September 16, 2007

Vol. 1, no. 12

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From Your Pastor

Beloved in the Lord: Grace and Peace to you in the name of the One True God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Amen.

Pray continually; giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:17-18.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,

The falling of a tear,

The upward glancing of an eye,

When none but God is near.*

This kind of “automatic” prayer that the hymn talks about is the result of deliberate prayer. When we develop a habit of prayer we begin to learn how to pray continually, through sighs, through tears, through heavenward glances. I encourage you to use this little prayer to get in the habit of continuous prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Use it throughout the day. The more you use it the more you will find it coming to mind in sighs, tears, and continually. Prayer doesn’t need to be some big production, but it does need to be practiced. Remember; take it to the Lord in prayer!

The Lord be with you,

Pastor Jim

*TLH 454, v. 2

Worship Practices

FAQs

(Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: Why does the pastor kneel after consecrating the elements?

A: Kneeling is a sign of reverence, respect and humility. We kneel to confess our sins in humility and in reverence and respect to our Holy, perfect, Triune God. It is common to kneel or bow your head or stand when the Trinity is mentioned, as in the Gloria Patri, in hymns or other places in the liturgy. It is also proper to kneel or bow your head during the Creed when we confess Christ’s humility; that is from His conception by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary to His death.

The reason I kneel after consecrating each element is out of respect for and confession of the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine. Christ has told us in His Word that these things are His very body and blood. It makes sense then that I kneel in the physical presence of my Lord.

Five Minutes with Herr Luther

John 6:43-44 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

When Jesus said, “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” He wanted to curb human wisdom or reason. We also should clip the wings of human reason when it comes to Christian doctrine. God’s Word isn’t the kind of teaching you can grasp with reason. It doesn’t reach the human heart that way. The more educated and the more sharpened the reasoning ability of people, the less they understand. Christian teaching doesn’t appeal to reason. That’s why our reason complains about it: “I don’t want to take my salvation out of my own hands and throw away all my good works in order to achieve eternal life. I don’t want to place my hands and set my feet on someone outside of myself, someone who was so silly and foolish as to let Himself be crucified. How am I supposed to believe that Jesus is my Savior?” Reason cannot grasp this. We must take every thought captive so that it’s obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

Jesus is saying, “Stop complaining that I claim to be the bread of heaven. You want to understand this on your own. You want to be smarter than I am when you ask, ‘Don’t we know His mother and father?’ But when I tell you how the Father has drawn you to me, it can’t be understood by your reason. When you hear about how the Father draws you, reason draws you in a different direction. Those who want to understand these words must close their eyes, shut the gates of reason, and let themselves become like a blind person.” This is what God wants. Whoever refuses to be led by God, but instead wants to be led by reason, will be irritated by the message of Jesus and will continually complain about it.

From Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional, Martin Luther, James C. Galvin, gen. ed.