January 2025 – Page 2 – What Does This Mean?

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Pax Domini

Encore Post: [Twenty-First post in a series on the Divine Service] Upon chanting the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ over the bread and wine on the altar, your pastor if not already facing the congregation will pick up both the chalice and the body of our Lord, turn towards the congregation and chant, “Peace of the Lord be with you always.” The congregation responds, “Amen.”

The peace which our Lord Jesus Christ gives is a tangible peace when thinking of the Sacrament of the Altar. You actually get to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” The body and blood of Jesus Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins brings you true, tangible peace. And remembering the Lord Jesus Christ and his teaching is “refreshment to your bones.” In other words, it brings you peace!

In the days of Covid-19, there is nothing more rock solid to hold on to than the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, which Christ gives to his people freely. All this is done in order that we might receive His Peace. Peace with God and with one another for the sake of Jesus, who died to reconcile us to our heavenly Father in Heaven and to one another.

There are some amazing photos of bombed out church buildings in which the Sacrament is still being received. Those pictures convey the truth that no matter what is happening in this world, by Christ’s presence in his body and blood for you, He grants you peace. You do not need to live in fear, but be at peace. The Lord knows and remembers you in all your afflictions and anxiety and grants you his peace, knowing that Christ goes with you because Christ is literally about to go inside you by your eating and drinking of his body and blood with the bread and the wine.

Be at peace knowing that for Christ’s sake, your sins are forgiven. Be at peace, knowing that in this beautiful Sacrament that Jesus gives you that forgiveness. Taste and see the Lord is indeed good and is faithful to His Word. His peace is with you, for He is with you to endure the unknowns of this world, pressing ever onward to the feast which is to come in His Kingdom forever.

With the singing of the Amen, “Yes, yes, it shall be so,” we confess our belief in the promise Jesus gives to us in giving us his body and blood. Liturgically speaking, we the congregation turns to the great 7th century hymn Agnus Dei, which we will talk about in our next Walk Through the Liturgy.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Words of our Lord Part 3

Encore Post:[Twentieth post in a series on the Divine Service] The Words of our Lord concerning the cup of His Sacrament are now front and center for us in the Liturgy. The contents of the cup is the primary focus. What we receive is His blood, for He says it is.

Just as we have been walking through the liturgy and have already heard a couple of times in the great Gloria that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, now we see the blood of the Lamb of God given to us to drink for the forgiveness of sins, and immediately following this we will sing the beautiful Agnus Dei.

Let us remember again that these words are spoken first by Jesus on the night before his death on the cross. He is about to pour out his blood as our redemption price. He is about to drink the cup of God’s wrath for the sin of the world at the cross, in order for this cup which He gives us to be a blessing for us. He accomplishes our salvation at the cross and participating in this meal, we receive that salvation.

At the end, Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” What does this mean? How should we hear this and understand this? Is receiving the Sacrament a work that we must do? Let us remember this: God is being gracious in giving us His gifts. He remembers His people for the sake of Christ, who poured his blood to save us. But by receiving this gift from God for the sake of Christ, we remember our Lord’s suffering and death, as St. Paul says, “As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

As far as the Liturgy goes, the Words of our Lord are the climax of every Divine Service. These words are the Gospel in the purest sense. Likely out of honor and reverence, you are kneeling as the Pastor chants these beautiful words. He likely bows in reverence and awe, as Christ does exactly what He promises. He says of the bread, “This is my Body.” Of the cup He says, “This is my Blood.” Christ is there giving to us the salvation accomplished for us by his cross. But let us not just look upon the body and blood of Christ and adore it, but let us now come to the feast our Lord has prepared for us, a feast of fatness and well-aged wine well refined, the food that is the medicine of immortality, as He has commanded in His Institution.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Words of our Lord Part 2

Encore Post: [Nineteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] In today’s installment of our walk through the liturgy, we will spend some time talking about the first part of the “Words of our Lord” namely the words concerning the bread.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”

We should remember that this was a Passover Meal, commemorating God’s greatest act of salvation to date for Israel. However, on this night, the meal between Jesus and His Disciples would begin to unveil the act of salvation to which the Passover points and is fulfilled once and for all by his all availing sacrifice at the cross.

Dr. Arthur Just, Jr. in his fabulous book Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service, lays out the events that take place during a “Passover Meal”, for a sketch of the events of the Passover meal liturgy see pages 59-62. We learn that there is eating, then teaching at the table, where the story of the exodus would be retold and the food interpreted accordingly, followed by more eating, etc.

Luke is the most thorough Gospel concerning the events of Jesus’ Last Supper, telling us about two cups of wine (See Luke 22:17-18 and 22:20). They are not the same cup, according to Passover Liturgy.

As part of the Passover Meal Liturgy, the food itself would be interpreted by the host of meal. This is where the words of institution come into play. Jesus interprets the bread concerning himself! And it is given up “on behalf of you” (Luke 22:19). In the other accounts, there is no atonement language spoken over the bread. Thanks be to God for multiple accounts from the Gospels, catching and pointing out each detail so that our theology may be as rich as possible. Christ’s body is part of the sacrifice for our atonement!

Let us also note: Jesus’ words concerning the bread being his body. Is means Is! There is no way around what Jesus says. There is no other way to interpret Jesus’ own words. This is My Body. What we get when we receive the Sacrament is exactly what Jesus says we get: His Body. This is the same body given up for you at the cross, buried, and raised on the third day. This is the same body as the body which ascended to the right hand of the Father.

How it literally happens, we will never know on this side of heaven. That is why it is called a sacrament — a mystery. We will look at the second part of the words of our Lord concerning the cup next.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Words of our Lord Part 1

Encore Post: [Eighteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] The Lutheran Service Book has the heading of “The Words of our Lord” but I imagine many of you also have heard them called either “The Words of Institution” or “The Words of Consecration,” or just the “Verba”. In all cases they the titles refer to the same thing: The words our Lord said on the night when He was betrayed, concerning the bread and then the cup. With this we have reached the climax of the Service of the Sacrament.

The pastor has removed the veil from over the chalice and moved the hosts to the paten (liturgical name for the plate which holds the bread), if they were not there already and either will speak the Words or will chant them. Unfortunately, fewer congregations hear the Words chanted. During the time of the Reformation, chanting the Verba was the way many people distinguished the Lutheran Church from the Catholic Church. In my congregation, the altar is set up and attached to the wall, so the words of our Lord are chanted over the elements facing away from the congregation. In some churches, you will see a free standing table/altar, where the pastor can go to the other side and say the words toward the people.

Every Sunday, we rehearse the night of Jesus “being handed over.” That word for being handed over or betrayed is παραδιδωμι which also means tradition/hand down. Jesus says to do these things in remembrance of Him, so the Church has always done it and continues to “hand it down to the next generation of the faithful” just as Paul says when he gives his account of the night in 1 Corinthians 11. By participating in the Sacrament, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

But who do we hear when those words are spoken? You hear Christ’s living voice. Just like the Gospel reading being the “high point” of the Service of the Word, so also the Words of Christ concerning His Supper are the high point of the Service of the Sacrament. So you actually hear the living voice of Jesus in these words, for they are not the Pastor’s words but Christ’s words.

Next time, we will dive into the words themselves but we can know for certain that they are Christ’s words for us, bidding us to come to eat and drink the very things through which He redeemed us and now through gives us life everlasting.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: What’s Not There

Encore Post: [Seventeenth post in a series on the Divine Service] In my last post about the liturgy, we talked at length about the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer being fulfilled by the forthcoming events of the Service of the Sacrament. However, I failed to mention anything about the doxological (giving of praise) ending of the Prayer. With this post I am going to attempt to talk more about the conclusion of the prayer in the context of the service as well as discuss something that is no longer found in our Divine Services: The Eucharistic Prayer.

If you noticed at least when following the 3rd Setting of the Divine Service, in the Lutheran Service Book, the petitions are pointed for chanting by the Pastor and the ending is to be sung by the congregation. Some congregations forego the chanting altogether and speak the Prayer aloud. We ought to remember that Matthew and Luke do not record such a conclusion, “For thine is Kingdom and the Power…” That addition, while a good and right addition, came out of the wisdom of the Church. For with those words, the Church confesses of the Father that He is able to bring all these petitions to actualization. And perhaps that is why the entire congregation is encouraged to sing joyfully the conclusion. They confess with own voices the whole Church’s belief in the Father to whom the Pastor just prayed on the congregation’s collected behalf.

Now to the prayer that no longer shows up in Lutheran Divine Services: The Eucharistic Prayer. In the Early Church (and still found in The Roman Catholic Church) the Eucharistic Prayer came right on the heels of the Lord’s Prayer. Eucharist means “Thanksgiving” so in a way this prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving recounting and rehearsing the deeds of salvation the Lord has done on behalf of His people. Many of the ancient Eucharist prayers rehearse the stories of the Old Testament stretching into the story of Jesus and also including the night of Christ’s betrayal (the Greek word, παραδίδωμι, means betrayal as well as handing down a tradition), which as Jesus says should be remembered.

However, these Eucharistic Prayers began to get quite long, and unfortunately, poor theology crept into the prayers. With that came poor and bad practice from the priests and the believers. In particular, the Eucharistic Prayers because to weave in the idea that the priest was actually “re-sacrificing” Christ on the Altar as an “un-bloody” sacrifice. And this sacrifice was not just a sacrifice of thanksgiving, but a sacrifice given to God that was considered to be propitiatory (See Council of Trent Sess. XXII, can. iii; also see The Apology of the Augsburg Confession about this HERE.) Let us remember there is only one sacrifice for the propitiation for sins: Jesus Christ. Also inside the Eucharistic Prayer was the oblation and intercession for all living as well as all those dead (see a contemporary document concerning oblation and intercession HERE.)

On top of all that, the Words of our Lord were prone to get lost in the middle of the Eucharistic Prayers because of all the extra stuff that came after the recounting of the deeds of the Lord (oblation, intercession, etc.). With that, you should begin to see why Lutherans have shied away from the use of the Eucharistic Prayer within the Divine Service. However, there are some pieces of the concept which still are found in our Liturgy of the Sacrament. For instance, it is good and right that we should recall the works of God, and we in the Proper Preface. The Words of our Lord from the night of his betrayal take center stage, and next time will pick the service with those precious words of our Lord. Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Lord’s Prayer

Encore Post: [Sixteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] On the heels of the Sanctus, the pastor leads the congregation in the prayer our Lord taught us to pray. The Lord’s prayer, being the prayer of the baptized, takes its place in the Service of the Sacrament. And below, I suggest many if not each petition of the prayer gets answered by the Sacrament of the Altar the congregation is preparing to receive.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be on earth as it is in heaven. We will discuss the introduction and the first three petitions together. We are calling out to our Heavenly Father as Christ has instructed us to do. He is our Father who desires to give us good things, and He has given us the very best thing: His very own Son that we might be reconciled to him by the blood which is poured out for us. God’s Kingdom is coming, we just sang about it in the Sanctus: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! And He comes to save, which is His will, that all call upon the name of the Son and be saved. Also eschatologically speaking, we are eating a foretaste of the meal that is in His Kingdom that will have no end.

Give us this day our daily bread. Luther spends more time talking about our physical needs here with the 4th petition, but in connection to the Sacrament and Jesus calling himself the bread of life in John 6, we can see the connection between this petition and the Sacrament we are about to receive. It is what truly gives us life and encouragement for the days ahead.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We will be going to the rail and kneeling to receive, with the body and blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins which He won for us by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Having received forgiveness from God in the Sacrament, we are strengthened to forgive one another. Christ did not just die for my sins, but also for the sins that my neighbor committed against me. Having been forgiven and shown mercy by Christ, we, too, should show mercy to one another. We are strengthened to do that by the Sacrament of the Altar.

Lead us not into temptation. By the very eating and drinking of Christ’s body and blood, we are taking into ourselves the very person who is our advocate and fighter against every temptation of Satan, the world, and our own flesh.

Deliver us from evil. Christ promises in John 6: “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live.” Jesus does not lie, and it is the will of His Father to raise up to eternal life those who believe in the one whom was pierced and out of whom blood and water poured out.

This is a bit longer of a post, but I do pray that this has given you a different way to say the prayer our Lord Jesus has taught us to pray when you say it right before receiving the Sacrament of the Altar. See in the Sacrament the answer to the prayer.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

The Confession of St. Peter

Encore Post: In Northeast Israel, at the base of Mount Hermon, a giant spring gushed water out of a cave that flowed into Huela Marsh, the headwaters of the Jordan River. During the centuries following the death of Alexander the Great, Syria’s Greek rulers built a shrine there to the god Pan. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, Herod the Great’s son Philip built a town nearby and named it after Tiberius Caesar and himself. His father had added a temple to Caesar Augustus, to the previous shrine, to Pan. A major trade road, “The Way to the Sea” ran through the town on its way to the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. At the end of his ministry in Galilee, Jesus took his disciples to this location to prepare them for his final year of ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection. (Matthew 16:13-28)

At this place, Jesus asked his disciples who people thought he was. They replied people said he was a prophet, maybe even John the Baptist or Elijah. Jesus then followed up. “Who you say I am?” St. Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” God the Father had revealed this to Peter, but it became clear quickly that he really did not know what a Messiah was to do. Jesus explained to the disciples that he would soon suffer, die for the sins of the world, and rise from the dead in three days. Peter tried to scold him. It could not happen to him — he was the Messiah, after all. Jesus replied by calling Peter Satan. Anyone that would be his disciple would need to take up his own cross and follow Jesus.

Even though Peter was badly mistaken, Jesus praised his confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. The confession was so important that Jesus gave him the name Peter — little rock. The confession itself is the rock on which Jesus builds his church. Even hell itself cannot destroy that church. So, since the early years of the Twentieth Century, the Lutheran Church has celebrated this confession on January 18th, a day always in the season of Epiphany, when it meditates on the ways that God the Son reveals himself to us.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Sanctus

Encore Post: [Fifteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] The closing words of the Proper Preface introduce the following piece of the beautiful Service of the Sacrament: The Sanctus.

The Sanctus: Latin for “Holy” comes from the vision of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6, where Isaiah “sees the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isa 6:1). The phrase Holy, Holy, Holy comes from the seraphim serving the Lord. Isaiah realizes his unworthiness and sin, yet for the sake of the sacrifice (Christ) atonement has been made and he is able to stand before the Holy God and live. Like Isaiah, we, too, are made holy for the sake of Christ and our sins are forgiven.

But there is more to the hymn than just the words of the angels. The Sanctus as printed in the Lutheran Service Book Divine Service Setting III, prepares us for the coming of the Lord. The words, “Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” come from Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, see Matthew 21. But instead of riding a colt into our midst, in the Divine Service the Holy One of God, Jesus Christ, comes to us in his body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar, for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. Christ is here for our forgiveness life and salvation. Christ brings heaven down to earth within the Divine Service for us. And in coming in the Supper he in fact does save us now, which is what the word Hosanna means (according to LSB footnote).

In the vision of Isaiah, we see Isaiah receive on his mouth the burning coal from the altar. We in the Supper we receive the very body and blood of Christ, which was broken and poured out that we might be redeemed and made holy. It is good and right for us to sing the Sanctus in preparation for the Supper for the Holy God comes to save us by granting us sinner’s mercy, which is perhaps the greatest manifestation of our Lord’s glory. And we rightfully then praise the Lord, singing, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!” confessing our faith in Him who graciously feeds us now that we might endure until Christ calls us to Himself in the fullness of his glory.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Preface and Proper Preface

Encore Post: [Thirteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] In the course of the Liturgy of the Divine Service, we now fix our eyes upon the Altar, where Christ comes to us in His Body and Blood to feed us, forgiving our sins, and strengthening our faith. We are entering the “Service of the Sacrament.” But before the meal, we prepare ourselves further by hearing the words of both the Preface and Proper Preface.

The Preface is one of the oldest pieces of the entire Liturgy. According to my reading to prepare for writing this post, it seems plausible that the Preface could have been a part of the liturgy when the Apostle John was still alive (90 AD).

The words of the Preface are pretty simple. The celebrant (the pastor who is overseeing the Sacrament of the Altar), begins by saying the phrase: “The Lord be with you,” which happens to an echo from the Service of the Word when the pastor speaks or chants the Collect of the Day. The congregation then responds, “And with thy spirit.” Typically, the pastor has opened his hands toward the people in speaking this salutation and then he “receives” this blessing from the people as well.

We then hear the words, “Lift up your hearts.” The congregation: “We lift them to the Lord.” These words are interesting because of their origin. While it sounds great, it can be misunderstood. I remember from my seminary days, Dr. Masaki talking about these very words because of their “implied Calvinism.” In the Service of the Sacrament it is not really us who go up to heaven, but in actuality, it is Christ who comes down to us. And wherever Christ is, that is where Heaven is. So Heaven is on Earth in the Divine Service, and specifically in the Service of the Sacrament.

The beginning phrase and the ending of of the Proper Preface remains the same each and every time. It’s what is sandwiched in between that changes and contains the hard-hitting theology. For instance, listen to the preface of Good Friday, Easter Vigil, Easter Day, Pentecost, etc. You will see the themes of the day beautifully illustrated for us. Listen to these, ask your pastor for a copy of them to meditate upon for a devotion. In the Service, it leads us to the singing of the Sanctus in which we announce the “Coming of the Lord” for us to save us now in the giving of his body and blood.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Prayer of the Church

Encore Post: [Twelfth post in a series on the Divine Service] Upon singing the Offertory, and presenting the offerings of the Church, the service enters somewhat of an intermission. The Service of the Word is wrapping, only the Prayer of the Church remains before the Service of the Sacrament begins with Preface and Proper Preface.

The Prayer of the Church is an expanded prayer, containing many and various petitions and thanksgivings. For many years, you might have called the Prayer of the Church an ordinary, because there were basically three “Prayers of the Church” that were printed inside of the Altar Book. However, in recent years the Prayers of the Church have become much more a proper, at least for the churches of the LCMS who utilize the Let Us Pray Series created by the LCMS Director of Worship and his team.

In my Congregation, I utilize the Prayer of the Church provided in the Altar Book because of its consistency in wording. I hope and pray that the continued hearing of the same words moves my people to use those words in their own prayers. However, there is great merit in using the new prayers too, because they are written for our present troubles in mind. Also, pastors should tailor these prayers to the circumstances of the Congregation. For instance, if one prayer offered in the Altar Book has no petition for pregnant women and there is one for women with child, adding a petition for mother and child would likely be appreciated, etc.

Another prayer that the Prayer of the Church is molded after is the great Litany, found on pages 288 and 289 of the Lutheran Service Book. The petitions found within that great prayer cover all facets of life. If a pastor desires to write his own prayer of the church, I would encourage us all to begin with the words of the Great Litany and expand from there.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana