07 September 2010
New Lutheran Quote of the Day
If we use the lives of God's great heroes only as examples, we end in discouragement. The comparison crushes us to wonder what is the use or hope of a feeble Christian like me. John the Baptist is most for us when we hear and heed his message - a message of repentance and, above all, a message that points to Christ. Follow the hand and the words of John as he points to Jesus. "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). So your sin and mine, all our failures, our doubting God's plans and promises, our insistence on our own way instead of His. Christ answers for our sins, the Lamb slain for our forgiveness, our liberation, our being included in God's company of people among whom we know who we are and what we are for. He associates with such unlikely people as you and me, and with us He would do His wok in the world. Forgiveness, acceptance, liberation from all our slaveries, a life that is shaped and shines with His love, even in prison and through dreary days. -- Dr. Norman Nagel, Selected Sermons, p. 273.
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
Christ died that sin might die in us. -- Blessed Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation III
Patristic Quote of the Day
Genuine pleasure is that which is according to nature. -- St. John Chrysostom, Homily 4 on Romans
06 September 2010
A Labor Day Feast
Family gathered round for pork steaks and chicken, mock potato salad and deviled eggs, roast potatoes, chips and dip, almond thins and can't remember what else. Dessert still awaits... Sadly, David and Bekah were both working, so only seven us sat down together.
A Dave Ramsey Thought
[inspired by a conversation with Cha]: antiques. They save money. I mean, our house is filled with family pieces for which we did not pay a dime, and which are part of our family's story. We'd never replace them. We regularly gather around the same table where Cindi's grandmother used to serve delicious meals, as did her mother before her. The sideboard goes with the table and has held pies and cakes and assorted goodies for over a hundred years. In Cindi's scrapbooking room, she works on the long two-planked table that used to sit on my grandparent's back porch where we ate many a Sunday meal in the summer time - and the bench that goes with it, we still pull out to use when we have too many bodies for chairs at dinner. By my bed there's a wash stand made by my great great grandfather. Replace it? Never! An old rocking chair found in my grandparent's barn, refinished by Tom, and strengthened by Dave, sits next to the washstand. Bekah's room has my mother's old marble top table - part of a bedroom set that my sister has the rest of. In our living room there's a desk from by aunt's bedroom - rosewood, I think. In the study, there's the secretary from Cindi's side of the family. Our family altar came from the old Richardsville Methodist Church where my family worshipped - it's pushing 150 years now. The point is, all this stuff came to us and cost us absolutely nada, and it's all furniture we'd never replace. Value antiques, folks, and save some bucks - and enjoy that eclectic look that tells a story!
P.S. I should also add that antiques work for decorating too. Again, for nothing when they are family pieces. We have jugs, a milk crock, old medicine bottles, Ladies Home Journals from the teens - they are a hoot!, books galore, pictures and daguerreotypes, an old 5 lb iron, and numerous other such like. They're different from the usual stuff - a bit more interesting and fun!
P.S. I should also add that antiques work for decorating too. Again, for nothing when they are family pieces. We have jugs, a milk crock, old medicine bottles, Ladies Home Journals from the teens - they are a hoot!, books galore, pictures and daguerreotypes, an old 5 lb iron, and numerous other such like. They're different from the usual stuff - a bit more interesting and fun!
05 September 2010
Beautiful and Busy Day
After Divine Services and Bible Class, we headed to Centrallia to hear Carlo's carillon concert [carillon pictured below]. It was the perfect day for it. John and Karen Klinger went too, and so did Gary and Marilyn Mangum [pictured below]. Carlo was amazing - as always. He arranged all the pieces he played today. Pretty darned impressive. After the concert, Carlo talked about the history of the instrument (in general and that particular one). He offered to take us up the tower, but I was too chicken. Heights, you know. Anywho, a lovely day to drive out there and back. We then headed over to Dennis and Bonnie Hemann's 40th anniversary party - they had a great day for it! God bless them with many more years together! I brought my iPhone to get pictures there, and got talking and totally forgot.
04 September 2010
Noting the praise theme
in Trinity 14's propers:
Introit: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, ever singing Your praises.
Gradual: It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.
Verse: Praise is due to You, O God, in Zion.
Proper Preface: ...with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying.
Introit: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, ever singing Your praises.
Gradual: It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.
Verse: Praise is due to You, O God, in Zion.
Proper Preface: ...with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying.
Pr. Gleason noted tonight...
...how dark it was already getting when Saturday Church let out. Yup. Not too much longer and we'll be gathering in the darkness. I confess: I'm ready for it. I love summer - and I love fall - but I also love winter. Especially when it's just THINKING about winter in the late summer. I hope that once, just once, this winter we get one of those snows that closes things down for a day or two. Then it can all go away and be warm again.
Intercessions upon Trinity 14
Blessed are those who dwell in God’s house, ever singing His praise. Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.
Holy Father, You teach us in Your word how good it is to give thanks and to sing praises to You. And so we glorify You for the love that sustains us from day to day, for the gift of Your Son, our Savior, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins; for the Holy Spirit, the Comforter; for the companionship of Your holy Church and the hope of the age to come – for all these and for all your benefits, receive our humble praises. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember Your Church, scattered throughout the world, and enable Your children to live as colonists of the age to come, showing Your praise every day and summoning all people into the joy of giving thanks to You. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember President Harrison, District President Scharr, and all the servants of Your Word, and keep them strong in their witness to Your grace. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember all our public servants, giving them wisdom and courage to serve according to Your will; especially into your hands we commit David and all who serve in our armed forces, asking that Your protecting hand rest upon them. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember those who rejoice in Your rich blessings: Dennis and Bonnie as they give glory for 40 years of holy marriage and thank You for Your benefits; Jonathan and Sanna, as they rejoice in the gift of a son, Erik Sebastian, that You bless him and grant him new birth in the waters of Baptism. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember those who cry to You in their time of need, for You are a mighty rock of refuge. Especially we commend to Your healing mercy and love: .... Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember, O Lord, those who mourn for little Chloe and grant them comfort in Christ’s victory over death and the grave and the peace that can come from You alone. Lord, in Your mery, R.
Remember, heavenly Father, all who come today to the Table of Christ’s undying body and blood, and fill them with repentance, faith, and hope that they may receive the Eucharist to their abundant blessing. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember, O King of love, those who have fallen asleep in faith in You and bring them to the unending joy of the Your feast, to sing Your praise without end. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
All these things and whatever else You know that we need, grant to us, O Father, for the sake of Him who died and rose again and who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Holy Father, You teach us in Your word how good it is to give thanks and to sing praises to You. And so we glorify You for the love that sustains us from day to day, for the gift of Your Son, our Savior, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins; for the Holy Spirit, the Comforter; for the companionship of Your holy Church and the hope of the age to come – for all these and for all your benefits, receive our humble praises. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember Your Church, scattered throughout the world, and enable Your children to live as colonists of the age to come, showing Your praise every day and summoning all people into the joy of giving thanks to You. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember President Harrison, District President Scharr, and all the servants of Your Word, and keep them strong in their witness to Your grace. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember all our public servants, giving them wisdom and courage to serve according to Your will; especially into your hands we commit David and all who serve in our armed forces, asking that Your protecting hand rest upon them. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember those who rejoice in Your rich blessings: Dennis and Bonnie as they give glory for 40 years of holy marriage and thank You for Your benefits; Jonathan and Sanna, as they rejoice in the gift of a son, Erik Sebastian, that You bless him and grant him new birth in the waters of Baptism. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember those who cry to You in their time of need, for You are a mighty rock of refuge. Especially we commend to Your healing mercy and love: .... Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember, O Lord, those who mourn for little Chloe and grant them comfort in Christ’s victory over death and the grave and the peace that can come from You alone. Lord, in Your mery, R.
Remember, heavenly Father, all who come today to the Table of Christ’s undying body and blood, and fill them with repentance, faith, and hope that they may receive the Eucharist to their abundant blessing. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
Remember, O King of love, those who have fallen asleep in faith in You and bring them to the unending joy of the Your feast, to sing Your praise without end. Lord, in Your mercy, R.
All these things and whatever else You know that we need, grant to us, O Father, for the sake of Him who died and rose again and who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Homily for Trinity 14 (2010)
[Proverbs 4:10-23 / Galatians 5:16-24 / Luke 17:11-19]
“Let us sing for joy and gladness, Seeing what our God has done, Let us praise the true Redeemer, Praise the One who makes us one.” If there were ever anything the Church does that the world considers a waste of time, there it is: giving glory and praise to God. The world can’t imagine a much more worthless endeavor than that.
And yet it is the very heart of what we do when we come together as God’s people. We hear His Word and receive His Sacrament, and with it all, we raise a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God. To practice together referring everything to God, so we “name” it in the Biblical sense of that word, and we confess it as gift of the Blessed Trinity. And of course, what happens when we come together as Church is just to be the tip of the iceberg – such praise wants to spill out from the Divine Service, to sanctify our entire pilgrimage through this world – “at all times and in all places, giving thanks.”
Our first reading warned us against walking in the path of the wicked, that we should not walk in the way of the evil, avoid it and go not on it. We must remember that the Epistle to the Romans refers to the world taking the gifts of God without acknowledging the Giver and instead turning those gifts into idols – not referring them to Him from whom they came – as the chief sign of man’s fall into sin. Whatever else you can say of the way of the wicked, it is a way devoid of the praise of God. The wicked are involved in many things, but singing praises to the Blessed Trinity is not among them.
St. Paul gave a list in the Epistle of what the wicked are up to - the works of the flesh, which are opposed to walking in the Spirit. They are what fill lives devoid of praise. Listen: sexuality immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. Of all these the Apostle is clear: “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” No, for the Kingdom cannot be inherited by those who seize the good gifts of creation and bend them to their own purposes, without referring them to the Creator in praise and thanksgiving.
I’ll never forget how my pastor drove that home to me once. He was talking about rules for dating. You know what he said? He said: Do whatever you can give God praise and glory for and then you’ll never be in doubt about what to do. I’d never heard anything like before. But it gets right to the heart of the matter: are you referring all things in your life to the Giver and giving Him glory and praise, or do you try to enjoy things by themselves. Sex isn’t wrong. It has its place. It’s place is where a husband and wife can give glory to God. Marriage, that is, such as the Hemanns give thanks to God for this weekend – 40 years of blessings – all referred back to the Giver and so praise and thanks!
Instead of the works of the flesh – that is, of our lives disconnected from God and so not referring all things back to His giving – there is fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. No law can condemn such things. Such a life flows from all things being referred to our Giver God in praise and thanksgiving. The flesh that gets crucified – that is, that gets to die with Jesus on the cross – is that disconnected from God way of living that seizes a thing unto itself without referring it to the Lord.
And so on to the Gospel for the day where ten lepers cry out in their misery a Kyrie eleison to the Master, and He delights to send them on their way to the priests to show that they are healed. As they travel along, stepping out in faith, they realize the truth: Jesus has healed them as He sends them on the way to give praise and thanksgiving to God! Ponder that!
One of them, a Samaritan, stops and runs back to Jesus, throws himself at our Lord’s feet, giving Him thanks. He has realized that the proper place for the giving of thanks isn’t the temple on Gerazim where his people worshipped, nor the priests who offered the sacrifices, but that Jesus is the Temple and the Priest and here is where worship will happen from now on. At the feet of Jesus. Praise and glory to God! All good things received from and through Him.
Jesus is astonished the Samaritan gets what his fellow Jews miss out on. They went onto the lesser temple and lesser priests and never put together Who it was that could speak a Word that could heal them so completely. “Was no one found to return and give praise to God – that is, to God enfleshed - except this foreigner?”
I’m sure that the nine were very grateful to Jesus. I’m sure that they told anyone who would listen to them the miracle of how He healed them. But not to refer the gift back to the Giver in praise and thanksgiving was to miss out on the greatest joy that Jesus reached them. As at Christmas when a wonderful toy is given a youngster, and they take it and run off. Sad that. The joy is when they look up, their faces filled with joy and gladness, and they run into your arms and say: “Thank you, momma; thank you, daddy.” There the gift has been fully received – for behind the gift was the love and the relationship. That’s what the gift was for in the first place. So with us and our Giver God.
The gifts aren’t there merely for you to take away and enjoy; but for you to experience His love and His embrace. To run to Him, to fall down before Him, to give Him praise and glory. That is the first and primary enjoyment of every gift.
The lepers got skin made new again. You’ve been given a glory robe of righteousness in Baptism’s flood. You’ve heard His promise put into your ears by His called servant that your sins are wiped out, forgiven, forgotten, gone. HISTORY. You’ve been called to feast at His table where He gives you His own body and blood – the gift of His love on the cross – right into your mouth with the promise of pardon and resurrection from the dead. You’ve been given His words of wisdom to open your eyes and help you see what truly is, so that you might come to be for the praise of His glory.
So then, utterly contrary to the thinking of the world, in the thinking of the Church the saddest waste of all is a life that is lived without praise to the Trinity, a life that snatches the gifts, but never acknowledges the Giver in praise and glory. Those most to be pitied are the sad folks who’ve never known the joy of singing a Gloria Patri or Te Deum or a Gloria in Excelsis or an Agnus Dei. And so we invite one and all, to come with us and fall together with us at the feet of the Incarnate Lord, Heaven’s God in human flesh and blood, the true Temple and true Priest, who has made us clean in His blood, and who has gifts to give that will astonish and awe, and through whom we are blessed to continually offer the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. And so to the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be all the glory and praise now and every moment of every day and to the ages of ages! Amen.
“Let us sing for joy and gladness, Seeing what our God has done, Let us praise the true Redeemer, Praise the One who makes us one.” If there were ever anything the Church does that the world considers a waste of time, there it is: giving glory and praise to God. The world can’t imagine a much more worthless endeavor than that.
And yet it is the very heart of what we do when we come together as God’s people. We hear His Word and receive His Sacrament, and with it all, we raise a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God. To practice together referring everything to God, so we “name” it in the Biblical sense of that word, and we confess it as gift of the Blessed Trinity. And of course, what happens when we come together as Church is just to be the tip of the iceberg – such praise wants to spill out from the Divine Service, to sanctify our entire pilgrimage through this world – “at all times and in all places, giving thanks.”
Our first reading warned us against walking in the path of the wicked, that we should not walk in the way of the evil, avoid it and go not on it. We must remember that the Epistle to the Romans refers to the world taking the gifts of God without acknowledging the Giver and instead turning those gifts into idols – not referring them to Him from whom they came – as the chief sign of man’s fall into sin. Whatever else you can say of the way of the wicked, it is a way devoid of the praise of God. The wicked are involved in many things, but singing praises to the Blessed Trinity is not among them.
St. Paul gave a list in the Epistle of what the wicked are up to - the works of the flesh, which are opposed to walking in the Spirit. They are what fill lives devoid of praise. Listen: sexuality immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. Of all these the Apostle is clear: “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” No, for the Kingdom cannot be inherited by those who seize the good gifts of creation and bend them to their own purposes, without referring them to the Creator in praise and thanksgiving.
I’ll never forget how my pastor drove that home to me once. He was talking about rules for dating. You know what he said? He said: Do whatever you can give God praise and glory for and then you’ll never be in doubt about what to do. I’d never heard anything like before. But it gets right to the heart of the matter: are you referring all things in your life to the Giver and giving Him glory and praise, or do you try to enjoy things by themselves. Sex isn’t wrong. It has its place. It’s place is where a husband and wife can give glory to God. Marriage, that is, such as the Hemanns give thanks to God for this weekend – 40 years of blessings – all referred back to the Giver and so praise and thanks!
Instead of the works of the flesh – that is, of our lives disconnected from God and so not referring all things back to His giving – there is fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. No law can condemn such things. Such a life flows from all things being referred to our Giver God in praise and thanksgiving. The flesh that gets crucified – that is, that gets to die with Jesus on the cross – is that disconnected from God way of living that seizes a thing unto itself without referring it to the Lord.
And so on to the Gospel for the day where ten lepers cry out in their misery a Kyrie eleison to the Master, and He delights to send them on their way to the priests to show that they are healed. As they travel along, stepping out in faith, they realize the truth: Jesus has healed them as He sends them on the way to give praise and thanksgiving to God! Ponder that!
One of them, a Samaritan, stops and runs back to Jesus, throws himself at our Lord’s feet, giving Him thanks. He has realized that the proper place for the giving of thanks isn’t the temple on Gerazim where his people worshipped, nor the priests who offered the sacrifices, but that Jesus is the Temple and the Priest and here is where worship will happen from now on. At the feet of Jesus. Praise and glory to God! All good things received from and through Him.
Jesus is astonished the Samaritan gets what his fellow Jews miss out on. They went onto the lesser temple and lesser priests and never put together Who it was that could speak a Word that could heal them so completely. “Was no one found to return and give praise to God – that is, to God enfleshed - except this foreigner?”
I’m sure that the nine were very grateful to Jesus. I’m sure that they told anyone who would listen to them the miracle of how He healed them. But not to refer the gift back to the Giver in praise and thanksgiving was to miss out on the greatest joy that Jesus reached them. As at Christmas when a wonderful toy is given a youngster, and they take it and run off. Sad that. The joy is when they look up, their faces filled with joy and gladness, and they run into your arms and say: “Thank you, momma; thank you, daddy.” There the gift has been fully received – for behind the gift was the love and the relationship. That’s what the gift was for in the first place. So with us and our Giver God.
The gifts aren’t there merely for you to take away and enjoy; but for you to experience His love and His embrace. To run to Him, to fall down before Him, to give Him praise and glory. That is the first and primary enjoyment of every gift.
The lepers got skin made new again. You’ve been given a glory robe of righteousness in Baptism’s flood. You’ve heard His promise put into your ears by His called servant that your sins are wiped out, forgiven, forgotten, gone. HISTORY. You’ve been called to feast at His table where He gives you His own body and blood – the gift of His love on the cross – right into your mouth with the promise of pardon and resurrection from the dead. You’ve been given His words of wisdom to open your eyes and help you see what truly is, so that you might come to be for the praise of His glory.
So then, utterly contrary to the thinking of the world, in the thinking of the Church the saddest waste of all is a life that is lived without praise to the Trinity, a life that snatches the gifts, but never acknowledges the Giver in praise and glory. Those most to be pitied are the sad folks who’ve never known the joy of singing a Gloria Patri or Te Deum or a Gloria in Excelsis or an Agnus Dei. And so we invite one and all, to come with us and fall together with us at the feet of the Incarnate Lord, Heaven’s God in human flesh and blood, the true Temple and true Priest, who has made us clean in His blood, and who has gifts to give that will astonish and awe, and through whom we are blessed to continually offer the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. And so to the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be all the glory and praise now and every moment of every day and to the ages of ages! Amen.
All Glory!
All glory be to God alone
Forevermore the highest one,
Who did our sinful race befriend
And grace and peace to us extend.
Among us may His gracious will
All hearts with deep thanksgiving fill.
We praise You, God; Your name we bless
We worship You in humbleness;
From day to day we glorify
The everlasting God on high,
Of Your great glory do we sing
And to Your throne our thanks we bring.
Lord God, our King on heaven's throne,
Our Father, the Almighty One.
O Lord, the sole-begotten One,
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's Son,
True God from all eternity,
O Lamb of God to You we flee.
You take the whole world's sin away;
Have mercy on us, Lord, we pray.
You take the whole world's sin away;
O Lord, receive our prayer this day.
From God's right hand Your mercy send,
To all the earth Your grace extend.
You only are the Holy One
And over all things Lord alone.
O Jesus Christ, we glorify
You and the Spirit, Lord Most High;
With Him You evermore shall be
One in the Father's majesty. -- LSB 948
Forevermore the highest one,
Who did our sinful race befriend
And grace and peace to us extend.
Among us may His gracious will
All hearts with deep thanksgiving fill.
We praise You, God; Your name we bless
We worship You in humbleness;
From day to day we glorify
The everlasting God on high,
Of Your great glory do we sing
And to Your throne our thanks we bring.
Lord God, our King on heaven's throne,
Our Father, the Almighty One.
O Lord, the sole-begotten One,
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's Son,
True God from all eternity,
O Lamb of God to You we flee.
You take the whole world's sin away;
Have mercy on us, Lord, we pray.
You take the whole world's sin away;
O Lord, receive our prayer this day.
From God's right hand Your mercy send,
To all the earth Your grace extend.
You only are the Holy One
And over all things Lord alone.
O Jesus Christ, we glorify
You and the Spirit, Lord Most High;
With Him You evermore shall be
One in the Father's majesty. -- LSB 948
New Lutheran Quote of the Day
The Lord knows what we have to face: enemies from the outside and from within, the temptation to doubt Him. Even the worst of it the Lord uses as a way to bless us, to test, to cleanse, to have no other reliance than in Him. -- Dr. Norman Nagel, Selected Sermons, p. 266.
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
The very foundation and principle of a holy life is godly sorrow for sin. -- Blessed Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations III
Patristic Quote of the Day
Observe the discretion of Paul, how after encouraging by the gentler things, he turns his discourse to the more fearful. For after saying that the Gospel is the cause of salvation and of life, that it is the power of God, that it genders salvation and righteousness, he mentions what might well make them fear that were heedless of it. For since in general most men are not drawn so much by the promise of what is good as by the fear of what is painful, he draws them on both sides. For this cause too did God not only promise a kingdom, but also threaten hell. -- St. John Chrysostom, Homily 3 on Romans
03 September 2010
New Lutheran Quote of the Day
After confessing the Office of the Holy Ministry, instituted by the Lord for the delivery of the salvation gifts confessed in Article IV, our attention is no longer directed to the ministers but to the means of grace, which have been put there so the men who occupy the office can give them out. Thus we are left in no doubt that it is the Lord Himself who is doing what the pastor has been put there to be His mouth and His hand for. -- Dr. Norman Nagel, Selected Sermons, pp. 264, 265.
Patristic Quote of the Day
Now as we know this, let us with all kindliness receive the mother of all blessings, faith; that sailing as it were in a still harbor, we may at once keep our doctrines orthodox, and by steering our life safely in a straight course, may attain those eternal blessings by the grace and love toward man of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom and with Whom be glory unto the Father, with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. -- St. John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on Romans
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
Our American brethren in the faith will also learn this through painful experiences. Instead of setting up a church office in Washington, it would have been better had they equipped some place somewhere in the solitude of their immense country, where prayers would be offered day and night for their government and for the peace of the world. For the church of Christ is not a church that is always busy holding conferences, nor is she a church that does business with politicians and the press. She is ecclesia orans. And this is her main calling. Either she is ecclesia orans, as indeed she showed herself to be already in the catacombs,—or she is nothing. -- Hermann Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors 5. - HT President Harrison
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