Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Isaiah 1,10-18. Day of Repentance and Prayer

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Isaiah 1,10-18. Day of Repentance and Prayer

Isaiah 1,10-18 6220

Buß- und Bettag 072

Gregory Thaumaturgus (the Wonder-worker), Bishop of Pontus. ✠ 270

18. November 2020

1. We, miserable sinners, acknowledge and confess unto you, O our God and Lord, that during our lives we have grievously sinned against You and our fellow man in many ways, by evil thoughts, words and deeds. We are by nature sinful, unjust and unclean, inclined to all that is evil, and corrupt in body and soul, having thereby merited Your Divine wrath, temporal punishment and eternal death. Nevertheless, since You, in Your Word, bear testimony and assure that You have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that through penitence and sorrow he turn unto You and live, therefore we flee unto such Your promises, and to Your unfathomable mercy, seeking and imploring Your grace. O God, be gracious and have mercy upon us, miserable sinners, and forgive our sins and offenses for the sake of the precious merit of Your Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Löhe 397-98)

2. »Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! „What to Me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you arrive to appear before Me, who has required of you this trampling of My courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will become like wool.“«

3. Lutheran hymnals have, for centuries, contain Propers for Buß- und Bettag (Day of Repentance and Supplication; also called Day of Humiliation and Prayer or Day of Supplication and Prayer). These Propers are also appointed for use on the Wednesday before the Last Sunday in the Church year (the upcoming Sunday would then be Eternity/Christ the King Sunday) or the Wednesday in the Last Week of the Church Year (which usually is the day before the American Thanksgiving Day). The services originated in Germany after the conclusion of the European Thirty Years War (1618-48) as a prayer service of confession, thanking God for His mercy and grace to His people. This service was used quite frequently in history. Dukes and rulers introduced them especially during times of tribulation (war, epidemic, etc.), and these days became rather popular. The historic setting of these services in the calendar year fits well with our American traditions too, as this puts it after our Election Tuesday and just before our Thanksgiving Day, and our American political landscape certainly groaned and shook this past Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning! The outcry from some continues to show that man’s political vitriolic against man will not soon abate.

4. Therefore, we pray for those who suffer loss from natural disasters, war and violence. We pray for our enemies, those who persecute us and for unbelievers to believe the gospel of Christ. We also pray for our elected leaders: that they would guide us peaceably and wisely, that God would bless our nation and that God would unite us together as a band of American brothers and sisters. The Psalmist reminds us: »Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God« (Psalm 146,3.5).

5. We also confess our sinfulness. No nation is perfect and no politician above reproach. Our nation commits wicked actions. The weakest and voiceless among us are murdered. Some are downtrodden and oppressed. Others are not treated fairly and equally. Our nation has lofty ideals enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but we do not perfectly live up to them. We are a politically divided nation, as we have always been, but we are quick to demonize those who vote differently form us, too eager to belittle someone with another opinion and too eager to slander both political leaders and even our very neighbor. We forget that, in general, we all have the same goal to help those in our nation, but we approach that goal from different perspectives and ways to best achieve it. For all that we repent, pray for God to help us be better Christians, better citizens, better neighbors and pray that God leads us a nation committed to morality and virtue.

6. We certainly are also living in a time of pandemic and hysteria, and more-so than before do we need a day of repentance as 2020 draws to a close in about 6 weeks. When the Covid pandemic became more prevalent in early March, we had prayed for repentance and providence that the Lord would watch over us and deliver us from plaque and pestilence. And today, as the Church year draws to an end this coming Sunday, we beseech the Lord for His favor and mercy as we still endure the global and national effects of this pandemic.

7. The Lord exhorted sinful Israel: »Come now, let us reason together: though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will become like wool.« The Lord also exhorts us to draw near to Him and be saved. Look to Christ; trust in Christ. Johann von Staupitz, Luther’s confessor, once told him: „Look at the wounds of Jesus Christ, to the blood that he has shed for you: it is there that the grace of God will appear to you. Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer’s arms. Trust in him — in the righteousness of his life — in the atonement of his death. Do not shrink back; God is not angry with you, it is you who are angry with God. Listen to the Son of God. He became man to give you the assurance of divine favor. He says to you, You are my sheep; you hear my voice; no man shall pluck you out of my hand.” (Staupitz).

8. Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive Absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven (Small Catechism). Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer; but before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts (Small Catechism). Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord, Thou dost not forsake the penitent sinner; make haste to absolve our sin, so that we have a peaceful conscience and the certainty of salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord. 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 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Isaiah 1,10-18. Day of Repentance and Prayer

No comments:

Post a Comment