Posts tagged “Lord’s Supper”

Tapani Simojoki on ad orientem

Posted on February 14th, 2013

Lutheran Pastor Tapani Simojoki has some excellent thoughts on celebrating ad orientem (“to the east,” i.e., facing the altar for the consecration, standing in the same direction as the people). A key part of the argument: The Sacrament is the Gospel: it is where the word ceases to be information for the ears and becomes a tangible reality. It is where the crucified and risen body of Jesus, which is the Temple of God on earth, meets with our mortal bodies as the medicine of immortality. And therefore the Words of Institution are the Gospel precisely when the congregation eavesdrops on them, hearing them pronounced over the elements for their good. As long as they are addressed to the people, they remain historical information…

Categories: Theology

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Sermo Dei: Commemoration of Blessed J.K. Wilhelm Loehe

Posted on January 2nd, 2013

Tonight we remember a man whose impact on American Lutheranism is both profound, and deeply under-appreciated. Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe lived in nineteenth-century Germany, serving as pastor in a Bavarian town called Neuendettelsau. Although he never visited the United States, he had a deep impact on the growth of orthodox Lutheranism here by training men who were sent as missionary pastors here (as well as to Brazil and Australia). Some of these pastors became the founding fathers of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. He financed a teachers college in Saginaw, Michigan, as well as a seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which today is called Concordia Theological Seminary, a school I’m proud to call my alma mater. Loehe was also deeply dedicated to works of mercy,…

Categories: Sermons

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[Sermo Dei] First Sunday after Christmas: “A House for God’s Name”

Posted on December 30th, 2012

David, the King, feels guilty. The time of war is largely ended, and the children of Israel are finally at peace in the land promised long ago to Abraham. Resting in his brand new luxurious palace, David looks out and realizes that the ark of God has no such palace. “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” So David proposes to build a cathedral. He would erect Notre Dame, St. Peter’s Basilica, Hagia Sophia, a grand church for Israel’s victorious God. But God refuses. Why? We can read in the rejection notice delivered by the prophet Nathan in today’s first reading two main items: 1) The LORD builds a house for David, not…

Categories: Sermons

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Adoro, te devote

Posted on April 5th, 2012

My annual Holy Thursday post:   For me, it isn’t Holy Thursday unless we sing Aquinas’s “Adoro, Te Devote” in the translation by Gerard Manley Hopkins:   Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore, Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more, See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.   Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived: How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed; What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do; Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.   On the cross thy godhead made no sign to men, Here thy very manhood steals from human ken: Both are my confession, both are…

Categories: Liturgy

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Merely a Memorial Meal?

Posted on July 21st, 2011

Somehow—in the middle of talking about Michele Bachmann, the Wisconsin Synod, the Papacy, and the Antichrist last Sunday at Bible Class—the topic of the Lord’s Supper as merely a “memorial meal” came up. My parishioners remembered that I had preached about it, but some newer folks asked for the sermon(s), and it looks like I never posted them. Here are two, the first from Holy Thursday 2004, and the second from Holy Thursday 2010. Last Sunday we had some friends visiting from out of town, and after church we went into the District for some sightseeing.  On the way to the Lincoln Memorial, one of their girls asked in wonder if we were going to get to see Abraham Lincoln alive.  “No, he’s dead,”…

Categories: Sermons, Theology

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BENEFIT to Soul AND Body

Posted on March 30th, 2011

William Foy has a nice piece up about the deep disconnect between what the Sacrament of the Altar offers (life) and what people are afraid of (sickness and death). You can read “Life in the Sacrament of the Altar” here. Thanks to one of our teachers at Immanuel, Trent, for alerting me to it. After reading it, I began to prepare for tonight’s class with the three young people who will soon be confirmed, and as I paged through my Small Catechism happened upon this beautiful quote from the Large Catechism: We must never regard the sacrament as a harmful thing from which we should flee, but as a pure, wholesome, soothing medicine which aids and quickens us in both soul and body. For where…

Categories: Theology

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More on Communion in the Hand

Posted on January 18th, 2011

In a previous post we had a lively discussion about issues surrounding communion in the hand or mouth. Here are some thoughts from my learned colleague, Pr. McClean, that have nearly caused me to change my position on this. Reception in the mouth was at one time the universal custom in Synod. The Reformed insisted on Communion in the hand. In the 1895 Synodical Catechism Question 554 read: “Must the bread be taken with the hands or only with the mouth? Strange question! The taking and eating which takes place with the mouth is certainly necessary, but the manner of receiving is indifferent. John 19,30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished. (Alone with the mouth.)” After Vatican II…

Categories: Theology

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Medicine of immortality, or sickness unto death?

Posted on January 10th, 2011

One of the joys of Instapaper is discovering something “new” that isn’t new at all. In this case, I had marked an article from Pastoral Meanderings posted the autumn of 2009 that I just got around to reading today. In Precaution or Fear, Pastor Peters summarizes three scientific findings demonstrating that receiving the Eucharist from the chalice (i.e., “common cup”) presents minimal risk that it will make you or others sick. A sample (from a UK health journal): No episode of disease attributable to the shared communion cup has ever been reported. Currently available data do not provide any support for suggesting that the practice of sharing a common communion cup should be abandoned because it might spread infection. Pastor Peters concludes: Let us…

Categories: Theology

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Helping people heal from pornography addiction – insights from Kleinig

Posted on October 4th, 2010

How do you begin the process of helping a person heal from pornography addiction? Rom. 12 – discerning what is good, what is the will of God. There is no one program or procedure that fits all cases. We have given resources, and a given problem, but each individual case needs discernment. Pastoral rule of thumb: don’t go digging for dirt. Deal with issues as they present themselves. Ask the addicted person: What do you think would be best, what would help you most? Don’t just give an absolution, but also pray for them, pray for God’s help for them. Not just with them, but for them, regularly, intercessory prayer. Give them a blessing, tailored for them, that empowers them for their battle. When…

Categories: Theology

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Good news from Jesus First

Posted on July 10th, 2010

According to the LCMS political group “Jesus First,” more congregations are practicing closed communion in the LCMS. An email from a lay-delegate who just arrived in Houston for the Synodical Convention contains this nugget written by a Pastor Greg Smith in a publication distributed by Jesus First: I am also concerned over the growing practice of closed communion among the radical right, where truly repentant and believing family members, fellow LCMS members, and even fellow congregants worry that they may be denied the Sacrament. Apparently Pastor Smith is unaware that closed communion is the official doctrine of the Missouri Synod (see, e.g., footnote 54 on page 48 of this CTCR document), as well as to whom it applies. You may also be interested in:…

Categories: Theology

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