Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week —The Faithful Grace of God—After 25 years of waiting, the Lord came to Abraham and Sarah in the form of the Three Visitors who announced to them that within the year the Son of the Promise, Isaac, would finally be born. Throughout those 25 years, Abraham and Sarah learned dependence and what it means that “the just shall live by faith” in God’s promise of salvation in Christ (Habakkuk 2:4). The call to Abraham was the call of God’s grace in the Gospel of Christ for all people. For this reason, Abraham Prays for Sodom, the wicked city, interceding for the city for the sake of those in the city who were righteous by faith in the promise. In the end, though God is merciful and longsuffering, Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed because of the rejection of the Lord’s Word and the refusal to repent. In the story of Abraham and Abimelech, we learn that there was truth in Abraham’s previous statements that Sarah was his sister. Though a believer in the promise, Abraham was not immune to the fear that others might kill him for Sarah if they found out that she was his wife. Despite Abraham’s fear, the events surrounding Abraham’s encounter with Abimelech put God’s grace on full display. The Lord promised to protect him, to bless him, and to provide for him, not because of Abraham’s worthiness but because of His love for Abraham and Sarah in the Promise. He promises the same to us in our baptism. By faith in the grace of God, Abimelech appeals to Abraham to intercede for him, and Abraham does pray for Abimelech because of his faith in the promise of God’s grace. Isaac is Born and Ishmael Is Cast Out is a story that illustrates God’s faithfulness and grace in the birth of the Son of the Promise, but yet appears too harsh in the casting out of Ishmael. What does this mean? Ishmael is cast out, not because the call of God’s grace is not for him, but rather to teach that salvation is entirely based upon God’s grace in the promise and not at all upon any work of man or standing in the family. The Scriptures develop this theme in the New Testament, Galatians 4:21-31, wherein the son of the bondwoman illustrates an attempt to gain salvation according to the works of the Law from Mount Sinai verses the gift of salvation by grace that comes from the Son of the Promise from the heavenly Jerusalem. When it comes to our salvation, there can be no mingling together of works and grace. Salvation comes by grace alone.   CP221106

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

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Threat of Punishment and the Promise of Grace – The Law threatens punishment for sin; the Gospel promises forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake. Faith justifies because faith lays hold of the promise of forgiveness in Christ. Such faith is a miracle of the Holy Spirit through the promise of the Gospel. This week’s meditation focuses upon the Close of the Commandments. The Law always threatens punishment because we are sinners. The threat of punishment is necessary in order that we might see our sin, be brought to repentance, and flee to Christ for forgiveness. The narratives this week, God’s Law Threatens and Accuses, the Worship of the Golden Calf, and God’s Wrath Is Poured Out upon Idol Worshippers at Mount Sinai illustrate both the corruption of sin that the Law reveals and the punishment that we rightly deserve. The week’s final reading on the Close of the Commandments teaches us that Jesus Takes the Place of the Guilty, suffering all that the Law demands of the sinner, for us and for our salvation. The promise of “every grace and blessing” through obedience to the Law is fulfilled in Jesus who was made to be sin for us and who, by His suffering and death, suffered the wrath of God by being punished in our place. The promise of the Gospel declares to us that all is fulfilled in Christ, who has redeemed us from sin and the Law’s threats with “His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”CP220925

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Covetousness Is to Desire and Insist upon Having Something God Has Not Provided—How fitting it is that this week’s meditation upon the 9^th and 10^th Commandments should be the week of the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. Prior to Matthew’s conversion and call to apostleship, he was a covetous tax collector for the Roman government, but in repentant faith he was turned from the worship of earthly wealth and ill-gotten gain to the Lord in whom there is true peace and contentment. Ahab Covets Naboth’s Vineyard is a classic narrative where we see the “scheming to get a neighbor’s inheritance or house in a way that only appears right,” but which was absolutely evil. Covetousness was injected into Paradise by the Serpent who enticed Adam and Eve to follow their appetites and desires in the Fall of Man into Sin. In contrast to a covetous heart and will which is governed by its passions rather than the Word and our faith in Christ, Jesus calls us to Confess Christ, Take Up Our Cross and Follow Him. He alone gives peace and contentment to our restless hearts as the old, covetous, sinful flesh is put to death through daily contrition and repentance and the new man of faith is raised up. In the Rich Young Ruler we see that a man who lacks Jesus, the only One who is truly good, is unwilling because of his covetous heart to let go of everything and follow Christ. The rich young ruler went away sad, because he had many possessions that had become his idol. We pray that the Lord would lead us to true repentance for our covetous desires and give us a heart that is content with our Lord and the gifts that He provides.CP220918

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Faith in Christ Is Active in Word and Deed—On Wednesday of this week, we celebrate Holy Cross Day, one of the oldest minor festivals in the Church Year. It is only through the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and His redeeming work upon the cross that we come to know and believe in God rightly. Our faith in Christ as the Savior who has died for us upon the cross is what animates what we say and do in our lives as Christians. Our faith in Jesus’ undeserved love is active in words and deeds. Abram Gives Lot the Choice of the Land because he believes that the Lord promised him the land and the gift of salvation that he might share his possessions with others (7^th Commandment). Jesus Comes to Zacchaeus’s House and calls him to repentance and faith. As a result, Zacchaeus restores what he had stolen from others as a Tax Collector (7^th Commandment). When Jesus calls us to Bless Those Who Curse us, He is inviting us to live by faith in the Gospel so that we freely forgive our enemies and “explain everything in the kindest way” (8^th Commandment). Living by faith in the grace of God toward our enemies is ultimately seen in our Lord as Jesus Prays for His Enemies. It is the ultimate fulfillment of the 8^th Commandment. This week’s verse, “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’” reinforces that our faith in Christ is to be expressed in honest words before God and one another.CP220911