Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week — “‘I have been crucified with Christ…Christ lives in me!’ It is in our baptism that we have been crucified with Christ, so that Christ now lives in us. Since we have been crucified with Christ, the Law has been fulfilled for us, sin has been atoned for, and the gift of new life is ours. This new life begins now by faith in Christ the crucified. Victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil is never by the strength of our own will but solely by the merits of Jesus’ crucifixion. Faith receives Christ’s victory and lives in Him. Sin, death, and hell cannot destroy Him and, therefore, they cannot destroy us because He lives in us. This means that each day of our lives as Christians is lived by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. Christ’s sacrifice of love for us upon the cross is always before our eyes. This means that ‘the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me,’ is not only the object of my faith, but also the source and strength for living the Christian life. Day by day, moment by moment, our life in the flesh—with all its struggles, weaknesses, and failings—is lived by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.” — Excerpted from Lutheran Catechesis, p. 230c, used by permission.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — “Creation and redemption are equally impossible for man to accomplish, but not for God.  ‘With God nothing will be impossible,’ not even the incarnation of His Son for the salvation of His fallen world. He is the actor, the Savior, and the Lord, who descends to our human flesh and joins Himself to our weaknesses, becoming like us in every way, except without sin, so that He might take our sin to Himself. When His Word sounds forth to announce His salvation, it can only be received and believed, for it carries with it all the saving benefits it proclaims. Mary received this Word, and the life of the world was conceived in her womb. Every Christian receives this Word too, through the call of the Gospel, and it brings to us the same Christ and the same salvation who was born of Mary. Therefore, our confession of faith is the same as Mary’s, ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’” — Excerpted from Lutheran Catechesis, p. 90, used by permission.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— Joseph, the Guardian of Jesus, and Christian Vocation (Read Matthew 1:18-25): Joseph, the Guardian of Jesus as he is often called, had a difficult vocation. He was called to be Mary’s husband and Jesus’ earthly father. This calling meant a life of suffering and self-denial. This is always what true faith calls us to: a life of sacrificial love in which we deny ourselves. This is the shape of our lives as Christians because our life is lived by faith in the God and Savior who lived in selfless love for us. The Child conceived in Mary’s womb was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary was not an adulteress. His name would be called “Jesus” because He is the Lord who would save His people from their sins by becoming one with them in their flesh and blood. All this was done to fulfill the Scriptures, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.” This means that God is with us in the poverty and humiliation of our human condition in order to redeem us by the sacrifice of Himself. Joseph had no strength to fulfill his vocation within himself, but he was strengthened by the Holy Spirit through the promises of the Scriptures and the message of God’s selfless love for him and for all his people. This is our strength too in our vocation. The Gospel not only saves us from our sins, but it also strengthens and keeps us in the love of Christ in the earthly vocations to which our Lord has called us.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— Repentance Is at the Heart of Advent — “I’m tired of hearing talk about our sin!” This is often the response of those who hear the call to repentance. “Sin is a downer!  Can’t we get on with something else?”  Yes, we can go on.  That’s what repentance is all about—going on, confessing sin, turning from it to Christ, finding our relief, comfort, and strength in His forgiveness.  The message of repentance is not only the knowledge of our sin, but also the proclamation that there is nothing that Jesus hasn’t done to save you from your sin and to give you new life and freedom now!  The message of repentance always brings relief when it finds its rest in Christ, our righteousness.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— Advent Life Is One of Contrition and Repentance — Advent means coming. It is the season of anticipation for our Lord’s return in glory. To be prepared for His coming and to rightly celebrate His nativity, we need to understand and believe in how He comes to us NOW. In His Word, Jesus is present. We need Him, even though we so often live life as if we don’t. By His Word He comes to us to show us our need. By His Word He calls us to repentance, so that by His Word He might comfort us with His forgiveness and restore our faith and hope in Him. The life of daily contrition (sorrow for sin) and repentance (turning away from self-reliance to Christ for life and salvation) is the proper focus for our advent meditations that we might rightly celebrate His birth and be prepared for His return in glory.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— The End of the Church Year: Watching During the Great Tribulation—The Bride of Christ, the Holy Christian Church, waits eagerly for her Lord’s Second Coming.  Then she, of whom we are all members, will be delivered once and for all from sin and the corruption that is in the world.  The “Great Tribulation” of the last days is the struggle that the Church and every Christian in every age has had with the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh. These enemies attack faith in Christ. We, Christ’s Church, have been in the “Last Days” since our Lord’s ascension into heaven. The faith of the Church has always been under attack. Our only defense as Christians is the Word of God and the prayer of faith that claims Christ’s victory in the midst of this suffering.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week— Children of God and the Hallowing of God’s Name—The Lord’s Prayer sets forth for us the holy life of faith in Christ. Our lives are sanctified by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. Prayer is the voice of faith that rests upon the promises of God’s Word. Like dear children, we call upon God for all our needs, rely upon His promises, and follow Jesus in the life of love we live for others. The Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer is a confession of our status as baptized children. God is our dear Father and we are His dear children. This gives us access to our Father in heaven and boldness to cry out to Him in every time of need through our Savior Jesus Christ. Through Jesus’ blood and merit we have access to God. The most important person in the plural pronoun, “Our Father” is Jesus Christ, our Savior. Our prayers are heard for Jesus’ sake and we live in the confidence that we are joint heirs with Christ of all the treasures of heaven. God’s name is kept holy by the faithful teaching of God’s Word and by lives that are lived according to God’s Word. This is what makes the Christian life holy. God’s Word is received, believed, and lived out in the lives of His children. So in the First Petition we pray that God’s Word would be faithfully taught, and that we would live our lives according to it. Observe the wonderful symmetry of the Lord’s Prayer. By God’s name—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—given us in baptism His name is hallowed and we begin to live as Jesus’ disciples.

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Catechesis Notes for Week—The Third Article of the Creed — How Do We Receive the Holy Spirit — When Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter evening, He said to them, “Peace to You!  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you … Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20: 21-23, NKJV).  These words teach us much about “how” we receive the Holy Spirit.  We receive the Holy Spirit through our Savior’s Word of forgiveness. There is an inseparable linkage between our Savior’s words and the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is “the Lord and giver of life.”  He calls us to faith in Christ.  He creates a new will in our hearts that desires to love God and serve the neighbor.  He produces in us the good works of love that flow from faith.  He brings forth in us the “fruit of the Spirit”— love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  He brings to us everything that Jesus has done for us.  By the Holy Spirit, Jesus Himself actually dwells in our hearts by faith.  The Holy Spirit does all this by the Word of our Savior.  Christians need to know where the Holy Spirit promises to be found: in the reception of the Word of Christ. Therefore, we seek the Spirit in the very promises of our Baptism, in the ongoing preaching of the Gospel, in faithful catechesis of the Word of Christ, in the life of repentance and faith that confesses sin and receives the absolution.  Even the Lord’s Supper carries the promise of the Holy Spirit because Jesus’ word, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” is at the center of the Sacrament.  When we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are praying for the Holy Spirit to come to us and work in us where He promises to be found: in Christ’s Word—in all the wonderful ways Jesus’ word of forgiveness comes to us.

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