New Lutheran Quote of the Day

We are not a sleeping giant. We are a raging, self-important mouse. -- Pr. David Petersen, Gottesdienst Online

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Take Christ out of the Scriptures and what will you have left in them? - Blessed Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will

Patristic Quote of the Day

God is both incarnate, wearing flesh borrowed from her, having become man, which He was not, and remaining God, which He was, in order to save the world.  -- St. Ephraim the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* #29

A Must Read

by Pr. Petersen over on Gottesdienst:  here.  I think he is absolutely right on.

Chapel at the IC

--a blog post by Barb Below.

New Lutheran Quote of the Day

The "apostolic church" is a poor church.  It has no marvelous new revelations, no knowledge of higher worlds, no possibility of proving its faith by reason.  It lives from the witness of a few men who were neither religious geniuses, nor ethical heros, nor religious thinkers.  The only authority for the unverifiable things they said was that Jesus Christ had sent them and that they were witnesses to His resurrection.  -- Hermann Sasse, *We Confess:  Jesus Christ* p. 99

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The Son of God did not unite Himself with a human person, but with a human nature. -- Henry Eyster Jacobs, *Elements* p. 86.

Patristic Quote of the Day

To Thee, O Victor pierced by nails on the cross Who calleth out to sinners, saying:  come, receive forgiveness freely! - to Thee I unrelentingly pray, O my Savior:  turn Thine eyes away from my lawlessness, and by Thy sufferings heal my sores that I may glorify Thy kindness. -- St. Ephraim the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* #8

iPad2 Reflections

Love having the Treasury (PrayNow) and Lutheran Study Bible (Kindle) on the iPad... Angry Birds is quite addictive (to Cin and Dave - I'm not much of a game player)... Enjoyed NetFlicks tonight - gorgeous picture and decent sound... Rented TV show from iTunes (.99 a show) and that worked quite well... Web surfing is a bit of a mixed bag - some peculiarities that I don't like, but over all very good speed... Haven't tried face-time yet... Google earth on this thing is amazing - had a great view of Sissy's pool and followed the road back past the old house out to the road below the Church... All the card games and Shanghai and such are fabulous... In short, a very, very nice toy and occasional tool!

IE 24

Coming up next week.

Well, if you're GOING to have snow in March...

...surely there cannot be a better day for it than the Feast of the Annunciation.  God's little reminder that Christmas is but nine months away!

"The angel Gabriel from heaven came, with wings as drifted snow, with eyes as flame..."

Joyous feast day, one and all!

REMINDER:  Divine Service for the Feast this evening at 6 p.m.

Treasury Reminder

The propers for the Annunciation of Our Lord - tomorrow - are found on pages 1286 and 1287.  You won't want to miss them!

Hyacinths!

They're up in the garden.  I swear, that is the sweetest smelling flower in all the world.

New Lutheran Quote of the Day

The decline of the knowledge and study of patristics in the present generation of theologians threatens to become catastrophic for our theology unless it can somehow be checked.  A church without patristics becomes a sect. -- Hermann Sasse, *We Confess:  Jesus Christ* p. 95.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

No new personality, therefore, originated with the conception and birth of Jesus.  This distinguishes His birth from that of all other men.  Their birth means the existence of a person that before had no existence, or that had potential existence only, according to the principle of heredity.  But when Jesus was born, the Person was that of the Eternal Son of God.... The Person comes entirely from the divine nature. -- Henry Eyster Jacobs, *Elements* p. 85.

Patristic Quote of the Day

But when, on the other hand, our unrighteousness was fulfilled, and it was completely obvious that its wages - punishment and death - was to be expected, then, on the other hand, the time came during which God had decided at last to make clear His own benevolence and power (oh, the exceeding favor for humanity and love of God!).  He did not hate us or reject us nor hold a grudge, but He was longsuffering and patient, being merciful, he took up our sins Himself, He Himself gave His own Son as the redemption price for us, the Holy for the unholy, the Incorruptible for the corruptible, the Immortal for the mortal.  For what besides His righteousness could cover our sins?  In whom is it possible for us lawless and ungodly men to be justified except in the only Son of God? -- Epistle to Diognetus (cited in the Treasury today)

So according to the Fed Ex website...

...my iPad cover will not be lonely by tomorrow afternoon.  I'm skeptical.  It's moved from Hong Kong to Anchorage.  Will it REALLY show up here tomorrow?  I'll let you know...

Outside the LCMS International Center This Morning

How glorious art Thou in the springtime, when every creature awakes to new life and joyfully sings Thy praises with a thousand tongues. Thou art the Source of Life, the Destroyer of Death. By the light of the moon, nightingales sing, and the valleys and hills lie like wedding garments, white as snow. All the earth is Thy promised bride awaiting her spotless husband. If the grass of the field is like this, how gloriously shall we be transfigured in the Second Coming after the Resurrection! How splendid our bodies, how spotless our souls!--Akathist of Thanksgiving

Brief Sketch of Catechesis this a.m.

On the third article.  TSP regularly has a fund-raiser in the fall in which the Magazine rep puts money in a circle on the floor and the children are given "sticky hands" and they are allowed for a set time to pick up the money with the sticky hand and whatever they can get in that time, they keep.  Sticky hand.  Meet the Holy Spirit!  He's the sticky hand of God!

The Father sends the Son, and the Son sends the Spirit, and the Spirit grabs hold of you and brings you to the Son, who will at the last day present you to the Father.

You, rather like the money, are not active in this process:  the Spirit works faith in you - it comes solely as gift, and you contribute to this faith not the least little thing.  Here is a key difference between Rome and the Lutherans.

What does the Holy Spirit use to grab hold of you and bring you to Jesus, which is just another way of saying:  to give you faith?  He uses the Gospel.  As we heard in the Scripture reading (John 16), the Spirit glorifies Jesus.  He does so by taking of Jesus' and declaring it to you.  That doesn't mean just telling you ABOUT what belongs to Jesus; that means He reveals what belongs to Jesus as YOURS.  All that the Lord Jesus has He wants to give to you.  His Father to be your Father.  His home to be your home.  His LIFE to be your life.  St. Paul said it so well in 1 Cor. 12:  "We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we may know the things freely given to us by God!"

A "spirit" that wants to talk to you about something other than Jesus, isn't the Spirit of God!  Remember how St. John could write:  "the testimony of Jesus IS the Spirit of prophesy!"

And spirit-wrought faith is not something He creates in you once and then He's done.  It is a gift He wishes to constantly give into you by that Gospel.  He drapes you in the promises as often as you hear the Gospel in Absolution or the Sacrament or remember your Baptism, and these promises constantly impart and strengthen and sustain faith.  Faith is never something we come up with on our own - it is not like He gets it going and then WE have to keep it going.  Rather, it comes always as His gracious gift through the Word.

So, yes, the Holy Spirit is the sticky hand of God - bringing you constantly to Jesus, as He glorifies Him and extols all that is YOURS in Him and so constantly pours into you and strengthens in you the gift of faith.  And there's always more of Jesus for you to receive, to believe, to marvel at and glorify.

"I believe that I cannot (note, not that I COULD not, but that I CANNOT) by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified AND KEPT ME in the true faith...."

New Lutheran Quote of the Day

Whether a church is still a confessional church is not decided by the number of old confessional writings it still possesses but by its living proclamation in preach, instruction, and pastoral care.  -- Hermann Sasse, *We Confess:  Jesus Christ* p. 84.