Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Gloria in Excelsis — “The Gloria is the second of the five great pillars of the Divine Service. It is based on the song of the angels at the birth of Christ: ‘Glory be to God on high; and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ In the Divine Service, where our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present according to both His divine and human natures, there is no hymn that is more appropriate than the hymn that announces Immanuel—God with us! The song of the angels becomes our song in the Divine Service. In it we confess faith in Christ ‘who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man’ (Nicene Creed). His name is Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). This is God’s greatest glory!” (Lutheran Catechesis p. 95).CP231231

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Though He Was Rich, He Became Poor for Us — “Every Christian ‘knows the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’ because it is proclaimed to us in the Gospel. It is the pure, undeserved, sacrificial love of Jesus that moved Him to become one with our flesh and weakness, and to suffer and die for our sins. We know and believe in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. It is this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that moved Him to do what he did for us—to become man, to humble Himself, to suffer and to die for the unworthy and the undeserving. Though he was “rich”—the holy, eternal, omnipotent Son of God who shared in the Father’s glory from eternity and through whom the Father made all things—yet for our sakes He became “poor.” This is love. He set aside His power and glory as the eternal Son of God and became man, humbling Himself to the point of bearing the sin of the whole world in His own body upon the cross and dying for us that we through His poverty…might become rich, partakers of His divine life. To become rich in Christ is to share eternally in the grace of God and to become partakers with Jesus of the immortal and incorruptible life that He won for us in His humiliation, suffering, and death.” (Excerpt from LC)CP231224

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Seed of the Woman — “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). “The suffering and death of the virgin-born Son of God, by which Satan would be robbed of his authority to condemn sinful man, is predicted by this riddle. This passage is often called the first promise of the Gospel. It promises redemption from the power of Satan (the serpent) by Jesus (the Seed of the Woman). How does one kill a serpent? By crushing its head. In the process, one’s heel is bruised. Jesus was bruised in His suffering and death, but by it He won the victory over Satan. The power of Satan was the power to condemn sinful man by the authority of God’s own word: “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Since man rebelled and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Satan had authority from God’s command to demand man’s death and separation from God. The Seed of the Woman (the Son of God becomes man to suffer and die according to the word of judgment attached to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thereby bruising (or crushing) the serpent’s head (or Satan’s authority to condemn). Satan entered the creation in the form of a serpent to deceive and destroy; the Son of God entered into creation in the form of man to suffer man’s death, redeem the creation, and reconcile man to God.” (Excerpt from Lutheran Catechesis: Catechist Edition, p. 86b)CP231217

Catechesis Notes for the Week — He Comes Like Lightening — “Lightning is swift and visible by all across the horizon. This is why Jesus compares His Second Coming to lightning. He will appear again suddenly, and all will see Him. He calls us to “be ready” through the hearing of His Word, in daily contrition and repentance, with faith fixed firmly upon Him, because He will come at an hour we do not expect. That no one knows the time of our Lord’s Second Coming highlights the fact that Christians are to live each day by repentant faith in Christ as if He could appear again at any moment.” (Excerpted from Lutheran Catechesis: Catechist Edition, p. 128b, used by permission)CP231210

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Advent means “coming.” It is the beginning of the Church Year. During Advent we “celebrate waiting.” No one likes to wait for what he really wants. As Christians we want to receive the full glory of our salvation in Christ our King. But we must wait. In a sense, Advent celebrates the cold, harsh, sober realities of life which we must endure before the resurrection of all flesh. We live in the time of faith’s struggle against the devil, the world, and our sinful nature. God’s promises are the strength of faith by which we endure the struggle until our Lord’s return. Advent, therefore, celebrates living in hope of the fulfillment of God’s promises. As we prepare to celebrate His coming in the flesh, we look forward with certainty to His coming again in glory, even as we enjoy His coming to us NOW in the Holy Gospel and Sacraments. This was the same faith to which the Patriarchs of old were called and they lived their life in this faith. That which they beheld by faith we have the privilege of partaking of in the Sacrament in the blessed hope of the resurrection.CP231203