Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week— Holding forth the Word of Life— “Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13).  “I am often aware of temptation, and even to this day can scarcely guard myself sufficiently against it.  This I confess openly as an example to any who are interested, although I am an old doctor and preacher and am so much more versed in the Scriptures, or at least ought to be, than all those wise ones who attack me; I must still grow daily, like a child, saying aloud early every morning the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and such precious psalms and sayings as I choose, just as the children are now being taught to do, although I have daily to study the Scriptures and to fight the devil.  I may not say in my heart: You know the Lord’s Prayer, you know the Ten Commandments, you know the Creed by heart, etc. No, I must go on learning every day and remain a pupil of the Catechism.  I feel how noticeably it helps me, and I find by experience that the Word of God can never be exhausted, but that it is really true as Psalm 147 says: ‘His understanding is infinite’”—Martin Luther

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— To Love Christ Above All Things — Jesus’ words are jarring: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39). Is Jesus denying the obligations of the Fourth Commandment? No! Is He urging us to abandon our sons or daughters? No! Instead, Jesus is confessing that He alone is our God—our Creator and our Savior. If we let go of Christ, then we have nothing! Our lives and our salvation are entirely gifts of God through Christ. Apart from Him we do not exist, and apart from Him we cannot be saved. Jesus’ catechesis distinguishes between the First Commandment and the Fourth Commandment. The Fourth Commandment is the first commandment under the Second Table of the Law and clearly sets up the authority of father and mother, and their obligation to care for their children and their children to honor them, as foundational for all human relationships. But the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods” is greater because Christ is the source of everything. The Gospel of God’s love in Christ creates the faith that the First Commandment demands. And the miracle of faith is that he who loves Christ above all things loves father and mother, son and daughter in the best possible way.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— Confessing Christ — Jesus promises that whoever confesses Him before men, He will confess before His Father in heaven. To confess Christ can sometimes mean a lonely life. The depth of human sin and its hold on people can be seen in the hatred people often exhibit toward the Gospel and those who confess Christ. We confess Jesus as the Savior of all who loves all and has redeemed all, but not all accept this gift. Why would they reject this precious Gospel that is their salvation? This is a mystery that we cannot answer. We are to take comfort in the promise of the Gospel and commend those who reject Christ to the same love of God for them that gives us comfort. Jesus knows our need. Do not fear those who hate you. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The Lord knows your need, even the hairs of our head are numbered. “Whoever confessed me before men, I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” This Word of the Lord is both a comforting promise and a sobering warning. Yet even the warning is given so that when we fall, as Peter did, we might return to Him whose mercy is new every day. As He restored Peter through His absolution, so He promises to restore us when we are brought to contrition and repentance. This is why we hold fast to Him especially in persecution.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— We need pastors! Have you ever thought about your need for a pastor? We might say, “We need Jesus!” Every Christian would agree with that statement. We need Jesus who has died for us, shed His blood for us, who forgives our sins and gives us the gift of eternal life and the resurrection from the dead. We need faith in Him to receive what He has done, but this is why Jesus instituted the Office of the Ministry. It is not only necessary for Jesus to have suffered and died for our sins and to have risen from the dead the third day according to the Scriptures, but it is equally necessary for this Gospel to be preached to us that we might be called to repentance and faith in Him. This is why Jesus instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry. We need pastors to preach the Word of God to us, to call us to repentance, to baptize us, to forgive us, to give us Christ’s body and blood, to pray for us, to shoulder our burdens, to admonish us, to comfort us, and to give us counsel from God’s Word. We need pastors as much as a child needs a mother and father. The gift of pastors is rooted in Jesus’ compassion. “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt. 9:36/ESV). “Pastor” means “shepherd,” so Jesus says, “pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest.” May we always pray for the gift of pastors to serve us with the life-giving Word of our Savior.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week—Confession of sin is confession of faith in Christ. For us as, as Christians, when we confess our sins, we are not merely admitting that we have done something wrong and feel badly about it. Non-believers can do that. No, true confession of sin involves contrition and faith in Christ. Contrition is the sorrow over sin that is worked by God. Faith in Christ confesses sin and flees to Jesus for rescue. “Acknowledging our guilt” and “seeking the face of Jesus” is what faith does. Our confession is not a work that merits God’s forgiveness. Confession is what He calls us to that He might help us. The refusal to confess, therefore, is the refusal to believe that you need Jesus. So the Lord’s call is one in which He invites us as sinners to trust in Him rather than ourselves. He calls us to contrition and faith so that He might help us. It is the absolution of the Lord that raises us up from the death of sin and gives us comfort, peace, and new life. When we respond to the Lord’s call, when we dare to confess our sins, when we flee to Jesus for His absolution, that is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. That is, very simply the call of the Holy Spirit to faith in Christ. Confession of sins is the fruit of the miracle of faith. This is why we confess our sins, that our faith might be strengthened and our consciences comforted by Christ’s absolution. So the Prophet Hosea encourages us, “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”

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Catechesis Notes for the Week—For God So Loved the World — “That there should be a God who would love the world and not begrudge it some good, is beyond all our ability to reason, comprehend, or understand. I would have wished for the world the fires of hell, and especially, I would do it if I were God, who knows the world inside and out. That is what I would do. But what does God do? Instead of his wrath, which the world has so richly deserved, he loves the world, and in such boundless and incomprehensible measure that he presents his very own Son as a gift to the world, his bitterest enemy… It would have been more than enough for God to wish the world ‘good morning.’ So he goes beyond this and loves the world, the disgraceful offspring. It is just about the most utterly hostile and ill-disposed contradiction. And in truth, that is what the world is: a pigsty of unabashedly evil people, who abuse all God’s creation in the most brazen way possible, blaspheme God, and provoke him to his face. These selfsame shameless people God loves. That is a love which transcends all love. This is truly a good God, and his love must be great, incomprehensible fire, greater by far than the fire which Moses saw in the bush, indeed greater by far than the fire of hell. Who would despair, seeing God is so disposed toward the world? It is too high and beyond my ability to elaborate on it, or to draw out the abundant riches that it truly contains.” Martin Luther

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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