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.
Dayou Kim is an extraordinary talent. I found this by accident and cannot listen to it often enough.
I love the way she nods for the musicians to start and exhibits a slight, warm smile. As the experts say, this is a work which is not another fireworks display but one where each note on the piano is expressed with great beauty.
The orchestra accompanying the young artist surrounds the tiny girl and provides all the supplemental music to make the piano music even more beautiful.
I was forced to learn to play the flute and even worse - forced to learn from an excellent German tutor. I had to practice! I was in bands and orchestras, too. I was the only one of us four siblings who continued in music.
I did not display much talent or enthusiasm, but I learned to love Bach and Mozart, Beethoven and many others. One friend responded to my enjoyment of Vivaldi - "Seven hundred pieces - all of them sounding the same." He never played the Goldfinch Concerto, poor soul.
I like pop music, not the garbage thrown at us today. No wonder pop "Christian music" is so dreary and annoying. We used to laugh about which popular new hymn was introduced in the latest Lutheran hymnal. Consider - the Liberal Book of Weirdness, LBW. "Lift high the cross" and "This is the fee-ee-ee-est of victory for our God."
Great Christian hymns are directly related to classical music. The best hymns include a Christian message from the Scriptures and beautiful music to move that message into our souls.
The Confession of Sins The Absolution The Introit p. 16
Introit
Oh, clap your hands, all ye people!
Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
Psalm. He shall subdue the people under us:
and the nations under our feet.
The Gloria Patri The Kyrie p. 17 The Gloria in Excelsis The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Collect
O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth, we humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth, etc.
The Epistle and Gradual
Gradual
Come, ye children, hearken unto me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
V. Look unto Him and be lightened:
and let your faces not be ashamed. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
V. Oh, clap your hands, all ye people:
shout unto God with the voice of triumph. Hallelujah!
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord! Praise be to Thee, O Christ! The Nicene Creed p. 22
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 #12This Day - Bishop How
Announcements and Prayers
Pastor and Mrs. Jim Shrader - 41st wedding anniversary July 10th.
Christina Jackson's birthday, July 20th. Andersons will arrive here that day.
Glen and Esther Kotten's first anniversary is Saturday, July 22nd.
Alicia Meyer's birthday, July 27th.
Medical treatment - Matt Howell, accident; Kermit and Maria Way; Pastor and Mrs. Shrader; Sarah Buck; those dealing with metabolic and stress disorders.
Best Buy sent a Geek Squad member to address sound issues and alternatives.
KJV Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
KJV Mark 8:1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: 3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. 4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? 5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. 7 And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. 8 So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. 9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.
SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Lord God, heavenly Father, who in the wilderness didst by Thy Son abundantly feed four thousand men besides women and children with seven loaves and a few small fishes: We beseech Thee, graciously abide among us with Thy blessing, and keep us from covetousness and the cares of this life, that we may seek first Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness, and in all things needful for body and soul, experience Thine ever-present help; through Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Faith and Miracles
KJV Mark 8:1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:
The Gospel of Mark can be divided into two parts -
The Miracles - Mark 1 - 10.
The Atoning Death and Resurrection - Mark 11 - 16:20.
This is my quiz where I described the disciples irritated with Jesus for praying alone when they had so much work to do.
KJV Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. 37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. 38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.
Jesus praying to the Father emphasizes the Two Natures of Christ - human and divine. If you do not worship the Savior regularly, you are suggesting you are better than Jesus. He worshiped, prayed, and taught in the synagogues all the time. These verses also illustrate that the disciples at this stage thought the work was mostly miracles but Jesus combined the miracles and teaching to prove the divinity of His teaching - "with divine authority, not like the scribes and Pharisees." His miracles were so great that people rushed out of their villages to find Him. (Note the "rumor" in Isaiah 53 and Romans 10 - faith comes by hearing the Word (rumor).
When we study a Biblical text, it is essential to see the entire picture and to connect with the unified view of the entire Bible. There has been far too much of picking a verse or two and making a case for a particular idea.
The Bible is the Book of the Holy Spirit (Luther) and
not a jar of fortune cookies with useful quotes (most Biblical "scholarship" today).
This miracle shows how God provides all we need when nothing at all seems to be there. Secondly, the miracles deepen our faith in God's unlimited mercy and power. The great fallacy today is that miracles belong to the past and many reject the truth of those events. It is not just the "Biblical scholars" who reject the miracles, but also the church members who have been conditioned to follow the "scholars." The worst examples are not just ELCA, but also LCMS, ELS, CLC, Eldonuts, etc. The ELCA worships Barth and Tillich, the rest bow to Walther and Pieper - even down to the Pope himself.
3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. 4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?
The people followed Jesus at the risk of fasting and fainting, so much that they endangered their lives by being so far away from food. Jesus presented the problem to the disciples, similar to the logic of Project Management. The facts are - nothing to eat - and - how can these people get bread in the wilderness. They have water, because they are stopped where the vegetation is green - an oasis. In the American West, formations that hold rainwater are called tanks, as in the White Tank Mountains.
There is not enough money, not enough food, not enough for clothes, not enough for education. The disciples despair about obtaining enough food for the multitudes in the desert.
5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.
I can imagine the downcast looks when they said, "Seven." The finance committee would say, "Seven - IF we are lucky." I named them - at one church - after the movie - The Bad News Bears.
If we look at Creation - a word that makes many cringe, so I use it all the time - Creation Garden - God clearly organizes everything in a miraculous way. Every part of the Creation Garden has its own role, at the least, and carries out all kinds of beneficial duties. The rabbits walk casually by me, a few feet away, because they are not afraid. The timing of plants is astonishing. I grow for bees and butterflies - pollinators - and they show up from the earliest suggestion of spring. The humble Poke and Joe Pye Weeds improve the soil while providing flowers that turn into fruit. Each plant has more stations than I can count, more flowers that turn into buds that turn into fruit or seeds (Poke berries have seeds).
Luther reminds us that God is the best farmer, the best animal minder, the best miner for minerals, the best everything. Without the miraculous abundance we would fail to have good food and good water to drink.
Get To Work!
6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. 7 And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.
We do two things in error. One is that we demean what is there, as if it is not enough and will never do. We discourage ourselves, as if God could not handle our needs. "What is that among so many?" Clergy think the building is not good enough or grand enough or filled with enough people. Members will make sure the new church has a kitchen large enough for a hotel - but that is not enough, either. Guaranteed - the church fridge will always have one jar of ketchup, one of mustard - just what everyone needs in an emergency. (I have tested this in many different churches - two condiments, nothing else.)
Faith in Jesus Christ is not a shopping list. Just as the Bible teaches the "faith of Jesus," so our faith in Jesus sets the work of God in motion.
KJV Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
κατα την δυναμιν (dynamite) την ενεργουμενην (energy, efficacy) εν ημιν
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
The Holy Spirit is always building us up in the Gospel, in the faith of Jesus. This comes from Jesus Christ and glorifies His Name.
8 So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. 9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.
The more they ate, the more they had to eat, so they had seven baskets full - but before they barely had enough for a few.
Soon the Pharisees were questioning Jesus, who had provided miracles greater than Moses. But it was not enough for them, and there never will be enough. We only need to wait for what God has already set in motion.
The key is to express our thanks for everything God has done for us, for every person. Secondly, we should express our concerns within the family and among those we know.
