22 November 2007
21 November 2007
Here's what I wrote
to my children on the day mom passed:
25 November 1994
Dear Lauren, David, and Rebekah,
Your grandmother died today. She was a wonderful woman. I only wish you could really have known her. She would have loved you so. She always loved babies, especially her grandbabies. Children, she didn’t have an easy life. Not ever.
When she was your age, Rebekah, about three, she got very sick with a disease called polio. It used to be a very dreadful thing. In the worst cases, it killed people outright. It crippled mom. It caused her one leg to be shorter than the other. The doctors actually sowed some lamb-skin onto her heel, but it didn’t help much. So, as a little girl she could never run and play like the other children. Instead, when they would want to do things she couldn’t do, she’d take a book and sneak away into the living room. She loved to read! Her Aunt Annie always told her: “With a good book you can go all around the world and never leave your chair.”
She loved all sorts of books, but especially poetry. Not high brow and sophisticated stuff, you know. Just your garden variety - Robert Louis Stevenson and Eugene Field and such.
She was her daddy’s little girl. She idolized him. He meant so much to her. I remember so well when he died and how sad she was. Now I know something of what she was going through, little ones. She told me many stories of what a wonderful father he was. He worked very hard, as both a farmer and (I think) a carpenter. But he took time every night to help his children with their homework around their dinner table. And Christmas was a day devoted entirely to the children. No work that day! Well, not exactly. He’d get up extra early to get the cows milked and all, but then the rest of the day was theirs. He’d get down on the floor and play right along with them.
She must have partaken alot of her father’s spirit, because when I was little she was my toy. Oh, we played every game imaginable. Even though she was crippled, she’d still get outside and try to play hopscotch and ball with me. She taught me a fun game called “One, two, three, O’Leary.” I want to teach it to you guys. I’d forgotten all about it til today.
She was very proud of her family background. Her last name was Mastin, but the heritage she treasured was the Field line. The Field family had come over from England in the 1600’s. Your grandmother grew up on the property that had been their's. In fact, you still have two great aunts that live on that property. She learned all about the Fields from her dear Aunt Annie, or Nannie, as she most often called her, and also from her Cousin A and A’s daughter Ruth. Cousin A actually remembered the family plantation house before it was burned down in the Civil War. A remembered sitting on the stairs and peaking downstairs as they had dances in the ballroom (with a marble floor, no less!).
I wish I could remember all her stories about the Fields and pass them on to you. She told of Grandpappy Joe, and how after the mansion had burned down, he had a special brick in the fireplace at a place called Speaks where he’d hidden his gold coins. He’d pull them out at night and count them. He even let A play with them. But they were kept hidden so that the Yankees wouldn’t get their hands on them.
Grandpappy Joe had many children, and one of his sons was named Daniel. We have his box sitting in our living room! Almost impossible to read it anymore, but on the bottom of the box is Daniels’ name and infantry number. Daniel was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville. The old black slave who was the blacksmith took the wagon and went to get Massa’ Daniel’s body and bring him home. In the family Testament we have you can still read about Grandpappy Joe’s and Uncle Daniel’s funeral.
Your grandma had a lot of sorrow in her life. She had many sisters: Francis, Ada, Kitty, and Emma. Also three brothers: William and Jimmy and Seldon. William and Jimmy were twins, and when they were born everyone expected William to live and Jimmy to die. You see, Jimmy was scrawny and sickly, but William looked healthier. So, they spent all their time on William, making sure he’d make it. But would you believe it? William died. Jimmy lived. And what a character he grew up to be. But your grandma lived to see him die too. He died right about the time that David was born. And then Seldon - how that broke all their hearts. He was only 16 years old. And was the sweetest kid, by all accounts. One day (it was thanksgiving time) he went out into the woods hunting, and tripped as he jumped over a stream. His foot got caught in a root, near as they can figure out, and his gun went off. He was shot through the head. Her dad was never the same, she said. Seldon’s dog used to wait for him to come home, and it just sat there, lost and lonely for days, not understanding what had happened. I think the dog’s name was Tippy.
Your grandma’s mother died in our house in Maryland in 1951, right before Uncle Maupin was born. When the ambulance pulled up and they took your great grandmother out, covered with a sheet, they thought it was your grandma who had died in childbirth! She missed her mom, but she was always closer to her dad. But this was an added sorrow to him. I remember him most as a very sorrowful man. He died when I was only six or so.
Your grandma and grandpa were really cute together. Every night when he got home from work, he’d yell downstairs: “I’m home sister!” To which she’d respond: “Yea, well what do you want me to do about it?” When I was still fairly little, my brothers and sister had moved out and gotten married, so I remember a lot of time spent with my mom and dad by myself. We loved to watch T.V. together. My daddy and I watched a lot of detective shows - Hawaii Five O and Cannon. Mom loved the game shows - Jeopardy and such. We also loved to play cards together. We went through one winter when I think we played Rook darn near every night.
What else can I tell you about your grandma? Let me tell you the stories that went with some of her things. The two old bricks we have in our house were part of the family plantation house. They came over from England as the ballast in Governor Spotswood’s ship. The plantation house is off the old Kelly’s Ford road outside of Richardsville. Mom collected and treasured these bricks for the story they told of the past. The Yankees were camped out on the white rocks on the Kelly’s Ford road when they burned down the big house. It was being used as a confederate hospital.
The daguerreotypes we have in mom’s doll cabinet are pictures of the Fields. Uncle Daniel is the young man with his fiance. He was only 19 when he died. He would be your great, great, great, great Uncle! And the other is your great, great, great, great Uncle William. He never married, but pretty much became the family head after Grandpappy Joe’s death. When my Grandma Bess heard what my mom and dad had named me (William Chancellor), she said: “Might have known you’d name him after one of those damn Fields. Mom said she hadn’t even thought of Uncle William Field!
Let me see, what other treasures are there? The little blue plate with the crack in it. It was also a Field possession, and I believe it also came from England. The salt cellar likewise. The old teapot was my mother’s grandmother’s wedding gift. Bette Hume Mastin, she was. Mom had her middle name.
There’s a little purse in your mom’s doll cabinet. It’s made of something like straw. It’s from Hawaii. It was sent to your grandma by her great Aunt Harriet. Aunt Harriet was actually your great grandma’s aunt. Aunt Harriet met her husband at the great World Exposition in St. Louis, 1904. They got married and moved to Hawaii. Aunt Harriet wrote to mom about being able to lie in bed in the morning and reach her hand out the window and pluck a bananna for breakfast!
The two brass candlesticks are treasures from your grandmother’s mother’s side of the family. I believe that they came from Europe too, from Scotland. On that side, if you go back several generations, your ancestors were actually Stuarts, and born in the castle in Edinburgh. But that was a long, long time ago! I’m just not sure how old the candlesticks are. When I was a little boy they sat on the parlor organ in Aunt Fanny’s living room. But my mom really wanted them so that she would have something to pass on to us from her mother’s family.
Part of her mother’s family was rather poor, and lived in West Virginia. Your grandmother’s Uncle Seldon worked at the mining village’s store. Your grandma went to visit him and Aunt Louise when she was a young woman and never forgot it! The mountains were so steep and the village was perched right on its side. The miners had a hard life, but they sure did seem to live it up. I wish I knew where in West Virginia they lived, but if mom ever told me, I have long since forgotten.
Your grandmother was deathly afraid of snakes and of fire. When she was little girl, one of their neighbors was burning sagebrush out in the field in the autumn, and their little daughter somehow got caught in the fire, and burned. Mom never seemed to forget it. I don’t know why she was so afraid of snakes, but she certainly was. Once my cousin George and I killed a poor, little garter snake down in Buzzard’s roost and we took it back to the house and we chased mom all around with it! Very naughty because mom couldn’t run very fast. Another time I remember George and I found a little shrew out in the yard, dead. My cousin Gary emptied its insides out and stuffed it with cotton. We then told Aunt Fanny to close her eyes and we rubbed it all over her face. She thought it was the softest powderpuff she’d ever felt, but then did she hollar when she realized what it was!
Other treasures: my father’s grandfather (Thomas Pemberton) made the little walnut washstand in moma and papa’s room. That used to stand in Grandma Bess’s hall, and I asked her if I could have it when I was about your age, David. She said yes, and mom was so glad, because mom loved little tables and always admired that one. If you look at it carefully you will see that the legs are each a little different in size. It was all handmade! He also made the table with the two big planks and the big white bench we have on the front porch.
From mom’s family also is the little table in the library with the shelving for books underneath. That belonged to your great Aunt Gee. She was really named Julia Lee and was my mom’s aunt, her father’s sister. She was a lady if ever there were one! I still have the sweet letter she wrote to me when she heard that Daddy had cancer. The table had been hers, but she had given it to mom long ago. It was always in our house on Munson Street. When I was little it used to have a whole pile of golden books in it! Mom loved books. Our house on Munson Street had a redwood bookcase my dad made for my mom (she loved the wood, and it was only after they made it they realized how soft it was and not suitable really for a book case, but pretty!!!) and it was always filled with books. I’ve only managed to collect a few of them. I remember it had two sets of encyclopedias, one Funk and Wagnel and the other I can’t recall, a little red set, and on the other side of the room there’d be the World Book Encyclopedia. Mom and I used to read these as regular entertainment! Just turn the pages, look at the pictures and read the articles.
Your grandma spent a lot of time in the kitchen. She didn’t believe in forcing a child to eat what they didn’t want, so she’d take orders for what everyone wanted for dinner and then make it up. Sometimes we’d end up eating three different things. Breakfast was a big deal with her and not just in the morning. She’d whip up a batch of pattycakes (never called pancakes) faster than anyone I’ve ever seen and they were always delicious. Her corn-bread likewise. She liked to make sure her meat was done, which really means black! She made phenomenally good pie crust and every once in a while she’d make us light-rolls. Divine!!! [I broke off here and never finished these ramblings, but they were on my mind the day mom died.]
25 November 1994
Dear Lauren, David, and Rebekah,
Your grandmother died today. She was a wonderful woman. I only wish you could really have known her. She would have loved you so. She always loved babies, especially her grandbabies. Children, she didn’t have an easy life. Not ever.
When she was your age, Rebekah, about three, she got very sick with a disease called polio. It used to be a very dreadful thing. In the worst cases, it killed people outright. It crippled mom. It caused her one leg to be shorter than the other. The doctors actually sowed some lamb-skin onto her heel, but it didn’t help much. So, as a little girl she could never run and play like the other children. Instead, when they would want to do things she couldn’t do, she’d take a book and sneak away into the living room. She loved to read! Her Aunt Annie always told her: “With a good book you can go all around the world and never leave your chair.”
She loved all sorts of books, but especially poetry. Not high brow and sophisticated stuff, you know. Just your garden variety - Robert Louis Stevenson and Eugene Field and such.
She was her daddy’s little girl. She idolized him. He meant so much to her. I remember so well when he died and how sad she was. Now I know something of what she was going through, little ones. She told me many stories of what a wonderful father he was. He worked very hard, as both a farmer and (I think) a carpenter. But he took time every night to help his children with their homework around their dinner table. And Christmas was a day devoted entirely to the children. No work that day! Well, not exactly. He’d get up extra early to get the cows milked and all, but then the rest of the day was theirs. He’d get down on the floor and play right along with them.
She must have partaken alot of her father’s spirit, because when I was little she was my toy. Oh, we played every game imaginable. Even though she was crippled, she’d still get outside and try to play hopscotch and ball with me. She taught me a fun game called “One, two, three, O’Leary.” I want to teach it to you guys. I’d forgotten all about it til today.
She was very proud of her family background. Her last name was Mastin, but the heritage she treasured was the Field line. The Field family had come over from England in the 1600’s. Your grandmother grew up on the property that had been their's. In fact, you still have two great aunts that live on that property. She learned all about the Fields from her dear Aunt Annie, or Nannie, as she most often called her, and also from her Cousin A and A’s daughter Ruth. Cousin A actually remembered the family plantation house before it was burned down in the Civil War. A remembered sitting on the stairs and peaking downstairs as they had dances in the ballroom (with a marble floor, no less!).
I wish I could remember all her stories about the Fields and pass them on to you. She told of Grandpappy Joe, and how after the mansion had burned down, he had a special brick in the fireplace at a place called Speaks where he’d hidden his gold coins. He’d pull them out at night and count them. He even let A play with them. But they were kept hidden so that the Yankees wouldn’t get their hands on them.
Grandpappy Joe had many children, and one of his sons was named Daniel. We have his box sitting in our living room! Almost impossible to read it anymore, but on the bottom of the box is Daniels’ name and infantry number. Daniel was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville. The old black slave who was the blacksmith took the wagon and went to get Massa’ Daniel’s body and bring him home. In the family Testament we have you can still read about Grandpappy Joe’s and Uncle Daniel’s funeral.
Your grandma had a lot of sorrow in her life. She had many sisters: Francis, Ada, Kitty, and Emma. Also three brothers: William and Jimmy and Seldon. William and Jimmy were twins, and when they were born everyone expected William to live and Jimmy to die. You see, Jimmy was scrawny and sickly, but William looked healthier. So, they spent all their time on William, making sure he’d make it. But would you believe it? William died. Jimmy lived. And what a character he grew up to be. But your grandma lived to see him die too. He died right about the time that David was born. And then Seldon - how that broke all their hearts. He was only 16 years old. And was the sweetest kid, by all accounts. One day (it was thanksgiving time) he went out into the woods hunting, and tripped as he jumped over a stream. His foot got caught in a root, near as they can figure out, and his gun went off. He was shot through the head. Her dad was never the same, she said. Seldon’s dog used to wait for him to come home, and it just sat there, lost and lonely for days, not understanding what had happened. I think the dog’s name was Tippy.
Your grandma’s mother died in our house in Maryland in 1951, right before Uncle Maupin was born. When the ambulance pulled up and they took your great grandmother out, covered with a sheet, they thought it was your grandma who had died in childbirth! She missed her mom, but she was always closer to her dad. But this was an added sorrow to him. I remember him most as a very sorrowful man. He died when I was only six or so.
Your grandma and grandpa were really cute together. Every night when he got home from work, he’d yell downstairs: “I’m home sister!” To which she’d respond: “Yea, well what do you want me to do about it?” When I was still fairly little, my brothers and sister had moved out and gotten married, so I remember a lot of time spent with my mom and dad by myself. We loved to watch T.V. together. My daddy and I watched a lot of detective shows - Hawaii Five O and Cannon. Mom loved the game shows - Jeopardy and such. We also loved to play cards together. We went through one winter when I think we played Rook darn near every night.
What else can I tell you about your grandma? Let me tell you the stories that went with some of her things. The two old bricks we have in our house were part of the family plantation house. They came over from England as the ballast in Governor Spotswood’s ship. The plantation house is off the old Kelly’s Ford road outside of Richardsville. Mom collected and treasured these bricks for the story they told of the past. The Yankees were camped out on the white rocks on the Kelly’s Ford road when they burned down the big house. It was being used as a confederate hospital.
The daguerreotypes we have in mom’s doll cabinet are pictures of the Fields. Uncle Daniel is the young man with his fiance. He was only 19 when he died. He would be your great, great, great, great Uncle! And the other is your great, great, great, great Uncle William. He never married, but pretty much became the family head after Grandpappy Joe’s death. When my Grandma Bess heard what my mom and dad had named me (William Chancellor), she said: “Might have known you’d name him after one of those damn Fields. Mom said she hadn’t even thought of Uncle William Field!
Let me see, what other treasures are there? The little blue plate with the crack in it. It was also a Field possession, and I believe it also came from England. The salt cellar likewise. The old teapot was my mother’s grandmother’s wedding gift. Bette Hume Mastin, she was. Mom had her middle name.
There’s a little purse in your mom’s doll cabinet. It’s made of something like straw. It’s from Hawaii. It was sent to your grandma by her great Aunt Harriet. Aunt Harriet was actually your great grandma’s aunt. Aunt Harriet met her husband at the great World Exposition in St. Louis, 1904. They got married and moved to Hawaii. Aunt Harriet wrote to mom about being able to lie in bed in the morning and reach her hand out the window and pluck a bananna for breakfast!
The two brass candlesticks are treasures from your grandmother’s mother’s side of the family. I believe that they came from Europe too, from Scotland. On that side, if you go back several generations, your ancestors were actually Stuarts, and born in the castle in Edinburgh. But that was a long, long time ago! I’m just not sure how old the candlesticks are. When I was a little boy they sat on the parlor organ in Aunt Fanny’s living room. But my mom really wanted them so that she would have something to pass on to us from her mother’s family.
Part of her mother’s family was rather poor, and lived in West Virginia. Your grandmother’s Uncle Seldon worked at the mining village’s store. Your grandma went to visit him and Aunt Louise when she was a young woman and never forgot it! The mountains were so steep and the village was perched right on its side. The miners had a hard life, but they sure did seem to live it up. I wish I knew where in West Virginia they lived, but if mom ever told me, I have long since forgotten.
Your grandmother was deathly afraid of snakes and of fire. When she was little girl, one of their neighbors was burning sagebrush out in the field in the autumn, and their little daughter somehow got caught in the fire, and burned. Mom never seemed to forget it. I don’t know why she was so afraid of snakes, but she certainly was. Once my cousin George and I killed a poor, little garter snake down in Buzzard’s roost and we took it back to the house and we chased mom all around with it! Very naughty because mom couldn’t run very fast. Another time I remember George and I found a little shrew out in the yard, dead. My cousin Gary emptied its insides out and stuffed it with cotton. We then told Aunt Fanny to close her eyes and we rubbed it all over her face. She thought it was the softest powderpuff she’d ever felt, but then did she hollar when she realized what it was!
Other treasures: my father’s grandfather (Thomas Pemberton) made the little walnut washstand in moma and papa’s room. That used to stand in Grandma Bess’s hall, and I asked her if I could have it when I was about your age, David. She said yes, and mom was so glad, because mom loved little tables and always admired that one. If you look at it carefully you will see that the legs are each a little different in size. It was all handmade! He also made the table with the two big planks and the big white bench we have on the front porch.
From mom’s family also is the little table in the library with the shelving for books underneath. That belonged to your great Aunt Gee. She was really named Julia Lee and was my mom’s aunt, her father’s sister. She was a lady if ever there were one! I still have the sweet letter she wrote to me when she heard that Daddy had cancer. The table had been hers, but she had given it to mom long ago. It was always in our house on Munson Street. When I was little it used to have a whole pile of golden books in it! Mom loved books. Our house on Munson Street had a redwood bookcase my dad made for my mom (she loved the wood, and it was only after they made it they realized how soft it was and not suitable really for a book case, but pretty!!!) and it was always filled with books. I’ve only managed to collect a few of them. I remember it had two sets of encyclopedias, one Funk and Wagnel and the other I can’t recall, a little red set, and on the other side of the room there’d be the World Book Encyclopedia. Mom and I used to read these as regular entertainment! Just turn the pages, look at the pictures and read the articles.
Your grandma spent a lot of time in the kitchen. She didn’t believe in forcing a child to eat what they didn’t want, so she’d take orders for what everyone wanted for dinner and then make it up. Sometimes we’d end up eating three different things. Breakfast was a big deal with her and not just in the morning. She’d whip up a batch of pattycakes (never called pancakes) faster than anyone I’ve ever seen and they were always delicious. Her corn-bread likewise. She liked to make sure her meat was done, which really means black! She made phenomenally good pie crust and every once in a while she’d make us light-rolls. Divine!!! [I broke off here and never finished these ramblings, but they were on my mind the day mom died.]
How odd
to think that this coming Sunday will mark the 13th year since my mother's passing. Can it have been that long already? Amazing.
She was such a wonderful woman and I miss her very much. One of the sadnesses of being born to a woman of 43 and a man of 40 is that you have every chance of growing up without your parents. My father was gone when I was but 19. My mother lasted a bit longer, but Alzheimer's took her from us long before death did.
She was a tease, a true introvert (she really disliked public gatherings, probably more than I do!), a cross-word puzzle whiz and she loved to do jigsaw puzzles too. She read and delighted in poetry. She was crippled from the age of three by polio and taught us by her silent suffering that we were not to complain of pain or ask for sympathy. She loved her family with a great devotion and she gave us the gift of love - unconditional and constant.
I think with shame of the things we did to her. I remember chasing around Aunt Emma's with the snake George and I killed. She was terrified of them, and she could barely hobble at the best of times, but we made her move with that poor garter snake we killed down in Buzzard's Roost.
Thirteen years. And in that time my children have grown up and known only one grandmother. I wish they could have known the other too. She loved them as babies, and she would have loved them adults. Dearest Mom, God grant you the joy of His presence, the peace of His love!
She was such a wonderful woman and I miss her very much. One of the sadnesses of being born to a woman of 43 and a man of 40 is that you have every chance of growing up without your parents. My father was gone when I was but 19. My mother lasted a bit longer, but Alzheimer's took her from us long before death did.
She was a tease, a true introvert (she really disliked public gatherings, probably more than I do!), a cross-word puzzle whiz and she loved to do jigsaw puzzles too. She read and delighted in poetry. She was crippled from the age of three by polio and taught us by her silent suffering that we were not to complain of pain or ask for sympathy. She loved her family with a great devotion and she gave us the gift of love - unconditional and constant.
I think with shame of the things we did to her. I remember chasing around Aunt Emma's with the snake George and I killed. She was terrified of them, and she could barely hobble at the best of times, but we made her move with that poor garter snake we killed down in Buzzard's Roost.
Thirteen years. And in that time my children have grown up and known only one grandmother. I wish they could have known the other too. She loved them as babies, and she would have loved them adults. Dearest Mom, God grant you the joy of His presence, the peace of His love!
As Prepared as Prepared Gets
Turkey is still defrosting. The dry ingredients to the dressing are melding flavors in a baggy in the fridge. The cheeses have been cut up. Mushroom caps have been readied for baking. Potatoes are peeled and sitting upon the stove in a pot of water. Pies have all been baked, and also the pumpkin cheesecake. Cocktail sauce for the shrimp is chilling. Floors are mopped, vacuumed, and furniture dusted. Choir is done practicing for Matins tomorrow. Prayers are upon the altar. All is ready to give thanks to God and then to enjoy a wondrous time of friendship and family. As the Psalter teaches us to cry out: "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!"
My "thanks be to God" list this year:
Thanks be to God for the Holy Eucharist!
Thanks be to God for Holy Baptism!
Thanks be to God for the Divine Service!
Thanks be to God for the gift of music!
Thanks be to God for the unspeakable gift of His Son and His Spirit!
Thanks be to God for our parish family!
Thanks be to God for the heartaches and troubles that teach us to turn to Him!
Thanks be to God for friends and acquaintances, including those we get to know on the net!
Thanks be to God for my wife, and each of my children (including Dean)!
Thanks be to God for Jo and Dave, who are like the best "inlaws" in the whole world!
Thanks be to God for all my brothers and sisters: Butch and Bonnie, Sis and Jimmy, Peggy, Maup and Nancy, Deb and Doug, Dee and Keith!
Thanks be to God for nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews - too many to count, but each a precious gift!
Thanks be to God for giving us HIs Sacred Scriptures!
Thanks be to God for the clarity of the Lutheran Symbols!
Thanks be to God for the joy of being together as His family - a foretaste of an eternal "homecoming"!
Thanks be to God for everything and everyone!
Thanks be to God forever!
My "thanks be to God" list this year:
Thanks be to God for the Holy Eucharist!
Thanks be to God for Holy Baptism!
Thanks be to God for the Divine Service!
Thanks be to God for the gift of music!
Thanks be to God for the unspeakable gift of His Son and His Spirit!
Thanks be to God for our parish family!
Thanks be to God for the heartaches and troubles that teach us to turn to Him!
Thanks be to God for friends and acquaintances, including those we get to know on the net!
Thanks be to God for my wife, and each of my children (including Dean)!
Thanks be to God for Jo and Dave, who are like the best "inlaws" in the whole world!
Thanks be to God for all my brothers and sisters: Butch and Bonnie, Sis and Jimmy, Peggy, Maup and Nancy, Deb and Doug, Dee and Keith!
Thanks be to God for nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews - too many to count, but each a precious gift!
Thanks be to God for giving us HIs Sacred Scriptures!
Thanks be to God for the clarity of the Lutheran Symbols!
Thanks be to God for the joy of being together as His family - a foretaste of an eternal "homecoming"!
Thanks be to God for everything and everyone!
Thanks be to God forever!
Mission Accomplished
The candlesticks are from my mother's (Mastin) mother's (Collins) mother's (Sparks) side of the family. They supposedly came from Scotland. Have no idea how old they are, but they are beautiful. The box came from my mother's father's side of the family - and was a wedding gift to Cindi and me from my mother's second cousin, Loretta.
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
The world needs saints; men who free themselves of self, who love with the divine love. Church leaders are looking for something to save a declining Church. They start all sorts of campaigns, drives, calls of the Cross. And while the Church is deliberating, men's hearts are aching, are hungering for the supernatural, for saints, for glimpses of heaven, for romance. Conferences, synods, arguments, eloquence, committees, campaigns are merely stopping leaks in a weak dam. The world needs saints; it needs the mad vision of saints, which alone can keep us sane, the supernatural vision which will turn the world, which is upside down, back to where God wants it today. -- von Schenk, *The Presence* pp. 126-127
Patristic Quote of the Day
For this is [the righteousness] "of God" when we are justified not by works, (in which case it were necessary that not a spot even should be found,) but by grace, in which case all sin is done away. And this at the same time that it suffers us not to be lifted up, (seeing the whole is the free gift of God,) teaches us also the greatness of that which is given. For that which was before was a righteousness of the Law and of works, but this is "the righteousness of God." - St. John Chrysostom, Homily on 2 Corinthians 5:20
20 November 2007
Worth Reading
I'm referring to David Schütz's reflections on the latest discussions between Rome and the Eastern Churches. You can read here. What David notices particularly is the notion of regional churches. The Reformation implications of this, one would think, would be obvious. How much does this discussion differ from the Lutheran Symbol's willingness to grant a de jure humano primacy to the Bishop of Rome?
Certainly Fine Outward Training
Emily over on Children of God touches a rather sad point about her experience of Lutheranism: the lack of the Eucharistic fast. I confess to being more than a little astonished that something that is praised as "certainly fine outward training" in our Small Catechism has come to be so neglected among us. The Catechism couldn't be clearer that fasting does not render a person "truly worthy and well prepared." Faith alone in our Lord's promise: "for you, for the forgiveness of sins" does that. Yet the Catechism DOES speak highly of fasting precisely as what it is: "a fine outward training."
What does this "outward training" refer to? As usual, if we go to the Large Catechism it can give some help: "Since this treasure is entirely presented in the words, it cannot be received and made ours in any other way than with the heart. Such a gift and eternal treasure cannot be seized with the fist. Fasting, prayer, and other such things may indeed be outward preparations and discipline for children, so that the body may keep and bring itself modestly and reverently to receive Christ's body and blood. Yet the body cannot seize and make its own what is here given in and with the Sacrament. This is done by the faith in the heart, which discerns this treasure and desires it."
Now by mentioning, "for the children" Luther by no means suggests that as adults we give it up! He means that we train the young people that in this way we discipline our bodies to reverence the great gift of the Supper. It is a way of confessing bodily that "all we need is the Eucharist - the very Body and Blood of our Savior, given for our salvation." Coming hungry to the table we remember the Beatitude He once spoke: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."
And yet no amount of calling for the reverent and appropriate use of fasting can ignore the words of our Lord Himself that calls us to eat and to drink His body and blood for our forgiveness. He does not add "you who have kept the fast." His forgiveness is for all and is received by all who approach the Holy Sacrament in true faith. This ought not in any way lead us to neglect the "bodily training," but rather to put it in its place. Our body can use this reminder that the hunger behind all hungers is ultimately the hunger for Christ Himself.
Surely, surely it is possible to exhort our people to the discipline of the flesh without in any way falling into the error of assigning merit to our "fine outward training."
What does this "outward training" refer to? As usual, if we go to the Large Catechism it can give some help: "Since this treasure is entirely presented in the words, it cannot be received and made ours in any other way than with the heart. Such a gift and eternal treasure cannot be seized with the fist. Fasting, prayer, and other such things may indeed be outward preparations and discipline for children, so that the body may keep and bring itself modestly and reverently to receive Christ's body and blood. Yet the body cannot seize and make its own what is here given in and with the Sacrament. This is done by the faith in the heart, which discerns this treasure and desires it."
Now by mentioning, "for the children" Luther by no means suggests that as adults we give it up! He means that we train the young people that in this way we discipline our bodies to reverence the great gift of the Supper. It is a way of confessing bodily that "all we need is the Eucharist - the very Body and Blood of our Savior, given for our salvation." Coming hungry to the table we remember the Beatitude He once spoke: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."
And yet no amount of calling for the reverent and appropriate use of fasting can ignore the words of our Lord Himself that calls us to eat and to drink His body and blood for our forgiveness. He does not add "you who have kept the fast." His forgiveness is for all and is received by all who approach the Holy Sacrament in true faith. This ought not in any way lead us to neglect the "bodily training," but rather to put it in its place. Our body can use this reminder that the hunger behind all hungers is ultimately the hunger for Christ Himself.
Surely, surely it is possible to exhort our people to the discipline of the flesh without in any way falling into the error of assigning merit to our "fine outward training."
A Prayer for Thanksgiving Day
This is one of those gems that sadly did not make it from Lutheran Worship into Lutheran Service Book. Yet, if one is using the order of Matins, as we are, that morning, this makes a fine collect (well, using a rather elastic definition of collect!). As do so many of our great prayers, this one comes to us from the Eastern liturgy, where the priest prays it quietly (fourth of a series of 12 prayers) as the choir is singing the six psalms during Orthros [Matins]. What is sad is that means very few people get to hear and join their amen to these glorious words of praise, thanksgiving and intercession:
O Lord our God, You have commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and You have again brought us to Your house of prayer to praise Your goodness and ask for Your gifts. Accept now in Your endless mercy the sacrifice of our worship and thanksgiving, and grant us those requests which will be wholesome for us. Make us children of the light and of the day and heirs of Your everlasting inheritance. Remember, O Lord, according to the multitude of Your mercies, Your whole Church, all who join with us in prayer, all our sisters and brothers wherever they may be in Your vast kingdom who stand in need of Your help and comfort. Pour out upon them the riches of Your mercy, so that we, redeemed in soul and body and steadfast in faith, may ever praise Your wonderful and holy name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and always through all ages of ages. Amen. (Lutheran Worship, page 195)
O Lord our God, You have commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and You have again brought us to Your house of prayer to praise Your goodness and ask for Your gifts. Accept now in Your endless mercy the sacrifice of our worship and thanksgiving, and grant us those requests which will be wholesome for us. Make us children of the light and of the day and heirs of Your everlasting inheritance. Remember, O Lord, according to the multitude of Your mercies, Your whole Church, all who join with us in prayer, all our sisters and brothers wherever they may be in Your vast kingdom who stand in need of Your help and comfort. Pour out upon them the riches of Your mercy, so that we, redeemed in soul and body and steadfast in faith, may ever praise Your wonderful and holy name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and always through all ages of ages. Amen. (Lutheran Worship, page 195)
On the Elevation
I had a question posed to me from our Church's website about the practice of the elevation, that is lifting up the Lord's body and then genuflecting before it; and then our Lord's blood and genuflecting before it. The young man wanted to know a bit about the origin and meaning of this ceremony. I thought it would be worthwhile to share my answer:Where the Lutherans continued the elevation it had the meaning of a confession of the real presence of our Lord's body and blood. Dr. Luther spoke of it this way: "We do not want to abolish the elevation because it goes so well with the German Sanctus and signifies that Christ has commanded us to remember him. For just as the sacrament is bodily elevated, yet Christ's body and blood are not seen in it, so he is also remembered and elevated by the word of the sermon and is confessed and adored in the reception of the Sacrament. In each case he is apprehended only by faith; for we cannot see how Christ gives his body and blood for us and even now daily shows and offers it before God to obtain grace for us." AE 53:82.
The practice was abolished in Wittenberg before Luther's death and he speaks of it differently at different times. Where it really came into force and into its own was in Lutheran Brandenburg, where in the 17th century the prince tried to smuggle in Calvinism. The Lutherans there insisted on the elevation as a vital confession of the real presence of our Lord's Body and Blood and even added some words to the action: "Dear Christian, this is the true body of your Lord, born of Mary, and this is the true blood of Christ, poured out for you upon the cross." This was called the Ostentatio. The Calvinists, of course, screamed bloody murder over the practice.
In our day and age, the elevation with the adoration of the Lord's body and blood, is a fine protest against "receptionism" which would teach that our Lord's almighty words do not effect His presence until the bread and wine are bodily tasted. Rather, the Lutheran Symbols, quoting St. John Chrysostom, speak of our Lord's body resting upon all the altars of Christendom! Thus, we kneel before Him to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, and we confess - as Luther says - that though hidden from our eyes, He is present in His body and blood among us, just as He has promised.
By the way, the practice really isn't ancient, but medieval. It arose in the centuries before the Reformation, where it was regarded as THE high point of the Mass - the moment at which the "sacrifice" was offered to the Father. This explains the Lutheran ambivalence to the practice. If I may put it so, we do not elevate in the Lutheran Church so that the sacrifice is lifted for God to see (Christ presents Himself to the Father ceaselessly as our sacrifice), but so that the people may see, adore, and confess Him who comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine.
Patristic Quote of the Day
In this way the saints are holy and blessed because of the Blessed One who is with them. Through Him they become alive instead of dead, wise instead of unwise, holy, righteous, and sons of God instead of polluted, wicked, and slaves. From themselves and from human nature and effort there is nothing whatever that enables them to be justly so called. Rather, they are holy because of the Holy One, righteous and wise because of the righteous and wise One who abides with them. -- St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* p. 138
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
If the Christian faith were nothing but a dead adherence to certain mysterious doctrines as true, if a person could have the Christian faith and remain in his sins, then we could understand why many people think it makes no difference whether one's faith is Christian or Jewish or heathen or Turkish. But the true faith, to which the Holy Scripture attributes salvation, is something completely different. This faith has such great power that the person who carries it in his heart is completely changed by it. He becomes a new person, who leads a truly pious life. True faith works what nothing else in the world can work in a person. -- C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 873
19 November 2007
Ah, Preparing for the Thanksgiving Feast
Well, I tried to do a bit of clean-up today but was unsuccessful. The brasso that usually brings up the shine on our old brass candle-sticks and brass box, doesn't seem to want to work. I'm wondering if we need a new can. That stuff has been around for a long time.
The glasses from kitchen light and dining room chandelier are in the dish washer for their holiday shine up.
I've still got some more clean-up chores today, and then the cooking will start in earnest. This year we'll be joined by Dave and Jo (Cindi's mom and dad) and a friend of theirs, plus all the kids (Lauren and Dean are eating here for lunch and then the Herberts for dinner). Everyone will come over just after we sing Matins at St. Paul's - where we will also get to hear our former principal, Richard Rikli, preach for the first time. Matins usually is only about 45 to 50 minutes max, and the service starts at 9 a.m.
What's on the menu? Appetizers: shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers. Main course: Turkey (23 lbs, I believe, and Cindi found a great "fast cook" method for it last year), mashed potatoes (for non-Atkins) and mashed cauliflower (for Atkins), gravy, southern "cornbread" dressing (an experiment to make it Atkins friendly will substitute almond "cornbread" for the usual cornbread - we'll see! No promises on that one!), cranberry sauce, sweet potato souffle, biscuits (non-Atkins), coconut muffins (Atkins again), and what we call "Jenn's Salad" (a great layered salad that we first gobbled up when Jennifer Rethwisch served it). Desserts: Pumpkin pie, cherry pie, chocolate pie, pumpkin cheesecake. Yeah, I think it SHOULD feed 9 people. ;)
Of course there also be coffee, tea, various wines and beer, and soda (ick!). I trust it will be joy-filled feast indeed. Hoping that everyone else also has a great day for singing thanks to Him who supplies us with such an abundance of food and drink, and the good company and family with whom to enjoy those gifts!
The glasses from kitchen light and dining room chandelier are in the dish washer for their holiday shine up.
I've still got some more clean-up chores today, and then the cooking will start in earnest. This year we'll be joined by Dave and Jo (Cindi's mom and dad) and a friend of theirs, plus all the kids (Lauren and Dean are eating here for lunch and then the Herberts for dinner). Everyone will come over just after we sing Matins at St. Paul's - where we will also get to hear our former principal, Richard Rikli, preach for the first time. Matins usually is only about 45 to 50 minutes max, and the service starts at 9 a.m.
What's on the menu? Appetizers: shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers. Main course: Turkey (23 lbs, I believe, and Cindi found a great "fast cook" method for it last year), mashed potatoes (for non-Atkins) and mashed cauliflower (for Atkins), gravy, southern "cornbread" dressing (an experiment to make it Atkins friendly will substitute almond "cornbread" for the usual cornbread - we'll see! No promises on that one!), cranberry sauce, sweet potato souffle, biscuits (non-Atkins), coconut muffins (Atkins again), and what we call "Jenn's Salad" (a great layered salad that we first gobbled up when Jennifer Rethwisch served it). Desserts: Pumpkin pie, cherry pie, chocolate pie, pumpkin cheesecake. Yeah, I think it SHOULD feed 9 people. ;)
Of course there also be coffee, tea, various wines and beer, and soda (ick!). I trust it will be joy-filled feast indeed. Hoping that everyone else also has a great day for singing thanks to Him who supplies us with such an abundance of food and drink, and the good company and family with whom to enjoy those gifts!
Thursday Eucharists
This Advent season, we'll observe the following saints' days during our Thursday Eucharists:
November 29 - St. Andrew, Apostle (transferred)
December 6 - Commemoration of St. Nicholas of Myra, Pastor
December 13 - Commemoration of St. Lucia, Martyr
December 20 - St. Thomas, Apostle (transferred)
After Christmas, we'll observe:
December 27 - St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
January 3 - Commemoration of Blessed Wilhelm Loehe, Pastor (transferred)
After Epiphany, we'll observe:
January 10 - Commemoration of Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, Pastors and Confessors
January 17 - The Confession of St. Peter (transferred)
January 24 - The Conversion of St. Paul (transferred)
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."
November 29 - St. Andrew, Apostle (transferred)
December 6 - Commemoration of St. Nicholas of Myra, Pastor
December 13 - Commemoration of St. Lucia, Martyr
December 20 - St. Thomas, Apostle (transferred)
After Christmas, we'll observe:
December 27 - St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
January 3 - Commemoration of Blessed Wilhelm Loehe, Pastor (transferred)
After Epiphany, we'll observe:
January 10 - Commemoration of Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, Pastors and Confessors
January 17 - The Confession of St. Peter (transferred)
January 24 - The Conversion of St. Paul (transferred)
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."
As Advent Approaches
Remember that Lutheran Service Book Agenda includes a rite for "Blessing of the Advent Wreath" on pp. 309-310 for use on the First Sunday in Advent. It includes these words:
"Beloved in the Lord, as we begin the season of Advent, let this wreath remind us that Jesus Christ came to conquer the darkness of sin and to lead us into the light of His glorious kingdom. As the prophet Isaiah says, 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.'"
The prayer in the rite includes the petition:
"enkindle in our hearts the fire of Your love that we may receive You with joy and gladness."
"Beloved in the Lord, as we begin the season of Advent, let this wreath remind us that Jesus Christ came to conquer the darkness of sin and to lead us into the light of His glorious kingdom. As the prophet Isaiah says, 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.'"
The prayer in the rite includes the petition:
"enkindle in our hearts the fire of Your love that we may receive You with joy and gladness."
Patristic Quote of the Day
By this same means God from the beginning vindicates His laws when they have been violated, in that He punishes him who has broken them by means of pain and suffering. He would not have seen fit to exact this penalty were it not the opposite of the offense and capable of delivering from judgment. This was the method He Himself finally employed against sin when He entered into human nature. Because it was necessary to cast out sin from our nature it was by suffering that He cast it out. - St. Nicolas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* p. 202
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
Christ wants to cover our sins, but He also wants to take them away. He wants to clothe us in His righteousness, but He also wants to take shape in us, to be the High Priest who reconciles us with God, and to be the King who rules over and in us. He suffered and died to atone for our sins, but He also rose and ascended into heaven that He might live in us and we in Him and so we might walk in a new life. - C.F.W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 888
18 November 2007
Happy to Report
that the preaching of the saving Gospel and a most reverent celebration of the Holy Sacrament is alive and well at Trinity Lutheran Church, in Worden. We worshipped there this morning and were blessed to hear Pastor Curtis' proclamation. It was a blast to have all five Weedons (well, we'll still count that Herberts as an honorary Weedon) sitting together in a pew and making all kinds of harmony. We sat behind the Gilberts (DP of Northern Illinois District and father to Rebekah Curtis; they were in town for a wedding); and they were singing harmony too. So we had our little choir section right out in the nave. :)
17 November 2007
Meet Darius
Pastor Curtis shoots them and names them before stowing them away in the freezer. This one is Darius and he informs us that he'll be on the shelf in the freezer next to Doris. Tell me again why I am friends with this man??? ;)
Well, I WAS
going to write about Pinochle, but my good friend and pinochle partner, Randy Asburry, already did SUCH an outstanding job, that I'll just link you to his posting. :)
16 November 2007
Church Visits
We dropped into the Roman Catholic Church (bet you can't guess its name!), and it was absolutely beautiful. Even though its main altar had been rendered free-standing there seemed precious other little monkey business with the building. The best of old Roman Catholic design, if you take my meaning.We were unable to get into historic Holy Cross Lutheran Church, but it looked like it had an interesting, if much more humble, interior. Ah well, perhaps next time. It's funny, I couldn't find a sign identifying it as LCMS, but the board outside announced the schedule for "Divine Service" and I told Cindi: "That's LCMS." Funny how "Divine Service" has become an identifying term - the old Gottesdienst made a revival under LW and now LSB.
Jewel-T and Bayberry
On our little jaunt down to Ste. Genevieve, we shopped the historic district. It was fun looking at all the antiques and such. In one store I noticed some dishes with a distinctive pattern. I exclaimed to Cindi that WE used to have those and that they came from Jewel-T, and the old lady who was in the shop said her mother had bought them off the truck years ago. I said "My mother had bought them from Jewel-T too." Weird to think of that lady's mother and my mother buying the same stuff - I mean, this lady was OLD. The more I thought about it, the less I liked its implications. No rude comments, please. 
As we were wandering the streets, we found a candle store that had some bayberry scented candles. We've noticed they are harder and harder to find. We picked some up. To me that is THE way a candle should smell - my mother (of blessed memory) always had bayberry candles in the house. She loved the scent too, and so it always is to me the smell of the holidays at home. Give me that combined with the pungent scent of a cedar Christmas tree and I can close my eyes and hear all the old voices again. Isn't it odd how smell does that for faster than any other sense?
Ste. Genevieve Trip
Lauren and Dean had given us a night's stay at a bed and breakfast. We chose to visit Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. We stayed at "Somewhere Inn Time" owned and operated by Gary and Mary Scheel. Nice place to stay! We toured the town and enjoyed the local wineries. Here are some pics: the place we stayed; the high water marks of various floods, and 1993 is at the top - no surprise there; and some scenes from the Cave Winery.
15 November 2007
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
Even in death the Church does not lose its members. Instead, in death, each of its members is recognized as one who cannot be lost eternally. -- C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 861
Patristic Quote of the Day
These are therefore the effects of Baptism: to set free from sins, to reconcile man to God, to make man one with God, to open the eyes that souls might perceive the divine ray - in sum, to prepare for the life to come. -- St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ*
14 November 2007
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
Death cannot separate the members of the Body of Christ, the Church. The Church on earth knows of no separation from the Church beyond the grave. What is this bond of union? Why, the Communion. At the Altar we link ourselves with the saints. Here we are caught up with them. The Blessed Sacrament is the link that binds us with our risen and ascended Lord, and the whole company of Heaven. Here at the Altar I get a glimpse of the saints. Here I am united with them, and here heaven is made real to me as my faith is nourished. -- von Schenk, *The Presence* p. 127
Patristic Quote of the Day
It is the Father who is reconciled, the Son who reconciles, while the Holy Spirit is bestowed as a gift on those who have become friends. --St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* p. 74
I Am Honored Indeed
I've just been invited to be the speaker for the St. John Chrysostom Lutheran Preacher's Retreat up in Canada in June. That will make for a full June! We'll be out East to visit with family, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Redeemer Lutheran in Burlington NC (where I first served) and then a week at the beach in NC, and then back to St. Louis in time to head out to Canada for three days. Ah, but what a way to wrap up vacation: praying the office with the brothers, and thinking together about the noble task and the joys of bringing the best news the world could ever hear into the ears of poor sinners!
Earlier in the year I'll be doing two other seminars: one for a circuit in Colorado on the liturgy (February) and one in Kansas at Pastor Brockman's church, Christ Lutheran, in Hutchinson.
Have I ever told you how much I hate flying???
Earlier in the year I'll be doing two other seminars: one for a circuit in Colorado on the liturgy (February) and one in Kansas at Pastor Brockman's church, Christ Lutheran, in Hutchinson.
Have I ever told you how much I hate flying???
13 November 2007
I am convinced
that no one will ever understand Lutheran liturgy who forgets the central role the Lutheran chorale plays in Lutheran liturgical thinking.
I am thinking particularly of how it is the chorale "Wake, Awake" that sets the tone for the liturgy in the Lutheran Church for the Last Sunday of the Church year in a way that only touches upon the Gospel reading (Ten Virgins) but transforms it into a message of utter joy.
I am thinking particularly of how it is the chorale "Wake, Awake" that sets the tone for the liturgy in the Lutheran Church for the Last Sunday of the Church year in a way that only touches upon the Gospel reading (Ten Virgins) but transforms it into a message of utter joy.
Cadfael
Darcy stopped by to practice on Cindi's back tonight (working on becoming a massage therapist) and she dropped off for me some Caefael to watch. I'm psyched. I LOVE Cadfael and the way Ellis Peters can bring the monastic world to life (even if she makes the Welsh Cadfael a tad too modern for my likings). Jacoby never seemed the right "look" for a Welshman, but boy, oh, boy can he act. I'm hoping to watch all four on vacation.
Christmas Shopping? Done.
Bwahaha! I love being organized! :)
Jo (my mother in law) and I headed out shopping today. We left at 9:30 and didn't get back till after 3. We had a very successful trip. We ended up crossing the river and shopping in St. Louis. She got a few things she has been looking for and I basically finished my Christmas shopping - thanks to her input. I'm going to make it a tradition to bring her along each year - she really helped! We lunched at Olympia's - my favorite Greek restaurant in St. Louis. She tried their spanikopita and I munched on saganaki, flamed right there at the table. Opah! I am so thankful to have the shopping taken care of before the madness breaks loose after Thanksgiving. Just stocking stuffers left to tend to and for that, there's always Wallyworld.
Objective #1 for vacation: checked off.
Jo (my mother in law) and I headed out shopping today. We left at 9:30 and didn't get back till after 3. We had a very successful trip. We ended up crossing the river and shopping in St. Louis. She got a few things she has been looking for and I basically finished my Christmas shopping - thanks to her input. I'm going to make it a tradition to bring her along each year - she really helped! We lunched at Olympia's - my favorite Greek restaurant in St. Louis. She tried their spanikopita and I munched on saganaki, flamed right there at the table. Opah! I am so thankful to have the shopping taken care of before the madness breaks loose after Thanksgiving. Just stocking stuffers left to tend to and for that, there's always Wallyworld.
Objective #1 for vacation: checked off.
12 November 2007
My Sister-in-law reminded Me...
...that our Orthodox sisters and brothers have already [note: she corrected me - I need to read more carefully - are preparing to enter - November 15] entered the Nativity Fast. This begins for Western Christians only after the first Sunday in Advent (December 2nd this year). But it is very good to think through the fast ahead of time and to fight (yes, it will be a fight) against the annual cultural pigfest that starts on Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas in our culture. In Western tradition, the fast is observed on Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent, with eating only 1.5 meals on those days, and additionally refraining from flesh meats and wine on Fridays. Also, during Advent, the winter ember days fall, which (I believe) will be Dec. 19, 21, and 22nd this year. These are all days traditionally observed by fasting (1.5 meals) and abstinence (no flesh meats or wine). Although the Advent fast is nowhere near as popular as the Lenten fast, it is still a beautiful practice to train our flesh in "denying fleshly passions" and training ourselves to be ready for the joyous Advent of our Lord Jesus.
In summary, that would mean eating 1.5 meals on Dec. 5 and 7, 12 and 14, 19, 21, and 22; and on the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st and 22nd, refraining from all flesh meats and wine. As Lutherans we remember that this fasting is not something done to curry favor with God (favor already freely granted us in His Son), but something we may freely join in doing to help subjugate our sinful flesh and teach it that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
In summary, that would mean eating 1.5 meals on Dec. 5 and 7, 12 and 14, 19, 21, and 22; and on the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st and 22nd, refraining from all flesh meats and wine. As Lutherans we remember that this fasting is not something done to curry favor with God (favor already freely granted us in His Son), but something we may freely join in doing to help subjugate our sinful flesh and teach it that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
You know, I DO like St. Paul Sausage...
...and I like it a lot, but I am still flabbergasted that former Vicar and now Pastor Karl Gregory drove down from South Dakota today to pick up his order of sausage. Amazing.
But it was delightful to see him. I miss the times that Karl, Nancy, Cindi and I got to sing for church. We sang together "E'en So" by Manz and also the beautiful Easter hymn "The Angel Cried to the Lady Full of Grace." The Gregorys were so much fun to sing with.
Karl told me today that they've got another grandchild on the way - this time from his son's wife. He's serving a couple vacancies now. May the Lord grant them a full-time call soon!
But it was delightful to see him. I miss the times that Karl, Nancy, Cindi and I got to sing for church. We sang together "E'en So" by Manz and also the beautiful Easter hymn "The Angel Cried to the Lady Full of Grace." The Gregorys were so much fun to sing with.
Karl told me today that they've got another grandchild on the way - this time from his son's wife. He's serving a couple vacancies now. May the Lord grant them a full-time call soon!
Ah, Music!
Wow. Tonight went to first rehearsal of Collinsville Chorale's Christmas Concert (to be performed in Holy Cross Lutheran Church). Andy, the choir's director, commented to me during tryouts that he was surprised I had time for it (he remembered that Cindi's hubby was a pastor) during Advent and Christmas. I shared that I didn't really, but that I needed it. He said he knew exactly what I meant and that HE felt the need to be singing too (he's a fabulous conductor). As the music soared tonight - and let me tell you, Andy keeps the pace moving - it was like coming back to life again. It brought back all the great memories - singing in Lincoln Center with our choir from Concordia Bronxville, tours, chancel choir at the Sem and community chorus in Greensborough, NC under Bill Carroll. Yes, it's a sacrifice to give up the Monday nights but boy, oh, boy did I need it. I am positively itching to practice all the pieces for the concert. I'd love to walk in there next week with every note under my belt. We'll see! And silly as it may seem, I was nervous of the audition. I have sung in choirs and choruses before, but I still remember in Junior High School some folks making fun of me for missing the pitch on a song. And THAT is what makes me nervous about singing to this day: am I screwing up totally and not hearing it? At Church I've almost overcome the fear, but when I'm with a group and doing parts work, it comes back. In spades. Ah well, I'll just practice that much harder to make sure I'm NOT screwing up - and if I am, I think Andy will not hesitate to tell me.
The Perfect November Day
The rain striking the window, the last of the leaves being washed out of the trees, gray and drear, a candle burning and the sound of Christmas music (I listen to it year around, I'm afraid). No one home but me and Lucy (and she sound asleep, curled up on the couch). This is November as it should be.
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
How completely different is the wealth of the Church, which possesses glorious things that are preached in it and believed by it. It has a gracious God and Savior, forgiveness of all its sins, a peaceful conscience, the hope of eternal life, heavenly comfort in all its earthly distress, and true joy of the heart. The Church does not seek happiness, like the world, for it already has it. Even the poorest member of the Church knows he is richer than all the kings of the earth, and therefore he does not exchange his earthly want for all of the world's wealth, his lowliness for all the world's grandeur, and his suffering for all the world's joy. - C.F.W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 858
Patristic Quote of the Day
O unspeakable kindness! Not only does He love so greatly, but also He so highly esteems being loved by us that He does everything for the sake of this! What was the reason that He created heaven and earth, the sun and the visible world, and the beauty of the unseen world, and caused them to exist by His mere divine command? Does He not teach us the whole philosophy which derives therefrom in order that He may turn us to Himself and persuade us to love Him? -- *The Life in Christ* St. Nicholas Cabasilas
Totally Sweet!
Former vicar and now Pastor Charles Lehmann pointed me toward this unbelievable site:
pandora
Check this puppy out and enjoy YOUR music YOUR way.
pandora
Check this puppy out and enjoy YOUR music YOUR way.
11 November 2007
Whew!
Services and Bible Class, then 3.5 hours of table waiting (Stephanie and I worked well together), and a trip to St. Louis to see Rich and his family. Rich just received a kidney transplant -- he's been on dialysis for a while now -- and it looks like a great fit so far. May the Lord protect and keep him! Then back home and a visit with Pastor Tim Hahn and Darcy, just come from the Sausage Supper. Only I was an old man and FELL ASLEEP sitting up. Darcy said it was the glass of wine I drank. I was rather embarrassed. :( Bedtime will come early tonight, I'm thinking.
10 November 2007
Hie thee over to...
...Cyberbrethren and enjoy the wonderful links to the Kantorei singing some of the best. Don't miss the Te Deum and "Lord, Let At Last."
Happiest Hours
Okay, since I fessed up to being truly an introvert, I will add that my happiest hours are when I am at home in my office working on various writing projects. And my dear wife has really made my office be a wonderfully pleasant place to work. She recently painted it a soft green (please, note, dear Lucciola that it's not mauve!) and when I have the blinds open and the sunlight streaming in on all sides, it is a veritable paradise for me. Here are some pics to give a sense of the room (it's small but it's bright):
Thanks be to God!
...for Paul coming home.
...for the gift of music and the joy of singing together.
...for the adoption of Matthew Jacob by the heavenly Father through the washing of rebirth.
...for all who have given or continue to offer faithful service in the Armed Forces.
...for the Divine Service that nurtures in us the life that can never end.
...for children practicing for Christmas programs and learning carols.
...for the rain of leaves in autumn.
...for John being on two nearby call lists.
...for Matthew's safe surgery.
...for the mercy that never fails, the love that sustains us in Christ Jesus.
...for the gift of music and the joy of singing together.
...for the adoption of Matthew Jacob by the heavenly Father through the washing of rebirth.
...for all who have given or continue to offer faithful service in the Armed Forces.
...for the Divine Service that nurtures in us the life that can never end.
...for children practicing for Christmas programs and learning carols.
...for the rain of leaves in autumn.
...for John being on two nearby call lists.
...for Matthew's safe surgery.
...for the mercy that never fails, the love that sustains us in Christ Jesus.
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
The Cross is, therefore, not one of many incidents in our Lord's life. The Cross is the final act in that essential conflict with selfishness, in the struggle for the human race to be freed from selfishness, and to reach its final destiny of union with God. -- von Schenk, *The Presence* p. 66
Patristic Quote of the Day
It was God who died; it was God's blood which was shed on the cross. What could be more precious than this death, what more awesome? How great a sin human nature committed that needed so great a penalty to expiate it! How great was the wound that required the power of this remedy. -- St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* p. 59
Ah, the Feast!
What our dear District President refers to facetiously as "the feast of the holy sausage" rolls around tomorrow. The people of Saint Paul's are busy as beavers today. Each doing something to contribute toward the joy of the day. The amount of effort it takes to put this thing on each year belies the notion that it's a fundraiser. Oh, it does make money. But you can see on the people's faces that that's not what they're doing it for. They do it for the joy of working together, spending time in each other's company, and being hospitable to our community. God willing, tomorrow will be a great day. If any of you are in driving distance, come on over and enjoy it.Adults $8.
Children 6-12 $3
Under 6 Free
And don't neglect to feast on the ETERNAL fare that God serves up before the Sausage Supper! That's at 7:45 and 10.
P.S. If Piepkorn is right that the kingdom of God does not consist in buying each other's pies is true; it also true that EATING each other's pies is nevertheless a veritable taste of the Kingdom here on earth!
09 November 2007
INFJ
At least, that's what that bloginality
determined. Which I suppose is the oddest of personality types. What cracked me up is the analysis that it means my intuitions are mostly right and so I am stubborn about listening to other people expressing alternate ideas. Zam. That hurt. Fortunately, I'm married to an ISFJ. A servant's heart indeed.
In any case, these thingies amuse me. They have something of the "fortune teller" about them - you know, general enough that it's bound to hit you some of the time.
determined. Which I suppose is the oddest of personality types. What cracked me up is the analysis that it means my intuitions are mostly right and so I am stubborn about listening to other people expressing alternate ideas. Zam. That hurt. Fortunately, I'm married to an ISFJ. A servant's heart indeed.
In any case, these thingies amuse me. They have something of the "fortune teller" about them - you know, general enough that it's bound to hit you some of the time.
A Fire
I've always been a sucker for a fire. Our house in North Carolina had a big old fire place and I still fondly remember our first thanksgiving in that house - all my family came down and joined us for the feast and we built a huge fire and kept it going all the evening. The house had no insulation and it was a cold thanksgiving - the fire gave some much needed warmth. My friend, Karl Bachman, joined us and regaled us with his fabulous "Rindercella" routine. We laughed, feasted, played games, and drank all evening before the fire - constantly feeding it. I think we all treasure memories of that occasion.
But for the last 16 years, alas, we've been sans fireplace. That is, until my birthday of this year. Cindi bought me one of those fire pots for outside and we have really enjoyed it this fall. We're planning on a fire tonight too. Dave and Jo are coming over for cards, David is at work and Bekah has a band engagement that will detain her until about 8. We figure that we'll enjoy the fire until she shows up. We had high winds earlier in the week and the old trees in our yard kindly donated toward our stockpile of kindling.
To me, staring into the flames and listening to the crackle of the wood and the soft chink sound as the coals drop, well, it's a peaceful as staring at the beautiful sea in Cancun and listening to the surf. A different kind of peaceful, but every bit as wonderful.
"I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen..."
But for the last 16 years, alas, we've been sans fireplace. That is, until my birthday of this year. Cindi bought me one of those fire pots for outside and we have really enjoyed it this fall. We're planning on a fire tonight too. Dave and Jo are coming over for cards, David is at work and Bekah has a band engagement that will detain her until about 8. We figure that we'll enjoy the fire until she shows up. We had high winds earlier in the week and the old trees in our yard kindly donated toward our stockpile of kindling.
To me, staring into the flames and listening to the crackle of the wood and the soft chink sound as the coals drop, well, it's a peaceful as staring at the beautiful sea in Cancun and listening to the surf. A different kind of peaceful, but every bit as wonderful.
"I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen..."
On Thursdays
We use Divine Service I for our liturgy from LSB. One of the features of that liturgy I especially have come to love is the post-communion collect, which sort of says it all:
Gracious God, our heavenly Father, You have given us a foretaste of the feast to come in the Holy Supper of Your Son's body and blood. Keep us firm in the true faith throughout our days of pilgrimage that, on the day of His coming, we may, together with all Your saints, celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Isn't that a wonderful prayer? It breathes the spirit of the early Church's "maranatha!" and how in the Eucharist we are sustained by a future that breaks back into our own time.
Gracious God, our heavenly Father, You have given us a foretaste of the feast to come in the Holy Supper of Your Son's body and blood. Keep us firm in the true faith throughout our days of pilgrimage that, on the day of His coming, we may, together with all Your saints, celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Isn't that a wonderful prayer? It breathes the spirit of the early Church's "maranatha!" and how in the Eucharist we are sustained by a future that breaks back into our own time.
Patristic Quote of the Day
Nor was Mary below what was becoming the mother of Christ. When the apostles fled, she stood at the Cross, and with pious eyes beheld her Son's wounds, for she did not look for the death of her Offspring, but the salvation of the world.-- St. Ambrose, Letter 63:110
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
The Eucharist is a symbol of the renewal of all things by Christ and in Christ. This is part of Christ's total sacramental design. By His own baptism, He hallows Jordan and all waters to be a saving flood and an abundant washing away of sin. By His own union with His bride the church He reflects this great mystery in the union of every Christian husband with every Christian wife and, in a fainter refraction of the mystery, in every human union where every act of unselfish giving of oneself in authentic love, no matter how fleeting, mirrors His love for the world that He has reconciled to God. By His separation to His service of man upon whom the Spirit's charism of priesthood is bestowed by the laying on of hands, Christ affirms His will that no potential harvest anywhere in the world be lost because of a lack of laborers - a point that the earliest Lutheran ordinals made very strongly. Through the reconciliation of the penitent in holy absolution He affirms that the door of hope and of rescue that the Holy Spirit opened in Baptism is never closed as long as life lasts. -- A.C. Piepkorn, *The Church* pp. 198, 199
08 November 2007
A Replacement for Word?
I've been using Microsoft Word as my main Word processor for ages. But I've always been on the look out for something different. It has nice features, to be sure, but so many features that it tends to overwhelm. I don't need a lot of fancy stuff, but I do need a Word processor that works - and a little page layout every now and again.
When Pages first came out, I gave it a whirl. On my Mac it bogged down in long documents. The letters began to appear LONG after I typed them. Not good. But I just did today's homily in the new Pages '08. That is a very fine program. I sailed along with no trouble whatsoever. David has warned me before that I thought other things would replace the MS Office suite and each time I've headed back to Redmond. Time will tell, but I really think that I've found a worthy replacement - at long last.
When Pages first came out, I gave it a whirl. On my Mac it bogged down in long documents. The letters began to appear LONG after I typed them. Not good. But I just did today's homily in the new Pages '08. That is a very fine program. I sailed along with no trouble whatsoever. David has warned me before that I thought other things would replace the MS Office suite and each time I've headed back to Redmond. Time will tell, but I really think that I've found a worthy replacement - at long last.
Homily for Trinity 23
[Proverbs 8:11-12 / Philippians 3:17-21 / Matthew 22:15-22]
An odd alliance: Pharisees and Herodians. Put together, it meant that both the official religious establishment AND the government were in cahoots to trap Jesus. Normally they couldn’t stand each other, but they both sensed in our Lord a threat and that was enough to make them bury their respective hatchets long enough to see if they could land the Galilean Teacher in trouble one way or another.
First, the butter-up: “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.”
All of which, of course, was the exact truth and part of what drove them batty about the Lord. But they are not sincere in saying it, and he knows it. Yet he awaits their question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
They are convinced they’ve got him. If he says, “yes” he’ll lose his popularity among the religious and the common people, who despised the Roman overlords. If he says, “no” they’ve got grounds for rebellion and treason.
But the problem with trying to trap Jesus is that it never works. He won’t be corralled, tamed, or broken in. He’s got other business to attend to. “You hypocrites,” he says “Show me the coin for the tax.”
They have one at hand. You can see him take it, look it over, and nod his head. “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” He asks them. Can they feel a trap closing on them with the question? In perplexity at what He is driving at, they admit: “Caesar’s.” “Ah,” says Jesus. “Caesar’s. Well, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” Let’s stop there for a second and think about that.
Government exists in this world. And it exists at the command of God. True, at times governments horribly abuse the very purposes for which God made it, but that doesn’t make it one bit less a divine institution. Christ calls upon us to honor and support it - and even to pay our taxes cheerfully. Caesar - the state - should receive the funding from us to accomplish that which accords for the common good: protection and maintenance of good order and all that makes our life together possible. Our Lord didn’t come to interfere with that order. “My kingdom is not of this world” He told Pilate.
But the kicker is that Christ didn’t stop with telling folks to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. As He handed the coin back He looked them in the eye and told them: “and render to God the things that are God’s.”
The things that are Caesar’s bear his likeness and his inscription upon them. Show who they belong to and whose authority and power backs them up. And likewise, there is a likeness and an inscription graven upon humanity. We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to Another. And when Jesus calls us to render to God the things that are God’s, He reminds us of that inscription and that likeness. “And so in the image of God, God made man, male and female He made them.”
If the image shows to whom we belong, then we are to render to God what is His. Our very lives, all that we have and all that we are, yielded to Him, placed at His disposal, doing His bidding with joy. We are not our own.
But that is precisely what humanity had failed to do. Each one of us, instead of rendering to God what is His, has claimed our life for ourselves - and thus made our lives hell as well as hell for those around us. Oh, we’re content to throw God a few pieces, a little bit of time, a sleepy hour in church once a week, a few bucks to keep the place going. But we want the rest of our lives to be OURS. To do with as we see fit. To give ourselves over to the pursuit of wealth or pleasure or both. “A little religion never hurt anyone” but God isn’t interested in a little religion. He’s downright uninterested in it. He wants your life.
Our first reading reminded us that wisdom is better than jewels, than gold or silver. Wisdom can give you a lasting inheritance. Our second reading challenged us not to walk as enemies of the cross of Christ - serving only our bellies and glorying in the things that ought make us ashamed.
Render to God the things that are God’s. It’s the only way to live a life that goes beyond the pointless chasing after wealth or good times meanwhile heading straight to the grave. And this is the life that our Lord Himself lived among us and lives still for it’s an eternal life. Do you recall how St. Peter could express this? “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us back to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
From the Father’s heart of love the Son is sent into a world where people are lost. They’ve forgotten who they belong to, and the inscription and image have been dulled beyond recognition. He came to give us all back to God, to trace once more upon humanity’s face the very image and likeness in which we had been created. And that image is love. Divine love, not mere human love that’s always calculates what’s in it for me. The total self-giving love that was born in Bethlehem and nailed to the tree of Calvary in order, by bearing all sins, to bring humanity back to God, to wipe out the record of our wrong, and to free us to love by uniting us to Himself, so that His love might live within us, that we might be given wholly back to God.
Give to God the things that are God’s, my friends! Yield to Him your very self, for He has yielded His self to you and stoops down to you today to fill you with His pardon, His peace, His life. The coin of the heavenly realm of which we are now citizens is divine love, not love LIKE that manifested on Calvary, but that very love itself living within us, changing us, renewing us, making evident to all the One to whom we belong.
Today He comes to you at the Altar, the very One who will one day transform your lowly body to be like His glorious body; He comes today to transform your soul already by giving you His love, His very self. The Crucified and Risen Lord holds nothing back, and being divine love incarnate, He forgives you all your sins. He comes to you to form within you in constantly growing clarity the image of His own Godhead: love, self-giving love. Lo, here is the wisdom that is more precious than jewels, and more important even than the duty of giving to Caesar what is His. “Render to God the things that are God’s” for He came and comes to render to you all that is His. To Him alone be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
An odd alliance: Pharisees and Herodians. Put together, it meant that both the official religious establishment AND the government were in cahoots to trap Jesus. Normally they couldn’t stand each other, but they both sensed in our Lord a threat and that was enough to make them bury their respective hatchets long enough to see if they could land the Galilean Teacher in trouble one way or another.First, the butter-up: “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.”
All of which, of course, was the exact truth and part of what drove them batty about the Lord. But they are not sincere in saying it, and he knows it. Yet he awaits their question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
They are convinced they’ve got him. If he says, “yes” he’ll lose his popularity among the religious and the common people, who despised the Roman overlords. If he says, “no” they’ve got grounds for rebellion and treason.
But the problem with trying to trap Jesus is that it never works. He won’t be corralled, tamed, or broken in. He’s got other business to attend to. “You hypocrites,” he says “Show me the coin for the tax.”
They have one at hand. You can see him take it, look it over, and nod his head. “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” He asks them. Can they feel a trap closing on them with the question? In perplexity at what He is driving at, they admit: “Caesar’s.” “Ah,” says Jesus. “Caesar’s. Well, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” Let’s stop there for a second and think about that.
Government exists in this world. And it exists at the command of God. True, at times governments horribly abuse the very purposes for which God made it, but that doesn’t make it one bit less a divine institution. Christ calls upon us to honor and support it - and even to pay our taxes cheerfully. Caesar - the state - should receive the funding from us to accomplish that which accords for the common good: protection and maintenance of good order and all that makes our life together possible. Our Lord didn’t come to interfere with that order. “My kingdom is not of this world” He told Pilate.
But the kicker is that Christ didn’t stop with telling folks to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. As He handed the coin back He looked them in the eye and told them: “and render to God the things that are God’s.”
The things that are Caesar’s bear his likeness and his inscription upon them. Show who they belong to and whose authority and power backs them up. And likewise, there is a likeness and an inscription graven upon humanity. We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to Another. And when Jesus calls us to render to God the things that are God’s, He reminds us of that inscription and that likeness. “And so in the image of God, God made man, male and female He made them.”
If the image shows to whom we belong, then we are to render to God what is His. Our very lives, all that we have and all that we are, yielded to Him, placed at His disposal, doing His bidding with joy. We are not our own.
But that is precisely what humanity had failed to do. Each one of us, instead of rendering to God what is His, has claimed our life for ourselves - and thus made our lives hell as well as hell for those around us. Oh, we’re content to throw God a few pieces, a little bit of time, a sleepy hour in church once a week, a few bucks to keep the place going. But we want the rest of our lives to be OURS. To do with as we see fit. To give ourselves over to the pursuit of wealth or pleasure or both. “A little religion never hurt anyone” but God isn’t interested in a little religion. He’s downright uninterested in it. He wants your life.
Our first reading reminded us that wisdom is better than jewels, than gold or silver. Wisdom can give you a lasting inheritance. Our second reading challenged us not to walk as enemies of the cross of Christ - serving only our bellies and glorying in the things that ought make us ashamed.
Render to God the things that are God’s. It’s the only way to live a life that goes beyond the pointless chasing after wealth or good times meanwhile heading straight to the grave. And this is the life that our Lord Himself lived among us and lives still for it’s an eternal life. Do you recall how St. Peter could express this? “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us back to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
From the Father’s heart of love the Son is sent into a world where people are lost. They’ve forgotten who they belong to, and the inscription and image have been dulled beyond recognition. He came to give us all back to God, to trace once more upon humanity’s face the very image and likeness in which we had been created. And that image is love. Divine love, not mere human love that’s always calculates what’s in it for me. The total self-giving love that was born in Bethlehem and nailed to the tree of Calvary in order, by bearing all sins, to bring humanity back to God, to wipe out the record of our wrong, and to free us to love by uniting us to Himself, so that His love might live within us, that we might be given wholly back to God.
Give to God the things that are God’s, my friends! Yield to Him your very self, for He has yielded His self to you and stoops down to you today to fill you with His pardon, His peace, His life. The coin of the heavenly realm of which we are now citizens is divine love, not love LIKE that manifested on Calvary, but that very love itself living within us, changing us, renewing us, making evident to all the One to whom we belong.
Today He comes to you at the Altar, the very One who will one day transform your lowly body to be like His glorious body; He comes today to transform your soul already by giving you His love, His very self. The Crucified and Risen Lord holds nothing back, and being divine love incarnate, He forgives you all your sins. He comes to you to form within you in constantly growing clarity the image of His own Godhead: love, self-giving love. Lo, here is the wisdom that is more precious than jewels, and more important even than the duty of giving to Caesar what is His. “Render to God the things that are God’s” for He came and comes to render to you all that is His. To Him alone be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
If we wish to save anyone, we cannot do it by giving him a tract. We can do it by suffering for him and with him, in other words, the saviours up and down the world are always the pain-bearers. They are marked with the sign of the Cross. That is the reason why Calvary saved. Jesus took upon Himself the pain and suffering of the world. He says, "I am the way. My way is the way to salvation." And this is the abundant way. He that loses his life will find it. - von Schenk, *The Presence* p. 82
Patristic Quote of the Day
It was not we ourselves who were moved towards God, nor did we ascend to Him; but it was He who came and descended to us. It was not we who sought, but we were the object of His seeking. The sheep did not seek for the shepherd, nor did the lost coin search for the master of the house; He it was who came to the earth and retrieved His own image, and He came to the place where the sheep was straying and lifted it up and stopped it from straying. He did not remove us from here, but He made us heavenly while yet remaining on earth and imparted to us the heavenly life without leading us up to heaven, but by bending heaven to us and bringing it down. As the prophet says, "He bowed the heavens also, and came down." - St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* p. 50.
Well, Since
...I ragged on the lad for his distractedness (great term - thanks, Nan), I figured I'd also show the work he brought home last night. It's not finished yet, but I thought it was well done.
07 November 2007
Is There Some Kind of a Law...
... that artists have to be dingy? This is the SECOND time we've gotten a phone call from his majesty that he had left his keys where he couldn't use them to drive home. First time, they were locked in Office Depot (where he works); this time, they were - where else? - in the locked car itself. Sigh. Do other parents ever wonder WHAT their children will do when they are no longer around to tidy up their dingy-ness??? I suppose he figures he'll snag some woman to take care of him. Lord have mercy on her soul! She'll need the patience of a saint. And I want to hear no sniggering about how, well, *I* managed to find one.
And He will Come Again...
...to judge the living and the dead.
I used to think that meant, our Lord will judge those who happen to be breathing in their bodies and those who happen to be sleeping in the dust at the moment of His glorious Appearing. Not any more. I think it means He will judge those who through faith are connected to His unending life (whether breathing or not) and those who spurn His gift of life (whether breathing or not). We need to learn to rethink what we mean by "the living" and the "the dead" -- and so to realize what a blessed term is "faithful departed." They're not DEAD, they've just departed "this" age. With joy we meet with them at the Altar, the same Altar where they too received a life that no death can destroy. Glory to Him who is the Resurrection and the Life!
I used to think that meant, our Lord will judge those who happen to be breathing in their bodies and those who happen to be sleeping in the dust at the moment of His glorious Appearing. Not any more. I think it means He will judge those who through faith are connected to His unending life (whether breathing or not) and those who spurn His gift of life (whether breathing or not). We need to learn to rethink what we mean by "the living" and the "the dead" -- and so to realize what a blessed term is "faithful departed." They're not DEAD, they've just departed "this" age. With joy we meet with them at the Altar, the same Altar where they too received a life that no death can destroy. Glory to Him who is the Resurrection and the Life!
Patristic Quote of the Day
They are no trifling gifts that He bestows, nor are they trifling benefits of which He counts us worthy! Those who come over to Him He welcomes with the gifts which follow from His death and burial. He does not merely bestow a crown or give them some share in His glory, He gives them Himself, the Victor who is crowned with glory. When we come up from the water we bear the Savior upon our souls, on our heads, on our eyes, in our very inward parts, on all our members - He who is pure from sin, free from all corruption, just as He was when He rose again and appeared to His disciples, as He was taken up, as He will come again to demand the return of His treasure. -- St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* p. 62
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
What happens when love comes to earth? It suffers. Love must always suffer. Why must love suffer when it is born? Because from the moment of its birth it faces a deadly enemy. That deadly foe is SELF. Was it not so in the life of our Lord? Immediately after that little Babe was born of Mary, the struggle began. It continued to Calvary, and it continues down through the ages, "for the sufferings of Christ abound in us." That suffering is the result of the clash between love and self, love struggling in conflict with selfishness. - von Schenk, *The Presence* p. 65
Lucy has decided
that sweet as the sunshine streaming into the living room window may be, it is just not as enticing as the heat the comes periodically from the register. She's made her move and is curled up in a ball - and she's hogging the heat!
06 November 2007
More Boring Mac Stuff (let the reader beware)
The longer I am using the new MacBook the more impressed I am.
First, the gripe: I was REALLY bummed when Leopard did not recognize Accordance (my BIBLE software!!! I have an old version 5.x), and told me it was CLASSIC. It wasn't classic at all, but it seemed determine to think so. Then out of the blue it recognized it.
Great, I thought. Don't know what happened, but problem solved! Ha! In the process of getting the install bootcamp loaded (I had to reinstall the system - long story) and suddenly again, my Accordance was gone. :(
I waited for a day, but it never came back. Then I thought I'd pop in the CD and voila! There was an option to upgrade to carbon. I ran it, and Accordance is back again. I hope it stays put this time; I don't intend to reinstall the system anytime soon.
Second, the nice features: having function keys dedicated for dashboard and expose is very convenient. Also having functions keys assigned to rewind, play and fast-forward is sweet. I've been impressed by how COOL the machine stays. My old iBook got much hotter, and my son's MacBook Pro also is toasty enough to be uncomfortable in your lap for long periods of time.
I've been impressed with Parallels so far. It does seem to seamlessly integrate with the Mac experience to the point you forget that it's a virtual machine. Windows programs are just there. Use of peripherals seems no problem at all.
Still exploring Numbers, Keynote and Pages. Last time I tried Pages it just wasn't up to doing real Word-processing, but was fine for page layout. I'm hoping that's changed. I love Word, no two ways about it, but I'd be quite happy if it had a worthy successor - especially one that integrated easy page layout!
I tried the clip feature in Safari and sure as shootin, I now have my own widget of the radar. Very simple to do!
Did video chat with Randy and Rachel Asburry the other night. My end was smooth, but their end kept stuttering. He thinks he's got that solved though, and am eager to try it again. What a hoot! We need to figure out a way to play cards in video chat - now THAT would be wonderful!
Overall speed of the machine is impressive - loaded in Warcraft III which stuttered a bit at higher resolutions on the iBook and it blitzed along just fine. I would like to load a brand new video game and see how well it does. David insists that without a dedicated graphics card it will lag significantly. I'd like to see what that means.
Front Row is a hoot and a half. Plop in the movie and sit back using the remote controller. The sound is much loader than on the iBook - I don't hear all that well to begin with, but really struggled to hear the iBook when it was playing a movie. Almost always resorted to ear phones - and that doesn't work well when you're watching a movie on the sofa with your wife!
The Time Machine is one of those "where has this been all my life" kind of critters. Backup jitters are simply history. I simply don't have to think about it at all anymore - and pulling up a file that's been deleted or lost is a lot of fun too.
That's about it - a fun machine packing a big punch. Apple delivers - once again.
First, the gripe: I was REALLY bummed when Leopard did not recognize Accordance (my BIBLE software!!! I have an old version 5.x), and told me it was CLASSIC. It wasn't classic at all, but it seemed determine to think so. Then out of the blue it recognized it.
Great, I thought. Don't know what happened, but problem solved! Ha! In the process of getting the install bootcamp loaded (I had to reinstall the system - long story) and suddenly again, my Accordance was gone. :(
I waited for a day, but it never came back. Then I thought I'd pop in the CD and voila! There was an option to upgrade to carbon. I ran it, and Accordance is back again. I hope it stays put this time; I don't intend to reinstall the system anytime soon.
Second, the nice features: having function keys dedicated for dashboard and expose is very convenient. Also having functions keys assigned to rewind, play and fast-forward is sweet. I've been impressed by how COOL the machine stays. My old iBook got much hotter, and my son's MacBook Pro also is toasty enough to be uncomfortable in your lap for long periods of time.
I've been impressed with Parallels so far. It does seem to seamlessly integrate with the Mac experience to the point you forget that it's a virtual machine. Windows programs are just there. Use of peripherals seems no problem at all.
Still exploring Numbers, Keynote and Pages. Last time I tried Pages it just wasn't up to doing real Word-processing, but was fine for page layout. I'm hoping that's changed. I love Word, no two ways about it, but I'd be quite happy if it had a worthy successor - especially one that integrated easy page layout!
I tried the clip feature in Safari and sure as shootin, I now have my own widget of the radar. Very simple to do!
Did video chat with Randy and Rachel Asburry the other night. My end was smooth, but their end kept stuttering. He thinks he's got that solved though, and am eager to try it again. What a hoot! We need to figure out a way to play cards in video chat - now THAT would be wonderful!
Overall speed of the machine is impressive - loaded in Warcraft III which stuttered a bit at higher resolutions on the iBook and it blitzed along just fine. I would like to load a brand new video game and see how well it does. David insists that without a dedicated graphics card it will lag significantly. I'd like to see what that means.
Front Row is a hoot and a half. Plop in the movie and sit back using the remote controller. The sound is much loader than on the iBook - I don't hear all that well to begin with, but really struggled to hear the iBook when it was playing a movie. Almost always resorted to ear phones - and that doesn't work well when you're watching a movie on the sofa with your wife!
The Time Machine is one of those "where has this been all my life" kind of critters. Backup jitters are simply history. I simply don't have to think about it at all anymore - and pulling up a file that's been deleted or lost is a lot of fun too.
That's about it - a fun machine packing a big punch. Apple delivers - once again.
Patristic Quote of the Day
What then may life be more fittingly called than love? For that which alone survives and does not allow the living to die when all things have been taken away is life - and such is love. When all things have passed away in the age to come, as Paul says, love remains, and it alone suffices for life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is due all glory for ever. Amen. - St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* p. 229
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
Abiding in Christ does not mean that we must agree on every point of doctrine; but it does mean that we must be in fellowship with Christ - not in things, but in a Person, the Person, for He is the Life, the Way, and the Truth. He did not only teach the truth, but He is the Truth. If we want this Truth, we must be in organic fellowship with Him. -- von Schenk, *The Presence* p. 158
05 November 2007
By the bye
If you read the article linked in the previous post, the amazing thing is that von Schenk got there before either John Paul II or Benedict XVI. Reading that article after just having read *The Presence* leaves me a bit amazed at von Schenk's prescience!
Patristic Quote of the Day
We were justified, first by being set free from bonds and condemnation, in that He who had done no evil pleaded for us by dying on the cross. By this He paid the penalty for the sins which we had audaciously committed; then, because of that death, we were made friends of God and righteous. By His death the Saviour not only released us and reconciled us to the Father, but also "gave us power to become children of God," in that He both united our nature to Himself and united each of us to His own flesh by the power of the Mysteries. -- St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The Life in Christ* pp. 53, 54
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
In the Communion they (the Church in Acts) found their fire, their divine love, their invincible faith. Thus, it was through their contact with the living Christ in the Holy Communion that they touched the aching wounds of the world. - von Schenk, *The Presence* p. 103
04 November 2007
There's a Saying...
..."It's a Mac thing; you wouldn't understand."
My son and I were laughing about it the other day. It's so true. How do you explain to folks who haven't had the Mac experience what it is all about? It just sounds, well, silly. I know that. But golly, I'm having a blast. So much to learn and digest - and I doubt I'll end up using most of what this machine can do, but you never know.
My words to those who are sold on PCs: just visit an Apple Store. You can get your hands on all the stuff. Try it out and see what you think. You might even end up being one of those weirdos who has a RELATIONSHIP with their computer. ;) Mac.. It's catching!
My son and I were laughing about it the other day. It's so true. How do you explain to folks who haven't had the Mac experience what it is all about? It just sounds, well, silly. I know that. But golly, I'm having a blast. So much to learn and digest - and I doubt I'll end up using most of what this machine can do, but you never know.
My words to those who are sold on PCs: just visit an Apple Store. You can get your hands on all the stuff. Try it out and see what you think. You might even end up being one of those weirdos who has a RELATIONSHIP with their computer. ;) Mac.. It's catching!
All Saints
What great joy today! I love All Saints. One of my favorite feasts of the whole year. I especially love that final hymn: "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones."
After the morning services and Bible Class, I took the Sacrament to a couple shutins (von Schenk's *The Presence* provided the devotion), came home and readied the bulletins for the weeks I'll be on vacation (go Parallels!) and then we had the Catechism service. Tonight we dealt with our Lord's Appearing for the final judgment. Some great discussion as usual and excellent comments from the participants.
Lutheran Service Builder, by the way, rocks on the Divine Services and falls to pieces on the Daily Prayer Services. It's like half-finished there. Wonder what gives with that? Hopefully as they continue improving it, we'll get some decent help with those services. The Psalms will print, but are not marked for chanting (even when that option is selected) and the Gloria Patri is nowhere to be seen. Adding the Gloria Patri in at the end of the Psalm is no help. It just says "Gloria Patri" and gives you an option of selecting it from another service. Hello? We want it sung to the Psalm tone we just used. Grr. And if you select the seasonal option for the opening versicles, you end up with squat. Nothing shows up at all. Sigh. Well, at least it is great for the Eucharist and for Prayer and Preaching. Hopefully the offices will get up to snuff before too long.
After the morning services and Bible Class, I took the Sacrament to a couple shutins (von Schenk's *The Presence* provided the devotion), came home and readied the bulletins for the weeks I'll be on vacation (go Parallels!) and then we had the Catechism service. Tonight we dealt with our Lord's Appearing for the final judgment. Some great discussion as usual and excellent comments from the participants.
Lutheran Service Builder, by the way, rocks on the Divine Services and falls to pieces on the Daily Prayer Services. It's like half-finished there. Wonder what gives with that? Hopefully as they continue improving it, we'll get some decent help with those services. The Psalms will print, but are not marked for chanting (even when that option is selected) and the Gloria Patri is nowhere to be seen. Adding the Gloria Patri in at the end of the Psalm is no help. It just says "Gloria Patri" and gives you an option of selecting it from another service. Hello? We want it sung to the Psalm tone we just used. Grr. And if you select the seasonal option for the opening versicles, you end up with squat. Nothing shows up at all. Sigh. Well, at least it is great for the Eucharist and for Prayer and Preaching. Hopefully the offices will get up to snuff before too long.
03 November 2007
Ah, A Nice New Toy...
...I meant TOOL, of course. Actually, a bit of both. It does amaze me how much of my work IS done on the computer - everything from sermon writing, Bible study, bulletin publication and prep, to updating this blog (which is half work and half pleasure). But there's lots of room for pleasure on this puppy too: iPhoto's update is mega-sweet. As is the whole Front Row system!
For the Geeks out there: got the new MacBook. 2.2 GHz Intel Core Duo. 2 GB, 226 MHz memory. 160 Gig hard drive. Here's what she looks like:
For the Geeks out there: got the new MacBook. 2.2 GHz Intel Core Duo. 2 GB, 226 MHz memory. 160 Gig hard drive. Here's what she looks like:
01 November 2007
Tomorrow is the Big Day
God willing, I'll be typing on a MacBook by the day's end Friday. I'm REALLY looking forward to the upgrade and will keep anyone who is interested posted on how the process has gone. Cindi will be inheriting my beloved little iBook, but she insists on a new keyboard. I bang the keyboard so hard as I type that I've wiped the blasted letters off the keys for more than half the letters (I'm old enough to have learned to type on a manual - if you've done likewise, you understand). Best thing about the new puter? It will run the Church's Lutheran Service Builder - right now, only my son's computer is capable of running it, and he really doesn't like sharing, the wretch! ;)
Notification!
What I've heard President Mueller refer to facetiously as "the Feast of the Holy Sausage" will be held at St. Paul's on Sunday, November 11th. Now, any of you all who can, join us for the best sausage and sauerkraut dinner you could hope for from noon to six that day. But don't neglect to join us for the far more important feast of the Word and Holy Eucharist earlier that morning - serving time for that is 7:45 and 10 a.m. Bible Class will be served up at 9!
A Matter of Perspective
Today's our men's study group looked at AC VIII. The great thing about this article is that it teaches us two perspectives for looking at the Church. From the perspective of the Blessed Trinity, the Church is the (note the definite article) assembly of all believers, all in whom the Spirit-wrought faith joins them to Jesus Christ. From the human perspective, the Church is surely found wherever the Word and Sacraments of Jesus are going on - giving out their life-giving gifts. "My Word shall not return to me void" is a promise we can bank on. But from the human perspective there are those gathered with God's believers who don't share their faith. We can't see that, or sort that, or do much about that. Whether in the royal priesthood of the baptized or serving in the office of the Holy Ministry, these non-believers have no power to destroy the work of God's Word and Sacraments. Where the Word and Sacraments are, there God is having Himself a Church in that assembly. Mixed to human eyes. But not to God's. It all depends on which way you're looking at the great reality.
So from God's side: the sine qua non is saving faith in the Redeemer. From the human side: the presence of Gospel and Sacraments. The resultant mix and mess is what we call "Church."
So from God's side: the sine qua non is saving faith in the Redeemer. From the human side: the presence of Gospel and Sacraments. The resultant mix and mess is what we call "Church."
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
When we, then, view death in the light of the Communion of Saints and Holy Communion, there is no helpless bereavement. My loved one has just left me and has gone on a long journey. But I am in touch with her. I know that there is a place where we can meet. It is at the Altar. How it thrills me when I hear the words of the Liturgy, "Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of Heaven," for I know that she is there with that company of Heaven, that Communion of Saints, with the Lord. The nearer I come to my Lord in Holy Communion, the nearer I come to the saints, to my own loved ones. I am a member of the Body of Christ, I am a living cell in that spiritual organism, partaking of the life of the other cells, and sharing in the Body of Christ Himself. There is nothing fanciful or unreal about this. Indeed, it is the most real thing in my life. -- von Schenk, *The Presence* pp. 131,132
Joanie and I were
talking today about Easter being so early in 2008. It sent me back to googling. I found out that the last time that Easter fell on March 23 was in 1913! 95 years ago this March. I wonder who in my parish was alive AND remembers it? This particular date of Easter occurs but six times in the 500 years from 1550 to 2050 (1600, 1788, 1845, 1856, 1913, 2008).
And just in case anyone is curious about the earliest possible date - March 22 - that last happened in 1818.
And just in case anyone is curious about the earliest possible date - March 22 - that last happened in 1818.
Patristic Quote of the Day
While natural food is changed into him who feeds on it, and fish and bread and any other kind of food become human blood, here it is entirely opposite. The Bread of Life Himself changes him who feeds on Him and transforms and assimilates him into Himself. As He is the Head and the Heart, we depend on Him for moving and living since He possesses life. --St. Nicholas Cabasilas, *The LIfe in Christ* p. 126
All Saints Day Homily
There are days when the sun shines, the flowers bloom, our hearts swell with joy and we are glad simply to be. But then there are the other days. The gray days. The days when we feel down and discouraged and sometimes defeated. St. John knew something about those gray days. He knew something about being down and discouraged and defeated.
After all, he was sitting alone on an island called Patmos, banished from the company of his beloved churches. He’d seen all of his fellow apostles fall to the sword or flame or cross one by one until he alone was left. He’d seen the bright beginnings of the Church, the excitement of new converts, wither and fade. He’d seen heresies creep into the church right under his nose and he’d fought them every inch of the way, but they kept on coming in. One perversion after another arose to corrupt the simple and glorious Gospel that he had been given to preach. And then there was the persecution - the Roman state didn’t take too kindly to the announcement that there was another King of the world besides Caesar. With an exercise of brute force Rome brought its iron fist crashing down on these little communities of the rival King with the intention of wiping them out once and for all. Hard not to be a little down with all that going on, eh? Especially when it looked very much as though what you’d given your whole life to might not last as long as you lasted.
To such a discouraged disciple, sitting lost and lonely on Patmos, the Lord Jesus sent a series of visions. We call them the Book of Revelation. The visions were meant to put new courage and hope into John, and John by writing them down was to pass that new courage and hope on to others who were struggling like he was, just to hang on, just to make it through another day.
In all of those visions that John was given, none can compare to those moments when the veil of time is drawn back and we are given a glimpse of heaven and of the joys of those who have died trusting in Jesus Christ. The faithful departed loom large in the visions of Revelation. The whole book could be understood as an expansion and elaboration on the famous words of St. Paul: “For I consider the sufferings of the present to be not worth comparing to the surpassing weight of glory that shall be revealed in us.”
In our first reading you saw them before the eyes of your mind. There they were, standing before the throne of the Father and of the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world. They stand before him clad in white, the palm of victory in their hands, and they sing a song that ascribes their salvation solely to their God and to the Lamb. They know they have nothing to boast of on their own. They have only been given to. They know that their robes are white only because they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb - because He bled and died to redeem them and set them free they stand before God holy and pure. They are there always, day and night, never departing from God’s presence, delighting to give him endless liturgy, praise and doxology. God covers them with his tent - that is, they live in His house - and He protects them from all harm and in that act of awesome gentleness, he reaches out his nail-scared hand to wipe away every tear from their eyes. Their sorrows are gone. They have eternal joy.
“Who are they?” asked the Elder. John said in effect, “You tell me.”
The answer was: “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation, the great sorrow.” These are people like you and me. People who have had their share of heart-ache and pain. People who sometimes had to struggle day by day just to hang on and keep going. People for whom faith didn’t come easy. People who struggled to trust in God and to believe that in the midst of their troubles God was still there and still in control and most importantly still loving them, forgiving them, holding them. Yet they hung on, they clung to God’s promises, and found that he was truthful and didn’t let them down. Who are they? Well, among them are those that you have known and loved; fellow sinners who put their hope in Jesus’ words and died. That’s who they are. They’re the Church that Christ has already gathered home. We’re the Church that struggles still. But we’re not two churches: we’re one Church, one communion. As the words of that great hymn we just sang have it: “O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine, yet all are one in Thee for all are Thine. Alleluia. Alleluia.”
That can be a big comfort and encouragement for us. When we gather for worship on Sunday, it’s not just the hundred or so folk in the room that are gathered together. Oh, no! If we only had the eyes to see it, we’d discover that we never gather with less than a few million at a time. Listen to what Hebrews says of it: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks a better word than that of Abel. (Heb 12:22-24).” You have come to all this, the sacred writer reminds the people. So when we gather for worship, it’s never just us in this room. It’s also the angels in heaven, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, that is, the saints in heaven with their blood-washed white robes, and most of all Jesus with His blood, that established the new covenant of forgiveness. We’re always a mega-church when we’re at worship. And the song of those the triumph, the voice of them that feast, gives us the courage and strength to go on, and muddle through, and know that in the end, our God will take us out of the great sorrow and bring us into eternal sunshine, when we will see with our eyes those who have gone before us and we will lift our voices in song with theirs forever.
So today we’re not just remembering those who died in faith. That would be rather sad, don't you think? Today, we’re worshipping with them. At the same throne. Before the same Lord. Surrounded by the same angels. They are indeed the blessed ones to whom all the promises of the beatitudes have been fulfilled. We can’t see them with the eyes of the body yet, but that’s only because our vision is so poor. It’s a reality none the less. Together with them we cry out: "Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb! Amen."
After all, he was sitting alone on an island called Patmos, banished from the company of his beloved churches. He’d seen all of his fellow apostles fall to the sword or flame or cross one by one until he alone was left. He’d seen the bright beginnings of the Church, the excitement of new converts, wither and fade. He’d seen heresies creep into the church right under his nose and he’d fought them every inch of the way, but they kept on coming in. One perversion after another arose to corrupt the simple and glorious Gospel that he had been given to preach. And then there was the persecution - the Roman state didn’t take too kindly to the announcement that there was another King of the world besides Caesar. With an exercise of brute force Rome brought its iron fist crashing down on these little communities of the rival King with the intention of wiping them out once and for all. Hard not to be a little down with all that going on, eh? Especially when it looked very much as though what you’d given your whole life to might not last as long as you lasted.
To such a discouraged disciple, sitting lost and lonely on Patmos, the Lord Jesus sent a series of visions. We call them the Book of Revelation. The visions were meant to put new courage and hope into John, and John by writing them down was to pass that new courage and hope on to others who were struggling like he was, just to hang on, just to make it through another day.
In all of those visions that John was given, none can compare to those moments when the veil of time is drawn back and we are given a glimpse of heaven and of the joys of those who have died trusting in Jesus Christ. The faithful departed loom large in the visions of Revelation. The whole book could be understood as an expansion and elaboration on the famous words of St. Paul: “For I consider the sufferings of the present to be not worth comparing to the surpassing weight of glory that shall be revealed in us.”
In our first reading you saw them before the eyes of your mind. There they were, standing before the throne of the Father and of the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world. They stand before him clad in white, the palm of victory in their hands, and they sing a song that ascribes their salvation solely to their God and to the Lamb. They know they have nothing to boast of on their own. They have only been given to. They know that their robes are white only because they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb - because He bled and died to redeem them and set them free they stand before God holy and pure. They are there always, day and night, never departing from God’s presence, delighting to give him endless liturgy, praise and doxology. God covers them with his tent - that is, they live in His house - and He protects them from all harm and in that act of awesome gentleness, he reaches out his nail-scared hand to wipe away every tear from their eyes. Their sorrows are gone. They have eternal joy.
“Who are they?” asked the Elder. John said in effect, “You tell me.”
The answer was: “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation, the great sorrow.” These are people like you and me. People who have had their share of heart-ache and pain. People who sometimes had to struggle day by day just to hang on and keep going. People for whom faith didn’t come easy. People who struggled to trust in God and to believe that in the midst of their troubles God was still there and still in control and most importantly still loving them, forgiving them, holding them. Yet they hung on, they clung to God’s promises, and found that he was truthful and didn’t let them down. Who are they? Well, among them are those that you have known and loved; fellow sinners who put their hope in Jesus’ words and died. That’s who they are. They’re the Church that Christ has already gathered home. We’re the Church that struggles still. But we’re not two churches: we’re one Church, one communion. As the words of that great hymn we just sang have it: “O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine, yet all are one in Thee for all are Thine. Alleluia. Alleluia.”
That can be a big comfort and encouragement for us. When we gather for worship on Sunday, it’s not just the hundred or so folk in the room that are gathered together. Oh, no! If we only had the eyes to see it, we’d discover that we never gather with less than a few million at a time. Listen to what Hebrews says of it: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks a better word than that of Abel. (Heb 12:22-24).” You have come to all this, the sacred writer reminds the people. So when we gather for worship, it’s never just us in this room. It’s also the angels in heaven, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, that is, the saints in heaven with their blood-washed white robes, and most of all Jesus with His blood, that established the new covenant of forgiveness. We’re always a mega-church when we’re at worship. And the song of those the triumph, the voice of them that feast, gives us the courage and strength to go on, and muddle through, and know that in the end, our God will take us out of the great sorrow and bring us into eternal sunshine, when we will see with our eyes those who have gone before us and we will lift our voices in song with theirs forever.
So today we’re not just remembering those who died in faith. That would be rather sad, don't you think? Today, we’re worshipping with them. At the same throne. Before the same Lord. Surrounded by the same angels. They are indeed the blessed ones to whom all the promises of the beatitudes have been fulfilled. We can’t see them with the eyes of the body yet, but that’s only because our vision is so poor. It’s a reality none the less. Together with them we cry out: "Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb! Amen."
All Saints
For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Lucy's Adventure
Well, she's born and bred a hound dog. And a hound dog IS a hound dog. We're out for a walk today and Lucy hunting around in the grass stirred up a cottontail. This was the first time she'd ever even seen a bunny. Off it bounded and we liked to never held onto her. She wanted that rabbit something awful! We tried to walk with her further, but we were literally DRAGGING her because she was only interested in the rabbit. This went on for some time. And then when we tried to go home, she reached the spot where the rabbit bounded up behind a barn and she stopped. Wouldn't go. I ended up picking her up and carrying her. After several hundred yard, I sat her down and tried to get her to move up the road and all she'd do would be to tug at that leash in the other direction. They say dog's can't remember what they don't see. Ahem. Bull twinky. Lucy remembered her first rabbit. And I'll bet she still does.
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