Thirty Day Challenge versus Forty Day Humbling

I truly love Lententide as it is a very powerful season calling us away from the false worship that we devise for ourselves.

One of the stations that I hear when driving has a 30 Day Challenge in which the challenge is to listen to their station to hear only Christian Music for 30 days and see how it changes a person’s life.  I would actually love to be able to do this.  I truly would.  If only such a station existed where Christian music is what is played.

Rather, all that is available is the pablum found on stations like theirs.  If it were merely pablum, maybe I could still utilize it, but it is also bad theology, false theology.  Thus, they are right, if I were to listen to this for 30 days, I would become the kind of Christian that these songs inspire, one who in self-delusion speaks of relying on Christ while ultimately relying upon my own reason and strength.

Thus I often turn on the radio and listen to such a station for as long as I can stand it, hearing the weather and a few other reports as well as the “uplifting Christian music,” and then I turn it off and sing and hum hymns and portions of the liturgy.

Lent is a time that helps me with this as the entire focus of Lent directs us away from self to the preaching of Christ crucified.

I often am befuddled when I observe how many people choose for themselves songs that consist of a few fragments of a Psalm or other Scriptural selection and twist these into a mindless orgy of delusional “praise.”

The Psalms were the hymnal for the Church of the Old Testament.  They consist of the deepest doctrinal content.  They rarely repeat except with those particularly written as responsive prayers, such as Psalm 136.  Some are quite short and others are quite long.  But they always are full of deep content and are written to fit within the greater life of worship with the coming of the Christ as the foundation.  They teach of the grandeur and marvel of God’s work of creation.  They teach of the fall of mankind and the promise of the Savior.  They teach of the giving of the Torah/Law/Word of God for the enlightenment of mankind concerning the God of grace and salvation.  They were compiled into a grouping together, to be understood one with the other, never as fragmentary praises to stand alone.

While a radio station may extend a 30 day challenge to listen only to their music as motivation to be changed in one’s focus and view, the Church has the 40 day season of fasting and prayer, calling us to be humbled so that we may turn from seeking to be uplifted so that we rather willingly and even eagerly fall to our knees before God to receive His merciful absolution and blessing of regeneration into His kingdom.  Lent calls us to bow down and hear again our baptismal promise of absolution and reconciliation with God.  Lent calls us to turn from the sweet notions of birthday parties for Jesus to the battered and bloodied Son of Man who cried out with our sin for us on the cross of our salvation.  Exuberant cries of “Joy to the World” and “Happy Birthday Jesus” are turned to tears of thankful joy that God would take such suffering from us on our behalf.

Lent is still a time of praise, but of a very different kind than what the old Adam chooses.  The old Adam wants to flaunt the freedom of the new life.  The regenerated man  rises up from being baptized into God’s kingdom and praises the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb who even from eternity volunteered to save the brothers whom He created.

It is quite marvelous to observe the manner of St. Peter after the resurrection contrasted to his manner prior to the crucifixion.  Lent calls us to be turned to this humbleness of spirit, too.  Lent calls us to look to the Holy Supper as our Thanksgiving.  Lent directs our hearts to hunger and thirst for the pure administration of the body and blood of Jesus as our greatest praise of God.  There we bow to His grace rather than to raise ourselves up to our own noise.  There God is honored most fully, even as He Himself has said thus to do.

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Christian Fraudulence

“Liar!  Liar!  Pants on fire!”

This is in part, the message of Lent.

Yes, as a Christian I face this every day.  As I profess to believe in Jesus as my Savior, I continually am confronted with my own unbelief.  The greatest reminder of this is my internal war with those sins that seem to own me.

Which sins?

We each have our own lists.  What is more is that we have sins of which we don’t even realize.

Lent is a time to be reminded how total our corruption is.  Apart from the Gospel we are truly corrupt, that is, dead and rotting.

Throughout my life I have often encountered a dead animal that needed to be buried.  Even something as small as a dead squirrel run over on the road can be horrific enough to send my olfactory senses into a reaction that produces convulsions of my guts.  In such circumstances I have learned to dig the burial pit first so that I can scoop up the rotting corpse and hold my breath while carrying it to the hole.  Sometimes it is so bad that I then have to walk away from the hole to get a breath and return to cast dirt over the corpse.

Anyone who has dealt with this has no question as to the rottenness and corruption of death.  This is what sin makes of us all.

But we manage to keep our distance so that we can delude ourselves regarding our own corruption.  Thus we need to hear, “Liar!  Liar!  Pants on fire!”

Truly this is an apt description.  We go about our business, scurrying here and there, not realizing that our pants are on fire, telling ourselves that we are OK.

Lent is a season when we cry out to remind one another and ourselves that our pants are on fire and that repentance is not something needed by other people, but by ourselves.

But in order to repent, that is, in order to be turned again, we need to hear that we have someplace to turn.  This is the ultimate goal of Lent.  The Gospel is the ultimate message.  Repentance is worked in us when the Holy Spirit implants the Word in us so that we hear both our need for salvation as well as the good news that in Christ this salvation is come.

Thus in His Church Christ ordained His means of grace.  Through these we continually receive the administration of His forgiveness and renewal.  Through these we are brought into His kingdom and preserved in His kingdom.
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Blessed Lent

Lent truly is a blessed time in the Church Year.  In my own appreciation of the seasons of the Church Year, I find Lent to be the most powerful.  My heart finds its way back to the thoughts and especially the hymns of Lententide throughout the year.  The comfort of the Lententide proclamation of my deep need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is very powerfully beneficial to me in my daily struggles in this sin-filled world.  Without that comfort I would surely despair.  Thus I treasure this message of comfort.

Today I saw a video that troubled me greatly.  It is a presentation from the current president of my former church body, the LC-MS.  This video presentation reminds me of what a dear friend was recently told by one or our former peers, by a current pastor in the LC-MS.  He was told:

Do you know what your problem is?  Your problem is that you actually believe this stuff.

My heart breaks every time that I think of this.  I most assuredly experienced this myself regarding the “faithful” pastors of this church body.  This is why I am distressed by the following video presentation.



This style of mild mannered preaching is not new.  In the past I was more easily duped by such a style, where the very kind and gentle manner of the synodical president gives the impression that a grandfatherly approach is being displayed.  However, grandfathers who truly love their children and grandchildren do not calmly allow their families to continue in dysfunction and discord.  Rather they take a strong position in calling those whom they love to be turned from the things that cause problems.

In this video Matthew 6 is quoted to make the point that Jesus loves prayer.  Mention is made of Luther’s wonderful explanation of the Our Father.  These are wonderful points to make.  These surely are to be preached and with loving gentleness.

Harrison further notes the value of the Litany.  The portion that he quotes is on pages 288-289 of the Lutheran Service Book and is available online here.  The LSB has slightly altered this responsive prayer from the earlier versions, but it still teaches the same basic points.  It still is a very good example of true prayer.

Harrison directs his hearers to the Litany as a wonderful help in praying as the Lord Jesus and His apostles teach that prayers should be made.  This is wonderful advice.

Then Harrison says at 3:35 on the time line:

Sometimes, when I get to this part, “We poor sinners implore You to hear us, O Lord.  To rule and govern Your holy Christian Church; to preserve all pastors and ministers of Your Church in the true knowledge and understanding of Your wholesome Word and to sustain them in holy living;” I stop.

At this point he shares the need for a person to pray for and support one’s pastor.  He instructs on the need to be aware of one’s failure to honor God’s gift of faithful pastors and to repent of this, calling upon God to forgive this failure and to move the people to pray for their faithful pastors.

He concludes urging, “Thank You for giving me a faithful pastor.”  Indeed, this is true cause for thanksgiving.

However, can this prayer rightly be urged in a church body where there are pastors who say things like: “Do you know what your problem is?  Your problem is that you actually believe this stuff.”

Is it loving to ignore the fact that congregations in this church body have pastors who are not faithful?  Should this Lenten admonition ignore the urgency for praying that the Lord of the Church rule and govern His holy Christian Church so that the pastors are only those who are preserved in the true knowledge and understanding of God’s wholesome Word and in holy living?

Should this Lenten admonition not also to include the rest of this section of the Litany?

To put an end to all schisms and causes of offense; to bring into the way of truth all who have erred and are deceived; To beat down Satan under our feet; to send faithful laborers into Your harvest; and to accompany Your Word with Your grace and Spirit:

How can Pr. Harrison ignore the fact, especially during this time of Lent when his duty is to call the pastors and congregations to repentance of their waywardness concerning God’s Word, how can he ignore the fact that there is indeed great division in his church body concerning the doctrine and practice of that church body?

Could it be that he is actually one of those pastors who says: “Do you know what your problem is?  Your problem is that you actually believe this stuff.”?

The Epistle of James warns about this idea that faith can somehow exist without the good works that flow from faith.  He warns that such faith is dead.  If a congregation, pastor, church body, synodical president, talk about faith and faithfulness but do not agree in what this means, just making noise to be heard and seen for their words, is this not what the Lord Jesus warns against in the very text that Pr. Harrison used to teach that Jesus loves prayer?

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  (Matthew 6:1-2 ESV)

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  (Matthew 6:5-9 ESV)

Surely Jesus does love true prayer that flows from hearts that have been baptized into Him and the new life breathed into them by the Holy Spirit.  This new life is one of true unity in the confession of the one true faith, a life of worship in the doctrine and practice of the apostles.

But does Jesus love prayer that stops short of actually embracing this unity in the true faith of Jesus?  Does Jesus love prayer that says, “Thank you for giving me a faithful pastor” when this pastor does not demonstrate this faithfulness?  Does Jesus love prayer that pretends that a pastor is given by God when in fact this pastor is chosen and ordained without true concern for what the Lord has clearly declared as the definition of a true pastor and congregation and worship?

Can the season of Lent be a truly Blessed Lent without recognizing the gifts through which the season is made to be blessed?  If Lent is a penitential season, should this penitence not begin with acknowledging and turning from the trespasses of the church body and congregations and pastors so that the people may be rightly instructed concerning the blessed preaching and administration of the means of grace?

At the end of his video Pr. Harrison says regarding what he and others have to confess regarding not praying for and supporting their pastors: “Lord forgive me, I deserve to be removed from that congregation and for my pastor to be taken away.”

This is truly ironic, for they truly have starved out hundreds of faithful pastors.  Some were driven out forcefully.  They have removed all of the pastors who were willing to stand unmoved so that now their pastors are those who on one side make a show of contemporaneity with the world and much preaching of love and tolerance, and on the other hand, those who make a show of liturgical fidelity and propriety.  Both sides urging the people to remain steadfast to the synod.

Is this the message by which Lent is blessed?

Other people could point to the church bodies most familiar to them and show the same lack of the true preaching and practice that the Lord declares to be the marks of His Church.  I speak of the one most familiar to me, the one in which most of my loves ones still abide.

Lent is certainly a good time to call out with such observations.  As we journey toward the observance of the betrayal of the Lord Jesus, and His false condemnation, suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial, this is a very good season to ask ourselves whether we are congregating with those who are truly His body, His Church on earth.  This is a good season to be asking whether or not the congregation where we seek to receive the blessings of Lent is really a congregation where these blessings are administered as Christ has ordained them.  This is a good season to be examining ourselves to know for certain that we are indeed bound to Jesus Christ in the things that we are receiving.

This is why St. Paul writes:

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

  (Philippians 2:12)

Since Lent is a season for being called to remember what is most important to us regarding our everlasting salvation, is this not what we truly need to consider?  Should we not fall to our knees with fear and trembling at the thought that we could have become misled in our beliefs?  Should be not tremble at that thought that we could have chosen for ourselves an alternative to what Christ and His apostles have proclaimed?  Should we not scrutinize everything that we embrace as true to be certain that what we believe really is true?  Should we not be moved beyond our complacency to study with the utmost care to be certain that our salvation has not slipped away from us while we sat in the pew praising God from our own imagined safety?

What one of us is truly safe?  What one of us can be absolutely sure?

Such certainly is promised.  Such certainty is declared in the Holy Scriptures.

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

  (John 20:30-31)

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

  (1 John 5:10-13)

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

  (1 Corinthians 11:31-32)

Jonah was sent with a very simple message to the people of Nineveh.  The people of Nineveh heard the warning and in their hearts they were turned again from their waywardness to the Lord and they were saved, at least that generation was.  But over time their children and grandchildren drifted and forgot and they lost the salvation in which their parents believed.

Isn’t it time that we begin to pray the entire Litany again, praying it from the heart and not just as part of a Lenten liturgical tradition?  Isn’t it time that we begin again to pray confessing ourselves as poor miserable sinners who desperately need the pure medicine that only in its purity has the power to save and heal us?

Surely then this would be a most blessed Lent.  Surely this would also be a truly blessed celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.

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Surrendering the Hallelujahs

During the season of Epiphany, I had a subdued dread of the coming of the surrender of the singing of the hallelujahs and of the Gloria in Excelsis that we observe during Lent. It amplified my sense of the reason for which the Lord Jesus was born into the world and the reason for the Epiphany.

While I count the traditional omission to be valuable, it always causes me to experience feelings of angst and uneasiness. But then, that is the purpose. And it does work effectively in my soul.

Today is Ash Wednesday and the more austere time of the Church Year has come.

As I observe the situations in the world, observing the encroachment of times of austerity imposed by globalist elites, I find myself wondering whether the time may come when I set aside this tradition. It may be that worldly conditions become so austere that my need for the perpetual hallelujahs will prevail.

Of course, the liturgical practice does not remove the hallelujah from me, nor from the Church. It only removes it from the formal worship. It only serves as a reminder of the fact that metanoia is a never ending need and that true expression of hallelujah is only possible because of the Holy Spirit’s working of metanoia in the heart, mind, and soul.

It is hard really even to realize fully what the Lord’s second coming will establish. No more sorrow. No more tears. No more need for metanoia. Simply everlasting hallelujahing in the newness of life in the glorious fullness of the Lord’s presence! Truly everlasting uninterrupted joy and jubilation is impossible fully to fathom, but I surely do look forward to it with eager anticipation!

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Laetare

Laetare is the Fourth Sunday in Lent. Below is the Collect of the Day for Laetare:

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

As I observe the historic liturgy of the Church, with the depth of riches that we have received through it, I often find myself wondering whether anyone really pays attention to what the Lord gives to us and declares to us through it.

This marvelous prayer holds before us the reason for Laetare, that is, for a Sunday within the season of Lent in which we are called together with the theme: Rejoice!

Lent is a season of the Church Year in which we direct special attention to our need for the repentance or turning that the Lord works for us and within us. It is a season of deep awareness of the proper contrition that we should experience on account of our sinfulness and also for our actual sins both of commission and omission. It is a season in which the Law of God is held before us in ways that cannot easily be ignored, showing us the horrible depths of our lost condition. It is a season in which our need for salvation, for forgiveness, for reconciliation, for justification and sanctification, is made paramount. It is a season for looking to the great mercy of God in Christ displayed and brought to fulfillment in the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Collect for Laetare very powerfully directs our hearts, minds, and souls to this ever needful awareness. It also produces in us Laetare, the rejoicing that is not deceptive, but founded in and upon the very foundation of the one true faith by which we have true cause for rejoicing. The comfort of God’s grace is truly our one reliable source of relief, relief that produces endless rejoicing in the Lord.

It certainly seems to be worthy of continual reflection throughout this week, praying it again and again so as to built up in the answer that God has promised and most assuredly bestows in Christ.

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What Kind of Father Would Kill His Son?

Dan at Necessary Roughness has a very interesting and worthwhile post entitled What Kind of Father Would Kill His Son?. However, the basic premise or question is faulty and dangerous as it stands and thus should be answered from the Scriptural perspective. Below is the post with my response following.

What Kind of Father Would Kill His Son?

This evening we read the Treasury of Daily Prayer as usual this evening right before bed time. The New Testament reading was Mark 14:12-31, the Passover, Institution of the Lord’s Supper, and Jesus foretelling Peter’s denial.

The older twin: Why did Jesus have to die on a cross?

I thought of “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” (Galatians 3:13) but I went elsewhere, “He fulfilled what the Father wanted him to do,” thinking about Gethsemane.

“So God the Father wanted to kill the Son.” Yes.

“What kind of Father would kill His Son?”

Good question. The kind of Father that wants more sons and daughters. Without Christ on a cross nobody would be adopted as a child of God. The death of Christ pays for our sins and for our sinfulness. Remember also that Jesus didn’t stay dead, so now God the Father not only has His Son back, he’s got sons and daughters all over. He gives us the faith that believes that Jesus died and rose again for our eternal salvation. He sustains that believing faith when we read the Bible, go to church, and receive the Lord’s Supper.

“That’s a good kind of Father.”

Dear Dan,

I’ve pondered this for a while so as to avoid rushing forward with a response. However, I believe a response is required.

God the Father did not kill His Son. Adam did. Adam killed the entire human race by following the devil into the temptation of believing in free will and choosing death for us all.

In John 3 Jesus explains that God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God gave His Son. But Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man was not killed by the Father.

Luke records the death of Jesus, saying: “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”

John records the words of Jesus as He prepared to go to Gethsemane and the cross: “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:15-18)

Isaiah prophesies, saying:

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

or as the ESV translates: “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”


By placing our guilt upon Jesus, the LORD crushed Him. Who IS the LORD?

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus cried out to the Father with the answer that they had already established from eternity. As the Son of Man, with a fully human soul, weighted down with our iniquity, Jesus cried out begging for what He already knew could not be, thus asking not that the cup be removed, but that the Father would strengthen Him to go forward with the commission that He freely embraced from eternity.

The Father did not kill the Son. The Father gave the Son, who willingly laid down His life for us. Those who rejected the Son crucified Him and killed Him, but only by the will of the entire Godhead, and by the willing humbling unto death of the Son. The Son willingly offered Himself in our stead, in accord with the will of the Father and the Spirit.

This is the Father that you need to proclaim to your daughters. This Father does not kill His children. He leads us, as He did Jesus, to the mercy seat. He leads us to face death without fear, knowing that He will never abandon us. Sin is what separates us from God. Sin even darkened the world to such an extent that Jesus cried out as one abandoned in sin-blindness. But the Father was pleased with the sacrifice that His Son made for us, smiling as His Son went joyfully to the cross carrying our sin and guilt in His own body, sin that was not His own and had no power over Him. The Father did not kill the Son, but lovingly accepted His sacrifice on our behalf. Truly, through the entire ministry, including the six hours on the cross, the Father gleamed with pride and continued with His proclamation, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”

And now, because of Jesus, He can say the same of all who are baptized into the Holy Communion of the Holy Trinity.

Enough of Lent

For me, there is never enough of Lent. Lent is the season of the Church year that gets me through the tough times. For me it is more uplifting than even Easter. As much as I love Easter and the glorious hymns of the Resurrection, their joy and glory come only in connection with the austere season of Lent.

I remember as a child and a teenager often being disappointed on Easter because we did not sing enough hymns. And my family attended at least three services on Easter Sunday. But especially as a teenager, I wanted to sing every hymn of the Resurrection in the book. Why? The season of Lent made me hungry. The season of Lent taught me why the Resurrection is both absolutely necessary as well as why it is possible.

It is the Lenten theme that carries me through every day. Yes, the awareness of the resurrection is my hope, but the theme of Lent is what makes the hope of the resurrection real.

Lent is God’s cure for depression. When I am feeling down and depressed, it is the hymns of lenten focus that lift me up. I also sing “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want” (TLH 436) regularly, but the hymn that I can always count on to lift me out of the depths is TLH 146: “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy.” Nothing in this world has been able to drag me down beneath the reach of this hymn. Other Lenten hymns will come into my heart throughout the year as well, but this one is very easy to memorize and carry in my heart and mind. Moreover, this hymn does not mess around with anything other than the raw power of God. When I am hurting and despairing and depressed, this hymn unleashes the raw power of God to drive out all but the glorious power of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Death itself is rendered powerless by this simple hymn and what it preaches.

Mental Gymnastics

“Mental gynastics,” this is what Paul McCain flippantly calls using a word according to its actual meaning and according to the actual usage in the Scriptures.

If it requires this level of mental gymnastics to explain how not ascribing praise to the Lord is a way of being repentant, I think my point is made.

However, in order to force my post to “make his point” he had to change what I said, deleting portions and changing my words. This is very sad behavior, certainly not in keeping with honest communication. But this kind of contortion of the truth and torturing of words is common among those who desire to make their point regardless of clear reasoning and in spite of what is well intended and well thought out liturgical tradition.

What grieves me most is that McCain makes so much noise about issues like the theology of glory and enthusiasm and the thinking of the church growth movement and then deliberately divorces my comments from the clear connection that I made.

Who then is performing the “mental gynastics”?

Why make such a fuss over this? Why should I be concerned?

I am concerned regarding the false witness that is given through such abusive manipulations and dishonest presentations. I am concerned because the person’s personal opinion is elevated at the expense of the truth. I am concerned because gentle people who are daily confronted with the tomfoolery of the many schisms in Christendom are presented with still more tomfoolery and dishonesty paraded as wisdom and love. I am concerned because these things cause more confusion and often despair of finding true unity in the Church.

I also am concerned that truly helpful practices in the Church, ones that are not presented as anything more than beneficial and fine outward training, as Luther speaks of them in the Small Catechism under the Sacrament of the Altar, are turned into legalistic bondage. This is a tragedy.

For it is true, even as Luther rightly declares, although McCain and others quote Luther contrary to his intended meaning and context, “For the alleluia is the perpetual voice of the Church, just as the memorial of His passion and victory is perpetual.”

But in what context does Luther say this?

     Fourth, the gradual of two verses shall be sung, either together with the Alleluia, or one of the two, as the bishop may decide. But the Quadragesima graduals and others like them that exceed two verses may be sung at home by whoever wants them. In church we do not want to quench the spirit of the faithful with tedium. Nor is it proper to distinguish Lent, Holy Week, or Good Friday from other days, lest we seem to mock and ridicule Christ with half of a mass and the one part of the sacrament. For the Alleluia is the perpetual voice of the church, just as the memorial of His passion and victory is perpetual. Luther's Works (53:24)

Interestingly, Luther begins with limiting the gradual to two verses, and not only for Lent or Advent but for the entire Church year. He actually begins by omitting ascriptions of praise, saying that people can sing the rest at home at their leisure and in accord with the needs and desires of their hearts. Then he addresses the Alleluia that should not be omitted from the divine service.

What Alleluia is Luther holding as the perpetual voice of the Church? Is it not the same as St. Paul’s declaration in 1 Corinthians 11, especially verse 26? “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.”

Regardless of the season of the Church year, is this not the pinnacle of the divine service? Does not the entire service prepare us for this very thing, the holy communion in Christ’s body and blood? Is this not the part of the service called the Eucharist or Thanksgiving? Is this not the very praise concerning which Christ Himself says: “Do This!”? Is there any higher ascription of praise in the cosmos than this?

This is the life of the Church and her perpetual voice of praise! In this proclamation of the Lord is the perfect Hallelujah! This is the greatest Hallelujah in the Church, because it is worked by the Lord Himself for us.

And when this is counted as the perpetual voice of the Church, who can diminish Alleluia from the hearts and daily activity of the saints?

For example, yesterday, as I contemplated many things, including this one, the Triple Hallelujah (TLH pg. 20) began to resound in my heart and mind. Someone was singing it inside of me. Who could that have been? As I grieved over my deepened awareness of my sinfulness and my desperate need for the repentance that the Holy Spirit produces, inside from deep within this song began to reverberate, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

I thought, “Thank you, Lord. How marvelous!”

Omitting this in the divine service does not steal the Alleluia from the holy communion of the saints. The absence of this portion of the regular liturgical responses magnified my awareness of my need for the source of all alleluias. That source will not be silenced.

If someone wants to label as mental gymnastics the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit to work His metanoia in my heart and mind, so be it. Surely I cannot deny that the Holy Spirit wrestles tirelessly within me to bring about the needed change of my heart and mind. Perhaps McCain is right after all in labeling this mind altering work of the Holy Spirit as mental gymnastics.

More on Lent, Alleluia, and Repentance

On Pr. McCain’s blog I posted a comment regarding his challenge, a comment directed particularly toward his statement quoted below. He deleted my comment without permitting it to be displayed, so I am posting it here as I believe the challenge that he publicly presents is one that should be answered publicly. I believe that there is a cogent explanation to his challenge, and there is benefit in hearing it. So here is what I believe is a cogent explanation for all who desire to hear one, regarding why the omission of certain ascriptions of praise during Lententide is indeed a helpful expression of repentance. The deleted post follows:

PTM, in comment # 38 you say "I’ve yet to hear any cogent explanation for why not saying “Praise the Lord” is an expression of repentance."

You have repeatedly stated similarly on this matter throughout this challenge that you have presented. I find that amazing considering your knowledge of the languages.

Perhaps you have permitted your remembrance of the meaning of the word "repentance" to be narrowed by various causes and experiences.

In the Scriptures of the New Testament the word for repentance is metanoia. Varied forms of the verb are used as well, but this is the word used for repentance both as a noun and as a verb. You already know this, of course. You also know that this word means "change of mind/thinking."

The Scriptural usage of metanoia concerning us sinners is always a change from our thinking to the thinking that the Lord works and declares for us and also in us. It is a change from our thoughts and ways. Such things as fasting were outward exercises that assisted in remembering this needed change in the thinking of the members of the household of faith, continually needing to be called apart from our thinking to thinking akin to the way of true faith.

How then, being as knowledgeable and aware as you are, can you say that you do not see how the omission of "Alleluia" and certain other ascriptions of praise is an effective means of reflecting upon our need for change of mind/thinking, i.e., repentance? How is it that you persistently ignore the direct contrast that this presents to our sinful inclination toward the theology of glory and enthusiasm and the thinking of the church growth movement? How do you continue to deny the obvious "change of mind" involved in setting aside some of our ascriptions of praise for a brief season so as to be re-minded regarding the fact that true praise does not originate with us but with the activity of God in and for His Church?

Alleluia in Lent

“Not saying Alleluia during Lent is stupid!” This very bold statement is from a post entitled even more audaciously, Not Saying Alleluia During Lent is Stupid (Sure to Cause Apoplexy Among High Church Purists) at Paul T. McCain’s Cyberbrethren.

A response to this is posted at Gaba’s Notebook entitled Stupid Rubrics.

From a certain perspective I have to agree with McCain. It is actually the opposite of his intention, but I nevertheless must say from the proper perspective that “not saying Alleluia during Lent is stupid.” I don’t actually agree with McCain at all, but rather with Saint Paul’s statement concerning the Moron of God, in the 1 Corinthians 1:25 context.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

The Moron of God or the Foolishness of God is wiser than men. Yet to sinful man, to the sinful flesh and the Old Adam, the wisdom of God appears as foolishness, and those who follow the way of God appear as morons.

From this perspective I relate to McCain. As the season of Advent approached, as the season of Trinity drew closer and closer to the close of the cycle of the Church year, I began to dread the advent of Advent. I dreaded Advent’s advent because I knew that soon I would no longer be singing the Gloria in Excelsis. It seemed to me that the season of Advent would be stealing away from me the joyous privilege of singing the song of the heralding angels. The Gloria in Excelsis is the preaching of what the Christ Mass really is. Thus, I dreaded the loss of the privilege of singing it and hearing it.

However, after the season began and the full measure of the awareness of the “why” settled over me again, I began to give thanks for this robbery. This was especially true when the season of Christmas had arrived and the exquisite joy of hearing the Gloria in Excelsis was restored after its absence had been felt in my heart and soul during the four weeks of Advent.

After pondering McCain’s outburst concerning the Alleluia not being sung during Lent, especially in observing the clear and deliberate quote from Luther both divorced from its context as well as in deliberate contradiction of its context, I realized more fully the source of my resistance to this ancient liturgical practice.

The source is the sinful flesh and the Old Adam. According to my sinful flesh, according to my sinful nature that is mine by inheritance from Adam, I do not want to face the truth. The truth is that I am unworthy of speaking or singing Alleluia. Alleluia is not truly the possession of the Church on earth. It is ours here on earth only as those who await the redemption of our body:

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only —they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:19-23)

The singing of the Alleluia is the possession of the Church on earth in keeping with the rest of the passage quoted above, where St. Paul further explains:

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:24-27)

And also,

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

I don’t want to let go of my imagined “right” to sing Alleluia!

I very much prefer the theology of glory, at least according to my fleshly nature. I want to imagine that my singing of Alleluia will loft its way heavenward and fill heaven with joy. I want to imagine that Alleluia is my right as a Christian!

But according to the new man, the one that rises up from the water where the Old Adam is washed away, according to the good conscience of the resurrection afforded me in Baptism (1 Peter 3:21), I thank God for the wisdom of the season of Lent. To the Old Adam, who tries to tread the water of the flood so as to shout his praises heavenward, this wisdom seems moronic. But the new man walks according to spirit and finds that the means of grace are the true means of praise. The new man is happy to be on his knees receiving the glory of God administered in bread and wine for his forgiveness and restoration to the fullness of God’s Holy Communion.

The new man realizes that there is a reason that the Alleluia is not found in the Scriptures of the New Testament until the revelation of the songs of the saints in heaven in Revelation 19. In the Scriptures of the New Testament the Alleluia is only hinted at through admonitions concerning regular use of the Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and in Old Testament quotations such as Romans 15:11 where St. Paul quotes Psalm 117 but not using Hallel. But the word Alleluia is not actually recorded until it is heard in Revelation 19.

In the accounts of the New Testament a very different language of praise is recorded. Instead of Alleluia we hear “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” We also hear, “Kyrie Eleison!” (Hosanna = save now & eleison = have mercy.) Sometimes we only hear the sobs of a woman anointing the feet of her Lord and God with perfume and washing His feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. We hear the pitiful cry of the publican in the temple, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” and of the repentant thief on the cross, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”

This is not the audacious language of the sinful nature. Not at all! This is the humble and contrite language of repentance. This is the language of John the Baptist and of Jesus: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Interestingly, neither John nor Jesus stood in the temple shouting “Alleluia!” They did not stand in the temple and call the people to join in praising God. Rather, they went out into the wilderness, where the people would have to abandon all of their lofty praises and be humbled by the harshness of the curse in the world to sit on grass and rocks and soil and to be quiet and listen. For this is the nature of true worship: not to speak and sing the praises of God, but to listen and to hear and to receive the Gospel through the means of grace.

Alleluia is not truly ours to sing at all. Rather, it is the response that God works in us through the seemingly common elements of water and bread and wine. Thus the meal of Thanksgiving is held before us as the showing of the Lord’s death till He comes. It is to this awareness that the season of Lent draws us. It is for this reason that we are urged for a season to set aside our audacious presumptions of Alleluias as our right so that we may again learn to acknowledge them as God’s gifts that have been purchased for us at the cost of the suffering and death of Jesus. Then the Old Adam has no claim on us and is no longer able to puff us up with empty and imaginary rights of our own to praise God. Then we humbly bow before our God and Savior to receive the worthiness of His glory, born of the Virgin, to suffer and die our miserable death for us so that by His glorious merits we are declared righteous to come into the holiness of God and receive the praises that fill us until we overflow with them in our lives and in our worship.

Ash Wednesday & Divine Fasting

On this day of Ash Wednesday the appointed readings of holy Scripture are:

Psalm 6 (for Matins);
Psalm 51 (for Vespers);
Jonah 3:1-10;
Isaiah 59:12-21;
Joel 2:12-19;
and Matthew 6:16-21.

Repentance and fasting with and unto repentance is the theme of the day, as it is for the life of the Church.

People often choose only part of the definition of repentance for themselves. Often the chosen focus is merely the part that includes feelings of contrition and regret. But the New Testament word for repent is metanoia. It literally means a change of mind or thought. This is far more than the common feeling of sinful mankind of being sorry that we do not measure up to what we think that we ought to be and do. Metanoia is much more than this. It is an actual change of the mind in how it thinks. Metanoia is not only feeling sorry for our sinfulness and sinful actions, it is a change that is worked by God’s merciful love that overpowers us in our very being so that we are changed from idolaters to God fearing people. This is what changes one from being a disciple of choice to being a disciple of Christ, that is, a disciple of faith.

Faith is not a choice. Whatever godly and goodly choices that we make are produced by the faith that the Holy Spirit works in us, not the other way around. True contrition does not stop with being sorry and asking forgiveness. True contrition turns us around in our very thinking so that we no longer look to ourselves and our own thoughts and desires and actions, but to God and His thoughts and desires and actions.

The Old Testament word for this is shuv. It means to turn or be turned. God actually takes our minds and hearts and turns them back to Himself as the one from whom we receive all good things, so that we no longer look here and there or even to ourselves. When God works this change in who we are and in how we know ourselves, we are truly changed in our minds and in our being.

For this reason Philippians 2 seems especially appropriate for this day of repentance and fasting as well. Most especially the first twelve verses seem fitting:

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Likeminded. Oh what a wonderful focus for this season of Lent! If only we would repent of our own thoughts and our own ways, submitting to the will of God for His Church. If only we would hear the call of the Holy Spirit that we might be enlightened with God’s grace so as to be changed in our hearts and minds in accord with the merits of Jesus, who gave Himself for us and for all the world. How differently the Church would appear! How differently our lives would be lived. How truly blessed we would be! How confidently we would live, as we worked out our salvation so as to be certain that our faith is truly reliance upon the suffering and death of Jesus, and not upon anything else. Then we truly would be changed in our thinking and in our actions, for then the peace of God would rule our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came to this world to be found in fashion as a man, though He Himself was the very form or morphe of God. He was and is the very morphe or nature of God. He is not merely godlike but is the very form of God. To see Jesus is to see the Father. To encounter Jesus is to encounter the Holy Spirit. Yet in Christ Jesus God made Himself to be a servant. In Christ God humbled Himself so as to serve as our Redeemer and Savior. When God works faith in us so that we are joined with Him in His holiness, this is the mind that is created in us in place of the minds that we choose. Jesus fasted concerning His equality with God, acting as a servant, placing our needs above His own glory and power. Today we fast of our weakness, in order that His power may not be hindered in us.

Were You There

“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

Thus go the lyrics of a Negro spiritual that many have come to accept as a song of remembrance of the Lord’s suffering and death. I never understood it. I always thought it was a silly song based upon emotionalism. Even though I do not remember my pastors ever addressing this issue, even though they permitted this song to be sung in the divine service, even as a child I was uncomfortable with what I perceived as the focus of the song.

I’ve tried researching it, and what information I have found seems to confirm that the focus is awry. As a child I always heard a sense of blaming in the song. I always heard a sense of “Oh, how terrible that they would do this to the Lord Jesus!” From what I have been able to determine, this is at least a part of what is meant in this song, but more to the point is the expression of thinking of oneself as persecuted and abused and looking to what was done to Jesus in a “poor me, poor us” kind of relationship. It seems to be in the line of “misery loves company” sort of perspective with a bit of “Oh how I love Jesus” mixed in.

The lyrics of the song as it is included in the LC-MS hymnal, Lutheran Worship, can be viewed here. The tune can be heard and three stanzas viewed here. Some information regarding the origins of the “spirituals” is available here and here. Other sources are available as well.

As I reflected upon this song this season of Lent and in the entrance into the season of Easter, I thought about the answer to the question, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The answer is, “Yes! I was most certainly there.”

I did not nail Jesus to the tree. I did not beat him or spit upon Him. I did not lay Him in the tomb. I did not stand there crying, either. But I was there. For Jesus took my complete identity as Sinner. He took my name of condemnation and disgrace. He took my guilt and shame. He took my punishment. He cried out in my place of feeling as forsaken by God. Oh yes! I was truly there.

I have been crucified with Jesus through Baptism. In the person of Jesus, I was crucified, dead and buried. And again in connection with Baptism I rose again the Third Day unto new life in Christ. I now walk in the newness of that life that is in Him. I partake of His body and blood and am renewed in Him regularly.

What appears to be the basic premise of this song is weak and shallow at best. Nevertheless, with the right understanding, the question is one worthy of answering with the answer that God Himself proclaims in the divine liturgy. The answer is not one of “Oh, how sad that this was done to Jesus and how sad that I must suffer many things in this world.” but of “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” (Rev 5:12) And again, “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” (Rev 5:13)

Amen!

Lenten Disappointment

This year I feel cheated by the season of Lent. Actually, I feel cheated by the circumstances that have led me to cheat myself during the season of Lent.

Circumstances have forced me to have to apply so much energy regarding running my business and earning a living that I have had to set aside the usual midweek Lenten services. Even for Ash Wednesday I was unable to muster the energy to prepare a sermon and to prepare for a service. This is most regrettable to me.

The office of preaching is truly a blessed office, and the season of Lent is, in my estimation, the most wonderful season for preaching. It is the time in the Church Year that most clearly focuses upon the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The texts are so richly laden with the preaching of our need for repentance unto faith and with the Lord’s endless calling to us to bring us to repentance unto faith that I truly regret missing these extra opportunities for preaching.

Preparation for preaching is truly a wonderful blessing. Those entrusted with the preaching office are truly blessed. For studying in preparation for proclamation is considerably different than ordinary study of the Scriptures. Sermon preparation forces a very deliberate and unavoidable subjugation to the Scriptures as the record of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It forces a subjugation to the will of God for the world and for the saints. If forces an attitude of humility to turn from one’s own thoughts to listen to the voice of God.

Sermon preparation is a very special time of struggling intensely with God in connection with what He intends to say through the Scriptures to His Church. The preacher is richly blessed through this struggle, and then is doubly blessed to be commanded and commissioned to share this blessing publicly to all who will receive it.

Yes, I feel disappointed that I found it necessary to set aside the usual blessing of midweek Lenten services this year. This is a fast that I hope never to need to observe again. Yes, this year for Lent our fast was to give up the midweek services, and for me especially, the giving up of preparing the service and preaching the midweek proclamation. Truly this has been one of the most difficult fasts that I have observed. Yet it nevertheless has served the purpose of a fast, namely, that it made me hungry for the Word and has directed my heart to my need for the Gospel. Still, when I choose to fast, I would much rather give up desserts or chocolate or meat or whatever else.

Oh Lord Jesus, come soon, and put an end to all fasting and bring us to Your wedding banquet that never ends! Amen!

The Annunciation of Our Lord

The Annunciation of Our Lord is March 25. It is nine months prior to Christmas, December 25. Aardvark Alley has a nice post on this day of the annunciation or announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would carry the Lord in her womb and bear Him into the world.

One of the striking things about this is that in most years it falls during the season of Lent. This seems to me to be especially wonderful in accord with Gabriel’s words concerning the One to be born of the Virgin, first to Mary and then to Joseph.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:26-35)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:18-21)

The announcement to Joseph especially emphasizes the Lenten theme: and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

How wonderful! The preaching of Jesus Christ is always the preaching of Him crucified, for us and for our salvation. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Ash Wednesday

Born Loser


Not such a bad place to begin, actually.

Matthew 6:16-21