Homily for the Baptism of Our Lord, 2008

[Isaiah 42:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 3:13-17]

The Ethiopian Eunuch had been up to Jerusalem. He was riding home now, maybe with his brand-spanking new copy of Isaiah, and he was reading along and puzzling over what on earth the prophet was saying in what we call chapter 53 - this Lamb that is silent before its shearers, whose generation none could declare. The Holy Spirit sends Philip to run aside and ask him if he gets it. "Course not!" the Eunuch replies. "Come up and explain it to me." Then it gets very interesting. St. Luke says that beginning from that passage, Philip preached Jesus to him.

What do you think Philip preached about Jesus? Well, look at what happened next. The first glimpse that the Eunuch gets of water, he puts the breaks on, and asks excitedly: "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" It gives ones furiously to think, to quote Poirot.

Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian Eunuch in such a way that he extolled the gifts of Baptism. Jesus and Baptism. They go hand in hand together. For Baptism is how Jesus gives you all that is His.

Think about today's Gospel. There He stands in the Jordan. John pours the water over His sinless head, and things begin to happen. The Blessed Trinity is revealed to the world with great splendor and glory. First, the heavens are opened. In the parallel account in Mark, the word is "ripped open" above Jesus and John. Then, the Father's voice speaks: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And as if that were not enough, down comes the Holy Spirit, descending upon Christ as a gentle dove.

Now, what's all going on here? To get it you have to realize what St. John the Baptist realized: Jesus didn't need any of it. It was ALL his ALREADY. To HIM heaven was already open; His heavenly Father was from eternity His heavenly Father; the Spirit eternally rested upon Him from the Father. So what gives? Why the Baptism? Says our Lord: "In order to fulfill all righteousness."

You and I, WE needed what all happened with Him in the water. To US heaven was closed, from the day when the door closed in Eden and the Cherubim began their long vigil. WE were not children of God by our birth - rather, our wills from infancy are allied with God's enemy, the devil. Every last one of us comes into this world insisting: "My will be done." And you know the damage and hurt we inflict on each other as we live out that insistence. WE were bereft of the Holy Spirit, for what is born of the flesh is but flesh and thus the very thing for which we were created went unfulfilled, for we were created to be temples of the Spirit!

Because God was not content that it continue so, He sent His Son not only into our flesh, but sent Him into the waters of Jordan, into Baptism, where sinners gather. He is there because all that is ours, He will take to Himself; and all that is His, He wants to give to us. And the great exchange, the sweet swap, happens for us exactly where He appoints: in the water.

When you get into the water with Jesus - watch out! Miracles happen. Standing with Him in the water, heaven is opened to you, His Father says that YOU are His beloved child with whom He is well-pleased, and you get the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And all this is so because in the water Jesus stands with you in your sin and promises that it will all be His. There's not a bit of it He doesn't lift off your shoulders. When He steps down into the Jordan He is beginning His journey to Calvary where He who had no sin will be made sin for you so that in Him you might become the righteousness of God. When the water pours over His head He is promising already that He is headed for another baptism - the baptism of suffering upon the Cross. He will stand with us in all that is ours so that we can stand with Him in all that is His.

Which means your Baptism is a most precious thing, the greatest moment of your life, in fact. King Louis IX of France so well understood this. He once said: "I think more of the place where I was baptized than of Rheims Cathedral where I was crowned. It is a greater thing to be a child of God than to be the ruler of a Kingdom: [this kingdom] I shall lose at death, but the other [to be a child of God] will be my passport to an everlasting glory."

And so for you: there is no more important moment for you than the moment you were baptized, when the water flowed over you and heaven was opened and God owned you as his beloved child and the Holy Spirit came upon you. It's a moment you can cling to and crawl back to over and over again, as long as you live in this age of grace. The door that flung wide in your baptism remains open to you; God's covenant with you there, His promises to you, He will ever be faithful to. When we forget our high birth and fall back again into living as children of this perishing age, we might think that God will wash his hands of us. But no, in Baptism, He doesn't wash His hands; He goes on washing us! The door stands open and He calls us one and all to come back, to come home, to claim again our adoption rights as His children.

To go back to the Eunuch, do you see what was the Gospel that Philip preached to him so faithfully that day? Just what our Lord said the Gospel was at the end of St. Mark!

"Go and preach the Gospel to all creation."

But what is that Gospel?

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved." That's the Gospel in a nutshell.

That's how Philip preached the good news and so at the first sign of water, the Eunuch is ready to stop everything and take the plunge. He went into the water with Jesus a child of flesh born of flesh, a man destined for the grave. He came out of the water a child of God, filled with the Spirit, and destined for heaven, His true home.

This is the Gospel of the Lord which the Church proclaims in all the world: Come, get into the water with Jesus, that He who took all your sin to death on Golgotha may impart to you all that belongs to Him - forgiveness for all that comes of your thinking and living the lie - "My will be done" - and a life that never ends! Come, get into the water with Jesus, that He may lift you to the joy of being a coheir with Him of an everlasting kingdom! Greater than any kingdom or crown of this earth! Here you are made kings and priests with Him to His God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

Patristic Quote of the Day

(This was originally in a comment, but too good to leave there):

Synods and Conventions I salute from afar, since I have experienced that most of them (to speak moderately) are but sorry affairs. - Letter 124, St. Gregory of Nazianzus (no wonder Gerhard thought he was the greatest theologian of the Church, eh?)

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

As the Eternal Father, at the baptism of Christ, declared, "This is My beloved Son," so all who believe and are baptized receive the adoption of sons. As the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, at Christ's baptism, so He is also present at our baptism and gives it all its efficacy; nay, more, communicates Himself to believing souls in this holy ordinance and so worketh in them that "they become wise as serpents and harmless as doves." -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XVII

Commemoration of the Cappadocians

Today our Synod remembers and thanks God for the three great Cappadocian fathers, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa, Pastors and Confessors.

From the web site:

Basil and the two Gregorys, collectively known as the Cappadocian Fathers, were leaders of Christian orthodoxy in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) in the later fourth century. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers; Gregory of Nazianzus was their friend. All three were influential in shaping the theology ratified by the Council of Constantinople of 381, which is expressed in the Nicene Creed. Their defense of the doctrines of the Holy Spirit and Holy Trinity, together with their contributions to the liturgy of the Eastern Church, make them among the most influential Christian teachers and theologians of their time.

From the Brotherhood Prayer Book:

Today we remember Saints Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa, Bishops and Doctors of the Church.

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.

O God, who hast endowed Thy servants Basil, Gregory and Gregory with clarity of faith and holiness of life; Grant us to keep with steadfast minds the faith which they taught, and in their 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.

A few choice quotes from these great fathers:

"When the Lord taught us the doctrine of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He did not make arithmetic a part of this gift!" St. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, par. 44

"Even choosing what is right is a gift of God's mercy." St. Gregory Nazianzus, Orations 37:13

"Let the inspired Scriptures then be our umpire, and the vote of truth will be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words." St. Gregory of Nyssa: On the Holy Trinity, NPNF, p. 327.

Patristic Quote of the Day

"Indeed, this is the perfect and complete glorification of God, when one does not exult in his own righteousness, but recognizing oneself as lacking true righteousness to be justified by faith alone in Christ." - St. Basil the Great (Homily on Humility, PG 31.532; TFoTC vol. 9, p. 479)

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

God does not tire of doing good to us, and we must not tire of doing good to our brothers. -- C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 104

Compline Again

Tonight was the first time we prayed Compline with the service printed out in its entirety. What a dummy I was not to do that ages ago! Talk about flowing beautifully - the prayers, the psalms, the chants; it all flowed together seamlessly. There were eleven of us, I think, to ask the Lord's blessing on the close of the day and, if it be His will, on the close of our lives. What a gift this beautiful liturgy is to us on our pilgrimage and what peace it speaks to the troubled heart! Once a week seems far, far too seldom to pray it together.

Thoughts on Celebrating the Baptism of Our Lord

First, note that LSB provides a proper preface for the day:

"...through Jesus Christ, our Lord: for at His Baptism Your voice from heaven revealed Him as Your beloved Son and the Holy Spirit descended on Him, confirming Him to be the Christ. Therefore with angels..."

This trend toward a greater number of proper prefaces, each reflecting their own day, has a solid history in the West, especially in the Mozarabic tradition. If you distinguish between the "high" feasts and regular Sundays, I'd argue that this week is decidedly "middle of the road." Perhaps do at least half the ceremonial you did on Epiphany?

Second, the Hymn of the Day is Luther's hymn "To Jordan Came" and LSB offers this in two tunes. Frankly, I think them both rather inaccessible for our congregation. We'll be using instead the hymn that we've become accustomed to on this day since its appearance in the Hymnal Supplement 98: "To Jordan's River Came Our Lord." (LSB #405) Pastor Stephen Starke's text "Jesus, Once with Sinners Numbered" (LSB #404) is also a fine hymn for this celebration. I'm all in favor of TEACHING Luther's great text (it is superior to both of the newer ones), but the tune will require a bit of work and we haven't got the time to master it this year. We'll save it for the future.

Third, if you are using the one year lectionary AND you are not having a Divine Service later in the week (we are here), it would be appropriate on this Sunday to conclude with "Alleluia, Song of Gladness." At St. Paul's we'll observe Transfiguration on the Thursday following Epiphany and that will be the final occasion for the alleluias among us until their joyous return at Easter, should the Lord not return first (and REALLY make our alleluias ring!).

Fourth, I cannot recommend highly enough reading and taking to heart the homily in the House Postil of Luther, Volume 1, pages 216-223. It's mature Luther, writing in 1534, and it truly shines.

Finally, GREAT distribution hymns for this feast are "God's Own Child" (LSB #594) and "All Christians Who Have Been Baptized" (LSB #596).

American Politics

Can be a hoot. And this election promises to be a fun one. I think the whole world was surprised tonight after the media assured us that NH belonged to Obama to find it go to Clinton. McCain wasn't so much of a surprise over all. I agree with Hannity that the race is now absolutely wide open in both camps. Iowa and NH have in effect cancelled each other out. So all that stuff I said about not wasting time watching TV? I think I may have to revise that as the election process rolls on... ;)

Is It Just Me?

I watched a bit of the pontifical Mass for the Epiphany. I just can't get used to it though. There in the solemn splendor of St. Peter's - to have different laity paraded up to read the first and second readings, and to offer petitions in the Prayer of the Church, while all the bishops, priests, cardinals and whatnot just sit there? And all in the different languages (seems like an advertisement: see we ARE the universal church, after all)? Well, to me at any rate, it just seemed weird. Maybe not to Roman Catholics (I wouldn't know) but to this Lutheran it seems utterly out of place. And I confess: I had HOPED to see one of those "extraordinary" Masses on Epiphany with the Bishop of Rome celebrating in the old Tridentine manner. Maybe someday?

Patristic Quote of the Day

Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him. The heavens like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to him as an equal, bearing witness to His Godhead. A Voice bears witness to Him from heaven, His place of origin. -- St. Gregory Nazianzus, *Sermon on Theophany* (*Christian Prayer* p. 1967)

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

A true Luther gem on the Baptism of our Lord:

Who would not execrate an unthankful and joyless person who is unwilling to take to his heart the Son who stands at the Jordan and lets himself be baptized as a sinner? The one upon whom the Spirit lights in the form of a dove? and the Father's voice in closest proximity? No doubt there were also countless holy angels present. For where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reveal themselves, all the heavenly host must also be present. This was the ultimate manifestation.

Therefore, learn to esteem this festival highly. The star given to the wise men was a manifestation, too, but this was much more wonderful. For here the three preeminent Kings - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - are all present as Christ was baptized. And how wondrous that this glorious manifestation occurred at Christ's baptism at the Jordan! Had God so willed, it might have been in the wilderness or in the temple. But it happened at the baptism, in order that we might esteem baptism highly and regard ourselves as nothing other than newly created, holy people by our baptism.

--Homily 3 for Epiphany, House Postils, I:220

Squeezing it all in there!

Gotta love the antiphon for the Benedictus during the days of Epiphany:

On this day is the church espoused to her heavenly Bridegroom: forasmuch as in Jordan Christ hath cleansed her iniquities. Therefore do the Wise Men hasten with their offerings to the royal nuptials; where the guests are gladdened by water made wine, alleluia! (Brotherhood Prayer Book, Second Edition, page. 415)

And yes, that is exactly the same antiphon used by Lutherans in Magdeburg, among other places, for the Benedictus at Lauds during Epiphany and its octave. Only in Magdeburg they said it like this:

Hodie coelesti sponso juncta est Ecclesia quoniam in Jordane lavit Christus ejus crimina, currunt cum muneribus magi ad regales nuptias et ex aqua facta vino laetantur convivae. Alleluia. (Magdeburg Book, page 196)

I notice it's substantially the same in the Monastic Diurnal of the Anglicans and Western Rite Orthodox.

Here the wholeness of Epiphany still hangs together as a single shining light before it birthed the other festivals and Sundays around it. That shows up too in Epiphany's Office Hymn: "The Star Proclaims the King is Here" (Hostis Herodes impie).

Priceless

Pastor Larry Beane on Luther and the "Emerging Church Movement":

Emerging Luther

Father Hollywood nails it yet again.

Flood Prayer

The Lutheran Liturgy had some significant influence on the Book of Common Prayer, used by the Anglicans. This shows up in many places, but one place where you can note a curious difference is in the liturgy for Holy Baptism.

Both Lutherans and Anglicans (at least historically) used the Flood Prayer. Here's the version of the Flood Prayer that shows up in the current Lutheran Service Book - it's fairly faithful to the original, with only a silly shift at the end to remove the language of "made righteous" to "declared righteous" (silly because God's declaration MAKES so exactly what He says!):

Almighty and eternal God, according to Your strict judgment You condemned the unbelieving world through the flood, yet according to Your great mercy You preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all. You drowned heart-hearted Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea, yet led Your people Israel through the water on dry ground, prefiguring this washing of Your Holy Baptism. Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood, and a lavish washing away of sin. We pray that You would behold N. according to Your boundless mercy and bless him with true faith by the Holy Spirit that through this saving flood all sin in him which has been inherited from Adam and which he himself has committed since would be drowned and die. Grant that he be kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving Your name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that, with all believers in Your promise, he would be declared worthy of eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That's the Lutheran version. Now check out what the Anglicans did to the prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family in the ark from perishing by water; and also didst safely lead the children of Israel thy people through the Red Sea, figuring thereby thy holy Baptism; and by the Baptism of thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in the river Jordan didst sanctify Water to the mystical washing away of sin: We beseech thee, for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully look upon this Child, wash him and sanctify him with the Holy Ghost; that he, being delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the ark of Christ's Church; and being stedfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass through the waves of this troublesome world, that finally he may come to the land of everlasting life, there to reign with thee world without end; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Notice what's gone! Not merely the wrath side of water as the destruction of God's enemies, but the words referring to belief or faith. In the Lutheran prayer, it is BELIEVING Noah who is saved, and the UNBELIEVING world that is condemned. Pharaoh is HARD-HEARTED, a synonym for not believing! THE central petition of the Lutheran prayer is for the gift of faith for the person being baptized: "bless N. with TRUE FAITH by the Holy Spirit." It acknowledges Baptism as precisely a "being separated from the multitude of UNBELIEVERS" so that "WITH ALL BELIEVERS in Your promise" the baptized would come to eternal life.

Lex orandi in this case shows that by their Baptismal rite, Lutherans confess that Holy Baptism is a PROMISE and must be received in faith to benefit. Confident of the Lord's willingness to answer prayer, we ask exactly such faith for the baptized. That God sunder them from unbelief and unbelievers and plant them securely in the Church among the promise-trusters - which promise trusting happens only by the work of the Holy Spirit Himself. The Anglican prayer picks up all the beauty of the Lutheran one, and even improves the poetry at points, but it utterly misses the very thing that WE are praying for!

Warning: Long Post - Old Lutheran CHAPTERS of the Day

My friend, Jimbo, bishop of greater Evansville, has requested that I put the Nicolai stuff in a main post. This is just the beginning of *Mirror of Joy* from Nicolai, who was the author of the text and composer of the tunes for the King and Queen of the Chorales - they were appended to the back of this work. What is impressive is that these meditations came from him at a time when intense suffering was hitting his parish - the plague was carrying off people right and left. Yet in the midst of the stench of death, he is filled with this overflowing joy. It not only shows up in his hymns, but in the *Mirror* itself.

The post below is a bit more than I gave in the comment under the hymn. I have not had the occasion to finish this translation that I began some years ago. I did read the book through before translating it (his German is very simple while his thoughts are profound). My favorite section, which I did not get to yet, speaks of Adam and Eve having been clothed in light, like our Lord at the transfiguration, and that they knew they were naked when their bodies no longer shone in glory: "All have fallen short of the glory of God."

Anyway, it's a rather rough translation - first draft - but for the enjoyment of whoever wants to plough through it, here you go:


A Mirror of Joy of the Life Eternal

By Philipp Nicholai

Introduction

As often as I call to mind the surpassing comfort of the promise of eternal life and of our heavenly home, my heart bursts out with joy and my soul rejoices in God my Savior. Think of it! There we believing Christians will behold with joyful eyes the Almighty King of glory, our only Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ, who for us trampled down the ancient serpent! There we will gather with the holy patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. There we will see again with overflowing joy those we’ve loved on earth – our father, mother, brothers and sisters, husband and wife, children, and all our acquaintances who have blessedly fallen asleep in the Lord and have gone before us in true faith. There God will wipe all tears from our eyes and transform our mourning into dancing. He will clothe us with joy, so that our heart rejoices for all eternity and this awesome joy no one can ever take from us.

There we will enter into the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. We will be brought into the company of many thousands of angels and to the assembly of the firstborn, who are written in heaven. And in that place joy will simply overwhelm us as we contemplate the awesome gifts God has bestowed on us. To think that heaven should be ours! That everything which Christ has, is now our imperishable heavenly treasure! God himself will be our very great Reward, our Temple, our Light and our all in all. Who would trade all the world’s perishable splendor, honor, joy, and glory for what God has in store for us? Our future is that we will see and laugh together with the holy angels. Indeed, the entire heavenly host will call us blessed because we have believed in Jesus Christ and trusted His unfailing Word to the death. (17)

Whenever I think of these things, my heart and mind grow quiet, peaceful and still. I do not fret, then, even though in this world we miserable earthworms and sheep of Christ’s pasture are surrounded by temporal death in this life so that our faith and hope have to run the fiery gauntlet of the devil and his cursed followers. The children of God do not need to despair, because we wait in hope for the life that never ends. That is our future even as we pass through this valley of tears, burdened with afflictions, poverty, scorn, mockery, and privation. Yes, the life that never ends gives us hope even though we live in exile, or find ourselves widows or orphans, despised preachers, miserable creatures, poor, sick, imprisoned or scorned, treated as wretched slaves who can be abused and who suffer reverses of judgment, cry over misfortunes and receive no apparent help. Our future hope is secure although here we must be fools for Christ’s sake, an off-scouring of the people, a spectacle for men and angels.

The Lord will soon come. In His grace, He has heard already the sighs and cries of his elect, who cry out to Him day and night. He will save us in a little while and bring joy to His church after these troubles. What we now suffer for a little time in this world is just not worth the unspeakably great glory that will finally be revealed in us. You see, these troubles, which are temporary and light, are working for us an eternal, immeasurable, incomprehensible glory, the like of which no eye has seen and no ear heard and has not entered into the heart of anyone.

Oh, the inexpressible glory and unutterable joy of the eternal blessings and glory, which we will there experience! Oh, the light that shines everywhere in heaven’s joyful halls bringing blessed comfort and delight to all the children of light, who have overcome the devil, the world, and all trials through the blood of Jesus Christ! Oh, the noble and astounding Paradise, the glorious City of God and heavenly Land of Canaan, where stands God’s mountain of joy and comfort, which from flow the milk of comfort and the honey of joy, and where God is all in all! (p. 18 bottom) Oh, how wonderful a world it must be, how desirable a place, how lovely a dwelling, how precious the garden of bliss is this kingdom! It is a kingdom overflowing with every comfort, abounding in all grace, and chocked full of inexpressible joy!

There God the Father reveals His beloved and joyful countenance openly and wondrously to his elect children: angels and men. There Jesus Christ permits them to behold His glory, glory He had with the Father before the world’s foundations were laid. There in a precious and wondrous way God the Holy Spirit Himself will be seen in the Father and in the Son!

Oh, that beautiful, noble life where the holy angels praise God with joy, where the dear Patriarch, Prophets and Apostles dwell, where all pious Christians will be gathered to their people out of this false and vile world! Oh that life where our pious parents, father, mother, husband, wife, children, brothers, sisters and all our other friends who shared our faith and trust in Christ’s blood have gone before us and await our arrival with great joy and longing!

O blessed life, says Augustine, which God has prepared for those who love Him! You are indeed the true and actual life. You are a blessed life. You are a steady, sure life. You are a quiet and restful life. You are a pure and chaste life. You are a holy life. You are an eternal life rich in joy, where no one hears of death, sorrow or tribulation. You are a life without fault, without anxiety or perplexity, without decay and change, without fear, terror or crying. You are a life, where all is quiet, beautiful, delicate and desirable. You are a life where no adversary is, no one to oppose us. Where no temptation to sin is, but instead an overflowing love, a union of heart, attitude and mind and a sturdy unity, where an eternally bright light of day shines, where God will be seen face to face, and where man will taste a bread of life that banishes hunger forevermore.

O you eternal, blessed life! Thinking about entering you is my heart’s desire and joy. Your splendid bounties I desire from the heart (p. 19) and for them I ache and long. And the more I think of you and take to heart your loveliness and sweetness, the more the love, the longing and the desire for you grows in me and increases. Indeed, as often as I think of you, my heart in my body laughs for joy. And so this is my desire, that my heart, will and mind turn to you, journey to you, consider and think on your loveliness.

It is my desire, to speak about you, hear about you, write about you, talk about you and read about your eternal blessedness and heavenly glory each and every day. Further, what I have read, I want to enfold in my heart’s shrine and meditate on it, so that I dispense with and toss off the bothersome worry, danger, and tiresome toil and labor of this life – a life that is dying and fading away - and refresh myself, like a pilgrim and wanderer, with the sweet, cool desire for your life-giving blessings, so that when I go to sleep, I may rest my head upon you and in you find my peace, O everlasting life!

And so I turn with hunger to the luscious, beautiful pasture of the Sacred Scripture and diligently harvest and gather together like the green herb many verses rich in comfort. These verses I collect and read as if I ate and tasted the little herb, ruminating and thinking hard on them. When I have well considered and collected them, then I swallow them down and enclose them in my heart, so that through such tasting of their sweetness I feel that much less the bitterness of this life of exile.

O all-blessed life, you are in truth a salutary Kingdom and you know no death and have no end! In you is eternity and no change of time. There there is a day where no night comes, but endures and remains endlessly. A Christian soldier, who has overcome the world, the devil, death and all misfortune, is there a companion, brother, and comrade of the angelic Thrones and Dominions, which always praise God with joyful voice, and he sings without interruption (20) to our dear God the joyful songs of the glorious Zion and wears the crown of eternal life on his head.

O that it were possible for a man on earth, to preach and write of that which is so lovely, so glorious, so comforting, and so graceful, that the troubled and tested children of God would be aroused to blessed joy and take rich comfort! Yet how does it happen, O dear God, that we are so slow to believe your Holy Word? It witnesses to the eternal life announced to us in the prophetic and apostolic writings. O that Your Word may through the power and working of Your Holy Spirit, burn as a light in our hearts and fall like a fruitful rain, which lights upon the grass, like a dew that moistens the herb. O that like a spear or nail Your Word may pierce our heart and bring forth rich comfort and living joy to soothe and put an end to the great sadness, burdens and anxieties Your Christians suffer in this valley of tears, where they are unceasingly afflicted with sickness, sorrow, and trials of all sorts.

True it is, dear Lord God, and we must also confess: This noble sweet mystery is too deep for our reason to grasp, the joy is too great, and the glory too immense. And on the other hand, our heart is too small, our eyes too sleepy, and our understanding much too weak and too awkward, to grasp and comprehend this noble mystery, this high and great joy, and this immense glory. And although Your enlightened children in this world rightly hear and somewhat understand what they speak of, sing, and write about, yet all their knowledge and wisdom is only piece-meal, a mere bungling and childish beginning. Therefore I am in myself confounded and think: How can I speak and write of the overflowing joy of eternal life, when I cannot fully understand it, nor my thoughts reach so high? And how should what comes to me in my heart, reach my tongue and flow out from my pen?

It is indeed true that even if the likes of Pericles, Demosthenes, Cicero, Socrates or any other famous (p. 21) speaker, rightly understood this article, even with all their erudition and rhetoric they would be far to weak and to inadequate, to express it correctly and sufficiently describe it.

And yet you wish, O God, and indeed command in Your word, that we make a beginning in this world, even though piece-meal, and speak, preach, sing, and announce as much as Holy Scripture reveals about eternal life. O how blessed the people, says David, who can rejoice. Lord, they will walk in the light of Your face. They will daily be joyful in Your name and glory in Your righteousness. They will drink from the rich goods of Your house, and You quench their thirst as with a mighty river. Because with You is the fountain of life, and in Your light we see light. In Your presence is fullness of joy and at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Therefore, O God, this is my earnest plan. I will sing and write. Up, psaltery and harp, I will awake early. Let the heaven rejoice and let the earth be glad, let the sea roar and all that is therein. Let the earth rejoice and all that is in it; let the trees of the forest shout for joy.

Yes, dear God, let us also rejoice, that we may heed the exhortation of Your prophet Dvid and daily rejoice in Your name and glory in Your righteousness. Yes, let us still sing of Your heavenly grace, as much as it has been revealed to us, and make known Your truth with our mouths everywhere. Yes, let us enter Your gates with thanksgiving and Your courts with praise, lauding and magnifying Your name. Bring us to Your holy mountain and to Your dwelling, Lord, our Joy and our Home, that we may see and experience that great goodness, which You have promised to those who fear You and have prepared for all who know You. (22)


Division of the Mirror of Joy in Two Sections

It is with heartfelt joy that I seek help to make a beginning and show with zeal and love from the Apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments: first, what a noble and life of overflowing joy that eternal life is which the chosen children of God enjoy there in Paradise. Then secondly, from whom this salutary Good comes, and how the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, out of unspeakably sweet love and gentleness prepares this eternal life for us poor children of Adam and permits us to enter therein.

But I pray you, O great King of glory and Ruler of eternal life, my beloved Savior and Benefactor, my Lord Jesus Christ, by Your precious, rose-red blood that merited eternal life for us poor sinners by Your great, heart-felt love for men, and revealed such heavenly wisdom to those that fear you and bring them to know your covenant. O You who ordained Your praise also from the mouths of babes and infants, that Your wonders and Your goodness be widely lauded, announced, and spread abroad: Let me also be one of those infants and open my lips so that through the Holy Spirit’s power and work the precious article of eternal life that I may proclaim it to the glory of Your great majesty and to the blessed comfort of all burdened, sad hearts, who here on earth cry and weep, over whom the world rejoices, and who must for the sake of Your name suffer all kinds of threats, trouble, scorn, and danger. Grant to them, O God of all comfort, that this article may be their chalice of comfort, from which they imbibe the true water of life and may it be to them a salutary, refreshing and comforting drink to rejoice and to enliven their thirsting souls.

The First Part of the Mirror of Joy

Living Comfort, steadfast Joy, and heart-felt Rapture, create and work in us that we may diligently view this high article of our Christian faith regarding eternal life. Rejoice and be glad, all you Christians who, from the heart, seek eternal life. Let us sing, dance, celebrate and be joyful in the Lord, our God and Savior! Just consider the blessed benefaction of the heavenly glory, joy, and splendor, which out of unspeakable sweet love, our God has prepared from the beginning of the world for us his faithful children. This benefaction He will gloriously reveal, that we may behold its presence with our very eyes, when the time of our struggle and knighthood of faith on earth is ended, when by the Holy Spirit’s power we are taken through the last struggle of death to our heavenly fatherland and finally delivered from this sorrowful valley of tears.

Whether indeed there is an Eternal Life?

Proof from the Witness of Our Lord Christ that there Certainly Is an Eternal Life.

The promise of eternal life is my heart’s highest comfort, my joy and rapture and a lovely delight in all kinds of crosses and opposition. Here say to your soul: Why so downcast, O my soul, and why so disquieted within me? You will not abide eternally in this troublesome vale of tears. There is prepared for you an eternal life after this time of exile. And why should I doubt it? Let not your hearts be troubled, says the Son of God. You all believe in God, so believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many dwellings. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will indeed come again and take you to (p. 24) myself that where I am, you may be also. I give my sheep eternal life. Whoever believes in me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Because where I am, there my servant will be also. And whoever serves me, my Father will honor. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, that they may see the glory which you have given to me. But what is this glory? Truly, truly, he spoke to the dying thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise.

Here we do not hear a mere man speaking, but God’s Word, God’s promise, and God’s testimony about eternal life. Who would not trust this divine witness? The heathen, especially their poets, write well about the “campis elysiis,” that is, of a new world and beautiful and desirable place, where the souls of fair and virtuous men depart after they die in this world. But who will trust their fables? They are merely human dreams and fantasies, which no one can rely on. But to us the great and true God, Jesus Christ, who is Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life, preaches and proclaims this noble high mystery, and there is no falsehood found in His mouth! The Lord has decided it, says the Scripture, and who will change it? The Lord’s Word is truth and what He tells us is most certain. And you know that God Himself has said that no prophecy will lie. Because I am the Lord, what I speak will come to pass.

Yes, what are all the deeds of the great love and tenderness of God for if not to preach to us of eternal life? What were we made for? For what purpose has Christ conquered death, the devil, and hell? For what end were we born again by the Holy Spirit through the Word and holy Sacraments? In truth the all-holy Trinity does not primarily do this nor has done any of it for the short time of our present life in this world. In the same way, not for this (p. 25) present life were we baptized and we don’t come to the Church for the Lord’s Supper, nor attend to God’s Word to this end, that we might learn how a man should farm, sow, build, plant, hunt, sell and so use this world. Such things also the nonChristians, Jews, and Turks can well do, and for them one needs neither Baptism, nor Eucharist, nor Gospel, nor Absolution. But all of these the Lord God has given to secure our heavenly blessedness and eternal life. For eternal life we were created. For eternal life we have been redeemed. For eternal life we have been born again. For eternal life we have been baptized. For eternal life we have been called through the Gospel. What else is the goal of our faith and our blessed hope, other than eternal life? And what does it mean to die as a Christian in the Lord, than that he rests and travels from this world to the life everlasting?

Indeed, my soul, what makes you so distress yourself so, weighed down with anxious and burdensome thoughts? It is true, isn’t it, that all the foremost works of God, such as creation, redemption, and sanctification, after that also God’s Word, Baptism, Absolution, Lord’s Supper, after that our faith and hope and the Christian’s final journey from this valley of tears, each give strong witness to the article on eternal life? In fact everything tends toward and is directed to eternal life, so why should we not rejoice and be glad from the heart? Why should we Christians pull out our hair in our sadness because of anxiety and impatience, and be fretful and anxious and depressed over death just like the heathen who have no hope?

And what are we to make of that precious names that Sacred Scripture repeatedly gives to eternal life? Why is it called a Paradise? Why does our Lord Christ name it a marriage feast? For what cause does it receive so many beautiful names, that it is called God’s kingdom, the house of the eternal Father, the eternal habitations, the holy mountain of the Lord, a river of delights, the life-giving spring, the holy temple, the fullness of joy, an eternal conjugal union with God, a joy of the Lord, an incorruptible, spotless, and unchanging inheritance, an inheritance with the saints in light, (p. 26) a great glory passing all expectation, a lovely existence, the heavenly fatherland, the land of the living, the holy city of the living God, the new Jerusalem!

What purpose do these words serve us, and why does the Holy Spirit give eternal life so many comforting names if not to admonish and urge us in our faith and hope to greater joy and happiness? For what is more desirable than a beautiful paradise and garden of pleasure? What do young people love more than married joy, married love and conjugal union? What more splendid than when great lords meet together and their majestic glory, joy and rapture? What makes children more rich than a great inheritance and many goods? What more desirable than a mighty, beautiful city? What in the whole world is more famous than Jerusalem? What is statelier than a great kingdom? What is loved more than a fatherland? What does not love to look at May-huts and beautiful, fruitful mountains? What is lovelier than pleasure? What revives and restores thirsty souls on earth better than a sweet, dear drink? What appears more glorious than a high, well-built temple? And what more welcome than heart-felt joy, important glory, and a lovely existence?

I see a great vanity under the sun, how the world struggles and strives after corruptible goods, splendor, honor, glory, and pleasure. Kings, princes, and great lords build stately palaces, want great gardens and plant all kinds of fruit trees in them. Young people and virgins fall in love and set their hearts on marriage. Others want the world to see what they know from their far-flung travels to foreign kingdoms in India, America, among the Tartars, China, from Priest John’s land and so on by their writings and speeches. I see where a great inheritance and kingdom can bring former friends to blows and hatred. I see how earthly kings and princes and great lord, cities, provinces, lands and people (p. 27)

Recently

My good friend Fr. John Fenton wrote a post asking why folks were NOT Orthodox. It generated some interesting discussion. I'd like to take a different tact. I'd like to ask any Lutheran readers of this blog why they ARE Lutheran. At my first parish I realized that there many people who had become Lutheran because of what Lutherans hold in common with other Churches. I knew that I was Lutheran not because of what we held in common, but because of what made us unique. So, what about it, Lutherans, old, new, and everything in between. Why are you a Lutheran? You can be long or short, but I'd be interested in hearing.

Farewell to Christmas

Today after a wonderful brunch (flax pancakes, muffins, eggs and bacon), Cindi, Dean, Lauren and I took down the Christmas tree. And while we were at work dismantling the Weedon home, the Christmas committee was at work dismantling the Church. I've noticed something though: the Church seems nowhere near as bare and empty after Christmas as it used to. The two huge pictures of our Lord that grace the front walls make the difference. The nave is stunning during the Christmas season, but it's so serene and peaceful the rest of the year that you don't mind when the Christmas stuff disappears. Jesus, our Good Shepherd still stands above our Baptismal font, for He leads us to still waters. Jesus, knocking at the door, still invites us to the Eucharist where we sup with Him and He with us. Jesus above the altar, His hands raised in blessing, still reminds us that He has ascended to prepare for us our heavenly home. In other words, the Nave and Chancel continue to celebrate in art all that the Child born for us came to do. Glory to Him forever!

Lord's Prayer Finished Up

Not that we're EVER done with it, but this year's catechesis is done exploring together the topic of prayer and the Our Father. Again, a really wonderful experience. I love the interaction between kids and adults and the questions and discussion that ensues.

Since we finished up the third chief part today, we had our Chief Parts Party served up by Lori! Yummy soups and more food than you can shake a stick at. I love how the folks stay and visit and really get to know one another at these gatherings.

And the coolest thing? Next week we get to start Baptism. I LOVE teaching on Baptism. (Teaching on prayer always seems a little silly - you learn it best by DOING it, not by talking about it. And in the Catechism explanations we note how Luther keeps erupting in prayer: "Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven!")

Especially sweet is that we get to cover the first lesson on Baptism on the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. That's an added gift of grace!

The Queen of the Chorales

Pastor McCain has goaded me into commenting upon the Queen of the Chorales, which was written by the Blessed Philip Niccolai (both text and tune) and appended to his incomparable *Freudenspiegell*. The so-called King of the Chorales ("Wake, Awake!") reigns in Advent, but the Queen takes over during this season. It is the hymn of the day at Lutheran services throughout the world on Epiphany:

O Morning Star, how fair and bright!
You shine with God's own truth and light,
Aglow with grace and mercy!
Of Jacob's race, King David's son,
Our Lord and Master,
You have won
Our hearts to serve You only!
Lowly, holy!
Great and glorious,
All victorious,
Rich in blessing!
Rule and might o'er all possessing.

Come, heavenly Bridegroom, Light divine,
And deep within our hearts now shine,
There light a flame undying!
In Your one body let us be
As living branches in a tree,
Your life, our life supplying.
Now, though daily,
Earth's deep sadness
May perplex us
And distress us,
Yet with heavenly joy You bless us.

Lord, when You look on us in love,
At once there falls from God above
A ray of purest pleasure!
Your Word and Spirit,
Flesh and blood
Refresh our souls with heavenly food.
You are our dearest treasure!
Let Your mercy
Warm and cheer us!
O draw near us!
For You teach us
God's own love through You has reached us.

That's from LSB 395 and there are four more wonderful stanzas to ponder. What rings through them all is the certainty and joy of salvation in Christ. In our Lord, the light of the Father's love has shone into the world and into our hearts and filled us with a light that no sadness, no darkness, no suffering of this world can ever take away from us. When Nicolai wrote *Freudenspiegel* he was burying parishioners right and left with the plague. Every day brought new sorrow, new suffering. And yet this man of God simply overflowed with joy at the thought of what our Lord Christ has obtained for us. Suffering here cannot be compared with the joy we'll have there - and that joy is not uncertain to us, but sealed to His own in the Holy Sacraments.

Amen! Amen!
Come, Lord Jesus!
Crown of gladness!
We are yearning
For the day of Your returning!

(P.S. A musical question: I am of the opinion that Morning Star should be sung with basically treating the half notes as the quarter pulse. What do you musicians say about that???)

42

Tonight I did the house blessing for the Bowers. After the blessing, we shared a wonderful dinner, and they introduced us (or reintroduced us - we couldn't remember) to the domino game of 42. I confess to being totally befuddled at the beginning, but as the game moved along, it began to make sense. After some patient guidance from Matt and Sandy, Cindi and I were fumbling along on our own. I must confess that it was totally intriguing. We were given a set of dominos for Christmas (thanks, Digger!) and so I think we'll be working hard at mastering 42 for some weeks to come (especially since our card players - Jo and Dave - are out of town at the moment).

Patristic Quote of the Day

Today the Magi gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body. As they look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a King, myrrh for One who is to die. - St. Peter Chrysologus, *Christian Prayer* p. 1965

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

God wanted to show all future generations that He do not lead the Gentiles to His dear Son by miracles, by stars, by angels, or by some other extraordinary heavenly appearance. Instead, He directed them by means of men, His already existing church. We see from this that the mission to the Gentiles is a duty of the Church. -- C.F.W. Walther, *God Grant It!* pp. 99, 100

Epiphany

[Isaiah 60:1-6 / Ephesians 3:1-12 / Matthew 2:1-12]

I remember when I was little my mom used to read a story about some children who lived in a cottage in the deep woods. Their mother always told them not to stray too far from the house and its little clearing, lest they get lost in the woods. But they were playing one day and there was still light in the sky and their game of hide and seek led them deeper and deeper into the forest until the trees were all about them and they were not quite sure which way home lay anymore. And then the sun began to set and the shadows crept out from under the trees and bushes. They were really lost now, lost and scared. They couldn’t see the path that led home. There were strange and frightening sounds in the woods around them. They sat down and wept holding onto each other. But then through their tears in the distance, one of them saw a light. Immediately their spirits lifted and they began to walk together toward the light. And do you know what the light was? It was the light that streamed from the inside of their home. It had gotten so late and so dark that their mother had opened the door to the little cottage and stepped out to look for them. The light from the open door guided their paths back through the woods, back to home.

Epiphany is about just such a light. The human race was living in darkness, in the darkness of the shadow of death itself. We were lost. Not sure where we were or who we were or where we were headed. We were frightened because we couldn’t see any way and we just wanted to sit down and cry. But suddenly in the darkness a light began to glow. A warm light. A welcoming light. The light from the door that flung open our true home. And suddenly we knew who we were and where we belonged. We were children of that house; it was our true home - a home we had all but forgotten in the darkness of our misery and sadness. And so the light beckoned us to arise and begin to walk the path to the door. And as we walk toward it we find that there were many others besides ourselves also lost out in the darkness. They too are streaming to the door, coming from every direction. And as we draw closer to the door and its light, we draw closer to one another. Close enough to clasp one another’s hands and walk together in growing joy as the light shines stronger and brighter. The light sets our hearts aflame with love and looses our tongues with songs of joy - the joy of our homecoming, the joy of the light that shines in our darkness. That’s the Epiphany light. It’s the light that shines from the open door to heaven. The light that is Jesus Christ.

Isaiah knew and sang about that light. Listen again to some of his words: “Arise, shine; for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you and His glory will be seen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1-2) And what happens then? The light beckons those lost in the darkness to come home. “And nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and exult.” (Is 60:3-5)

That’s how the prophet describes the joy of the homecoming. The joy of people who live isolated and alone in the darkness of this world, now arising and coming home to the light that shines in Jesus Christ. And so the wisemen from the east came. They were among the first of the Gentiles to be led to worship that light that shines in Jesus Christ. They came and saw him and fell down before him: recognizing in him the open gate to paradise, the open door to the Father’s mansions. They came to worship the newborn king, who is king not only for the Jews, but King for all those - Jew or Gentile - who are lost in the darkness and long for the light.

Do you know people who still wander in the dark? Do you know people over whose lives the light that is Jesus Christ has not shone? Do you know those who live in the despair of death and think that this life, such as it is, is all there is, and that there is nothing beyond, nothing more? You can show them that it is not so. Let them see the light of home reflected on your face. Let them hear from your mouth the invitation to rise and go home. Let them hear from you the good news that they have a Savior who opened the door to heaven that our sin had shut, opened it for all and none who come to it trusting him shall be turned away. Let them hear from you that a Savior has come to us, and gone down into the very darkness of our death on Calvary's tree and filled it with his own eternal light, and by His resurrection from the dead has opened through death itself a pathway home. Let them hear from you that for all who walk into the darkness of death hand in hand with Him, decay is not the end, but the end will be the shining lights of home, the table set and ready, the welcoming arms of a loving Father, and the joy of his presence that is without end.

Epiphany is the feast of light. You were given that light on the day you were baptized. One of the oldest names for the sacrament of Baptism is “the illumination” or “the enlightening.” To show that over the life of the baptized the light of Christ has shown, we give to the newly baptized a candle with the words “live always in the light of Christ.” And the light that shone in Baptism shines on in the Word, which is always “a lamp to the feet and a light for the path.” And at the table you witness that light. You sing as you come down from the Banquet of the Lord the words of old Simeon: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a LIGHT to lighten the Gentiles and the GLORY of thy people, Israel.”

Light in the darkness. Jesus, the door to heaven, a door that stands open wide to all in this age of grace. Jesus, the light that shines from the Father’s home. Jesus, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. Our brother who lights the way. Let us cry out to one another and to those yet lost in the darkness: Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. We’re on the way home. A blessed epiphany to all! Amen

Kudos to Emmanuel Press

My volume of *The Brotherhood Prayerbook* (Second Revised Edition) arrived today. Wow! From what I've seen it improved an already good book to make it truly excellent.

Edward Riojas' artwork graces the pages. The book has been brought down to "normal book size" - it's about the same size as an LSB. Ribbons were added - 8 of them! And if you follow the options provided, you'll need to use about all of them. Unlike the first volume, this edition (like the paper back without music) ditched the LSB daily lectionary in favor of the daily lectionary from TLH. Gregorian notation is used throughout the book - as before - but now it is provided everywhere. Extra Compline hymns have been added.

And of course, the greatest resource for learning to use the book is right there on the net:

www.llpb.us

You can learn to master the chant by listening to Pastor Benjamin Mayes sing the Psalms, Canticles, and Responsories for you.

For $50.00 it is utterly worth it, in my opinion, for those who love Gregorian Chant and wish to pray the Office in its fullness in the very highest and best of the Lutheran tradition.

A Great Day

Today I got to:

Study the Augsburg Confession (Article XV) with our men's group early this a.m. at the InnKeeper...

Pray the Offices...

Read the Book of Concord (today was SC Parts IV-VI)...

Drink lots of coffee made in my new coffee maker with grinder; I love it! Thank you, Dean and LEW!...

Visit Woody in St. Louis and Wilma in Staunton (both doing well, thanks be to God, though Wilma was a tad disappointed that she wasn't allowed to go home today - some blood pressure irregularities)...

Listen to my new CD's on my iPod as I travelled (thanks to Bekah and Cindi!)...

Verified an erroneous reference to the Weimar Ausgabe in *Day by Day We Magnify Thee* - yes, fellows, the American Edition actually was correct and the little devotional is inexplicably in error - "hang the translator!"...

Hand to Joanie the Compline Service to run off, and worked up the Catechism Service and gave that to her too

Finish Sermon for Sunday and run it off...

Finish Bible Study for Sunday (we're ploughing into the Nicene Creed)...

Celebrate the Divine Service (at which I let Walther preach!)...

Do the annual house blessing for Phil and Darlene's and have a nice visit (and yes, my friends, the nuts were history before I reached the Hamel exit - when you send the cheesecake recipe, if you think of it, you can send that one too!)...

It all made for a long day, but joy-filled. I'm tired, though, and heading to bed - if you wrote me an email this evening or posted something on the blog, I'll try to get back to you sometime tomorrow, God willing (and provided I don't forget).

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

A crown of eternal glory hath been promised thee, but thou must pass through a severe conflict before thou canst wear that crown. God's promises are unchangeable; but then thou must not relax for a moment thy zeal in a holy life. -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XXIX

Patristic Quote of the Day

According to Thy compassion, O our Lord, forgive mine iniquities; by Thy grace blot out the record of my stains and remember not my sins. Praise be to the Lord God Who does not desire the death of a sinner! Praise to Thee, Who hast mercy on sinners! Praise to Thee Who receivest the penitent! -- St. Ephrem the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* #65

Speaking of Books

There are three books that CPH should be blushing in shame for not reprinting:

Ernst Koenker's *Worship in Word and Sacrament* (CPH 1959)

Richard Jungkuntz' *The Gospel of Baptism* (CPH 1968)

O. P. Kretzmann's *The Pilgrim* (CPH 1944)

If *I* worked there, these three volumes would be out on the shelves yesterday. So much golden insight in those pages - and a message that can't be outdated. But I don't work there. So if any of you CPH types are listening, give it a thought. You own the copyright on them - go for it!

There Are Times

that I can be really, really dense. Here we've had the Lutheran Service Builder for months and months. And we pray Compline each Wednesday, and nothing changes in it, the same week after week. But to use it in LSB we're constantly paging this way and that and I have to interrupt the service to call out Psalm numbers, Hymn number, page number and so on. Hello? Why on earth didn't I print out a sufficient number of copies for our Wednesday Compline with everything printed out in order ages ago? I don't know why. But I know I came home tonight and in about 15 minutes whipped up the service and printed it out. Perfect. Now we can really concentrate on God and our prayer and not worry one bit about where we're supposed to turn next in the book!!!

And despite the paging, it was wonderful to pray Compline tonight. Like the return of an old and treasured friend.

Books Worth Rereading

Walther in *Proper Distinction* stresses that it is not reading many things, but reading much of several good things that is truly beneficial. I think he's right on about that. Here's my list of things to reread for this coming year:

Sasse's *Here We Stand*
Krauth's *The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology*
Elert's *Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries*
Piepkorn's *The Church* and *The Sacred Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions*
Chemnitz' *Examination*
Luther's *Great Galatians*
St. Ephrem's *A Spiritual Psalter*
St. Nicholas Cabasilas' *The Life in Christ*
Von Schenk's *The Presence*
Gerhard's *Sacred Meditations*
Walther's *Proper Distinction*
St. Augustine's *Enchiridion*
Hamann's *On Being a Christian*

Patristic Quote of the Day

When Thou didst see, our Lord, that I had lost Thy glory, Thy love did not suffer it to be so. Thou Who descendedst in Thy birth hast delivered me from Satan by Thy suffering and Thy death on the Cross. -- St. Ephrem, the Syrian, *A Spiritual Psalter* #79

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Only the person who celebrates a happy Christmas can also celebrate a happy new year. Only the person who knows that he has a Savior can be comforted on the pilgrim's journey of his life. Such a person may always be a poor sinner, but he does not deceive himself when he looks into the future with great joys, hopes, and confidence. In him, God will do more than he can ask and understand. He has the Savior as helmsman and His cross as sail. He can, then, rejoicingly weigh anchor and boldly pilot on the open sea of life. His ship does not run aground, it is not wrecked, and it does not go under. Instead, it will certainly arrive in safe harbor, in this year or another. -- C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 91

C&C

OT Catechesis and Compline return tonight! Catechesis will pick up with Lesson 23: Gideon - The Judges Rule a Rebellious Israel in the New Land.

Brr

I was making coffee this morning in the kitchen and just glanced over at the thermometer (it sits on the counter beside the coffee) and looked at it again to make sure I was seeing correctly. 9 degrees. And that was up against the house. Whew! We've not been that cold in quite some time.

It reminded me of stepping out on the back porch at my mom's family home when we would visit during the Christmas holidays. It was a massive old farmhouse (six bedrooms, three sitting rooms, kitchen and dining room, and three huge porches). I remember, though, one time seeing early one morning the temperature below zero. You couldn't stay on the porch for long, but it's where you got your drinks of water - there was a sink there and a single dipper. I remember nipping back into the blazing warmth of the kitchen, warmed by a huge wood stove where breakfast was a-cooking. I don't think hot coffee ever tasted better going down than it did that morning! Coffee and hot buttered toast (home made country butter too - nothing like it!) set against the winter chill.

House Blessing Time

LSB Agenda reminds us: "It is appropriate that homes of Christians be blessed by the Word of God and prayer.... Homes may be blessed annually. Usually this is done during the season of Epiphany due to the connection of the visitation of the Magi to the home of the infant Christ. On such annual observances of this rite, the Magnificat with antiphon may be chanted in place of the Psalmody." (p. 313) This is also an appropriate time to have new crosses, paintings, icons, and statues blessed for use at the family altar. (pp. 322, 323)

I have had two families schedule home blessings so far, but a reminder to my members that I'm happy to schedule a time to visit your home and pray God's blessing upon it. Just email me or phone me and we can set up a time!

Ack! Where'd Epiphany go?

Several folks have written asking what exactly should happen this year with Epiphany being such a short season. Here is my best reading of the material provided in Lutheran Service Book for those who are observing the one year (historic) lectionary:

January 6 - celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord
January 13 - celebrate the Baptism of our Lord (in the historic practice of the Western Church the Baptism is the octave after the Epiphany and so would trump the readings for First Sunday after Epiphany)
Transfiguration? - celebrate it at a midweek liturgy after January 13th
January 20 - celebrate Septuagesima, first Sunday of pre-Lent
January 27 - celebrate Sexagesima, second Sunday of pre-Lent
February 3 - celebrate Quinquagesima, third Sunday of pre-Lent

On other matters: LSB prescribes white for both Epiphany and Baptism and then Green for Gesimatide. The alleluia is omitted during Gesimatide, replaced by the Tract. LSB does not indicate dropping the Gloria in Excelsis, however, until Lent itself. Additionally, LSB prescribes the Epiphany preface throughout the Gesima Sundays. If I missed any rubrics in LSB, I'd appreciate correction. It certainly is an unusual year with an almost non-existent Epiphany season!

A Tad Late, but Good Stuff

from O. P. Kretzmann:

Sanctuary at Midnight

The last candle burned gently on the altar... Beyond the dark windows the midnight was already alive with bells and whistles, but here they seemed now like sounds from a lost world... In a sudden wind from the sacristy door the candle flickered forward and threw into bold relief the face of the crucifix... Shadows played over the red wounds, and in the eyes in which pain has been a prisoner for nineteen hundred years there was darkness... At the foot of the sanctuary steps stood the tree and the manger... The place of His birth was in the gloom, the place of His death was in the light... All the years of His way from the Manger to the Cross were in the brief steps up the sanctuary, up to the Everlasting Altar... Here was beginning and end... Not by the years could His Life and Power be measured, nor by the dust of centuries, but only by the wounds still red against the white dominion of His throne...

Was it the darkness or the hour which seemed to move the patient face in pity?... Surely no sculptor had caught the moment of "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."... That was so very long ago... The bells and whistles beyond it the dark were marking the end of another year between His heaven and my world... There had been many of them now - almost twice as many as the number of His days before the eyes of men... Strange that all our years should be measure be His days and all the times of man by one day when, in darkness and pain, God was making eternity ready and history was preparing for B.C. and A.D. ... Strange, too, with the wonder of heaven and hope, that I can repeat His prayer tonight... "Father, forgive." ... Forgive me - for the lost but unforgotten hours of the dying year, for the erring way and barren heart... The pivot of the year is too brief to say more than the one word which makes the years an altar stair and the time of life the lifting of the angelic trumpeters... Midnight is lonely now with lonely bells, and my candle of prayer burns low... There is only one cross on the altar tonight... On the hill there were three, but the children of the man on the cross to the left are blowing whistles tonight, and the children of the man on the right are in sanctuaries the world over... His time was short, perhaps shorter than mine, but his prayer was good, much better than mine... Remember me... Make my failures Thy victories and the years of my sins the eternity of Thy grace... Remember me... Thy footsteps grow brighter as the years grow dim, and no calendar can limit Thy power... Remember me... This moment, not of yesterday nor of tomorrow, is Thine just as the years are Thine...

There are other voices in the sanctuary now, the waiting saints made perfect at last and the great multitude past human numbering who have been remembered at altars in heaven and on earth... In a little while we shall be as wise as they whose wisdom is a song: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing"... [The Pilgrim, p. 25-26]

Patristic Quote of the Day

The authority on which we believe is the authority of God himself ; and the teaching which we follow is the very teaching of God himself. Therefore it is true, whether we lend an ear to the testimony of the Law, or to the sayings of the Prophets, or to the trumpet of the Gospel. -- St. Leo the Great, Homily, Circumcision

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The drops of blood Christ shed at His circumcision were the first of the payments He made for the immeasurable debts of the world's sin. Oh, let us in faith and with joy embrace the holy Christ Child who today so willingly submitted Himself to the most humble divine Law for us. Now no law we have transgressed can damn us. Now God Himself, whom we have offended, can no longer be angry with us. Now, like the old year itself, all our old sins have eternally disappeared. -- C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* p. 89

Hymn for the Circumcision and Name of Jesus

Jesus! Name of wondrous love,
Name all other names above,
Unto which must every knee
Bow in deep humility.

Jesus! Name decreed of old,
To the maiden mother told,
Kneeling in her lowly cell,
By the angel Gabriel.

Jesus! Name of priceless worth
To the fallen of the earth
For the promise that it gave
"Jesus shall His people save."

Jesus! Name of mercy mild,
Given to the holy Child
When the cup of human woe
First He tasted here below.

Jesus! Only name that's given
Under all the mighty heav'n
Whereby those to sin enslaved
Burst their fetters and are saved.

Jesus! Name of wondrous love,
Human name of God above;
Pleading only this, we flee
Helpless, O our God, to Thee.
LSB 900:1-6

Our Lord's First-Bloodshed

was celebrated this morning with Matins at 9. I am still a bit astounded that we had 45 folks show up to sing Matins and to remember and thank God for the Circumcision of our Lord on this bitterly cold day in Southern Illinois. The number has dropped every year I've been here - and it's easy to see that what was taken for granted by an older generation is embraced somewhat less enthusiastically by their children and grandchildren. Yet in Church today I was happy to note a handful of younger faces too. Today an important teaching of Christ's church is celebrated and so I thank God for those folks - almost all of whom had celebrated together Divine Service last night - that wiped the sleepies out of their eyes and gathered to sing a Te Deum Laudamus to Him who went under the knife and under the law in order to fulfill for us a perfect righteousness that Baptism gives us as our very own. Glory to the Child who is both God and man - glory to Him for His love for us and for His coming to us in such humility, and glory to Him for the spilling of His blood in the keeping of the Law on our behalf!

Winding Down

Tonight Divine Service at 7:15 and tomorrow Matins at 9:00 a.m., and that brings to an end the round of special holiday services. From the Fourth Sunday in Advent until New Year's Day (The Circumcision of Our Lord), we celebrated twelve services at St. Paul's. I love the services of this time of the year - but I also love it when they are over and we settle back into our normal routine (at least for a few weeks - and then Lent awaits!).

Homily for New Year's Eve (2007)

[Isaiah 30:15-17 / Romans 8:31b-39 / Luke 12:35-40]

If it is in quietness and trust that we find our strength as the first reading tonight had it, then we can do no better on this last evening of 2007 than take to heart the words of tonight's Epistle. If you've got God on your side, "for you," then what is it that you have to fear? If God has loved you so much that He did not spare His only Son but gave Him up for you, then how will He not give you all things graciously with Him? If God is the One who has declared you "not guilty" in His Son, then who is it that will be able to bring any charge whatsoever against you? There is only One who could - and that is Jesus Christ Himself - but since He has died for you, was raised for you, sits at the right hand of His Father and ceaselessly intercedes on your behalf, He's not a likely candidate to bring any charge against you, is He?

And so St. Paul comes at last to his greatest question of all: who shall separate you from the love of Christ?

Tribulation? Distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Danger? Sword?

Make no mistake about it, my friends, any of those things can befall us in the New Year. We'd be utter fools to imagine that our God was some sort of talisman that we kept about us to ward off trouble. That's not how our God works - not the God who came among us as a little child so that He could bleed and suffer, agonize and die for us. We don't gather this night to plead with God to keep trouble out of our way in the new year or to thank Him merely for keeping trouble out of our way in the year that is ending. Who in this room didn't have tribulation and distress in their lives this year? Who wasn't confronted at one time or another with danger? No, thinking that way only lands you in fretting and fear. Trouble will come to you this year. You can bank on it. "For Your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." "And another one bites the dust." Yup. That's the way life is in this fallen age - an age where sin festers until it is made visible in death.

But, the Apostle doesn't end there. It's true that troubles will abound. It's true that this year may very well bring you things harder to bear than any you've had to face in your life yet. It's true that your final struggle with death itself may await you in 2008. But there's a bigger truth than that, a greater truth and truth that allows us to face it all with hope and a joy that no trouble of this world can destroy.

"No," shouts the Apostle! "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." That would be He who loved us so much as to take on our flesh and be born of the immaculate Virgin and laid in the manger. That would be He who loved us so much as to shed His infant blood, to be placed under the Law so that He might fulfil it wholly for us. That would be He who loved us so much as to shoulder the burden of our sins and carry them to death on Golgotha's tree. In Him and in Him alone we are and can be more than conquerors of the troubles and trials that face us. More than conquerors, how? Why?

Listen! "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, NOR THINGS TO COME, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation - ANYTHING ELSE in ALL creation - will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Do you get that? In your Jesus, God has loved you with a love that cannot be shaken or destroyed. It's a love that is stronger than anything you will have to go through this year. It's a love that is more powerful than the worst ravages of sin and death. And it's all yours in your Lord, in your Jesus.

And tonight, as you watch for Him, He comes to you. Knocking at the door, so that you can throw it wide open and bid Him come in. And then He does His shocking thing - He dresses Himself for service and has you recline at table as He serves up to you His Supper, His body and blood, for the forgiveness of all of your sin. This is the service He renders to you. As though He whispered: "Child, I have loved you all the way to my cross. Your sins are covered in my blood. Your death destroyed in my risen body. And as the promise, the guarantee that I am with you and for you and on your side and your dearest Friend forever, I reach you now that same body and blood. That's how you can know that I am for you, and that nothing - and I mean absolutely nothing - can separate you from my love."

As we open the door of our hearts at his knocking, as we come to Him at His table and let Him serve us, we experience exactly what Isaiah said: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." Grant it to us, dear Lord, tonight and in the year to come, that we might meet whatever awaits us in the days ahead in the certainty and joy of Your unshakeable love, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen!

Puzzlement

I continue to scratch my head at how people who read and know the Scriptures well continually discount the forensic element of the Biblical revelation. If one thing is clear from the Scriptures, it is that we will stand before our Lord Jesus who will indeed pass judgment upon us. He warns us that we will have to "give an account" for every idle word we speak. The "courtroom" metaphor runs throughout the Gospels and the NT epistles as well. The very language of "justify" is forensic lingo. The word "Advocate" (which the Sacred Scriptures apply both to our Lord and to the Holy Spirit) is legal through and through. To simply read the Scriptures while discounting this semantic domain is to ignore one sizable chunk of God's message to humanity in His Son.

Which is not to say that the forensic element exhausts the Gospel - no way! The Scriptures teach us to speak of the Gospel as the bringing of the dead to life, the finding and reclaiming of the lost, the reconciliation of those at enmity, and certainly many other ways too. Nevertheless, among the ways that God has spoken His Word to us through His Son is the whole complex of "court" language. "Forensic" is one way that the Holy Spirit confronts us with the problem of our sin that we might despair of "fixing" it and learn instead to live from the merciful pardon of God extended to us in His Son. To unite some of the images: that pardon is what brings the dead to life!

And one of my all time favorite passages from St. John Chrysostom builds upon such language and images to preach some high octane Gospel:

Suppose someone should be caught in the act of adultery and the foulest crimes and then be thrown into prison. Suppose, next, that judgment was going to be passed against him and that he would be condemned.

Suppose that just at that moment a letter should come from the Emperor setting free from any accounting or examination all those detained in prison. If the prisoner should refuse to take advantage of the pardon, remain obstinate and choose to be brought to trial, to give an account, and to undergo punishment, he will not be able thereafter to avail himself of the Emperor's favor. For when he made himself accountable to the court, examination, and sentence, he chose of his own accord to deprive himself of the imperial gift.

This is what happened in the case of the Jews. Look how it is. All human nature was taken in the foulest evils. "All have sinned," says Paul. They were locked, as it were, in a prison by the curse of their transgression of the Law. The sentence of the judge was going to be passed against them. A letter from the King came down from heaven. Rather, the King himself came. Without examination, without exacting an account, he set all men free from the chains of their sins.

All, then, who run to Christ are saved by his grace and profit from his gift. But those who wish to find justification from the Law will also fall from grace. They will not be able to enjoy the King's loving-kindness because they are striving to gain salvation by their own efforts; they will draw down on themselves the curse of the Law because by the works of the Law no flesh will find justification.

Joy of Conversation

It only works out about once a year that the three of us have the opportunity to get together - usually sometime around Christmas. But when we do, it is always such joy. We talk theology, family, parish problems, and usually more theology. Thanks be to God for friends who are brothers in the Holy Office!

Reminder

I really do take a light hand in editing comments. But I will not allow comments that I think cross the boundary from questioning to personal attack. I just deleted a comment I felt did this. I ask the readers and commentators on this blog to please refrain from personally attacking others - we seldom have the full story and thus are not in a position to judge others' actions and words. My suggested rule is always to ask if you'd be comfortable saying what you are saying in the very presence of our Crucified and Risen Lord, for you truly are doing nothing less than that.

Patristic Quote of the Day

In any day of the year, dearly beloved, whenever we make our meditations, we are mindful of the birth from a Virgin Mother of our Lord and Saviour. Whenever our souls are uplifted in the worship of our Maker, whether we sigh in supplication, rejoice in praise, or offer sacrifice, there is nothing which we more frequently or more confidently set our minds upon than the fact that God, the Son of God, begotten of the co-eternal Father, was also born by a human birth. - Homily of St. Leo, Bishop of Rome

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

A true Savior must be such that, when we receive Him, all of what is false in us is destroyed. - C. F. W. Walther, Sermon for Sunday after Christmas, *God Grant It!* p. 84

Yeah, um,

he takes after his mother.

Dancing Together

We've just got the pictures back from Lauren's wedding - and this has to be my favorite of my beautiful wife - the amazement on her face is no doubt due to the fact that we were dancing at all. I HATE dancing (mostly because I don't know how to do it) and we didn't even dance at our own wedding, but we're dancing here because Lauren told me I HAD to. I try to be an obedient dad. Honest, I do. :)

Completely Trivial

But very exciting! I found an option under Parallels that allows me to remap the command and control keys. Sweet! That means that I don't have to stop and think: "This is Windows app and needs to use Cont-B to bold." I can just use the Mac shortcuts that are ingrained from years of usage also in Windows: "Command-B" and "Command-I"! Parallels, you just went even higher up in my appreciation of you!!!

There's a Hymn that Luther wrote

based on a medieval Antiphon:

In the very midst of life
Snares of death surround us;
Who shall help us in the strife
Lest the foe confound us?
Thou only, Lord, Thou only!
We mourn that we have greatly erred,
That our sins Thy wrath have stirred.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all-merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Save us lest we perish
In the bitter pangs of death.
Have mercy, O Lord!

I used to think "the bitter pangs of death" referred merely to facing our own last hour, but I think death's bitter pangs spread further than that. Here we are in the midst of the celebration of the Birth of Life and Joy and the Prince of Peace - and yet the ravages of death continue. Sicknesses rage on. Folks are hospitalized, preparing for surgery, and some are waiting for the end. And all around them are those that love them dearly. And the bitter pangs of death coil around THEIR hearts too, to squeeze out of them the life and peace and joy of Christ. Luther nailed it: it's in the very midst of life that the snares of death surround us, but it's only in Christ that we can find remedy to this. Sickness, death, the ravages of sin - they take no holiday, they observe no holy days. But we celebrate our holy days smack dab in the midst of them, in defiance of them:

In the midst of utter woe
When our sins oppress us,
Where shall we for refuge go,
Where for grace to bless us?
To Thee, Lord Jesus, only!
Thy precious blood was shed to win
Full atonement for our sin.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and most merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Lord, preserve and keep us
In the peace that faith can give.
Have mercy, O Lord!

In the peace that faith can give... Grant that peace, Lord God, to all who are battling the pangs of death in these days. Amen!

Patristic Quote of the Day

In choosing to be born for us, God chose to be known by us. He therefore reveals Himself in this way, in order that this great sacrament of His love may not be an occasion for us of great misunderstanding. -- St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Christ hath brought to our poor human nature a greater glory than it lost by Adam's sin. In Christ we receive more than we lost in Adam. -- Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XV

Have I Ever Told You...

...how gross I feel when I take a hiatus from Atkins for the holidays? This is just stupid. Tomorrow it is back to Induction for this boy. I just can't stand feeling so sluggish. Why do I allow myself to fall into this trap repeatedly?

It's like sin (note the LIKE, Cwirla, I'm not advocating for dietary law here!), but we know how awful we feel when we succumb to temptations and yet we end up doing it again and again. And each time we do, we realize what a cheat and false promise it delivered. And we knew that before we gave in, but we keep chasing the lie anyway. Sin is like those Red Lobster biscuits - smells so good, and tastes so fine going down, but then there's the matter of paying the piper afterwards. And we swear in the aftermath: that was stupid, and I was stupid, and it's not worth it, not at all. But how faulty is our memory when the sin comes teasing our minds again with false memories and promises.

Lord, make us always remember the yuck and depression of sin so that we learn to grow in resisting its allure - and help ME remember what I feel like AFTER eating Red Lobster biscuits, potato chips, m&ms, pizza and breadsticks!!!

Sign me with my old nickname:

Fat Chance
(William Chancellor Weedon)

O Rejoice!

O rejoice, ye Christians, loudly,
For our joy has now begun:
Wondrous things our God has done.
Tell abroad His goodness proudly
Who our race has honored thus,
That He deigns to dwell with us.
Ref.: Joy, O joy, beyond all gladness,
Christ has done away with sadness!
Hence all sorrow and repining,
For the sun of grace is shining!

See, my soul, thy Savior chooses
Weakness here and poverty;
In such love He comes to thee.
Neither crib nor cross refuses;
All He suffers for thy good
To redeem thee by His blood. (Ref.)

Lord, how shall I thank Thee rightly?
I acknowledge that by Thee
I am saved eternally.
Let me not forget it lightly,
But to Thee at all times cleave
And my heart true peace receive. (Ref.)

Jesus, guide and guard Thy members,
Fill them with Thy boundless grace,
Hear their prayers in ev'ry place.
Fan to flame faith's glowing embers;
Grant all Christians, far and near,
Holy peace, a glad new year! (Ref.)
--Andreas Hammerschmidt, LSB 897

What Happened

I was chatting with a friend today. He thinks I'm obsessed with the Blessed Virgin. Fancy that. Actually, I was telling him that what is striking is how often and simply the great fathers of the 16th and 17th centuries speak of the Mother of God's perpetual virginity or the closed womb birth and such from the pulpit and in their other writings. To them it was just taken for granted.

Why was it taken for granted then, but not taken for granted now?

I don't know the answer for certain, but I have a hunch about what happened. It's this: the Churches of the Augsburg Confession retained Latin. That means that they didn't bother to translate the old Latin office hymns. They wrote new hymns in German, of course, but they just kept on singing the old hymns in Latin right alongside the new ones (though the Sequences, unlike the office hymns, were subject to frequent "correcta" - always with copious Scriptural annotations). And those hymns simply shaped their theological endeavor.

In the Magdeburg Book the hymn "Creator of the Stars of Night" is listed as being sung at Vespers throughout Adventtide. It is sung in Latin, of course, and - as throughout the book - Scriptural allusions are provided in the margins. So when in the third stanza they sang of the Lord proceeding from the "closed" Mother, the margin listed the reference to Ezekiel 44:2. They sang it every night at Vespers in Magdeburg during Advent! They grew up shaped by that. Where did Gerhard learn the allusion of Mary's virginity being typified in the burning bush, in Gideon's fleece, in Aaron's rod that budded? It was all in the hymnody! The LATIN hymnody. The hymnody they didn't translate and just kept using. UNTIL.

Until rationalism and pietism swept through the Lutheran Churches, and then Latin was the first thing axed. And suddenly all the hymns that had nurtured and sustained a way of reading and thinking about the Scriptures were no longer there. Only the post-Reformation hymns that had been composed in German largely remained. And it wasn't too long after this that we see a marked change in how the Scriptures themselves were being read and understood.

As I said, this is all Weedon's suppositions - I have yet to do all the "hard data work" as dear Dr. Nagel would call it - but I truly suspect it explains a LOT of what happened. Take up your old German Gesangbuch and look for the hymns that we regard as standard from the Latin. They're not there. It's a loss I think we've still not reckoned with, and it explains why Lutherans of the 21st century simply don't know how to DEAL with what their forebears in the faith simply took as axiomatic.

Homily upon the Holy Innocents, Martyrs

When we hear that Gospel, I suppose there’s not a one of us who doesn’t ask in his heart: “Why, God? How could you let such an awful thing happen? We’re so thankful that Jesus wasn’t killed, but what about those others, those little boys? Didn’t You care about them? What about their poor mothers and fathers, refusing to be comforted because their children were dead – butchered before their eyes – and without a clue as to why? O God, did it have to be that way?”

Such thoughts show that we have trouble coming to terms with some very important truths that God teaches us in His Word. From start to finish the Bible reminds us that this life is not permanent, that this world is not our home, that we are a people on pilgrimage.

Further, the Bible bears abundant testimony – and we experience it in our own lives too – that God does not guarantee anyone a certain length of time for that pilgrimage. Some have a very short journey through this world – their breath snuffed out like that of the Holy Innocents. Others live to gray hair and see great-grandchildren. Many end their pilgrimage somewhere in between. But this much is true: the pilgrimage comes to an end for all, and that end can come at any time and in any way.

Neither to you, nor to your parents, nor to your children, nor to your grandchildren, nor to any relative or friend, has God promised anything about the length of pilgrimage or the manner of death.

“You’re being rather morbid today, pastor” I hear you say. No. Just being realistic. I think it was the same realism that inspired the Church to set the feast of the Holy Innocents just three days after the Nativity of our Lord – a poignant reminder of why our Lord took on flesh and blood.

You see, if life in this world is a pilgrimage and it has an end, it does not at all follow that that is the end of us. Rather, the Bible reveals the startling truth that like it or not, every last one of us is going to live forever. And the Bible reveals that we will live forever either in eternal joy and bliss, or in never-ending regret, sorrow and pain. That is, we’ll all end up in either heaven or in hell. What makes the difference?

Not how you live during your pilgrimage. Those who spend their pilgrimage trying to be good people, thinking that by keeping God’s laws they will curry his favor so that he will have to let them into his heaven – they haven’t got the first clue.

The Law of God, when we really hear it, demands of us a perfection we simply cannot come up with – no matter how hard we try. The Law doesn’t tell us that if we give it our best shot, God will pat us on the head and say: “Good try. Come on in!” The Law cuts no deals; compromise is foreign to it. The Law demands that we love the Lord our God with every ounce of our being and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. That we do so from the heart – that means, wanting always what brings glory to God and blessing to our neighbor. That we do so without fail. “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” James 2:10 And “All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” Gal. 3:10

The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ! Jesus took our flesh and blood, was born of Mary for us. Because every last one of us was by nature headed toward never-ending sorrow and pain, eternal separation from God, the endless regrets of hell. Because God never wanted a single soul to know the agony of an eternity without Him.

He came among us as the true Holy Innocent. His conception was holy. His birth was innocent. His life was without sin. HIS heart never deviated once from all His Father’s law demanded. He kept it whole and He kept it for you and me. And then on His cross He suffered the punishment that was our due. Thus He secured a perfect redemption. When His Father raised Him from the dead, He declared that His Son’s sacrifice offered only once, availed now for all time and for all people. Jesus rendered hell needless; no one ever need suffer it. The only way to get into hell is by stepping over the dead body of God’s Son – by telling Him: “No thanks, I don’t need your blood or your forgiveness. I can handle my sins on my own.”

That is unbelief – the refusal of the gifts of God. It’s opposite is faith, being given to, receiving from Christ what He would give. And it is precisely such faith that makes the difference between landing in heaven and hell.

The Holy Innocents were called that not because they didn’t have sin. No, they would have confessed had they but a little older, exactly what the Scripture says: “Behold, I was conceived in iniquity and in sin my mother bore me.” They were holy innocents, not by nature, but by grace. Enfolded into the covenant God made with Abraham when they were circumcised on the 8th day of their lives, wrapped in the promises of God, they were put into a life of faith, waiting for the redemption of the coming Savior. Thus, when their pilgrimage ended, they left as “sweet flowrets of the martyr band.”

And you too get to be holy innocents in much the same way. They had the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision and looked in faith to coming Redeemer. You have the New Testament sacrament of Baptism, and you look in faith to the Redeemer who has come, who has kept the Law for you, who has thereby secured for you and all people an eternal redemption. As you simply believe it, it’s all yours. Thus, you are holy and innocent with the holiness and innocence of Another.

Such holy innocence He reaches to you at the altar in the gift of His body and blood – the very same body and blood that fully kept the law on your behalf and that answered for all your sins upon the tree. He reaches to you what He offered on your behalf as His pledge and guarantee, as you trust it, that when your pilgrimage is ended, He will bring you to the place of overflowing joy and blessedness, the home He has prepared for you. He reaches it to you that even now it might begin to work in you obedience and love toward God. Thus God quiets our unrest and fears.

This life is after all, only a pilgrimage; death ends it for each of us at a time we can’t guess and sometimes in ways that are ghastly. But our Jesus has opened a Kingdom beyond death; He has prepared for us an everlasting home – and for that to Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all glory and honor, world without end. Amen.