More Krauth

The mightiest weapon which the Reformation employed against Rome was, not Rome's errors, but Rome's truths. It professed to make no new discoveries, to find no unheard-of interpretations but taking the Scriptures in that very sense to which the greatest of her writers had assented, uncovering the law and the gospel of God which she retained, applying them as her most distinguished and most honored teachers had applied them, though she made them of none effect by her traditions, the Reformation took into its heart the life-stream of sixteen centuries, and came forth in the stature and strength of a Christianity, grown from infancy in the primitive ages, to the ripened manhood of that maturer period. There was no fear of truth, simply because Rome held it, and no disposition to embrace error, because it might be employed with advantage to Rome's injury.... They allowed no authority but the Word of God, but they listened respectfully to the witness of believers of all time. (p. 203)

Krauth

I recently purchased CPH's reprint of *The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology* by Charles Porterfield Krauth. Wow. Very good book - but don't ever tell me *I've* got quotitis again. This man can compose entire chapters of strings of quotes. But the best stuff is not what he quotes, but the gems he strings out of his own along the way. There's more than a tad of triumphalism in the work that is very sad in view of what has become of Lutheranism in the late 20th and early 21st century. Clearly NOT what he envisioned happening. But still a good read for all that.

A few of my favorites so far (only on page 161 - a long way to go):

Lutherans are characterized as "possessing liturgical life without liturgical bondage."

"The Lutheran Church does claim that it is God's truth which she confesses, and by logical necessity regards the deviations from the doctrines of the Confession as deviations from divine truth, but she does not claim to be the whole Church."

"She says: 'The Catholic Church consists of men scattered throughout the whole world, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.' She unchurches none of other names, even though they may be unsound. It is not her business to do this. They have their own Master, to whom they stand or fall. She protests against error; she removes it by spiritual means from her own midst; but she judges not those who are without. God is her judge and theirs, and to Him she commits herself and them."

"In the former [Reformed theology], Scripture is regarded more exclusively as the sole source; in the latter [Lutheran theology], more as the norm of a doctrine which is evolved from the analogy of faith, and to which consequently, the pure exegetical and confessional tradition of the Church possess more value."

Silly mind

You know, at times it is just ridiculous the way the mind operates. Today for Vespers the reading was of Paul's conversion in Acts 9. As I'm reading along I suddenly find myself thinking "I wonder if CPH will release another edition of the Altar Book with thinner pages." HOW SICK IS THAT? Lord, have mercy!!!

Elert

I'm working my way through Elert's Morphology again this summer, and came across this gem:

"Yes, Luther does not hesitate to characterize joy as the real motive of ethical behavior... He who is no longer sensible of the joy of Luther's Christmas hymns, of the jubilation in our Easter hymns, of Paul Gerhardt's 'God for us' and 'Christ for me,' should examine himself to see whether his theology is not more closely related to the Koran than to the Gospel." pp. 69,70

Archeology

Cindi and Lauren have been busy as beavers working on the garden. The other day they started clearing off the path from our back door to the garden, and they've unearthed the path a whole lot further than we EVER remember it existing. Our backyard must have been quite beautiful once! We intend to see if we can restore it as best we can - maybe even that little fish pond that is full of sand and grass. The girls were tired after their exertions today - and even yours truly is sporting a blister on the hand from digging and hauling dirt. But I think we're all pretty excited about uncovering the whole thing again.

Thomas Wasn't All Bad...

Nevertheless, sacred doctrine makes use of these authorities as extrinsic and probable arguments; but properly uses the authority of the canonical Scriptures as an incontrovertible proof, and the authority of the doctors of the Church as one that may properly be used, yet merely as probable. For our faith rests upon the revelation made to the apostles and prophets who wrote the canonical books, and not on the revelations (if any such there are) made to other doctors. Hence Augustine says (Epis. ad Hieron. xix, 1): "Only those books of Scripture which are called canonical have I learned to hold in such honor as to believe their authors have not erred in any way in writing them. But other authors I so read as not to deem everything in their works to be true, merely on account of their having so thought and written, whatever may have been their holiness and learning."--Summa Theologia, Part 1, Question 1, Article 8

Patristic Quote for the Day

Today, our churches remember and honor St. Irenaeus of Lyons. In his honor, I quote from his most famous writing today:

Then, again, how can they say that the flesh, which is nourished with the body of the Lord and with His blood, goes to corruption, and does not partake of life? Let them, therefore, either alter their opinion, or cease from offering the things just mentioned. But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity. Against Heresies IV.18.5

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

In the Holy Supper of our Lord we have a mystery placed before us that should cause the deepest awe and excite our profoundest adoration. --Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XIX

Homily for Trinity 4 (Draft 1)

[Genesis 50:15-21 / Romans 12:14-21 / Luke 6:36-42]

People loved by God, in today’s collect we prayed that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by God’s governance that His Church would joyfully serve Him – and here’s the phrase we need to think about – “in all godly quietness.”

What is this “godly quietness” for which we ask? It is the peace of heart, the quiet and calm that can rule in our hearts, even in the midst of the most difficult and trying times. The peace that passes understanding and that doesn’t fret and get all worked up, but instead entrusts itself into the hands of God. Godly quietness of heart is one of the fruits of faith. To get a handle on it, think of today’s Old Testament reading.

Joseph – all those dreams from his youth, everyone bowing down to him, honoring him. God had told him that’s how it would be. And what happened? Betrayed by his brothers, sold as a slave, an exile who then is falsely accused and, because he would not compromise with wickedness, was tossed into jail, and there he was promptly forgotten by those to whom he did nothing but good. And at many points along that journey, I wonder if he struggled to hold onto the promises that God had made so many years earlier. Could it possibly be that God really meant them? Why then was He allowing such awful things to befall Joseph time and time again? But in true worship, which is “the exercises of faith struggling with despair,” [Tractatus 44] Joseph held to the promise, and in peace of heart, in godly quietness, he sought to serve in whatever new position he found himself.

“Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” Think of how Joseph experienced the truth of those words! Joseph humbled himself and in godly quietness cast his cares on the Lord, and look at what happened! That moment came when in a single day he went from being Pharaoh’s prisoner to being the Prime Minister of Egypt. And he went on serving, saving the lives of countless Egyptians, and yes, of his own family, who did indeed come and kneel before him as his servants.

But if godly quiet reigned in Joseph’s heart, fear reigned in the hearts of his brothers who had so ill-treated him. “What if he pays us back?” they wonder when they see that their father Jacob has died. “What if Joseph decides to get even now?” How little they understood their brother’s heart! And so they come and plead with him for forgiveness one more time.

Joseph speaks those astonishing words: “Do not fear. Am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” He spoke out of the godly quiet of his heart. He did not excuse their wickedness, but invited them to behold the miracle of God: that our Lord knows how to take the evil and sin we suffer at the hands of others and even do ourselves and in sheer grace, turn it into blessing for us and also for others.

Joseph, of course, was a type of our Lord. In Christ’s divine human heart there reigned this quietness for which we pray. His trust in His Father was unshakeable, and so He would urge us to be merciful just as Father is merciful. It was His trust in His Father’s final plan and vindication of Him that led Him to call to us: “Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you – more than you ask, desire or deserve.” He’s not inviting you there into anything else than the life He lived. He’s reaching it to you to be your life. A life where the godly quietness of heart that trusts the Father’s plan, knows that He is the master of turning ill to good, and making evil and hatred serve the designs of His gracious kingdom.

And so the Cross. For our Lord too was betrayed by his brothers, sold as a slave, wrongfully arrested, and then condemned to die, despite His innocence. And He willingly accepted all this in utter godly quietness of heart – the quietness of heart that comes from submission to the will of the Father. “Not my will, but thine be done” He had prayed, and then in peace had gone forth to drink the cup His Father reached Him. And just like with Joseph, a grand reversal took place. Through the very act of His betrayal, suffering, and death, our new Joseph was raised from death in an incorruptible and immortal body not to rule some measly piece of earthly real estate but the whole of the universe, and instead of hating us for what we did, He uses it to forgive us and love us, and He says to us too: “Do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones.” Joseph gave them grain. Jesus gives us the living bread of heaven, His own true body and blood – the body and blood that were on the cross for us, crying out for our forgiveness there for all the times that we have shamefully treated one another, betraying each other, hating each other and wishing each other ill. His body and blood cry out for our forgiveness still. They speak into our hearts the unfathomable truth that despite our wretchedness and sin, we are the beloved of the Father in His Son and that His will for us is to share with Him a life that never ends, the life of forgiveness and mercy.

The Eucharist comes to us as the gift of godly quietness. It frees us to live in that forgiveness ourselves. Like our Lord, no need to avenge ourselves, looking out for ourselves. That is God’s job. Instead, the joy that Paul exhorts us to in the Epistle: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them…. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all…. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Which is all to say, O Lord, grant us to serve You joyfully in godly quietness, to trust that our lives are governed by You and that all things are indeed working together to bring us blessing – especially when we are called to suffer for Your name. Then we are utterly free in our Jesus to love and bless, forgive and give to all who mistreat us, all who hate and seek our ruin. In our Jesus, by the strength of His Spirit, we are set free to love them and to seek God’s richest blessing on their lives. Give us, O Lord, this godly quietness of heart to trust in You at all times and in all places, for You are merciful and You love Your whole creation, and we Your creatures glorify You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Vision to Recapture

In Apology XV, Melanchthon sets forth what was actually happening in the Churches of the Augsburg Confession. It is a beautiful description, a challenge and call for repentance among us:

We cheerfully hold the old traditions, made in the Church for the sake of usefulness and peace. We interpret them in a more moderate way and reject the opinion that holds they justify...

Among us many use the Lord's Supper every Lord's Day. They do so after they have been first instructed, examined, and absolved. The children sing psalms in order to learn. The people also sing that they may either learn or pray...

Among us the pastors and ministers of the churches are encouraged publicly to instruct and hear the youth. This ceremony produces the best fruit...

...in our churches all sermons are filled with such topics as these: repentance; the fear of God; faith in Christ, the righteousness of faith, the comfort of consciences by faith; the exercises of faith; prayer, what its nature should be, and that we should be fully confident that it is power, that is is heard; the cross; the authority of officials and all civil ordinances; the distinction between the kingdom of Christ, or the spiritual kingdom, and political affairs; marriage; the education and instruction of children; chastity; all the offices of love. From this condition of the churches it may be determined that we earnestly keep Church discipline, godly ceremonies, and good Church customs...

In addition to this putting to death, which happens through the cross [involuntary suffering is meant], there is also a necessary, voluntary exercise.... These exercises are accepted not because they are services that justify, but because they are assumed to control the flesh, should overindulgence overpower us, and make us secure and unconcerned. This results in people indulging and obeying the tendencies of the flesh. This effort at mortification should be constant because it has God's permanent command.

Return to the Latin Mass

Many of our Roman sisters and brothers are excited (or alarmed) about the apparently immanent arrival of the letter from Benedict XVI that will permit again the celebration of the old Latin service, at least as it was celebrated by Roman Catholic Christians throughout the world until the conclusion of Vatican II and its liturgical reforms. Those reforms were more than a bit of a mixed bag. Among Lutherans, Hermann Sasse could note with dismay that it seemed as if St. Zwingli presided over the liturgical reform! So a move back toward the old Tridentine mass is not something a Lutheran can view as entirely negative, not by a long shot.

This Lutheran watches from the sidelines with interest and sympathy. And I wonder.

You see, there is a parallel in a way with our own liturgy. If I may put it so, LSB contains both the results of the second Vatican Council and the liturgy prior to it. You can worship with Divine Service I or II and the revised three year lectionary, and the very heart of the council's reforms are yours (right down to the "and also with you"). Or you can worship with Divine Service III and the one year (better called the historic) lectionary and you are essentially worshipping in the manner that Lutherans in this country worshipped prior to the heady liturgical reforms in the middle of the 20th century - granted, not in Latin, but the Latin mass largely in direct translation (right down to the "and with thy spirit").

I confess to being a traditionalist in this regard. My parish at its sung Divine Services over the weekend uses only Divine Service 3. We still use the old calendar (gesimas and such, and yes, Visitation is coming up on July 2!) and the traditional collects to the traditional tones.

But we are not exclusively Vatican II, if you will. During Advent and Lent we use Evening Prayer (rather than Vespers) and this ordo owes much to the liturgical reforms. And at our Thursday Divine Services (spoken) which will begin in July, we'll be using Divine Service I.

Which is all to say to any Roman brothers or sisters who read this, I don't think the allowance of the old Tridentine mass will be a bad thing for Rome, not at all. It will restore much that was beautiful and lost with Vatican II. I trust it will counter the man-centered treatment of the liturgy and restore it as a prayer addressed to the All-holy Father through the Son and in the Spirit. But I hope that some of the best of Vatican II is not lost: celebration in the language of the people (at least for the Scripture readings and the sermon!), and the realization that there is more than one way to pray Eucharistically than the recitation of the Roman canon (that throughout much of the history of the Western church there have been other ways). Frankly, from my perspective, the ideal would be to see the old service rendered in the vernacular without all the changes that came with Vatican II. We can witness from our perspective, it is possible to live from the best of both pre and post the Council, and that is what we hope and pray for you and your parishes.

Patristic Quote for the Day

The favors of God so far exceed human hope and expectation, that often they are not believed. For God has bestowed upon us such things as the mind of man never looked for, never thought of. It is for this reason that the Apostles spend much discourse in securing a belief of the gifts that are granted us of God. For as men, upon receiving some great good, ask themselves if it is not a dream, as not believing it; so it is with respect to the gifts of God. What then was it that was thought incredible? That those who were enemies, and sinners, neither justified by the law, nor by works, should immediately through faith alone be advanced to the highest favor. - St. John Chrysostom, Homily 4 on 1 Timothy

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

This ministry does indeed have power, divinely bestowed (2 Cor. 10:4-6; 13:2-4), but circumscribed with certain duties and limitations, namely, to preach the Word of God, teach the erring, reprove those who sin, admonish the dilatory, comfort the troubled, strengthen the weak, resist those who speak against the truth, reproach and condemn false teaching, censure evil customs, dispense the divinely instituted sacraments, remit and retain sins, be an example to the flock, pray for the church privately and lead the church in public prayers, be in charge of care for the poor, publicly excommunicate the stubborn and again receive those who repent and reconcile them with the church, appoint pastors to teh church according to the instruction of Paul, with consent of the church institute rites that serve the ministry and do not militate against the Word of God nor burden consciences, but serve good order, dignity, decorum, tranquility, edification, etc. For these are the things which belong to the these two chief points, namely, to the power of order and the power of jurisdiction. --Martin Chemnitz, Examen II:678,9.

Curious

Piepkorn pointed this out in several of his works. Curious indeed:

Among the other heroes of Christian philosophy we also knew Abbot Daniel, who was not only the equal of those who dwelt in the desert of Scete in every sort of virtue, but was specially marked by the grace of humility. This man on account of his purity and gentleness, though in age the junior of most, was preferred to the office of the diaconate by the blessed Paphnutius, presbyter in the same desert: for the blessed Paphnutius was so delighted with his excellent qualities, that, as he knew that he was his equal in virtue and grace of life, he was anxious also to make him his equal in the order of the priesthood. And since he could not bear that he should remain any longer in an inferior office, and was also anxious to provide a worthy successor to himself in his lifetime, he promoted him to the dignity of the priesthood. He however relinquished nothing of his former customary humility, and when the other was present, never took upon himself anything from his advance to a higher order, but when Abbot Paphnutius was offering spiritual sacrifices, ever continued to act as a deacon in the office of his former ministry. However, the blessed Paphnutius though so great a saint as to possess the grace of foreknowledge in many matters, yet in this case was disappointed of his hope of the succession and the choice he had made, for he himself passed to God no long time after him whom he had prepared as his successor. -- Blessed John Cassian (360-435), *Conferences* 4:1

Patristic Quote for the Day

And if He had determined that in the case of men, as in the case of the fallen angels, there should be no restoration to happiness, would it not have been quite just, that the being who rebelled against God, who in the abuse of his freedom spurned and transgressed the command of his Creator when he could so easily have kept it, who defaced in himself the image of his Creator by stubbornly turning away from His light, who by an evil use of his free-will broke away from his wholesome bondage to the Creator's laws,—would it not have been just that such a being should have been wholly and to all eternity deserted by God, and left to suffer the everlasting punishment he had so richly earned? Certainly so God would have done, had He been only just and not also merciful, and had He not designed that His unmerited mercy should shine forth the more brightly in contrast with the unworthiness of its objects. - St. Augustine, *Enchiridion* 27

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

How does a shepherd receive a sheep that was lost but has been found? Exactly as he finds it. If it is sick, it does not first have to be restored to health. If it is wounded, it does not have to wait until its injuries heal. If it has broken limbs, it is not left to languish until those limbs men. No, the shepherd receives the sick, wounded, or lame sheep just as it is, carrying it home on his shoulders to rejoin the flock in a secure pen. And how does the poor woman receive a coin that fell from her hand and was lost? Exactly as she finds it. If the coin is full of the dirt into which it fell, it does not need to be cleaned before she accepts it. If it is corroded, a good shining is not required. If the inscription has faded, it does not need to be restored. No, the poor woman takes the dirty coin just as it is, clutching it in her hand and joyfully placing it in her treasure chest. We see from this that nothing is necessary for Jesus to receive us except that we approach Him as a sinner to the Savior, as a sick person to the doctor, as a lost sheep to the Shepherd. That alone suffices. Jesus then receives us. - C.F.W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 524

How Can I Thank You, Lord

How can I thank You, Lord,
For all Your loving-kindness,
That You have patiently
Borne with me in my blindness!
When dead in many sins
And trespasses I lay,
I kindled, holy God,
Your anger every day.

It is Your work alone
That I am now converted;
O’er Satan’s work in me
You have Your pow’r asserted.
Your mercy and Your grace
That arise afresh each morn
Have turned my stony heart
Into a heart newborn.

Lord, You have raised me up
To joy and exultation
And clearly shown the way
That leads me to salvation.
My sins are washed away;
For this I thank You, Lord.
Now with my heart and soul
All evil I abhor.

Grant that Your Spirit’s help
To me be always given
Lest I should fall again
And lose the way to heaven.
Grant that He give me strength
In my infirmity;
May He renew my heart
To serve You willingly.

O Father, God of love,
Now hear my supplication;
O Savior, Son of God,
Accept my adoration;
O Holy Spirit be
My ever faithful guide
That I may serve You here
And there with You abide.
LSB 703:1-5

Hymn for Presentation of the Augsburg Confession

Lord of our life and God of our salvation,
Star of our night and hope of ev'ry nation:
Hear and receive Your church's supplication,
Lord God almighty.

See round Your ark the angry billows curling;
See how Your foes their banners are unfurling
And with great spite their fiery darts are hurling,
O Lord, preserve us.

Lord, be our light when worldly darkness veils us;
Lord, be our shield when earthly armor fails us;
And in the day when hell itself assails us,
Grant us Your peace, Lord.

Peace in our hearts, where sinful thoughts are raging;
Peace in Your Church, our troubled souls assuaging,
Peace when the world its endless war is waging,
Peace in Your heaven.

LSB 659

A Pastor's Prayer

One of the beautiful things about the Pastoral Care Companion is the section it provides at the beginning for pastoral prayer under a variety of situations. I've recently been blessed to use it prior to hearing confessions. What better words could the pastor have on his lips than these before hearing the confession of sin and shame and confessing the absolution of mercy and grace?

Father of mercies and God of all consolation, before You all hearts are laid bare and no secrets are concealed. Open the lips of Your children that they may not hide their iniquity and so waste away in deceit, but in truth acknowledge their sin and receive Your Word of absolution. Guide me, Your servant, by Your Word and Spirit, that I may rightly discharge this holy office with faithfulness and mercy, wisdom and compassion. Guard the door of my lips that I never utter what is divulged in confession and, by the word of pardon that You have placed on my lips, grant that those whose bones have been crushed by the weight of Your wrath might be restored with the forgiveness purchased with the blood of Your Son. Protect them from the accusations of the evil one as he strives to rob them of Your peace. Save them from temptation and keep them in the company of Your holy Church to sing of Your saving righteousness forever; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

I honestly wonder where this book has been all my ministry. I've needed it for years and years. It helps, brothers. If you don't have it, order it today!

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

In this world we can hope to know only the church in her present aspect, hated by her foes, betrayed by the false sons within her pale, sore oppressed by the vast numbers of evil persons in her membership, rent asunder by schism, distressed by heresies, weeping amid toil and tribulation and tumult of her warfare. To want to know any other kind of church is presumption, a hankering after a theologia gloriae instead of the theologia crucis that is our earthly lot. The case of the church is parallel to that of the individual Christian. When we look at one another, each sees the other person in his unaestethic twentieth-century garb, with annoying mannerisms and habitual sins, with the constant dying of his mortal flesh apparent in wrinkling skin, trifocal spectacles, a balding pate, hoarse voice, and the symptoms and syndromes of the ailments he describes. That person will be completely different at the resurrection, so completely different that our experience furnishes no basis, according to the Scriptures, for imagining what he will be - or what even in this moment he really is in the sight of the heavenly Father, who, as He looks upon this person, sees him "in Christ." - Piepkorn, *The Church* p. 49

[Obviously a riff on The Church's One Foundation: Though with a scornful wonder The world sees her oppressed, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed, Yet saints their watch are keeping, Their cry goes up, "how long?" And soon the night of weeping Shall be the morn of song. LSB 644:3]

Patristic Quote for the Day

And so the human race was lying under a just condemnation, and all men were the children of wrath. Of which wrath it is written: "All our days are passed away in Your wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told." Of which wrath also Job says: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." Of which wrath also the Lord Jesus says: "He that believes in the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him." He does not say it will come, but it "abides on him." For every man is born with it; wherefore the apostle says: "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Now, as men were lying under this wrath by reason of their original sin, and as this original sin was the more heavy and deadly in proportion to the number and magnitude of the actual sins which were added to it, there was need for a Mediator, that is, for a reconciler, who, by the offering of one sacrifice, of which all the sacrifices of the law and the prophets were types, should take away this wrath. Wherefore the apostle says: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Now when God is said to be angry, we do not attribute to Him such a disturbed feeling as exists in the mind of an angry man; but we call His just displeasure against sin by the name "anger," a word transferred by analogy from human emotions. But our being reconciled to God through a Mediator, and receiving the Holy Spirit, so that we who were enemies are made sons ("For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God"): this is the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. – St. Augustine, Enchiridion 33

Commemoration of the Augsburg Confession

Today Lutheran Christians remember with gratitude the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V in Augsburg, Germany, 1530. It invites some of my favorite selections about this Confession:

Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake. By His death, Christ has made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight. (IV)

So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. (V)

Our churches teach that this faith is bound to bring forth good fruit. It is necessary to do good works commanded by God, because of God's will. (VI)

The Church is the congregation of the saints in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered. (VII)

Our churches teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church, or administer the Sacraments, without a rightly ordered call. (XIV)

Our churches teach that ceremonies ought to be observed that may be observed without sin. Also, ceremonies and other practices that are profitable for tranquility and good order in the Church (in particular, holy days, festivals and the like) ought to be observed. (XV)

Our churches do not dissent from any article of the faith held by the Church catholic. They only omit some of the newer abuses. (Part II, 1)

Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. The Mass is held among us with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved... (XXIV)

Confession in the churches is not abolished among us. The body of the Lord is not usually given to those who have not been examined and absolved. (XXV)

Furthermore, we teach that every Christian ought to train and subdue himself with bodily restraints, or bodily exercises and labors. Then neither over-indulgence nor laziness may tempt him to sin... Such outward discipline ought to be taught at all times, not only on a few set days. (XXVI)

It is lawful for bishops or pastors to make ordinances so that things will be done orderly in the Church, but not to teach that we merit grace or make satisfaction for sins. (XXVIII)

It is proper for churches to keep such ordinances for the sake of love and tranquility, to avoid giving offense to another, so that all things be done in the churches in order, and without confusion. (XXVIII)

...in doctrine and ceremonies we have received nothing contrary to Scripture or the Church universal. (Conclusion)

Much in there to call us to repentance...

Catholic Principle and Lutheranism

The catholic principle - whether Fr. Hogg or Fr. Fenton coined the term, I'm not sure - in Lutheranism may be stated thus:

The Scriptures provide a negative critique on Tradition; whatever in Tradition is contrary to the witness of the Sacred Scriptures, must be rejected; whatever is not, is accepted.

The Scriptural principle - often called sola Scriptura (but that term is also used by those who reject the catholic priniple entirely) - is normatively stated for Lutheranism in the Smalcald Articles II, II, 15:

The true rule is this: God's Word shall establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel can do so.

My good friend, Fr. Heath Curtis, published a critique of Fr. Hogg's paper in Lutheran Forum some years back in which he offers some thoughts on whether or not these two principles are in fact in tension. His paper is very worth reading, as also are Fr. Hogg's and Fr. Fenton's works on the topic.

I'd like to offer a further comment on the relation of these two principles and to what they properly apply. My argument is not how they *should* operate, but noting how they *did* operate in our Churches in the 16th and 17th century. Simply put:

Lutherans used the catholic principle in their critique and reformation of church practice; they used the Scriptural principle in regards to church dogma.

Obviously there is not a neat and tidy division between the two! But it is the conviction of the Lutheran Church that what the church practices should be built upon the foundation of what she teaches and be in complete harmony with the Sacred Scriptures; if anything conflicts with the teaching of Sacred Scripture in the practice of the church, it must go; if anything is not in conflict with the Sacred Scriptures in church practice, the Lutheran Church confesses that she rejoices to keep and follow such in Christian freedom. This is weight of AC XV.

[The matter of Christian freedom is a separate topic, but in sum we may note that the present Church in every place has the freedom to receive the ceremonies that have come down to her from antiquity, but that she does not receive them in the way of the law (as divinely mandated, for they are not), but in the way of the Gospel (as gifts from the Holy Spirit through the Church for her use) which she (the present church) has authority to regulate in whatever way best serves the Gospel itself in the present situation and with an eye toward the heritage of posterity; she has an obligation not just to the present generation of the Church, but to any future generations, should our Lord's glorious appearing not occur in this generation. ]

Now, my internet buddy and Roman Catholic correspondant, David Schütz has noted that the approach I suggest above leads to a breakdown of the equation "lex orandi, lex credendi." Perhaps so; but it appears to me that what I am proposing actually follows along the lines laid down by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical of 1947 on the sacred liturgy (Mediator Dei). There he insisted that lex orandi, lex credendi can and must also be inverted: "Lex credendi legem statuat supplicandi" - "let the rule of belief determine the rule of prayer." Obviously, as Lutheran, I think Pius XII was quite correct.

So, I'll throw it out for discussion: catholic principle in church practice (the application of the Scriptural faith); scriptural principle in church dogma (the content of the faith being explicitly grounded in the witness of Sacred Scripture).

Sermon for the Nativity of St. John

Rev. Charles R. Lehmann + The Nativity of John the Baptist + Luke 1:57-80
Saint Paul Lutheran Church
Hamel, IL
June 24, 2007

(This is my first sermon as an ordained pastor.)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
At the beginning of our text for today, Zechariah is mute. When Gabriel had told Zechariah that he would have a son, he did not believe. For this he is struck mute. Since he did not believe God's promise that Elizabeth would conceive, he was silent during the months of her pregnancy. The lips that denied are judged, and for a time the joy of confessing is removed.
We like stories like this one. We like to hear about Sarai laughing at God. We like to hear about Thomas demanding to see the Lord's hands and side. We hear the stories and rejoice that we believe, but more than that, we like to think that we're a little better than these saints of old. If we would have received the word of Lord, surely we would have believed.
But these games don't work. You have received the word of the Lord. You hear it from this pulpit every week as your pastors proclaim it to you. But you still disbelieve. You still wiggle your way out of what the Scriptures say. You still live as if Jesus has not come. You constantly seek ways to trust yourself or some other created thing instead of the eternal creator of all, the one who has redeemed you.
You try to justify yourself by thinking that these saints of old had better reasons to believe. They had miracles and signs from heaven. They had fire and cloud and miracles of healing. And that's true. Some of them did. But not Zechariah. Not when that strange preacher, the angel Gabriel, showed up in the temple.
Zechariah was no different than you. He thought he knew how the world works. Angels don't appear in temples except in those old stories that no one really takes seriously anyway. He was surrounded every day by Sadducees who denied the resurrection. Dead people stay dead. Let's keep it real.
Is it really so different for you? In the modern world we're skeptical of much of what we read in the Scriptures. Water to wine? Maybe. Healing the sick. Sure, we'll grant that. But casting out demons? Most of us at one time or another have tried to dismiss that as a primitive misunderstanding of mental illness. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a modern man to believe the mighty acts of God.
We envy the people who saw Jesus during His earthly ministry because we sometimes don't really believe that he did it at all. And so we hold Zechariah to a higher standard. He lived in biblical times. He should have known better.
But it was no different for Zechariah. The prophets had been silent for centuries. Gabriel's prophecy to Zechariah in the temple was the first for hundreds of years. Zechariah in the temple hearing the word of the Lord through Gabriel. This wasn't normal day to day stuff. It hadn't happened in at least ten generations.
Did Zechariah know it could happen? Sure. He knew it through the Word of God that he had heard and learned. It shouldn't have surprised, shocked, and terrified him. He should have believed the gracious promises of God, but he didn't.
He looked to himself and saw that God's promise couldn't be true. Old men don't beget babies. Grey haired ladies don't go into labor. The world just doesn't work that way. You do the same things with God's promises. You hear that salvation is free and you laugh. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
Surely you have to do something. Sometimes when you help on church-cleaning days or wash windows or cook the Easter breakfast you think that God might love you a little more than the person who stayed home that day.
When you are struck with illness or have a long hard recovery from surgery you might wonder what sin God is punishing you for. You live in unbelief just like Zechariah. God's promises are too good and you're too evil. God's way is too easy, and you're a hard worker... you want to do your part.
Unbelief is easy. Faith is hard. All you have to go on is words. Words read from the lectern. Words read from a book in the midst of you. Words spoken by a guy standing in a pulpit. And you know better than anyone that I am not holy. I am not wise. I have no pearls of my own wisdom to drop. I'm an unexpected preacher talking to you in the temple. The only authority I have are the words, the ones God gave me to preach to you.
The words of eternal life which I preach are on their face weak words, simple words, the words of ordinary sinful men. It doesn't make sense that they should have the power to kill and to make alive, to condemn and forgive sin. We all disbelieve and deserve to be struck mute. We all doubt the promises of God and deserve to be thrown into a silent hell.
But Zechariah's months of silence bring repentance. We know that he believed the word he had first denied. His words written on a tablet before his gathered friends confess the truth Gabriel had told him. “His name is John.”
He confessed what the angel told him, and so the Holy Spirit loosed his lips and gave him more to say. As you heard the song read, you probably recognized it. You sing it every Thanksgiving and Easter morning in the order of matins.
It is fitting that Zechariah sings of the Lord's promises, promises that he disbelieved now, nine months later, he confesses. The neighbors are amazed. They want to know about John. Though Zechariah will get to that, that's not where he starts.
It is the Holy Spirit who is speaking through the old man, and when the Holy Spirit speaks, He speaks of Jesus. Christ has been conceived. Even at this moment He grows in the womb of His mother Mary. A horn of salvation has been raised up, sings Zechariah, and the Lord has visited his people. He knows this because his son John has told him so. He leaped in Elizabeth's womb when Mary visited. The father of the prophet has heard the prophet's word, even before his birth.
And Zechariah knows that the word he sees being fulfilled is the word sworn to his father Abraham. The promise to Abraham fills the song of Zechariah. The Lord saves us from our enemies. He fulfills the oath he swore to Abraham. Zechariah knows well the words the Lord spoke to Abraham when he had freely chosen not to withhold his only son.
“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
In Abraham's seed, Christ, all the nations of the earth are blessed. In Abraham's seed, Jesus, your sins are forgiven, carried by Him to the cross and destroyed there. Through the words that Abraham's seed has given to be spoken here in the liturgy, your sins are absolved, the Gospel is put into your ears, and the Lord's body and blood will be placed on your tongue.
Zechariah, filled by the Holy Spirit, sings of it all. But he knows that his little prophecy happens only on this day, the day that John receives the mark of the covenant, the day that Zechariah speaks with Gabriel, “His name is John.”
John, not Zechariah, is the prophet of the Most High. John goes before the Lord to prepare His way. John preaches salvation. John forgives sins. Well prepared for Jesus is every ear that has heard, “Your sins are forgiven you.” Well tilled is the field that is fertilized with simple words.
And so you confess eternal truths with words. Your sins are forgiven by sounds coming from these sinful lips. Simple bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ in your mouth. There is no work you can do to make yourself more forgiven. There is no suffering you can bear that Jesus has not destroyed on the cross. There is no accusation that can stand against God's elect.
Jesus blood cries out for you and all humanity, “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus, the Lord God, King of the Universe is your Savior. His word does what it says even when it's spoken by a former vicar.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. Charles R. Lehmann
Assistant Pastor-Elect, Youth and Education
Peace with Christ Lutheran Church
Fort Collins, CO

Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Last night and this morning the Divine Service celebrated the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. We were blest to have a guest celebrant and preacher: Pastor Charles Lehmann, of Peace With Christ Lutheran Church, Fort Collins, CO, and, of course, our former vicar. Pastor Lehmann gave a very fine homily on the Holy Gospel for this day (Luke 1:57-80). The prayer of the church commemorated not only the Blessed Virgin and her husband Joseph, together with Sts. Peter and Paul, but especially today St. John and his parents Sts. Zechariah and Elizabeth.

It was the venerable Bede who observed long ago that the words of St. John are fulfilled for us in the natural realm: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Thus, after the birth of our Lord we note that the daylight in the sky begins to grow more and more; after the birth of St. John, it begins to decline a bit more each day. In the entire calendar of the Church only two births are observed: that of our Lord and that of His forerunner, St. John.

As we sang this morning:

Before he yet was born,
He leaped in joyful meeting,
Confessing Him as Lord
Whose Mother he was greeting.
By Jordan's rolling stream,
A new Elijah bold,
He testified of Him
Of whom the prophets told.

Happy birthday, you two!

Today is June 23. It is the birthday of my grandfather: Chancellor Barbor Weedon (born in 1879) and of my brother, Joseph Field Weedon.

I was ten when Granddaddy Chance died and 24 when my brother died in a car wreck. My grandfather was a very quiet man - of course, he had to be because my grandmother was not. :) My favorite memories of my grandfather are his visiting us in MD and sitting with me out on the swings. Yup, that almost 90 year old man got on the swing with his grandson. You gotta love a fellow who would do that!

My brother Joe was not quiet. Not by a long shot. He and I loved to argue. Not fight, mind you. But argue about this, that, and everything. We ENJOYED it, but it drove the rest of the family crazy. I remember drinking my first whiskey sour with Joe, and spending one precious afternoon and evening and night together, talking and talking until the sun rose. He was far more intelligent than I could ever hope to be. I miss him more than words can say.

Oh, and he was a male chauvinist pig of the highest order. I remember his advice to me when I got married: "Remember, don't pick up the clothes. Just drop them on the floor and make HER pick them up and wash them." Ha! He was never married to Cindi. I still remember the day I ran out of clothes to wear and she looked at me innocently and said: "I assumed you didn't want them washed since you didn't put them in the clothes hamper." I don't think I ever had the nerve to share with him my colossal failure with the clothes...

Patristic Quote for the Day

For what good work can a lost man perform, except so far as he has been delivered from perdition? Can they do anything by the free determination of their own will? Again I say, God forbid. For it was by the evil use of his free-will that man destroyed both it and himself. For, as a man who kills himself must, of course, be alive when he kills himself, but after he has killed himself ceases to live, and cannot restore himself to life; so, when man by his own free-will sinned, then sin being victorious over him, the freedom of his will was lost. "For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." This is the judgment of the Apostle Peter. - St. Augustine *Enchiridion* Chapter 30

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

One without love may seem to be holy, but it is only appearance. Such a one remains a murderer before God, for our text adds, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15) - C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 517

Will Wonders Never Cease?

My dear mother-in-law has started her own blog. Too cool. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks? (Ducking before she throws something at me!!!):

Jo\'s blog

Ha!

And you all thought I am hopelessly inept when it comes to mechanical things. Well, I'll have you know that I not only installed the pump on our pool all by my own alone self, but today I installed the salt-water system that produces chlorine for the pool without adding chemicals. And I did THAT all by myself. I cannot tell you the RELIEF when the little green light came on, announcing that chlorine was being made. Wow. There MIGHT be hope for this boy yet. Better watch out - next thing I'll be tinkering with the van. Well, okay, that takes a bit of imagination, but who'd have ever thunk it about the filter AND the chlorine system? See, miracles still do happen.

Patristic Quote for the Day

If you have hurt a person by abusing him, or by cursing or grossly accusing him, be careful to make amends for the harm you have done, as quickly as possible, by apologizing to him. And the one who has been hurt should be ready in his turn to forgive you without wrangling. Brothers who have insulted eachh other should "forgive each other's trespasses"; if you fail to do this, your praying the Our Father become a lie. Indeed, the more you pray, the more honest your prayer ought to become. -- St. Augustine *The Rule* 6:2

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Whenever the tree of the Church has blossomed in faith, the fruits of brotherly love have appeared right away. During the first three centuries of the Christian era, when so many thousands of believers sealed their faith with their blood under the persecutions of the heathen emperors, love was stronger than it has been at any time since. Although Christians were scattered in many countries, they were still bound by love as to a great family. They called themselves brothers and sisters whether they were of high or low estate. If one Christian was distressed, all felt that distress. They mourned together and they rejoiced together. No brother was ashamed of another. Sparing no danger, Christians visited those who were in prison on account of their confession. Often, an entire multitude of believers crowded into prison to comfort and restore with their tears, words, and gifts of love. - C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 511

21 Years Ago Today

It was exactly 21 years ago that through the laying on of hands, I was ordained into the office of the holy ministry. The ordination took place at the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew in Wheaton, Maryland, the same Church where I had been baptized and confirmed. The preacher was my vicarage pastor, George Plvan, and the ordinator was District President Rich Hinz (whose son, Paul, was confirmed with me at St. Andrew years before and whose son, John, was a classmate at Concordia Bronxville).

Thinking back over the years, I am grateful, humbled and astonished that God would have placed me into this holy office - do I ever resonante to the words of Luther's sacristy prayer! Their truth rings deeper in my soul with each passing year:

O Lord God, dear Father in heaven, I am indeed unworthy of the office and ministry in which I am to make known Your glory and to nurture and serve this congregation.

But since You have appointed me to be a pastor and teacher, and the people are in need of the teaching and instruction, be my helper and let Your holy angels attend me.

Then if You are pleased to accomplish anything through me, to Your glory and not to mine or to the praise of men, grant me, out of Your pure grace and mercy, a right understanding of Your Word and that I may also diligently perform it.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, shepherd and bishop of our souls, send Your Holy Spirit that He may work with me to will and to do according to Your divine strength according to Your good pleasure. Amen. (Pastoral Care Companion, p. xviii)

Insane Week

You know, I'm not even preaching this week, and it is a very good thing! This week has been nonstop one thing after another. And it doesn't show any signs of coming to a quiet conclusion either. I hate it when my spirit goes into hurry mode and the inner peace and calm leaves. It happens for me when activities (both parish and family and my own private life) seem too big to squeeze into the time allotted. Thankfully, it really doesn't happen all that often, but when it does, it seems to snowball. As mom always said: "One thing and another, one thing and its brother." I think I need to pray Compline tonight. There's something about that wonderful liturgy that opens the heart to the peace that passes understanding.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Accordingly, having peace in Him [our Lord] means nothing else than this: he who has Christ's Word in his heart becomes so bold and unafraid that he can scorn and defy the devil's wrath and raging. This was demonstrated by the holy martyrs, yes, even by young maidens like SS. Agatha and Agnes, who faced their torment joyfully, as though they were going to a dance, and even mocked their angry tyrants. -- Blessed Martin Luther, *Sermons on John* AE 24:420

Patristic Quote for the Day

"Who loved me and gave Himself for me..."

Moreover, this language teaches that each individual justly owes as a great debt of gratitude to Christ, as if He had come for his sake alone, for He would not have grudged this His condescension though but for one, so that the measure of His love to each is as great as to the whole world. Truly the Sacrifice was offered for all mankind, and was sufficient to save all, but those who enjoy the blessing are the believing only.

- St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on Galatians 2:20

Thoughts at the end of the day...

A varied day today. Matins, Vespers, Eucharist, and Compline all in the course of the day (Eucharist at Worden for Passtor Curtis); shutin visits; work on Starck and a variety of writing assignments. Discussion with some dear Roman brothers. Blog writing.

And still waiting for CPH to ship the Builder (and me to learn to use it!) and the arrival of the saline solution for the pool. Tonight the ladies of the Weedon family are at the Muny watching Oklahoma! David's been in Word of Warcraft all day. Just caught EWTN's mass. Past Elder, it never ceases to fascinate and irritate me!

Pastor Lehmann will preach this Sunday (Nativity of St. John the Baptist), so I've been focusing my attention on next week: the call to live in mercy.

Running through it all: the restful presence of our Lord through whom we gain the strength and comfort to keep on going on. Glory to You, Lord Jesus! Glory to You!

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Christ did not earn only *gratia*, "grace," for us, but also *donum*, "the gift of the Holy Spirit," so that we might have not only forgiveness of, but also cessation of, sin. - Martin Luther, *On the Councils* [1539], AE 41:113

Patristic Quote for the Day

Wickedness makes a bad use not only of evil, but also of good. In the same way, holiness makes a good use not only of good, but also of evil. Thus, sinners make a bad use of the Law, although the Law is good, while saints make a good use of death, although death is an evil. - St. Augustine, *City of God* Book XIII:5

Afflictions

One of the most neglected sections of the Lutheran Symbols is the Apology's treatment of afflictions. It was the section assigned for today's read through. A few choice bits:

"We grant that revenge or punishment is necessary in repentance. Yet it is not necessary as merit or price, as the adversaries imagine that satisfactions are necessary. But revenge is in repentance formally, that is, because rebirth itself happens by a continuous putting to death of the oldness of life." (XII:51)

"Although these afflictions are for the most part the punishment of sin, yet in the godly they have a better end, namely, to exercise them, that they may learn amid trials to seek God's aid, to acknowledge the distrust of their own hearts, and so forth." (XII:54)

"Afflictions are a discipline by which God exercises the saints. Likewise, afflictions are inflicted because of present sin, since in the saints they put to death and extinguish lustful desires, so that they may be renewed by the Spirit." (XII:55)

"It has been said before that saints suffer punishments, which are God's works. They suffer contrition or terrors; they also suffer other common troubles." (XII:59)

"Therefore, troubles are not always punishments or signs of wrath. Indeed, terrified consciences should be taught that there are more important purposes for afflictions, so that they do not think God is rejected them when they see nothing but God's punishment and anger in troubles. The other important purposes are to be considered, that is, that God is doing His strange work so that He may be albe to do His own work, as Isaiah 28 teaches in a long speech." (XII:61)

"[Troubles] are God's works, intended for our benefit, that God's power might be made more apparent in our weakness." (XII:63)

Sound words of great importance for those who deal constantly with people suffering under various trials!

On plus and minus

When a Lutheran looks at other confessions of the faith, he sees a matter of plus and minus.

On the Roman (and Orthodox) side of the equation, he sees the Sacred Scriptures plus. Stuff gets added to the witness of the Scriptures and those additions are also held to be normative. One thinks of certain theories of apostolic succession as a divinely mandated condition for the existence of the holy ministry; various teachings about the Blessed Virgin (immaculate conception and assumption); the invocation of the saints (as distinguished from the intercession of the saints), and so on.

On the "other Protestant" side of the equation, he sees stuff subtracted from the Scriptures: the saving efficacy of Baptism, the sacramental union of the bread and wine with our Lord's body and blood in the Supper, the authority of the pastor to forgive sins in Christ's name, the rejection of whatever is not explicit in the Scriptures (for example, the liturgy).

Lutheranism has always felt the tug both ways. We experience the temptation to add and to take away; plus and minus, if you will. The beauty of the Lutheran Symbols is that they don't give in to the temptations on either side. The same, sadly, cannot be said of us Lutheran pastors and parishes. We live in the dynamic tension between the two forces, and are always being allured to one side or the other. To teach more or to teach less than God has revealed to us in the Sacred Scriptures. The Symbols point a true media via. May God give us the grace to walk it - for the sake of the whole Church!

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

As the Creed is the rule of faith, so the Lord's Prayer is the rule of all prayers. -- Martin Chemnitz, *The Lord's Prayer* p. 21

Patristic Quote for the Day

Who can measure the happiness of heaven, where no evil at all can touch us, no good will be out of reach; where life is to be one long laud extolling God, who will be all in all? --St. Augustine, *City of God* Book XXII:30

BOC for Today

Scripture shouts everywhere that we are very far from the perfection that the Law requires. Ap. XII:45

An Evening Hymn

O Christ, who art the light and day,
Thou drivest night and gloom away;
O Light of Light, whose Word doth show
The light of heaven to us below.

All-holy Lord, in humble prayer
We ask tonight Thy watchful care.
O grant us calm repose in Thee,
A quiet night, from perils free.

Our sleep be pure from sinful stain;
Let not the tempter vantage gain
Or our unguarded flesh surpise
And make us guiltly in Thine eyes.

Asleep though wearied eyes may be,
Still keep the heart awake to Thee;
Let Thy right hand outstretched avbove
Guard those who serve the Lord they love.

Behold, O God, our shield and quell
The crafts and subtleties of hell;
Direct Thy servants in all good,
Whom Thou hast purchased with Thy blood.

O Lord, remember us who bear
The burden of the flesh we wear;
Thou who doest e'er our souls defend,
Be with us even to the end.

All praise to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee,
Whom with the Spirit we adore
Forever and forevermore. Amen.
LSB 882:1-7

A Beautiful Idea

Right before my mother-in-law, Jo, went back to MD, she gave me a wonderful book to read. It's her notes on the Gospel of John, her reflections on and struggles with the Word. Like Jacob of old, she is clearly saying to the Lord: "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And bless her, he did. Many insights along the way - many of them insights only gained through suffering. I haven't finished it yet, but I find it quite beautiful:

"When we talk about eating the flesh and drinking the blood, many don't understand how that can be. He warns us that unless we do we will have no life in us. We wil be condemned. When you eat the bread and drink the blood you shall live forever... We don't do it as a symbol but as the actual body and blood of our Lord."

"Satan and sin were destroyed at the cross. We are now freed from Satan's hold. Christ died so that we may live forever."

"When we come to the table it must be with a clean heart, for we are meeting Christ there. It is not a symbol of remembrance, but the true body and blood of our Lord."

"It goes deeper than that. We are not seeing the Christ in each other nor are we seeing the power of the Word to change lives."

"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. This brings up the situation of pastors standing in (the) stead of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. According to the scripture, this is one of their duties."

Wow. Good stuff. Have you thought of writing down your conversations with the Lord on the basis of His Word? It allows your personal conversation to be a blessing to others also. I've not done this before, but after reading a bit in this work on John, I'm beginning to think I should.

Patristic Quote for the Day

O the miracle, O the blessings of God, who with the Father sits above and in that very point of time is handled by the hands of all and gives Himself to those who wish to receive and embrace Him! And this does not take place by any sleight of hand but before the very eyes of those who are standing there and looking around, namely, along with those earthly things which are visible there is at the same time believed to be present the very body and blood of Christ. - St. John Chrysostom, MPG 48, 642.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Therefore it is necessary that in those who are to be helped by this eating [of the Eucharist] there be penitence and fear of God, which is terrified by the contemplation of sin and of the wrath of God against sins and puts off the purpose to do evil. Faith also is necessary, that seeks and accepts the remission of sins in the promise. - Blessed Martin Chemnitz, *Examination of the Council of Trent* II:238

Heermann Hymn

Among the great treasures of the Lutheran chorales are the hymns of Johann Heermann. This is one of my favorites.

O God, my faithful God,
True fountain ever flowing,
Without whom nothing is,
All perfect gifts bestowing:
Give me a healthy frame,
And may I have within
A conscience free from blame,
A soul unstained by sin.

Grant me the strength to do
With ready heart and willing
Whatever You command,
My calling here fulfilling;
That I do what I should,
While trusting You to bless
The outcome for my good,
For You must give success.

Keep me from saying words
That latter 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.

Let me depart this life
Confiding in my Savior;
By grace receive my soul
That it may live forever;
And let my body have
A quiet resting place
Within a Christian grave;
And let it sleep in peace.

And on that final day
When all the dead are waking,
Stretch out Your mighty hand,
My deathly slumber breaking.
Then let me hear Your voice,
Redeem this earthly frame,
And bid me to rejoice
With those who love Your name.
LSB 696:1-6

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

True faith is absolutely necessary when approaching the Supper for sacramental eating so that which was instituted for life is received by us for life. Therefore, I approach this heavenly Meal with true faith, firmly convinced that the body I eat is the one given into death for me, that the blood I drink is the blood shed for my sins. - Johann Gerhard, *Meditations on Divine Mercy* p. 87

Patristic Quote for the Day

Nor was He content merely to summon us back from death to life; he also bestowed on us the dignity if His own divine nature and prepared for us a place of eternal rest where there will be joy so intense as to surpass all human imagination. - St. Basil the Great, *Detailed Rules for Monks* in *Christian Prayer* p. 2016

Fun Day

After services today, I came home to find this in the livingroom:



What could it be? I unpacked it to find this:



Which is megacool, since my old bike was stolen from our garage something like ten years ago and I've talked about replacing it for years and never got around to it. Now Cindi and I can ride together again.

But today was much too hot to ride the bike. Instead, after Cindi prepared a delicious shrimp fest for us, the girls decided to do this:




Then we headed out for some Coldstone Creamery goodies, and back for liverpool. Yours truly got to go out on the last hand, but that made no difference. Yours truly also had a ton of points before he went out. :(

Jo and Dave are headed back to MD tomorrow. May God's angels guard and protect them, and bring them back to us in safety again.

Now the old tummy is suggesting that some left over shrimp might be exactly what is needed to kill the appetite.

Good gravy!

Pool is STILL filling up! We enjoyed it today, even though it was only part way inflated. What a LOT of water that is. I am hoping that it finishes up before 10 or 10:30 tonight so I can TRY to turn on the pump. I've been warned that it doesn't always work. :(

I must say, though, that the set up was quite simple, despite a few hiccups along the way. I'm wondering if it will be hot enough (and warm enough in the water) to enjoy it tomorrow for Father's Day. We decided to order the saltwater system to see if it will make it easier than dealing with chemicals. As far as chemicals today, I just dumped a bit of bleach in it to see if it would clean up the water. If the pump starts up tonight, it *should* be ready for use tomorrow.

And the order of the day tomorrow will be shrimp - after church we're planning on firing up the grill and doing some shrimp on that, and we've got shrimp to heat up in the oven and shrimp cocktail to serve cold. It will be great celebrating Father's Day with Dave around. They're getting ready to head to Md for a nephew's wedding next weekend, and I'm already missing them. :( Hopefully, they won't be gone long, though.

While waiting for the pool to finish up, turned on EWTN to check out today's mass. AWFUL! So much about the Blessed Virgin and next to nothing about the Blessed Virgin's Son. Grr! And Fr. Mark was the preacher - he's usually better than that. Nothing like the Saturday masses dedicated to the Virgin to remind me of why I am a Lutheran Christian!!!

One of those nights...

...when I woke up in the middle and could not get back to sleep. But that's okay, because there is something beautiful about Matins as the sun is actually just beginning to poke its head up over the trees. So here it is, seven o'clock, I'm on my second cup of Irish Breakfast Tea, the coffee is just finishing up, and I've read the assigned Book of Concord reading for today and done another 8 pages in the update to Starck's Prayer book, posted my quotes for the day on the blog, and caught up with email.

We're off in a bit to buy one of those Walmart pools. Bekah has been begging for it, and it will be fun to have it in place when she gets back from camp tonight. I suspect we'll all enjoy it, and hopefully it will last more than one summer?

Cindi is singing in the Collinsville Chorale this evening - all Patriotic Music. Including that wretched "Battle Hymn." I told her that I do not know if this southern boy can sit through THAT.

Well, that coffee calls.

Patristic Quote of the Day

Let us fix our thoughts on the Blood of Christ; and reflect how precious that Blood is in God's eyes, inasmuch as its outpouring for our salvation has opened the grace of repentance to all mankind. -- Clement of Rome, To the Corinthians, par. 7

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

God does not want to satisfy us with visible, temporal, perishable goods. He wants to give us Himself, the eternal highest good. -- C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 498

Prayer for Those Present After the Dying Person has Breathed His Last.

O holy and righteous God, it has pleased Thee to call hence the departed here lying before us by temporal death. Let us learn from this death that we, too, must die and leave this world, in order that we may prepare for it in time by repentance, a living faith, and the avoidance of the vanities and sin of the world. Refresh the soul that has now departed with heavenly consolation and joy, and fulfil unto it all the gracious promises which in Thy holy Word Thou hast made to those who believe in Thee. Grant to the body a soft and quiet rest in the earth till the Last Day, when Thou wilt reunite body and soul and lead them into glory, so that the entire person that served Thee here may be filled with heavenly joy yonder. Comfort all who are in grief over this death and be and remain to the bereaved their Father, Provider, Guardian, Helper, and Support. Do not forsake them, and do not withdraw Thy hand from them, but let them abundantly experience Thy goodness, grace, love, and help, until Thou shalt grant them also a happy and blessed end. Hear us for Thy mercy's sake. Amen. (Starck's Prayer-Book, p. 454)

[Makes an interesting contrast with Synodical Catechism question #201, eh? You tell ME which is in better accord with Apology XXIV:94, 96]

Homily for Trinity 2 (2007)

[Proverbs 9:1-10; Ephesians 2:13-22; Luke 14:15-24]

The master of the feast made doubly sure that the guests received their invites. He issued two to each: the first was to tell each one that he was invited; and second, on the day of the great supper itself, He sent a special messenger to announce that dinner is served: "Come for everything is now ready!"

All of which teaches us much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "Come!" The Gospel is not so much a command as an offer; not so much a demand, as a gift -- an invitation to share in the unbelievable joy of the kingdom of God.

"Come!" God is expecting you! He is ready for the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame. He is ready for those who spend their lives in the highways and byways of life. He invites all: "Come; for all is now ready."

As a shepherd seeks for the lost sheep, as a woman gets down on her knees to look for a lost coin, and, yes, as a father looks down the road, waiting for his lost son to come home again, so God is ever seeking, calling, inviting us into relationship and communion with Himself. In that he shows us what "fatherhood" is to be about: seeking opportunity and opening doors for relationships, for sharing both hurts and happiness, sorrows and joys. The godly father is the one who keeps the door of his heart open to his children, a picture of God the Father's open heart and constant invitation to us.

God cries out: "Come; for all is now ready!" Come, you who seek meaning for life. Come, you who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Come, you who falter under the burden of sin and shame. Come, you who are anxious and fearful. Come, you who mourn.

"Come you all; enter into the joy of your Lord. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted on; let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let none grieve over their poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no weep over their sins, for pardon has shone forth from the grave; let none fear death, for the death of the Savior has set us free." (John Chrysostom - Easter homily)

Christianity is not first and foremost a "should" religion. It is first and foremost a "come" religion. The great drawing power of Jesus Christ is not in His "Thou shalts and thou shalt nots" but in His "Come to me." Come, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Come, be filled with the power of God's presence. If we come to him, then we shall do certain things, not because we "should" do them, but because we delight in doing them as an expression of our love for the One who laid down His life to give us life.

Commenting on this word "Come" and in particular on the words of Jesus, "Come to me all you who labor..." John Chrysostom wrote these precious words: "His invitation is one of kindness, His goodness is beyond description. 'Come to me, all' not only rulers but also their subjects, not only the rich, but also the poor, not only the free, but also the slaves, not only men but also women, not only the youth, but also the old, not only those of sound body, but also the maimed. All of you, He says, come! For such are the Master's gifts. He knows no distinction of slave and free, nor of rich and poor, but all such inequality is cast aside. 'Come,' He says, 'all you who labor and are burdened!' And see whom He calls! Those who have spent their strength in breaking the law, those who are burdened with their sins, those who can no longer lift up their heads, those who are filled with shame, those who can no longer speak out. Why does He call them? Not to demand an accounting, nor to hold court. But why? To relieve them of their pain, to take away their heavy burdens."

Now when Jesus says, "Come!" He does not stand on the top rung of a long, high ladder in heaven to signal us to start climbing. For He himself has climbed down the ladder to stand at our very elbows. He has come to us. "Who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man." "She brought forth her firstborn Son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger." He came, born in a stable. He came and died on the cross. He came to prepare the banquet of salvation for us. And now--today--He sends His servants to extend us His invitation: "Come, for all things are now ready." There is nothing you can add to this feast. He has done the lot. "It is finished!" He cried from the cross. He has prepared the feast of salvation for you and the only request He asks of you is that you let Him serve it to you.

Ah, but far from being accepted, this gracious invitation was rejected. "I have bought a field...I have bought five yoke of oxen...I have married a wife...I cannot come. Have me excused..." This was the response. The response of so many of His own people. "He came to His own and His own received Him not." Is it not the same response today? Our great tragedy is that we end up accepting the wrong invitations in life. We miss the banquet, the abundant life of Christ, and settle for the lesser, for the fleeting. And Jesus still laments, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wing, and you would not."

"Come, for all is now ready." "But" you object "I am not worthy to come. My clothes are not suitable. I wouldn't know how to act in the Master's palace." None of this makes any difference. The invitation goes out to all:to those who are on the back streets, to those who live in little, dirty places, as well as to those who live in fine houses. Come! The good news is that you don't have to be perfect to come. Come as you are -- with all of your sins and sorrows, weaknesses and failures, problems and anxieties. Come to the only one who can forgive you and heal you. Come to the one who on His cross opened His arms wide to you. "Come, for all is now ready."

Coming to Jesus isn't a one time thing. None can say: "Oh, I did that years ago." Coming to Jesus is a way of life. It begins with baptism. It involves living out our baptism in daily repentance and sorrow for sin and turning from sin to God. We come to Him and find Him where He has promised to be for us. We come to Him in worship for "where two or three gather in my name, there am I in the midst of them." We come to Him in Bible reading, for "if anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." We come to Him in regular communion, for "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in Me and I in Him." You see He who came down from heaven to meet us on our level, meets us on our level still.

No, He doesn't stand at the top of the ladder and call us home. He stands at the bottom and lifts us up on His strong shoulders and carries us up the ladder Himself. None of us will ever know the wonder of the brightly lit banquet hall, the goodness of the food, and the joy of being part of this amazing fellowship until we lay aside the excuses and dare to accept the invitation. Yes, dare to accept it daily! Come to Him now, come to Him today and tomorrow and the next day and the next and so live in the assurance that on the last day He will direct to you the greatest "Come" of all: "Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Amen

Walther

A beautiful reading for today on part of last Sunday's epistle: 1 John 4:16-18. Here's just a snippet:

Therefore, if the love of God does not reside in a person's heart, he boasts of faith and relies upon it in vain. Faith is not an intention to acquire all the comfort of the Gospel. It is a heavenly light, a divine power that God, with His grace, implants in the heart. Faith without love for God is an empty product of our imagining, a hull without fruit, a shell without kernel, a painted picture without life. Wherever there is true faith, love comes forth like the shining of the sun. Wherever love is absent from the heart, God, the eternal love, cannot be found there.... If you do not remain in love, you also will not remain in faith. *God Grant It!* p. 495

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

If we eat Him spiritually, through the Word He abides in us spiritually in our souls; if one eats Him physically He abides in us physically and we in Him. As we eat Him, He abides in us and we in Him. For He is not digested or transformed but ceaselessly He transforms us, our soul into righteousness, our body into immortality. So the ancient fathers spoke of the physical eating. --Blessed Martin Luther (AE 37:132)

Patristic Quote of the Day

What, then, we read concerning Lazarus we ought to believe of every sinner who is converted, who, though he may have been stinking, nevertheless is cleansed by the precious ointment of faith. For faith has such grace that there where the dead stank the day before, now the whole house is filled with good odour. St. Ambrose - On Repentance, Book II, Par. 63

From Today's BOC Reading...

"Therefore, it would be wicked to remove private Absolution from the Church. If anyone despises private Absolution, he does not understand what the forgiveness of sins or the Power of the Keys is." - Apology VI:3,4 (Concordia)

From this morning's Matins

First, the incomparable hymn: "Father, most holy" usually attributed to St. Gregory the Great.

What never ceases to strike me in this hymn is stanza three:

Maker of all things, all Thy creatures praise Thee;
All for Thy worship were and are created;
Now, as we also worship Thee devoutly,
Hear Thou our voices! (LSB 504:3)

Everything there is was created to worship the Blessed Trinity. The flowers worship by being flowers. The trees worship by being trees. The dogs worship by chasing their tails. And humans worship by being humans - being what we were intended to be: the image and temple of God upon the earth. We were created to worship. To spend our time in anything else is to miss out.

And because that is so, because of the fallness of our world, we had in today's reading from Proverbs 14:11

The house of the wicked will be destroyed;
But the tent of the upright will flourish.

House verses tent. It's the difference between the wicked and the upright. The wicked have here in this world their permanent home. They settle down and live it for all its worth. But its worth, its true worth, is how it manifests and declares to us ceaselessly that it is NOT our final home, but that we are meant be pilgrims, that we are passing through this age to the age that is to come, which is our true and lasting home. Here the righteous live only in tents - even if the tents are made of brick and mortar. They know that nothing here lasts. "The form of this world is passing away." We are journeying to that Age and that home where praise and worship of the Blessed Trinity will be all in all. Even now we get the teasing taste of what it will be in the Church - the colony from the future, the life of the age to come planted on this soil so that we might ever remember that we live in tents.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Since the payment for my sin and reconciliation has cost so much, the bitter death of my God, may God keep me from sins. - Urbanus Rhegius, *Preaching the Reformation* p. 75

Patristic Quote of the Day

We have a good Lord, Whose will it is to forgive all, Who called you by the prophet and said: "I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions, and I will not remember, but you remember that we may plead together." "I," He says, "will not remember, but remember," that is to say, "I do not recall those transgressions which I have forgiven you, which are covered, as it were, with oblivion, but remember them. I will not remember them because of My grace, remember them in order to correction; remember, you may know that the sin is forgiven, boast not as though innocent, that you aggravate not the sin, but you will be justified, confess your sin." For a shamefaced confession of sins looses the bands of transgression. - St. Ambrose, On Repentance, Book II, par. 40

On Being Lutheran

A friend wrote me a sad note a bit ago about not enjoying identifying himself as a Lutheran anymore. I have to confess that it is something that I do not quite understand. Yes, I know being a Lutheran is mega-uncool. All the self-professed "thinkers" have left or are leaving. My friend mentioned being fed up with the whole Lake Woebegone schtick, disgusted over reading the latest Reporter and stuff about the upcoming Synodical Convention. I have sympathy with his revulsion to the way many contemporary Lutherans are headed, of course. But the name Lutheran? It's still one that brings good associations.

What does it mean to me? This is just personal reflection, understand. But when I hear Lutheran...

It calls to mind my first encounter with the Eucharist as the true body and blood of Christ. I can still see the young people at St. Andrew kneeling to receive and then walking back and spending time in prayer afterwards. Their heads bowed, their faces, well, grateful.

It calls to mind my brother Maupin ribbing my side as the water was poured into the font and him saying: "That's for you!"

It calls to mind Palm Sunday services with palms! Maundy Thursday solemn celebrations of the Supper. Good Friday with seven sermons on the seven last words. And Easter with overflowing joy. It calls to mind Advent and Lenten Vespers in the middle of the week, and learning Psalm 130 by heart from the back of TLH, with pastor singing the bass-line.

It calls to mind spending six weeks each year with the Passion of Jesus in sermon, hymn, anthem, and prayer.

It calls to mind joining the choir and processing in to the music of "Built on the Rock" as we celebrated a jubilant Reformation Day; and this was when I still had not the foggiest notion how to sing in parts. But the others did - and what a rich sound.

It calls to mind Bible studies that wrestled with the sacred text and invited us not to be afraid to hear what was being said and honestly to react to it.

It calls to mind the beautiful Christmas trees and the real branches around the Advent wreath. The acolytes standing on tiptoe to reach the tall candles on the gradine.

It calls to mind the ringing of bells, the chanting of psalms, the huge "for you ness" of it all.

It calls to mind evangelism visits and visiting the booth at the county fair, replete with tracts from LLL.

It calls to mind listening to sermons that did not fail week after week to deliver the goods: real law that exposed and stripped me of all excuses and real Gospel that refreshed me and sent me on my way with joy.

It calls to mind hymns and chants that sounded different from anything I'd ever heard before. I still remember the first time Herzliebster Jesu made itself known to me.

It calls to mind memorizing the catechism and reciting it for Mrs. Bleckley and receiving her kind chastisement for not having it down exactly correct.

It calls to mind the heady years at Bronxville where the music of the Lutheran Church opened before me like a vast ocean waiting to be explored, and into which I got to plunge in chapel choir, tour choir, and chorus.

Lutheran to me calls to mind the people, the vast numbers of people, to whom p. 15; Trinity Sunday and the Athanasian Creed; and "this is most certainly true" brings the smile of shared experience to the face.

To me the word "Lutheran" conjures up all that to me and so much more. A negative? No way. A joy. The joy of a forgiven sinner, welcomed home to the Father's house and learning to rejoice in grace from so many who have gone before. Indeed, "this is most certainly true."

Ambrosian Joys

Spent part of today studying St. Ambrose's fine little work on Repentance. It's in two books. Finished the first. He's writing against the Novatians. The gleanings are pretty danged rich, so thought I'd through them out for any who collect such things:

Ambrose:

Consider, too, the point that he who has received the Holy Ghost has also received the power of forgiving and of retaining sin. For thus it is written: "Receive the Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." John 20:22-23 So, then, he who has not received power to forgive sins has not received the Holy Spirit. The office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it is specially to forgive and to retain sins. How, then, can they claim His gift who distrust His power and His right? – Repentance, Book I, par. 8

For we men are all born under sin, and our very origin is in evil, as we read in the words of David: "For lo, I was conceived in wickedness, and in sin did my mother bring me forth." -- Repentance, Book I, par 13

Is it not evident that the Lord Jesus is angry with us when we sin in order that He may convert us through fear of His indignation? His indignation, then, is not the carrying out of vengeance, but rather the working out of forgiveness, for these are His words:"If you shall turn and lament, you shall be saved." He waits for our lamentations here, that is, in time, that He may spare us those which shall be eternal. He waits for our tears, that He may pour forth His goodness. So in the Gospel, having pity on the tears of the widow, He raised her son. He waits for our conversion, that He may Himself restore us to grace, which would have continued with us had no fall overtaken us. But He is angry because we have by our sins incurred guilt, in order that we may be humbled; we are humbled, in order that we may be found worthy rather of pity than of punishment. – Repentance Book I, par 22

He does not bring down the sinner even to the earth with His whole heart Who raises the poor even from the dust and the needy from the dunghill. For He brings not down with His whole heart Who reserves the intention of forgiving. –Repentance Book I, par 23

Your Church does not excuse herself from Your supper, Novatian makes excuse. Your family says not, "I am whole, I need not the physician," but it says: "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved." The likeness of Your Church is that woman who went behind and touched the hem of Your garment, saying within herself: "If I do but touch His garment I shall be whole." Matthew 9:21 So the Church confesses her wounds, but desires to be healed. Repentance Book I, par 31

[David Schütz, this next is for you!]

And this confession is indeed rightly made by them, for they have not the succession of Peter, who hold not the chair of Peter, which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too, they do, wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven even in the Church, whereas it was said to Peter: "I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven." Matthew 16:19 – Repentance, Book I, par 33

do you say, "I am clean," when, as it is written, not even an infant of a day old is pure? – Repentance, Book I, par 38

Do you see that the same God Who requires repentance promises forgiveness? Repentance, Book I, par 46

If, then, you wish to reclaim any one of the lapsed, do you exhort him to believe, or not to believe? Undoubtedly you exhort him to believe. But, according to the Lord's words, he who believes shall have everlasting life. Repentance, Book I, par 48

He then who has faith has life, and he who has life is certainly not shut out from pardon; "that every one," it is said, "that believes in Him should not perish." Since it is said, Every one, no one is shut out, no one is excepted, for He does not except him who has lapsed, if only afterwards he believes effectually. Repentance, Book I, par 48

Therefore it is said: "That every one that believes in Him should not perish." Let no one, that is, of whatever condition, after whatever fall, fear that he will perish. Repentance, Book I, par. 51

Let us consider another similar passage: "He that believes in the Son has eternal life, but he that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36 That which abides has certainly had a commencement, and that from some offence, viz., that first he not believe. When, then, any one believes, the wrath of God departs and life comes. To believe, then, in Christ is to gain life, for "he that believes in Him is not judged." John 3:18. Repentance, Book I, par. 53

And that you may not think that it is only our arguments which press you, consider the decision of Christ, Who said: "If the servant knew his Lord's will and did it not, he shall be beaten with many stripes, but if he knew it not, he shall be beaten with few stripes." Luke 12:47-48 Each, then, if he believes, is received, for God "chastens every son whom He receives," Hebrews 12:6 and him whom He chastens He does not give over unto death, for it is written: "The Lord has chastened me sore, but He has not given me over unto death." Repentance, Book I, par 58

For this is the sentence of condemnation on the serpent: "Dust shall be your food." Genesis 3:14 What dust? Surely that of which it is said: "Dust you are, and into dust shall you return." Genesis 3:19 Repentance, Book I, par. 67

Nicea

Today our Synod remembers with thanks to the most Blessed Trinity the holy council at Nicea, the first ecumenical council. From the Synod's website:

The Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325

The first Council of Nicaea was convened in the early summer of 325 by the Roman Emperor Constantine at what is today Isnuk, Turkey. The emperor presided at the opening of the council. The council ruled against the Arians, who taught that Jesus was not the eternal Son of God but was created by the Father and was called Son of God because of his righteousness. The chief opponents of the Arians were Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, and his deacon, Athanasius. The council confessed the eternal divinity of Jesus and adopted the earliest version of the Nicene Creed, which in its entirety was adopted at the Council of Constantinople in 381.

Yet another Magdeburg gem

This coming Thursday, the German Litany was prescribed between the Epistle and the Gospel. The introduction to the litany is the beautifully penitential Precatio Ecclesiae that teaches us in the litany our intercession is being joined to that our Lord for us:

Remove from us, Lord,
our sins and transgressions
so that we may appear before You
with clean hearts and humility.
Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy, dear Lord,
upon the people
that You have redeemed with Your blood, O Christ,
and do not be angry with us forever.
Hear, hear, hear our prayer, O Lord God,
Christ, our Redeemer, pray for us to your dear Father.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The problem of Church Union will be solved only by holding firmly to the pure faith of the Gospel, once delivered to the saints, and heartily uniting with all who upon the basis of this pure faith, and for the sake of advancing this pure faith, thankfully accept and appropriate everything developed in the Church's experience, that is not contrary to God's Word. With purity of teaching guarded in other respects the rule applies: "Submitting to one another in the fear of God," Eph. 5:21 - Henry E. Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 215

Patristic Quote of the Day

Others think that licence is granted them to sin, because the hope of penitence is before them, whereas penitence is the remedy, not an incentive to sin. For the salve is necessary for the wound, not the wound for the salve, since a salve is sought because of the wound, the wound is not wished for on account of the salve. - St. Ambrose of Milan, *On Repentance* Book II, par. 90

For Brian

Here you go! I'm not guaranteeing that the verses actually match up exactly between the English and the Latin, so there are no doubt rough edges. Note that the overwhelming majority of the time, the epistle is the same for the previous Sunday - though there are exceptions to this, and all of Lent is an exception. But this is the set of Thursday Mass readings from the 1613 Lutheran Magdeburg Cathedral Service Book.

Readings for the Thursday after:
Trinity: 1 Cor. 11:23-29 / John 5:55-58
Trinity 1: 1 John 4:9-21 / Luke 17:1-10
Trinity 2: Joel 2:23-27 / Luke 8:41-56
Trinity 3: 1 Peter 5:6-12 / Mark 11:11-24
Trinity 4: Romans 8:18-23 / Mark 6:1-7
Trinity 5: 1 Peter 3:8-15 / Mark 6:31-44
Trinity 6: Romans 6:3-11 / Mark 5:1-10
Trinity 7: Romans 6:19-24 / Matt 12:1-7
Trinity 8: Romans 8:12-24 / Matthew 23:13-23
Trinity 9: 1 Cor. 10:6-13 / Luke 11:37-46
Trinity 10: 1 Cor. 12:1-11 / Luke 21:34-36
Trinity 11: 1 Cor. 15:1-10 / Luke 17:20-37
Trinity 12: 2 Cor. 3:4-9 / Matthew 11:20-27
Trinity 13: Gal. 3:18-22 / Luke 13:22-30
Trinity 14: Hosea 14:2-10 / Luke 7:36-50
Trinity 15: Galatians 5:26-6:10 / Luke 20:1-8
Trinity 16: Ephesians 3:13-21 / Mark 8:22-26
Trinity 17: Ephesians 4:1-6 / Luke 19:12-28
Trinity 18: 1 Cor. 1:4-8 / Matt 13:31-35
Trinity 19: Eph 4:22-28 / Mark 13:14-23
Trinity 20: Eph 5:15-21 / Luke 6:22-36
Trinity 21: Eph 6:10-19 / Matt 8:14-17
Trinity 22: Phil. 1:3-11 / Mark 4:14-20
Trinity 23: Phil 3:17-21 / Mark 7:1-8
Trinity 24: Col. 1:9-14 / Matt 24:37-44
Trinity 25: Jeremiah 23:5-8 / Mark 13:33-37
Trinity 26: 2 Thes. 1:3-11 / Luke 19:1-10
Trinity 27: 1 Thes 5:1-11 / Matt 17:1-8

Advent 1: Romans 13:11ff / Luke 3:7-18
Advent 2: Romans 15:4-13 / John 1:15-18
Advent 3: Isaiah 11:1-5 / Luke 1:39-47
Advent 4: 2 Thes. 2:1-8 / Luke 3:1-6

After Epiphany: Romans 12:1-6 / Luke 2:42-52
2 Epiphany: Romans 12:6-16 / Luke 4:31-37
3 Epiphany: Roman 12:16-21 / Mark 3:6-15
4 Epiphany: Romans 13:8-10 / Matt 8:23-27
5 Epiphany: Col. 3:8-17 / Matt 13:24-30
6 Epiphany: 1 Thes 5:4-23 / Matt 17:1-8

Septuagesima: 1 Cor. 9:24-10:5 / Luke 9:51-56
Sexagesima: 2 Cor. 11:19-12:9 / Luke 17:20-37
Quinquagesima: Isaiah 58:1-9 / Matt 5:43-6:4

Invocabit: Ezekiel 18:1-8 / John 8:31-47
Reminiscere: Jeremiah 17:5-10 / John 5:30-47
Oculi: Jeremiah 7:1-7 / John 6:27-35
Laetare: 2 Kings 4:25-37 / John 5:17-20
Judica: Daniel 3:24-45 (Apocrypha) / John 7:40-52

Easter 1: Acts 8:26-end / John 20:11-18
Easter 2: 1 John 5:4-10 / Matt 28:8-15
Easter 3: 1 Peter 2:21-25 / Matt 9:14-17
Easter 4: 1 Peter 2:11-19 / John 12:46-50
Easter 5: James 1:17-21 / John 13:33-36
Easter 6: ASCENSION
Easter 7: 1 Peter 4:7-11 / Luke 24:49 to end

Pentecost: Acts 8:5-8 / Luke 9:1-6

Change in Calendar

St. Paul's has been carefully observing the sanctoral calendar of LSB, but the irregularity of these feasts has led to a bit of confusion. It is with joy that I announce that beginning the second week in July, we'll be offering virtually every Thursday a spoken Divine Service at which various saints days will be observed. Service will begin at 6:15 p.m. and be over by 6:45. If a day appointed in the sanctoral cycle falls in the octave, it will be observed on the Thursday. Since the LSB does not appoint readings for the Divine Service on those weeks when there is no saint's day or other feast transferred or observed, we'll use the assigned readings from the 1613 Magdeburg Book for the Thursday Eucharists. Pastor Lehmann told me that Pr. Petersen also recommends Thursdays in continual remembrance that it was upon that day our Lord gave us the Supper. Here is the schedule:

Thursday Eucharists:

July 12 Thursday of Trinity 5
July 19 Thursday of Trinity 6
July 26 St. James, the Elder
August 2 Thursday of Trinity 8
August 9 Thursday of Trinity 9
August 16 St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord
August 23 St. Bartholomew
August 30 The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist
September 6 Thursday of Trinity 13
September 13 Holy Cross
September 20 St. Matthew
September 27 Thursday of Trinity 16
Oct 4 Thursday of Trinity 17
Oct 11 Thursday of Trinity 18
Oct 18 St. Luke
Oct 25 St. James of Jerusalem
Nov. 1 Sts. Simon and Jude (All Saints observed on Sunday)
Nov. 8 Thursday of Trinity 22
Nov 15 Thursday of Trinity 23
Nov 22 (NO EUCHARIST – Thanksgiving Day)
Nov 29 St. Andrew, Apostle
Dec 6 Thursday of Advent 1
Dec 13 Thursday of Advent 2
Dec 20 St. Thomas
Dec 27 St. John
Jan 3 Holy Innocents
Jan 10 Thursday after Epiphany
Jan 17 Transfiguration
Jan 24 Conversion of St. Paul
Jan 31 Purification of Mary
Feb 7 Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Feb 14 Thursday after Invocabit
Feb 21 Thursday after Reminscere
Feb 28 St. Matthias
Mar 6 Thursday after Laetare
Mar 13 St. Joseph, Guardian of Our Lord
Mar 20 Maundy Thursday – Sung Eucharist at 7:15
Mar 27 Annunciation
Apr 3 Thursday of Easter 2
Apr 10 Thursday of Easter 3
Apr 17 Thursday of Easter 4
Apr 24 St. Mark the Evangelist
May 1 Ascension – Sung Divine Service at 7:15
May 8 Philip and James
May 15 Pentecost Thursday
May 22 Corpus Christi
May 29 Thursday of Trinity 2
June 5 Thursday of Trinity 3
June 12 St. Barnabas, Apostle
June 19 Thursday of Trinity 5
June 26 Nativity of St. John the Baptist

On Elders

Schmemann has a great piece in *Church, World, and Mission* (I think!) on the conciliar nature of the Church. He points out that this was originally manifested in that the local bishop had gathered around him his council, his presbyters. When the task of presiding over the Eucharist was given over to presbyters as the normal way of things, it was inevitable, Schmemann argues, given the nature of the Church, that a council would arise around him. He can't and shouldn't do his work alone. I think Schmemann is correct. Hence the "elders" in the Missouri Synod.

I have to tell you openly and honestly: I love my elders. They are not "yes" men or "no" men. They take time to think over what I propose. At times they tell me: "You're off your rocker." At times they say: "go for it." But I know this: I would never act without hearing them out. Even if I end up disagreeing with their consensus (which honestly has never happened), I would be a fool of the first order not to consider prayerfully whatever insights they offer me. They are the living embodiment of Proverbs 15:22, "Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed."

I pray for this group of men each day, and I know they pray for me. The pastor without his council of elders would be a rather sorry sight. I shudder to think of my own ministry had I not had the collective wisdom of their words and insights.

Only the Germ

The Apostolic Church was only the germ in doctrine, in life, in worship, in government, of that which was to follow. Everything that was added in the way of true and legitimate development, is a permanent possession of the Church which cannot be renounced unless abused for the purpose of defeating the very end for which the Church has been organized. -- Henry E. Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 214

Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior

Thee we adore, O hidden Savior, Thee,
Who in Thy Sacrament art pleased to be;
Both flesh and spirit in Thy presence fail,
Yet here Thy presence we devoutly hail.

Fountain of goodness, Jesus, Lord and God:
Cleanse us, unclean, with Thy most precious blood;
Increase our faith and love, that we may know
The hope and peace which from Thy presence flow.

O Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see,
May what we thirst for soon our portion be:
To gaze on Thee unveiled and see Thy face,
The vision of Thy glory, and Thy grace. Amen.

LSB 640:1,4,5

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The efficacy of the Word, even when administered in an irregular way, is no justification for carelessness and indifference concerning the regular order. Men sin in despising and breaking through a regular order, even though, notwithstanding their irregularity, their efforts may not be without marks of God's blessing. - Henry E. Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 212

Patristic Quote of the Day

Why do you fear to confess your sins to our good Lord? "Set them forth," He says, "that you may be justified." The rewards of justification are set before him who is still guilty of sin, for he is justified who voluntarily confesses his own sin; and lastly, "the just man is his own accuser in the beginning of his speaking." Proverbs 18:17 The Lord knows all things, but He waits for your words, not that He may punish, but that He may pardon. It is not His will that the devil should triumph over you and accuse you when you conceal your sins. Be beforehand with your accuser: if you accuse yourself, you will fear no accuser; if you report yourself, though you were dead you shall live. - St. Ambrose of Milan, On Repentance, Book II, par. 53

AC XIV in Action!

Our former vicar, Charles Lehmann, was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry last Saturday. Here's a pic of the new pastor (love the maniple! - I think I see a D.K. Brunner and Son outfit there) and the outstanding homily that was delivered by Pastor Cage. Here's AC XIV in action, folks. Beautiful! Enjoy.

The Reverend Peter Cage
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
Muncie, IN

Ordination of Charles Lehmann
Zion, Beecher IL (9 JUN 07)

John 20

All of heaven is interested in what is happening in this place. All of heaven with its unending, continuous praise of Christ is on to what happens here tonight. As the Father has sent His Son, so His Son, this Christ, is sending ... now ... another in a long line of those bound by divine arrangement with the ministry that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to His apostles-Sts Peter, James and John, and Paul and those who came after, to Silas, Timothy and Titus, to Mark and Luke and all faithful pastors and teachers long before you, Charles. It's good to be a little frightened with this-and in awe of what happens tonight before the LORD God of Sabaoth, before Whom even the seraphim veil their faces.

There's an order there. And God putting you in an order, ordering you. And so an ordination. But I suppose it must seem--even to the experience of those of us who have been part of one or more ordinations -to be something kind of ord-inary. So we're not terribly surprised that some cars are driving past and not stopping or taking much notice. Charles, the world cares more about Paris Hilton than you. If they gave it much more thought-I suppose they'd hate or at least laugh at why we're here tonight. And the vast majority of the city of Fort Collins, CO would never even notice if you don't show up. The world's got their orders, too, whether they realize it or not, from their Prince. But in the face of all this satanically influenced indifference and opposition, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church rejoices. God is doing something. And in this company your bride-to-be, your mother and father, your friends and family-and old pastors have gathered to pray and to hear, too, as you are bound up under orders.

As a former military chaplain, I know a little about orders from that side of things. You don't go anywhere without orders-paper with your name on it that tells you where to be and what you'll be doing there. Tonight the church gives pause, and heaven rejoices because God is ordaining, God is giving a man set apart for His Church. Putting now this one under orders. And what God does is marvelous even more so when our senses aren't especially dazzled by the goings-on.

Christ gathers His church in this place [with Prs. Rock and Moldenhauer] with great regularity week after week, and tonight for this. Shepherd and sheep you've been gathered. Heaven and heavenly things right here on earth no less-heaven just beyond what your senses can fully take in. God speaking and giving and serving from His Word and altar and putting into beggar's hands and ears and mouths--ours. And as the promised gifts are given by Him, again and again, we say, "Amen," "yes, yes, it shall be so." And special this night because a son of this congregation is being ordered into the Office of the Ministry-for which the whole Church is thankful. Soon you will take your vows, this church and people who know you well will speak with the church catholic and give the "Amen" to what is done. And what God is giving for His Church this hour will be received by His Church.

Like that. That what God has done in giving a pastor He has done well despite the sometimes messy look of things in the years and the process of how you got to this moment and that chair on this night, and the rather humble, ordinary appearance of the whole thing. Now the world who refuses Him who speaks from heaven will just ignore what is happening tonight in Christ's Church-this thing that God is doing among us and for us. Well, to be honest we scarcely believe it ourselves. That God's things happen in a place like this amidst people like us. At an altar and font. From a pulpit. In a place like Zion in Beecher IL, or Grace in Muncie, IN or Peace With Christ in Fort Collins, CO. But like Christ, none of these places are floating out in space. They are locatable, earthly places you can point to and be at, holy ground where He has been promising Himself and delivering Himself up for dying people all along-long before any of us. These aren't airy abstractions but body and blood places-God in flesh, God-with-us places. Immanuel. Incarnate. All those good words! In a place. In His Person. Heaven and earth are full of His glory. Sounds so terribly important. So life-and-death, and then life ... again. It is. God has made all the arrangements, speaks every gracious word, washes every infant, serves every communicant real flesh and blood. God's service to sinners-He is unwilling to let me sink into real hell with my sin and death on. He sends His Son. A serpent-Crusher. A Die-er and Riser. An Absolver and Life-Giver. It is His public ministry amidst His Church. It is never done in secret, though the God of heaven and earth does come gently and even plainly:

in the preaching of the Child born of Mary, and hidden-ly in the tap water that gave you birth "from above", and in mere bread and wine delivered by a very plain and ordinary man with the Word. A man with a Word ordered by God. One set apart not for all the other things that need doing for us, but for these things that God Himself is doing. All this is so because the Giver of the gifts declares it so.

And all this in a world and culture where so many things are advertised and promised but are not so at all. This should make you, Charles, humble at all your personal inadequacies, and yet supremely confident in the One who makes you a pastor and sends you. 'Cos what God promises, God is doing. And for the Church you serve, in the place you will serve, they too can be confident that what is done by Word and Supper is done not by a man, but by the God-Man Jesus Christ. He has promised.

By this act, this ordination, tonight you lose some of your freedom. At your installation later on you'll be bound up even more. It is not up to you what you will do or where you will do it. God has seen to that. Check your orders-your call that tells you where to go and who you must serve, and your vows will tell you what to do: preach the Gospel and serve the Sacraments. You haven't taken these things like a thief, you are being given them to do now. Under the obligation of your ordination into the Holy Christian Church now, and the people you will serve now. And as the liturgy says it so well, you will speak the words and work the works of Christ as a pastor of His Church. Not by your virtue, but by virtue of your office as a called and ordained servant of the Word. You will forgive sins, and preach the Gospel of our Lord's completely unfair and untiring mercy. You will instruct the uninstructed. You baptize the un-baptized, absolve those who are sorry for sins [and retain the sins of those who are not], and distribute the Body and Blood of Christ into their mouths, care for the sick and the homebound with our Lord's sacramental gifts ... in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Always in that Name and never your own--none of these things are yours, but you are to give them!

For you are sent not to merely tell "about" Jesus, "about" the Gospel, "about" the forgiveness of sin. You are not a conveyer of "God-information". God gives the pastor to be in a place, to embody the Gospel in His office. To handle a Law that always accuses and really kills real people, and a Gospel that enfleshes God's mercy and life for sinners. As Christ, their dear Lord, deals with them Himself.

This is heady, breath-taking stuff. And Charles, you are not up to it. You're not that special. No man is and you will learn repeatedly how frail you are. St. Peter talks big but denies Christ in the courtyard when a young girl puts the pressure on. Great St. Paul wants the title "chief of sinners" and maybe he deserves it. And who are you among these? So like every other, you must live from that same Word you preach, from that same Body and Blood that you administer, and in those same holy waters with which you baptize. Forgiveness in your ears and hands and mouth, and so in your heart and life, for this vocation into which God is ordering you. And God has gifted you for His work-like always. How terrible if He did not! Things from outside of you (thanks be to God), that come without any merit or worthiness in you. To deliver Christ.

Speaking the Word of God-pointing to Christ--is something every Christian has the freedom to do. But you are not so free. Now you must do it. Obligated to preach-and soon-bound to a place and to a people in a way that very few are. It is a blessed work. Not a slavery-it is a dear and noble task--but "woe to you if you do not preach the Gospel" to God's people in the place God puts you. It is the greatest place on earth because it is where God is bringing salvation in a ministry He has created and given and is present in.

Over thousands of years and in a thousand thousand places it is the Holy Ministry established by God-the same in every time, land and culture. It is all so terribly un-hip and counter-culture in the most severe way, but it remains forever: the Office of Christ, His ministry, His gifts, His blood as a ransom for the many. By His arrangement and choice. Jonah took a boat in the opposite direction and was dragged to the bottom of the sea in a fish before he understood God's arrangement. Galileean fisherman were taken out of their boats, left their livelihood, while a father looked on in astonishment. John the Baptist from his conception was given to be a prophet, and finally given a prophet's reward of dungeon and decapitation. [Isaiah thought it best if he just die on the spot.] But God has His way.

This day you will be ordained by the laying on of hands and receive the gift for the office He has readied you for. A gift not from any man, but from God, for His ministry. It won't make you any better or change your character-it is for the Church. The Spirit breathed on the apostles sent that first Easter like you are sent. The Spirit by which Jesus was conceived in the Virgin Mary when He took on our flesh. The Spirit who led Him into the desert for 40 days. The Spirit which He gave up when He bowed His head and breathed His last on the cross. The Spirit the now risen Lord pours out on His apostles, for His Church. To do what? The very thing Jesus is always about: forgiveness for sinners. And how is the Risen Jesus about it?

By that Easter ordination that night in the upper room. Making pastors, sending what was left of the Twelve on that evening. And now even on this evening. "Even so I am sending you," He says. To forgive. And where there is forgiveness, there is also life and salvation.

If you find yourself doing something else then "You're wrong!" For He has ordered you for this task-your life is not your own in the way it was before today. You are not here to pursue any personal triumphs or goals, to puff out your chest. The Lord of the harvest ordains you and puts you back in this world for one purpose: to announce that the
apocalypse is now, not just the future; the Kingdom is here, not "up there" someplace; now is the time fulfilled-this is the Day of Salvation. And so you will stand next to bread and wine and proclaim with the Church the same high mystery, the miracle, that John the Baptist proclaimed in the middle of a wilderness: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." The Christ who forgives my sin with the Body and Blood He sacrificed for it. Take, eat and drink right here.

So, of course all of heaven is taking note of what happens here. All of heaven is riveted on Christ at work for His Church. Because this is Mt. Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable company of angels and archangels. Here is the general assembly of the firstborn, the baptized who are registered in heaven. Here is God the judge of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect. All those who have gone before, our loved ones who have died in Christ and so are alive forever, worshipping. Here is Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament in His Blood-blood that speaks this best of all sentences to you: 'I forgive you all your sins'. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks from heaven (Heb. 12).

That's God's own description for us, God's promise of what happens at His altar, at a thousand altars like this one. You must expect no less. Charles, you will find your comfort there (so will we tonight)-and so will all the baptized at Peace With Christ, Fort Collins, by whom God has called you into this ministry.

Rest assured (!) that none of it comes from you. God has ordered it like this out of our great mess and confusion so it is done well: He makes a pastor to preach and deliver a crucified Christ for His hearers to hear ... and to have. Of course, heaven is rejoicing, and we with them. Amen.

Patristic Quote of the Day - #2

I can revel in none of my deeds, I have nothing to boast about; therefore, I will glory in Christ. I will not glory because I am just, but I will glory because I have been redeemed. I will not glory because I am exempt from sins, but I will glory because my sins have been forgiven. I will not glory because I have been a help nor because someone has helped me, but because Christ is my advocate with the Father, and Christ's blood was poured out for me. My sin has become for me the price of the Redemption, through which Christ came to me. For my sake, Christ tasted death. Sin is more profitable than innocence. Innocence had made me arrogant, sin made me humble. - St. Ambrose of Milan (Jacob and the Blessed Life, I, 6, 21)

June

My mother always recited this poem on days like today:

AND what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays;
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen
Thrilling back over hills and valleys;
The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,
And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace;
The little bird sits at his door in the sun,
Atilt like a blossom among the leaves,
And lets his illumined being o'errun
With the deluge of summer it receives;
His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,
And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings;
He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,
In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?

Now is the high-tide of the year,
And whatever of life hath ebbed away
Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
We are happy now because God wills it;
No matter how barren the past may have been,
'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green;
We sit in the warm shade and feel right well
How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell;
We may shut our eyes but we cannot help knowing
That skies are clear and grass is growing;
The breeze comes whispering in our ear,
That dandelions are blossoming near,
That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing,
That the river is bluer than the sky,
That the robin is plastering his house hard by;
And if the breeze kept the good news back,
For our couriers we should not lack;
We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing,
And hark! How clear bold chanticleer,
Warmed with the new wine of the year,
Tells all in his lusty crowing!

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how;
Everything is happy now,
Everything is upward striving;
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true
As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,
'Tis for the natural way of living:
Who knows whither the clouds have fled?
In the unscarred heaven they leave not wake,
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed,
The heart forgets its sorrow and ache;
The soul partakes the season's youth,
And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe
Lie deep 'neath a silence pure and smooth,
Like burnt-out craters healed with snow.

James Russell Lowell

Patristic Quote of the Day

However great and good your natural gifts may be, it takes true piety to make them pure and perfect; with impiety, they merely end in loss and pain. Choose now your course, not to seek glory in yourself, but to find it infallibly in the true God. - St. Augustine, *City of God* Book II, Chapter 29

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

If you regard yourself as one of the elect, do not forget that you have been chosen not only for adoption and salvation but also for holiness. Remember that you cannot do anything to be saved but there is much you can do to forfeit that salvation. - C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 484

This-n-that

We got an early start to the day. David was flying out to MD to join his cousin Andrew for a backpacking trip in the West Virginia mountains. He'll be gone for a week. He was a tad nervous about doing the airport thing by himself, but I figured if you're almost 19 and sporting a beard, the airport folks aren't going to buy that I need to walk my little boy down to his gate! He arrived in MD safe and sound - and was picked up at the airport there by his cousins Dorothy and Andrew.

Cindi and I stopped for breakfast at Sergeant Pepper's on the way home. Also picked up a few perennials to plant in the garden. Weird to get all our Friday running around done by 8:30 a.m.!

Bekah is still recovering from having her four wisdom teeth removed yesterday. Poor thing is still bleeding, which concerns us a bit. She looks very chipmunky at present! She's planning on driving herself down to Camp Wartburg on Sunday and doing a week of counseling. I hope she feels up to it.

Tonight we're hosting a gathering for the Circuit pastors and families. Many folks are out of town, of course, but I'm sure we'll still have a nice crowd.

Next week promises to be rather quiet. With David and Bekah gone for the week, and Lauren nannying every day from 6 till about 6, Cindi and I will be the only ones about - at least during the day.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

With man's constantly expanding capacity to know and love and admire, there will be incessant revelations of what Christ, and of what God in Christ is; and with every new revelation, there will be the development within man of new capacities for knowing and loving and admiring. Thus, while the negative side of holiness, freedom from sin, is complete with his entrance into another world, its positive side, or the ever-increasing growth of capacities for new bestowals of grace, ever advances. -- Henry E. Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 200

Patristic Quote of the Day

The hour of the mysteries opens heaven, the choir of angels is present, the lowest things are joined with the highest, earthly things are joined with heavenly, and the visible and invisible are made one. Gregory the Great, Dialog 4, chap. 58 (MPL 77, 428)

Handy Comparison Chart

Another gift from Jacobs:

Regeneration: An act. Of God alone. Internal. Instantaneous. Equal. Perfect. From death. Gives faith. Quickens man.

Justification: An act. Of God alone. External. Instantaneous, but constantly repeated. Equal. Perfect. From guilt. Pardon and title to heaven. Reconciles God.

Sanctification: A process. God and man. Internal-external. Gradual. Unequal. Partial in this life. From defilement. Holiness. Restores God's image.

My Priceless Treasure

Lord Jesus Christ, You have prepared
This feast for my salvation;
It is Your body and Your blood,
And at Your invitation
As weary souls, with sin oppressed,
We come to You for needed rest,
For comfort and for pardon.

Although You did to heaven ascend,
Where angel hosts are dwelling,
And in Your presence they behold
Your glory, all excelling,
And though Your people shall not see
Your glory and Your majesty
Till dawns the judgment morning,

Yet, Savior, You are not confined
To any habitation;
But You are present even now
Here in Your congregation.
Firm as a rock this truth shall stand,
Unmoved by any daring hand
Or subtle craft and cunning.

We eat this bread, we drink this cup,
Your precious Word believing
That Your true body and Your blood
Our lips are here receiving.
This Word remains forever true,
All things are possible with You,
For You are Lord Almighty.

Though reason cannot understand
Yet faith this truth embraces:
Your body, Lord, is even now
At once in many places.
I leave to You how this can be;
Your Word alone suffices me;
I trust its truth unfailing.

Lord, I believe what You have said:
Help me when doubts assail me.
Remember that I am but dust
And let my faith not fail me.
Your supper in this vale of tears
Refreshes me and stills my fears
And is my priceless treasure.

Grant that we worthily receive
Your Supper, Lord, our Savior,
And, truly grieving for our sins,
May prove by our behavior
That we are thankful for Your grace
And day by day may run our race,
In holiness increasing.

For Your consoling supper, Lord,
Be praised throughout all ages!
Preserve it, for in ev'ry place,
The world against it rages.
Grant that this sacrament may be
A blessed comfort unto me
When living and when dying.
LSB 622

Blessed Feast of...the Thursday after Trinity

to you all! Our Roman brothers and sisters celebrate this day as Corpus Christi. In 17th century Magdeburg the Lutherans celebrated it as the Thursday after Trinity. But they nevertheless read 1 Cor. 11:23-29 as the Epistle. Sang an ever so slightly "improved" form of St. Thomas Aquinas' sequence. And read the Gospel as John 6:55-58. And of course, they celebrated the Sacrament. They did that EACH Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

The "improved" version of the sequence is interesting. It's "Lauda Sion salvatorem" all the way except for the beginning of the sixth stanza:

Dogma datur christianis,
quod in carnem transit panis,
et vinum in sanguinem.

[A teaching given to Christians,
That the bread is changed into flesh,
And the wine into blood.]

Which is rendered,

Dogma sacrum Christiano,
Quod cum pane datur caro,
Et cum vino sanquis Christi.

[A sacred Christian teaching,
That with the bread is given flesh,
And with the wine the blood of Christ]

You can see what they're shying away from there - and especially on THIS day. But the sequence itself is really beautiful, and a very fruitful meditation upon this day.

Oops. I found ANOTHER change I had not noted previously. It's in stanza 7. Here's the original:

Sub diversis speciebus,
Signis tantum, et non rebus,
Latent res eximiae:
[Beneath different species
Only signs and not the thing itself,
Hidden the thing extraordinary]


This becomes:

Sub diversis elementis,
Pane et vino, retentis,
Latent res eximiae:
[Beneath different elements,
Bread and wine, remaining,
Hidden the thing extraordinary]

Hmm! That's VERY interesting. Not that they changed the first bit, but that they had zero compunction about going on to sing that the entire Christ is present under either species in the rest of that verse:

Caro cibus, sanguis potus,
Manet tamen Christus totus
Sub untraque specie.
[flesh as food, blood as drink,
Remains still the entire Christ
Under either species]

Blogging

This is the mandatory self-reflection that every blogger does on the blogging endeavor. I mean, why does one do it? I have a simple reason: it saves on the phone bill.

You have to know me. I tend to GET EXCITED when I come across something that I find neat - a quote I like, or a thought that comes to the mind. And I love to run them by other people.

There are those of you reading this who have been my victims in the past. Bachman always said it was like putting a quarter in the vending machine (dates him, eh? QUARTER???) and out pops the quote or whatever.

This way, when I find something I get excited about, I can throw out it out to cyberspace and see if there's another soul out there who finds it worth talking about. It is MUCH more polite than calling on the phone and MAKING them listen while I read the sermon or the quote, or expressed the idea.

And besides, dang it all, it is so much fun meeting other people. I have a host of friends that I'd never have known except for this crazy free-for-all medium. Yes, this is the same person who complained about folks getting too worked up about things when they wrote. Don't you see - it's different when it is ME? :( Lord, have mercy!

So anyway, you guys have saved me a ton on my phone bill and freed up lots of time for my friends that used to be consumed with "listening to Weedon." I think you're doing a public service, frankly. And that is why I like to blog. So there.

Patristic Quote of the Day - #2

[I'm preparing to teach on Cain and Abel tonight and was reviewing St. Augustine's treatment of the same, when was reminded of this gem:]

As for ruling over sin, each man will do that as soon as he subdues sin by his contrition and gives up defending it and so yielding to it. Otherwise, if a man offers protection to his sin, he will end as its slave. (City of God, Book XV, Chapter 7)

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

When the children of God are said to 'rest from their labors,' it is the toil and trouble of this life that are referred to, and not the cessation of works of love or of constant progress in ever new enjoyments of the Life Everlasting. - H. E. Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 199

Patristic Quote of the Day

All you that have received this forgiveness, all you to whom it has been vouchsafed to attain unto faith, learn, I beseech you, the greatness of the Gift, and study not to be insolent to your Benefactor. For we obtained forgiveness, not that we should become worse, but to make us far better and more excellent. - St. John Chrysostom, Homily 23 on Acts

Church Bells

To say that the land around Saint Paul's is flat for miles is a bit of an understatement. The result of the flatness, though, is that the bell tower of St. Paul's is the outstanding feature of the landscape for miles. I took my usual noonday walk - a mile down church road - and when I turned around and glanced up, there the Church and above all the tower stand. It looms over the corn, the empty fields.

And the tower led me to think about the great bell housed in it. She's written around with Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr - the German Gloria. I think she sounds a G, but I'm not entirely sure. She's a big bell. Not the clangy sort, but the booming sort. And she rings out regularly. We ring her before all services, during confirmations (when we remember!), after weddings, and she is tolled (a hammer mechanism that strikes her side by a separate rope) after funerals.

But it's the before service ring that I was thinking about as I walked home. The one we sing about:

Built on the Rock the Church shall stand
Even when steeples are falling.
Crumbled have spires in ev'ry land;
Bells still are chiming and calling,
Calling the young and old to rest,
But above all the souls distressed,
Longing for rest everlasting. (LSB 645:1)

I think of how through these many, many years, the bell of St. Paul has rung out, calling people to come and receive God's gifts, to come and live from His proferred mercy, to come and taste the goodness of the Lord and enjoy His unending rest.

And how many times the call goes unheeded. It sounds over homes where people used to come to receive the gifts of God and they come no more. But the bell still rings out, still invites, still summons. I know on the very few occasions when I've been sick and unable to conduct the service, there is a lump that rises in my throat when I hear the bell sound. It calls and its call reaches deep. I can't believe that it doesn't do something similar to those who heeded its calling for years but now choose not to. May the Holy Spirit use the Church bell as He uses so many other things to call His lost and wondering children to come home:

Grant, then, O God, Your will be done,
That when the church bells are ringing,
Many in saving faith may come
Where Christ His message is bringing:
"I know My own; My own know Me.
You, not the world, My face shall see.
My peace I leave with you. Amen." (LSB 645:5)

Yet More Jacobs Joys

Regeneration and Conversion are often confounded. The former refers to the implanting within man of new powers; and the latter to the exercise of these powers in turning from sin. In the former, the Gospel is the instrument; in the latter, both Law and Gospel. Regeneration in the proper sense is the work of God alone, in which man's will is absolutely passive. Conversion, when distinguished from Regeneration, is the impulse given the regenerated will by the Holy Spirit, and its consequent activity in turning from sin to God. (p. 165)

The greater the faith, the deeper the Repentance. Contrition is not a matter of the emotions; it is simply man's aversion to sin. (p. 165)

If Conversion refer to that which occurs in the regenerate, there is undoubtedly a concurrence of man's will, as it has been liberated and quickened with new powers by the Holy Spirit. (p. 166, 167)

[Faith] is the disposition towards God, by which man makes God the center of his life with all its thoughts and activities. God is to Faith the standard of all truth, and holiness, and right, the foundation of all being, the object of every hope and aspiration. Faith is the forsaking of all that is not God or of God, and the seeking for and cleaving to God alone. It is taking God to myself as my all, and my commending my all to God, in life, death, and eternity. (p. 169)

Faith has its intellectual side, but it is not mere assent to any doctrine or to any number of doctrines. It is essentially a matter of the heart and will. It is sinking my will into God's will; the harmonizing of my heart with God's heart. (p. 169)

We believe the doctrine, and we obey the commandment, because both doctrine and commandment rest upon the Word of God in whom we believe. Faith is a relation of person to person. (p. 170)

Faith in Christ implies, therefore, man's conviction that he is a sinner, that by nature he is beneath God's wrath, and that he is helpless and needs a Savior. It implies the acceptance of Christ, in His divine-human person, and in His various offices and works. It means that I make all that Christ is my own, and give myself over to Christ to be entirely His. (p. 171)

Faith not only has its degrees, but it also has its perils. Faith may be lost. The restored spiritual life may depart. We cannot interpret the constant warnings of the New Testament to believers in any other way. (p. 172)

God does not recall His promises, or withdraw His grace; but man casts himself outside of the sphere within which grace works. God's side of the covenant is permanent. When it is broken, it is broken by man; and when it is restored, it is restored through the reclaiming efforts of the Holy Spirit in influencing man's return to its terms. (pp. 173, 174)

The question here has to do exclusively with the ground upon which sinful man is forgiven and declared worthy of everlasting life. This is entirely what Christ is to him, and not what he is to Christ. (p. 183)

Wherever there is faith, there is love and a holy life, because wherever there is faith, there is Justification, and wherever there is Justification a holy life immediately begins. (p. 186)

It is the person and not the sins that are forgiven. When the sins are said to be forgiven, the meaning is that person is forgiven his sins. (p. 188)

Unlike Justification, Sanctification is gradual and has its degrees. The old man is more and more put off, and the new man more and more put on... The power of grace more and more subdues the remnants of natural depravity, which constantly tempt to sin. Through this struggle, the child of God constantly advances towards perfection. He works out his salvation, while God works in him. Phil. 2:12,13 (p. 191)

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The Cross casts its shadow forward in the morning, as well as backward in the evening of this world's history. Every event of the old world, if it could be read, was a prophesy of Christ's Coming, and a link in the chain, whereby God was bringing to fallen men the riches of His love. Everything was preparatory to the Kingdom of God. -- H. E. Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 118

Patristic Quote of the Day

Peace is deliverance from the passions, and is not found except through the action of the Holy Spirit --St. Mark, the Ascetic *On the Spiritual Law* #192

Tis the Day

It was on this day, 25 years ago, before the holy altar at the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew in Silver Spring, Maryland, that the lovely Cynthia DeVries became Cynthia Weedon and our lives were joined together.

Well, sort of. I mean, our lives had been joined together a long time before that. We've been buddies since we met in seventh grade. Long before we got married, we had made memories of trips to the beach with the whole DeVries clan camping out at "The Purple Pad," camping under the stars in Georgia on the way down to Jesus '77, singing and playing piano and guitar together whenever we got the chance.

Doug asked us which was the best year of our life together. We had to confess: this one. Each has been a blessing in its own way - countless ups and downs (very real downs, mind you) and sorrows and grief and aggravations and the constant need to live in forgiveness - but the best is definitely the present.

"The fruit you're eating now is always the best fruit." That Lady of Perelandra was no dummy.

Cynthia Lauren DeVries Weedon, you will always remain to me an astonishing icon of God's grace and forgiveness. I love you, Cin. And I can never thank God enough for bringing us together.

Ya know...

...when it comes to sticking to Atkins, I sure wish that my dear wife wouldn't do things like make home-made cinnamon rolls (aka cinnabon) "for the kids." Yeah. Sure. Grr. SHE was good. Show off.

Someone Needs to Write a Book...

...that was my first thought on beginning to read the paper that Christopher Orr linked up on his blog from erstwhile LCMS, Robert C. Koons. The book I was thinking of was a thorough treatment of Chrysostom's treatment of justification. It needs to be by someone who reads Chrysostom in the Greek (that's not me!) and who will be able to deal with the data without trying to fit it into either an "Orthodox" or "Lutheran" straight-jacket, let alone a "Roman" one. I say this because it seems to me that Mr. Koons does not do justice to the complex picture of this doctrine that Chrysostom presents. There are so very many passages that popped into my mind in reading his work (and I'm not done it yet - but this is one of the topics he tackles up top), but a few that I think need to be reckoned with are these:

God does not wait for time to elapse after repentance. You state your sin, you are justified. You repented, you have been shown mercy. – Homily 7 On Repentance and Compunction, p. 95 in FOTC, vol. 96.

And he well said, "a righteousness of mine own," not that which I gained by labor and toil, but that which I found from grace. If then he who was so excellent is saved by grace, much more are you. For since it was likely they would say that the righteousness which comes from toil is the greater, he shows that it is dung in comparison with the other. For otherwise I, who was so excellent in it, would not have cast it away, and run to the other. But what is that other? That which is from the faith of God, i.e. it too is given by God. This is the righteousness of God; this is altogether a gift. And the gifts of God far exceed those worthless good deeds, which are due to our own diligence. Chrysostom, Homily on Philippians 3

God is a great lover of man. He did not hesitate to surrender His Son as prey in order to spare His servant. He surrendered His only-begotten to purchase hard-hearted servants. He paid the blood of His Son as the price. O the philanthropy of the Master! And do not tell me again, “I sinned a lot; how can I be saved?” You cannot save yourself, but your Master can, and to such a great degree as to obliterate your sins. Pay attention very carefully to the discourse. He wipes out the sins so completely that not a single trace of them remains. – Homily 8 On Repentance and the Church FOTC: vol 96, pp. 116,117

What does this mean? That he has justified our race not by right actions, not by toils, not by barter and exchange, but by grace alone. Paul, too, made this clear when he said: “But now the justice of God has been made manifest apart from the Law.” But the justice of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ and not through any labor and suffering. --Discourse Against Judaizing Christians, VII:III:2

They said that he who adhered to faith alone was cursed; but he, Paul, shows that he who adhered to faith alone is blessed." - Homily on Galatians 3 (Schaff)

Here he shows God's power, in that He has not only saved, but has even justified, and led them to boasting, and this too without needing works, but looking for faith only. Homily 7 on Romans (Schaff)

There are many others that I've collected over the years in reading this great father that speak similarly, but how anyone can interpret these passages in harmony with Trent's doctrine of justification is beyond me. Still, I would be the first to admit that I am at a distinct disadvantage in reading him in a different language than his own, and that I have read only a fraction of his works - most of the quotes I've collected from him, though, come from his preaching on the passages in the NT that deal with the topic of justification directly. But it needs a thorough research. Some young enterprising grad student should go for it!

Patristic Quote of the Day

When you have done something good, remember the words "without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) - St. Mark the Ascetic, *On the Spiritual Law* par. 41

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

It is the office of faith to change the plural pronouns of the Gospel into the singular number. Instead of saying God loved the world, it says with Paul: "Christ loved me and gave Himself for me" and instead of "Christ died for all men," "Christ died for me," and instead of "our Lord," with Thomas "my Lord and my God." - H. E. Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* pp. 149, 150

Holy Trinity

What joy this feast day brings us! I know there are those who dread it because we get to confess the Athanasian Creed, but I must confess that I dearly love it. The hymns, the readings, the Anthanasian Creed, the preface - all of it points us to the God whose love was poured out in creation, manifested even more brightly in redemption, and shines within us by the Spirit of holiness. It's the last regular "feast" and thus stands between the half year of the Lord and the half year of the Church. The long green season is about to begin (with a few interruptions) and it will not be till next December that the crowded season of feasts resumes. But I'm definitely ready for some "ordinary time" as the Roman brothers and sisters call it. Plain old boring green is good: the season of growth.

Watch out!

Lutherans bite! "But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another." Gal. 5:15

Sitting back and observing how Lutherans interact on the net can be totally disconcerting. Mix in the pride and the arrogance with which we treat one another together with the sense of individual infallibility (each Christian replacing an infallible pope?) and you've got a terrifying scenario.

Only thing is, no matter how much I encounter this tragedy online, it's not at all descriptive of the Lutherans I live among in the flesh. Most are kind and gentle, and rather hesitant to chew out another person. They may think the other person is dead wrong, and reluctantly tell them so, but it is mostly said with great love and a deep look of concern - with both humility and gentleness. Most love to sing in four part harmony. They love the Sacred Scriptures and ponder their meaning. They are not ashamed to be Lutheran Christians. They love their church and sacrifice to spread the Gospel. They have the highest regard for the Holy Eucharist and want others to come and share the joy they've found in Christ's forgiving love. They tend to be kind to a fault and are content to do a lot of "behind the scenes" work with no recognition whatsoever.

So why the disconnect? What is it about these blasted pixels that seems to unleash and focus on the worst and to cover over the actual lived reality? Not that Lutheran Christians are perfect by any stretch of the imagination. It's that what's often experienced of them on the net just doesn't fit reality. At least in my experience.

A Few Other Jacobs Gems...

[Said to self: Man, this Jacobs is one insightful Lutheran! Why not share with others the fruit of today's study? And so...]

God called other beings into existence in order to communicate to them His own goodness and happiness. In communicating these gifts, He manifests His glory to the highest degree. (43)

The Son of God was, therefore, the model according to which man was created. (48)

Happy and holy as man was when created, there were within him possibilites for the infinite development of all that the divine image included. The reflection of the Infinite within the finite implied that the finite should ever approach more nearly to the perfection of the Infinite. The image of God in Adam was only the feeblest germ of what was to proceed from it. (49)

If angels or men ultimately attain a state of perfection, in which they are removed from the possibility of doing otherwise, or being otherwise than God desires, such impeccability is not an original endowment, but is the fruit and reward of effort and struggle. The holiness in which men and angels were created was an undeveloped holiness, viz., a potential, but not an absolute impeccability. (54)

The sum total of humanity was in the first pair. By their obedience, the race would have risen above the possibility of a fall. By their disobedience, the whole race fell with them into the state of sin. (55)

The union of God with man was man's life, as first created; the sunderance of God from man by man's apostasy and sin was his death. For what the soul is to the body, that God is to the soul. Man had turned from God, and involuntarily lost God, and could not regain Him, until God would Himself re-enter into a communion of life and love with man. (56)

Redemption is no afterthoguht in God's mind, simply for the purpose of counteracting and thwarting what He either could not or would not prevent. (64)

The world was created, in order that, in Redemption, it might be the theatre for the display of God's love. (65)

What is lost in Adam is far more than regained in Christ. (65)

...man was created, in order, by the appropriation of Redemption, through a long continued conflict with sin, to attain among God's countless creatures and highest intelligences, the very next place to the throne of God Himself....to share eternally the blessedness and glory of God's own nature. (65)

While man is helpless to deliver himself, or to prepare himself for divine grace, or even to respond to this grace as it approaches him, and thus his acceptance of God's grace comes from new powers which grace has brought, nevertheless, the freedom of the will is preserved in man's ability to resist God's grace. All man's help must thus come from God; all his ruin comes from himself. (67)

Every child is born a child of wrath and a child of grace. It is a child of wrath, since by inheritance its state is that of spiritual death. It is a child of grace, in so far as it has been comprised in the Scheme of Redemption, and the love and mercy of God that devised that scheme go forth in efforts for the application to it of this Redemption. It remains a child of wrath so far as the efforts of divine grace to aid it are defeated by the perverse resistance of its will. It become a child of grace, not only potentially, but in reality, when divine grace overcomes the natural resistance of its will, and it submits to God; the state of regeneration succeeding that of spiritual death. (67,68)

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The Holy Scriptures are the infallible and inerrant record of God's revelation of His saving grace to men. Since the revelation was made long before it was committed to writing, the record is not the sole source of the truths which it contains. The first source of the New Testament message was the oral communication of this revelation by Christ and his Apostles. As it is not the record, but the truth borne by the record, which is the organ of the regenerating and converting influences of the Holy Spirit, this same truth orally communicated in the Apostolic days and since them, is just as efficient as when it is read from the pages of Scripture. - Henry Eyster Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 23

Patristic Quote of the Day

Taken separately, we are many, and Christ sends the Spirit, who is both the Father's Spirit and His own, to dwell in each of us. Yet that Spirit, being one and indivisible, gathers together those who are distinct from each other as individuals, and causes them all to be seen as a unity in himself. Just as Christ's sacred flesh has power to make those in whom it is present into one body, so the one, indivisible Spirit of God, dwelling in all, causes all to become one in spirit. - St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John (Christian Prayer, p. 2004)

The Holy Spirit, Scripture, Tradition

"But the process did not cease with the completion of the New Testament Canon and the days of inspiration. The Holy Spirit came to God's people on the Day of Pentecost, to abide with them forever, John 14:16. He is no less present in the Church of the Nineteenth, than He was in the Church of the First Century. Under His leading and inner impulse, believing men have been ever brought to a clearer and fuller apprehension of the doctrines given once for all in Holy Scripture. All the products of this working of the Holy Spirit in the experience of the Church are to be carefully treasured and thankfully used. The Holy Scriptures afford the test whereby to discriminate a true from a false development. All that is not contrary to Holy Scripture in the life of the Church, belongs to the Providential development of its capacities, as the witness of the truth and the bearer of salvation." - Henry Eyster Jacobs, *Elements of Religion* p. 20

[This book is really a very fine volume; another gem of bygone years that we can now enjoy thanks to the unflagging zeal and vision of Pastor James Heiser, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America, and Repristination Press]

Remembering...

...Today our churches pause to remember St. Justin, the Martyr. Here's the little bio from our Synod's web page:

June 1
Justin, Martyr

Born at the beginning of the second century, Justin was raised in a pagan family. He was student of philosophy who converted to the Christian faith and became a teacher in Ephesus and Rome. After refusing to make pagan sacrifices, he was arrested, tried and executed, along with six other believers. The official Roman court proceedings of his trial before Rusticius, a Roman prelate, document his confession of faith. The account of his martyrdom became a source of great encouragement to the early Christian community. Much of what we know of early liturgical practice comes from Justin.

Justin is of special importance for students of the liturgy because of the rather full description he gives of early Christian worship, a description that rings quite familiar to all who know the pattern of Lutheran liturgy (or any of the historic liturgies of the church)!

"And on the day called Sun-day an assembly is held in one place of all who live in town or country, and the records of the apostles or writings of the prophets are read for as long as time allows. Then when the reader has finished, the president in a discourse admonishes and exhorts us to imitate these good things. Then we all stand up together and offer prayers; and we said before, when we have finished praying, bread and wine and water are brought up, and the president likewise offers prayers and thanksgiving to the best of his ability, and the people assent, saying the Amen; there is a distribution, and everyone partakes in the elements over which thanks has been given; and they are sent through the deacons to those who are not present."

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

For as soon as Christ says: "This is my body," his body is present through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. If the Word is not there, it is mere bread; but as soon as the words are added they bring with them that of which they speak. - Martin Luther, *The Sacrament - Against the Fanatics* 1526 AE 36:341

Patristic Quote of the Day

As in the former case, in which the grace of the Word made holy that body the substance of which is from bread, and in a certain manner is itself bread, so in this case too, the bread, as the Apostle says, "is consecrated by God's word and by prayer"; not through its being eaten does it advance to become the Body of the Word, but it is made over immediately into the Body by means of the word, just as was stated by the Word, "This is My Body!" - St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, 37

Scary words...

...during a haircut.

For several years now, my dear wife has cut my hair for me. During those years, she's scared me twice.

Once when there was a quiet: "Oops."

Not good.

Today, when she said: "I could probably do this better if I had my glasses on."

!!!

Psalm 51

It's back! Well, in a sense it has not been gone. There's not a Sunday that goes by that we do not sing and pray some of its words after the homily ("Create in me a clean heart, O God..."), and words from it open Matins and Vespers in LSB. But the whole Psalm was prayed weekly during Lent (Wednesday evening Vespers) and the more one prays it, the more one loves it. All throughout the days of Easter, that Psalm was omitted from the psalm schedule, but today in the General section, it returned (Friday morning, the first week; Monday morning, the third week). It was like welcoming an old friend back, to speak those words again. Especially the "bulls upon Your altar" part - I have really come to think of that in terms of the sacrifice of the old Adam (our "animal self", if you will) and with the humble and contrite heart we offer that old animal self up to God ("if it itches, scratch it!") and ask him to burn it up entirely inside of us. Amen! May it be so.

What Does the Building Say?

Kevin Spaeth has a fine piece here:

http://kjslutherisch.blogspot.com/2007/06/is-it-really-just-building.html