RAIN!

I'm loving it!

New Lutheran Quote of the Day

The one church is invisible in respect to the "who," and visible in respect to the "where."—Pastor Kurt Marquart, The Church, p. 23.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The Law is preached to us so we can recognize our revolt against it, feel the death and divine wrath which sin brings, and seek to embrace the better righteousness of Jesus Christ. He alone can help us out of our sin into righteousness, out of death into life, and out of wrath into the grace of heaven.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 682.

Patristic Quote of the Day

Reflect, therefore, how great are the things He bestowed on you. A great thing indeed it would have been for a sinner to die for anyone else; but when He who undergoes this is both righteous and dies for sinners; and not only dies, but even dies as one cursed; and not just cursed, but in so doing freely bestows upon us those great goods that we never looked for; what words, what thought would be sufficient to recognize these things? 'For the unrighteous,' Paul says, 'He was made a sinner; that He might make the sinners righteous.'—St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Corinthians 11.5.

It's Here and WOW!

Best buds

What a beautiful volume it is!  CPH's The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes is a most worthy companion to sit next to your copy of The Lutheran Study Bible.

When you first open it, you will notice right away the similarities in layout. If you've mastered navigating TLSB, you'll feel right at home in The Apocrypha.  The text employed is the English Standard Version, and once again it delivers a text that is clear and dignified without being overly colloquial or informal.

But WHY? you might be asking.  Why bother?

Well, the Apocrypha is simply part of our heritage as Christians, and specifically as Lutheran Christians. It was invariably published in Lutheran Bibles in Germany, right between the two Testaments and with Luther's incredibly helpful little note:  "Apocrypha, that is, books which are not held equal to the sacred Scriptures, and nevertheless are useful and good to read." [This by the way was not merely his opinion; it was also the opinion, for example, of St. Jerome or St. Gregory Nazianzus.] These are books that were in the Greek translation of the OT but not found in the Hebrew text.

Putting them between the Testaments (rather than inserting them among the books of the Old Testament) is actually a good reminder that they specifically illuminate for us the time period between the close of the OT and the beginning of the New. Just a solitary example: we read in John 10 that our Lord was in Jerusalem "for the feast of the dedication." Well, you'd search in vain for this feast in the Old Testament writings and might wonder what this IS that Jesus is attending. The answer to your query is found in 2 Maccabees 10:1-8 - the institution of what we call today Hanukah!

You'll also find some interesting "middle" stories between the Old Testament and the New Testament accounts. Numbers 21:4-9 relates the story of the bronze serpent. And our Lord picks this up in John 3 as a type of His own crucifixion: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness..." Between the two accounts, we find this meditation on the event from the Book of Wisdom (16:5-8):

For when the terrible rage of wild beasts came upon your people and they were being destroyed by the bites of writhing serpents, your wrath did not continue to the end; they were troubled for a little while as a warning and received a symbol of deliverance to remind them of your law's command. For he who turned toward it was saved, not by what he saw, but by you, the Savior of all. And by this also you convinced our enemies that it is you who delivers from every evil.

And, of course, the Lutheran Church has always continued to make use of parts of the Apocrypha in our worship life. An ongoing frustration in the use of The Lutheran Service Book has been its oblique use of "liturgical text" whenever something was used from the Apocrypha. That's nice, but WHERE IS IT FROM? Be frustrated no longer. Your handy-dandy Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes gives you the info in a handy chart (thank you, Peter Reske) on pages 387, 388. Ah, so "When all was still, and it was midnight, Your almighty Word, O Lord, descended from the royal throne"—the lovely antiphon for the Introit at the Christmas Midnight Service—that comes from Wisdom 18:14-15! Or the Introit for Easter Tuesday "He gave them to drink of the water of wisdom"? That's from Sirach 15:3b-4a.

Perhaps most shocking to the sensitivity of modern day Lutherans is that our spiritual forebears not only continued to read the Apocrypha in private in their homes, but even publicly in the Church services!  A CPH published German Bible I have lists two readings from the Apocrypha on saints' days:

The epistle for the day of St. John is provided as Sirach 15:1-8
The epistle for the birth of Mary is provided as Sirach 24:22-31

In Lutheran Magdeburg's 1613 Cantica Sacra, we note that whole swaths of the Apocrypha were read in the daily Matins and Vespers in parts of the post-Pentecost season: Tobit, Judith, sections from Maccabees.

Some of my favorite sections are the "wisdom literature" (Sirach, Wisdom) and the "liturgical" pieces, above all the Prayer of Manasseh (cf. 2 Chron.33:12-13, 18-19):

for your glorious splendor is unendurable, and the wrath of your threat to sinners is overpowering; yet immeasurable and unsearchable is your promised mercy... the sins I have committed are more than the sand of the sea; my transgressions are multiplied, O Lord, they are multiplied. I am unworthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities... I earnestly implore you,  forgive me, O Lord, forgive me! Do not destroy me with my transgressions... For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, and in me you will show forth your goodness; for, unworthy as I am, you will save me in your great mercy. [Does Paul echo this in 1 Timothy 1:15,16?]

But the objection is raised:  "Look, our people don't even know the canonical Scriptures as they should!  Is it wise to bother with introducing them to the Apocrypha?" It's a fair question, and I'd certainly not suggest that a steady diet of the Apocrypha or anything else (TV, novels, the internet) be allowed to replace the daily discipline of time in the canonical Scriptures.  BUT, I suspect the folks who'd have the greatest interest in the Apocrypha are precisely the folks who are INTO the canonical Scriptures already. You know, the kind of folks who will have puckered a brow over a "Feast of Dedication" in John 10 and wondered what further information they might have learned about that.

And I'll be honest: I think for pastors especially the Apocrypha is invaluable. I mean, we make our promise to conduct all our preaching, teaching and administration of the Sacraments in accord with the faith as it is confessed in the Book of Concord, do we not? But this Book specifically references the Apocrypha more than once. At the very least we should KNOW the context of the passages that are cited. Luther's, Chemnitz's, Gerhard's, and Walther's sermons are peppered with allusions or references to the Apocrypha and I think we're definitely the poorer when we no longer "get" those.

What people fear, I think, from the Apocrypha is that somehow publishing this again will elevate these books to the level of canonical Scripture - i.e., to texts that can form the basis for the formulation of the Church's dogma. But such a fear is more than allayed in the very helpful study notes that accompany this version. Even on the very cover page, Dr. Luther's words to Eck are cited:  "I know that the church retains this book [of the Apocrypha] as I just said, but the church is not able to grant more authority or strength to a book than the book has on its own."

The long and short of it: it's utterly worth each pastor owning and studying in conjunction with the canonical Scripture for the wonderful light it sheds on the intertestamental period and for the place it has historically possessed in our liturgical, catechetical, theological, and homiletical tradition.  It's also utterly worthy of any laity who are already students of the Word of God, for the exact same reasons. Buy it! You won't be sorry!

Four Generations

From Today's Book of Concord reading in Treasury:

So the worship and divine service of the Gospel is to receive gifts from God. Apology IV:310 (V:189)

Faith receives the forgiveness of sins in the promise in the present. Apology IV:312 (V:191)

New Lutheran Quote of the Day

The Church is created from above, by her Head, not from below, by her membership.—Pr. Kurt Marquart, The Church, p. 5.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

No, the preaching office has a higher source. It is a holy, divine office. God, the Most High, established it to be the proper means through which His people could be led to blessedness.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 673.

Patristic Quote of the Day

It is a day of grace, of grace divine. Therefore, with ease even we shall obtain the crown. For if, when we were laden with so many great evils He both received and delivered us, then at the time when we are delivered from all of them, will He not also accept us?—St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Corinthians, 12.1

You know,

This poem always reminded me of mom. Now I think it will describe me. Ah the circle of life!

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been; 

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair. 

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see. 

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green. 

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know. 

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

—J. R. R. Tolkein

Thank you, Meaghan!

Meaghan, David, Dave, Cindi, Jo, Dean, Lauren and Sawyer, William and Bekah.

New Lutheran Quote of the Day

The Christian mysteries (1 Cor. 4:1) are the very opposite of all mystagogical mumbo-jumbo. They are not a secret doctrine muttered darkly among the few in the know. They are rather the saving secrets of God, utterly inaccessible to all human ingenuity, yet freely revealed and publicly proclaimed in the "mystery of the Gospel."—Pr. Kurt Marquart, The Church, p. 5.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

We also grant this, that alms merit many favors from God, lessen punishments, and merit our defense in dangers of sins and death, as we have said a little before about the entire repentance.—The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, V:157 (IV:278)

Patristic Quote of the Day

He did not say, 'Who keeps us from suffering affliction,' but, 'Who comfort us in all our affliction.'... This truly happened also in the case of the three children (Daniel 3:21-30), for neither did He prevent their being cast into the flame, nor did He quench it, but while the furnace burned He gave them freedom. And such is ever God's way of dealing with us, 'Who comforts us in all our affliction.'—St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Corinthians 1:3.

Praying the Catechism

In the name of the Father...
Amen.

I believe in God the Father almighty...

Glory be to the Father...

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall have no other gods.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord, your God.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Honor your father and your mother.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall not murder.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall not commit adultery.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall not steal.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that is your neighbors.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

He says: I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

But showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Glory be to the Father...

Our Father...

Bless we the Lord,
Thanks be to God.

New Lutheran Quote of the Day

The New Testament church is altogether the salvific workmanship of God, the Blessed Trinity. As the Father sent the Son, so the Son—Who as the Second Adam is both church and ministry "in embryo"—sends His Apostles, having equipped them with the Holy Spirit for the mission to forgive and retain sins.—Pastor Kurt Marquart, The Church, p. 5.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

You see, because they [pastors in the church] are admonished by their own example of human frailty and weakness, they use greater gentleness and mildness toward those who are weak in faith and have been caught in a fault.—Blessed Johann Gerhard, The Ministry, p. 264.

Patristic Quote of the Day

Already we begin to belong to those angels with whom we shall enjoy that holy and most delightful city of God.—St. Augustine, City of God, 22.29.

Sequentia seu Prosa

It doesn't take very long spending time with old Lutheran liturgies before one realizes the remarkable amount of space (to our view) given to the sequences - an embellishment of the Divine Service that flowered in the Middle Ages. Jungmann estimates that there were some 5,000 of them written, of which Trent left only five in Roman use. The Lutherans long continued their use and they have a beauty of their own.

I was looking over the one for Christmas Day, which appears in exactly this Latin form in the Magdeburg 1613 Cantica Sacra (and also in the Lossius, 1594, in which it is noted that the Apostrophe is to Mary "as an image of the Church"). The statement of Christ taking flesh "to make them companions of [participants in] your divinity" is rather a beautiful intro to the Christmas Gospel from Luke 2:1-14:

[la] Born before the beginning of time, the Son of
God, beyond perception, without limit,
[Ib] Through whom the workings of heaven and
earth were made, of the sea, and all things that
dwell therein,
[2a] Through whom the days and hours flicker and
then are rekindled,
[2b] Whom the angels in the celestial realm continually
proclaim with harmonious voice,
[3a] He had taken on a feeble body-without the
stain of original sin, from the flesh of the Virgin
Mary-through which the guilt of the first parent
and the lust of Eve might be wiped clean.
[3b] Hence the present short day, this day of brilliant
light, speaks forth, growing in length, because the
true Sun, the newly begotten Son, by the rays of
its light, had expelled the long-standing darkness.
[4a] Neither did the night lack the light of the new
star, for it struck fear in the knowing eyes of
the magi.
[4b] Nor was the light invisible to the shepherds,
for they were awestruck by the glory of the
heavenly host.
[5a] Rejoice, O Mother of God, whom, in place of a
midwife, angels surround singing "Glory of
God."
[5b] O Christ, only begotten of the Father, you who
have taken human form for our sake, restore
your humble servants;
[6a] And, O Jesus, you humbled yourself that you
might share in their suffering; deign to receive
their prayers,
[6b] So that you might deign to make them companions
in your divinity, O only begotten God!

[la] Natus ante secula dei filius invisibilis interminus
[lbl Per quem fit machina celi ac terre maris et in
his degentium
[2a] Per quem dies et hora labant et se iterum reciprocant
[2b] Quem angeli in arce poli voce consona semper
canunt
[3a] Hic corpus adsumpserat fragile Sine labe originalis
criminis de carne marie virigins, quo
primiparentis culpam eveque lasciviam tergeret
[3b] Hoc presens dies ista loquitur Prelucida adaucta
longitudine quo sol verus radio sui luminis
vetustas mundi depulerat genitus tenebras
[4a] Nec nox vacat novi sideris luce quod magorum
oculos terruit scios
[4b] Nec gregum magistris defuit lumen quos prestrinxit
claritas militum dei
[5a] Gaudet dei genitrix quam circumstant obstetricum
vice concinentes angeli gloriam deo
[5b] Christe patris unice qui humanam nostri causa
formam assumpsisti refove supplices tuos
[6a] Et quorum participem te fore dignatus es hiesu
dignanter eorum suscipe preces
[6b] Ut ipsos divinitatis tue participes deus facere
digneris unice dei

- Blessed Notker of St Gall

[Translation and Latin text from this website]