The church, is always in the midst of a storm… but safe in Him

Devotional Thought of the Day:
 “•I assure you: The one who believes in Me l will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.   John 14:12-14  HCSB

21 May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us,  so the world may believe You sent Me.    John 17:21

This is the only way the true structure of the liturgy can be restored, a structure that, as we have just seen, makes concrete in divine worship the fundamental structure of divine action. God, the Revealer, did not want to stay as solus Deus, solus Christus (God alone, Christ alone). No, he wanted to create a Body for himself, to find a Bride—he sought a response. It was really for her that the Word went forth.

3 After all, the chief purpose of all ceremonies is to teach the people what they need to know about Christ.

There are times when I question why prayers aren’t answered.  For example, why my son has to have the genetic disorder I have, or why friends battling cancer aren’t simply healed.  We pray, earnestly, reverently, continuously for miracles of this nature.  Yet the answers to these prayers are too far in between for my liking.

After all, Jesus said, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

Even more than, I wonder why one of Jesus’ prayers go unanswered.

Why can’t the church be one, as the Father and Jesus are one?

Why can’t that prayer be heard, and answered?

Why can’t the church be one?

We have one mission, to reveal the love of God, seen so clearly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the acts that give us hope and forgiveness, and prove His love.  That’s what we have to do!  It’s not rocket science!

Our worship is supposed to do that, to teach people what they need to know about Jesus, to reveal that God doesn’t want to stay alone, that He sought a response to the love He would show us in everything, our creation, our redemption, our being made His people.  People that have a God that wants to love and be loved.

If the greatest Catholic theologian of the last century and the Lutheran forefathers can agree on this fundamental role of our gathers as believers, can’t we start there?  Can’t we start in prayer, and in meditating on God’s word together?  Can’t we find unity as we consider the sacrifice of Jesus and the love that comes to us at the altar?

Is that asking too much?

To hear His prayer, and to find the answer to that prayer, not in the halls of academia, but in the church together, on our knees in prayer, lifting up our voices in praise, considering the gifts given in His Body and Blood?

Let’s ask this together in His name…

Lord, Have mercy on us all!  AMEN!

Question to think about:
Should working toward unity, the unity found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus be a more important issue in the Church today?
If you are a nonChristian, or even on the border, would the leaders of local churches trying to work out their differences make a difference in the way you view the church as a whole?

Ratzinger, Joseph. The Spirit of the Liturgy. Trans. John Saward. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000. Print.

Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.