Category Archives: Worship
We Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that: We All Live in the Light! A sermon on Ephesians 5:6-20
We Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that:
We All Live in the Light
Ephesians 5:6-20
† IHS †
May the grace and glory poured into you by the power of the Holy Spirit cause you to reflect Christ’s peace, as He reveals and eradicates the sin in you, and the sin around you!
Pray to the Lord of the Harvest… for us
We’ve been talking about the praying for what we need as we prepare for people to come to know Jesus, a spiritual harvest of souls that occurs as people come to know and trust in Jesus.
We looked back in July at the idea of praying that we see God break down every wall between His people, that nothing would separate us from others in Christ Jesus. We then prayed that the Lord of the harvest would make sure we all grow deep in His love, and that we would be unified. And then last week, that we would understand that God had identified us as His, and empowers a transformation that allows us to live as His children.
IN each, we are praying to the Lord of the harvest, to make sure His harvesters are ready to do the work of the harvest. For we need to be focused on the Lord and His work, with nothing dividing us, united in Christ. We need to know we are loved and supported because we are His and are sharing in His work.
And then we come to this week, when we pray that we, as those harvesters sent to work by the Lord of the harvest, learn to live and walk in the light.
The Darkness
The passage starts on a serious, challenging note:
“6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do.” To many people today try to say what is wrong is right, as if we get to determine what is wrong or right based on our feelings, or our logic. But we see it all the time—people trying to trash someone else’s sinful thought, words and deeds, while ignoring their own sinful behavior.
This isn’t even talking about tolerating sin, it is talking about approving of it, and defending someone’s right to live a life that is in bondage to sin. The challenge here is playing favorites, to holding people to different standards. Examples abound in our lives, as we are tempted to ignore these sins while condemned those.
But those sins bind people, dragging them deeper into the darkness—where they cannot eve see what they are thinking, saying and doing is wrong. That is what living in these evil days is like, as far too often the darkness overwhelms our ability to see and discern what is wrong and what is right.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them.
This idea of recognizing the sin for what it is, is not a harsh mean idea – for dealing with sin within the church, or in society is done for only one reason – to create a crack in the power of darkness so that the glorious grace of God can shatter it.
But now you dwell in the light
Paul told the church that it doesn’t need to live that way, in the darkness, or in the shadows.
8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
Here is the our difference! We don’t live subject to sin, we realize the power of God’s glory shining in our lives. That light is not the spot light by which we are interrogated—instead, it is the spotlight by which God does surgery, circumcising our hearts, cutting away all the sin, shame, guilt, resentment—allowing us to heal in Christ, while helping others.
That is who Concordia is, the place were we find healing in Christ, while helping others heal. Finding hope in Christ—while helping other find hope.
Paul points this out again, quoting an early hymn,
“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”
This is just another way to understand the light of Christ being turned on,
This is part of the core of our teaching as the church. This change from being in handcuffed and blinded by darkness to being free in Christ’s healing light and glory. Being dead in our trespasses and being awoken by the gospel.
Back when you were all confirmed, your heard this concept.
“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith;”
That word enlightened is the key here…for it is the concept of Paul (and John’s gospel. But the small catechism doesn’t leave it just up to our being freed by the light. It goes on…
even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He daily and richly forgives me and all believers all our sins, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will grant me and all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.[1]
Giving thanks
This brings us to the end of our passage today and the response to being brought alive, being freed form the darkness…
be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The result of being enlightened by the Holy Spirit is simple – we want to praise God. We want to celebrate out freedom, the knowledge we are loved. We want to sing about this change in our lives and the Lord of Life who made it happen.
For now, we know His peace, having exposed all that was sinful, and seeing God pour His healing light on us, as He would for all!
[1] Pontoppidan, Erick, H. U. Sverdrup, and Martin Luther. 1900. Explanation of Luther’s Small Catechism. Translated by E. G. Lund. Abridged Edition. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House.
Should I Want to Please People? The Answer is surprising…
Thoughts which drive me to the crucified Christ….
31 The answer is, if you eat or drink, or if you do anything, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Never do anything that might hurt others—Jews, Greeks, or God’s church—33 just as I, also, try to please everybody in every way. I am not trying to do what is good for me but what is good for most people so they can be saved.
11 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Co 10:31–11:1. NCV
Sovereign Love is found only in charity; the love of hope is imperfect, and consists more of feeling than fact, without charity; yet as a motive power nothing can exceed hope, and therefore we say that through hope we love God supremely.
321 Apostolic soul, that intimacy between Jesus and you—so close to him for so many years! Doesn’t it mean anything to you?
I read a different Bible translation every year for a reason, I want to do more than just read it, I want things to strike me differently, to challenge me, to gnaw at my brain until it burrows into my heart.
Today is one of those days, and it was caused by Paul’s advice that we are to imitate him by pleasing everybody in every way. I had to admit, this struck me odd, so I went back to my old familiar translations, NLT, NJB, NKJV even the old KJV, and all of them had the same concept… we are to please every body.
That sounds so contrary to how I’ve been taught to minister to people! We are supposed to do what is right, not what makes everyone happy! When we preach, when we plan worship, when we are counseling them regarding sin and trauma, I’ve heard that from pastors and professors for years, especially in regards to worship practices.
I think the anxiety rises because we equate people pleasing with compromise, and that leads us to think we would compromise something important, like the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus which was accomplished to join us to Himself by erasing our sin. I have heard such conversations about those who want to appease those in their church by honoring traditions, and by those who want to offend them in order to “please” others.
I think please them is less about compromise than we think – it is about making people comfortable in the presence of God, removing the stumbling blocks that distract them from resting in the presence of God. Think abut a hot day, where you are working hard outside, and someone offers you a cold soda just as you finish your work. That can be a moment where you are pleased, where nothing stops you from taking a deep breath and being satisfied with the day.
It is that kind of moment of intimacy with God, the assurance that He is with them, that being pleased is all about. That allows the anxiety and tension, the stress and overwhelming emotional overload to be vented, and to leace us in a moment of bliss, in a moment where salvation is recognized and rejoiced in, even if just a quietly said, AMEN! (meaning “this is real and true)
The desire for people to come to those moments is what Josemaria is talking about, as he addresses those who want to save the world. For it is those moments of intimacy with God, those moments that should mean everything to us…that should fuel our apostolate (Roman Catholic term – some contemporary protestants would say our missional attitude.) It is that which fuels the hope that brings us to God who gives us that hope, and helps us to realize how meaningless life is without it.
That is the core of evangelism – and what would lift people up and give them more pleasure than they’ve ever experienced, to know by experiencing it– the height, depth, breadth and width of God’s love for them, revealed in Christ. And the more we realize that pleasure, that joy, the more dominant giving it to others becomes….
Of the Love of God. Translated by H. L. Sidney Lear, Rivingtons, 1888, p. 79.
Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (p. 54). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Accomplished by His Anguish: God gives Help to the Hopeless! A Lenten sermon on Romans 5:1-11
Accomplished by His Anguish
God Gives Hope to the Hopeless
Romans 5:1-11
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you hope, as you consider what Jesus accomplished as He endured the agony and anguish of His sacrifice
- Spirituality- a priority
When I originally thought through this sermon, I came up with a parable of sorts. Of sorts because it isn’t primarily about the kingdom of God, as a good Biblical parable should be.
Instead, it is about our lack of recognizing the need, and staying focused on the presence of God, and without thinking about that presence, and what it means for God to be our God, and for what it means to be His people, we are going to be incomplete, walking through the wilderness, encountering temptation and sin, and the guilt and shame that accompanies it.
So here is the semi-parable. A life without a regular focus on God, without hearing and reading His word and without the sacraments is like the box containing a half-finished project, that is buried in your garage, or your storage closet!
You all know what I mean – that project you started, and you were putting together until you realized you might have looked at the directions first? And then you realized you had to undo what you had done and start from scratch.
We often do that, we walk through our lives knowing God is there, but we forget the reason He is there. And so when life gets a bit complicated, when we are dealing with situations that make us question God, or when temptation and sin rearranges our lives, we often set aside our spiritual health. We think once we get our lives straight, we will find the time to pick up that Bible, or talk with God, or find the time to commune with God and His people. Burying our faith like that long-forgotten project becomes the norm, and let’s be honest – sometimes we live like we did before we knew God.
When we do live life, realizing God’s presence, even in the midst of stress, trauma and grief we know the hope of God’s rescue, for as we heard from Romans,
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
What a wonder it is, in the midst of problems and trials, to know how dearly God loves us!
- Utterly Helpless?
Often, it is when we run into problems and trials, that we realize our spiritual life has be placed very carefully up on a shelf, and then other things get piled in front of it. Those may be distractions, we hit a busy season in life, or there are wounds caused by others words or actions that we don’t want to deal with, right now.
The problem is the weight of the world, including the weight of our own sin crushes us, when we are ignoring our spiritual health, and the relationship which provides and restores it. That is what Paul talking about when he says,
6 When we were utterly helpless…
Those are strong words, utterly helpless.
But that is what the world does, it breaks us, and what we do to ourselves is often far worse. We basically disassemble ourselves and try to put ourselves back together in a way we think is right, ignoring how God tells us to live.
That is what every sin does, whether it is trying to find a god who isn’t god, who gives us what we think we want, or whether it is murder, adultery or gossip.
And then, having set God aside, we look at our lives and just put the brokenness on the shelf, and then bury it behind other things we don’t know how to fix…. and the broken and incompleteness of life fills up everything….
We need to hear the rest of what Paul writes…
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
There is our hope of salvation, that Jesus comes along, looks at our brokenness, and the love of God for us means that the Father and the Son have to do something about it.
- Our friend
Lent is that time, to open the garage door, to start to uncover all the stuff, and then to let a friend or relative, you know, the one who can fix anything, come in, and complete all the projects, clearing out the junk but getting the most out of your life—a life with Him that will go into eternity.
That is who Jesus is, that friend. Hear the rest of the passage,
For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
I don’t care how full the “garage” of your life is, how broken it is, how incomplete. This is who God is, the one who loves you, who comes along and fixes and heals, restores, and promises to complete our lives. This is why we talk to Him, listening to how He reveals Himself to us, and how He heals us, as He cleanses us in baptism, heals us as we confess our sins, and nourishes and put us back together, as we eat and drink His body and blood and completes us.
So let’s spend this time, until Easter, giving Him our brokenness, the parts of our lives that are incomplete, and celebrate the love of God for us. AMEN!
Do We Take The Liturgy and Preaching Too Seriously?
Thoughts which drive me closer to Jesus, and to the Cross!
13 Whoever acts without mercy will be judged without mercy but mercy can afford to laugh at judgement.
James 2:13 (NJB)
In the Baroque period the liturgy used to include the risus paschalis, the Easter laughter. The Easter homily had to contain a story which made people laugh, so that the church resounded with a joyful laughter. That may be a somewhat superficial form of Christian joy. But is there not something very beautiful and appropriate about laughter becoming a liturgical symbol?
Therefore as in the preceding verses the passion and death of Christ are prophesied, so in this verse his resurrection is predicted, though by a somewhat obscure allusion. Who would have thought, while Christ was suffering and the Jews triumphing, that God was laughing at them all the while! So also while we are oppressed, how shall we believe that God is holding our adversaries in derision, when it seems to us as though we were held in derision both by God and men? What a power of faith is required in all these words!
In my office hangs a copy of the painting entitled Jesus laughing.
I often thought of it as a reaction to something Peter said, or when some well-meaning rabbi complimented Him on His understanding of scripture.
The words of Luther gave me another insight–as the Father endures watching the Son endue the cross…there is a slight grin on His face, a grin like the A-Team’s Colonel as he says, “I love it when a plan comes together.” In that same moment, as Jesus screams it is finished, a victory cry through the pain can be slightly heard…
The God who tells us to rejoice without ceasing himself rejoices without ceasing.
This attitude needs, no, it has to invade our liturgy, to invade our preaching. The joyous laughter that knows that no matter what, the plan of God will succeed, and the people of God are His. We are HIS!
That is why when Pope Benedict XVI, one of the greatest theologians and teachers on the liturgy brings up laughter, but only from his own perspective. He brought up the history of the liturgy, and the fact that the rubrics required laughter in the homily! For the very reason that this was a celebration–a time when laughter is more than appropriate!
Do you think Simeon, when holding the baby Jesus, knowing He was the Messiah, wasn’t giggling with laughter? Do you not think the disciples were laughing and crying in the upper room when Jesus appeared? That Thomas, on His knees, wasn’t smiling–even as Jesus said he could touch his wrists and put his hand in Jesus’ side.
This is part of our minsitry, this odd, paradoxical sense of humour in the midst of complete reverence and awe of the God who comes to us, to die for us, to use all of His power to save and re-create us… which brings God the greatest joy, and glee.. and laughter!
Joseph Ratzinger, Behold The Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology, trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 119–120.
Martin Luther and John Sander, Devotional Readings from Luther’s Works for Every Day of the Year (Rock Island, IL: Augustana Book Concern, 1915), 391.
Prayer – the recognition of our greatest need!
Thoughts that drive me to Jesus, and to His cross
They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God’s will for them.
9 But you are the chosen race, the King’s priests, the holy nation, God’s own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvellous light. 10At one time you were not God’s people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God’s mercy, but now you have received his mercy. 1 Peter 2:8b-10 GNT
When prayer is genuine, possessing the fire by which it is kindled, prompted by a sincere heart which recognizes its need and likewise the blessings that are ours as proclaimed in the Word, and when faith in God’s Word—in his promise—revives, then the individual will be possessed with a fervor prompting him to fall upon his knees and pray for strength and for the power of the Spirit. Martin Luther
767 What really makes a person—or a whole sector of society—unhappy, is the anxiety ridden, selfish search for well being, that desire to get rid of whatever is upsetting. Escrivá, Josemaría. The Forge .
I’ve been doing some research into the collapsing mid-sized church, those that run 250-2000. In my group of churches, their numbers are shrinking faster than the hopes the fans of the… (well I won’t mention the team name). Seriously, we have a problem across the board–and many younger pastors are leaving their church to pick up the problems some other pastor left, in order to take the place of pastor #3. Or more likely, they leave the parish, and become life coaches or counselors or teachers or..
I have to believe some of this is do to our poor formation, not only of pastors, but of church leaders in general. As churches shrink, we put in place anyone breathing – anyone willing to volunteer, rather than adequately prepare them. Then frustration and anxiety set in, as they don’t feel successful, and the leaders who put them there see no results. We become unhappy, as if happiness is the answer to everything, and the lack of it causes anxiety and desperation and often, change that is… unwise
St. Peter’s words talk about what eventually happens – they forget the promises in the word of God and they don’t hear it…even as we study it with our churches, we don’t hear it. We hear about the Greek or Hebrew, we read and hear about the background of those who did hear it, and how the Holy Spirit used it to change their lives. We hear what we have to do, the doctrines we have to believe, the way we must behave (or that how we behave is okay…when we know scriptures teaches differently) But we don’t hear about the good news, the love of God poured out on His people…along with mercy and grace and healing…as He restores us.
And without hearing that, without knowing God is hear for us, ready to listen, ready to act…the noise and stress and anxiety only gets worse. Eventually, pastors and people leave, determining there has to be more, a different way…..and they try to find it on their own, or coach those who are looking for it–but are just as lost in the darkness….
The church needs to draw them out of that darkness, as it is gthered by Jesus and reflects His glory, as He revives them. He’s there, we just need to recognize our need for Him, and those promises, the promises that we are no longer alone – but we are His people. A message we receive, not just in sermons and the Lord’s Supper, but in that neglected sacrament of prayer…
Oddly enough – though Lutherans may not talk about it often today, Luther points us to that need – to pray for the power of the Spirit to be manifest in our lives together, in the church where the Spirit gathers and enlightens us all.There is no doubt of the need, there should be no doubt of the theology… and there should be no doubt of the promise…
So hear that word, those promises and pray with me…
We Need to Take Worship Seriously!
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to The Cross:
58 So then, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless. 1 Cor. 15:58 GNT
42 He remembered his sacred promise to Abraham his servant. 43 So he led his chosen people out, and they sang and shouted for joy. Ps 105:42–43.
My goals here are to suggest some of the ways in which priests can be pastors and vice versa, to sensitize my fellow pastors to the rich resources for pastoral care within the liturgical life of the church, and to show how insights and skills of the pastoral care disciplines can be of service in the continuing task of liturgical renewal.
Instead, readers will find fresh inspiration to take up again the Scriptures and the practices of the Christian tradition and find in them sufficient hope to finish the race that our Lord and Savior set before us. Hunter does not take us to a final destination, but he equips us for the journey.
As I come to the completion of my formal education at 58 years old, I wonder if the education has been worth it, or if my studies have just driven me mad. My advisor wants to know what academic research I will pursue or encourage next, and yet, I want to return to a focus that is simple, to remind people that God has not forgotten His promises to us, and for those people to then sing and shout for joy.
Not just the people at Concordia, but like Bishop Willimon wrote decades ago, to help pastors and priests see the resources now overlooked in worship. To see worship as not just a way to warm people up and prepare them to be taught, but that worship actively provides the pastor the chance to teach and care for them far deeper than out 15-30 minutes pontificating on some principle or some key to life.
They need to know Jesus, and the Liturgy that is drawn from the Scriptures is a great way to help them walk with Him. (read chapters 2-4 of my dissertation if you doubt me!) These practices weren’t randomly generated by an AI, they came down to us from men who saw their benefit, who compiled them with purpose–that the people of God would experience Christ, from the incarnation through His teaching, His death, His resurrection, through their lives, as they wait for the Second coming.
Is Liturgy the only tool in the toolbox? Is worship the only way to walk with Christ? No, but if the Liturgy is done well… then it can provide a foundation, a place to work from for the entire church. Therefore it is worth the effort, it is worth learning to savor its words like fine bacon wrapped shrimp (or whatever your favorite food is). To live the liturgy in such a way that others hunger for what it is the pipeline for, Jesus, and the grace given to those who depend on Him.
That was what Willimon saw back in the 80’s, and what Bishop Todd Hunter’s new book is supposed to provide. I can recommend both, and a few others, or maybe let me take you out for tea or coffee, and lets’ talk this through…
Lord Jesus, help us to see You as we are gathered with others, that as You are revealed – our soul, our heart and our minds find peace, and joy, and learn to praise You for what You’ve given us…as promised! Amen!
William H. Willimon, Worship as Pastoral Care (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1982).
Esau McCaulley, Foreward, Hunter, Todd D.. What Jesus Intended (p. 3). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
We need to learn to hate everything that…
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to His cross!
Solomon moved his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, from David’s City to a house he built for her. He said, “She must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, because any place where the Covenant Box has been is holy.” 2 Crhonicles 8:11 GNT
(Luther states) “We are free from the Law, which ceases with Christ in a twofold sense: first imputatively, when sins against the Law are no longer imputed to me, but are remitted for the sake of the most precious blood of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ, my Lord; then, by expurgation, when the Holy Spirit is given me, so that, having received Him, I begin to hate from my heart everything that offends His name and to follow good work.”
But here’s the Question: Do we cry out to Jesus to save us right now When you sing hosanna do you really cry out, or do we just mumble the words? Cry out!
As I read what Solomon did with one of his wives this morning, I felt convicted of my sin, but it took a while to process why.
And then I saw it – he stashed his wife away because the relationship he had with her wasn’t holy. Not saying it couldn’t have been holy, but he married her, interacted with her, and allowed her to keep worshipping the gods of Egypt.
And I wonder how often we do that with our sin, and our “religious life.” How often do we compartmentalize our lives, placing our favorite sins and idolatry in a different place? That way we can attend church, or a Bible Study/prayer meeting and not feel the conviction we feel. But it also means we don’t pray as we should, we don’t look for mercy as we should, we don’t “cry out” as JMT urges us to do.
We won’t cry out to Jesus to save us, until we see that there is something from which He needs to save us.
It can’t just be, “oh, I sinned again, I will confess it on Sunday,” as if there is no big issue involved in our sin, that we can deal with it anytime–this week, this month, next year, 10 minutes before Jesus returns.
Luther is right, – we need to learn to hate our sin, and everything in us that offends God.We need to hate those actions, those words, those thoughts, and what tempts us to do, say and think them. We need to realize the damage they do, and hate that as well. SO that we can – with JMT and all the angels and archangels and company of heaven cry out hosanna – save us! We need to desire God’s power reconciling us, and look forward to both private confession and absolution, and the confession and absolution given to us all as we gather together as the church.
This is a need in the church, in all believers, and the answer to our cry for mercy will transform the church, it will bring a time of revival, as people begin to live in hope–freed from the bondage of our sin. What joy will be seen and experienced as this happens! For happen it will.
Lord, help us to hate that which was never meant to be part of our lives, and let the desperation that hate causes lead us to the cross, where that sin is removed. Thank you Lord, for saving us, cleansing us, and making us Your Holy people. AMEN!
Uuras Saarnivaara, Luther Discovers the Gospel: New Light upon Luther’s Way from Medieval Catholicism to Evangelical Faith (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2003), 13.
John Michael Talbot , The Lord’s Supper: A Eucharistic Revival. (Berryville, Arkansas, Troubador of the Lord Publishing, 2023) 71
What worship is… the place where souls are cured
8 Every Sabbath day this bread must be laid out before the LORD. The bread is to be received from the people of Israel as a requirement of the eternal covenant. 9 The loaves of bread will belong to Aaron and his descendants, who must eat them in a sacred place, for they are most holy. It is the permanent right of the priests to claim this portion of the special gifts presented to the LORD.” Leviticus 24:8-9 (NLT2)
The rites and liturgy of man acquire the power to evoke the divine mystery that eye has not seen, that ear has not heard and that it has not entered into the heart of man to conceive. Words, therefore, become seeds of prayer and of contemplation, instruments of man’s transfiguration into the likeness of the Holy God Whom no one can see without dying. Words and symbols lie in the depths of man’s inherited store of knowledge and memory and even in the souls of men who have completely forgotten God these archetypal seeds of divinity and mystery still lie hidden, waiting to germinate like the grains of wheat laid away thousands of years ago, with a Pharaoh under his pyramid
Running-the-church questions are: What do we do? How can we get things going again?
Cure-of-souls questions are: What has God been doing here? What traces of grace can I discern in this life? What history of love can I read in this group? What has God set in motion that I can get in on?
In order for the rites and liturgy of which Merton speaks do what he desires, we have to understand that the rites and liturgy of man means that he is an actor, a part of those rites and liturgies. He is not their controller, their guardian, their defender, or the one who manipulates them. They have to be Divine, the rites and liturgies that are soundly based in scripture and they must reveal Jesus to those who need healing.
Any other goal for worship, which deviates the attention of God and His people dwelling together as God heals hearts and souls, and bodies, that’s not liturgical worship. It doesn’t plant the word of God deeply in them, it doesn’t result in a spiritual connection. It blocks us from seeing what God is doing, replacing His actions with the actions man has done, or that the pastor/leaders want the congregation to do.
They may be highly motivated, they may be doctrinally astute, but that is not the purpose of worship. Worship is to give people what they need to know about Jesus, it is to comfort terrified and anxious souls (see the Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV) The service provides the healing of souls, what has been called the cure of souls. It is what God is providing for His people, this miraculous work of His in our lives.
This is what Peterson is getting at – the difference between “running a church” and being a place where the “cure of souls” occurs. That cure results in a worship that is beyond just singing a couple of cool songs, it results in a transformation that is beyond words, and a peace that is beyond expression. Both a result of a love that is beyond logic.
And realizing that love, that mercy, that peace, is what we are to be doing…. and then responding with God’s people.
That’s what the scripture passage is really about – the fact that the offerings God’s people give are used to provide for …God’s priests. And since all believer’s now belong to the priesthood… God uses our offerings, our sacrifices – to care for us. (He certainly doesn’t need the $$) Again – a response to the cure of souls…
This is why God gathers us together, to care for us, to cure us, to make us whole, and wholly His.
Lord, help us to see Your work as we are gathered by the Holy Spirit, in Your Name! AMEN!
Thomas Merton, The New Man (London; New York: Burns & Oates, 1976), 60–61.
Eugene H. Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction, vol. 17, The Leadership Library (Carol Stream, IL; Dallas; Waco, TX: Christianity Today; Word Pub., 1989), 70.
Our Need for the Sacrament
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. 2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
Each time we consent to a new light on our weakness and powerlessness, we are in a deeper place with Christ.… Christ in his passion is the greatest teacher of who God is. Sheer humility. Total selflessness. Absolute service. Unconditional love. The essential meaning of the Incarnation is that this love is totally available.
Brother Lawrence expressed the highest moral wisdom when he testified that if he stumbled and fell he turned at once to God and said, “O Lord, this is what You may expect of me if You leave me to myself.” He then accepted forgiveness, thanked God and gave himself no further concern about the matter
Second, those who find that they are prompted to partake of it merely because of the order of the church or from habit, who, if wholly free to choose, would not come to it with good will and longing, also must not partake of the sacrament. As St. Augustine says, the sacrament seeks a hungry, thirsty, and desirous soul which yearns for it. But those who go only because of command or out of habit feel no desire or longing for it, but rather horror or dread, so that they would rather be away from it than near it. A person with a yearning heart does not wait for a command, nor is he moved by precept or habit. Such a man is driven by his need and his desire. He has his mind fixed only on the sacrament, which he desires.
Last week I was at a pastors’ conference with 200 plus peers of mine. Most of us were tired, emotionally drained, approaching or in burn-out. It’s the nature of ministry. Those who do it well, risk their health, including their mental health.
The planners of the conference had decided the theme would be SoulCare, providing it for our people, ensuring our families get it, and forcing ourselves to admit we need it, and then act on it. But the planners (I was one,) knew our pastors needed to get such needs out in the open – but also realized there would be reluctance and resistance against such baring of our souls.
There is a need to address this – as Keating explains. It is only as we see ourselves wounded and broken, do we really see Christ’s active care for us! The love that is there, to comfort us, to pick us up, to heal the wounds and cleanse us from sin… IT IS HERE–FOR HE IS HERE!
Brother Lawrence realize the same thing as Tozer quotes him. Without the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we are going to sin, and if sin and dwell among sinners, we will become wounded, and broken. That is why God planned from before the foundation of the world to be here with us…to rescue us, to deliver us.. to nourish us.
That brings us to Luther – and his words about the Lord’s Supper, the Sacrament of the Altar. We shouldn’t fell like we have to go because it is the rules. Never! We need to go because we need that intimate moment with God, as we eat the Body and bring the Blood of Christ Jesus. We need to desire this moment for where it brings us, deeper into a relationship with Him. This time of truly experiencing the God we come to know in the sacrament, the One who loves us.
The Lord’s Supper is where the spiritually broken learn to find hope and healing, as the Spirit ensures the promises that accompany it are communicated to us. It is where we find ourselves, weak and powerless, coming to realize we are welcome in the presence of God, that He shares every aspect of Himself with us., transforming us into His image. ( 2 Cor 3:16)
We need Him – as do our people.
So let us be encouraged to gather around the altar, and know our Lord ever more deeply, as He provides for us, as promised. AMEN!
Thomas Keating, The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings, ed. S. Stephanie Iachetta (New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2009), 277.
A. W. Tozer, Tozer for the Christian Leader (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015).
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 42: Devotional Writings I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 42 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 171.
The Church Needs Revival, not Church Growth!
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and the cross, for there is my hope
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I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in your word. My eyes are straining to see your promises come true. When will you comfort me? Psalm 119:81-82 NLT
So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. 9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, 2 Tim 1:8-9 NLT
To carry on these activities [evangelism, missions] scripturally the church should be walking in fullness of power, separated, purified and ready at any moment to give up everything, even life itself, for the greater glory of Christ.
“My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your Word.” Here the first part contains contrition, while the second clearly describes how we are revived amid contrition, namely, by the Word of God that offers grace. [50] This Word sustains and gives life to the heart. 1 Samuel 2[:6*]: “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.”
For 39 years I’ve heard about the need for Church Growth. It was a major part of my undergraduate curriculum–my major would have been, a Bachelor or Arts in Bible, Church Growth and Preaching. I’ve been blessed to work with some mega-church pastors over the years, mentored by two, and read a lot of the books, including Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?, which predates all the stuff from Fuller, Willow Creek and Saddleback. And even recent works lauded by people, like Canoing the Mountains
There are surely techniques we can apply from these books. But I think the issues is that focusing on Church Growth has us confused, and to be honest, most of the theory is misapplied–simply because they forget to apply it within context! We are hyper-fixated on church growth, or so suspicious of church growth that we analyze the components to death, looking for a reason to dismiss it.
Because our focus is off, the Psalmist’s words ring so true. We are tired, our eyes, hearts and souls are strained, because we trust in God’s promises, but we aren’t seeing them come true in our era. (It doesn’t help that we reduce era to a brief moment!) We know God hasn’t abandoned its church, but because we are fixated on growth, we don’t see what God is doing. Because we don’t see what God’s doing, we burn out, and only half-heartedly commit to the next theory, the next outreach program, the next book which promises that God will provide the increase, if we do our part.
Growing a church is indeed a blessing, but it skews the work (and the glory received from it) making us believe it is our work, our creativity, our passion and strategic-purpose driven life that causes this to happen. And because of that, the church growth movement, and its counterbalance, the confessional/traditional/fundamentalist movements, are doomed to fail.
We need to pray for and seek Revival, not church growth. We need to hear the word and receive the sacraments, realizing what God is giving us in those moments of intimate interaction with a Divine God. We need to see the Holy Spirit killing off the sinner and bringing the saints to life—for that is revival. That is when Tozer’s goal is realized and the church, focused on Christ as a bride focuses on her groom, lives in the moment of salvation. This is true revival, when people are rejoicing beause God has been revealed to be loving, merciful and present in their lives.
As the Church experiences Revival, it doesn’t have the time to be concerned with Church Growth. It is busy helping people live in the moment, so wanting to share the blessing of Christ that they give up their lives. I have seen such people – they are amazing! They simply know Christ’s love, and they will do anything to make it know. The church grows, but that is never its desire. It is focused on Christ, and helping people to know Him, to learn to abandon their wants, desires and even needs. And their they learn, that without what they once considered precious – they are free to live.
This is what we need to pray for- that people come alive in Christ, that they are spiritually defibrillated, and realize they can live in Christ. Then listen, and see those ready to receive God’s word, and His sacraments, as He quickens their hearts and souls…
May we understand that the Lord is with you! And may that revelation result in many coming to know the same thing!
AMEN!
A. W. Tozer, Tozer for the Christian Leader (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015).
“Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Artticle XII Repentance”, Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 195.
