ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Folks: We knew that VP Biden is a loose cannon as he is the gaffe guru. But, this seems to be a new twist for him. Could we now rightfully call him:
Obama’s “lecherous loose cannon” – aka, the vice president dirty old man ?
Look at those two male bikers in the picture. Their body language is all written over them. Anyone else but Biden would come away with two black eyes. Does it look to you as if they are pleased with Biden’s apparent untoward pushy behavior? What is VP Biden doing with his hands? The snapped picture could only show so much of what was happening. Perhaps, it is better we don’t know as we can’t see all of Biden.
But this we know for sure:
This is the same vice president who recently made the racist statement to blacks that the Republicans were going to put them all “back in chains!”
Can America ever be secure, knowing that VP Biden is only one heart beat away from the US Presidency? Or, was all of this, just a contrived “photo opt,” designed to help smoke screen White House occupier, [putative president] Obama’s continued failed presidency?
Indeed, we hear that this is the will and good pleasure of the
Father from eternity, that those who belive in the Son should have eternal life
(John 6 & 1 Corinthians 1); and that it is those who were ordained to
eternal life who believe (Acts 13); or (using a paraphrase for those who are
predestined) those who would believe in Christ for eternal life (1 Timothy 1);
similarly in Romans 8, that they have been predestined to salvation who are
justified (but only believers are justified, according to Romans 3), that those
were predestined who are finally glorified (but only believers in Christ will be
glorified, as all Scriptures testify), that they have been predestined who, in
the time of grace [sorry Mark Jeske], hope in Christ, who have the remission of
sins, and who have been received into the inheritance of saints (Ephesians 1);
indeed that we were elected into faith in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2), and for
this reason, faith is called the faith of the elect of God (Titus 1); that those
have been predestined whom the Lord knows to be His (but for "His" He knows only
believers, and would say to the rest in Matthew 7, "I never knew you"); that
they have been elected by God who are rich in faith, who will be heirs of the
kingdom (James 2); and finally, that only the sons of God have been predestined
(as the Formula of Concord testifies, to which Huber swore himself); but the
sons of God are only believers, as St. John and the Apostle Paul bear witness
(John 1 & Galations 3).
Some more gems from
"Theses Opposed to Huberianism," by Aegidius Hunnius:
Thesis 127
(pp.44-45)
If all these things are brought together as stated, who can
fail to see the monstrous audacity and vanity of Huber, who writes repeatedly
that "it is not the consensus of Scripture-neither as a matter of phraseology
nor as a concept-that believers are elected to life"; and that "it is a phrase
foreign to the sacred writings that God elected believers to life"; indeed, that
"God elected only unbelievers, which we all are by nature"; and that "it is a
novel use of language and affirmed as false if someone asserts that God either
elects or elected believers."?
I have seen posts like this on Steadfast
Waltherans from the wanna-be theologians who espouse UOJ. More to follow...
On the contrary, it has been demonstrated that this phrase is the
voice of the Scriptures themselves, indeed, the language of the Holy Spirit. And
it has been confirmed as catholic, that God pre-ordained believers to salvation
in the Son, for we hear that "God chose the elect" (Mark 13). That of these,
only believers are mentioned by name, not even Huber dares further to deny.
Likewise, that He elected and, by reason of predestination, gave to his Son
those who keep his Word, and believe in Him through the Word of the Apostles
(John 17), who come to Christ, according to John 6, "Everything that My Father
gives Me comes to Me."
***
GJ - The Great Antinomian, CFW Walther, hated the term faith and taught his cell group disciples to hate it as well. Grace, faith, the Gospel, the Means of Grace, the Holy Spirit - all these belong together. False teachers pixelate verses. They lift up one phrase, one part of a sentence and build their fantasies around it. If they would be honest, they would admit starting with their delusions and finding the fragments of verses that appear to support them. Any fragment can seem to support any dogma, as the papal party has proven, but that does not mean that the Scriptures in their entirety, as a unified Truth, even hint at their ignorant blasphemies.
The false teachers loathe and fear the efficacy of God's Word, but they believe in their word. They never stop chattering about their precious UOJ.
Everything changed on 911. Perspectives clash about why it happened. Ever since, our military families have
carried the burden of the war. I often taught Marines who were being readied at the Yuma Proving Grounds to go over to Iraq, or to serve there again. I had one SEAL in class, people in Harrier repair, former aircraft carrier crew, all types.
One woman was waiting for her husband to return from Iraq in a few days. I gave her a cigar to give him, as a thank-you. She began crying. I enjoying sharing cigars with servicemen and their families, long before Hope and Change.
His humor and insights simply wowed the Walmart meeting.
At a Walmart meeting, the author of Hope Unseen spoke to the audience of executives. Smiley was blinded by an attack in Iraq and decided to stay active duty. He went from despair to earning an MBA, climbing Mt. Rainier, skydiving, and more. His beautiful wife also spoke. They had to battle the military to keep him active duty, an act that changed military policy.
LI enjoys working at Walmart, because the military are honored year around, with extra special events on important holidays. The company welcomes and values former military. One is still in the reserves as an admiral. I looked around behind me, when I was alerted to where he was sitting. Yes, he looked like an admiral.
Just how flagrant does a pedophile need to be before the people around him contact the police? Just how far beyond seeming to force himself on a boy in a shower or loading up his laptop with photos of little girls’ crotches does he have to go?
In the first instance I’m referring to Jerry Sandusky, whom Penn State officials allowed to continue working with children even after they were told that something was seriously amiss. In the second I’m referring to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a Catholic priest in Missouri whose superiors acted no less despicably.
In May 2010, the principal of a parochial school next door to the parish where Father Ratigan served sent a memorandum to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, asLaurie Goodstein reported in The Times. It flagged his odd behavior, including his habit of instructing children to reach into his pockets for candy.
In December 2010, hundreds of troubling, furtively taken photographs were found on his laptop, according to court testimony given too long after that fact. One showed a toddler’s genitals.
In what jail or prison cell, you might ask, did Father Ratigan spend the first half of 2011? None.
After the photos were discovered, he attempted suicide, received counseling and was reassigned by Bishop Robert W. Finn, the head of the diocese, to a new post as a chaplain to an order of nuns. There he was allowed to celebrate Mass for youth groups and host an Easter egg hunt, and he was caught taking a photograph under the table, up the skirt of the daughter of parishioners who had invited him into their home.
In May 2011, a diocesan official finally told police about the extent of Father Ratigan’s cache of child pornography. He was convicted of possession of it in August 2011. And last week Bishop Finn was convicted of failing to report him to law enforcement authorities, and got two years of probation.
He’s the first American bishop to be found criminally culpable for his inaction in the face of suspected child abuse. It was a long time coming. Over the last quarter-century there have been hundreds upon hundreds of cases of molestation by Catholic priests. And one of the galling leitmotifs of this crisis, which was the subject of a 1993 book that a colleague and I wrote, has been church leaders’ refusal to treat priests as criminals rather than abashed penitents and to let them be prosecuted in ways that might keep them away from kids.
But I’m less interested in the grim milestone of Bishop Finn’s conviction than in the crucial lessons his story reiterates.
One is that institutions have a potent impulse to avoid public scandal, and do an execrable job of policing themselves. To protect their reputations or simply to avoid conflict, they minimize even the most destructive behavior. They convince themselves that they can handle it on their own. And they persuade themselves that their mission, be it the inculcation of religious faith or the scoring of touchdowns, trumps the law’s mandates.
Another is that for all the lip service that we pay to the preciousness of children and the importance of their futures, they remain the most voiceless members of our society. Many don’t know or understand what their rights are; many don’t have the maturity or mettle to exercise them. They depend on the vigilance and good faith of adults, which is to say they depend, all too often, on a fiction.
And a third is that we’re as likely to turn away from sexual pathology as confront it. It confounds and discomfits us.
These problems transcend the Catholic Church. Penn State is in part the parable of an institution that didn’t want to be distracted or humiliated and traded away the welfare of children, a shortsighted calculation with long-term wreckage.
The Boy Scouts of America covered up sexual abuse in its ranks. A recent Los Angeles Times review of files dating from 1970 to 1991 identified more than 125 cases of alleged molestation by men whom the organization had previously had reason to suspect of abusive behavior. “In some cases,” The Times noted, “officials failed to document reports of abuse in the first place.” In others, it failed to involve the police.
Over the last two decades the Catholic Church has spelled out stricter policies, including the prompt notification of law enforcement officials. And its defenders have complained that newly revealed instances of wrongdoing are usually old cases that predated better awareness of child sexual abuse, better education about it and a toughened resolve.
But the case of Father Ratigan postdates all of that — by many, many years. It suggests the tenacity of willful ignorance and deliberate evasion, even when the price is nothing less than the ravaged psyches of vulnerable children.
“Him that honoureth Me,” saith God, “I will honor” (1 Sam. 2:30). Now God is honored in His Son. Whoso then believeth that the Son is our Mediator and Saviour, he honoureth the Father, and him again doth God honour; that is to say, adorneth him with gifts, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, the Holy Ghost, and everlasting life. Contrariwise, “They that despise Me, shall be lightly esteemed.”
This then is a general conclusion, “by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified,” therefore, “faith only justifieth.”
"The Episcopal Church professes all kind of compassion for the poor and downtrodden; for those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, Haitians, illegal immigrants, and for bishops who insist on taking back parishes they never paid a penny for. But there is one group it feels zero compassion for and they sit right on their front door - those who clean their buildings.
In February 2010, the Episcopal Church headquarters at 815nd Avenue fired all the union cleaners arguing budget constraints. After reviewing all contracts and to implement cost-cutting measures where possible, they dumped the lot of them." 'via Blog this'
"Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?"
by Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676
1. Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near With His cheer;
Never will He leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God's Son For my own
To my faith hath given?
2. Though a heavy cross I'm bearing
And my heart Feels the smart,
Shall I be despairing?
God, my Helper, who doth send it,
Well doth know All my woe
And how best to end it.
3. God oft gives me days of gladness;
Shall I grieve If He give
Seasons, too, of sadness?
God is good and tempers ever
All my ill, And He will
Wholly leave me never.
4. Hopeful, cheerful, and undaunted
Everywhere They appear
Who in Christ are planted.
Death itself cannot appal them,
They rejoice When the voice
Of their Lord doth call them.
5. Death cannot destroy forever;
From our fears, Cares, and tears
It will us deliver.
It will close life's mournful story,
Make a way That we may
Enter heavenly glory.
6. What is all this life possesses?
But a hand Full of sand
That the heart distresses.
Noble gifts that pall me never
Christ, our Lord, Will accord
To His saints forever.
7. Lord, my Shepherd, take me to Thee.
Thou art mine; I was Thine,
Even e'er I knew Thee.
I am Thine, for Thou hast bought me;
Lost I stood, But Thy blood
Free salvation brought me.
8. Thou art mine; I love and own Thee.
Light of Joy, Ne'er shall I
From my heart dethrone Thee.
Savior, let me soon behold Thee
Face to face, -May Thy grace
Evermore enfold me!
Hymn #523 The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 73: 23
Author: Paul Gerhardt
Translated by: composite, based on John Kelly, 1867
Titled: Warum sollt' ich mich denn graemen
Composer: Johann G. Ebeling, 1666
Tune: Warum sollt' ich mich denn graemen
"If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee"
by Georg Neumark, 1621-1681
Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878
1. If thou but suffer God to guide thee
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He'll give thee strength, whate'er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days.
Who trusts in God's unchanging love
Builds on the Rock that naught can move.
2. What can these anxious cares avail thee,
These never-ceasing moans and sighs?
What can it help if thou bewail thee
O'er each dark moment as it flies?
Our cross and trials do but press
The heavier for our bitterness.
3. Be patient and await His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whate'er thy Father's pleasure
And His discerning love hath sent,
Nor doubt our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.
4. God knows full well when times of gladness
Shall be the needful thing for thee.
When He has tried thy soul with sadness
And from all guile has found thee free,
He comes to thee all unaware
And makes thee own His loving care.
5. Nor think amid the fiery trial
That God hath cast thee off unheard,
That he whose hopes meet no denial
Must surely be of God preferred.
Time passes and much change doth bring
And sets a bound to everything.
6. All are alike before the Highest;
'Tis easy to our God, we know,
To raise thee up, though low thou liest,
To make the rich man poor and low.
True wonders still by Him are wrought
Who setteth up and brings to naught.
7. Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,
Perform thy duties faithfully,
And trust His Word, though undeserving,
Thou yet shalt find it true for thee.
God never yet forsook in need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.
Hymn #518 The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 55:22
Author: Georg Neumark, 1640
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
Titled: "Wer nur den lieben Gott laesst walten"
Composer: Georg Neumark, 1640
Tune: "Wer nur den lieben Gott"
"“We are investigating the case to determine what our options are,” Department of Finance spokesman Owen Stone said.
One city official said the back taxes would likely add up to several hundred-thousand dollars.
St. Demetrios Church, at 84-35 152nd St. in Jamaica, is also operating its Parsons Discount Store two blocks away without a Certificate of Occupancy, according to city records — a violation the Department of Buildings plans to review this week."
"If God Had Not Been on Our Side"
by Martin Luther, 1483-1546
1. If God had not been on our side
And had not come to aid us,
The foes with all their power and pride
Would surely have dismayed us;
For we, His flock, would have to fear
The threat of men both far and near
Who rise in might against us.
2. Their furious wrath, did God permit,
Would surely have consumed us
And as a deep and yawning pit
With life and limb entombed us.
Like men o'er whom dark waters roll
Their wrath would have engulfed our soul
And, like a flood, o'erwhelmed us.
3. Blest be the Lord, who foiled their threat
That they could not devour us;
Our souls, like birds, escaped their net,
They could not overpower us.
The snare is boken-we are free!
Our help is ever, Lord, in Thee,
Who madest earth and heaven.
Hymn 267 The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 124
Author: Martin Luther, 1524
Translated by: composite
Titled: "War' Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit"
Tune: "War' Gott nicht mit uns"
1st Published in: Gesangbuch
Town: Wittenberg, 1537
It was at the zenith of the seventeenth century that the religious song of Germany found its purest and sweetest expression in the hymns of Paul Gerhardt, who may be said to be the typical poet of the Lutheran Church, as Herbert is of the English. George Herbert's poems are meant to be read and meditated upon; they constantly remind us that the writer was a man of high breeding and culture, no less than an earnest Christian; Gerhardt's are intended to be set to music and sung in church, or learnt by heart by the children at home, and as constantly reveal the homeliness and simplicity, the deeply devout and quietly courageous spirit of the Lutheran pastor.
Paul Gerhardt, the "sweet singer of Lutheranism" who lived during the religious wars of the 17th century, was born on March 12, 1607 in Gräfenhaim, near Wittenberg, Germany. He was the son of Christian Gerhardt, burgermeister of Grafenhaynichen, near Wittenberg. Trained to be a Lutheran pastor, he matriculated as a student at the University of Wittenberg January 2, 1628, where Martin Luther had taught a century before.
He seems to have resided in Wittenberg until 1642 or 1643, when while he was waiting for a call, he taught the children of Andreas Barthold (one of whom, Anna Maria, he married in 1655). He had already written many hymns, but was as yet unable to publish them. During that time he had the good fortune to meet Johann Crüger, the cantor and organist at St. Nicholas Church in Berlin. Together they produced some of the greatest Lutheran chorales, including "Awake, My Heart with Gladness," ("Auf, auf, mein Herz"), "Now All the Woods Are Sleeping," "All My Heart this Night Rejoices," among others. Gerhardt's hymns combine an objective faith in justification as a free gift from God with his warm subjective experience of that gift. In all, he wrote 123 hymns, many of which are still well known and beloved throughout the world.
The whole of his youth and early manhood fell in the time of war. That it must have been a period full of disappointment and hope deferred for him, is clear enough when we find a man of his powers at the age of forty-five still only a private tutor and candidate for holy orders.
However, in 1651, Gerhardt was appointed, at the recommendation of the Berlin clergy, Lutheran Probst (chief pastor) at Mittenwalde, near Berlin. Several of his hymns were published in 1653 in the Berlin Hymn Book, and later in other collections in Brandenburg and Saxony; and became at once very popular with the people.
At Mittenwalde he passed six quiet years, during which he began to publish his hymns, which immediately attracted great attention, and were quickly adopted into the hymn-books of Brandenburg and Saxony. His name thus became known, and in 1657 he was invited to the great church of St. Nicholas, in Berlin, where his life was soon both a busy and an honorable one. He worked most assiduously and successfully in his pastoral duties; he brought out many hymns, which were caught up by the people much as Luther's had been of old; and he was the favorite preacher of the city, whom crowds flocked to hear.
He is described to us as a man of middle height, of quiet but firm and cheerful bearing; while his preaching is said to have been very earnest and persuasive, and full of Christian love and charity, which he practiced as well as preached by never turning a beggar from his doors, and receiving widows and orphans who needed help and shelter into his own house. His religion and his temperament alike made him cheerful, and not all the many disappointments of his life seem ever to have embittered his mood; but he had a very tender and scrupulous conscience, and wherever a question of conscience seemed to him to be involved, he was liable to great mental conflict and an exaggerated estimate of trifles.
In 1657, Gerhardt returned to Berlin as third diaconus of the large and influential St. Nicholas' church. In theology he was an ardent Lutheran, and before long his zeal for his Church was put to the test. Prussia was at that time governed by Frederick William I., "the Great Elector," whose memory is still revered in the country as the founder of its greatness. The mass of his people were Lutherans, but he himself belonged to the Reformed Church, to which his grandfather, the Elector Sigismund, had seceded from political motives. At the Peace of Westphalia, he was the one important German prince who acted as spokesman for the Calvinistic churches, and it was through his efforts they obtained the same legal recognition as the Lutherans.
His next endeavor was to make peace between the two Churches within his own dominions. He saw clearly enough the waste of strength and the evil passions caused by their disunion and perpetual controversies, and he is not accused of any unjust bias or partiality towards his own Church, but the times were not then ripe for such an attempt, and he met with little success. In 1662 and 1663 he summoned the leading men of both Churches to a series of conferences on the points of dispute between them, in the hopes of thus arriving at some approximation of opinion, or at least at a declaration that the points of difference were "non-essential." But the result was the precise reverse of the Elector's hopes; the more the doctors argued the farther apart they found themselves.
The Calvinism of those days was not of the modified type to which we are accustomed [in the mid-1800s], but advocated what would now be termed "extreme views," while the Lutherans, on the other hand, were very rigid in their own definitions of doctrine, and were in the habit of preaching against the Reformed Church with a scornful and bitter vehemence.
Gerhardt, indeed, was not among those who did so; his sermons, as well as his writings, were so free from controversy that many Calvinists attended his services, and his hymns had no greater admirer than the pious Electress Louisa, who herself belonged to the Reformed Church. But the whole cast of his thought was intrinsically anti-Calvinistic: that God is a loving Father over all His creatures, and that Christ died for all men, are the deepest, ever-recurring tones of his theology; and hence he found it impossible to allow that the points of difference between himself and the Reformed Church were "non-essential."
From the conferences he at first hoped a great deal; he was diligent in attending them, and drew up most of the statements in explanation or defense of doctrine on the Lutheran side. But the Elector, wearied by the ill-success of these meetings, put a stop to them in 1664, and published an edict requiring the ministers of both communions to abstain from attacking each other's doctrines in the pulpit or elsewhere with harshness or want of charity; and in 1665 he announced his intention of demanding from every beneficed Lutheran clergyman his subscription to a document pledging himself to observe the terms of this edict.
This demand at once created the greatest excitement throughout the country, and in many places caused disturbances; for the stricter Lutherans, priests and people alike, regarded it as prohibiting the use of one of the recognized standards of the Lutheran faith, the "Formula Concordia," in which the doctrines of the Reformed Church were condemned in strong terms, and considered it therefore to be an infringement on their legal rights, and an unwarrantable interference on the part of the civil power with the liberty of preaching.
Accordingly a great number of the clergy refused to sign, and were deposed; and these were in general strongly supported by their flocks. Nearly the whole of the Berlin clergy took this part, and one of the most resolute among them was Paul Gerhardt, who being very ill at the time, assembled his brethren around his sick-bed, and entreated them to be steadfast in asserting their right to freedom of speech.
Such a man's refusal could not be passed over, and early in 1666 he was deprived of his appointment; and when it appeared that many of his congregation were in the habit of resorting to his private house for religious counsel and worship, he was interdicted from performing any function of his office even in private. Of his deprivation he had said to some condoling friends "that it was but a small Berlin sort of martyrdom;" but this last prohibition wounded him deeply, and he had much private sorrow at the same time.
Three of his five children had already died in infancy, and now he lost one of his two remaining sons, the child on whose death he wrote his touching hymn,
"Thou'rt mine, yes, still Thou art mine own,"
while his wife, worn out by sorrow and anxiety, fell into a long and slow decline. When she died, Gerhardt was left with only one child, a boy of 6 years. Many of his most beautiful hymns were written at this time, and among others, "If God be on my side."
Meanwhile the city of Berlin did not take the loss of its favorite preacher quietly. Meetings were held and petitions addressed to the Elector--first by the burghers and guilds of trade, then by the Town Council, and finally by the Estates of Brandenburg, whose entreaty was said to have the support in private of the Electress herself.
Then the Elector gave way, and declared that considering the tender conscience of the preacher Paul Gerhardt, and that he had never been guilty of bitterness and uncharitableness in the pulpit, an exception should be made in his case, and he should be permitted to resume his office without subscription. The whole city was rejoiced, but now a new difficulty arose. The Elector had sent word by one of his secretaries to Paul Gerhardt of his re-appointment, but had said also that he relied on Gerhardt's well-known moderation and loyalty, that even without subscription he would act in conformity with the spirit of the edict.
This message perplexed Gerhardt's conscience once more; an implied undertaking was, he said, to a Christian man as binding as any subscription could be, and he therefore felt himself still unable to accept office on these terms. A long period of fruitless negotiations ensued, and much mental distress on Gerhardt's part; for these new scruples appeared even to many of his friends exaggerated. But how real they were to himself, is shown by his persistency, and his letters to the Town Council and Elector.
"It was only the most urgent necessity," he writes to the latter, "which induced me to retire from my pastoral office, and should I now accept it again on these terms, I should do myself a great wrong; and, so to speak, with my own hands inflict on my soul that wound which I had formerly, with such deep anguish of heart, striven to avert. I fear that God, in whose presence I walk on earth, and before whose judgment-seat I must one day appear; and as my conscience hath spoken from my youth up, and yet speaks, I can see it no otherwise than that if I should accept my office I should draw on myself God's wrath and punishment."
The Elector now commanded the Council to choose some one in Gerhardt's place; and Gerhardt accepted the post of Archdeacon of Lübben an der Spree, in Saxony in November 1668. His removal there was, however, delayed by the long sickness and death of his wife; and it was not till June, 1669 that he entered on his new duties. Here he spent the last seven years of his life; but they were years of sadness, for his wife was gone, his only child had more than one dangerous illness, and he was living in a land of strangers. Lübben was a small place, and the Town Council was composed of rough and half-educated people, who subjected their clergyman to many annoyances. His refuge and refreshment was in his gift of song, "under circumstances which," says one of his contemporaries, "would have made most men cry rather than sing."
His death occurred on May 27, 1676 in his seventieth year, and his last words were a line from one of his own hymns-- "Us no death has power to kill.". The Lübben congregation commissioned a life sized painting of him for the church where it still hangs. Beneath it one can read the inscription, "Theologus in cribro Satanae versatus" ("A theologian sifted in Satan's sieve").
He was buried at Paul-Gerhardt-Kirche, Lübben an der Spree, Spreewald, Germany. His remains are in a crypt below the altar.
Compared with most authors of his time, Paul Gerhardt wrote very little. He composed only one hundred and twenty-three hymns, which appeared at intervals from the year 1649 onwards, many of them for the first time in the "Praxis Pietatis Melica," a collection of hymns and tunes by Johann Crüger, the famous organist and composer of chorales. After Gerhardt's death they were republished separately, revised from his own MSS. by his son.
As a poet he undoubtedly holds the highest place among the hymn-writers of Germany. His hymns seem to be the spontaneous outpouring of a heart that overflows with love, trust, and praise; his language is simple and pure; if it has sometimes a touch of homeliness, it has no vulgarism,1 and at times it rises to a beauty and grace, which always give the impression of being unstudied, yet could hardly have been improved by art. His tenderness and fervor never degenerate into the sentimentality and petty conceits which were already becoming fashionable in his days; nor his penitence and sorrow into that morbid despondency which we find in Gryphius, and for which the disappointments of his own life might have furnished some excuse.
If he is not altogether free from the long-windedness and repetition which are the besetting sins of so many German writers, and especially hymn-writers, he at least more rarely succumbs to them: and in his days they were not considered a blemish. One of his contemporaries, a certain Andreas Bucholz, who wrote a great deal of religious poetry which was then highly esteemed formally announces in his preface that he has spun out his poems as long as he could, for he observed that when people were reading sacred poems at home, they preferred long ones.
Gervinus, a severe judge of sacred poetry in general, says of Gerhardt: "If one man among the poets of the seventeenth century makes an attractive impression on us, it is Gerhardt. He recurred, as no one else had done, to Luther's genuine type of the popular religious song, only with such modifications as the altered circumstances demanded.
In Luther's time the old wrathful, implacable God of the Romanists had assumed the heavenly aspect of grace and compassion; with Gerhardt the Merciful and just One is a loving and benignant Man, whom he addresses with reverential intimacy. With Luther, it was the belief in free grace and the work of Atonement, in the Redemption which had burst the gates of hell, which inspired the Christian singer with his joyous confidence; with Gerhardt it is his faith in the love of God.
Like the old poets of the people, he is pious, naive, earnest, without effort or affectation; his style is as simple as refreshing, and attractive as his tone of thought." Many of his hymns are already well known to English readers by translations from the time of Wesley downwards. Two of Wesley's translations were Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Meand Commit Thou All Thy Griefs.
The Confession
of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon
Hymn # 192 Awake My Heart 1:22
Thankful to God
The Communion
Hymn # 480 Lord of the Worlds 1:62
The Preface p.
24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 511 Jesus Shall Reign 1:80
KJV Galatians 5:16 This I
say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now
the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I
have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts.
KJV Luke 17:11 And it came
to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria
and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men
that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices,
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he
said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that,
as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was
healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his
face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus
answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father, who by Thy blessed word and Thy
holy baptism hast mercifully cleansed all who believe from the fearful leprosy
of sin, and daily dost grant us Thy gracious help in all our need: We beseech
Thee so to enlighten our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may never forget
these Thy blessings, but ever live in Thy fear, and, trusting fully in Thy
grace, with thankful hearts continually praise and glorify Thee; through Thy
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy
Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Thankful To God
KJV Luke 17:11 And it
came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of
Samaria and Galilee.
Lenski:
Luke does not keep to the
chronology as we have seen hitherto. He has already brought us far on this
journey to Jerusalem where Jesus was to die, as far as southern Perea, but he
now reverts to the start of this journey, when, after being refused hospitality
by the Samaritans (9:51, etc.), Jesus passed along the border of Samaria and
Galilee to cross the Jordan into Perea. Luke, who is seldom specific about the
localities of his narratives, is so here in order to explain how one of the ten
lepers happened to be a Samaritan. We conclude also that Jesus is on the
Galilean side of the border, for it would be hard to account for the presence
of nine Jewish lepers in Samaria and much easier to have one Samaritan leper
associated with nine Jewish lepers in Galilee near the border.
Luke places this incident of the
lepers at this point in his Gospel as a continuation of 15:1, 2. The entire piece
from 15:1–17:10 is a unit. It referred to publicans and open sinners in chapter
15, and Luke now brings in even a Samaritan, one who did not come in contact
with Jesus in vain.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The
Interpretation of St. Luke's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing
House, 1961, S. 874.
There are two kinds of
thankfulness, as Luther observed more than once. If a man inherits a vast
estate, he rejoices and tells all his friends how fortunate, how blessed he is.
But the same person is not thankful for the spiritual blessings given to him by
God.
The irony is this – God
provides for us, even for unbelievers. Lenski said we often pray for what God
gives anyway – our daily needs. We should elevate our prayers beyond that level
of anxiety.
This is a miracle story with
an emphasis on thankfulness. Oddly, we once heard it preached at Community of
Joy (ELCA), in Phoenix, the premier Church Growth congregation in ELCA.
However, they left ELCA for the LCMC, about 10,000 members in all. The minister
(a Fuller D. Min. and substitute preacher for Schuller at the Crystal
Cathedral) wore a Hawaiian shirt and joked around like a night club
entertainer. The message was on this text but so vague that I do not remember a
word of it. The congregation enjoyed his little jokes, like wearing a birthday
gift shirt but not his birthday suit.
The message of every CG
congregation is, “Look at how great we are! Look at our size. We are so
successful.” They thank God for having such good numbers. They never talk about
faithfulness to the Word of God. A phenomenal success, Rob Bell, was so
infatuated with his numbers that he wrote a book about not believing in much at
all. His congregation ousted him, even though he tried hard to manage the
firestorm that erupted after publication of Love Wins. Bell believes in
universal reconciliation. Where have I heard that before?
Bell is a good example of
being misled by fabulous numbers and overwhelming material success, only to go
deeper into spiritual blindness and a free fall. His latest gig was speaking at
the nightclub where River Phoenix died – The Viper Room. So appropriate.
This miracle is short and
simple.
12 And as he entered into
a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar
off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have
mercy on us.
Ten lepers gathered their
weak voices from afar to cry out for mercy from Jesus. This is one of the
saddest plights. They were exiles from society. Their disorder was so
frightening that no one wanted to be near them. But they knew about Jesus and
had faith that He would cure them. Together they had enough strength to make a
commotion from a distance, because they would not get near Him or any crowd.
That would not be allowed.
Of all the requests made to
Jesus, were any turned down? As we know from the ending, the nine did not show
any thankfulness. All were cured, not just one.
14 And when he saw them,
he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass,
that, as they went, they were cleansed.
The description of the cure
is concise, allowing for the ten to show themselves as cleansed when they came
to the priests (note the plural) for ritual cleansing. The cleansing baths were
very important in Judaism. They are often found in archeological digs. They are
ritual baths for symbolic cleansing, so the transition to baptism as a
cleansing from sin is all the more significant.
Ten lepers arriving cured at
the baths, showing themselves to various priests, means that many more people
witnessed the miraculous power of Jesus. We are much more aware of the
externals. Nothing would be quite as astonishing as a leper cleansed before the
ritual began, not to mention 10 lepers cleansed at once. Like the water turned
into wine, there is no chance for someone to say, “That was a coincidence. One
leper underwent a spontaneous cure. That could happen.” But 10? That is
impossible to explain away, except through the power of unbelief.
15 And one of them, when
he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16
And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a
Samaritan.
Certainly all of the lepers
were rejoicing. Lenski observed that they called Jesus “Master,” which was only
a confession of His role as a rabbi. Rabbis were also known for healing, and
some of our current remedies are derived from rabbinic cures, such as extended
periods of sleep, now called the medically induced coma.
But this cured man came back
and worshiped Jesus as God. This was true faith and a genuine acknowledgement
of the source of the cure.
17 And Jesus answering
said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are
not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he
said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Where are the nine is a good
way of summing up all that God gives us and the response given by mankind.
77. However, Christ here comforts his poor
Samaritans, who for his name’s sake must risk their lives with the priests and
Jews, and strengthens their hope with the sentence and judgment that he demands
the nine and judges them as God’s thieves, who steal God’s glory, and justifies
the Samaritan. For this hope gives them strong courage, that their cause before
God will be rightly maintained and will stand, but the opposite cause will be
condemned and will not stand, it matters not how great they were and what right
they had on earth.
78. Therefore observe, before Christ justifies
the Samaritan, he judges the nine, that we should be certain not to hasten or
desire revenge, but leave it only to him, and go our way. For he is in himself
so careful to defend the right and punish the wrong, that he first takes up the
latter before he rewards his Samaritans.
Thankfulness is for our spiritual blessings. The material
blessings come and go. They are often the target of those who want revenge for feeling
slighted or challenged. It was said at the community college where I taught, “Only
atheists can teach in the religion department, and that includes part-timers,
like adjuncts.” Sure enough, one Baptist minister got in there part-time. He
was shooed away. Those atheists cannot stand the mention of God. They would
gladly see the minister starve while they earned $100,000 for teaching 9-12
hours per week.
The hymn-writers of our Lutheran tradition were not rewarded
with security or a pleasant life. Gerhardt is the greatest writing of comforting
hymns, and he had the hardest life, in every way possible, because he would not
compromise with non-Lutheran doctrine. Those who hailed his anniversary made me
laugh, because they made a show of admiring Gerhardt while being one with those
who made his life difficult.
Difficulties open our eyes to spiritual blessings, because only
the Gospel can comfort and strengthen when nothing else is available.
What moves people to work on obscure doctrinal texts and Latin/German
translations, when no money is there to pay them, no easy academic positions?
They are so energized by opposition that they pounce on each new find as a
treasure almost lost.
When they try to take
away Biblical faith, Biblical faith is more valuable.
When they offer a counterfeit and say, “Here is your faith,
which is so bad and evil!” then Biblical teaching is that much more important.
I read about a truly gifted team of counterfeit money-makers.
They were great, until they got to tropical areas. There the paper divided
because it was perfect, except for being glued together to be thick enough.
We are always in the process of having our faith tested and
purified. We learn to give up what is shallow and material for that which is lasting.
The more we see the real Gospel of the Bible, of Luther and the Confessors, the
more we can detect the counterfeits.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
