September 9, 2007
Vol. 1, no. 12
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 so very important. As a Christian, it is our native language, the air we breathe. Jim Walter pointed out the following beautiful description and devotion on prayer from The Lutheran Hymnal. For the next several weeks I will present a new verse from this beautiful hymn for your edification.
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Unuttered or exprest,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.*
Make prayer your soul’s sincere desire. Be deliberate in cultivating a daily prayer habit. The Lutheran Service Book offers a lot of great resources for this. If I can be of any help to you in
The Lord be with you,
Pastor Jim
*TLH 454, v. 1
Worship Practices
(Frequently Asked Questions)
Q: Why do we need a crucifix? Isn’t that too Catholic? Isn’t the empty cross better?
A: Okay, that is three questions but they all go together. Crucifixes (a cross with the body of Christ on it) are an important reminder to Christians and the world of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some crucifixes are beautiful, some are gory, but they are important reminders to us of that great price God paid for us, His dearly loved children. The crucifix is only too Catholic if Christ only died for Catholics. Lutherans especially take comfort in this symbol and reminder of Christ’s death for us because we preach Christ and Him crucified. If you feel uncomfortable with a crucifix, examine yourselves as to why that might be. I admit, sometimes I do feel uncomfortable looking at Christ hanging there on the cross. It convicts me and accuses me of my own sinfulness that put Him there. But it also comforts me. His great love for His Father and mankind is what kept him there, so that we can come boldly to God’s throne of mercy. An empty cross is also an important reminder of Christ’s sacrifice, but it is not any better or worse. Both are important and both need to be a part of every Christian’s life. An empty cross does not, however, signify that Christ was raised from the dead. There have been thousands of empty crosses throughout history, but only one empty tomb.
Next Sunday is Holy Cross Sunday. You will see something a little different: an altar cross. It won’t be there every Sunday, but it is an extra reminder that Christ gives to you that same body and blood that He sacrificed on the cross. This cross was a gift to me from a very dear and faithful servant of the cross on my vicarage. I hope it will be an aid to your worship as you meditate on the beauty and horror of that cross of Christ, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Greeks, but for us who are being saved it is truly the power of God.
Five Minutes with Herr Luther
It’s good to let prayer be the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night. Be on guard against false, deceitful thoughts that say, “Wait awhile; you can pray in an hour. First, you must finish this or that.” For with such thoughts, you turn away from prayer toward the business at hand, which surrounds you and holds you back so that you never get around to praying that day.
Of course, some tasks are as good or better than prayer, especially during an emergency. Nevertheless, we should pray continually. Christ says to keep asking, seeking, and knocking (Luke 11:9-11). And Paul says that we should never stop praying (I Thessalonians 5:17). Likewise, we should continually guard against sin and wrongdoing, which can’t happen if we don’t fear God and keep his commandments in mind at all times. In Psalm 1 we read about the one who is blessed: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night” (v. 2).
We shouldn’t neglect the habit of true prayer and get caught up in necessary work—which usually isn’t all that necessary anyway. We can end up becoming lazy about prayer, cold toward it, and tired of it, but the devil doesn’t get lazy around us.*
From Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional, Martin Luther, James C. Galvin, gen. ed.
Hymn History
The Man is Ever Blessed, written in 1719 by Isaac Watts, is a metrical paraphrase of Psalm 1, our sermon text for this morning. It first appeared in Watts’ Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (London, 1719). This work reflects Watts’ protest against the dullness and crudity and the total lack of New Testament Gospel in the metrical psalmody of his day, which was greatly influenced by John Calvin.*
*Lutheran Worship Hymnal Companion, Fred Precht, CPH 1992.
50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration
Next Sunday we will celebrate as a Church Family the blessing of 50 years of Holy Matrimony between Gary and Lois Winters. They will be renewing their vows during the service and following the Sunday morning service at 12:30 there will be a luncheon served in the elementary school. There will be no adult Bible Study.
Next Week’s Readings
XHoly Cross SundayX
Numbers 21:4–9
1 Corinthians 1:18–25
John 12:20–33
Next Week’s Hymns
Lift High the Cross LSB 837
Drawn to the Cross, Which Thou hast Blessed LSB 560
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross LSB 425
Water, Blood and Spirit Crying LSB 597
In the Cross of Christ I Glory LSB 427
Onward Christian Soldiers LSB 662
**Special Music: Solo by Nicole Romero**
The Lord be with you!
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 908 W. Main Middleville, MI 49333 +269-795-2391+ goodshepherdlcms@gmail.com