17 December 2009

The Angel Gabriel














The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
"All hail," said he, "thou lowly maiden Mary,
most highly favored lady," Gloria!

"For know a blessed Mother thou shalt be,
all generations laud and honor thee,
thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,
most highly favored lady," Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,
"To me be as it pleaseth God," she said,
"my soul shall laud and magnify his holy Name."
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
in Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
and Christian folk throughout the world will ever say--
"Most highly favored lady," Gloria!
--LSB 356

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't recall ever hearing this beautiful hymn while I was in the ELCA.

I'm very glad it is included in LSB.

Christine

Rudolph Aspirant said...

Can someone please explain to me in a few words, a couple of easy sentences, at a 4th grade level of understanding what is the difference between the Lutheran belief and practice and other Protestant branches ? I am currently living in Scandinavia, have no clue about religions in general myself, except the 10 commandments I guess and the Disney version of the Jungle Book kind of garden of Eden, that's about all, nevertheless, I was PUZZLED when I saw here a version of a Bible which DID NOT start with "In the beginning there was the WORD" (then came the light and others) so I want to find out WHY in the world could this happen in the Lutheran church of all churches.

William Weedon said...

Sure, here's our church's summary of the Lutheran understanding of the Christian faith in a few words. I think it's fairly simple and clear:

As Lutherans, we believe that:

Since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, all people are born
alienated from God, separated from the Source of life and joy and
peace, and that they are helpless to do anything about this!

Nevertheless, through his totally undeserved love, the Triune God has had compassion on the human race and sent his Son into our own flesh and blood, to win forgiveness of sins for all people and to give us a share in his own divine nature.

Jesus Christ won this forgiveness of sins for all people by his life
Of perfect love and by his suffering and death on the cross. His
resurrection was God the Father's public proclamation that His Son's sacrifice of love was accepted and that it avails for all!

This salvation, won by Jesus Christ upon the Cross, is bestowed on us through God's specially appointed means: preaching of the Gospel and the administration of Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Sacrament of the Altar. Through these, God the Holy Spirit is at work, providing and strengthening the faith to accept the joyful salvation our God there gives.

This salvation is the cause of endless joy for believers as they
contemplate the great love that it reveals to be in the heart of God
toward them and the hope that it gives: a loving heavenly Father, an eternal home, a place at our Father's table for all eternity, the
healing of all earthly sorrows, and a joyful reunion with all
believers in heaven.

Our gracious and loving God wants all people to have a share in this joy, and is grieved when people refuse and reject it and consign themselves to unspeakable sadness of an eternity cut off from him (hell).

The difference between Lutherans and the other Protestants centers mostly around our beliefs regarding the Sacraments: we truly believe that God saves us through Baptism (1 Pet 3:21 - Baptism now saves you); that through the Holy Absolution, our pastor forgives our sin (John 20:20ff - "if you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven..."); and that in the Lord's Supper the bread and wine truly are the Body and Blood of Christ, given to us for the forgiveness of our sins. Additionally, we believe that the Bible is given us primarily to be a way that God imparts to us His forgiveness and love, and not a "how to" manual. Hope that is of some help.

Rudolph Aspirant said...

Thank you, it does make some sense, I was just mostly troubled by that ESSENTIAL omission: in the beginning there was the word, because that to me meas the day when the first HomoSapiens sapiens appered, or at least the POTENTIAL for one. I truly do not think that G-a woul have created the whole Universe without first of all giving it some ORDER and ALL to the PURPOSE that one day there will be a Homo Sapiens on this, our planet, I believe that God created the Universe ON PURPOSE with US, humans in mind, I cannot imagine a God who doesn't CARE first of all about HUMANS, it is in anticipation of us that he created the whole Universe...maybe I am so wrong, I don't care I just want to think this way, becasue it makes me feel less lonely if I think this way.

William Weedon said...

In the beginning was the Word is from St. John's Gospel. It is absolutely the way to read Genesis. And there is no doubt: he created all things in order to bless us human beings with the divine image, to raise us up to the throne of Godhead in His Son, and through Him to bestow on us an everlasting kingdom and eternal joys, filling us with His Spirit.

William Weedon said...

P.S. If you are currently living in Scandinavia, I'd encourage you to avoid the state churches. They're pretty much down the tubes. But in each country, there are confessing Lutheran movements in which you will find believing Lutheran Christians and congregations.