Peace Lutheran Church Sussex, Wisconsin

Congregation at Prayer

Yearly Archives: 2021

The Creed —— The Third Article

December 26, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 139: A Prayer of Comfort from the Lord’s Abiding Presence—There is no place we can travel where the Lord is not present for the help, comfort, and salvation of His people who believe in Him. He searches our hearts. He knows everything about us. He is acquainted with all our ways. He knows every word we speak before we utter it. We cannot hide from His presence. We cannot fully grasp the wonder of His omniscience. He orders the affairs of our life, so that we are drawn to Him to seek His help in repentant faith. He has made each of us individually in our mother’s womb. He knew us before we were born. Our days are ordered in His book. His thoughts toward each of us are precious and more than we can number. We ask Him to make His will our own and to lead us each day in humble contrition and repentance, and in prayer to seek His guidance. If there is any wicked way in us, we pray that He would turn us to the good and to the way of everlasting life.

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The Creed —— The Third Article

December 26, 2021

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 139: A Prayer of Comfort from the Lord’s Abiding Presence—There is no place we can travel where the Lord is not present for the help, comfort, and salvation of His people who believe in Him. He searches our hearts. He knows everything about us. He is acquainted with all our ways. He knows every word we speak before we utter it. We cannot hide from His presence. We cannot fully grasp the wonder of His omniscience. He orders the affairs of our life, so that we are drawn to Him to seek His help in repentant faith. He has made each of us individually in our mother’s womb. He knew us before we were born. Our days are ordered in His book. His thoughts toward each of us are precious and more than we can number. We ask Him to make His will our own and to lead us each day in humble contrition and repentance, and in prayer to seek His guidance. If there is any wicked way in us, we pray that He would turn us to the good and to the way of everlasting life.

 

The Lord’s Prayer — The Second Article

December 19, 2021

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CP211219Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 138: To Praise God with One’s Whole Heart—Psalm 138 confesses the Lord’s goodness and lovingkindness as the source of joy, comfort, and life for the Christian. When David prays, “I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing praises to You,” he confesses that there is only one God, the God of mercy and salvation in Jesus Christ, our Savior. We worship Him who gave His life for us upon the cross. In the day of trouble, the Lord will hear. One day, all the kings of the earth will confess that He is God and Lord! Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly. It is why we love Him. In the lowliness of our sinful, human condition, He looks upon us in mercy and revives our soul with His grace, turning away the wrath of those who would rise against us. When the psalmist declares, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever,” he reflects what the Apostle Paul would later declare, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

 

The Lord’s Prayer —— The Fifth and Sixth Petitions

December 12, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 137: A Prayer as Captives in a Foreign Land—Psalm 137 is a lament of the children of Judah whose holy city and Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians because of Judah’s rebellion against the Lord. Psalm 137 captures the sadness of the children of Judah who had lost their kingdom and had been carried away captive. Yet in spite of this lament, they came to believe, in contrition and faith, that the Lord would return them to the land of promise according to His Word. This is our hope as well, even as we lament over mistakes and backslidings in our own lives. “How long will we sing the Lord’s son in a foreign land?” In our prayers we cry out to God to return us to His Word and to keep us faithful to our Lord as we await His return for us in glory. He will remember us during our earthly pilgrimage. He will take vengeance upon the enemies of the Gospel. He will vindicate His people for their confession of faith in Christ.

CP211212 O Antiphons

The Lord’s Prayer — Fourth Petition

December 5, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 136: The Lord’s Mercy Endures Forever—The most often repeated antiphon throughout the psalter is “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” This antiphon captures the heart of the Gospel and punctuates every verse of psalm 136. Our Savior is the God of gods and the Lord of lords because He is merciful. Mercy is not only at the heart of God’s nature, but it is also the source of that which sustains and saves the world. The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ in His suffering and death upon the cross is the source and cause of every blessing we enjoy. In other words, if Jesus had not suffered and died in mercy to save us from our sins, no one would receive the gifts of daily bread or enjoy any of God’s blessings. Psalm 136 traces this mercy from every act of God’s creation and sustaining of the universe to every act of His salvation for Israel. The psalm concludes by underscoring how the mercy of God for Israel’s salvation is also the mercy of God that is at work in the Gospel of Christ: “[He] remembered us in our lowly state…and rescued us from our enemies…Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever.”  CP211205

The Lord’s Prayer —— Second Petition and Third Petition

November 28, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 135: A Psalm of Praise for Our Creator and Redeemer—Psalm 135 calls us to praise the Lord, our Creator and Redeemer. All who stand in the house of the Lord are to praise the Lord and sing to His name, for it is pleasant. By the name of the Lord, we were baptized and made the children of God. By the name of the Lord, He continues to forgive our sins. And by the name of the Lord, we call upon Him in every trouble. Like the Old Testament Church which was established by the promise of salvation made to the Patriarchs, so the New Testament Church rests her hopes and confidence upon the promises of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus who is both our Creator and our Redeemer. “Our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases He does.” Not only is He the Lord of creation, ordering the cycle of rain, the lightening, and the wind, but He is also the God of salvation who delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt and conquered all her enemies. Psalm 135 leads us in a renunciation of all worthless idols who have no power to create or save. Israel, Aaron, and Levi represent the whole congregation of the Old Testament Church. We, like the Old Testament Church, are called to bless the Lord for there is life and salvation in no other.

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The Lord’s Prayer—Introduction and First Petition

November 21, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 134: A Prayer for Ministers to Be Faithful— “Bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord.” How do the servants of the Lord bless the Lord? They faithfully preach His Word. They faithfully call to repentance and proclaim forgiveness. They lift up their hands in the sanctuary, forgiving sin and giving the Lord’s benediction to the congregation of the faithful. Psalm 134 is the final Song of Ascents in the psalter. It was sung by the faithful as they awaited the benediction of the priest. It is as if they were praying for the priests to do their job, to stand by night in the house of the Lord and proclaim His Word. The Lord is “blessed” not by doing something for Him, but by faithfully doing what He has given His priests and pastors to do for the sake of the congregation. It is the same for us today in the New Testament Church. By faithfully preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments, the servants of the Lord bless the Lord by giving to the congregation what they need to hear and receive. In the Old Testament Church, the congregation eagerly waited for the priest to emerge from the Temple, lift up his hands, and pronounce the benediction. In the same way, we pray for our pastors to lift up their hands and “bless the Lord” by faithfully administering His gifts to us.

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer—Introduction and First Petition

November 14, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 133: A Prayer for Fellowship Among the Faithful—It is the Lord alone who establishes fellowship among the baptized faithful. Sharing in common the gift of the Holy Spirit and true faith in Christ in the heart is something that only the Holy Spirit can create through the faithful preaching of God’s Word that is received and believed. Out of the reception of God’s Word, brothers and sisters confess a unity of faith and love which is a miracle of the Holy Spirit. It is this fellowship that Psalm 133 celebrates: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Unity and harmony in the faith cannot be established by any human agreement where people “agree to disagree”— such “unity” is a scam. The only unity worth having is the unity that God alone creates in the hearts of His people by the pure and unadulterated Word of God. This unity is compared to the precious oil that anoints the beard of Aaron the High Priest, or to the dew that refreshes Mount Hermon and the mountains of Zion. Out of this unity of the pure Gospel and faith in Christ “there the Lord commanded the blessing—Life forevermore.”

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The Creed — The Third Article

November 7, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 132: A Prayer for the Lord to Dwell with His Church—Psalm 132 begins with recalling how David would not rest until he had provided for the tabernacle of the Lord and the Ark of the Covenant where the Old Testament believers would worship and receive the Lord’s saving gifts. For us in the New Testament Church, Christ is the Tabernacle of the Lord’s saving presence. He promises to be found where His Word is preached, and His sacraments are administered. He has made precious promises to His holy Christian Church and to each member of the communion of saints. As the Lord was faithful to David and His place of rest in Zion, so the Lord is faithful to us. The testimony of the Lord in the Gospel of Christ is certain. His priests are clothed with His righteousness. He grants rest and refreshment to His saints who shout for joy in His presence. Like the Old Testament saints who prayed this Psalm of Ascents as they approached the Lord’s tabernacle, we know that when we enter into the house of the Lord that Jesus Himself is present with His good gifts and Spirit.

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The Creed — The Third Article

October 31, 2021

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 131: A Prayer of Simple Trust in the Lord—This short psalm of Ascents speaks of the simplicity of faith, comparing the believer to a weaned child who remains dependent upon his mother. As Christians, we are to live within our vocations. We are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We are not to occupy ourselves with great matters or things that are too profound for us. We are to commend ourselves and our whole life to Christ, our Lord. To live in the humility of faith is not to dictate to God what He must do, but rather to receive from Him what He gives and to hope confidently in Him.

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