Exaudi 2025

It’s not difficult understanding the Bible, the Bible is clear – but it is very difficult to confess and do what it says. A lot of the extraneous, fanciful theology is finding interpretations around the clear teaching. Men look for some way to explain the Bible in a way that ends up rationalizing our continued unwillingness to just do what the Bible says. Let’s be honest; the first thing we think when we hear a saying like, “Turn the other cheek” is, “But what about this situation? I’m not turning the other cheek for that jerk. I want justice!” But the only footnotes to the Bible are the ones we put there. The only qualifications and rationalizations are the ones we invent, loopholes to subvert and dismiss the clear Word of God.

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Holy Spirit, Holy People

Dear Brothers and Sisters: In the Divine Service we have received from our fathers, just before communion the Celebrant holds up the Body and Blood of Jesus and says, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” Then we sing to Christ the Lamb of God and approach.

In the earliest recorded Divine Service, at that spot, the pastor says, “May grace come and may this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If anyone is holy, let him approach; if anyone is not, let him repent” (Didache 10.6). “If anyone is holy, let him approach.” Who qualifies? Are you holy? …

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Exaudi 2021

You need help. You probably know this already. You need spiritual help, because your mind and heart are not conformed to God’s will. You need bodily help, because you are dying. You need help.

Jesus ascended in order to send you the Helper. But pride says, “I need no help. I can do it on my own. I’ve compared myself to others, and I’m pretty good. My job gives me money, my doctor gives me pills, the black rectangle gives me entertainment. I don’t need help.” O foolish of heart and slow to believe! For you are a slave to your money, your doctor cannot avert your doom, and your black rectangle leaves you numb and empty.

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Cantate 2021

The Church’s “new song” has nothing to do with musical style or instrumentation. We are a people who are liberated from the world’s “old song” of hatred, despair, and lust, the funeral dirges and anthems of kingdoms passing away. The new song is the song of the new kingdom that the LORD has inaugurated in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Church’s liturgy is the new song.

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