The Words of Jesus Are the Power of the Divine Service
The whole power of the mass consists in the words of Christ, in which he testifies that…
Read MoreThere is no cause for anger
In his book The Sermon on the Mount: The Church’s First Statement of the Gospel, David P. Scaer draws out the true teaching of Jesus, obscured by textual assertions that accommodated man’s tendency to justify himself: there is no place for anger in the life of a disciple of Jesus.
“One who is angry has taken to himself the prerogative that belongs to God alone. The phrase “without cause” does not belong to the original reading. Even if there is a cause for anger, anger must be put aside among the followers of Jesus. There is no cause for anger. Though anger is the prerogative of God alone, in his work of reconciliation in Jesus he has set aside this anger. This makes the offense of anger even more repugnant. By becoming angry the one who claims to belong to Jesus and to know his mind takes an attitude diametrically opposed to God, who is no longer angry. The refusal to be reconciled is the sign that the person no longer belongs to Jesus and from God’s point of view is no longer a member of the community. Here is where excommunication becomes operative.”
Jeffrey Gibbs’ excellent article “The Myth of Righteous Anger” expands on this and is highly recommended.
The Christian Awaits Quietly His Call
Accepting one’s callings in life is among the most difficult things for a Christian. A man desires a better situation, a pastor desires a different congregation, the idealist longs to live in a different time and place. The term ἐπιθυμία (epithumia, “desire”) and its cognates is sometimes used positively in the New Testament, but more often is associated with the corrupted human heart that drives a man to sin. Passages such as Romans 7 and James 1 particularly note the pattern that desire gives birth to sin, and sin to death. The desire for a satisfying life is—because of the inverted heart—actually a longing for death….
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Ready to Leave This Strange Country
Pascha (Passover) characterizes the life of the disciples of Jesus. St. John Chrysostom:
Let not any one of them that eat this Passover look towards Egypt, but towards Heaven, towards “Jerusalem that is above.” (Gal. 4:26.) On this account thou eatest with thy loins girded, on this account thou eatest with shoes on thy feet, that thou mayest know, that from the moment thou first beginnest to eat the Passover, thou oughtest to set out, and to be upon thy journey. And this implies two things, both that we must depart out of Egypt, and that, whilst we stay, we must stay henceforth as in a strange country; “for our citizenship,” saith he, “is in Heaven” (Phil. 3:20); and that all our life long we should ever be prepared, so that when we are called we may not put it off, but say, “My heart is fixed.” (Ps. 108:1.)
(NPNF 1:13, p165)
Every Divine Service Is Easter
A gem from Luther:
We have Easter as often as we celebrate the Mass, preach, and administer the holy Sacrament. With us Christians every day is Easter, except that for ancient memory’s sake we observe a special Easter once a year. And that is not wrong but good and laudable, to observe the time when Christ died and rose again, even though our remembrance of His suffering and resurrection is not restricted to such a time but may be done on any day. As He says: “As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).
LW 13, pp355–356
Practical Atheists
Summarizing Luther, Dennis Ngien observes:
The vast majority of humanity are practical atheists, going about their tasks as though there were “no death, and for that matter, no God.”…
Read MoreChrist Is Nothing Other than Sheer Life
A gem from Luther:
Christ is nothing other than sheer life, as his saints are likewise. The more profoundly you impress that image upon your heart and gaze upon it, the more the image of death will pale and vanish of itself without struggle or battle. Thus your heart will be at peace and you will be able to die calmly in Christ and with Christ, as we read in Revelation [14:13], “Blessed are they who die in the Lord Christ.”
LW 42:104
He Made Manhood Young Again
Blessed be that Child who gladdened Bethlehem today! Blessed be the Babe who made manhood young again today! Blessed be the Fruit, who lowered Himself to our famished state! …
Read MoreHe bestows what is good ungrudgingly
With God there are simultaneously exhibited power, wisdom, and goodness. His power and goodness [appear] in this, that of His own will He called into being and fashioned things having no previous existence; His wisdom [is shown] in His having made created things parts of one harmonious and consistent whole; and those things which, through His super-eminent kindness, receive growth and a long period of existence, do reflect the glory of the uncreated One, of that God who bestows what is good ungrudgingly.
Read MoreOur Lord's Gifts Are Not Garbage
While still a seminary student, I was assisting in the distribution of Holy Communion when I heard a little girl say something jarring. "Daddy, can I throw that in the trash?" The church used disposable plastic cups at Communion, and there was a basket near the altar rail to deposit the used cups. It was a natural question for this little girl to ask. Children like to participate in what the adults are doing, and the ritual action of the Sacrament leads to curiosity….
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