Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week — This week we celebrate the Reformation and All Saints’ Day. These two feasts appropriately go together. Reformation celebrates the recovery of the Gospel, that sinners are justified (declared righteous) by grace alone, through faith, for Christ’s sake. This justification is what makes all saints “saints.” Saints are sinners who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. This is the teaching of the epistle for Reformation: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Law.” (Romans 3:21-23, 28) The Gospel for Reformation continues this theme in the words of Jesus: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).  The Word of Jesus calls us to repentance and declares us righteous on account of what He has done for us in His death upon the cross.  The righteousness of Christ—the forgiveness of all our sins—is received by faith alone and sets us free from punishment and the judgment of the Law to live in the joyous freedom that only Christ’s forgiving Word can give us. These celebrations correspond well with the Bible readings for the week that orbit around Abraham. Abraham was called to faith by a promise. He believed in the promise and the Lord reckoned him righteous on account of the Promised Seed.CP221030

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Second Article and the Call of Abram—During this second week of meditation upon the person and work of Christ under the Second Article, we read the Tower of Babel in which we see the idolatry of man who begins to erect a monument to himself. The Lord confused the languages of mankind and scattered humanity as a testimony to what man will become without reliance upon his God and Savior. The origin of language, nation, and differences in people groups can be traced back to the judgment of God at the tower. The Call to Abram should be understood as the call of the Gospel. Abram was called to leave his idolatry and in repentant faith to follow the Lord to the Promised Land (a picture of heaven). Every promise of salvation to the Old Testament patriarchs highlights an aspect of the Gospel and our call to faith in Jesus. The call of the Gospel rests upon God’s grace, so it caused Abram to be generous in sharing the land with his nephew in the account of Abram and Lot. It is the call of the Gospel that moved Abram in love to rescue Lot. It is Abram’s faith in God’s promise that in his Seed (Jesus, the Son of God) all the nations of the earth will be blessed with the gift of salvation in Christ that Abram Pays a Tithe to Melchizedek (whose name means “king of righteousness”). Melchizedek is a type of Christ. Thus, every Old Testament story this week connects us to the person and work of our Lord Jesus, the blessed Seed of Abraham who brings the blessing of salvation to the world.CP221023 corrected

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Second Article and the Call of Abram—During this second week of meditation upon the person and work of Christ under the Second Article, we read the Tower of Babel in which we see the idolatry of man who begins to erect a monument to himself. The Lord confused the languages of mankind and scattered humanity as a testimony to what man will become without reliance upon his God and Savior. The origin of language, nation, and differences in people groups can be traced back to the judgment of God at the tower. The Call to Abram should be understood as the call of the Gospel. Abram was called to leave his idolatry and in repentant faith to follow the Lord to the Promised Land (a picture of heaven). Every promise of salvation to the Old Testament patriarchs highlights an aspect of the Gospel and our call to faith in Jesus. The call of the Gospel rests upon God’s grace, so it caused Abram to be generous in sharing the land with his nephew in the account of Abram and Lot. It is the call of the Gospel that moved Abram in love to rescue Lot. It is Abram’s faith in God’s promise that in his Seed (Jesus, the Son of God) all the nations of the earth will be blessed with the gift of salvation in Christ that Abram Pays a Tithe to Melchizedek (whose name means “king of righteousness”). Melchizedek is a type of Christ. Thus, every Old Testament story this week connects us to the person and work of our Lord Jesus, the blessed Seed of Abraham who brings the blessing of salvation to the world.CP221023

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Flood—God’s Judgment against a Wicked World — This week’s Bible narratives focus upon the Flood. The Lord does not regret creating mankind, but after Adam’s fall, the corruption of man became so great that it grieved God’s heart of love. Throughout the narrative we see both God’s judgment against a wicked and unbelieving world and the gift of salvation for Noah and his family through water. The historical act of the worldwide flood completely transformed the world, its topography and climate, to what we now know as the world in which we live. This “recreation” is a type of the recreation that God begins in Baptism. Baptism drowns the Old Adam but raises up the new man of faith to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Throughout the narrative it is God who acts. God orders the building of the ark. God brings the animals to Noah. God shuts Noah into the ark. God sends the rains from heaven and opens the doors to water beneath the earth’s crust. God also causes the waters of the flood to recede and the dry land and new life to appear. In the aftermath of the Flood, God gives permission to eat meat and institutes capital punishment for the sin of murder. At the end of the narrative we have His promise that the earth would continue to have its seasons. The Lord is in charge of the climate for His purposes. He will never again destroy the earth with a flood. The rainbow was set in place as a sign of God’s promise to us and to the entire creation. Ultimately, this sign of His grace is to point us to the source of His mercy, namely the death and resurrection of Christ in whom we are baptized.CP221016

Catechesis Notes for the Week — A Prayer of Comfort from the Lord’s Abiding Presence—Psalm 139 offers us great comfort as we meditate upon the account of the Fall, the First Promise of the Gospel, the Curse of the Fall, and the sin of Cain who murdered his brother Abel. Genesis chapter 3 describes how the world came to be a place of brokenness and sin when Adam turned away from God’s Word, but it also offers to us the promise of salvation in the Seed of the Woman (Jesus) who would crush the Serpent’s head (Satan) in His suffering and death upon the cross (the bruised heel). Psalm 139 puts all things in perspective as does Paul in his sermon in Athens. 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.CP221009

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Creation Praises the Lord—This week we begin a slow walk through the Old Testament beginning with Genesis 1 and 2, from the Creation to the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. The narratives for this week teach us how God the Father created all things by His Word. God orders the creation and has designed all things to be in our service as men and women made in the image and likeness of God. Psalm 148 is a psalm of praise that calls upon the creation to “praise the Lord.” How does the creation praise the Lord? What is praise? Praise gives all honor and glory to God. Psalm 148 extols “the Lord”—the great “I AM” and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the only true God who is both the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the eternal Savior. The whole of God’s creation praises the Lord when the creation does the very things that God has given it to do and performs its work according to the Lord’s will. Psalm 148 teaches us to understand that the whole of God’s creation is in service to the Lord for His good and gracious purposes. Because of the song of praise throughout God’s creation, young men and maidens, old men and children, and every believer and faithful saint of Christ’s Church praises the name of the Lord and extols His salvation in all the earth.CP221002