Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: November 2017

Monday, November 27, 2017

Psalm 126,1-3.5.6; Isaiah 35,10a. Eternity Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 126,1-3.5.6; Isaiah 35,10a 5717

Ewigkeitssontang 073 (27. Trinitatis)

Konrad, Bishop of Konstanz, Germany. ✠ 976

26. November 2017

1. O Lord, whose heavenly realm is likened to a wedding celebration, keep us always faithful and alert, so that we receive Your second advent with great joy and celebration. Amen. (Gradual).

2. O Lord, And the ransomed of the Lord will return and go to Zion with singing; everlasting joy will be upon their heads; When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, will return home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

3. The Introit makes reference to the ransomed of the Lord going up to Zion; this is a reference to those Jews displaced by the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities (721 and 586 BC). First the 10 northern tribes of Israel and then the 2 southern tribes of Judah had been conquered by foreign superpowers, many deported to far away lands and the temple worship brought to a halt. Such judgment was rendered by the Lord for their unrepentant idolatry. The Lord promised to bless Israel if they obeyed His covenant but He threatened to cast them out if they rejected His covenant (Deuteronomy 30,15-20). During their decades of captivity, Israel returned to the Lord and pleaded with Him: »O Lord, remember what has befallen us; behold our disgrace! Restore us to Yourself so that we may be restored; renew our days as of old« (Lamentations 5,1.21). Before Divine judgement fell, the Prophet Isaiah promised the Lord’s future salvation: »The ransomed of the Lord will return and ascend Zion with singing; everlasting joy will be upon their heads; they will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away« (Isaiah 35,10).

4. The Lord had promised Abraham: all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring (Genesis 23,18). The Lord had chosen Abraham from all upon the earth and raised up from Him Israel; this Israel was chosen by the Lord as a representative for all the nations. Like mankind, Israel rebelled against the Lord, was punished but also promised a redeemer. As the Lord saved Israel, through Israel He would save all the nations of the earth. The Lord told Isaiah: »I will make Israel as a light for the nations so that My salvation may reach unto the end of the earth« (Isaiah 49,6). John the Apostle proclaimed that Jesus is the Light of the world (John 14,9). The term „Israel reduced to one“ was first coined by Lutheran theologian Dr. Horace Hummel in the 1970s, and was put into print in 1979 with his book The Word Becoming Flesh. Dr. Hummel explained the term this way: „That is to say that Old Testament history really is our history via Christ…. Since Christ is ‘Israel reduced to one,’ and since Israel’s inner history was all recapitulated and consummated in Him, the ‘new Israel,’ the church, expresses [her] identity and mission in terms of the promise given the old Israel“ (Hummel 17). In Jesus’ temptation, we see a dovetailing of two Christological themes: Jesus, as Israel reduced to one, standing in our place, as the Christus Victor who triumphs victorious over our old, evil foe, the devil. Jesus stands in Israel’s place because Israel failed the testing Yahweh subjected them too in the Sinai Desert. Jesus stands in the place of all the nations because all the nations failed to trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for their deliverance. Jesus stands in our place because we were born in bondage to sin and Satan. While Israel rejected their messiah, there was one who did not. Jesus, the Son of God sent to be Israel’s messiah, is also Israel reduced to one (Hummel 17). „Jesus is Israel, true man, but radically distinct from Israel, true God“ (Hummel 224). Jesus did not reject His messiahship; He did not reject His Father who sent Him to be the messiah. Jesus is »the Deliverer arrived from Zion, He banished ungodliness from Jacob« [Isaiah 59,20; 45,17]; Jesus is »His Father’s covenant with Israel when He took away their sins« [Isaiah 27,9]. In Christ Jesus, Israel has received, believed and confessed the messiah who has triumphed victorious over our sin, death and the devil. In Christ, God has mercy on everyone: to the Jew first, and then also the Gentile. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise given to the patriarchs and the prophets.

5. It is this Jesus that the bridesmaids await in today’s Gospel parable. When Jesus arrived, the bridesmaids were filled with laughter and joy for the Lord has done great things for them and restored their fortunes. We are the prepared bridesmaids in this parable for we eagerly and patiently await His return, that is, His second advent. On that day, we who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. We will return home with songs of rejoicing.

6. The Gospel Readings for the past few weeks have told us that Jesus’ second advent will be a surprise. We don’t know when it will occur, so we wait ready for His arrival. We will become drowsy and fall asleep as we await His return, but when the cry goes out we will awake and join the wedding procession behind Jesus. Jesus will arrive to take His Church into the heavenly reign. Whenever Jesus arrives, we know we will be ready for we have faith in Him. Jesus shows us in this parable a glimpse of what eternal life in His presence will be like. In Matthew, Jesus used the image of a wedding banquet. The Psalms and Prophets used images like peace existing among the nations and Israel again returning to Zion in celebration and worship. These images merely scratch the surface of what joys await us in the abiding fellowship with Jesus and all believers in Him. The Triune God created men and women to be in perpetual communion with Him. Our Fall into sin has temporarily severed that bond, but God the Father would not have that bond cut forever; He sent His Only Son to redeem us and restore His bond of fellowship with us. The Holy Spirit uses the means of grace to focus our attention on Christ and the salvation He has made for us. Many glorious days and activities await us in the new heaven and on the new earth. The gospel bespeaks us righteous; bright with Christ’s own holiness (LSB 578,3). It is all ours now by faith, and it is this faith that makes us prepared for the advent of Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen and Amen.

7. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, make known to us the path of life, for in Your presence there is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore, so that we look forward to the last day as a time of renewal and rebirth in the resurrection that is promised to us along with the new heavens and new earth. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Psalm 143,1-2.6.8.10; Psalm 96,13. 2. Last Sunday in the Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 143,1-2.6.8.10; Psalm 96,13 5617

Vorletzter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres; 26. Sn. n. Trinitatis 071

Elisabeth, Landgravine of Thuringia, ✠ 1231.

19. November 2017

1. О Lord Thou Creator of the heavens and the earth, bring justice to Your creation, so that the wicked are judged and the righteousness are vindicated. Amen. (Gradual)

2. The Lord, arrives to judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in His faithfulness. O Lord, give ear to my pleas for mercy! Answer me in Your faithfulness and righteousness! Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God! Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

3. The Psalmist proclaims that »The Lord arrives to judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in His faithfulness.« Such Divine action occurs a number of times in the Bible. Mankind’s banishment from Eden (Genesis 3), the Flood (Genesis 7) and the Division of the Earth/Tower of Babel (Genesis 10,25; 11) are examples of Divine judgement on a global scale; Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), the Exodus (Exodus 6-14), the Assyrian Captivity (2. Kings 19; 721 bc) and the Babylonian Captivity (2. Kings 25; 587 bc) are examples of Divine judgment on a local or national scale. Last week’s Gospel pericope (Matthew 24,15-28) cited Jesus prediction of Jerusalem’s destruction that would soon occur in ad 70; Jesus said this tribulation would be an example of a future tribulation that ultimately ushers in the last day.

4. Before the Lord judges He sends messengers to urge people to repentance. Sometimes those prophets are ignored and His judgment commences, like Noah and the Flood; other times those prophets are heeded and His judgment is averted, like Jonah to Nineveh. One reason the Church has a rite of confession and absolution is to call Christians to examine their lives, repent of their sin and receive the Lord’s forgiveness. »If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world« (1. John 1,8-9; 2,1-2). Another reason is the Church intercedes on behalf of the wicked world and asks the Lord to be merciful. »The Lord said: „Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me. And if not, I will know“« (Genesis 18,17.20-21).

5. Responsive Prayer 2 uses the Versicles as a meditative prayer of repentance: »Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry ascend to You. In the day of my trouble I call upon You, for You answer me. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and taken to Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit« (Psalm 102,1; 86,7; 51,9-12). The Versicles conclude with the assurance of the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness, and in doing so they echo the words of today’s Introit wether we are reminded that the Lord mercifully answers our prayers and exchanges judgment with justification. By this gracious activity, the Lord creates in us an eager waiting for adoption as children of God (Romans 8,23).

6. As His children, theLord creates in us a desire to love and help our neighbor. We see this bear fruit in today’s Gospel pericope where Jesus announces to all mankind how His Christians have helped those in need, fed them, clothed them and simply showed them mercy ( Matthew 25,35-39), and in doing this unto others we have truly done it unto Christ. »A disciple is not above his teacher; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher« (Matthew 10,24-25). »Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward« (Matthew 10,40.42).

7. The Introit makes it clear that the Lord loves mankind: »Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God! Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground!« The Lord’s love for men and women is also our love as well. To walk the path of the Lord is to walk the path of loving mankind. The Apostle Paul tells us: »The love of Christ urges us on because we are convinced that One has died for all; therefore all have died. Thus we are ambassadors for Christ« (2. Corinthians 6,14.20). Our neighbors need to hear the gospel and to receive our good works. As Christ does for us so we do for others. Amen.

8. Let us pray. O Lord, the heavens declare Your righteousness and justice; give us the assurance that as Your children we love our neighbor, so that in showing this love we more importantly show them Your holy love for them. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Psalm 90,3.7-8.13-14; Isaiah 38,17b. 3. Last Sunday in Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 90,3.7-8.13-14; Isaiah 38,17b 5517

Drittlezter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres 070 (25. Trinitatis)

Jonah, Prophet, 838-797 bc

12. November 2017

1. O Lord, Thou who remembers Your people, remind us that You have purchased and redeemed us, so that we never doubt Your love and mercy. Amen. (Gradual).

2. O Lord, You have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. You return man to dust and say: „Return, O children of man!“ For we are brought to an end by Your anger; by Your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on Your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

3. We have entered the home stretch in the Church’s Liturgical Calendar, and today marks the 3. Last Sunday in the Lectionary. When people think of the end of something they often have nostalgia and contemplate what they have done or not done. As sinners, we often contemplate before the Lord our self-worth. The Lord will judge the righteous and the wicked; all are from the dust, and to dust all return (Ecclesiastes 3,17.20). The Psalmist laments that »We are brought to an end by the Lord’s anger and dismayed by His wrath. Our iniquities are set before Him and our secret sins are brought to light in His presence.« Countless Christian men and women have lamented the truth that the Apostle Paul elegantly writes in his Epistle to the Romans: »Wretched person that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?« (Romans 7,24).

4. The Prophet Isaiah offers comfort from the vanity of Ecclesiastes and the anguished cry of Paul: »The Lord has delivered our lives from the pit of destruction, for He has cast all our sins behind His back.« The Psalmist also speaks words of consolation: »O Lord, satisfy us with Your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.« The Apostle Paul likewise proclaims the gospel: »Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord who has delivered us from this body of death! There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ, for we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us« (Romans 7,25; 8,1.35.37).

5. Faith believes the consolation spoken to us by the Mouth of the Lord through His prophets and apostles. The Epistle to the Hebrews assures us: »Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen« (Hebrews 11,1). And the Apostle Paul declares: »We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary afflictions preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but look to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal« (2. Corinthians 4,16-18).

6. The wicked world will not fare well on the last day. Jesus tells us that a great tribulation will befall the world, greater than any tribulation in the past (Matthew 24,21). False prophets will proclaim a false gospel and others will claim to be Christ Himself and they will perform great wonders so as to deceive many (Matthew 24,24). The Apostle Paul spoke about this false gospel: he called it a different and a distorted gospel (Galatians 1,6-7). Paul says the true gospel is that Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age (Galatians 1,4) and this gospel simply is that a person is only justified through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of the law (Galatians 2,16) for the righteous shall live by faith (Galatians 3,11).

7. Christians will be blessed on the last day, for we will have endured tribulation. »We are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; we always carry in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh« (2. Corinthians 4,8-11). As we await for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, let us be diligent to be found by Christ without spot, blemish and at peace (2. Peter 3,13-14). Let us love our neighbors. Respect all people. Warn those caught in wickedness and encourage those who believe in Jesus. Pray for all. Let our words and actions exemplify Christ and give Him honor. Our Lord has delivered us from the pit of destruction and He has cast all our sins behind us. Let us live as those delivered and forgiven, showing others the same grace and mercy Christ shows us day after day. Amen.

8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Righteousness and Redeemer; may our lips praise You, so that all may know that You are near to grant mercy and forgiveness. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Psalm 18,30-32.34-35a; Isaiah 41,9. 21. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 18, 30-32.34-35a; Isaiah 41,9 5417

21. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 066

Berthilla, Abbess of Chelles, France. ✠ 692

5. November 2017

1. О Lord Jesus Christ, our Eternal Dwelling Place, as You sustain the mountains and the earth, so sustain us with Your Providence, so that we may know day after day that You are our God and Savior. Amen. (Gradual)

2. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. God’s way is perfect;the Word of the Lord proves true; He is a Shield for all those who take refuge in Him. For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a Rock, except our God? He is the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the Shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand supported me.

3. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that: »The Lord is with us and is our God, therefore fear not nor be dismayed.« The celebration of the Reformation falls at the time of remembering the saints. Luther nailed his 95 Theses on 31. October, that is All Hallows’ Eve/Halloween, the day before All Hallows’ Day, that is All Saints Day. In fact, the Wittenberg University chapel is named All Saints Chapel, and it was on the door of All Saints that Luther posted his debate theses on indulgences.

4. All Saints Day is a feast whereby we remember all those Christians who have departed this temporal life to be in the presence of Jesus in Paradise. What we confess by faith these saints experience in perfection: »I am with you; I am your God.« Our God promises us: »I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.« In today’s Gospel pericope Jesus declares: »You must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect« (Matthew 5,48). Alas, who is perfect but God alone? Who is righteous but God alone? Not even the saints were perfect when they lived upon the earth. What fate awaits us who are imperfect and unrighteous when we meet God face to face in His Full Divine Glory? That was the dilemma that young Friar Luther had struggled with. Part of Luther’s duties at Wittenberg University was to teach the Bible. He taught Romans, Galatians and the Psalms between 1514-17. We know he finally saw the light of the gospel when he properly understood what St. Paul had written in his epistle: »The righteous will live by faith« (Romans 1,17). The Psalms further assured him of this great Pauline declaration; the Psalmist tells us this morning: »God’s way is perfect; the Word of the Lord’s proves true; He is a Shield for those who take refuge in Him. He is the God who equipped me with strength and made my way perfect.«

5. The Lord had created mankind, Adam and Eve, in His Image and Likeness; He created them perfect and righteous. Their Fall into sin replaced that perfection with imperfection and original righteousness with original sin. Thus men and women throughout the ages have struggled with how to appease a righteous God. Religions and philosophies approach such appeasement from the ground up: we must ascend to God. Christianity and Judaism approach this appeasement from heaven downward: God descends to us. We see this first play out in Genesis 3: Adam and Eve attempt to appease God by hiding from Him, and making clothing from leaves, hoping He will not notice their sin and their nakedness, but the approach and appeasement rightly goes with God finding them, punishing them with the law but more importantly promising them a Savior who will redeem them. St. John tells us that Jesus is this Promise and Savior: »For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but He sent Him so that the world shall be saved through Him« (John 3,16-17). This Jesus has made our way perfect, blameless and righteous.

6. The Apostle Paul proclaims: »No one is righteous, no, not one, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God, and all are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is JesusChrist, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith« (Romans 3,11.21-25). The Psalmist looked forward to the time when God would give us the Shield of His salvation, and His right hand to support us. Jesus is our Shield of salvation and the right hand of His Father who supports us.

7. Jesus declared: »You must be perfect (τελειοι), as your Heavenly Father is perfect« (Matthew 5,48); Jesus fulfills this for us. As Adam’s one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so also Jesus’ act of righteousness leads to righteousness for all men (Romans 5,18). You are now perfect through Jesus, as your Heavenly Father is perfect, and if you are perfect in God’s eyes, then you are saints, that is, holy ones.In 7 of his 13 epistles, the Apostle Paul addresses the Christians as saints; in the remaining 6 epistles the recognition that they are saints is implied. As such, Christians produce the saintly works that follow and flow from faith in Jesus. Such holy living was not mature in some instances, as the epistles to the Corinthians, Galatians and Thessalonians testify, but the Christians strove to live as the saints Jesus had declared them to be. Each of us attest to the lives of these saints, as we are all at a different point in the journey of faith, but we all strive to be the Christians Christ Jesus has called us to be by grace through faith. The gospel assures us that every Christian participates in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted to us by God (37. Thesis).

8. The Apostle Paul exhorts us: »Let us not grow weary of doing good, for as we have opportunity let us do good to everyone« (Galatians 6,9-10). Faith in Jesus Christ bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness (Galatians 5,22-23). »For freedom Christ has set us free« (Galatians 5,1) to be certain of our salvation which is given freely by G and received by faith, to love our neighbors and rejoice in the righteousness we have from Jesus Himself. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord, who loves and justifies sinners; receive our hymns of praise for the gospel of Christ Jesus Your Son, so that by our joyous singing and loving deeds our neighbors may believe the redemption You have given to the world through Christ the Lord. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, November 27, 2017

Psalm 126,1-3.5.6; Isaiah 35,10a. Eternity Sunday

Psalm 143,1-2.6.8.10; Psalm 96,13. 2. Last Sunday in the Church Year

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Psalm 90,3.7-8.13-14; Isaiah 38,17b. 3. Last Sunday in Church Year

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Psalm 18,30-32.34-35a; Isaiah 41,9. 21. Trinity