O Clavis David!

O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel, You open and no one can close, You close and no one can open: Come and rescue the prisoners who are in darkness and the shadow of death!

Revelation and Isaiah are dancing in the background of this name for our Lord. But the thought is clearly the opening of paradise, the door that was shut in the fall. Our Lord can set before us that open door and bid us come through, out of our death-bound prison into a life that never ends. For some reason I always think of the Last Battle, and the door to the stable. "In our world too a stable once had something inside that was bigger than our whole world," Lucy said. And that stable door which is opened for us at Bethlehem opens to a world where the "higher up and further in" never can be exhausted. This is the door that Christ opens for us. The door that He is. The door that He is the key to unlock. In HIM we find paradise restored and more. He lifts us higher than from where Adam fell. He invites us to step through the door with Him and become by grace what He is by nature: children of God.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

SWEET!

You know, one of my all time favorite pieces from that Praetorius Christmas Mass is the Puer Nobis / Ein Kind Geboren. I was bumming that I've not seen it in any of our English hymnals, but I tried googling and look at what I found!!!

click here

There's the music. Now, I like the words that Krauth translated better. There are available here:

click here

I think the Weedon family just found an assignment for sometime during the Christmas season!!!

P.S. Better yet, Pastor Jerry Gernander has pointed out to me that the version from the Oxford Book of Carols may be found at ELH #112 - with Praetorius' setting no less! Truly ELH is one of the gems of the new hymnals when it comes to the musical content!

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Let us with glad voices join in the angels' song, and render unto the Lord the thanks due unto His name for His marvelous benefits to us. Let us rejoice and shout for joy with the whole multitude of the heavenly host. For if the angels rejoiced so greatly on our account, how much more ought we to rejoice to whom this Child is born, to whom this Son is given. If the Israelites lifted up their voices in jubilant shouts when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to them, which was a type and a shadow of the incarnation of our dear Lord, how much more ought we to rejoice, since our Lord Himself hath come down to us in the assumption of our human nature. - Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XIV.

Patristic Quote of the Day

That the Creator is in his creature and God is in the flesh brings dignity to man without dishonor to Him who made him. - St. Peter Chrysologus, Homily

O Radix Jesse!

O Root of Jesse, standing as an ensign before the peoples, before whom all kings are mute, to whom the nations will do homage: Come quickly to deliver us!

The Root of Jesse? Is our Lord not the flower of Jesse's stem? He is both root and flower, the Alpha and the Omega. As the Root of Jesse He stands as an ensign, a signal and banner, a rallying point for the nations. We, the Gentiles, come before Him and bow in silence as our King reigns in Triumph upon His cross, the Victor over sin and death. Jesse ties specifically to the promises of the kingship, and we see His kingly power displayed chiefly in showing mercy and pity.

Today the Head Gardener in the monastery might be privileged to give a special gift to the brothers and to sing the great O Antiphon.

O come, Thou Branch of Jesse's tree,
Free them from Satan's tyranny
That trust Thy mighty pow'r to save,
And give them vict'ry o'er the grave:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel! (LSB 357:4)

Homily for Advent IV

[Deuteronomy 18:15-19 / Philippians 4:4-7 / John 1:19-28]

Most people like to talk about themselves, whether they admit it or not. I am reminded of two southern belles visiting, and the one was rather monopolizing the conversation. At last she took a breather and said: “Well, enough of me talking about myself, honey. Why don’t you talk about me for a little bit?”

Yet nothing could be further from the spirit of St. John the Baptist. Not only do his short, clipped answers come across like a typical New Englander, but what answers you can squeeze out of him seem to tell you mostly who he is not. He is not the Christ. He is not Elijah. He is not the prophet (that’s the one promised in our Old Testament reading today from Deuteronomy who would be like Moses, a mediator between God and the people). In sheer exasperation the Jerusalem delegation demands: “Give us something to report to those who sent us. Who are you? What do you say about yourself?”

“Me?” John seems to say. “I don’t have anything to say about myself, but Isaiah had a thing or two to say. He called me a voice out in the wilderness crying ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.’”

A voice? Did he say he was just a voice? A wilderness voice? A voice calling for folks to get ready for the coming of the Lord? Yep. That’s what the man said alright. He was just a voice.

Well, then, they wanted to know, “Tell us. voice, who gave you the authority to baptize, to promise forgiveness of sins, if you are not the Christ and not Elijah and not the prophet? By whose authority?”

John’s answer at first doesn’t sound like an answer at all. He says: “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

That’s John’s answer. The One among them, whom they do not recognize, is the One who has authorized John to preach and invite people to repentance. He is the One who has authorized John to summon all people to leave behind the old ways of sinful self-sufficiency and pride, and to embrace the new life that depends entirely on the mercy of God. This is the One who is so much greater than John, preferred before Him because He was before Him. You see, though our Lord was born six months after His kinsman, John, John knows that He is the One who was before all ages. He is the Word through whom John and you and I and all things were made. He is the Word become flesh and dwelling among us.

And look at what that One has come to do! He did not come among us to be served, not even to have sandals latched, but He came among us in order to serve us! For the water of Baptism flows at His authorization and what it grants is nothing less than washing clean of sins – freeing us both from sin’s guilt and from sin’s power over our lives. He stoops to serve us!

John was content to be nothing but a voice announcing the coming of that One who serves us all by being the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Being that voice defined John’s whole life. He didn’t want to talk about himself, because he was sent to talk about the Greater One who is among us and whose sandals we are not worthy to untie, but who comes to be our Savior. In that he points all pastors and all Christians to what they are always to be talking about.

In the Church, the talk is not about us. No, “enough of me talking about me, why don’t you talk about me for a while.” In the Church, the talk is always all about Another. It is about the One whose sandals we are not worthy to untie. It is about the One who is infinitely greater than we, because He was before us all, for we are surely, each one, the work of His hands even as we are also, each one, the creatures of His own redeeming. He came among us as one of us precisely so that could serve all of us. He shouldered our sins as He carried His cross, and He died our death, and shattered our hell, and by overcoming the sharpness of death He opened up the Kingdom of heaven to all believers. Truly, the Son of Man did not come among us to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as the ransom for the many, indeed, for all.

Advent is almost over, and the time of overflowing joy is about to begin. And so John does us the service yet again this year of focusing all the joy of the Church entirely in Jesus. John’s words remind us that the joy of the coming days is not found in presents and memories and family gatherings and sentiments of good will and cheer – blessings though they are. It is certainly not found in gluttony and drunkenness – blessings they are not. In the next few days, God willing, we’ll be staring with Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds in wonder at the Child who is indeed among us, our Immanuel. We’ll be singing songs of greeting to Him and rejoicing that He came among us and most of all rejoicing in why He came among us. John teaches us that the joy of the Church, and the joy of each of our lives is found in the One who is among us, Immanuel, in Jesus Christ, our Lord, because only in Jesus is there forgiveness of sins. Only in Jesus is the remedy for those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Before we greet Him in the manger, one more time let us welcome Him as He comes to us at His Table, bearing the only Christmas gifts that any of us need, gifts that none of us can live without. To Him alone with His Father and All-holy and life giving Spirit be all glory and honor now and unto the ages of ages! Amen.

O Adonai!

O Adonai and Ruler of the House of Israel,
Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush
and gave him the Law on Sinai,
Come with an outstretched arm and save us!

Tonight we will recall that not only is our Lord the Logos, the Logic of the universe, but He is at one with Yahweh, with Adonai. There is no discontinuity between the Old and Testament revelations. For the same Lord stands at the center of both. It was HE, the divine Son, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush announcing His determination to rescue His people from their slavery, for He had seen and known their struggles. And it was HE, the Eternal Logos, who gave the very Law of God, the Ten Commandments as a priceless gift to His people that they might understand what a life of love truly looks like, see how far they have fallen, and cry to Him for the mercy and salvation that is in Him alone. To this Lord, this Adonai, who spoke and who speaks through the words of the Old Testament, we join in the cry:

"Come with outstretched arm and save us!"

Outstretched arm? We think of the infant in his mother's arms nursing, as his tiny fingers curl and uncurl around her finger. We think of the man who reached out his arm and touched lepers and raised the dead. We think most of all of the man who stretched out His arms on the wood of the cross that He might save us, opening His arms wide enough to embrace a world!

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

"Glory to God in the highest" they sang, because by the wilful transgression of His command our first parent sought to rob God of His glory. The birth of Christ brought true peace to men, who before this were enemies of God, were at war with their own consciences, and at variance among themselves. True peace was thus restored to earth, because he was overcome who had led us captive at his will. -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XIV

Patristic Quote of the Day

The Conqueror's victory would have profited us nothing if the battle had been fought outside our human condition. Bt through this wonderful blending the mystery of the new birth shone upon us, so that through the same Spirit by whom Christ was conceived and brought forth we too might be born again in a spiritual birth; and in consequence the evangelist declares the faithful to have been born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. - St. Leo the Great, A Letter (Christian Prayer, p. 1951)

O Sapientia!

At Vespers tonight the Magnificat is framed by the first of the Great O Antiphons.

O Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High,
pervading and permeating the whole creation,
mightily ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence!

Our Lord is Logos - the very logic of the universe itself is disclosed in Him, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The key to life itself is not found anywhere else but in the Exemplar by whose wisdom we were made: the Eternal Word and Son of the Father. Why are you here? What is the purpose and meaning of life? What sort of life is really life and not just vanity? These all find their answers in Him alone, in our Lord Jesus. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding have all they that keep His commandments. His praise endures forever!

It is said that on this day in the monasteries, the librarian might have a special gift to give to the other brothers. He was recognized as the Keeper of Wisdom. He got to intone this first of the Great O Antiphons, which mark the final tilt of Advent toward the great joy of the Christmas Feast.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high
Who ord'rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show
And teach in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

An Icy Fog

We woke to a rather icy fog this morning. Here are some photos that Cindi took:

Despite the Snow

We still had services this weekend. 30 came out last night. 44 brave souls showed up for the early service. 82 came for late service. WAY down in numbers, but truthfully more than I expected given the conditions of the roads. There is something wonderful about a Gaudete swathed in snow! I hope some of it is still around for Lessons and Carols this Wednesday. A huge thank you to our trustees and Dave Steinmann for getting the parking lot open and ready for use so early this morning!

In Front of St. Paul's

Cindi took this tonight in front of St. Paul's as the snow was coming down fast and furious. Still is.

Such a Quiet Man

Today is my father's birthday. Stuart Maupin Weedon was born to Chancellor Barbour Weedon and Bessie James Maupin Weedon on this day in 1920. He served his country in the army in World War II. He married Mildred Hume Mastin at an army base in Wisconsin. Their union brought forth five children, of which I was the very last (when he was already 40 years old). He had one brother, Edgar Jackson Weedon, and he is still alive. He died when I was 19, back in January of 1980. Most of my life, then, I've been without my father.

He was not one for book learning - I think he had an innate suspicion of something that he just didn't get. But he never tried to squeeze his children into any pre-conceived molds. He saw that I was made for books and not baseball and that never seemed to bother him one bit. I think he would do anything I asked of him if it were in his power. I still remember two shocking occasions from my youth. First, I asked him to buy me a piano. And he did. I asked for it Friday, I think, an we bought it on Saturday. That and the lessons that went with it were the greatest gifts that I've ever received from anyone. Music became the very joy of my life. Second, I remember mentioning to him that we needed new living room furniture (ours was looking rather ratty having gone through all five of us kids!), and he took me out and let me select the living room furniture - and and the carpet! My mother just laughed. At least she liked the choices I made.

He and mom never spoke when we rode in the car. So as a teen I gave up the constant chatter and learned to just ride along in silence. What did he think about all the time? I'll never know, I don't suppose.

He was diagnosed with brain cancer in August and was dead four months later. It was the fall and winter from hell around our house. And yet I treasure the memories of all the family being together. He wanted to see snow before he died, and it began snowing that day. Snow still reminds me of that morning. I even remember what I was playing on the piano when Joe (himself dead now for over 20 years) called me to come in and say goodbye - I'd just learned Bach's two-part inventions #14 and #2. In a room of silence except for weeping we said goodbye. He died at home in his own bed, surrounded by his wife and five children.

Happy birthday, daddy! I love you.

Well, if they are right about the snow...

...we might have a day tomorrow worthy of pulling out that John Greenleaf Whittier favorite "Snow-Bound." Yeah, I know that even if we GET the six inches forecast, that hardly amounts to a real "snow bound" but we've had so little these last years, I think I'd better take advantage of what we have when we have it to read that lovely poem. I remember when I first came across it my first year in Bronxville (when we had several decent snows that left us "bound").

If You've Not Done It Yet

You really should: experience the Lutheran Christmas Mass from the days of real music in our churches, the Praetorius Christmette - downloaded the whole album from iTunes this a.m. I know, I'm behind on this because folks have been recommending this recording for years, but I just got around to it. It is both beautiful, peaceful, and jubilant beyond the ability of mere words to describe. The chanting of the Collect, Epistle, Holy Gospel, Our Father and Words of our Lord are particularly striking. And the German Sanctus (Isaiah, Mighty Seer) which follows upon the consecration is the very music of heaven itself.

You know..

...I just bumped our DSL speed yesterday. We'd been using the cheapo 256K and went up to 3000K. Hmm. NOW I see why you all like You Tube - it just used to drive us crazy! Live and learn.

Great Story on Pastor Meinzen

Pastor Larry Meinzen, member of St. Paul's, had this great write up in our local rag. Enjoy:

Pastor Meinzen

Greatest Idea for Bumper Sticker

I've seen this round numerous Lutheran blogs this year, and I couldn't agree more:

Put the MASS Back in ChristMAS!

Divine Service will be celebrated at St. Paul's is at 9:00 a.m. ChristMASS morning, God willing.

Attending the Divine Service and letting the One who once came to you in flesh and blood and was laid in the manger come to you still in the very flesh and blood He received from His blessed Mother, well, that's HOW you put CHRIST back in CHRIST-MASS! As the Alleluia Verse for the Christmas Day Divine Service says it:

"Alleluia! A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, all you nations, and worship the Lord. Alleluia!"

If the Church is summoning the nations to join her, she'd best be there herself, eh?

Homily for Gaudete - 2007

[Isaiah 40:1-8 / 1 Cor. 4:1-5 / Matthew 11:2-11]

We would be quite mistaken if we supposed that people only asked questions because they wanted to obtain information that they wouldn’t otherwise have. I spend a bit of my time teaching, and to do so, I ask questions. And there are plenty of times when I ask a question that I already know the answer to. I do so because I want my students to discover the answer for themselves.

Such an instance meets us in today’s Gospel. A surface reading might have you thinking that St. John the Baptist had fallen into doubt about the Christ. After all, what other reason could he possibly have for sending from prison his disciples so to ask Christ: “ARE you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

But stop and think for a moment. This is the man who, unlike any of us, was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. This is the man who confessed his Lord even before birth. This is the man who baptized our Lord, saw the Spirit descend upon Him, heard the very voice of the Father say that Jesus was His Son, His beloved, in whom He was well-pleased. This is the man who pointed to Jesus and cried out: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the man who freely acknowledged: “He must increase, and I must decrease.” And now, just because he is in prison and hears of the miracles of Christ, he’s in a crisis of faith?

No. The fathers of the Church together with the fathers of the Reformation tell us we’re barking up the wrong tree if we suppose that. St. John the Baptist was NOT in doubt. But he had disciples who stuck to him like burrs to a dog. He was in prison. In Herod’s prison. I don’t suppose he ever expected to get out. And he knew he was the Lord’s forerunner - the forerunner of Him whom he named “Lamb of God.” You remember what they do to Lambs, don’t you? And he was to be forerunner. Do you understand?

I suspect it was because he was anticipating the moment of his own death that he sent his disciples to Jesus after he heard what Jesus was up to. He put a question to the Lord through their mouths. He didn’t need to hear what Jesus would say - remember, he’d already heard about what the Lord was doing. But they needed to hear it. Needed to take to heart our Lord’s answer.

And what an answer it was. Jesus sends them packing back to John with these words: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

What a message to carry back! Jesus could just as well have said: “Isaiah’s prophesies are unfolding before your very eyes, every last one of them.” And in that long list there was one word that they needed to hold to more than any other.

Our Lord doesn’t see the way we see. He knows the future. He sees already these men, weeping brokenhearted at the death of their beloved John, so cruel and so utterly senseless. So in the midst of all the rest was the crown jewel: “and the dead are raised up.” John would rejoice at that word to, and maybe they were the last words he whispered to himself when the sword was raised. “The dead are raised up.” But with their beloved John dead, where else could they turn, but back to the One who raises the dead? Back to the One whose every deed disclosed the secret that He was Yahweh in our flesh and blood, the Eternal Son of the Father come to save us from sin and death?

Do you need to hear that word too? I suspect you do. I know I do. A friend wrote me this week about how the grief was like a sucker-punch. Hit him out of nowhere. He’d lost his dad this past year. The grief weighs heavier in these days, I think, than at any other time. We remember those we have loved, and whose presence brightened our days and filled them with laughter. And they’re gone. And we feel sometimes as cold and dreary inside as a December day.

Is it any accident that the holy Church on this day cries out: “Lighten the darkness of our hearts by your gracious visitation!” We beg the Lord Jesus not to leave us, but to come to us so that His light would chase the darkness away.

John asked his question because he knew that those disciples he loved so much needed more than he could ever give them. So he sent them to Jesus. And his question has done the same for us this Gaudete morning. John has sent us to Jesus, to the Only One who CAN lighten our darkness, because He comes bringing good news that He is the forgiver of sinners and the resurrection of the dead.

In today’s second reading, St. Paul warns us against pronouncing judgment before the time. We’re always tempted to do that on others and on ourselves - and, sad to say, on God Himself. But the Apostle urges us to wait and be patient. He tells us that the Lord when He comes will bring to light the things that now are hidden and that He will disclose the purposes of the heart. Not just our hearts, but he purposes of His own heart. We’ll see clearly then what now is such a blur and befuddlement.

But amid the many things we can’t be certain of, this we can be sure about: the one St. John sends us to meet is the One whose deeds reveal Him to be indisputably God come in our flesh, not to wipe us out and give us our just desserts, but to love us, to hold us, to heal us. The God who came to know all our sorrows, even the sorrow of death itself.

Risen from the dead and ascended in glory, He comes to you again today - the very same Lord who shouldered your sin on Calvary and who left your death crushed in the dust beneath His feet on Easter morning - He comes to you and feeds into you His body and blood. “For you” he says. “For the forgiveness of your sins.” As though he said: “This is the light that I will shine into your darkness. You are mine and I am yours and I will never let anything part you from my love. Come, child, take, eat and drink. I will be Your all. And I WILL bring you home. Promise.”

And so we confess: You are the One who is to come, and we look for no other, for You alone, Lord Jesus, with Your Father and Your all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, are the only true God to whom be all glory and honor, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Commemoration of St. Lucy

Today our Synod commemorates St. Lucia (or Lucy). From our website:

December 13
Lucia, Martyr

One of the victims of the great persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian, Lucia met her death at Syracuse on the island of Sicily in the year A.D. 304, because of her Christian faith. Known for her charity, “Santa Lucia” (as she is called in Italy) gave away her dowry and remained a virgin until her execution by the sword. The name Lucia means “light,” and, because of that, festivals of light commemorating her became popular throughout Europe, especially in the Scandinavian countries. There her feast day corresponds with the time of year when there is the least amount of daylight. In artistic expression she is often portrayed in a white baptismal gown, wearing a wreath of candles on her head.

From the Brotherhood Prayer Book:

Jesus Christ is the same; Yesterday, today, and forever.

Let us pray. Almighty God, who didst give Thy servant Lucia boldness to confess the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we likewise may ever be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us and to suffer gladly for His sake; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

I'll be doing a spot on St. Lucy today on Issues, Etc. at 3:30 p.m., God willing.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The angel bids the shepherds "Fear not!" because of the birth of Him who should remove from us every cause of fear. Good tidings of great joy are announced, because the author and giver of all joy was born into the world. - Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XIV

Patristic Quote of the Day

The prophets, receiving this gift of prophecy from the same Word, foretold his coming in the flesh, which brought about the union and communion between God and man ordained by the Father. -- St. Irenaeus, *Against Heresies*

"Let My Prayer Rise" - Reflections on a Not Botched Evening Prayer

Our Evening Prayer tonight was really beautiful. Not being in full voice yet, there was no danger of me bellowing. But more importantly, instead of providing the outline in the bulletin (as was done last week), this week I used Lutheran Service Builder to produce the bulletin that was then exported to Word and tweaked (YES, I still use Word on the exports of the LSBuilder - but that's the only thing!). The entire order was printed out and the difference was night and day. It helps enormously with the flow (i.e., not interrupting the prayerful atmosphere) when you don't hear panicked paging and hunting down of hymns. Also, thanks to some very good advice, I backed down on the amount of new music that I was throwing at the people and used basically the opening from Evening Prayer in Hymnal Supplement 98. We still sang Psalm 141, the Magnificat (though Cindi did the verses) and the Litany. I couldn't get over the difference once the congregation was back in their comfort zone and had the service right in front of their noses to pray along. Sooner or later we'll learn the Phos Hilaron in Evening Prayer - but it has some tough competition in the people's hearts with the paraphrase "O Light Whose Splendor." They also do the Magnificat a bit grudgingly because they absolutely love David Haas' "Holy Is Your Name" and think it is the ONLY way the Magnificat should be sung. I persist in trying to broaden their horizons. It's probably a hopeless case on that one.

Truly Evening Prayer is an oasis of peace. In the hectic holiday rat race, it's a place of calm to come, be still, and remember who is God: the Child in the Manger, the Man upon the Cross, the Victor over sin and death, the One from whose love nothing in all creation can separate us. We need more time for Evening Prayer in our lives.

But next week we will observe the beautiful service hijacked from the Anglicans: A Service of Lessons and Carols. That has become a bi-parish tradition, featuring the musical ensembles from St. Paul's and Trinity. More on that one later.

To The Bored

In today's world that's tantamount to an unforgivable sin: to be boring. And surely anything that bores a person is regarded as an intolerable burden.

And then there's Lutheran liturgy. Boring. Same old, same old. Hymn sung. Prayers prayed. Scriptures heard. Sermons preached. Offerings gathered. Intercessions offered. Thanksgiving raised. Words of our Lord gratefully heard. Body and Blood eaten and drunk. More songs. Blessing and you're out of there. Come back next week for the same. And the week after and the week after. Interminable boredom?

It's a secret we Lutherans like to keep to ourselves, but many of us prefer the same, same old that the Church has been living off of for, lo these thousands of years, to the nifty stuff that appeals to the entertainment itch of our sinful flesh. Old fashioned Lutherans don't come to Church to have the entertainment itch scratched; old fashioned Lutherans come to Church to feast on God's Word and to receive the unspeakable joy of our Lord's body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. The Word isn't given to entertain us (though at times it is entertaining), but to sanctify us. The Word makes all things holy. And so our Symbols remind us:

“Places, times, persons, and the entire outward order of worship have therefore been instituted and appointed in order that the Word of God may exert its power publicly.” Large Catechism, I:94

and also here:

“Therefore in his immeasurable goodness and mercy God provides for the public proclamation of his divine eternal law and of the wondrous counsel of our redemption, the holy gospel of his eternal Son, our only Savior Jesus Christ, which alone can save. By means of this proclamation he gathers an everlasting church from humankind, and he effects in human hearts true repentance and knowledge of sin and true faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. God wants to call human beings to eternal salvation, to draw them to himself, to convert them, to give them new birth and to sanctify them through these means, and in no other way than through his holy Word (which people hear proclaimed and read) and through the sacraments (which they use according to the Word). SD II:50

Just as we are not meant to be mere consumers, we are not meant to be spectators in the audience. We are guests of the Divine Master, invited to a feast where nothing less than the very Life of all life is offered up to us in rich fare. You can WATCH life portrayed before you in entertaining ways, or you can RECEIVE life via ear and mouth. Honestly, you tell me which sounds more exciting? Yes, it looks a tad boring to the world; which is why the world will spurn it and go on to what it deems is more exciting and entertaining. For us old fashioned, boring Lutherans, we can only shake our head at the sadness of the choice. Do know that when you're tired of the cotton candy and such, there's a solid feast of life waiting for you here where it's always been.

Here stands the font before our eyes,
Telling how God has received us.
The altar recalls Christ's sacrifice
And what His Supper here gives us.
Here sound the Scriptures that proclaim
Christ yesterday, today, the same,
And evermore, our Redeemer.

Grant, then, O God, Your will be done,
That, when the Church bells are ringing,
Many in saving faith may come
Where Christ His message is bringing:
"I know My own; My own know Me.
You, not the world, my face shall see.
My peace I leave with You. Amen."
LSB 645:4,5

Patristic Quote of the Day

Thou knowest, O Lord, my passions hidden in darkness; the sores of my soul are known to Thee. Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed. If Thou wilt not build the house of my soul, I labor in vain trying to build it myself. -- St. Ephrem the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* #41

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

With a man who belongs to an everlasting Kingdom all is well, and it is fitting that he should dance through life for evermore. -- Blessed Martin Luther, Sermons for the Year 1544

Advent Homily for Midweek

[Luke 1:26-56]

Ours was always a quiet home. God had not blessed us with children, and after many years together, a husband and wife learn to carry on conversations without words. A look and a look back can speak volumes. Yet we did talk. Sometime at night, after the lamps were put out, I’d stretch out beside my old Zechariah and say: “tell me the promises again.”

You see, he was a priest. He knew the Sacred writings of Torah and the Prophets. And he loved to recite the promises about the Coming One, the One who would make all things right again for a world where so much has gone wrong. He’d begin whispering them to me: “To us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder…” “And you, Bethlehem Ephratha, are by no means least among the tribes of Judah, for out of you will come a Ruler who will govern my people Israel.” “His dominion will be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.” “The wolf shall lie down with the lamb.” Oh, he could go on forever; he knew them all. He’d long ago stored them away in his heart, and he loved nothing more than to repeat them. They were his prayer, his hope. He was one of the Zedek - the righteous - who looked for the salvation of Israel.

When he came home from doing his priestly duty that year, he didn’t need to tell me he couldn’t talk. One look told me something had happened. His eyes were full of excitement and hope like I’d not seen in him since he was a young man. I thought he might have a fever. It took a while to get the whole story out of him. I think he was a little ashamed. It was not like him - questioning the word of one of the Lord’s angels? That was not like my husband at all. But still, the promise was staggering. We were to have a child? Now? And our child was to be the one that the prophets had foretold? The one to prepare the way for the Lord, the Messenger sent before the Lord’s face? The fulfillment of all things was now? In our lives?

When I first felt the little one move in my womb I could do nothing. I stood still and tears streamed down my face. Then laughter and joy. Our God? He comes up with the craziest ideas! Old ladies carrying little babies. Our God, the God of the universe, He promises the impossible and then He makes it happen. No good trying to wrap your mind around His ways. His goodness is beyond our thinking, His love beyond our dreams.

Five months our house was mostly silent. Zechariah watched impatiently as my womb began to swell. And there were days he’d lay his hand upon it and we’d look into each others eyes and one would start laughing and the other crying. Five months of silence in the house and then one day, a miracle greater than our little boy’s conception came running up to the door.

I heard her voice. She was calling a greeting: Shalom, Cousin Elizabeth! And that is when it happened. My little one was doing summersaults in my womb - summersaults of joy. And the Holy Spirit came upon me and I saw the whole thing. My eyes were opened like they’d never been opened before. All the past seemed like a dream and in shock and awe at what I had seen I stood to my feet.

She came to me, a look on her face, a questioning look. She thought no one knew. I let her know different right away. “Blessed!” I cried. “Blessed are you among women!” And blessed indeed, for no other woman would be both Virgin and Mother, and not just the mother of a miracle baby like my own. The mother of… The mother of so much more. I can barely bring myself to say it even after all these years. “Blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Ah, that was the heart of it. She walked into my house and it was though the Ark of Covenant had arrived, and hidden in the Ark, the beating heart of my God taken flesh. The Messiah, the One about whom all the promises centered. The One God told Abraham would bring blessing to all the families of the earth. The Serpent Crusher. The One to lead us back to Paradise. He was in my house. In her womb. His infant heart beating beneath her heart. “And why is this granted to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” The look on her face. The child melted. I held her as she wept. It was a fearful secret she had been hiding. But here it was safe.

I pulled back from her and gave my old goat sitting in the corner a proper look. I pointed to her and said: “Blessed is she who BELIEVED that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” My old goat, my Zechariah, he laughed and laughed his silent laugh, agreeing with me. She had believed, and she was blessed.

And then she opened her mouth again and spoke - a hymn of praise to the One who had chosen her in love, and she foretold how every generation from that day to the end of time would remember and join in calling her blessed. Ah, the poetry of her song and the fire of her words that day!

She stayed with us for the next three months. How we talked much during those days - our house was silent no more. The last months are never easy, certainly not for old women. And she was there to help me through those hard days and to share our joy when the little lad revealed his face. She saw her divine Son’s fore-bearer, our John. And then she left, she went home to meet her Joseph and to face whatever it was that God willed for her.

There are those who think she is a almost a goddess - but they are being foolish. There are those who think that she is just an ordinary person like themselves - they are just as foolish. You must think of her as the Holy Spirit taught me that day she came to me: Blessed among women, Blessed in the fruit of her womb, and blessed above all in believing the Words of her Lord.

You can’t go wrong if you follow her example, you people who live in the time of the great fulfillment. You can’t go wrong if you also learn to say to God: “Let it be to me according to your Word” and if you learn to trust every promise God makes you, no matter how impossible, how shocking, how unreasonable. You can’t go wrong if you open up your heart and your life and give space for the Child of Mary to come and live in you, bringing you the joy of presence. It won’t mean an easy time in this world - how she found that out! - but it will mean the joy of a life that death cannot bring to an end. For it will be God’s life, the life He reaches us all in His Son, the Child of Mary, the Mother of God. Blessed be He! Blessed be He forever! Amen.

As if ONE David

isn't quite enough to handle... His final drawing for his charcoal class.

Eating Breakfast

just wiped the poor thing out...

The Question

for those who will be preaching the one year series this coming Sunday is the meaning behind the question of St. John the Baptist in the holy Gospel, Matthew 11:2-10(11).

To a man, almost all modern exegetes opine that John was in a crisis of faith, experiencing a moment of doubt. To a man, almost all the Church Fathers including our Fathers in the Reformation insist that John had absolutely no such crisis of faith, but was seeking to bring his disciples to faith in the Lord Jesus.

I confess that I have preached the text both ways - and I was inordinately fond of the approach of the modern exegetes. I've come to believe I was quite wrong about it. Here are some beautiful words that Fr. John Fenton posted from my favorite Western father, St. Peter Chrysologus that may be of help as you ponder this text:

That blessed John was the messenger to the messengers of Christ, the witness to his witnesses, and the foremost of his promoters, we have frequently mentioned in our preaching. Then why is it that the messenger asks a question, the witness is in doubt, and the promoter is lacking in knowledge? Are you the One who is to come, or do we wait for another? (Mt 11.3) John, you perfect man, are you asking whether he is the Christ who is to come, when while you were still within your mother’s womb you announced that he had already come?

John, there are your words: “Behold, the Lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sins of the world.” And when he submitted to be baptized by your hands, you said: “I ought to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Are you not the one who heard amidst the waters of the Jordan the voice of the Father resounding from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased”? You certainly were the only human being who saw the Holy Spirit come down in bodily form from heaven upon him. You are the one who grasped the Father with your ears, the Son with your hands, and the Holy Spirit with your eyes at one and the same moment in an unparalleled manifestation of power.

And after this you ask whether he is the Christ or whether there is another who is to come?
…
We are disturbed, John, we who sing your praises are disturbed… So give an answer, John, assist yourself and assist us; say why you who used to have knowledge sent them to ask a question. Let us pay attention, brothers, let us pay attention more in-depth attention, and let us listen to the answer John gives here not only with our ears, but also with our hearts. John says: “If while I was still in the womb I instantly announced that Christ was going to be born, now after hearing of his works, works which attest to his divinity, have I plunged into the waves of doubt? Far from it! “This is the reason form my question: my disciples, who had seen my good reputation, who had admired my life, who had heard me impose penance, forgive sins, and promise that the kingdom of heaven was arriving in him who was to come, were so prepared to be bound with chains, to live in prison with me, to share my punishments, and to become my partners with me in death, that they failed to see my Lord, for whom I had prepared them. They were following the teacher of penitence so closely that they were neglecting the Giver of grace; on account of ignorance they considered themselves mine to such an extent that they were unaware that the servant’s property belongs to his Master.

“So I sent them out, in order to put heavenly goods before them, to lead them to divine ones, to hand them over to God, to return them to the Creator. I sent them, so that by his works they would affirm that he was the Christ about whom they had heard my words, and so that my [disciples] would not be lost to my Lord with my passing away. I sent them to him who knew very well why I sent them. I sent them to the One who probes the heart; I sent them to the One who judges thoughts. I sent them to him who was in me and with me. I sent them so that by recognizing his divinity by means of his works, they would not find his humanity to be a stumbling block. I sent them, so that gazing upon his humanity would not disturb them who could not but be strengthened by the signs of his divine powers.

“And so the Lord, who knew why I sent them, responded with his works before he did with words.”

And from the Lutheran Fathers:

Luther's words from the House Postil (I:60):

"This sending of his disciples amounts to John saying, Go and learn who is the true doctor and preacher. I know it well that he is the true Christ, but the people do not believe this. Therefore, you go to him and hear for yourselves from him personally, so that you will divorce yourselves from me and the entire Jewish school of thought, in order to cling to this man on whom you and the entire world's salvation depends. This, then, is the final meaning of John's message to Christ, namely, that his disciples should personally hear and see Christ, come into fellowship with him, believe on him, and eternally be saved."

Gerhard's words from Postilla (p. 25)

"John did not address such a question to the Lord Christ on behalf of himself, as if he had the slightest doubts about this. For he had actually testified to the Messiah already in his mother's womb, Luke 1:41. He saw the Holy Spirit come down from heaven upon Him, John 1:32. He heard the voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased, Matt 3:17. Indeed, he had pointed at Christ with his own finger, and had confessed Him as the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world, John 1:29. His faith and confession of the Messiah was in no way beginning to waver or doubt because of his imprisonment, because Christ shortly thereafter highly praised him for his steadfastness. Rather, this sending and questioning had to do with his disciples, that they would be led to Christ and that any doubts that still remained would be removed from their hearts."

Patristic Quote of the Day

Grant us Thy help, O All-good One, and never abandon our race! Vouchsafe us Thine all-searching wisdom, that we might know the transience of all things. Heal our sores with repentance. Visit us, that we might not persist in sins. Thou Who art most merciful to our souls, instill in us remembrance of good, for much have we loved evil. Dispel all harm from us, O Good One. - St. Ephrem the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* #13

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

This great wonder is first announced to shepherds, because as the true Shepherd of souls He had come at that time to bring back His lost sheep into His fold. The glad tidings of great joy are proclaimed to the despised and lowly, because no one can become a sharer in that joy, who is not lightly esteemed in his own eyes. -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XIV

The Crud and Thy Will

Sorry postings have been slim of late. I think I have some version of the "winter crud." This one was a first for me. It really hit after Divine Service and Baptism on Saturday - was totally wiped out and knew something was wrong. I was able to do the services yesterday morning, but I didn't do Bible class and came home and slept for 1/2 hour instead. I also cancelled catechism service and missed an important meeting this morning. No temperature to speak of. Throat still hurts - but not in the sharp way it did before. Achy here and there. What's really weird is that if I am up and about for more than 15 minutes, it totally wipes me out - and using my voice at all exhausts me as much as walking around. (Thanks be to God for Bob and the Church's sound system! I was able to just speak in a very quiet voice yesterday and still be heard. And yet even that was totally exhausting.)

So the big bummers are that I missed Bekah's Christmas concert yesterday at Metro East Lutheran High and I'm knocked out of the Collinsville Chorale Concert--I was really looking forward to them both. I couldn't make practice last week, and I won't make it tonight. Sigh. Man proposes, God disposes. I'm still learning to pray "Thy will be done" and to trust that His will, plans, and purposes are always the best - far better than my own ideas. What a struggle to believe and trust that about little things like this - how much more about the big things?!

Credo, Domine; adjuva incredulitatem meam.

Christmas Bulletins

Bah! Humbug!

'Nuff said.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Consider, O devout soul, how greatly God hath loved thee in calling thee into the fellowship of His Church. 'My beloved is one,' says the Bridegroom in Canticles vi.1; truly one, seeing that there is but one true and orthodox Church, the beloved Bride of Christ. - Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XXIII

Patristic Quote of the Day

Others think that licence is granted them to sin, because the hope of penitence is before them, whereas penitence is the remedy, not an incentive to sin. For the salve is necessary for the wound, not the wound for the salve, since a salve is sought because of the wound, the wound is not wished for on account of the salve. The hope which is put off to a future season is but feeble, for every season is uncertain, and hope does not outlive all time. - St. Ambrose of Milan, *On Repentance* Book II: par. 9

Ambrose of Milan, Pastor and Hymnwriter

Today our Synod remembers St. Ambrose:

Born in Trier in A.D. 340, Ambrose was one of the four great Latin Doctors of the Church (with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great). He was a prolific author of hymns, the most common of which is Veni, Redemptor gentium (“Savior of the Nations, Come”). His name is also associated with Ambrosian Chant, the style of chanting the ancient liturgy that took hold in the province of Milan. While serving as a civil governor, Ambrose sought to bring peace among Christians in Milan who were divided into quarreling factions. When a new bishop was to be elected in 374, Ambrose addressed the crowd, and someone cried out, “Ambrose, bishop!” The entire gathering gave their support. This acclaim of Ambrose, a 34-year-old catechumen, led to his baptism on December 7, after which he was consecrated bishop of Milan. A strong defender of the faith, Ambrose convinced the Roman emperor Gratian in 379 to forbid the Arian heresy in the West. At Ambrose's urging, Gratian's successor, Theodosius, also publicly opposed Arianism. Ambrose died on Good Friday, April 4, 397. As a courageous doctor and musician he upheld the truth of God's Word. (Synod's Website)

Lutheran congregations across the world sing St. Ambrose's Veni Redemptor gentium on the first Sunday in Advent:

Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin's Son, make here Your home!
Marvel now, O heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.

Not by human flesh and blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh
Woman's Offspring, pure and fresh.
LSB 332:1,2

Another popular hymn of St. Ambrose is the evening hymn: "O Blessed Light, O Trinity"

O blessed Light, O Trinity,
O everlasting Unity;
As now the fiery sun departs
Send forth Your light into our hearts.

To You our morning hymn of praise,
To You our evening prayer we raise;
We praise Your light in ev'ry age,
The glory of our pilgrimage.

All glory be to God above
And to the Son, the Prince of love,
And to the Spirit, One in Three!
We praise You blessed Trinity.
LSB: 890

We also love to sing his morning hymn "O Splendor of God's Glory Bright." (LSB 874)

Ambrose wrote with particular clarity about the justification and forgiveness. One of his letters is cited in the Apology to the Augsburg Confession:

"The Law, which declared all people sinners, seemed to have done harm. But when the Lord Jesus Christ came, He forgave to all people the sin, which no one could avoid. And by the shedding of His blood, He blotted out the handwriting that was against us.... Christ took away the sin of the whole world, as John testified, saying in John 1:29 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!' And for this reason let no one boast about works, because no one is justified by his deeds." (Ap IV:103)

For Your servant, Saint Ambrose, O Lord, receive our thanks and our praise!

At Last!

It's been teasing us all afternoon. Now there's SOMETHING falling from the sky that you can see. Sweet!

Productive day, though a tad hectic. Men's Study at InnKeeper bright and early at 6:15. Then home to work on stuff. Managed to finish a homily for the Synod for 2 Epiphany (Life Sunday this year), and Sunday's homily, Sunday's Bible Class, memory sheets for the school through the beginning of January, and some running around. Proofed bulletin and messenger for Sunday. Edited some letters for Joanie. Now, in an hour and 15 minutes, we'll celebrate the Divine Service and commemorate St. Nicholas (provided folks show up in the snow, ice, whatever it is!), and then done for the day - I hope!

But not Cindi. SHE has choir. I wonder how that will go with the snow!

Homily for Advent II

[Malachi 4:1-6 / Romans 15:4-13 / Luke 21:25-36]

So what’s hope? You hear it incorrectly if you hear overtones of “wouldn’t it be nice, wouldn’t it be lovely?" Such is NOT what the Sacred Scriptures mean by hope. In today’s Epistle, St. Paul called our God, a God of hope who fills His people with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit they may abound in hope. That’s not so they would abound in “wouldn’t it be nice, wouldn’t it be lovely!” Or hope is not so frilly as that. Our hope is rock solid. It does not waver. It is founded upon the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and His promise to appear in glory at the Last Day when He will bring in an Age where all that is loveless, joyless, painfilled, and sorrowful in our lives will be done away. Our hope rests in this coming Age where Love reigns over all and in all.

And we know it’s no pipe dream, because our Lord has already risen into it. Where the Head is, the body soon must follow. In fact, we get to live from it already now. Already in this age that is coming to an end, we as the people of God are called to live from the certain joy, the expectant hope, of the age that is coming. If you’ve never thought of our parish as a colony from the future, you’ve not thought of it as God does. If you’ve never thought of yourself as a colonist from the future, you’ve not thought of yourself as God does.

We look toward that day, and we seek to live toward that day, to order our lives toward the realities that we know are true and lasting - all that we’ve seen and known in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We know that not everyone will welcome that day. There are those whose hearts are tied tightly to THIS world and its pleasures and joys, its worries and distractions. Advent reminds us that we can’t live that was as God’s holy people. If your heart is tied to life in this world, then when that Day comes, you’ll experience it the way Malachi described it: a burning oven, devouring all the arrogant and evildoers, setting them ablaze.

But for the people in whom the Holy Spirit has planted His joy and peace - we know that this world cannot be our final home, and that its pleasures and its passions cannot give to us what we long for. Yes, we still live in the flesh, and there’s no one so perfect that they don’t have to struggle still against desires that would tie down and tangle up. Advent is the call of the Church to keep on struggling, to keep on fighting the darkness of this age and its bitterness, resentments and anger, with light of our certain hope, our future with Christ.

You see the struggle will not go on forever! For you who fear my name, says the Lord, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall! The Day when our certain hope arrives, the Day when Christ stands again unveiled in His glory upon this earth - that is the day when He transforms the flesh, the sinful nature, the old Adam. It’s the day He heals you forever from the old passions that keep seeking to trap and trip you up. It’s the day you get to say goodbye and good riddance to your foul temper, to your lying tongue, to your wanting to cherish resentments and all such. The Light of that day burns away everything that is not the love in your life!

Any wonder that the people of God ACHE for that day? That they pray for it unceasingly: “Our Lord, come! Maranatha!” Come, and bring us Your healing! Come, and take the darkness from our lives! Come, and make us wholly Yours, forever!

In today’s Gospel, our Lord says that when the time comes and all things around us are shaken and people all around are fainting from fear of what’s happening to their world - then, says He, is the time for His people to “straighten up and raise our heads.” Because that’s when our redemption is drawing near.

Redemption? I thought that happened back on Calvary, back when our Lord shed His blood to blot out the record of our sins, of the world’s sin! How can the Lord speak of redemption as future?

Actually, in Scripture, redemption usually refers to the Second Coming. Because that is where He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. That’s where the healing that has begun in your life through your Baptism will be finished. That’s where the foretaste of the Supper ends and the Feast that never ends begins. That's where the life we've received a teasing taste of in the Church becomes the very fabric of our being.

And so the Lord doesn’t ever say to you in His Scripture: “You’re saved. Don’t worry about it. You’ve got your get-into-heaven free ticket.” No. Constantly in Scripture your Lord warns you: “Watch yourselves.”

You CAN fall away from grace. You CAN fall into unbelief in the future though now you are a believer. Once saved, always saved? It’s a lie. Don’t believe it. What our Lord says is that He who endures to the end will be saved.

And so in today’s Gospel He warns: “Keep watch over yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly as a trap.” Which is to say, keep watch over yourself that you never say in your heart: “Lord, don’t come quite yet. I’m having a rather good time at the moment getting plastered, getting wasted, enjoying this or that pleasure and I really don’t want to freed from my sin quite yet. I LIKE it and want to keep it for the time being. Make me holy but do it LATER.”

Against such evil in our hearts, the Lord warns and tells us to stay awake and pray. An awake heart says: “Lord, have mercy on me. You see how much I am drawn to this sin, to this pleasure, to this worry. Forgive me, Lord, heal me, cleanse me. Take away my sin, wash me from my iniquity.”

Do you see the difference? I pray you do. It is the difference between those who will experience His coming as terror and those who experience it as joy. As Dr. Luther once preached, the person who longs to be freed from his sin has nothing to fear from the coming of that Day.

During holy Advent, then, the Church calls for us to repent. To turn from hearts weighed down with the pleasure or the frettings of this world, and beg Christ for healing. We pray during these Advent Days that He would fill us with all joy and peace in believing His certain hope, so that our lives come to truly reflect the age that is coming in all we think, speak, or do. Then to Christ alone, our victorious and returning Lord, be all glory and honor with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Catechesis

So, if anyone wants to check out what we're up to with Catechesis at St. Paul's, you can click this link:

Catechesis

Pr. Lehmann figured out to get the video up on Youtube.

You can also go directly to where it is on Youtube here:

Direct Catechesis

This was our first week of using Service of Prayer and Preaching, so the singing and stuff is a bit rough. We've picked it up quite well, however, after all these weeks.

Commemoration of Nicholas of Myra, Pastor

From our Synod's Website:

Of the many saints commemorated by the Christian Church, Nicholas (d. A.D. 342) is one of the best known. Very little is known historically of him, although there was a church of Saint Nicholas in Constantinople as early as the sixth century. Research has affirmed that there was a bishop by the name of Nicholas in the city of Myra in Lycia (part of Turkey today) in the fourth century. From that coastal location, legends about Nicholas have traveled throughout time and space. He is associated with charitable giving in many countries around the world and is portrayed as the rescuer of sailors, the protector of children, and the friend of people in distress or need. In commemoration of “Sinte Klaas” (Dutch for Saint Nicholas, in English “Santa Claus”), December 6 is a day for giving and receiving gifts in many parts of Europe.
***

Fr. Thomas Hopko writes of St. Nicholas that what is extraordinary about this very popular saint is that there was nothing extraordinary he's known for. "In a word, he was a good pastor, father, and bishop to his flock, known especially for his love and care for the poor. Most simply put, he was a divinely good man." (Winter Pascha, p. 39) That's it. A saint whose life reminds us that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." A saint through whom Christ reveals the joy of a life that is "unbent" from the "curve in on one's self" and turned outward to others in kindness and love.

From the Brotherhood Prayer Book:

Remember them that have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God;
Whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

Let us pray. Accept, O Lord, our thanksgiving this day for Thy servant, Nicholas; and grant that all ministers and stewards of Thy mysteries may afford to Thy faithful people, by word and example, the instruction which is of Thy grace; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Patristic Quote of the Day

Praise be to the Good One Who descended for our sake, became like unto us and healed our sores by His all-sanctifying flesh and His all-sanctifying blood! May all sing praises to Him! - St. Ephrem, the Syrian *A Spiritual Psalter* #14

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

He is sent from heaven as the messenger of redemptive grace, because no one on earth knew its exceeding greatness. It is with good reason that He, a heavenly messenger, should bring us the tidings of those heavenly blessings that are reserved for us at His right hand above. -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XIV

Homily for Midweek Advent

I had been raised well. My parents, bless their souls, had taught us to fear the Lord and to walk in his ways. They told us the story of God’s dealings with us, His people, the Jews. They told us of Abraham and Sarah. They told us of Moses and Elijah. They told us most of all about the coming of the Promised One who would bring an end to sorrow and death and restore all things to what they were created to be at the beginning. They told us. And we believed. I believed. I, Zacharias, of the house of Abijah, a priest from a family of priests. I believed and so I waited.

But waiting is wearying and I had grown old as I waited. I began to suspect that I would go down to the grave still waiting - no Promised One in sight. Little did I know. Little did I know.

The day arrived when it was my turn to do the priest’s duty in the great temple of my people in Jerusalem. I had done it before and it was always an honor, but only once in a priest’s life did the opportunity come to go beyond the big altar in the courtyard and actually enter the sanctuary, the holy place and there offer the sacred incense - sign of the prayers of the people of God ascending to the throne of God. It was my turn and I was filled with joy and holy fear. Soon, soon, I would be standing only feet away from the most holy place, the holy of holies. Soon, soon, I would be spreading the coals and then sprinkling the incense upon them, watching it rise even as the prayers of God’s people rise to the throne of heaven.

And my prayer? I did not speak my prayer. It is a terrible thing to have your only prayer be a regret. But that was my prayer: “I am sad, God, that you have given me no child, no son.” That was the prayer that was in my heart as I stood before the altar and spread the coals with the shovel and then sprinkled the incense. That was my prayer. It was hidden in my heart. Or so I thought.

Then he stood beside me, a great Angel of the Lord, a messenger from God most high and I was terrified. I had heard of these messengers. I think that I had believed in them all my life, but I was not prepared to meet one. Stepping out of the sacred stories and crossing right into my life. I was not prepared for that at all. But there he stood nonetheless.

And such words he spoke. He told me that God had heard my prayer and that it was granted. I was going to have a son - a son who would bring me joy and gladness. And not only me, but many people. A son who would be like the Nazarites of old, consecrated to God from the womb. A child filled with the Spirit of the Most High even in his mother’s womb.

Can you understand what it was like for me to hear that? I was suddenly confronted with God moving out of the story and into my life and giving me what I didn’t even dare to hope for anymore. I doubted. I couldn’t believe it. I questioned. My trust wavered and I began to wonder if I had ever really believed at all before. I said: “How will I know this? I am an old man. My wife is old - beyond the years of child-bearing. It’s impossible. It just can’t be.”

Have you ever seen an angel get riled, get mad? Let me tell you, it is not a comfortable sight. Seems that nothing angers them so swiftly as our not believing. They just don’t understand it. They have been with God for so long and they have never known a word He spoke not to come true. To them He is utterly and completely reliable and so they grow impatient with our foolish distrust.

He drew himself up; He grew in power and might before me and I covered my eyes in fear as his glory was unveiled. I think for a moment I must have seen him, this mighty angel, as he appears before the throne of God. A being of beauty that hurts our eyes to look at, a being of goodness so great that we suddenly feel shamed and dirty. He said: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. I was sent to bring you these glad tidings! Behold, you do not believe! You want a sign. A sign you shall have. You shall be mute, unable to speak, not even a word, until these things take place, for you did not believe my words which most certainly will be fulfilled at their time.”

And then he was gone. The smoke of the incense had long since disappeared, but the sweet smell still filled the room. I don’t know how long it took, but it must have taken awhile. I went out from the sanctuary and looked at the puzzled, upturned faces. They didn’t know why I had been delayed and now they couldn’t understand why I didn’t given them the blessing. But I couldn’t tell them. I made signs and finally they began to understand that something awesome had happened to me in that room.

I went home, a man silent and yet my heart was bursting for joy. And it happened, just like God had said through the angel. It happened. Impossibly. Miraculously. God had stepped out of the story and into my life and suddenly my life was like the story. It was Abraham and Sarah all over again. It was Elkanah and Hannah all over again. God was doing it again. An old couple, unable to have children, suddenly giving birth.

You who live in the time of the Great Fulfilment, you who live in the aftermath of those days, will you trust an old man who says to you to watch out! The story is more alive than you imagine. Don’t ever underestimate the power of God to step right out of the story into your life and then pull your life right back into the story. I know whereof I speak. For my child, wondrous as he was, was but the Fore-runner. The Greater One came a few months later. The waiting was then at an end. He came into my world and He comes into your world. He comes to bring the joy and destroy the sadness, just as the prophets said he would.

Watch out for Him, my friends! Watch for Him! This God who comes to be one flesh with you and to suffer and die and to rise and bring life indestructible and joy eternal to you and to all people. Watch for Him, for He comes. He comes - and your lives will never be the same again.

Reflections on a Botched Evening Prayer

Nothing like the pastor bellowing away at the front in the way that HE thinks the singing should go, and the poor, bewildered organist and people left trying to play catch up. That was me tonight. Mea culpa! I confess, my usual speed in life is "fast-forward." I walk fast. I talk fast. I sing fast. That's not to boast - because when it comes to singing it a downright hindrance to the prayerfulness of the song of God's people. Lesson learned from Advent I Evening Prayer: "Weedon SHUT UP." If you stand out in your singing, you are not serving, but hindering. I had a good friend remind me of this tonight and my dear wife reinforced it! There is no prize won for finishing the Magnificat ahead of everyone else.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

He is born in a mean stable, that He might lead us back to the royal palace of His Father in heaven. -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XIV.

Patristic Quote of the Day

If I abstain from indulging my foolish desires, I praise myself vaingloriously. If I succeed in vigilance, I fall into the snare of conceit and contradiction. If I refrain from eating, I drown in pride and arrogance. If I am wakeful in prayer, I am vanquished by irritability and wrath. If I see virtue in someone, I studiously avoid him. -- St. Ephrem the Syrian *A Spiritual Psalter* #55 [A theologian of a cross calls a things what it is!]

Finally...well...almost

I purchased today a stand-alone version of Windows XP (I'd been warned against Vista) that allowed me finally finish my complete transition to this MacBook. Whew. So far, it's working fabulously. My only gripe is that while most documents print fine from Parallels, the bulletins created for the church on LSB Builder do not. Somehow or other the printer is getting the message they're going on an 8.5 X 11 when it's really an 8.5 X 14, so the top part is then cropped off. Grr. I've tried various settings and have gotten nowhere. No big deal. The files are fine and I can carry them over to the Church's computer and they print superb there. Still, it would be nice to get them to work at home. I'll likely keep worrying at it. Google did not yield much help this time. Getting all that set up took much of the morning, but the afternoon was productive and bulletins were finally handed off to the amazing Joanie (Church Secretary extraordinaire!). In fact, Parallels is working so well that I decided to drop plans to install on Bootcamp. I deleted the partition I'd made for that, and so I have more storage than I anticipated having. Yeah!

Over the years...

...I've done a fair number of radio interviews on the liturgy with Issues, Etc. I recently discovered that Pr. Ritter had gathered a number of them together, with some other guests of the show, and provided them all in one place. So, here you go:

Liturgy Links

May I recommend them for those nights when you simply can't seem to fall asleep; no doubt, they'll work wonders.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The great creeds were set up with this intention, so that people could comprehend with their minds a summary of the doctrine. And many have written lengthy summaries which show their theological method or skill, as Methodius did long ago and later John of Damascus. For in the case of everything we teach we must show the beginning, the progress or development of the matter, and the purpose or end. And this should be done sparingly, but as the ancients said, generously and clearly. -- Martin Chemnitz, Introduction to the Loci Theologici

Patristic Quote of the Day

Yes, and most wonderful of all is that all these things were successfully brought about through a cross and suffering and death. The Gospel of the knowledge of God has been preached to the whole world and has put the adversaries to flight not by war and arms and camps. Rather, it was a few unarmed, poor, unlettered, persecuted, tormented, done-to-death men, who, by preaching the One who had died crucified in the flesh, prevailed over the wise and powerful, because the almighty power of the Crucified was with them....

Well done, O Christ, O Wisdom and Power and Word of God, and God almighty! What should we resourceless people give Thee in return for all things? For all things are Thine and Thou askest nothing of us but that we be saved. Even this Thou hast given us, and by Thy ineffable goodness Thou art grateful to those who accept it. Thanks be to Thee who hast given being and grace of well-being and who by Thy ineffable condescension hast brought back to this state those who fell from it!

--from Book 4 of *The Orthodox Faith* by St. John of Damascus:

Commemoration of St. John of Damascus

From the Synod's website:

December 4
John of Damascus

John (ca. 675–749) is known as the great compiler and summarizer of the orthodox faith and the last great Greek theologian. Born in Damascus, John gave up an influential position in the Islamic court to devote himself to the Christian faith. Around 716 he entered a monastery outside of Jerusalem and was ordained a priest. When the Byzantine emperor Leo the Isaurian in 726 issued a decree forbidding images (icons), John forcefully resisted. In his Apostolic Discourses he argued for the legitimacy of the veneration of images, which earned him the condemnation of the Iconoclast Council in 754. John also wrote defenses of the orthodox faith against contemporary heresies. In addition, he was a gifted hymnwriter (“Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain”) and contributed to the liturgy of the Byzantine churches. His greatest work was the Fount of Wisdom which was a massive compendium of truth from previous Christian theologians, covering practically every conceivable doctrinal topic. John's summary of the orthodox faith left a lasting stamp on both the Eastern and Western churches.

***

In our Lutheran Service Book, Hymns 478 (The Day of Resurrection) and 487 (Come, You Faithful) are by this great father.

I'll feature him today in the Patristic Quote for the Day.

Meanwhile, from the Brotherhood Prayer Book:

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God;
Whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

Let us pray. O God, who hast endowed thy servant St. John Damascene with clarity of faith and holiness of life: grant us to keep with steadfast minds the faith which he taught, and in his fellowship to be made partakers of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Beautiful Thought

Luther on this coming Sunday's Gospel:

"When someone lies captive in a dungeon, he cannot be rescued unless the dungeon be broken open. Consequently, you will not be set free until the world comes to an end." HP 1:49

How true!

Purely Personal Pet Peeve

Calling the Dr., talking to the nurse, asking for antibiotics for a very sore throat.

Being told: "No, you have to come in for a culture."

Arriving at the appointed time, having the Dr. walk in and look at the throat and say: "Yup, it's bright red and infected. Here's your prescription." No culture. Just the sore throat I already TOLD them I had.

I don't know. Maybe in this crazy day and age $30 isn't too much to spend to get a perscription? It seems silly, though, and a waste of time for me AND for them.

What do I know? I'm not a doctor.

Patristic Quote of the Day

He is God the Word Which was flesh. For if He was not flesh, why was Mary chosen? And if He is not God, whom does Gabriel call Lord? If He was not flesh, who was laid in a manger? And if He is not God, whom did the angels who came down from heaven glorify? If He was not flesh who was wrapped in swaddling clothes? And if He is not God, in whose honor did the star appear? - St. Ephrem the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* #23

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Well may we rejoice, then, and magnify the mercy of our God. What good thing will He, who loved us while we were yet His enemies, disdaining not to take our human nature into the very closest union with His divinity, withhold from those who are partakers with Him of the same flesh? Who has ever hated His own flesh? How can He possibly cast us off, when by an exercise of such exalted and infinite mercy, He hath made us partakers of His own nature? - Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XV

Half-way Mark

Tonight marked the half-way point of our journey through Lutheran Catechesis (Bender's 24 week series), using LSB's Service of Prayer and Preaching. Tonight we finished up with the Apostles' Creed, and we celebrated by a Chief Parts Party - there were three kinds of meat, three kinds of dessert, etc. Tonight provided the opportunity to note the changes in the service that indicate that we've entered into a season of penitence, prayer, and fasting - Holy Advent.

This week we'll be reciting the entire third article of the Creed and also Acts 2:38,39 twice a day. Amazing how fast that fastens these verses down into the memory!

I know many are skeptical of how well this manner of catechesis works, but to the skeptics I say: give it a try and then we'll talk. We continue to have lively discussions (often led by the children). Now that we are half way through it, I'm sold on it more than ever!

One of the Greatest Poems Ever Prayed

I shared this with a friend today. If that person needed to hear it again, others may too. I know I need to hear it, pray it, constantly. Very much in the spirit of the Advent call to repentance:

A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER.
by John Donne


I.
WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.

II.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.

III.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore ;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore ;
And having done that, Thou hast done ;
I fear no more.

Advent Part II

Begins on December 17th. Note in LSB #357 "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" provides the Great "O" Antiphons for their respective days. These are to be prayed before and after Magnificat at Vespers or Evening Prayer. Someone or other did a series on them a couple years ago on Issues, Etc. When those days arrive, I'll try to provide a synopsis of the great O's on this blog, D.v.

What Joy!

Tonight at Evening Prayer the Advent Psalms began, and tonight at the Divine Service we blessed and lighted the Advent wreath. I confess that I still look forward to this time of the year even as I did when I was a young child. It has a way of bringing memories flooding back.

Tonight I remembered that this time last year we were shivering without power due to an ice-storm - thanks be to God that hasn't happened since! I remember that Sunday I read to those who braved the weather for our Bible class the story of Fr. Arseny being locked into that punishment shed with the young atheist boy he'd rescued and how after all those hours in sub zero temperatures they lived - to the utter shock and confounding of their tormenters! They spent the whole time in praise of God and God protected and defended them from their enemies. The story took away all our complaining as we trooped upstairs to celebrate the Divine Service in a frigid sanctuary, though I remember also that I delivered a very short homily.

Tomorrow we have the joy of a Baptism AGAIN. We've had a number of them in the last few months, after a mostly "dry" spell from the beginning of the year. I think Joanie told me that this is the twelfth this year. I love to hear the little ones as we celebrate the Divine Service.

The Bride

My copy of *The Bride of Christ* arrived today. It looks to be the last copy unless someone revives the journal yet again. What riches though! The reprint of Edward Peter's article "The Blight of Receptionism" is particularly appreciated. If this IS the end of the Bride, she couldn't go down in a more worthy way.

Happy New Year!

For Western Christians, the new year of grace begins with the setting of the sun this evening. Advent is upon us! Can these days of grace in the Church mark a new beginning for us? I pray so. I pray that during these days we will give more time to the hearing of God's Word (most churches provide extra services in these days - usually midweek), more time for prayer and meditation, and more time for letting our homes become "little churches" where we read devotions, pray, and sing together to Him who, when He came among us, found no welcome in a home, but had to be born in a manger. Here's my first resolution for this shortly arriving new year of grace: By His grace, I will not allow the culture pressures of this time to divert me or my family from making true preparation for the Advent of the King. May His words and the songs of His church fill our home as we await with joy the celebration of His Nativity.

How blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ as ruler is confessed!
O peaceful hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless sun of joy is He
Who comes to set His people free.
To God the Spirit raise
Your happy shouts of praise!

Fling wide the portals of your heart;
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use for heaven's employ,
Adorned with prayer and love and joy.
So shall Your Sov'reign enter in
And new and nobler life begin.
To God alone be praise
For word and deed and grace!

Redeemer, come, and open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
O enter with Thy grace divine;
Thy face of mercy on me shine.
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious rest is won.
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name!
LSB 341:3-5

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The streams of divine grace flow downwards, not upwards. As nature's streams seek the lowlands, so those of divine grace flow down into lowly hearts. -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XXXIV

Patristic Quote of the Day

One and the Same is earthly and heavenly, temporal and eternal, both with and without beginning, timeless and subject to time, created and uncreated, suffering and free of suffering, God and Man and perfect in both. One in two natures, in both Unitary. - St. Ephrem the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* 29

Homily for Advent I

When our Lord stood before Pontius Pilate, he said: “My kingdom is not of this world.” He owned up to the fact that He was a king and that He had a kingdom. But not anything like what Pilate was thinking. We are so far removed from the days of kings that we forget what they were all about. Do you recall when the Israelites first demanded a king from God? It was so that they would be like the nations all around them and have someone to go out and lead their armies. A king was the man at the head of the charge. A king was the man who marshaled the troops to deal with the enemy. A king was the man to secure peace and prosperity for his people.

Small wonder, then, that throughout His earthly ministry our Lord steadfastly refused the title of King. He did so because people always heard it the wrong way, the worldly way. He didn’t come to be such a King. He didn’t come to deal with such paltry enemies as the Romans. His was to be a kingdom altogether different. Zechariah already signaled the difference. He foretold in clearest terms about the day the promised King would arrive. He cried out: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” It was only on Palm Sunday, as those words came to fulfillment, that our Lord first publicly took the title of King.

This King comes to establish His kingdom not among the nations of the world, but in the heart of men. This King does not come to fight against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the real enemies of the human race: sin, death, Satan, hell. This King does not come taking tribute, but giving out gifts to His people. And so He mounts the donkey and rides into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, as the palm strewed its branches and the stones lay within the roadway to pave His kingdom come, waiting for that fearful moment when God’s blood would stain the spearhead.

Jesus enters Jerusalem to be King, not of this or that nation, but in the hearts of man. In your heart and mine. What it means to have Jesus be your King is clear already from the prayer that He gave us. What does it mean to ask “Thy Kingdom come” except in the same breath to ask “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? Thy will be done in my life, not the will of the devil or the world or of my own sinful flesh. Thy will alone be done. Thus He reigns in the hearts of His own. We are a people who can no longer call the shots on our own lives. We can no longer pretend to be in charge. We have surrendered to Another and on His bidding we wait. The person who still would be his own boss has no part in this King or His Kingdom.

Jesus enters Jerusalem not to fight against this or that enemy of flesh and blood. He knows that the real enemy of the human race is not another human being, but sin, death, and the devil. These He enters Jerusalem to fight once and for all. He rides into Jerusalem the Sacrifice Appointed. He rides in to take our sin upon Him; no, even stronger, to be our sin upon His cross. To bear it entirely and fully in Himself. To die our death and so free us from the power of eternal death. To rise again and so be Himself the Promise that our sins have been atoned and forgiven. That’s how Satan is defeated, death destroyed, sin’s power removed from us. These are the enemies of the race. These the bullies He comes to fight.

Jesus enters Jerusalem not as a King exacting tribute from fearful subjects, but as a King bestowing gifts upon His grateful people. What is the gift He comes bearing? Jeremiah told us by the name given in our first reading: “The Lord, our Righteousness.” This is the gift He comes to give all people. It is for the bestowing of this, His righteousness, that He will yield His life up. As in the garden, God slaughtered animals to clothe the nakedness of Adam and Eve, so God provides a garment to cover the nakedness of our shame and sin - His Son’s own holiness. This will be our covering, our shield on the day of judgment.

Jesus enters Jerusalem. But that was long ago. That was far away. Why does the Church read out this Gospel on the start of Advent each year? Because the One who came as King to reign in the hearts of men, to defeat the enemies of the human race, to give the gift of His own righteousness, this King still comes to His own people, still with the same purpose. This is His Advent in the means of grace, in His Word and Sacraments. Think of it!

In Holy Baptism, the King came riding into your life on the lowly water. There He established His Kingdom in your heart. Marked you as His own dominion. Gave Himself to you as the Lord of your life. Gave you the right to pray the Our Father. Your life then ceased to be your own. It became His. “He delivered us from the dominion of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” is how St. Paul expresses the fact in Colossians 1.

In Holy Absolution, the King comes riding into your life on the lowly words of forgiveness spoken by the pastor. They do their battle still against sin, death, hell and Satan. For they bestow what they say: Christ’s own forgiveness. What Christ entered Jerusalem to obtain for you, is in those words most surely delivered. With sin forgiven, then death has no sting, and neither hell nor Satan can hurt you.

In the Holy Supper, the King comes riding into your life in the lowly bread that is His Body and the wine that is His blood. As He is greeted with the shout of “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”, He reaches out to you His own righteousness. For that is what the Body and the Blood of Jesus are. His righteousness given to cover your sin.

Such is the bounty, the gift that the King came to bestow upon you. Clothed in such riches, you have the joy of a seat at His Table on the Day of His return in glory as Judge of the living and the dead, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages! Amen.