Just got back from our final Advent liturgy: the Catechism Service. I had not originally scheduled that service on this day, but I needed a make up session after I came down with that flu-thingy. So meet we did. We substituted a few carols for the regular OT and NT Canticles. Our attendance was down by half, but that was expected - so many folks are out of town already or finishing up last minute preparations. What a blessing our sound/video team is! Those who miss, just pick up the DVD of the service, watch and discuss at home, and they're back on track!
Today we dealt with the third, fourth, and fifth petitions of the Our Father. I have become utterly convinced that the key to peace reigning in our hearts is to learn to pray the third petition. Anxiety arises from our fear that OUR WILL will not be done. When we have learned to surrender that will and instead seek that God's good, gracious, and perfect will be done, then we begin to enjoy a peace that cannot be shaken.
5 comments:
What do you think of Dr. Scaer's contention that the fourth petition is Eucharistic in nature?
Dr. Luther also taught so at the beginning of the Reformation, though he shifted a bit more to emphasize earthly bread by the times the Catechisms were written. Certainly when we think of "supersubstantial" bread, we cannot not think of the Eucharist! Tonight we remember that the Bread of Life was born at Beth-lechem, the House of Bread, and laid in a manger where grain is normally placed for He had come to be our Bread indeed. Tonight, I'm with Scaer and early Luther and all the Fathers when it comes to the fourth petition being Eucharistic! :)
Yes,
Worry will strangle us as the Germanic meaning of the word implies, if I am not mistaken. God would want us to rely on Him and not in our own narrowminded will.
I would think that there should not be much tension between our daily bread and the Bread of Heaven. The two are not mutually exclusive. The Eucharistic Bread is the premier source of sustenance for the Christian, in the OT many of the earthly meals foreshadow the Supper. In both I am to be thankful and see a foretaste of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. My humble thoughts...
Pax and a blessed Nativity feast!
Is the Lord's supper a foretaste of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb or the the actual Marraigae Supper of the Lamb?
One of the reasons that I like the table blessing Come Lord Jesus, etc. is becasue it reminds of the Eucharist.
Steven,
I'd say Jein. Yes, it is the marriage feast itself, but since we experience by faith only in this age it is a foretaste of what awaits us when faith gives way to sight.
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