D-Day and Today

71 years ago today the largest fleet ever assembled in world history landed on Normandy Beach, France to invade Hitler’s “Fortress Europe”.  Many brave and frightened men died this day for our freedoms, especially freedom from political tyranny. A tyranny that essentially outlawed the Christian faith as graphically portrayed in this American poster of the real enemy.    Fly your flag today but more pray and give thanks for our freedoms under assault in our day both at home and in the recent tyranny of the jihadists. The results  back then were not a foregone conclusion.

C.S. Lewis, writing at the time, gave us a poignant lesson from D-Day for the Church.  Before the quote below, Lewis is discussing the fact that Faith is not about God having one part of us but He claims the whole and then makes the comparison with D-Day:

In all of us God “still” holds only a part. D-Day is only a week ago. The bite so far taken out of Normandy shows small on the map of Europe. The resistance is strong, the casualties heavy, and the event uncertain. There is, we have to admit, a line of demarcation between God’s part in us and the enemy’s region. But it is, we hope, a fighting line; not a frontier fixed by agreement.

On Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, the  Lord, Holy Spirit began assembling the invasion force, the militia Christi, the army of Christ  to preach and teach His Word.  The resistance, the flesh, the world and the devil is strong, the martyrs many, and the event uncertain.   Yet, our hope we pray is fulfilled in the kingdom come. In The Large Catechism Luther taught that in this life we are only half-way pure. I think both Luther and Lewis are teaching that this is, “…a fighting line;  not a frontier fixed by agreement.”   C.S. Lewis uses this comparison as a man who fought in the front lines during the first World War.  This is the strife of the Spirit in our lives, for us and for our salvation and the salvation of many in Christ Jesus. It is bloody, as in the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us all.  It is bloody, as in the blood of the martyrs who witnessed to Jesus Christ in Fortress Adam in Operation Lord Over All.  Luther sang, “…He fights by our side with the weapons of the Spirit”. (See Ephesians 6)  The devil does not take his enemies alive.  The Lord does take His enemies alive and frees them (see Romans 5:9-11!)   From the Epistle  1 Peter:

 “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”

Let us pray…

 Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word;
Curb those who fain by craft and sword
Would wrest the Kingdom from Thy Son
And set at naught all He hath done.

Lord Jesus Christ, Thy power make known,
For Thou art Lord of lords alone;
Defend Thy Christendom that we
May evermore sing praise to Thee.

O Comforter of priceless worth.
Send peace and unity on earth.
Support us in our final strife
And lead us out of death to life.

(Martin Luther)

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“Why are the Six Chief Parts in their Order?”

The title of this article is from search terms for this blog.  Someone was wanting to know the reason for the order of the Catechisms by Dr. Martin Luther.  It is a good question.

The 6 Chief Parts of the Small and Large Catechisms, by Dr. Martin Luther are:

1.  The Ten Commandments

2.  The Apostle’s Creed

3. The Lord’s Prayer

4. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism

5.  Confession and Absolution

6.  The Sacrament of the Altar

They are in that order for a specific reason:  Law, then Gospel.  In Dr. Luther’s conclusion of the Ten Commandments in The Large Catechism:

Thus we have the Ten Commandments, a compendium of divine doctrine, as to what we are to do in order that our whole life may be pleasing to God, and the true fountain and channel from and in which everything must arise and flow that is to be a good work, so that outside of the Ten Commandments no work or thing can be good or pleasing to God, however great or precious it be in the eyes of the world.

When one applies for a job, the employer will tell the prospective employee what is expected of her.  It is that simple, so also with the Lord.  His commandments show us the way to please the Lord.  Any “work or thing” outside of the Commandments is not pleasing to God.  If I worked at McDonald’s, I would be fired if I fried up some vegetarian burgers and called such a “Big Mac”.  Dr. Luther’s teaching on each of the commandments is also a compendium of each one, both negative (what we should not do) and positive:  what we are to do.  

At the beginning of the 2nd Chief Part, Luther points out we have a difficult time in keeping the 10 Commandments: to say the least!  So Luther taught in the introduction to the 2nd Chief Part, The Creed the reason for the next 5 chief parts:

Thus far we have heard the first part of Christian doctrine, in which we have seen all that God wishes us to do or to leave undone. Now, there properly follows the Creed, which sets forth to us everything that we must expect and receive from God, and, to state it quite briefly, teaches us to know Him fully.    And this is intended to help us do that which according to the Ten Commandments we ought to do. For (as said above) they are set so high that all human ability is far too feeble and weak to [attain to or] keep them. Therefore it is as necessary to learn this part as the former in order that we may know how to attain thereto, whence and whereby to obtain such power.   For if we could by our own powers keep the Ten Commandments as they are to be kept, we would need nothing further, neither the Creed nor the Lord’s Prayer.

So next we have Gospel:  the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.  Next we have the means of grace by which the Lord gives us His Word of promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We read God’s perfect will for us in the 10 Commandments and next His perfect Way to keep the 10 Commandments in the person, word and work of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God.

One last note:  Law:  1st Chief Part, Gospel: parts 2-6.  There are more chief parts of the Gospel than the Law! This shows how much help we sinners need from our dear Lord and He has!

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The Commemoration of C. F. W. Walther, Theologian, 7 May, 2015: Born: 25 October 1811, Langenchursdorf, Saxony, Germany Died: 7 May 1887,St. Louis,Missouri

Bio:  Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811-87), the father of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, served as its first president from 1847 to 1850 and then again from 1864 to 1878. In 1839 he emigrated from Saxony, Germany, with other Lutherans, who settled in Missouri. He served as pastor of several congregations in St. Louis, founded Concordia Seminary, and in 1847 was instrumental in the formation of the LCMS (then called the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States). Walther worked tirelessly to promote confessional Lutheran teaching and doctrinal agreement among all Lutherans in the United States. He was a prolific writer and speaker. Among his most influential works are Church and Ministry and The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel.

Reflection:  Walther’s most influential book is The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel , the series of 39 evening lectures of his 25 Theses regarding this crucial Biblical understanding to his  seminarians between Friday, September 12, 1884 and Friday, November 6, 1885 and it was published posthumously .   The lectures were based upon great Reformation insight confessed in The Apology of the Augsburg Confession:

“All Scriptures should be divided into these two chief doctrines, the law and the promises.For in some places it presents the Law, and in others the promise concerning Christ, namely, either when [in the Old Testament] it promises that Christ will come, and offers, for His sake, the remission of sins justification, and life eternal, or when, in the Gospel [in the New Testament], Christ Himself, since He has appeared, promises the remission of sins, justification, and life eternal.  Moreover, in this discussion, by Law we designate the Ten Commandments, wherever they are read in the Scriptures.  ” (Article IV. Justification)

Law and Promise (Gospel) do two different things:  the Law shows us our sin and the Gospel points us to our Savior.  If we mix up Law and Promise we have what goes for much of Christian religion summed up by the ditty, “Do your best, and God will do the rest”.  This does not square with the Lord’s just judgment that since sin is death, then it would be like telling Lazarus: do your best, you’re so lazy being dead, and I’ll do the rest! No!  Jesus Christ called him out of the tomb by His Word…and you and I! He calls us by His Word and Holy Baptism from the tomb of our sins and on the Day, out of our tombs, as He is risen. Luther called distinguishing Law and Promise a great, difficult and high art.  Walther contributed to this art mightily. The kind of “Reader’s Digest” paraphrase of Proper Distinction is entitled:  God’s No and God’s Yes.  No and Yes can not be confused:  ask a parent, a teacher, a pastor, an elected official. God’s No is His Law, His Yes is Jesus Christ  and the joyous repentance turns to our Savior…day by day. His lectures have been called “uncreative”.  I thank God for Walther’s uncreativity.  He was no hero but he was faithful to the Scripture and their true exposition in The Book of Concord which was immensely unpopular in 19th Century Protestant America.  

I think the quote below is a masterpiece of the proper distinction as Pastor Walther applied the balm of the Gospel for the sorrowful:

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

The Christian must spend many days of his life fighting this battle. Often, there are long periods when he feels almost nothing other than his unbelief and sinfulness; and this is so painful to him that his heart is almost always full of sighing. The remembrance of his past, the present condition of his heart and life, and his bleak thoughts of the future fill him with sorrow.

Whoever does not experience this on a daily basis can see evidence that his faith is only an empty, powerless delusion. As sad as this is for lukewarm Christians who do not engage in the battle, those who confess that they are almost never entirely free from the trial, care, and sorrow of the heart are in a happy condition. For if they squarely recognize their incurable corruption and regard any good they think, speak, or do as being entirely from God, it is well with them. Without misery about sin and sorrow of their heart, they would never remain in Christ. Instead, they would soon become secure, proud, and self-righteous. The sorrow with which they are continually visited is the means God employs to keep them with Christ.

Oh, blessed is he who is kept with Christ. By this he remains on the certain path to eternal joy. As Christ says: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of Me.” Let us, then, gladly follow the way of godly sorrow on which the Lord leads us. His goal for us is peace in both time and eternity. While we reside on earth, our weak heart and the distress of our soul sometimes prompt us to ask,”O Lord, why?” But on that day when we behold God and the harvest of joy is gathered from our sowing of tears, we will ask nothing more.  Then we will have nothing bu praise for the One who has guidedus throughsorrow to eternal glory, through trouble and toil to eternal rest.”  (God Grant It: Daily Devotions  by Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther)

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On the Eve of the Supreme Court Deliberations on Marriage

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and vthe two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” St. Matthew 19: 4-6, the Lord quoted Genesis 2: 24

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on same-sex pseudogamy in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges.  I do not know the details of this case.  If the court does not legalize pseudogamy (false marriage), eventually they  will or the unrelenting homosexual agenda will get their way another way.  I saw this in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as the agenda was pushed until the decision for pseudogamy was passed.

On the eve of the acceptance of same-sex pseudogamy, I propose the following:

1.  All pastors should stop signing state wedding licenses:  Former Lutheran pastor Richard John Neuhaus, now of blessed memory, in his excellent reflections on pastoral ministry, Freedom for Ministry, makes the Biblical case that pastors and priests should seek their authority only from the Word and Work of Jesus Christ in His Church and not from lesser authorities like diplomas, public prestige….or the government.  He wrote it is pitiful to hear a minister to declare at a wedding, “By the power vested in me by the State of _____, I now declare you husband and wife”, which means the minister is “a minor clerk in Caesar’s court.”  I am the pastor of a small mission, but other pastors have declared they will no longer sign a state’s marriage certificate.  I will no longer be a “minor clerk in Caesar’s court” and will not sign another government wedding license.  A man and a woman is joined together by God, not by me, nor the man and woman, nor by the state.  The new husband and new wife can then at another time seek the legality of the state license.

2.  We should redo the wedding rite along the lines of Eastern Orthodox Churches:  I wrote an overly lengthy article on the blog Brothers of John the Steadfast on this topic, My Radical Marriage Proposal: What God has joined together.  It is long because it is also a history of the marriage rite in the Western Church compared with the Eastern Orthodox Churches.  In the Orthodox churches, the couple does not exchange vows.   Instead, it is the couple walking around the Altar and then they are married in order to emphasize, What GOD has joined together.  Professor Vigen Guorian, University of Virginia, ethicist and member of the Armenian Orthodox Church wrote:

You and I will look in vain to find in the Byzantine (Greek) rite of holy matrimony, for example, the familiar exchange of vows.  And in all Eastern rites where this ceremony is present that is a late edition under the influence of Roman law and Latin Christianity… 

In the attack on the Church’s Biblical understanding of marriage and the assault on our first amendment rights, a wedding service without vows would be a) more Biblical and b) more clearly state it is Lord who joins the couple according to His Word, not the State. This would also speak more clearly to our first amendment right that the government shall not interfere in the free exercise of religion, as we clearly state that the wedding is not a verbal contract, as in business.

3.  The Marriage Rite should be conducted only during the Holy Communion since it is Christians who are being joined together.  Again, Professor Guorian,

The Eucharist is our home as Christians.  And it is the home of Christian marriage.  In order to honor and secure its true meaning in the minds and hearts of the faithful, we must return marriage to that home immediately, where it obtains it sacred value and distinction and is most secure.

4.  Each Christian communion should preside at wedding rites of their own members, both the man and the woman:  At my first congregation, I was the assistant pastor, and the senior pastor had literally a brisk business in “non-member weddings” with a “schedule of fees and donations”.   Using the  church building as a wedding chapel must stop as we have opened ourselves up to the notion we are simply a public service granting sanction to all sorts of marriage arrangements. Back then, as it is now, for instance, the couple is living together and deciding it is time.  Luther wrote in a different situation about “secret engagements” and marriage, yet the blessed Reformer speaks to our time:

“…all will depend on sound knowledge and understanding of what this verse, “What God has joined together,” is trying to say.  It does not say, “What has joined itself together,’ but “What God has joined together.”  The joining together is easily seen, but men refuse to see that it is to be God who does the joining.  As soon as a joining together has come about by the parties’ own efforts, they immediately want to hang God’s Name over it as a cloak to hide their shame, and say that God did it.

I reflect that a couple may consider themselves ‘really’ married when they are united by the government. If so, this is sad and we need to do a better job at education in marriage.  The whole same-sex pseudogamy will be considered the real win of the homosexual agenda, as what is sought is beyond our biological creation, and is Godless, and so the State sanctioning same-sex marriage is more important than the Lord and His Word. Again, Fr. Neuhaus commented that when the Church is driven out of the public square then the state becomes the church.  We pray, preach and serve that all come to repentance in Christ.  And as a Lutheran Christian pastor I have a simple question: Who is greater God or the government? We are encouraged by Scripture, as John on the island of Patmos, looked at the maws of the whore of Babylon and Caesar and declared,  

 Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. ⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1; emphasis my own)

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Catechetical Instruction: The Lord’s Prayer

There are 7 petitions in the Lord’s Prayer which the Lord has taught us.  The petitions are definite:  The Lord’s Name, His Kingdom, His Will, Our daily bread, Our Trespasses, Our lives prevented from temptation, Our deliverance from the evil one. The first three petitions correspond with the first table of the Law, God’s relation with us, love of the Lord,  vertical in dimension.  The second 4 petitions, our relations with each other, love of the neighbor, horizontal in dimension, corresponds with the 2^nd Table of the Law.  The first three petitions’ dominant pronoun is “Thy” and second four “ours” and “us’, and always in that order:  Thy and us.  The Lord has given us His Name, His Kingdom, or reign, His Will as His Church’s backbone so that we can live in the world and in the world to come. The church backbone is Jesus Christ so His Church, His Body, His temple may serve the Lord and neighbor, steadfast, not swept away by every wind of doctrine. His vertebrae is as firm as the Cross:  atonement for sin, reconciling God and man, and His arms reaching out for all men to the ends of the earth. In this world, the Lord knows we need our daily bread, our sins forgiven, our souls prevented from temptation and our soul and body delivered from evil and the evil one.  He has shown us the way we are to live in the 10 commandments, all that He given us in the Apostles’ Creed so be His people,  and now the need to pray in the way of Jesus Christ, life of all the living,  as our help and stay. 

The longest book in the Bible is Psalms.  Psalms are prayers.  It is in the middle of the Bible.  Here doctrine takes wing.  “You took the words right out of my mouth”.  “God takes the initiative and puts into our mouths the very words we are to use.” (Luther).  Lord we  can take the words right out of Your mouth.  You have taught us to pray.  You have given us Your words to pray and Your Word that You hear the prayer of faith.  O Lord, You have prayed, not in heaven, but upon the earth, in the world turned against you.  O Lord, the only begotten Son of the Father as a true man, You were tempted in every we are, knowing the darkness of the evil one.  You hungered for daily bread, needing every Word of God as bread. You called upon Your Father for His will to be done, that is the sin of the world to be taken away in Your sinless body for us and for our salvation. You prayed to Your Father in heaven so that we can pray, Our Father who art in heaven. You O Jesus are our prayer.  The Lord’s Prayer is the Gospel.  

Billy Joel wrote a song, Second Wind and it has this interesting lyric:

You’re not the only one who’s made mistakes
But they’re the only things that you can truly call your own

As in our trespasses, our temptations.  The Lord who has forgiven us nailed to the Cross took upon Himself what  He did not own: our trespasses and made them His own, all of them.  We can own up to what we owe the Lord because of His loving kindness, as we turn to Him day by day.

 

In another sense, Mr. Joel was wrong in his assertion that mistakes or trespasses are the only things we can truly call our own.  We can call bread, what we need to live, as our own, our daily bread, our own.  Dad and Mom make a living, buy a house, pay for the food. Their children, who have not paid a dime for any of it, still can call it our house, our table, our home.  Our own.  So also our Father in heaven gives us our daily bread as our own.  He gives us His every word as our daily bread, our own.  He has given us forgiveness and in that forgiveness, by grace as a gift, that we are His own. He has given us His own Son so that we may pray, Our Father Who art in heaven, Hallowed by Thy Name.  Amen.

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Encouragement for Today: “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3: 13, NIV)

From Dr. Luther’s The Small Catechism, The Lord’s Prayer, Explanation of the 6th Petition, “Lead us not into temptation”

“Temptation…is of three kinds, namely, of the flesh, of the world, and of the devil. 

For in the flesh we dwell and carry the old Adam about our neck, who exerts himself and incites us daily to unchastity, laziness, gluttony and drunkenness, avarice and deception, to defraud our neighbor and to overcharge him, and, in short, to all manner of evil lusts which cleave to us by nature, and to which we are incited by the society and example of other people and by things  we hear and see, which often wound and inflame even an innocent heart.” (emphasis my own)

The society and example of other people in our day and time is seen, heard, read and felt  on television, radio and the internet.  For instance: The whole purpose of  advertising has one clear goal and that is coveting.  This means breaking the 9th and 10th commandments to inculcate the desire, even the lust, to want more,to buy more, to have joy and happiness. Even the innocent heart can be so inflamed! And as it is written, “Covetousness is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5) and we are back to the 1st Commandment.  It is one vicious circle. All the breaking of the Law is to steal from God’s glory…. and from His help in the time of temptation and trial.   The society of advertisers know this intrinsically as the lust of the flesh inheres in us all.  A DVR sure does help in order to fast forward through the commercials!  But that is only a stop gap measure.  The encouragement today is the last paragraphs of Pr. Luther’s explanation of the 6th petition:

 “…we Christians must be armed and prepared for (the devil’s) incessant attacks. Then we shall not go about securely and heedlessly as if the devil were far from us but shall at all times expect his blows and parry them. Even if at present I am chaste, patient, kind, and firm in faith, the devil is likely in this very hour to send such a shaft into my heart that I can scarcely stand, for he is an enemy who never stops or becomes weary; when one attack ceases, new ones always arise.

At such times your only help or comfort is to take refuge in the Lord’s Prayer and to appeal to God from your heart, “Dear Father, Thou halt commanded me to pray; let me not fall because of temptation.” Then you will see the temptation cease and eventually admit defeat. Otherwise, if you attempt to help yourself by your own thoughts and counsels, you will only make the matter worse and give the devil a better opening. For he has a serpent’s head; if it finds an opening into which it can slip, the whole body will irresistibly follow. But prayer can resist him and drive him back.”

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Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent (Year B)

St. Mark 8:  “And He began to teach them that the Son of  Man must suffer many things…” 

One of the words that has become used a whole lot more in the computer age is “template”. 

noun:  1..  pattern, mold, or the like, usually consisting of a thin plate of wood or metal, serving as a gauge or guide in mechanical work

 2. anything that determines or serves as a pattern; a model 

Jesus is pointing His disciples to His Cross looming in the future and in the distance.  The Gospel of His prophecy of His death and resurrection will be the template of salvation. His cross, His suffering many things is the things of God, God’s mind and His mind is made-up:  He saved you and will. 

His Word is the template for your salvation, the joyous word of your forgiveness in Jesus Christ, the way of the Cross is the baptismal path.  And in the way that is just and so justifies, makes us right by faith.  This Gospel, in fact all the  Gospel, written and taught and preached and administered in the Sacraments is the template of His Cross.  I know I have pointed out before the floor plans of the Gothic Cathedrals of Europe and America is cross-shaped.  The cross is the template of the Church, His Temple, His Body.  This is the template of each life within Christ’s Body.  In today’s Gospel is the precise moment in which the Lord began to teach His suffering:   rejected, killed, buried and risen. 

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Our Lord asked a rhetorical question which begs no answer because it is self-evident that the question itself is  the answer:  when a man wants the whole world, he will lose his own soul in forfeit to get it. Satan certainly knows the Faustian bargain which is no deal!   We all get it.  Even folks who are not “religious” or spiritual get it.  We see it played out, repeatedly, in the courts of public media and opinion. It is the Faustian bargain.  Losing one’s soul for gaining the whole world is Satan’s real deal and the soul lost is hell…or even a piece of that pie. This is piously lamented as the succession of sports figures, movie and television stars, politicians and the like rise and fall is played out, shaking heads in self-righteous indignation thinking Oh it’s not me.  Yet, we know it can be. 

 “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  John 16:  33.   Jesus triumphs over Satan and the world. He teaches them He must suffer many things…the must is a must, it is a divine necessity. Why?!  Sin must be accounted for and the judgment of it.  God is the just judge.  And the suffering begins almost in the next verse:  His own disciple, Peter, who had just confessed Him as the Christ, rebuked the Lord. Rejected, killed, shamed is no way for a Messiah to act!  You are thinking like men that a glorious escape, which leaves iniquity, unaccounted. Therefore, Jesus suffers the torment of temptation from a disciple, a friend. He must for He must save Peter, you, and me. He has, you can count on that more than anyone can count on the stock market or the weather forecast. 

What is the world?  Answer:  it is God’s good creation, pulsating with His life and love.  Nevertheless, the “world” in the hands of  man bent on being God as Satan promised, the world became something else:

“In this creation, life is received in faith as the sheer unmerited gift of God and then shared as freely as it is given in love for the neighbor. If you take creation, subtract faith, and love from it, the remainder is “the world.” Take away faith and love and the creation becomes clueless about God and itself and ends up looking to itself and when it “gets religion”, as the saying goes, the world makes itself into a god. “A god,” says Luther “is whatever you look to as the source of your good.” In addition, what creation, minus faith and love, looks to for its good is itself. And just so, creation becomes “the world”. The “world”, theologically is the creation bent on being its own god.” (Pr. Louis Smith). 

“I’ve given you everything, the best years of my life” “I’ve scrimped and saved and what thanks I do I get?”  “Oh, this is to die for” And each one of us will but that is not the final chapter. 

God entered fully into the world, the Greek word for world is cosmos.  As in “cosmetics”.  The world apart from God, its Creator, knows how to look good, enticing, well, tempting; it is said we are “self-made” men and women.  But it is death. We look for easier and less astounding ways, the easy way out, but that is not just.  A trade-off, If I do this, then you will HAVE it all, that is the template of the world, and that is bartering, dealing not saving grace. God’s law kills us with that truth concerning iniquity.  Thinking the things of man, like Peter, our minds are made up. We want it all and want it now. You can, says someone, for a price, a steep price that looks like a deal at the start. However, the price is the soul.  Then one is sold. What can a man do?   For what can a man give in return for his soul? Another question, which is its own answer, a man can do nothing.  However, God can and has.  Bought for a price, a steep price.  What’s teh price, as the Elizabethans would say, “God’s blood”.  He became sin and died, a must.  The template of His Cross and Resurrection is not only seen but also first heard, Scripture is summed up by the Catechism and for us today, look at the back of the bulletin please, the 2^nd article of the Creed:

What does this mean?  Answer:  I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.  He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and delivered me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death; in order that I may be wholly His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

This template is our daily life in Jesus Christ and it is baptismal and related to the 4^th Chief part of the Catechisms, especially this Q and A:

What does such baptizing with water signify?–Answer.It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Where is this written?–Answer.  St. Paul says Romans, chapter 6: We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death, that, like as He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Another Elizabethan, Shakespeare wrote:

“Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.”

The brave in Christ Jesus do die many deaths and will taste of life forever:  Jesus Christ.  Dying and rising is our wet walk in Baptism and not to be ashamed of it, but  proud of His love which has loved us to the end and will forever. His blood teaches us we are His.    St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York: unmistakably a cross, a cross in the midst of Vanity Fair, unashamed. Around it buildings tower over that church.  Cathedrals have spires:  and the cross points us to heaven. And as tall as the skyscrapers are in NYC round about finally only point to themselves.  Many of the cathedrals have at the entrance a baptismal font:  the way we enter and are His people.  Our cruciform lives pointing others to heaven:  Jesus died and rose for you.  Plainly.

 

 

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Commemoration of Martin Luther, Doctor and Confessor, +18 February 1546

Martin Luther, born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany, initially began studies leading toward a degree in law. However, after a close encounter with death, he switched to the study of theology, entered an Augustinian monastery, was ordained a priest in 1505, and received a doctorate in theology in 1512. As a professor at the newly established University of Wittenberg, Luther’s scriptural studies led him to question many of the Church’s teachings and practices, especially the selling of indulgences. His refusal to back down from his convictions resulted in his excommunication in 1521. Following a period of seclusion at the Wart­burg castle, Luther returned to Wittenberg, where he spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching, translating the Scriptures, and writing hymns and numerous theological treatises. He is remembered and honored for his lifelong emphasis on the biblical truth that for Christ’s sake God declares us righteous by grace through faith alone. Luther died on February 18, 1546, while visiting the town of his birth. (from The Treasury of Daily Prayer, published by Concordia Publishing House)

Lessons:

Psalm 46
Isaiah 55:6-11
Romans 10:5-17
John 15:1-11

Prayer of the Day

O God, our refuge and our strength, You raised up Your servant Martin Luther to reform and renew Your Church in the light of Your living Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Defend and purify the Church in our own day, and grant that we may boldly proclaim Christ’s faithfulness unto death and His vindicating resurrection, which You made known to Your servant Martin through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

 

A few days before his death, Luther preached to a large congregation on  February 15, 1546.  This was his last sermon.The text was St. Matthew 11: 25-30

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

“…to the world it is very foolish and offensive that God should be opposed to the wise and condemn them, when, after all, we have the idea that God could not reign if he did not have wise and understanding people to help him. But the meaning of the saying is this: the wise and understanding in the world so contrive things that God cannot be favorable and good to them. For they are always exerting themselves; they do things in the Christian church the way they want to themselves. Everything that God does they must improve, so that there is no poorer, more insignificant and despised disciple on earth than God; he must be everybody’s pupil, everybody wants to be his teacher and preceptor. This may be seen in all heretics from the beginning of the world, in Arius and Pelagius, and now in our time the Anabaptists and antisacramentarians, and all fanatics and rebels; they are not satisfied with what God has done and instituted, they cannot let things be as they were ordained to be. They think they have to do something too, in order that they may be a bit better than other people and be able to boast: This is what I have done; what God has done is too poor and insignificant, even childish and foolish; I must add something to it. This is the nature of the shameful wisdom of the world, especially in the Christian church, where one bishop and one pastor hacks and snaps at another and one obstructs and shoves the other, as we have seen at all times in the government of the church to its great detriment. These are the real wiseacres, of whom Christ is speaking here, who put the cart before the horse and will not stay on the road which God himself has shown us, but always have to have and do something special in order that the people may say: Ah, our pastor or preacher is nothing; there’s the real man, he’ll get things done!”

 

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Quote of the Day: Luther on ‘the Turks’

Front Page of Luther’s Edition of the Qu’ran

Historical note:  In Luther’s lifetime, in 1529, the Ottoman Turkish sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent brought his armies to the outskirts of Vienna, Austria and laid siege. Then in 1540, the same Islamic nation conquered Hungary.  This meant that Western Europe was facing Islamic Armageddon.  So much so, that Martin Luther had the Qu’ran printed from an earlier translation that he had found.  He thought people should know the Qu’ran in order to refute its false doctrine, as Luther wrote in his preface to  his edition of the Qu’ran:

“For Muhammad denies that Christ is the son of God, denies that he died for our sins, denies that he arose for our life, denies that by faith in him our sins are forgiven and we are justified, denies that he will come as judge of the living and the dead … denies the Holy Spirit, and denies the gifts of the Spirit. By these and similar articles of faith consciences must be fortified against the ceremonies of Muhammad. With these weapons his Qur’an must be refuted.”

Luther also reasoned that if Western Europe were conquered, they should know their conquerors.  

 In our day, in which church after church either denigrate doctrine as doctrinaire, or deny basic Christian doctrine, which Luther listed above as fundamentals of the faith by asserting their historical truth, then the Church is no longer steadfast and so prey for the devil (see 1 Peter 5:8) .  Denying basic Christian doctrine, and the resultant practice of faith in Christ and His grace for poor sinners,  has helped Islam, and so many other anti-Trinitarian heresies (e.g. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses) to grow and flourish. 

Given the  risk Christian Europe faced, there  are many references in Luther and Lutheran Reformation writings (sermons, tracts, hymns) about “the Turk”, as in the sermon quote below.  Note again:  “Turk” equals Muslim.  This quote is from Luther’s sermon on John 1: 46 (From the Gospel lesson, John 1:  43-51) for 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B):

(God’s Kingdom) is to be a kingdom of grace, belonging to those who are wretched and poor, whether they be men or women, rich or poor…

Since all (the Turk’s) undertakings prosper, they conclude at once that they are God’s people, that God is their friend and gracious to them. For fortune, success, and victory attend them against all their enemies; and they vanquish all whom they attack, also those who glory in the Christian name. You cannot dispel such a terrible illusion, which is ignorant of the judgment of God and blusters and brags that God is on their side. Therefore the Turks massacre so wantonly, and all this under the pretense that God is their ally.

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The Commemoration of Katharina von Bora, 20 December 2,014

O God, our refuge and strength, You raised up Your servant Katharina to support her husband in the task to reform and renew Your Church in the light of Your  Word. Defend and purify the Church today and grant that, through faith, we may boldly support and encourage our pastors and teachers of the faith as they proclaim and administer the riches of Your grace made known in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Katharina von Bora(1499–1552) was placed in a convent when still a child and became a nun in 1515. In April 1523 she and eight other nuns were rescued from the convent and brought to Wittenberg. There Martin Luther helped return some to their former homes and placed the rest in good families. Katharina and Martin were married on June 13, 1525. Their marriage was a happy one and blessed with six children. Katharina skillfully managed the Luther household, which always seemed to grow because of his generous hospitality. After Luther’s death in 1546, Katharina remained in Wittenberg but lived much of the time in poverty. She died in an accident while traveling with her children to Torgau in order to escape the plague. Today is the anniversary of her death. (Collect and Intro fromThe Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House)

 

Martin Luther’s Home The Luther family, wife and six children, and various students and visitors lived in the central part of the building. He was given the building by one of the aristocrats supporting his movement.

There were many people at one given time for dinner or to stay.  Students, pastors fleeing from oppression, friends and dignitaries were guests in Luther’s home and Frau Luther took care of them all, overseeing a house staff.  Luther would preach in their home, and the those sermons are called “hausepostilles”, or house sermons.  In a 3 volume edition of Luther’s Hauspostils is a little bit more about Katharina von Bora:

The HAUSPOSTILLE, or house postils or sermons, need to be distinguished from Luther’s KIRCHENPOSTILLE, or church postils. The term “postil” itself derives out of the Latin phrase post ilia verba textus, “after those words of the text,” and refers to the commentary or homily which followed upon the reading of the standard pericope, the Gospel or Epistle, by the preacher at the service of worship. ..The house postils or sermons, on the other hand, which constitute the volumes of our translation, were delivered by Luther in the intimate circle of his family members and a few others. The Luther household was often quite extensive—a real test for Katie’s ingenuity at balancing the family budget!—because of relatives, students, and associates who were domiciled there or regularly present at Luther’s elbow for one reason or another.

We have narrowed our focus on the so-called HAUSPOSTILLE of Luther, the sermons which he delivered in the famous Lutherhalle, or Luther house, in Wittenberg, the old monastery of the Augustinians. Luther had been a member of this monastic order since 1506 when he completed a one-year probationary novitiate, and in a sense he really felt he had not left it until June 13, 1525when he married Katharine von Bora, who had been a nun. Luther had lived in the old monastery ever since joining the faculty at Wittenberg in 1511. Here he had his living quarters, often preached for the Augustinian chapter, and eventually also delivered his lectures as professor of Biblical theology at the university. Elector Frederick the Wise had designated the old monastery to be the family home for Luther and Katie, as Martin affectionately called his bride. She was up to the challenge, and with him established a model parsonage family and home. Together they rejoiced over a circle of six children that gladdened their hearts, but then also saddened them when Elizabeth died as an infant and Magdalene as a vivacious teenager.

Reflection:

Katharina von Bora was by no means a modern or a post-modern woman.  She is the antithesis of the so-called ‘liberated’ feminist.  She did not seek to “find herself”.  She did not “shop till she dropped”.  She could not have fathomed having an abortion.  She was not  “self-fulfilled” and yet she could run a household the size of a small business. She was not looking to smash “glass ceilings”. Women today seek in this zeitgeist (“spirit of an age”) is also what men look for in our so-called ‘enlightened’ age  and it is certainly not what our Lord says:  deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me.

Frau Luther was no nun.   You can not find a word about nuns in the Bible but much about wives and mothers who were heroes of the faith in Old and New Testaments:  Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel…Mary.  She was not ‘holy’ by her self-chosen ‘spirituality’ and holy deeds  but made holy by her faith in Jesus Christ lived in her domestic vocation. She was the antithesis in some ways of a Mother Teresa. Katharina is the model of woman that pertains to all of humankind and those of the household of faith:  fathers and mothers and their children and the 4th and 6th Commandments.  We need to look more at a saint like Katharina than a Teresa.  

The crescendo of Proverbs is the last chapter, 38 and it is all about wives and mothers. I think Frau Luther  epitomized this last chapter of the book of Proverbs.  God be praised for all faithful wives and mothers who confess Jesus Christ!

¹⁰ An excellent wife who can find?
   She is far more precious than jewels.
¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her,
   and he will have no lack of gain.
¹²She does him good, and not harm,
   all the days of her life.
¹³She seeks wool and flax,
   and works with willing hands.
¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant;
   she brings her food from afar.
¹⁵She rises while it is yet night
   and provides food for her household
   and portions for her maidens.
¹⁶She considers a field and buys it;
   with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷She dresses herself with strength
   and makes her arms strong.
¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
   Her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff,
   and her hands hold the spindle.
²⁰She opens her hand to the poor
   and reaches out her hands to the needy.
²¹She is not afraid of snow for her household,
   for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
²²She makes bed coverings for herself;
   her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³Her husband is known in the gates
   when he sits among the elders of the land.
²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them;
   she delivers sashes to the merchant.
²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing,
   and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom,
   and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed;
   her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹“Many women have done excellently,
   but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
   but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands,
   and let her works praise her in the gates.

English Standard Version (ESV)

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