Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Midweek Lenten Service and Greek Lesson



Mid-Week Lenten Vespers, 2020

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson





The Hymn #377                    Salvation Unto Us Has Come        
The Order of Vespers                                             p. 41
The Psalmody                                          p.
The Lections                            The Passion History
                                                
                                         
The Sermon Hymn #149           Come to Calvary's Holy Mountain

The Sermon –   I AM - The True Vine
 
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace                                            p. 45

The Hymn #660 - Heaven Is My Home


Prayers and Announcements


  • Treatment and recovery - Rush Limbaugh, Kermit Way, Christina Jackson. Recovery - John Hicks.
  • In the last stage of cancer and heart disease - Tom Fulcher, Diane Popp's brother-in-law.
  • Diagnosis and surgery - Randy Anderson, Andrea's father.
  • Someone's brother has health issues.
  • Pray for our country as the major trials begin.
  • Wednesdays are Vespers at 7 PM, followed by The Gospel of John in Greek, translating slowly for newcomers.
One of the Greatest of All Lutheran Hymnals

1 Salvation unto us has come
by God’s free grace and favor.
Our works cannot avert our doom;
the law can save us never.
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone,
who for his people did atone;
he is our one Redeemer.
2 What God did in his law demand
and none to him could render
caused wrath and woe on ev'ry hand
for man, the vile offender.
Our flesh has not the pure desires
God's holy law of us requires,
and lost is our condition.
3 It was a false, misleading dream
that God his law had given
so sinners could themselves redeem
and by their works gain heaven.
The law is just a mirror bright
to bring the inbred sin to light
that lurks within our nature.
4 From sin our flesh could not abstain;
sin held its sway unceasing.
The task was hopeless and in vain;
our guilt was e’er increasing.
None can remove sin’s poisoned dart
or purify our guileful heart,
so deep is our corruption.
5 Yet as the law must be fulfilled
or we must die despairing,
Christ Jesus came; God’s wrath he stilled,
our human nature sharing.
The law he has for us obeyed
and thus the Father’s vengeance stayed
which over us had rulèd.
6 All blessing, honor, thanks, and praise
to Father, Son, and Spirit,
the God who saved us by his grace--
all glory to his merit!
O triune God in heav’n above,
who has revealed your saving love,
your blessèd name be hallowed.
---

15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

The first four verses are mysterious, then they are clear. Many people will not get the meaning because they do not garden. It may seem very symbolic, only.

Jesus is in charge of the vineyard, and the Father is the farmer. This illustrates the dual but harmonious role. This works exactly like rose growing, so I will stick with roses.

When a rose bush has brown, dead wood, that little bit of plant will never grow. It also keeps the bush from growing as it should. A rose full of dead wood will barely bloom. When it is pruned it will burst into bloom in two weeks.

So Jesus says, every branch in Him (associated with Christ) that does not bear fruit will be taken away. Every branch that does bear fruit will be cleansed so it bears every more fruit.

The more I raised roses, the more I understood this. Dabblers do not want to cut the roses from their bushes. Knockout roses are treated like china-ware, left alone to gather dust. But every time one bloom is cut away, more grow and the roots grow to meet the demand. 

The ultimate fruit of a rose is a rose hip, a seed pod used for making Vitamin C and rose hip tea. 

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

παν κλημα εν εμοι μη φερον καρπον αιρει αυτο, και παν το καρπον φερον καθαιρει αυτο ινα πλειονα καρπον φερη
ηδη υμεις καθαροι εστε δια τον λογον ον λελαληκα υμιν

Every Katherine should get this, because every branch bearing fruit is cleansed, purified.  And you are purified because of the Word I have solemnly spoken to you.

Matthew 5:8 μακαριοι οι καθαροι τη καρδια οτι αυτοι τον θεον οψονται

Blessed are the pure (katharine) in heart, for they shall see God.

The forgiven see God, and the absolved from sin bear fruit, the fruits of the Spirit.

Greek Lesson John 1 Stephanus

16 και εκ του πληρωματος αυτου ημεις παντες ελαβομεν και χαριν αντι χαριτος
charismatic, charism, eucharist


17 οτι ο νομος δια μωσεως εδοθη η χαρις και η αληθεια δια ιησου χριστου εγενετο


18 θεον ουδεις εωρακεν πωποτε; ο μονογενης υιος ο ων εις τον κολπον του πατρος εκεινος εξηγησατο
exegete


**

19 και αυτη εστιν η μαρτυρια του ιωαννου οτε απεστειλαν οι ιουδαιοι εξ ιεροσολυμων ιερεις και λευιτας ινα ερωτησωσιν αυτον συ τις ει

20 και ωμολογησεν και ουκ ηρνησατο και ωμολογησεν οτι ουκ ειμι εγω ο χριστος

21 και ηρωτησαν αυτον τι ουν ηλιας ει συ και λεγει ουκ ειμι ο προφητης ει συ και απεκριθη ου

22 ειπον ουν αυτω τις ει ινα αποκρισιν δωμεν τοις πεμψασιν ημας τι λεγεις περι σεαυτου

23 εφη εγω φωνη βοωντος εν τη ερημω ευθυνατε την οδον κυριου καθως ειπεν ησαιας ο προφητης

Newspapers and the Synods



I have a daily newspaper route. I only have two non-paying customers on Sunday, one during the week. I began when I saw how poor the service was - and still is.

For $30 a month, my next-door neighbor (with a heart condition) had to walk out almost to the street for his paper. Often it was behind the cars, even under a car, so he could not see where it was from the porch. I volunteered to get his newspaper to the door and to pull his garbage cans. His widow only gets the Sunday paper.

Ranger Bob works for that newspaper, and soon it will close all print editions except Sunday.  Many will then drop the Sunday paper because they are so unhappy with the newspaper.

Printed newspapers lost out from charging too much and poor service. Anyone can get a paper at or very near the door, but that challenge will soon be gone.

The Lutheran synods are similar. They could have maintained the standards of doctrine and worship, but they chose Calvinism and marketing instead. The synods are being dropped in the same way newspaper and magazine subscriptions are.


Homeschooling and Online - Ahead of the Trends

 "Quit taking selfies. Come inside and do your homework."


I will remember the shock and revulsion expressed when we began homeschooling. I pointed out that Alexander the Great was home-schooled by Aristotle. LCMS history shows that the clergy who could not be ordained in Germany, because they were Pietists, became tutors in the homes of the wealthy. Paul Gerhardt was that kind of tutor before he was finally ordained.

Everyone is a homeschooler now.

For an LCA member, attending a WELS school was just as bad. But I had to tell WELS pastors that District President Hate-Good was on the board of Lutheran World Relief and worked with all the LCA leaders. I thought one WELS pastor was going to cry.

Hate-Good's Michigan District gave money to the United Nations, but I had to prove it to the innocent by citing the district minutes, year, and page number.

Private schools will take a big hit after people experience online's advantages. My mother wrote a paper when she was getting an MA in education, U. of Illinois. She described all the imposed interruptions in a public school class, plus the many other disruptions, whittling the actual learning time down by quite a bit. That was about 60 years ago.

I created an example blog for the MA classes I teach in adult education. A reader attacked me for being "a prostitute," because I taught online. As I recall, he had a Harvard connection. Every university and seminary was already online before the virus epidemic. Now people will wonder about why they need to pay for glorious marble halls, trimming the ivy on expensive and crumbling buildings, and sports teams where the coach (not the professors) are the highest paid employees.

 "We are all homeschoolers now."