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The Paradox of Suffering, Ministry and the Kingdom of God
Thoughts which carry me, a broken pastor, to Jesus and the Cross
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.Even all the hairs on your head are numbered. So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:28–31, NET)
One night as blessed Francis was reflecting on all the troubles he was enduring, he was moved by piety for himself. “Lord,” he said to himself, “make haste to help me in my illnesses, so that I may be able to bear them patiently.” And suddenly he was told in spirit: “Tell me, brother, what if, in exchange for your illnesses and troubles, someone were to give you a treasure? And it would be so great and precious that, even if the whole earth were changed to pure gold, all stones to precious stones, and all water to balsam, you would still judge and hold all these things as nothing, as if they were earth, stones and water, in comparison to the great and precious treasure which was given you. Wouldn’t you greatly rejoice?”
“Lord,” blessed Francis answered, “this treasure would indeed be great, worth seeking, very precious, greatly lovable, and desirable.”
“Then, brother,” he was told, “be glad and rejoice in your illnesses and troubles, because as of now, you are as secure as if you were already in my kingdom.”
The Christian faith has only one object, the mystery of Christ dead and risen. But this unique mystery subsists under different modes: it is prefigured in the Old Testament, it is accomplished historically in the earthly life of Christ, it is contained in mystery in the sacraments, it is lived mystically in souls, it is accomplished socially in the Church, it is consummated eschatologically in the heavenly kingdom.
This river of liturgy flows from the heavenly throne, pools up in the Church, and overflows its lip to flood our personal lives.
I have a friend in Sicily, a wise old priest who suffers greatly from physical distress, who has become more than an older brother in the faith, he is one of those heroes of the faith, and in the ministry. He cares for his people enough that he humbles himself to perform mass in a chair behind the altar, for the small group of faithful who need the Eucharist as much as he and I do.
I am a quarter century younger that this man, and he inspires me for he understands intuitively than even in his sufferings, Jesus is made clear to his people. And they learn to endure, they learn that faith is more than knowledge, but a complete dependency on the presence of God in our lives.
The liturgy he prays with his people is the kind that Fagerberg speaks of–something that pours not just from mouths, but from the Throne of God. It comes from deeper than Fr. Guiseppe, or from Pastor Dustin, for it is the Spirit that is allowed to work trhough the cracks of our shattered lives, making those words come alive, giving hope to others that are broken.
This is what real ministry is, helping those who are broken find their way home into the Kingdom of God.
And that is only found in the our death and resurrection with Christ Jesus!
That is what truly gets us through each day, this mystery that should flood over us through the worship service, that doesn’t demand our praise, but causes us rejoice in even the struggles and troubles, for we know His peace and love.- which not only is beyond all understanding, but provides us with our refuge.
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (pp. 322–323). New City Press.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. xx). Emmaus Academic.
Come and See What We Treasure! The God Who Helps! A sermon on psalm146 from Concordia
Come and See What We Treasure!
The God Who Helps!
Psalm 146
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ reveal to us all the ways God helps His people!
Our treasure—that shines through our brokenness!
The theme for this month is the treasure of God that shines through us, bringing its light to shatter the darkness of our community. It’s based on Paul’s words to the most broken of churches in the scripture, the church at Corinth. He wrote them saying,
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT2)
That is the way outreach works at its best. When through our brokenness, people are able to see the power of God helping us, whether it is helping us endure, or helping us help others, it is incredible, and it is something we need to treasure, just as we treasured the fact that God is near us.
We get to hang on to this truth, that God is our hope, because He is there helping us. That is the reason why we praise Him, just as the author of the Bible passage we are looking at today did.
- We trust and put our hope in powerful people.
As the Psalm begins praising God, even to his dying breath, he quickly inserts a warning, “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.”
If there was any doubt that the scripture is relevant to us today, this verse should prove it. I don’t care whether it is religion, politics or business, people seem certain to put their trust in people.
Or perhaps more accurately, they put their trust in the people that oppose certain people.
But when one’s hopes and dreams, or one’s fear and anxieties are based on the actions and work of a certain person or group of people, there is certain danger!
We’ve replaced God with a person when we do that. If we’ve chosen to define our lives by them, or their affiliation, then we have, to an extent, made a God out of them or their ideology/identity.
And we’ve effectively kicked God out of our lives.
And when or we breathe our last, the psalmist says, “they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.”
If our confidence had been in them, it would be crushed, as would our dreams and hopes. Even if they were successful, who would care or remember a dozen years later?
So why do we set up such idols? Why do we place our confidence, our hope, our faith in people, or even what they stand for, or say they stand for?
- God helps those who need it.
Instead of encouraging to depend on this group or that, on this person or that one, Scripture tells us something radically different.
It says, “But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”
Contrary to popular belief, God doesn’t help those who help themselves. He helps those who need help, that is why they respond with incredible amounts of praise!
This God of ours, credited with creating heaven and earth and everything in them, we are told helps those:
who are oppressed!
Who are hungry!
He helps those in prisons!
He opens the eyes of the blind!
He lifts up those having incredible burdens!
The Lord helps the foreigners, some translations use the terms aliens. It means those not like the ones living here.
The Lord Helps the Widows and Orphans,
This is the God who helps us!
In the middle of whatever can break us in life, He is there, bringing to us comfort, and healing, and hope—not just for this life—but for eternity.
- We are joyful as we realize the assistance of God.
This is why the psalmist praises Him—with more enthusiasm than any Superbowl or Olympic stadium ever heard. The Psalmist talks about doing so as long as he lives and until his final breath.
Then He says these amazing words, the key to the sermon today.
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. (verse 5)
And then
10 The LORD will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the LORD! Psalm 146:10 (NLT2)
How incredible did the Psalmist think the help he witnessed was, that his ancestors witnessed, this God who sees us, who helps us.
And this was before God’s help was clearly seen.
It was before the cross; it was before the time in the grave; it was before the resurrection and ascension.
Can you imagine what the psalmist would have written it the say after the resurrection, or the day of the Ascension? How much more would the praise ring out? How much more would hands be raised high in praise?
How incredible would the Alleluia’s be when someone believes and is baptized, and the promise of eternal life made sure?
How much more would they celebrate the feast of victory that is the Lord’s Supper?
This is why we talk about celebrating these things. Because we see the promises of God to help us with our biggest struggle—against sin and Satan.
We have to know this—without this help the cross and resurrection provides, we would spend eternity in Hell.
And we would not have any comfort or hope in this life, for we wouldn’t know the love of God, revealed in Christ Jesus.
The very thought of dwelling in the presence of God, of sharing in His life and His glory forever—that why we worship Him, that’s why we praise Him, and that is what we should treasure more than anything!
Amen!
We Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that: Everyone Would Be Identifiable (as His) – a sermon on Ephesians 4:17-52
We Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that
Everyone Would Be
Identifiable… (as His)
Ephesians 4:17-5:2
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ reveal to you your true identity as a child of God, and empower you to live in that identity!
Who am I
I haven’t done a pastor parker’s poignant parable in a while, a real-life story that completely illustrates the lesson about Jesus, and His role in our life.
So today’s parable – the Kingdom of God is like the first day of preschool. Or the first day of college. It really doesn’t matter, for on such days, for life becomes radically different, and people are different, the order of our days are different, and even sleep patterns becomes different!
And in the middle of it all, we are unsure of ourselves, and because we lost all we have used to identify ourselves, things become crazy.
If we lost our identity, and if people don’t know who we are, we lost everything that governs our lives, and we have to re-learn who we are, and because of that, how we live.
But the Kingdom of God establishes our identity, much as the crowns given on the first day tell us (and our teacher) who we are….
Mistaken Identity
Do you remember the first day at a new school? The confusion, the lack of direction, being completely ignorant of the rules—not just the official ones of the schools, but the rules of society, the unspoken rules of the community? Or maybe it’s a new job or a new church, and there are some, well let’s say different people there.
Now hear the words of Paul, 17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.
You are in a new place, you don’t know anything—never mind which of the voices you should listen too. So rather than listen to God, the temptation is to listen to whoever says “do whatever you want!” “do what makes sense” rather than – obey the rules.
This is noting new, the wisest man in history, King Solomon, wrote,
18 When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful. Proverbs 29:18 (NLT2)
What would happen if a teacher walked out of the classroom for 30 minutes, or you left 40 freshman alone for a weekend at your house? Without guidance, people run wild…and some translations phrase it—they perish.
Is it no wonder why? Look at the behaviors that lack confusion brings about,
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
And, 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language.
And, 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.
Notice how many of these are sins of passion, an indication of a lack of control, a lack of an identity that defines who we are, and how we behave.
He identified you as His own
Our thoughts, our words, our actions all depend on who we are, and how we identify ourselves.
No, let me restate that – it depends on whether we realize how God identifies us. The key verse in all our readings today,
Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
When the children showed up on Monday, Elizabeth had crowns prepared for them with their name on them. The reason I made the connection to the sermon was those crowns, for when God identifies you as His child, that crown is guaranteed, for we are children of God, children of the King.
That’s what we are talking about – for once the kids are settled, once they realize that they mean the world to their teachers, they settle in, give lots of hugs and get excited to be here, where they know they are loved.
It becomes second nature to behave within the rules then. They aren’t perfect, just like their teachers aren’t. But they soon get used to the environment, they get used to the rules, because they know they are loved, they know they are known, they know they belong here.
The same is true for us, the world changes when we realize who we are, who loves us, in whose presence we belong. That’s why it ends with this…
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us,
As we learn to walk with Jesus, as our hearts open up and His love pours out as we love others, everything is different in life. We are invited into this life filled with love, a love proven as Jesus paid for our sins with His blood on the cross.
He knew it was coming, he knew it would cost Him that much. And so He died for us. And it is in His death that we find out identity,
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. Colossians 2:11-12 (NLT2)
Romans talks about the same thing as we are united to Jesus in our baptism, as we are cleansed from all our sins, and we are forever made one with God, as the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us, and marks us with God’s name.
We are identified as His, and as we learn from Him, we become like Him, reflecting Hi loves and glory into this confused world.
This is who you are, children of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. That is your identity, all our identity, as we look towards life eternal in the presence of the God who loves us, and identifies us as His own.
AMEN!
You Need a Better Way to Complain!
Thoughts which guide me to Jesus, and to the Cross
With praise and thanksgiving, they sang to the LORD:
“He is good;
his love for Israel continues forever.”
And then all the people shouted loudly, “Praise the LORD! The foundation of his Temple has been laid.” 12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family leaders who had seen the first Temple cried when they saw the foundation of this Temple. Most of the other people were shouting with joy. 13 The people made so much noise it could be heard far away, and no one could tell the difference between the joyful shouting and the sad crying. Ezra 3:11–13. NCV
No heathen, philosopher or jurist, if he have not God’s Word, can throw his care and complaint upon God. When trouble arises, he begins to murmur and argue against God and his government, as though God’s rule merited criticism. But such men receive their deserts when God permits their calculations and hopes to fail and lets the reverse prevail. They spend their lives in many vain, useless cares and projects and in the course of their experience must learn and confess that many a time the very opposite of their judgment is the truth.
Faith is a part of theology and so is thought. The absence of one or other of these would be the end of theology. In other words, theology presupposes a new beginning for thought that is not the product of our own reflection, but comes from the encounter with a Word that always precedes us. The embracing of this new beginning is what we call “conversion”.
Some of us (ok, many) have a talent that needs to be developed.
Not that we don’t use it enough, oh my gosh, it is something we do so often, we should be experts at it!
But we are not, not even close!
Why? Well, look at the results of our artistic use of words, as we complain about the world, injustice, our workplaces, our families, even our own actions and thoughts. As I said – the frequency of our complains is significant! BUt it is most often ineffective. For we complain to those who might listen, and if they do, they commiserate, as it has been said, “misery loves company!” Because we complain to those who have no power to change the situation (or change us) the complaint has no positive effect on our lives!
Luther notes something similar as he talks of those without God’s word, and their inability to throw their cares and complaints on God. The sad thing is that this method has a cost, they will receive their just deserts. Just like a friend of mine who was complaining to another friend of his wife’s cooking, not realizing he didn’t “hang up” the phone.
But to complain to God, (see Jeremiah 20:7 for an example!) we need to be aware of the relationship we have with Him! We have to know we can depend on Him, and that He loves us! This is Pope Benedict’s point, that we can’t be theologians, we can’t find the answer to “what does this mean?” without having encountered God first, without the Spirit converting us, (2 Cor 3:16ff) little by little into the image of Christ.
We see this in the passage from Ezra, as they work on the Temple. Those who look at it, remembering the old Temple – weep loudly–they aren’t seeing the promises of grace that will be received, the work of God as He reveals HIs love and the relationship they are in with Him. The others, hearing of the remarkable grace, are so exuberant, so ready to receive the forgiveness, and the clear identity as the people of God, they are ecstatic–because the relationship is so important!
For secure in that relationship with God, we can complain, confident that His answer will be a blessing, and we will eventually see how it is! This is the way to complain, even bitterly – to a God who sees you, who knows you, and who has dedicated Himself to do what is best for you!
SO go to it! Whine, complain and throw the tantrum of all tantrums. God can handle it…and you! And then, worship the Lord who is with you!
Luther, Martin, and John Sander. Devotional Readings from Luther’s Works for Every Day of the Year. Augustana Book Concern, 1915, p. 210.
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Edited by Irene Grassl, Translated by Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth, Ignatius Press, 1992, p. 189.
Make Room For God’s Comfort in “your” Worship!
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to the Cross
28 After this, Jesus knew that everything had been done. So that the Scripture would come true, he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 There was a jar full of vinegar there, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a branch of a hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ mouth. 30 When Jesus tasted the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and died.
15 Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Did you take him away, sir? Tell me where you put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Mary turned toward Jesus and said in the Hebrew language, “Rabboni.” John 19:28-30,20:15-16 NCV
It is right, and even necessary, that there exist today a radical call for a simplicity that will purify the liturgy of all aesthetic embellishments so that we may experience once again the original force of the word and the reality that we encounter there. The Church must return again and again to the simplicity of her origins if she is to experience and mediate the reality that underlies all appearances. She must nevertheless not forget that the celebration of the Lord’s Last Supper means, by its very nature, the celebration of a feast, and that festive embellishments are an integral part of any feast.
Now God is present here,
Then let us all adore;
Before Him bow with humble fear,
And praise Him evermore:
Let every worldly thought be gone,
And meekly bow before His throne.
I love the pageantry of a very formal liturgy. There is something special–especially at an ordination, or a high feast, of a full and rich liturgy, coming across gloriously with Hosannas and Amens, the full choirs sustaining the church’s praises.
But that cannot be, in my opinion, the main form and style of worship.
I am not alone in this – Pope Benedict XVI’s quote shows a necessity for the church to follow a KISS principle – (Keep it Simple- stu..err silly one!) We need to experience the original force of the word and the sacraments we encounter! We need to focus, not on the golden threads and astonishing voices….but on God–present in our lives together. We need to let His glory wash over us, stripping us of all the things of the world, including all our attempts to impress Him, by creating what we think heaven might be like.
We just celebrated the harsh realities of Good Friday and Easter, but with all the embellishments that occur, sometimes we miss the story of His brutal death, and His incredible resurrection, and our being there, through the miracle of baptism. We need to get this – church is not about all the glory we can muster, it has to be God’s glorious presence, and His glorious work in us.
That is why we have to keep things simple at times, so that we can realize the feast is more than the potluck, it is that simple bread and wine which is the Body and Blood of Christ – given and shed for us, to free us, to comfort us, to empower us, as God comes to us!
This is what generates worship – the presence of God.
May we never obscure it!
Luther, Martin, and John Hunt. The Spiritual Songs of Martin Luther: From the German. Translated by Thomas Clark, Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1853, p. 175.
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Edited by Irene Grassl, Translated by Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth, Ignatius Press, 1992, pp. 129–30.
Before the Harvest! A Sermon on Psalm 67
“Before the Harvest”
Psalm 67
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be evident in your life in the Harvest field!
- You are that answer to Prayer
For the next 11 weeks we are going to be talking about God working through us, turning us into an answer to prayer—a prayer Jesus taught us to pray. It comes from Matthew 9:38, There, we find written:
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
Matthew 9:36-38 (NLT2)
And so we pray, and then we find that we are the answer to pray – each one of is not just sent into the harvest fields once in a while, God has called us to live in the midst of the field that He has planted.
As we look at this, there are a number of lessons to learn experientially, before we get to the reading of Revelation 7, and the final eternal celebration of the Harvest:
We will hear that description on Reformation day,
“9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a mighty shout, (have everyone read this part) “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10 (NLT2)
I can’t wait to hear you say that in heaven!
Today’s reading from Psalm 67 talks about it… we see the promise of the harvest, 6 Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us. 7 Yes, God will bless us, and people all over the world will fear him.
So what happens before that…
- Before the harvest
Is prayer – a prayer that God’s blessings be known, not just to us, or to the Israeli people, but to everyone. Hear it again!
2 May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere. 3 May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. 4 Let the whole world sing for joy, because you govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world.
5 May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you.
I still wish Bible translators knew of the existence of exclamation points!
People throughout the whole earth, people everywhere, need to know what God is doing! How He is using all His power to save people everywhere! We need to know, everyone needs to know God is there, to the point where their reaction is simply to praise Him.
Which means to know what it means to be saved.
We need to explore that – because to just say, “hey, you were just saved.”—especially without a exclamation point…. Doesn’t inspire a lot of praise and adoration.
Our salvation – yeah that does. Or it should!
- Justice and Guidance
So to understand salvation – we have to look deeper into the passage, to where it talks about God governing the nations with both justice and guidance.
The first is justice – everyone thinks they want justice in this world, until you really think about what it means. I had two instances where I had to think about what justice truly is this week. One situation has played out in the news, the other was regarding something I witnessed.
The first case, I urged patience in, the details of the court case was only given by one side. And the other side is only beginning to be heard. Rumors abound, which doesn’t help anyone, it just divides people. The second case, I thought I wanted what I thought would be justice… and then, when it didn’t go quickly or easily, I became uneasy, and when the dust settled – my thought was the accused got way too light of a sentence for the suffering he caused.
And then I looked at my sermon notes again…
If anyone of us got the sentence that justice demands for our sins, the sins we commit in our thoughts through our words and what we do, not one of us should be here. Not one of us should be allowed to receive communion, in fact, Bob and I should be struck dead as we approach the altar…
So God’s justice cannot be what we call justice. It must be something more…
It has to be God’s justice, or to use the other word that is translated as–His righteousness. God governs us, which is about judging us and our lives.
And in His righteousness, He sees us as righteous.
His level of righteous…for in Christ’s death and resurrection, Jesus was credited with our sinfulness, as He credited us with His complete righteousness. So, God is completely just, His judgment is unquestionable.
After judging us as righteous, God does something even more phenomenal. He invests in our lives. He guides us and takes responsibility for our lives.
This is why we praise Him! He makes us His own, caring for us, cleansing us, walking with us through life, simply because He loves us.
These are His ways that need to be made know throughout the earth, the effective way He will save everyone who depends on Him..
- The Harvest that is now – and not yet
As we spread that message, as those seeds are planted, they grow until the harvest at the end of time. We heard it from the Psalmist earlier, but let’s hear it again,
5 May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. 6 Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us
Or as Jesus said it
13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come. Matthew 24:13-14 (NLT2)
So its simple – we work in the fields we live in, sharing the work of God, knowing His presence, and then, the harvest happens, and we are all brought before the throne of God. Until that day, God governs us and guides us, His people as we dwell in His peace…doing His will, sharing His love with the world. AMEN!!
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.
Repentance and Worship
Thoughts driving me to Jesus, and to the Altar/Cross:
For seven days all the people of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 18Since the days of the prophet Samuel, the Passover had never been celebrated like this. None of the former kings had ever celebrated a Passover like this one celebrated by King Josiah, the priests, the Levites, and the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem 19in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign. 2 Chron. 35:17-19 GNT
True penitence or contrition flows out of love for God and righteousness. Without such love it is impossible for man to hate and detest sin and to repent of it. An important problem in the doctrine of repentance, therefore, is the question of the origin, or creation, of such love in the human heart. Is it the result of man’s own efforts, or is it the work of God?
Staupitz answers the question by saying that such a love for God and His will is the product of two factors: (1) the revelation of the love of God in Christ and in His suffering for men, and (2) the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man. “The love of Christ kindles the spirit of the bride (that is, man).” “Love for God is created by the revelation of the love of God toward us.”56
The event that resoluted in the marvelous celebration of the passover was the finding the word of God, reading it, and realizing not only that the people of God were guilty of sin, but that there was a way that resulted in the people being free of the bondage created by that sin.
A freedom that was foretold in the story of the passover, a story that Israel was commanded to keep, that they would remember the love of God that assured them of His work in their lives.
It is with this hope, that they celebrated the freedom won for them, and the ultimate freedom that would occur when the Messiah came. And even only with hope of the future, the people of God threw a party that would be memorable throughout history!
How much more should we, who have that hope fulfilled in Jesus, celebrate the love of God, show to us in Christ Jesus? We have the two things necessary to love God – His love fully revealed, and the love of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts! We should be as excited to see God at work in our lives as the bride is, as she looks down the aisle to see her about to be husband.
The key to worship is not found in the band or organ, the type of music or when it was written. The key is the gift of repentance, the work that the Spirit does in transforming us, as we learned we are love, as we learn to love. The result is worship like hasn’t been experienced before, for it changes from being based on the future, to being based in the present.
It all boils down to the relationship and realizing what God is do in this relationship…
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), 22–23.
Now… at last! We Celebrate!
Thoughts which bring me to Jesus, and to His cross
10 And then he said, “I have here a book that Hilkiah gave me.” And he read it aloud to the king.
21 King Josiah ordered the people to celebrate the Passover in honour of the LORD their God, as written in the book of the covenant. 22No Passover like this one had ever been celebrated by any of the kings of Israel or of Judah, since the time when judges ruled the nation. 23Now at last, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem. 2 Kings 23:10,21-23 GNT
It is in the intimacy with God that we develop a greater intimacy with people and it is in the silence and solitude of prayer that we indeed can touch the heart of the human suffering to which we want to minister. Do we really believe this? It often seems that our professional busy-ness has claimed the better part of us. It remains hard for us to leave our people, our job, and the hectic places where we are needed, in order to be with him from whom all good things come. Still, it is in the silence and solitude of prayer that the minister becomes minister. There we remember that if anything worthwhile happens at all it is God’s work and not ours.
Something happened to King Josiah as the gospel, contained in the word of God was read to him. It went far beyond doing church, “right,” and being good, ethical stewards of the money entrusted to their care.
He didn’t have a time of silence and solitude as we normally think of it, but as the gospel was read to him from the word of God, the miraculous happened.
The Holy Spirit created the intimacy with God which made King Josiah unlike any other king, including Hezekiah and David.
He became a king who was also the pastor of his people. He realized part of his work was to free them from bondage to false idols, to bring them to the point of celebrating the Passover–something long forgotten among the people.
They celebrated it, in a way that reflects on their hunger and thirst for the presence of God, and to see and celebrate the work of God in their midst…now!
The people of God came back to life, they realized again what God was doing! Revival broke out–not because they were running the business of church right, but because their time was dominated by God’s revelation of His presence and care.
Nouwen is correct though, it is not our work that makes us pastors, priests and ministers. It is not from our agendas that we find the strength and ability to minister. It comes from the time when our darkness was invaded by the glory of God’s love, where His comfort and peace sought us out to heal us.
It is time, to gather around the gospel, to hear it–to realize the intimate presence of God–who loves us, cares for us, comforts and heals our brokenness..and then uses all of that, as we serve and minister to those around us…. as we guide them to the Altar– to our Passover…
Lord, may it be said of our time, that our moments of being gathered together and celebrating Your work in us is unlike any other, as You revive Your church as you did the people in Josiah’s day!
Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Living Reminder (p. 51). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
The Hidden Cost of Worship!
Thoughts which draw me closer to Jesus… and to His cross.dd
75 We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks to you! We proclaim how great you are and tell of the wonderful things you have done! Psalm 75:1 GNT
They who do not feel their sin, and are not dismayed, nor see their infirmities, profit not a whit by it, nor do they delight in it. Though they hear the gospel, it has no effect upon them, except that they learn the words, and speak of what they have heard. They do not treasure them in their hearts, and receive neither comfort nor joy from them.
It were well, if the gospel could be preached only where faint-hearted and conscience-stricken ones are found. But this cannot be, and for this reason it bears so little fruit. The fault is not in the gospel, but in the hearers. They hear it, but they do not feel their own affliction and misery, nor have they ever tried to feel it.
The Last Supper must be understood and proclaimed also as such. Just as in baptism we meet our death and the promise of new life, so also here we encounter the death of the old and the hope of the new. “When you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). It is death-dealing to pretentious god-seekers to be reduced to eating a bit of bread and drinking a sip of wine for salvation. But just so it is also life-giving in the promise. It is the breakthrough of the new in the midst of our time.
THE sincerity of all prayer, whether liturgical or private, depends on the fundamental acknowledgment of our actual spiritual state. We have to have some realization of what we are supposed to be, of what we are not, and of what we are. The first step towards a liberty that is a free gift of God’s grace is the free acknowledgment of our own need for His grace.
As I was reading Psalm 75 this morning, I thought about why we praise God.
It is not because He is all powerful, or all knowledge. It cannot be based in fear anymore than it can be through some idea of manipulating God into saving us.
So where does worship come from? From realizing that God is at work in our lives.
And that is where the horrible, ugly, truth comes into play.
We need Him to work in our lives.
We need Him to do so because we are broken and crushed by the world and by our own sin.
Luther’s words drive this point home- noting how we have to feel our sin, we have to recognize our brokenness. Not so we can be belittled or terrorized by it – the sin does that on its own. But we need to face it, so we can say that we are forgiven it. This hurts most of the time – for the same reason pulling stitches and dressings off of wounds hurts. Merton agrees with this – explaining that we have to understand where we are, in order to understand grace. Forde nails the point home, when talking about the mystery of the Eucharist, and how such a simple piece of bread and sip of win is so transforming–because it is the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus. The promises in it are amazing, if we only take the time to think through it.
It is there, at the altar, and at the baptismal font, that the great miracles in our lives happen. THey may also be the most overlooked, for they are sublime. As we come to understand them, the true glory of God, His love, is made known to us. ANd worship should well up inside of us,
Letting God deal with our darkness is needed for worship to really soar. So let Him in… and know the Lord is with you!
Martin Luther and John Sander, Devotional Readings from Luther’s Works for Every Day of the Year (Rock Island, IL: Augustana Book Concern, 1915), 142.
Gerhard O. Forde, “Proclaiming,” in Theology Is for Proclamation (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1990), 178.
Thomas Merton, The New Man (London; New York: Burns & Oates, 1976), 162.
