Rogate - Prayer - Easter 5 - "A Great While Before Day, He Went Out, And Departed into a Solitary Place, And There Prayed." Mark 1

 

The Hymn #457     What a Friend We Have in Jesus
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

With the voice of singing declare ye and tell this: 

utter it even to the end of the earth. Hallelujah!

The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 

sing forth the honor of His name; make His praise glorious.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

O God, from whom all good things do come, grant to us, Thy humble servants, that by Thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be right and by Thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual 

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. Christ, who hath redeemed us with His blood: 

is risen and hath appeared unto us. Hallelujah!

V. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: 

again, I leave the world and go to the Father. Hallelujah!

The Gospel 
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #458                Our Father Thou

Confidence Means Faith

The Communion Hymn #653   Now the Light Has Gone Away
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 #660             Heaven Is My Home 

Prayers and Announcements

• Monday Memorial Day. The Veterans Honor Rose is on the altar.
• The Ascension Holy Communion Service is Thursday, 7 PM Central Daylight.
• Prayers and concerns - Pastor Jim Shrader, Chris Shrader, Sarah Buck, Kermit Way. Lito Cruz is getting better. Those suffering from emotional distress and those with metabolic disorders.
• Thursday is Ascension Day, 7 PM Holy Communion.

KJV James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

Enchanted Peace

Mark 1:34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. 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.

This passage and many more like it are examples of His prayer and its priority. Many prayers are formalities and many more prayers are mocked. However, this is concentrated in one exceptional passage -

KJV John 16:8 - And when He is come, He will reprove [convict] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

 The basic errors of these days and the past are based upon the problem of unbelief. 

• Many priests and clergy start and end on law and order. Pay the price. 
• The law is broken so it must be absolved. 
• How about emotion, being really, really sorry?
• Or ice cream names on fancy new chapels, libraries, and buildings?

Luther was trained in the forces of the priesthood. He struggled to understand and practice forgiveness. He felt guilty and felt the weight of all his sins, no matter how minor, and therefore felt no grace. The monasteries badgered their victims with Law and more Law. They inflicted pain on themselves and knew - at the same time - that their struggles were a lot of tommy-rot. There was no relief.

The interior life is quite powerful. Our brains are at work at all times and places, so we find ourselves in one arena or another or several at once. Concentration is a struggle because God has endowed us with so much mental energy.

But we do have one great asset from the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin because we do not believe in Him. Although we have a great emphasis - Justification by Faith (St. Paul, Romans 4-5 etc), on this Johannine passage directly from Jesus Christ is even more clear.

We can go through all the Scriptures and academic books without believing in Him. That was and is the great struggle. The rationalists, scoffers, and deniers can flaunt their knowledge but it is tied up in their lack of faith and therefore in all the follies of this world.

However, if we continue with a child-like faith, the blessings of Jesus Christ come to us in many different ways. As Jesus said, Let the children come to me and do not forbid (reject) them - the Kingdom of God belongs to them.

Prayer - Faith in Jesus

The greatest gift the Savior offers us is a complete knowledge of His kindness, compassion, spiritual wisdom, and trust. Even the disciples had their failings in three years and even after the Resurrection. But they were encouraged to take on the work of Jesus on earth while He managed from beyond, as Luther observed. Jesus did not stop His work but elevated it to a greater number, like the millions of stars predicted to Abraham, greater than all the sands of the sea.

There is no sorrow, trouble, or pain which the Good Shepherd is unable to heal. John 10 and Psalm 23 encourage and comfort us in many ways. 

Individual prayer is the great blessing, because we can communicate with the Savior as easily as He can talk to us. It is a sin not to believe in Him. If we let the truths of the Bible take over our thoughts, many refreshing waves of joy can roll over us. We remember the disciples asking in fear in the dark raging storm, "Don't You care if we die?!" But when fear takes over, faith flies out the window. That is why the heavenly forces - Jesus and His angels - watch over us to prove their efforts and their love.