Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week—Table of Duties: To Widows and To Everyone—When someone loses a spouse, what should they do?  Whenever we lose any of God’s good gifts, the devil tempts us to fill the void with other things that not only can’t satisfy, but which may actually be sinful and a sign of mistrust of God.  This is what the Scriptures refer to as “living for pleasure.”  Instead, in the face of losses we are called to move even closer to Christ and His Word, putting our hope and confidence in the Lord who will fill the void of our lives with Himself.  Attendance at Divine Service, catechesis, and the mutual conversation and consolation of Christian brothers and sisters is critically important.  This leads us to the last section of the Table of Duties: To Everyone:  It is our common faith in Christ and the grace of God that unites us in love for one another, even as Christ loved us.  The source of true fulfillment is not in living for one’s self, but in giving of ourselves to one another out of our love for Christ.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— The Table of Duties: To Youth — “Submission” and “humility” are not terms that any of us naturally gravitate toward. The sinful flesh wants to submit to no one and is filled with arrogance and pride. If the sinful flesh doesn’t get its way, it rebels. From where does the will to “submit” and “humble oneself” come? It comes from faith in the Gospel. Our Lord Jesus submitted Himself as a young man, because He trusted in His Father who promised to do good through His submission. He humbled Himself to the point of the death of the cross, because He trusted His Father to do good through His suffering. When youth are admonished to submit to their elders and humble themselves before them, they are really being invited to trust God to do them good in their office as youth, even though they may have to endure things that they don’t agree with or enjoy. The way of faith is always the way of deference toward others. This we learn to believe through the faithful reception of the Gospel and Sacrament of our Lord.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— The Table of Duties: To Workers of All Kinds—How many employees or workers would call themselves “slaves”? Not too many. If one considered himself a slave, it would not be a complimentary term. Yet “slave” is a term that is often used in the New Testament of our Lord. For Him it is not derogatory. It is a term that describes the nature of His office as one who has come into the world to serve no one but others. He came to serve the Father in love and sinful man in love to the point of dying upon the cross. He had no thought for Himself or His own protection or welfare. He is the ultimate “worker” and in His work we see the true nature of Christian work. We “work” as Christians, not to serve ourselves, but to serve others in love. The characteristic of our work is that it is done for others, even if they do not appreciate it. Selfless love is what motivated Jesus and it is that love to which we are called by faith in the Gospel. Jesus’ selfless love and service to us is reflected in the Bible Verse for the week: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Since this is Jesus’ confession about Himself, we should not be adverse to have ourselves called slaves.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week—The Table of Duties: To Parents and Children—“It would be well to preach to parents on the nature of their office, how they should treat those committed to their authority…God does not want to have knaves or tyrants in this office and responsibility nor does He assign them this honor (that is, power and authority to govern) merely to receive homage. Parents should consider that they owe obedience to God, and that, above all, they should earnestly and faithfully discharge the duties of their office, not only to provide for the material support of their children, servants, subjects, etc., but especially to bring them up to the praise and honor of God…If we want qualified and capable men for both civil and spiritual leadership, we must spare no effort, time, and expense in teaching and educating our children to serve God and mankind. We must not think only of amassing money and property for them. God can provide for them and make them rich without our help, as indeed He does daily. But He has given and entrusted children to us with the command that we train and govern them according to His will; otherwise God would have no need of father and mother. Therefore let everybody know that it is his chief duty, on pain of losing divine grace, to bring up his children in the fear and knowledge of God, and if they are gifted to give them opportunity to learn and study so that they may be of service wherever they are needed.” (4^th Commandment, Large Catechism)CP260503

Catechesis Notes for the Week— The Table of Duties Concerning Wives and Husbands—The passages of Holy Scripture in the Table of Duties concern the offices we have been given as Christians where our faith in Christ is lived out in this world. There is often great confusion about these two holy offices. Husbands are the head of their wives, but their headship is one of sacrificial love, teaching the Word of God, and forgiving sin. They are to be considerate of their wives who are placed in an office that requires them to submit to their husbands. Husbands are not to lord their authority over their wives. This is always a temptation for any Christian husband. Wives are to understand that their office of submission is patterned after Christ’s bride the Church. They are to expect their husbands to love them, teach them, and forgive them. Their beauty is not in outward adornment, but in the reception of their husband’s love. “This is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands…” It is a beautiful and blessed thing when husbands love their wives as Christ loved the Church and when wives receive that love and trust in it.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Office of Husband — This week’s section of the Table of Duties directs us to what God’s Word says concerning the Office of Husband. When the Apostle Peter directs, “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” He is reminding husbands that their wives have been given an office by God that places them in a subordinate position to them. It would be very easy for the husband, corrupted by the sinful flesh as he is, to take advantage of his headship and the wife’s position of subordination to him. He is to “be considerate” of the position that God gave her and be husband to her in selfless love. Although they are not both in the same office, they are, nevertheless, equal “heirs of the gracious gift of life” in Christ Jesus. If he does not believe that then his prayers, which include the ministration of his office as a husband, will be “hindered.” The essential disposition of the husband to the wife is contained in the passage from Colossians: “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.” Here the husband’s office is depicted as the office of Christ to His bride the Church, as it is also in Ephesians 5. Christ loves His bride by laying down His life for her and covering her sins with His blood. He is never harsh with her who is “bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, but nourishes and cares for her as His own body.” The office of husband finds its identity in Christ, the Church’s Bridegroom.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Left-Hand Kingdom—The civil governance is sometimes called the “left-hand kingdom of God” where He rules and protects man in his external relationships through government and the force of law.  The “left-hand kingdom” is to be distinguished from the “right-hand kingdom” (the Church) through which God rules the heart by the call to repentance and the Word of the Gospel.  We should still understand the left-hand kingdom as that which God has established.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Holy Spirit and the Resurrection of Our Lord — During this week of the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also meditate upon the Third Article of the Creed.  It is the Holy Spirit who brings Jesus’ victory over death to us through the sweet message of the forgiveness of sins.  By this Word, sins are forgiven, faith is created, and we are raised up by the Spirit of God to walk in newness of life.  Jesus gave up the Holy Spirit when He died upon the cross and in the upper room He breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples when He said, “Peace be with You!”  The message of Jesus’ peace and forgiveness is the message of the Holy Spirit by which we are continually renewed in faith and life.  This same Holy Spirit will raise us from the dead, with Jesus, on the Last Day.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word and Sacraments of Christ we will forever enjoy the resurrection of the body and the life-everlasting.

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The Sufficiency of God’s Grace — The verse for the week contains Jesus’ word of comfort to the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” No Christian enjoys suffering, hardship, persecution, the struggle with sin, stumbling in temptation, a bad conscience that doubts God’s forgiveness, or the experience of our own frailties and weaknesses. Yet Jesus says to us the same thing He said to Paul: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” The paradox of the Christian life is that it is only through the experience of our human weaknesses and limitations as sinners that we truly come to know the power and comfort of God’s grace in Christ. Without the experience of the Law condemning us, our conscience accusing us, and the sufferings and struggles of our lives weighing us down, we would never be in the proper position to receive the free, unconditional and totally unmerited mercy of God that Jesus gives to us in the Gospel. That God loves and forgives us for Jesus’ sake precisely because we are weak and infirm without Him is the heart of the Gospel and the center of our faith. That God loves and forgives us freely for Jesus’ sake as sinners is precisely the power by which we live our lives each day as Christians. Without weakness, struggle, and suffering we would not understand and know the fullness of God’s love for us in Christ which is the source of a joyful life that is lived in the absolute freedom of Jesus’ forgiveness and unending mercy. No wonder, then, that St. Paul goes on to confess: “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — What the Hearers Owe Their Pastor? The second half of the section of the Table of Duties, which speaks of the responsibility that “hearers of God’s Word” have for their pastors, highlights the respect and honor pastors are to receive because of the work God has given them to do.  They are called to preach the Gospel, judge doctrine, administer the Sacraments, remit and retain sin, and guard the flock from the assaults of false doctrine and impenitence.  They are accountable to God for being faithful to what He has called them to do.  “Hearers of God’s Word” are to respect and honor their pastors, not because they have no sin or shortcomings, but because they are faithful in the work that they are called to do on the Lord’s behalf.

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