to perish."


http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=gxf7b9bab&v=001gjTeQvTgjppgqhm7v1Y_sKd8LTOwMhkqpb6Ria9olSWzVYJN4RFoKCiyfx84IxSLiZUyGqBnPhPxCJmXkCeSAWP5YHjik9mjp6IUL4PoKYQ1V7PArn0BoA%3D%3D

THE TROUBLE OF A FADED IMAGE OF GOD

“What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous? Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight; how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!”  Job 15:14-16 (ESV)

We might say that according to this text man is as unholy as God is holy. But that would not be correct, for nothing can be compared with God’s holiness. “The heavens are not pure in His sight.” The light of the sun is completely clear, yet God’s light His sight.” The light of the sun is completely clear, yet God’s light must we look in His eyes? “How can he who is born of a woman be righteous? … Man, who is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water!” And how do the Pelagians explain this text?
“Learn, O man, really to know what Adam’s fall and original sin are, that your filthiness cannot be expressed or understood. Learn to know yourself, what you have become by the fall into sin, that you were made in the image of God, but have become the image of Satan, with all his vanity and wickedness. For God’s holiness, purity, and all His deeds are just like His image. And just as man before the Fall was completely heavenly, spiritual, and pure as angels, so now inwardly he has become completely earthly, fleshly, and brutish. For isn’t your anger and cruelty like a lion’s? Your avarice and insatiable greed like a dog’s and a wolf's? Your impurity and gluttony like a pig’s? Yes, if ... I you really search your heart, you shall find in yourself a whole world, full of unclean animals, and just in one little member, the tongue, a whole mess of lizards and evil spirits, a ‘world full of unrighteousness’” (Johann Arnde).
This is Biblical teaching, almost like what Paul writes in Romans 3:10-18, truth for salvation. But why are there so few who hear it, and even fewer who recognize it in themselves? The trouble is that we have a faded image of God. Stand before Him who is “sanctified in holiness, awesome to praise,” before whom the seraphim hide their holiness, awesome to praise,” before whom the seraphim hide their hosts” [lsa 6:3]. Know Him from whom you cannot escape, who in His holy zeal did not even spare His only-begotten Son [Rom 8:32] when He took our sin upon Himself, but gave Him the full cup of wrath to drink, though He wept and prayed for pity [Mat 26:39]. Know Him, “our God who is a consuming fire” [Heb 12:29]. Then the dreams of your own piety shall vanish, so that you see your impurity and unrighteousness. One says: “Your affliction is incurable” [Jer 30:12]. But the same One says: “I am the LORD who heals you” [Exod. 15:26].

My God, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me [Ps 51:5], so my heart is only evil from my youth [Gen. 8:21]. Have mercy on me for Jesus’ sake. Forgive me, and heal me, that I may live and praise You. Amen.

Nils Jakob Laache
Book of Family Prayer
Lutheran Synod Book Company - Mankato, MN

REFORMATION SERMON NOTES/THOUGHTS 2010

At our textual study this week I shared my thought of contrasting what our lives would be like without the Reformation.  Working with this in light of the Epistle lesson (Romans 3:19-28) and the Gospel lesson (John 8:31-36), I gathered the following by contrasting of the reality of our condition, abilities, achievements and results under sin and the reality of God’s condition, abilities, achievements, and results in Christ for us.

Without the return to the Scriptures and the proper doctrine of justification that came out of the Reformation, we would be no better off than what is described in Romans 3:9-18, a people having the appearance of godliness, but denying its (His) power as we trust in our own.

Just my thoughts for your thoughts! 

- PL

Our reality – UNDER SIN – Romans 3:9-18

•         No one is righteous in the eyes of God and therefore in the eyes of men
•         No one understands,
•         No one seeks after the true God
•         All have turned aside
•         All are worthless
•         No one does good, not even one
•         Everyone’s throat is an open grave;
•         Everyone uses their tongues to deceive
•         The poison of the asps is under everyone’s lips
•         Everyone mouth is full of curses and bitterness
•         Everyone’s feet are swift to shed blood
•         Everyone’s path or way of life is ruin and misery/
•         No one knows the way of peace
•         No one is affected in their living by a fear or dread of God’s judgment.

In these verses, the Lord reveals

•         our nature or condition under sin (unrighteousness v.10),
•         our corrupted abilities under sin (no one understands, seeks God, no one does good, ignorance of the way of peace) and
•         the most we are able accomplish under sin (deception, curses, bitterness, shed blood, ruin, misery, and way)
•         with the result that the fear or dread of God’s wrath against sin and sinner alike, has no effect on them or us.

The Law can repeated say to fallen man, “do this or that” and “do not do this or that” but inasmuch as these verses (9-18) speak of our fallen condition, fallen man will never be able to do the “do’s” and “do not’s” the Law demands.

Jesus describes our fallen reality succinctly in the Gospel lesson:  “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34). 

Romans 3:19 – “Now” introduces an “over and against” this reality of our condition, abilities, achievements and results under sin, God has Paul reveal the reality of:  

•         God’s condition (righteousness),
•         God’s abilities (redemption in Christ by grace, to be just and justifier of the one who has faith),
•         what God can accomplish (to make propitiation by his blood),
•         with the result for all (justified by faith apart from works of the law).

Jesus describes our reality in Him as a result of the reality of God in the Gospel lesson:  “if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

God allows us to perish as if He had forgotten His...

God allows us to perish as if He had forgotten His promise

Who wrote that? Martin Luther. In his Genesis commentary.
Reading Luther's commentaries on Genesis is an amazing, fearful treat. Luther is brutal, honest and radically centered on the Gospel, radically focused on what it means, what it feels like, to live by faith.
Living by faith is no platitude for him. Some of the passages are breathtaking in their ferocity and Gospel centered-ness. Luther hones in on what it means to live by faith, that is, with no assurance for God or for his goodness, save a promise.
In this passage Luther writes of :
God pretending to exercise no care for us
God creeping into a corner
hiding behind a curtain
seeming to not know us at all
He allows us to perish as if He had forgotten his promise
He regards us as being rejected
Christians must "endure" the plans of God
Luther notes how we often feel as if:
God not only sleeps He snores
that it seems as if there is no God at all to care for us
Luther goes on :
God allows us to be tried to led down to hell, to be mortified
He sends no angel but opens the window for Satan to rage
Luther's answer to such a God who allows and perpetrates such things is alarmingly simple. There is no theologizing to get around it, no hop, skip and jumping around the Scriptures to try to build an apologia for God. He doesn't try to construct a system where it makes rational sense.
His answer is: the promises of God, the promises and sacramental proclamations. To all the evil and all the suffering, all the doubt and all the silence of God we experience, Luther says, we must stand on the Word of God. This is no rationalistic, Biblicistic stand; it is a life or death, Satan tearing at my flesh full of despair desperation cry to God, "I have your promise."
In fact Luther does not shy away from attributing all the action, all the doing of the affliction, doubt and despair directly to God. God drives us there on purpose. He abandons us, on purpose. He opens the window for Satan. All to mortify us, to kill us, to leave with us with nothing, absolutely nothing, but the promise. "I am baptized," is the cry of one who has nothing else to grasp.
One of Luther's favorite examples of this is death itself where the saint finally is literally killed and can do nothing but trust for he has no other abilities left.
In the next post I will post this passage of Luther's Commentary to illustrate what I am writing about.

incarnatus est: God allows us to perish as if He had forgotten His...: "Who wrote that? Martin Luther. In his Genesis commentary. Reading Luther's commentaries on Genesis is an amazing, fearful treat. Luther is..."

THREE THINGS THAT PLEASE GOD MOST

St. Brendan once asked Ita what were the three works most pleasing to God, and the three works that were most displeasing to Him.  Ita answered, "Three things that please God most are -  true faith in God with a pure heart, a simple life with a grateful spirit, and generosity inspired by His charity.  The three things that most displease God are a mouth that hates people, a heart harbouring resentments, and a confidence in earthly riches and possessions. 
St. Brendan and all who were there, hearing that opinion, glorified God in His Chosen One.

from Celtic Daily Prayer
Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community.

THE LORD'S PRAYER - Loehe

OUR FATHER

  insuperable in creation,

  sweet in love,

  rich in every heritage!

WHO ART IN HEAVEN

  a mirror of eternity,

  the crown of joy,

  the treasure of eternal salvation!

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

  that it be like honey upon the tongue,

  a harp unto our ears,

  a devotion in our hearts!

THY KINGDOM COME,

  joyfully, without perversion;

  quietly, without sorrow;

  safely, beyond possibility to lose it!

THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN,

  that we hate whatever displeases Thee;

  love what Thou lovest;

 and fulfill all things that are pleasing to Thee!

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DIALY BREAD,

  the bread of

 -           knowledge,

-            penitence,

-            pardon

-        And every need of bodies.

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US;

   forgive us our trespasses against Thee,

       against our fellow-men and against ourselves,

       which we have multiplied either through the commission of wrongs or 

       the omission to do the good we ought to do,

   As we forgive all who have despised or offended us –

-                   by word or deed,

-                   by giving or taking away from us,

-                   spiritually or temporally.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION,

   of the world,

   the flesh,

   or the devil:

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL,

   both temporal and spiritual,

   and from all sorrows in time and eternity.

AMEN.

Seed-Grains of Prayer

A Manual For Evangelical Christians

by Wilhelm Loehe

CHRIST ALONE BUILDS THE CHURCH

For the church growth experts in how to build the church and for the pastors and people who struggle under the cross in faithfulness  to what Christ has given them to use that He might build His church.  - PL

It is not we who build. [Christ] builds the church. No man builds the church but Christ alone.
Whoever is minded to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it; for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it.
We must confess – he builds.
We must proclaim – he builds.
We must pray to him – that he may build.
We do not know his plan.
We cannot see whether he is building or pulling down.
It may be that the times which by human standards are times of collapse are for him the great times of construction.
It may be that the times which from a human point of view are great times for the church are times when it is pulled down.
It is a great comfort which Christ gives to his church: you confess, you preach, bear witness to me and I alone will build where it pleases me.
Do not meddle in what is my province.
Do what is given to you to do well and you have done enough. But do it well.
Pay no heed to views and opinions.
Don’t ask for judgments.
Don’t always be calculating what will happen.
Don’t always be on the lookout another refuge!
Church, stay a church!
But church, confess, confess, confess!
Christ alone is your Lord; from his grace alone can live as you are.
Christ builds.

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer
As found in Treasury of Daily Prayer - Oct 23, 2010.
CPH 2008

CHRISTIAN RULES OF PRAYER - As Laid Down by Metthesius

To true, Christian and beneficial prayer it is required –

1. That a man life up holy hands (2 Tim. 2) and offer his devotions with a good conscience; for God hears not sinners who are not repentant. (John 9).

2. That a man pray in every time of trial and need; for, the greater our need the stronger is our prayer.  Therefore also God, in the 50^th Psalm, says: “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” (Always and everywhere is sufficient provocation to prayer if one will but realize it).

3. That a man pray, cry and sigh from out of the depths of his heart, without hypocrisy, anger, complaint or doubt, even as Moses prayed upon the shore of the Red Sea.  Lip-service and mouth-work in which the heart does not participate, is a vain service to God. (Matt. 15).

4. That a man call upon the one, true and only God as He has revealed Himself at the Jordan River, as Christ teachers in the Gospel (John 16), and in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6; Luke 11).

5. That a man plead the name, merit, blood, death and intercession of Christ for help, and the support of the Holy Spirit. (John 4, and 15).

6. That a man pray with all boldness as Abraham prayed, Gen. 18; with a mighty faith, as the centurion prayed; without murmuring or impatience, continuing instant, as did the Canaanite woman; and with humility, as did Daniel. (Dan 9).

7. That a man persevere, as Sirach teaches, and set no limit or goal for God, as is said in Chapter 8 of the Book of Judith.

8. He that will thus pray needs first of all to believe, that he is reconciled to God through His Son, and must base his pleas upon baptism and the blood of Christ as well as upon God’s command and promise.  He must embrace the promise of Christ and the example of all the saints; and remember that God has frequently helped others before us. (Ps 22:34).

If prayer is to be rightly offered all these things must be well observed and kept:

1. Holy hands and a good conscience.

2. Our need.

3. From the heart, without hypocrisy.

4. Calling upon the name of the One, Only God.

5. In the name of Jesus Christ, who is the soul of all prayer.

6. Boldly.

7. Preservingly.

8. In faith.

Such prayer pervades heaven, as Sirach says; and makes our joy perfect as Christ witnesses, John 16. 

It attains help, gives comfort, joy, and a sure defense against all devils and evil men.  

Seed-Grains of Prayer - A Manual For Evangelical Christians

by Wilhelm Loehe

Kyrie eleison

EXCELLENT TO LISTEN TO WHEN READING THE PSALM OR MEDITATIVE PRAYER.

Where the heart stands idle and the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does his damage

Since so much depends on God’s Word … that nothing is made holy without it, we must realize that God insists upon a strict observance of this commandment and will punish all who despise his Word and refuse to hear and learn it, especially at the times appointed.

Therefore this commandment is violated not only by those who grossly misuse and desecrate the holy day, like those who in their greed or frivolity neglect to hear God’s Word …. but also by that multitude of others who listen to God’s Word as they would to any other entertainment, who only from force of habit go to hear preaching and depart again with as little knowledge of the Word at the end of the year as at the beginning.

Remember, then, that you must be concerned not only about hearing the Word but also about learning and retaining it. Do not regard it as an optional or unimportant matter. It is the commandment of God, and he will require of you an accounting of how you have heard and learned and honored his Word.

In the same way those conceited fellows should be chastised who, after hearing a sermon or two, become sick and tired of it and feel that they know it all and need no more instruction. This is precisely the sin of indolence or satiety — a malignant, pernicious plague with which the devil bewitches and befuddles the hearts of many so that he may take us by surprise and stealthily take the Word of God away from us.
Let me tell you this. Even though you know the Word perfectly and have already mastered everything, still you are daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon you unawares and to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against all these commandments.

Therefore you must continually keep God’s Word in your heart, on your lips, and in your ears. For where the heart stands idle and the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does his damage before we realize it.
On the other hand, when we seriously ponder the Word, hear it, and put it to use, such is its power that it never departs without fruit. It always awakens new understanding, new pleasure, and a new spirit of devotion, and it constantly cleanses the heart and its meditations. For these words are not idle or dead, but effective and living.

Even if no other interest or need drove us to the Word, yet everyone should be spurred on by the realization that in this way the devil is cast out and put to flight, this commandment is fulfilled, and God is more pleased than by any work of hypocrisy, however brilliant.
 
Excerpts from THE THIRD COMMANDMENT – Luther's Large Catechism

Memorial Moment: True Joy

Memorial Moment: True Joy#fblike


John Chrysostom was preaching to a world very much like our own. While preaching to the people of Antioch (he only later became bishop of Constantinople), he chided them for allowing the luxury of their community to crowd out concern for the gifts God bestowed on them in the mystery of Christ's body and blood. He exhorted them not to be absorbed by worldly concerns to the detriment of their faith, the Christian life, and the needs of other persons. He pleaded with them not to walk away from the feast of the body of Christ only to fall into the vices which are characteristic of affluent societies: drunkenness, undisciplined feasting, and carelessness about the needs of the poor. The Christians who have been nourished on the body and blood of Christ, cannot just fall back into the self-centered life of pleasure seeking.The church receives at the hand of Christ such great riches in the divine service. She has been married again to the bridegroom in the consummation of the altar. By partaking of His body we are united with Him so that His becomes ours and ours His. She has feasted at the altar set with royal care for the children of the King. She has sung honor to the Thrice Holy. She has received heavenly food under earthly means. A joy above all sadness has been bestowed upon her in this royal feast. But her children sometimes seek to prolong that joy using the means of this world to manufacture the prolongation of it. True joy is to be sought (Ps 4:6-7), but is not to be found in the luxuries of this world.This is not to say that luxury or riches per se are evil. On the contrary, if we have them we should live as if we did not. If we do not, as if we did (1Co 7:29-31). They must not be the guarantors of joy in our lives. Only Christ is the treasure in whom true joys are to be found (Mt 6:21). We must walk away from the altar with the fullness of joy that Christ gives. Only then will we no longer be enticed by the light and fleeting joys of this world.When you compare the joys of the feast of the Lord to those which are offered by the enticing world, the joys of the feast far outweigh those of the world. Thus the self discipline required of the Christian life is no burden to us or a thief of true joy. For our joy has been made full and complete in the Supper, which conveys the very body and blood of Christ to us. No one who partakes of this can ever walk away from it unchanged. It is the true luxury to feast at the royal banqueting table of Christ the King.

John Chrysostom
"Have you heard holy hymns? Have you seen a spiritual marriage? Have you enjoyed a royal table? Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? Have you joined in the choir of the Seraphim? Have you become partaker of the powers above? Do not cast away so great a joy, waste not the treasure. Do not bring in drunkenness, the mother of dejection, the joy of the devil, the parent of ten thousand evils. For it is a sleep like unto death, and heaviness of head, and disease, and obliviousness, and an image of dead men's condition. Furthermore, if you would not choose to meet with a friend when intoxicated, can you tell me, if, when you have Christ within, would you thrust upon Christ Himself so great an excess?"Do you love enjoyment? Then, on this very account stop being drunken. For I too would have you enjoy yourself, but with the real enjoyment, which never fades. What then is the real enjoyment, ever blooming? Invite Christ to dine (Rev 2:20) with you. Give Him to partake of yours, or rather of His own. This brings pleasure without limit, and ultimately everlastingly. But the things of sense do not bring everlasting pleasure; rather as soon as they appear they vanish away. Whoever has enjoyed them will be in no better condition than he who has not, or rather in a worse condition. For the one is settled as it were in a harbor, but the other exposes himself to a kind of torrent, a besieging army of madnesses, and hasn't even power to endure the first swell of the sea."Let us follow after moderation, that these things do not happen to us. For thus we shall both be in a good state of body, and possessing our souls in security, shall be delivered from evils both present and future. From these may we all be delivered, and attain unto the kingdom, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and forever. Amen."
John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Corinthians, 27.7

LORD have mercy, Christ have mercy

An Excellent Exposure of Modern American Idolatry

Thanks to my dear brother Michael Walther for this insight!!!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

Eat Pray Love

Ross Douthat wrote a great review of the movie Eat Pray Love in the September 20, 2010 issue of National Review. Here is a brief summary:

Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, is a memoir about her travels to Rome, India, and Bali in search of personal fulfillment. The movie version now stars Julia Roberts. Is this just another chick-flick/travelogue? Not at all. This book and film captures what is perhaps the most popular religion in America today, the religion of self. Suffering in an unhappy marriage because her husband is not as successful as he should be and won't accompany her on her journalist travel tours, Elizabeth falls on her knees and prays for deliverance.

What does God want her to do to be happy? First He wants her to divorce her husband. Then God wants her to have an affair that gets messy. Then God wants her to travel around the world eating, meditating and forgiving herself. Then God wants her to fall in love with a handsome, divorced Brazilian.

It is amazing how everything God "wants her to do" is the same thing a spoiled, self-indulgent woman with too much money would want to do. She finally arrives at this astounding theological conclusion: "God dwells within me, as me." One hundred years ago G.K. Chesterton spoke to this kind of religion: "Of all the horrible religions the most horrible is the worship of the god within."

WHAT IS IT TO BEAR THE CROSS?

The cross … is the dying of the old man in us as a result of our encounter with Christ.
The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ, our being one with Him by doing what He would do and have us to do.
When Christ calls a man to believe and live in Him, he bids him to come and die … It is this same death every time - death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man…so that the new man may live and serve God and neighbor.
Only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our worldly affections and lusts.
The struggle arises from the fact we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and … the baptism in the name of Christ … means both death and life … dying and living.
Baptism sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil … The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of their personal participation in the Cross of the Lord …
While it is true that only the sufferings of Christ are the means of atonement, yet since he has suffered for and borne the sins of the whole world and shares with his disciples the fruits of his passion, i.e. forgiveness and eternal life, the Christian also has to … bear the sins, the scars of others.
Such a Christian would certainly break down under this burden, but for the support of him who bore their own sins and the sins of all.
The passion, that is the suffering of Christ strengthens the believer to overcome the sins of others by forgiving them, by giving them to Christ. In this way believer becomes the bearer of other men’s burdens – “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).
As Christ bears our burdens, so ought we to bear the burdens of our fellow-men. This is law of Christ … is the bearing of the cross.
My brother’s burden which I must bear is not only his outward physical needs, his natural characteristics and gifts, but quite literally his sin.
And the only way to bear the sin is by forgiving it in the power of the cross of Christ in which I share … forgiveness is the Christ-like suffering which it is the Christian’s duty to bear.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer