Adult Bible Class -- New Series begins April 7

 Oh, Come, Let Us Adore Him!

          Why do Lutherans worship the way they do?  What makes us different?  Should we be different? 

Our next Bible study will be entitled, “Oh, Come, Let Us Adore Him!”  We will consider how the Bible lays the foundation for our worship so that we gain a greater appreciation for our Lutheran heritage.  After all, “We’ve always done it that way” is not a good foundation.  There has to be a reason we’ve done it a certain way.

All are welcome to consider these matters and to ask questions about “Why this?” or “Why that?”  You can even bring up criticisms you’ve heard or had, and we will assess if they are valid and how they can be resolved.  The tentative schedule is below:

April 7             WORSHIP: Why do we do it?

April 14           WORSHIP: A Service?  Who serves whom?

April 21           WORSHIP: Different Theologies: Glory or the Cross?

April 28           WORSHIP: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

(or, The way we worship is the way we believe)

May 5              WORSHIP: Rites and Ceremonies / Words and Actions

May 12            WORSHIP: The Church Year; Weddings; Funerals

May 19            Review of Luther’s Small Catechism / Examination of catechumen

Adult Bible Class beings promptly at 9:00 AM on Sundays.  All are welcome.

BIBLE BITS: Leviticus 10 -- Addendum

I recall some years ago that we had a guest join us for worship.  I had met him a few weeks earlier.  Our conversation convinced me that he had saving faith in Jesus, although he said that he had not yet been baptized.  I informed him that we needed to correct that.

Then, on the Sunday he had joined us or worship, he came to the altar for Holy Communion.  (For the life of me, I can't remember if I had politely blessed him or actually gave him the sacrament.  I hope it was the former.)  In any case, I spoke with him after church.  I told him that it was appropriate that he be baptized before receiving Holy Communion.  Baptism is the adoption into the family, and Holy Communion is the family meal.

It made perfect sense to him, but I recall the look of horror on his face that he had done something out of order in God's house at God's service.  

Now, I did not threaten him with hellfire, and God did not strike him down, either.  But he demonstrated a proper respect for the holy things.  He knew that he had no right to approach God on his own terms, even though he intended no ill will.  God tells us how to approach him, and he had great respect for that.  And for that, I respected him all the more.

BIBLE BITS: Leviticus 10

Immediately after Aaron and his sons are anointed to serve as the Lord's priests, tragedy strikes.  Leviticus records, "Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.  And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord" (Leviticus 10:1-2). 

Our reaction is that this is an extreme response to what appears to be a minor infraction.  To us, it may seem minor.  Clearly, God did not consider this a minor issue.  The Lord (note: this is the covenant name; the God of grace and mercy, the God who saves!) responded with fire, instant judgment, and death for two of Aaron's sons.

The next verse helps us to understand the issue: Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified’” (Leviticus 10:3).  The Lord had given specific instructions about how the priests were to approach him.  They did not have the liberty to be lazy or careless about it.  God made his point in an extreme fashion in this violation at the very beginning of the worship at the tabernacle.  The message for Aaron and any future priests was clear: Do not mess with the Lord or take his word lightly.  You do not get to approach God according to your own designs.  God is very clear on this that he be regarded as holy.  If the priests don't revere God as holy, why would the people?  This was a First Commandment issue, and God underscored it in violent, definitive action.

We also ought to be careful about our worship.  While we might think that approaching God is no big deal, God clearly thinks otherwise.  When God came to dwell with mankind, he took steps to hide his glory under frail, human flesh so that we would not be struck down as Nadab and Abihu were.  So also, when we come to church, we ought to recognize that we are standing on holy ground.  This is not Target or Starbucks where they will bend over backwards to satisfy the customer.  This is the Lord's house.  We stand in the Lord's presence.  We should consider how the Lord wants us to approach him (although the odds of getting struck down are probably low; there were no similar judgments recorded in the Old Testament even though worship became corrupt as the years went by).  

As God's comments addressed the priests first of all, so today the pastor stands under God's watch first of all.  If the pastor is not reverent in his conduct at the altar, why should the people think God is worthy of reverence?  It is still a First Commandment issue.  The glory of God should be confessed by our actions as well as our words.  

Summer Schedule begins

The unofficial beginning of summer is Memorial Day weekend.  That often means people will be traveling on the weekends for vacations, weddings, family reunions, etc....  Unfortunately, it also means that people will not be in church on Sundays.

In order to accommodate summer plans so that you will not have to miss church, we will have our summer schedule for Divine Services.  Throughout the summer, beginning May 23, we will offer Thursday evening services at 7:00 PM.  These services will precede the Sunday service so that you can begin your weekend with God's Word and Sacrament.  (NOTE: We will not have a Service on Thursday, July 4.)  Of course, our regular Sunday Divine Service continues to meet at 10:00 AM.

In the event that you are out of town and are looking for a church to attend at your destination, you can always find a local WELS congregation through the WELS website.  There, you can get directions and information from the Church Locator.  You may still want to call the church you will be attending to confirm worship times, as they can vary from what is listed on the WELS web page.

Sunday School and Sunday morning Adult Bible Class are now on hiatus throughout the summer.  They will resume on Sunday, September 8.

A Pastoral Concern & Gottesdienst post -- Holiness vs Casualness

It is wonderful when someone writes out my concerns for me!

Check out this post from Gottesdienst.org:
https://www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/2018/10/30/f6vk2stu3caxk3gohxtsd6l6aqmv6d

Well said, and fully agreed!

The Lenten season

Preparation for the Lenten Season

A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, our guilt and evil bearing
     And, laden with the sins of earth, none else the burden sharing.
Goes patient on, grows weak and faint 
     To slaughter led without complaint,
          That spotless life to offer,
Bears shame and stripes and wounds and death,
     Anguish and mockery and says,
          “Willing all this I suffer.” (Christian Worship 100:1)

The Lenten season is a 40 day period (not including Sundays) leading up to Easter.  It is a penitential season.  That is why it begins with Ash Wednesday – a powerful reminder that “dust you are, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)  Since we are dust and marked for death, we approach our Lord in penitence and humility, seeking his mercy.

One of the ways we may express our penitence is by fasting.  Fasting need not be a total deprivation of food.  Traditionally, Christians would reduce the number of meals they ate from three to two.  Of those two meals, one (usually the later meal) was rather light.  Or you may partake in two rather small meals with a regular sized meal.  Sundays, however, remain feast days.  Fasting, prayer, and the giving of alms go together. (Matthew 6:1-6,16-18)  The time that we give up on feeding our bodies is devoted to prayer and meditation, and the money we would have spent on ourselves would be given to the poor or to a charity.  Though such practices are not mandatory, Luther’s Small Catechism reminds us, “Fasting and other outward preparation may serve a good purpose….” 

The Lenten fast is also experienced in our Divine Services.  During the Lenten season, we will not sing Alleluia or the Gloria in Excelsis (“Glory be to God on high…”).  Flowers are also removed from the altar.  As we continue further into the Lenten season, the fast intensifies and we will notice some omissions from our Services:

These omissions are a fast for our eyes and ears.  Perhaps it will seem awkward to be missing these things, but that is the point.  Lent is a penitential season.  Our celebration is muted.  But this also will highlight the air of celebration on Easter Sunday when all of these sights and sounds return to our worship as we will rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord.

Grant that I your passion view with repentant grieving.
   Let me not bring shame to you by unholy living.
How could I refuse to shun every sinful pleasure
   Since for me God’s only Son suffered without measure? 
(Christian Worship 98:5)

Something from ... The Babylon Bee -- Re: Hymns

The article below from the Babylon Bee is supposed to be satire...I think.  I really don't know.  The link is below, and I've copied and pasted the entire article.


http://babylonbee.com/news/study-highway-hell-theologically-accurate-96-modern-worship-songs/

U.S.—A recent survey performed by CCLI confirmed that AC/DC’s hard rock classic “Highway to Hell” is more theologically accurate than 96% of the songs that most worship bands play on any given Sunday.

The study examined over 800 songs and compared their theology to the Scriptures, and found that the Australian rock group’s 1979 classic was “significantly more accurate” than over 96% of them.

“While modern worship songs tend to contain little theology, an anemic view of sin, and a poor understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, ‘Highway to Hell’ has a very biblical view of the doctrine of hell,” a CCLI rep said. “Lead singer Bon Scott had a clear understanding of man’s natural inclination toward sin and the inevitable judgment of God that follows.”

“Just take a look at some of those lyrics in that hard-hitting first verse,” the head CCLI researcher told reporters. “‘Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme, Ain’t nothing I would rather do / Going down, party time, My friends are gonna be there too.'”

“Bon Scott’s understanding of mankind’s depravity clearly rivaled anything Paul wrote in the third chapter of Romans,” he added. “It’s better than that song that keeps inviting the Holy Spirit in like He’s some kind of coy puppy dog.”

Further findings confirmed that other metal classics like Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast,” Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” and Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction” were also more accurate than most songs played on Air1 or K-LOVE.

Luthean Satire -- Reaching the youth

Lutheran Satire has addressed the Church's challenge of reaching the youth. 

Two options are proposed.  One is traditional, the other is trendy.

 

You can skip the final 20 seconds of the video (unless you really like Axl Rose). 

I find it annoying.  The rest of the video is priceless.

Enjoy!

 

 



A Pastoral Concern: Where did you go on Sunday?

This past Sunday we celebrated another Divine Service.  We used the Common Service (version from Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal, the official WELS hymnal). 

So this is where the Common Service took us:

To our baptism. 
          ("In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.")
To our place in this world. 
          ("Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.")
To Christmas and the angelic choir. 
          ("Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men.")
To the Prophets. 
          ("A reading from the book of Exodus, the 2nd book of Moses.")
To the Apostles.
           ("A reading from St. Paul's first letter to Timothy.")
To the mouth of Jesus.
           ("The gospel for today....")
To the generations of Christians who have gone before us.  
          ("We believe in one God....")
To the prayers of King David. 
          ("Create in me a clean heart, O God.")
To the throne of God. 
           ("Our Father, who art in heaven....")
To the glories of heaven and the angelic choirs there.  
          ("Holy, holy, holy Lord God of heavenly hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory.")
To Palm Sunday. 
          ("Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest!  Blessed is he, blessed is he, 
          blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!")
To Good Friday. 
          ("Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.")
To Easter Sunday. 
          (Christ is here--not symbolically, but really.  He comes to us in the sacrament 
          and gives victory over sin and death.)
To the eternal banquet of heaven together with all the saints there.  
          ("Take and eat; the body of Christ.  Take and drink; the blood of Christ.  For you.")
Toward the grave, but now without fear. 
          ("Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace, according to your word...")
To the blessing of being marked as God's own. 
          ("The Lord bless you and keep you....")

There is no question that the historic liturgy continues to serve as a blessing for the Lord's Church.  It repeats the live and promises of Jesus and assures God's people that they will receive good things on that Sunday (especially when the sermon misses the mark or is just plain bad). 

Why would anyone want "something better"?  What IS better than this?
The Lord is good to his people, and the historic, western liturgy highlights that and repeats it every week.