Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Stories of David—The Old Testament narratives this fall take us from the beginning of the Monarchy of David, when he is persecuted and hunted by the apostate King Saul, to the divided kingdom of Judah and Israel, and the return of the exiles. As we meditate upon David’s life and ministry, we are to think of the greater Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ. David the shepherd, at his best, gives us a picture of Jesus. He is merciful, compassionate, he draws to himself those who are suffering and downtrodden. In the book of psalms, so many of which were written by David, we see a man of faith, like our Lord, who “calls upon God in every trouble, who prays, praises, and give thanks.” In David’s life, unlike Jesus, we also see a man of sinful weakness. Yet even this teaches us much about living as sinners by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord’s promises did not fail David. He was called to repentance for his failings, he heard the voice of the Lord, and in contrition and repentance returned to the Lord repeatedly. The penitential psalms, like 38, 32, and 51, give us examples of what the baptismal life of the Christian is really like. We are called to daily contrition and repentance for our sin, to faith in Christ’s mercy, that the Lord might bring forth in us, as He did for David, His good works and the fruits of faith.CP240901

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 74—The Prayer of the Church During Pestilence and When Persecutors Seek to Destroy Her—Psalm 74 is a prayer against those who attack the Church and try to destroy the sanctuary of the Lord where His people gather to worship. How strangely and eerily appropriate this psalm is for our current crisis. On the one hand, the civil authorities are trying to protect the population from the spread of disease; on the other hand, enemies of the Gospel would like to use the crisis to destroy the Church. The psalm begins with the questions, “O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old…” Psalm 74 is an example of how the circumstances of life provide the proper interpretation of the psalm: “The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place…They said in their hearts, ‘Let us destroy them altogether.’ They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.”  This devastating description of the Church under siege is quickly followed by our cry to the Lord to take action and remember His promises for the sake of His congregation: “The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter. Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord…Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast! … Arise, O God, plead Your own cause…”  Sometimes we are prone to imagine that the Church has never endured the kinds of distress that we experience in the world today. It is not true. At times like these, we commend ourselves and the world to the mercy of God in Christ, take up God’s Word daily, and pray the psalms most fervently.CP240825

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Notes for the Week — Psalm 146: A Confession of Faith in the Lord—To confess the truth of who the Lord is and what He has done and continues to do for us is the source true happiness, well-being, and contentment. It is also the foundation for proper praise of the Lord which gives all glory to Him because He has done all things for us. The God who made us is also the God who saves us. Our redemption in Christ restores us to what God called us to be. The forgiveness of sins in Christ makes all things new. Thus, the psalmist confesses this faith in a song of praise: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live, I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Politicians and princes cannot save. “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever.” The Lord executes justice for the oppressed in the cross of Calvary. Christ’s redeeming work then becomes the fountain and source of all blessings. “The Lord gives freedom…opens the eyes of the blind…raises those who are bowed down…loves the righteous…watches over the strangers…relieves the fatherless and widow.” For all this we “Praise the Lord!”

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 50: A Song of Praise for the Proper Worship of the Lord—The true worship of God is not faith in ourselves, our own sacrifices, or our works of love that we offer to God in an attempt to earn His favor. Instead, the true worship of the Lord is a faith which desires to receive His forgiveness and help as a gift of His grace. Psalm 50 criticizes the sacrifices that were so often made in the Old Testament Church, not because they were bad (they were given to Israel by God), but rather because they were offered to God as their own good works to earn His favor. The true worship of God is a repentant heart that clings to His mercy for forgiveness, life, and salvation. The Lord alone is perfect and righteous. Out of Zion, His holy Church, He shines forth in the beauty of His righteousness to save repentant sinners. He calls us to faith in His gift of righteousness to offer to God thanksgiving and to pay our vows to the Most High. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” True praise and worship of the Lord honors and gives all glory to Him who gave His life for us. “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”CP240811

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 92 — A Prayer of Daily Thanksgiving for the Love of the Lord—There is so much evil in the world. It is foolish and senseless to deny the existence of God and the goodness of His love. Enemies abound who reject the Lord God, but He never fails to uphold, strengthen, and lift up His people who trust in Him and to make them glad by the works of His hands. As believers in the Lord and in His sustaining grace, we commend the wicked and all workers of iniquity to Him who will judge the wicked and bring their evil plans to an end in His good time. In the meantime, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.” The humble, faithful, regular morning and evening prayers of Christians are a balm for the soul in the face of the evils of our age. Daily prayer focuses our attention upon what the Lord has done and continues to do for His people. In such regular meditation upon God’s Word, anxiety is dispelled and confidence in the Lord is strengthened. The righteous walk by faith in the Lord’s promise and do not live in despair when we see the wickedness of the world around us. “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree… They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.”CP240804

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 54: A Prayer for Deliverance from the Enemies of Christians—Psalm 54 was prayed by David on the occasion of King Saul’s attempts to murder him.  The Ziphites had betrayed David to Saul. Saul had departed from the Word of God and despised the Lord for having anointed David to succeed him as King. David would not lift his hand against his enemy, but rather commended himself to God and prayed for the Lord to deliver him. David’s example is a pattern for us and Christ’s Church under persecution and suffering. Our only weapon is the Word of God and faith that clings to the Lord’s promise of protection. In our battle against the forces of darkness and the enemies of our faith, our protection can never be the force of human arms but must always and only be the Word of God the protection that the Lord promises to those who are faithful to Him. So we, with the whole Church on earth, pray with David, “Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your strength. Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth…oppressors have sought after my life; they have not set God before them. Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life. He will repay my enemies for their evil.”  This is of inestimable comfort in the face of persecution and suffering for the faith.CP240728

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 26: A Baptismal Prayer to Renounce Evil and Live Faithfully in Christ—The ancient liturgy of Holy Baptism includes the renunciation of the devil with all his wicked works and all his wicked ways and a firm confession of faith in the Triune God. Psalm 26 is a precursor of that liturgy. Faith in Christ, to which we are all called in our Baptism, renounces all idolatry and every wicked work and scheme of the devil and of those who reject Christ. These themes are echoed in the psalm, along with the confident expression of faith in the Lord who will both uphold those who trust in Him and who daily cleanses us in the call to the repentant life that renounces all uncleanness and hypocrisy. The Lord will “vindicate” His people, showing forth to those who have rejected the Lord that He indeed preserves His own from all the sinister schemes of those who hate the Gospel. The baptized faithful not only renounce the devil and all evil, but they also delight to be in the congregation of the faithful where the Lord’s preaching and the Lord’s Supper sustains, comforts, and strengthens them against every attack upon their faith. “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells… My foot stands in an even place; in the congregations I will bless the Lord.”CP240721

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 47: A Prayer on the Ascension of Our Lord—Psalm 47 is traditionally prayed in celebration of the Ascension of our Lord. After Jesus had defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil through His suffering and death upon the cross, God the Father highly exalted Him and seated Him at His right hand, placing all His enemies under His feet. Christ continues to reign over all things at the Father’s right hand for the sake of His Church and He will come again in glory to receive His bride to Himself. So, we sing with the psalmist: “God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.”CP240714

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Praying the Psalms: Psalm 19—Praise of God for the Perfect Revelation of His Glory—David links together the preaching of the Gospel with the ordering of the cosmos. “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork” precisely because they are signs whose ordered design and placement in the cosmos perfectly reflect the ordering of the Gospel of God’s love and sacrifice in Christ. The creation of the sun, the moon, and the stars are for signs and seasons, and for all the patterns of life that find their fulfillment in the week of our redemption in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. As the earth orbits around the sun, which sustains the life of all living things, so Christ and His Gospel is the source of eternal life and salvation. The pattern of a day (“evening and morning”) points us to the darkness of death and the light of the resurrection of Christ by which the creation is redeemed and made new. The statutes of the Lord testify to the truth of the Gospel which is imbedded in all of creation. The Law of the Lord—His commandments and promises—convert our hearts from unbelief to repentant faith. We rejoice in His salvation and desire His Word to be proclaimed in all of creation. By the Word of the Lord we are turned from our sin, cleansed from unknown errors, and lead a life that is innocent of all transgressions by the gift of Christ’s righteousness. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer!”CP240707

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Praying the Psalms: Psalm 21—A Prayer of Rejoicing in the Lord’s Salvation—God the Father heard the prayers of His Son and did not deny the desires of His heart or the requests of His lips.  Why?  Because the heart of our Lord Jesus was perfectly united in faith and love for the Father and the work of salvation to which the Father had called Him.  The King, Christ Jesus, trusted in the Lord, and through the Lord’s mercy He was not moved.  God the Father hears our prayers, also, precisely because we are joined to His anointed Son who won salvation for us.  Eternal salvation and the absolute guarantee of our victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil is the reason for our joy.  In our prayers we join with Christ in rejoicing in the gift of salvation that we have in Christ: “His glory is great in Your salvation; honor and majesty You have placed upon Him. For You have made Him most blessed forever; You have made Him exceedingly glad with Your presence… Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength!  We will sing and praise Your power.”CP240630