Category Archives: Jesus
Treasuring the Eucharist, (and the other sacraments)
Thoughts that carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross
“Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up,and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank.” (Exodus 24:9–11, NET)
In summary, if God were to bid you to pick up a straw or to pluck out a feather with the command, order, and promise that thereby you would have forgiveness of all sin, grace, and eternal life, should you not accept this joyfully and gratefully, and cherish, praise, prize, and esteem that straw and that feather as a higher and holier possession than heaven and earth? No matter how insignificant the straw and the feather may be, you would nonetheless acquire through them something more valuable than heaven and earth, indeed, than all the angels, are able to bestow on you. Why then are we such disgraceful people that we do not regard the water of baptism, the bread and wine, that is, Christ’s body and blood, the spoken word, and the laying on of man’s hands for the forgiveness of sin as such holy possessions, as we would the straw and feather, though in the former, as we hear and know, God wishes to be effective and wants them to be his water, word, hand, bread, and wine, by means of which he wishes to sanctify and save you in Christ, who acquired this for us and who gave us the Holy Spirit from the Father for this work?
Ministers plant seeds in soil plowed by life’s circumstances. Many of the seeds take root. Some we’re aware of; others we aren’t. But by teaching biblical standards with biblical illustrations or illustrations from life, people beginning to go through those kinds of experiences often appropriate those principles. They experience the remedial effect of preventive counseling.
Due to some rather unique circumstances, my nights have not been filled with sleep and wonderful dreams. But lying their in bed, trying to be still and quiet gives me time to think. Last night it was about what I could teach about ministry.
I narrowed it down to three, one of which was to make the most out of liturgical worship, in order that people find comfort and the peace of God–and as the Lutheran Augsburg Confession states, “be drawn to Communion and Mass” (Article XXIV, Augsburg Confession).
Oh that more people would realize the benefit of the Eucharist–and receive it as often as possible!
And as I looked at my devotional reading this morning, I see a similar notion, the passion for Luther for people receiving as a treasure and treasuring the Sacraments, these conduits of grace that God established for us! And the grief that comes from when they do not!
While Shelley doesn’t mention the sacraments as the Biblical illustrations that plant seeds, they are! How we treat them, both the ministers and the one’s ministered too, either nourishes our growth, or can hinder it greatly. For every sacrament offers a renewal of the remedy, a chance to see again the work of God cleansing and healing our broken souls, hearts and minds.
This is especially true as we feast with God, as we eat His Body and drink His blood as He commanded, knowing Him through this sacred act-His act.
It is the feast seen in the day of Moses, as the elders, newly forgiven, eat and drink with God, in His presence. It is the wedding feast of the lamb, which is described in the book of the Revelation of Jesus the Christ.
It is the joy of God, celebrating with His people, as He gathers them home, both now and forever. There is nothing else like it.
And knowing the truth it reveals, that God is indeed with us” is what will sustain us,
Plant these seeds, do it with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, as you live the truth of these moments in which the Spirit transforms us!
Robinson, P. W. (1539). On the Councils and the Church. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, p. 437). Fortress Press.
Shelley, M. (1986). Helping those who don’t want help (Vol. 7, p. 67). Christianity Today, Inc.; Word Books.
The Necessity of Being and Enthralled Disciple…A different type of slavery…
Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus and the Cross:
“‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, “Here we are; we are your slaves.”” (Genesis 50:17–18, NET)
“But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.” (Exodus 21:5–6, NET)
At the outset, to be mystical the liturgy must be enthralling, and this is less comfortable than we think. To enthrall means to make a person a thrall: to put someone into bondage, to reduce someone to the condition of a captive, to enslave, to subjugate and make subservient.
Once, when the brothers asked him whether he was pleased that the learned men, who, by that time, had been received into the Order, were devoting themselves to the study of Sacred Scripture, he replied: “I am indeed pleased, as long as, after the example of Christ, of whom we read that he prayed more than he read, they do not neglect zeal for prayer; and, as long as they study, not to know what they should say, but to practise what they have heard and, once they have put it into practice, propose it to others.
This tipping point in Ignatius’ conversion and the shift in attitude it brings is notable. All the more so in light of his prior manifest determination to conquer his sinfulness by force of his own will. His Autobiography’s terse narrative hides the magnitude of the spiritual and psychological transformation in Ignatius. The transformation is stark. Ignatius moves from managing his spiritual growth with the same swagger that he waged the Pamplona battle, and becomes a man of much greater humility, willing to be led like a boy at the hands of a schoolmaster.
It took me a moment to make Fagerberg’s connected between being enthralled and in thrall, in bondage. As a amateur wordsmith, I was a little annoyed at myself, I should have seen it, but the concept was… well enthralling. It took me captive, and even as I copied these quotes from my devotional reading some 10 hours back, I had to process it this evening.
I want the liturgy, the worship of my congregation to be enthralling, so that our walk with God proceeds from it. I want it to be captivated by it, to be addicted to the presence of God experienced there. To be enslaved to the freedom that comes as we are cleansed of our sin, as burdens are removed, as we begin to understand what it means to be the children of God.
But we are enslaved, addicted, captivated and in thrall in a very blessed way.
Far too often we see being servants of God and of His people as a negative, as something that not only requires being humble, but being humiliated, debased, neglected and even abused. We picture slaved in chains, and being whipped, as Jean Val Jean is in the opening scene of Les Mis, or as the many movies about slavery in the south, or n Africa. The kind of slavery Joseph’s brothers offered themselves and their families to enter, rather than face the wrath of Joseph–the brother they sold into slavery.
“God, I will do anything if you rescue me from…” type of slavery. (the reason btw, many of us (including Luther) entered into studying for the ministry and why we justify the “sacrifices” we make and are expected to make. A sense of slavery and sacrifice based in guilt, shame and a desire to “payback”–as if we could! We see this in Ignatius of Loyola as well, as he would confess and confess and confess, and never find the absolution he needed.
What that results in, concerns a pastor like St. Francis, who saw men enslaving themselves to an academic pursuit of theology. men who studied the word, and neglected prayer (and therefore worship that is the reaction to experiencing the love of God.) This is not the pursuit of Theology, it is the pursuit of religious philosophy. A kind of knowledge that neither enjoys and lives in faith, nor proposes that life to others.
Being enthralled, be in thrall is less like Joseph’s brothers offer and more like the slave whose ear is pierced. Who knows he is loved, who responds to that love with a desire to be in no other place, in no other relationship with His master, This is where worship is spontaneously embraced and savored. The slave’s attitude is not based in fear of wrath, or any kind of fear at all, it is made from a love that is responding to love! Itis what drives the academic to his knees in prayer, what drives the soldier to seek peace, and the pilgrim to find they are, finally at their destination.
This is what changes Luther, apparently changes Ignatius, can change our churches, can change our communities, this revealed love of our Lord, Jesus. This is the connection we find in our gatherings, as we realize the presence of the Lord, as He reveals Himself through the word and the sacrament, a love so powerful, a fellowship so full of joy and peace, so sustaining, so much a breath of heaven, that we continue to seek to serve and to introduce it to others.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 11). Emmaus Academic.
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (pp. 336–337). New City Press.
Watson, W. (2012). Sacred Story: An Ignatian Examen for the Third Millennium (p. 25). Sacred Story Press.
How We Need to Talk About Baptism
Thoughts which force me to Jesus, and to the Cross,
3 Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized? We shared his death in our baptism. 4 When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.
5 Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from the dead as he did. 6 We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin. 7 Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control. Ro 6:3–7.NCV
Hide me within Thyself, that my will subject itself entirely unto Thee, and I be freed from the dominion of self and of every other creature. Let me not be wholly possessed of mine own nature. Grant that the thirst for temporal things be quenched in my heart. Uproot all self-love and selfish desires. Banish all hatred and jealousy, and cut off passion and my attachment to the things of this world. Gather my soul unto Thee and preserve in me a pure and peaceful conscience. Glory, praise, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
A Christian knows that he is grafted onto Christ through Baptism. He is empowered to fight for Christ through Confirmation, called to act in the world sharing the royal, prophetic, and priestly role of Christ. He has become one and the same thing with Christ through the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity and love. And so, like Christ, he has to live for other men, loving each and every one around him and indeed all humanity.
Yesterday, my devotions forced me to take a different angle at the Lord’s Supper, today, similarly, the readings are leading me towards baptism, not toward the theology of it, or the mode and method, but to the effect of the sacrament. How this act which God ordains and uses, transforms our life as promised. Like the Lord’s Supper, the comfort given to us, as the presence of God is manifested, is something we need–desperately need. By understanding what has been done to us, the transformation began in us.
The more we understand this effect, the more we can meditate on the wonderful work of Jesus, the more we heal.
So let’s start with Josemaria’s words, and how he explains that we are grafted onto Christ, that it transforms us to sharing in the very ministry (and eventually the glory) of Christ Jesus. Confirming that faith (setting aside whether it is a sacrament or simply a sacramental ) and nourishing the relationship not only unties us with Jesus, but with all He came to save! That is the very discussion that Paul shared in Romans – as we die with Christ and experience the life of being born again–even as Christ was raised from the dead. The effect of the grace promised in Baptism is that we live a new life! We are born again, and united with Christ Jesus!
It is the realization of this that Loehe prayed for– for every plea he utters is fulfilled by the promises of baptism! That is where the transformation that has begun as we united to Christ in this new life. Our heart and soul are transformed, a transformation it takes time to learn to live in-but that transformation–but it is happening! That is why Loehe prays, so He can be assured that the promises are indeed his–a gift from the God who loves him.
We have to understand these blessings prior to getting into the mechanics of a sacrament, before trying to create hypothesis to explain the mysteries, before discussing anything-we have to know why God instituted this means of grace. We have to know the promises! The other discussions take form after, including us recognizing we don’t have all the answers – we have the command to do this, and the reason why…. to bring comfort and peace to those God wants to call His children.
Lœhe, William. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Translated by H. A. Weller, Wartburg Publishing House, 1914, p. 391.
Escrivá, Josemaría. Christ is Passing By (p. 159). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Have A Missionary’s heart, not just a missional one
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to the Cross, and give me hope!
17 Since many people in the crowd had not made themselves holy, the Levites killed the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean. The Levites made each lamb holy for the LORD. 18–19 Although many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not purified themselves for the feast, they ate the Passover even though it was against the law. So Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “LORD, you are good. You are the LORD, the God of our ancestors. Please forgive all those who try to obey you even if they did not make themselves clean as the rules of the Temple command.” 20 The LORD listened to Hezekiah’s prayer, and he healed the people. 21 The Israelites in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy to the LORD. The Levites and priests praised the LORD every day with loud music. 22 Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who showed they understood well how to do their service for the LORD. The people ate the feast for seven days, offered fellowship offerings, and praised the LORD, the God of their ancestors. 2 Chron 30:17-22 NCV
727 Your flesh is tender and raw. That’s how you are. Everything seems to make you suffer in your mind and in your senses. And everything is a temptation to you … Be humble—I insist. You will see how quickly all this passes. The pain will turn into joy, and the temptation into firm purpose. But meanwhile, strengthen your faith; fill yourself with hope; and make constant acts of love, even though you think they come only from your lips.
LOST beloved Lord Jesus Christ, reconcile me with the Father; intercede for me His grace; wash me thoroughly from my sins; protect me against the evil spirit; save me from the power of hell; defend me against eternal damnation; and, finally, translate me to eternal glory. O, Crucified Jesus, hear me, for I trust in Thee; despise me not, for I love Thee; reject me not, for I revere Thee: even the bitterness of death shall not sunder me from Thee. Amen.
I’ve probably read this passage about Hezekiah and the reestablishment of the Temple’s sacramental services a dozen or two times. This morning, as I did, it hit me–how outrageous his actions were, to not only allow the “unclean” to participate in communion with God, but to encourage it, and to work with the Levites to do what could be done to sacramentally bless the people of God.
People who weren’t prepared, people who were not ready, people who wanted God and recognized their need for Him, but didn’t meet the standards set forth in the law. They were the people in Jesus parable about the wedding of the King’s son, who were invited late, dragged off the streets. They were like David’s followers, who ate the bread dedicated to God in the temple.
And knowing this, Hezekiah prayed for them, and resonated with the heart of God who want no one to persih, but all to be transformed by the grace He pours out.
These are the people St. Josemaria identifies with, who are raw, neaten, depressed, struggling with temptation. The ones he tells to be humble, to accept the struggle–for it will pass! There is our hope, there we find the power of God which enables us to love and adore Him, which He finds acceptable as the Holy Spirit intercedes and translates.
This is the prayer that Loehe penned and encouraged us to pray, even when we think we have “lost” Jesus. When we need to be reconciled (not to reconcile, but to be reconciled) with the Father. This is a prayer the Father will joyously answer, even as He healed those who hadn’t properly cleansed themselves – God did it for them.
The heart of Hezekiah was one prepared to see Revival occur in the midst of a broken people. He yearned for something that he didn’t know possible–and he saw it happen. This is the heart of a missionary, one who goes beyond strategies and plans and programs, and works with the people directly, knows their weaknesses, and guides them into the presence of Christ. Not just talking missional strategy, not just talking about outreach, but being there, in the mud, sent by God to seek and save the broken, the lost, those not ready.
That is where the church needs to be, doing that, and helping people who aren’t ready, interceding for them, even as the Spirit does for us.
Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (pp. 128-129). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Lœhe, William. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Translated by H. A. Weller, Wartburg Publishing House, 1914, pp. 372–73.
The Inconvient, Challenging Truth of Following Jesus.
A Hard Devotional Thought for these Days
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots. Luke 23:34 CSB
It appears that too many Christians want to enjoy the thrill of feeling right but are not willing to endure the inconvenience of being right.
Therefore the entire sum of what it means not to kill is to be impressed most explicitly upon the simple-minded. In the first place that we harm no one, first, with our hand or by deed. Then, that we do not employ our tongue to instigate or counsel thereto. Further, that we neither use nor assent to any kind of means or methods whereby any one may be injured. And finally, that the heart be not ill disposed toward any one, nor from anger and hatred wish him ill, so that body and soul may be innocent in regard to every one, but especially those who wish you evil or inflict such upon you.
I knew what was coming today in my Bible reading.
It made me want to delay it as much as possible.
The words from the cross above frustrate me… significantly frustrate me. Especially if the Apostle Paul’s words are echoing through my mind at the same time.
Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1 CSB
Yesteday, I was planning the service for the day after the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. Flashing across my news feed and social media were call for revenge, including a horrific prayer for it to have quickly, to wipe out a people. It wanted revenge, not justice, and definitely not mercy.
And my first reaction was to agree, even as it soured my stomach… and I knew it was wrong.
Did I mention following Jesus was inconvenient?
Another line from the Scriptures, this time from Jesus,
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:43-45a (NLT2)
This isn’t just inconvenient… I don’t even have the words.
It is more tha just difficult, it is impossible… at least for me.
Never mind those who have killed people in what they consider war… this is true for those in all sorts of positions. Some actively hate, some unintentionally hurt (how could they not see their own narcicism?)
But on this day, as I read of Jesus on the cross, I realize again how much I have to be united to that cross, to let my narcicistic self die there, and rise to life with Him. How that means I give up my desire for revenge (though I call it justice – let’s be honest here) I need His mercy, I need His love…
I need Him to heal me of my hurt.
This isn’t about being weak, about not standing up for what is right and wrong. Luther’s quote makes that clear – we can’t let our hearts be ill-disposed, but rather we need to lift these enemies to the Lord in prayer, and desire, as God does, that they come to repentance. That’s not being weak….
It is accepting the inconvenience of following Christ, and realizing that Him joy
As we do, it will take prayer, it will take a lot of thought about the cross, and the grave, and why Jesus, for the joy set before Him,… set aside revenge… and loved.
us
all.
A. W. Tozer and Marilynne E. Foster, Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 366-Day Devotional (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 2007).
Martin Luther, The Large Catechism, trans. F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau (n.p.: WORDsearch, 2003).
Weary and Broken by watching people post about politics… is there hope?
1 Why do the nations gather together? Why do their people devise useless plots? 2 Kings take their stands. Rulers make plans together against the LORD and against his Messiah by saying, 3 “Let’s break apart their chains and shake off their ropes.” 4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord makes fun of them.
10 Now, you kings, act wisely. Be warned, you rulers of the earth! 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, or he will become angry and you will die on your way because his anger will burst into flames. Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 2:1-4, 10-12 (GW)
The delight which the mariner feels, when, after having been tossed about for many a day, he steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot of his faith upon this truth—“I am the Lord, I change not.”
I am getting tired of politics in the church. It literally is sucking the life out of me.
I see a pastor, sharing memes that deride those who are younger than him, those who have little hope because of what they see going on in the world. I wonder if he considers the effects of the youth in his church, and the effect of such memes on them?
I see a parachurch organization, applauding those who blatantly disrespect our country’s president, disregarding scripture and our role as God’s people to be agents of reconciliation. When asked about it, I am mocked for believing what God desires, and what the Holy Spirit calls us to do is impossible.
It doesn’t matter, right or left, traditional or progressive, the hatred I am seeing manifest toward those who don’t agree on this issue, it sucks the life out of me. It brings me to despair, and wonder if the church has completely lost its way. Whether it has forgotten the God who could redeem and reconcile Paul, the God who could change and adulterous and murderous heart of a King, the God who could look out on those who were killing them, and ask the Father to forgive them..
Do we believe God still reigns? Or do we, like the people described in Psalm 2 simply want to toss God aside, and ignore the fact we are all part of His creation.
My mind tells me that the church no longer trusts God, and that is why such things happen
my heart lies broken.
My soul tries to wait, hoping beyond hope that God will keep His promise.
Weary just after breakfast, I come into my office, I see Spurgeon’s words first, and long to be the spiritual version of the sailor he describes, who tired form the storm, finds rest and relief as his feet land on solid ground.
I find that ground in the storm, in a God who can laugh at the wayward children who need to be reminded of His presence. Who need to be corrected, who need to be reminded that God is still God, that Jesus is still our Savior, and our Lord. That even now, in our brokenness in our frustration, in our anger at others and our lack of faith in God.
God is still desiring our embrace,
God is still wanting us to take refuge, to find our safe place within His love.
God is still here, willing to clean up the damage our lack of faith in Him, to heal the brokenness caused by of all the political crap we experience.
God hasn’t changed, He’s the same God who brought Matthew the Tax Collector and Simon the Zealot together.. and sent them with others to bring His people into the world. They were far more polar opposite than any extreme we see in American politics today… and in Jesus, the found unity and the ability to serve people together.
May we have the faith, the dependence on God to see such happen in our days as well.
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
