[Third in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: Every Sunday, we confess that we believe in the “communion of saints.” This phrase is not about the Lord’s Supper (yes, I know we sometimes call it Holy Communion!) It refers to the fellowship between members of the invisible church, both in paradise with the Lord and with us on earth.
Theologians call Christians who have died trusting in Jesus for their salvation the Church Triumphant. They have been cleansed of their sin. God has dried every tear in their eyes. They praise the Lamb of God night and day with great joy. In Jesus, they have conquered sin, death, and the power of the devil. On the last day, God will raise them from their graves and we will join them forever at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.
The Christians in this world, who still fight every day with the Devil and his forces, the world and its pressures to worship other gods and the old Adam, are called the Church Militant. The word is Latin for “to fight like a soldier.” When the Christian dies, he or she enters the Church Triumphant. William W. How describes the relationship between the two states of the church well in his beloved hymn, “For All the Saints:”
O blest communion, fellowship divine We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia! Alleluia! (TLH 463 Stanza four)
When a Christian dies and enters eternal life, they no longer are aware of this world. We do not pray for them, because they no longer need prayer. We do not pray to them, because they do not answer, nor is there anything they can do for us. We pray to the Father and the Son and sometimes the Holy Spirit. They are where help can be found.
But there is a time when we pray with them. When we gather for worship, we are not just praying with those in the room with us. We pray together with the whole church — both the Church Militant around the world of all nations, races, languages and places, with Angels and Archangels, and the Church Triumphant, the whole company of heaven. The day will soon enough come — today, tomorrow, decades from now, or at the end of time — when we will worship in the presence of God as members of the Church Triumphant. For now, we join them every time we gather to praise God. It is why theologians often call Sunday the eighth day of the week. It is a time outside of time itself in eternity, when the clock stops for us until the pastor makes the sign of the cross at the end of worship and we realize about an hour has passed in the world around us!
1 Kings 8, Revelation 21, Luke 19 Pastor James Peterson December 31, 2023
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The theme is this: God will dwell with us, and we will be His people!
Will the children come home for Christmas? This is the greatest concern for many. I hope that you all have had a chance to spend time with your families this Christmas. I am more and more convinced that the reason that we feel this way is that this is exactly what happens in the Christmas story. Jesus comes to earth. Jesus is born in Bethlehem. God is with us. God dwells with His people and lives with us in the flesh.
The other question is this: Will the children come to our church? This too is the question for so many churches in our day. It is absolutely true that the persons that the world cares so little about are exactly the persons that the church cares the most about. Why do we think this way? Probably at least for some of us, we think this way because Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” And Jesus says it more and more, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Certainly, it is no stretch of the imagination to realize that God the Father has this same concern. It is as if He asks, How can my children come home to live with me forever? It is important that we spend time with our families when we are able. And it is important that children are brought to this church. But God’s will and our hope is that all of God’s children will go home to heaven with God. This is why our church exists and why we celebrate today and why we support this ministry and why we come to church and why we believe what we do- that all of God’s children will enter the kingdom of heaven.
What is heaven like? Hear the words of St. John today: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. God the Father has a home prepared for us with plenty of room, for every soul in this room to dwell with Him and to be His people. Every Christmas gathering at its greatest moments gives us a foretaste of this. And yet every Christmas gathering is full of sinners and sometimes falls apart and sometimes makes things worse. But when God takes us home forever, all of that sin will go away, forgiven, forgotten, forever.
What is heaven like? John says, And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Heaven is like the biggest, best, church service there ever was. Even praying in the grandest cathedrals or singing in the best choirs does not compare with the wedding feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which shall have no end.
Let us mark this 75th anniversary of Word and Sacrament, of prayer and praise, of faith and fervent love for one another now. But let this day remind us too that one day the preacher will be Jesus and not me, and there will be one flock and one shepherd, and there will be no voters’ meetings and there will be plenty of fellowship hour. There will be songs and hymns and spiritual songs. Moses himself will teach you everything you need to know about Deuteronomy and Paul will teach all the richness of Ephesians. In a word, all God’s children will go to church to hear about Jesus.
What is heaven like? Here is the promise spoken and fulfilled. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Here is the Gospel is a nutshell. Here is the story of the Bible reduced to one sentence. That God wants to dwell with us, live with us, and be with us. God wants to be our God and He wants us to be His people. God wants us to be His children. God wants to be our heavenly Father.
This is why Jesus came to earth on Christmas. And this is why He walked with us in Galilee and Samaria and Jerusalem. This is why He died on the cross. This is why He rose from the grave. For God desired our souls to save.
This is also why He built this church and why He continues to bless us. For here He continues His work, baptizing, teaching, and administering the Sacraments for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of our souls. His promise throughout the Scriptures remains true for us: God will dwell with us, and we will be His people. That’s the relationship we need, that God loves us dearly, and that we will live with Him forever.
What is heaven like? St. John can only describe heaven in earthly terms. And he can only use the opposite of what we know and experience. John says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” In a word, there will be no more funerals, only a wedding between Christ and His Church. In another way, there will be no more hospitals, for cancer will be healed and bones will be strong. We will be well and made new by God’s abundant grace and never-ending mercy.
For God Himself will dwell with us and we will be His people. For now, let us gather with our families each Christmas. For now, let us gather as St. John’s all our lives. For now, let us remember that God has promised that all of His children will come home to heaven. For now, let us rejoice and sing as we wait with faith toward God and fervent love toward one another.
I say to you once more, “God will dwell with you, and you will be His people!”
[Second in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: Jesus told Peter that he would “build [his] church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) St. Paul described this church as ” one body and … you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6) In many other places and using many metaphors, Scripture is clear that there is only one Church, and that it lasts forever. Theologians call the church catholic (the Latin word for universal — that word is for yet another post!) Another term we use for this Church is the invisible Church. St. Augustine came up with the term because we really do not know absolutely for sure who is a Christian and who is not. Only God, who can see what is in a person’s heart, knows that. Martin Luther puts it this way: “these two belong together, faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust, is properly your god. ” (Large Catechism 1.1.3)
Yet the church does not look like it is one at all. ” Tho’ with a scornful wonder, men see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed ” (The Church’s One Foundation, Stanza 3) There are thousands of denominations, theological positions, opposing camps. There are evil people who pretend to be holy in their midst. There are religions that pretend to be Christian, but in truth, are far from it. And in the hearts of every Christian living in this world, sin itself still lives and pollutes hearts and minds. We’ve met the enemy — and it is us. This is the church we can see. Theologians call it the visible church. In the visible church, both the save and the lost live together. We take people at their word when they say they believe, but there are many that are just acting. (ὑποκριτής = hypocrite = Greek word for actor)
Yet even in the visible church, signs of the true, invisible church can be seen. Where the Gospel is purely preached and the Sacraments rightly administered, there the true Church is at work. We call these the marks of the church. There Christ builds his church — on the rock of His Word and trust in it. Go where you hear his voice and you are at home — even on earth!
Sleep well, my love, When next you wake, Your eyes will see our Savior’s face. With joy, he’ll dry your every tear, And gently calm your every fear.
Sleep well, my love, Before too long, I’ll hear his call to come on home, With you and loved ones gone before We’ll see the God whom we adore.
Sleep well, my love, The Shepherd keep, Your body safe until the time When he will call us from the grave, To live with him in endless day.
Notes: Kristina Pugh Smith (1960-2022) went to sleep on Thursday evening, April 28th, 2022. Her husband and daughter had spent the day with her. She settled into a coma and her family was alerted that death was near. The next morning, they had the blessing of spending the last seven hours of her life with her. Her husband said words similar to this, along with the Nunc Dimittis that Friday morning. As morning prayer began in Kramer Chapel that day, therapeutic care was removed and hospice care began. As the seminary community prayed a prayer of commendation of the dying, she gently entered eternal life. This poem was written to capture those words a week later.
First in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: A little Sunday School song shows a few of the many ways we use the word church in English: “The church is not a building. The church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is a people.” The problem, of course, is it is both. The meanings of two ancient Greek words merge together into our English term. The word church itself comes to us from the phrase κυριακός οἰκία (kuriakos oikia = the Lord’s house), used by the early church, through the Germanic, and Scandinavian languages (think kirk and kirche) and means the place where Christians gather to worship. (so… it is a building!) The other word, ἐκκλησία (ekklesia = to call together an assembly) means both a local congregation and all Christians worldwide. This is the word used for the word church in the New Testament. (so.. it is a people!)
Besides these two meanings, we use the word church for what Christian people do in this building — we talk about going to church — going to worship. There is some reason to do so. In the Smalcald Articles, Luther says:
God be praised, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is: holy believers and “the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.” This is why children pray in this way, “I believe in one holy Christian church.” This holiness does not consist of surplices, tonsures, long albs, or other ceremonies of theirs that they have invented over and above the Holy Scriptures. Its holiness exists in the Word of God and true faith. — Smalcald Articles 3.12.2
Yet the main way we use the word is for the whole church in heaven and on earth. It comprises all who have ever trusted in God’s promises, especially those to save us. The first generations of Missouri Synod pastors tended to use the word kirche (church) for the invisible church (that term in another post), synode (synod) for church bodies and gemeinde (local community) for congregations. It is this church that has one Lord, one faith and one God the Father. (Ephesians 4:4-5) They are “the assembly of all believers and saints” (Augsburg Confession 1.8)
[Seventy-first in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Encore Post: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” American adults love to ask children. We teach our youth to dream. If you work hard enough, there is no limit to what you can do or be. You might even be President of the United States someday! We grow up trying to find ourselves. And when we get to age eighteen, we go off to “find ourselves” in the world or college. Yet in doing so, we miss some very important things we already have and a call, a vocation, every Christian has. It begins with knowing not who you are, but whose you are.
It is in his kingdom that we have our most sacred call. We are called to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, set apart to be his favorite possession. (1 Peter 2) A priest is someone who stands between a god and his people. His role is to bring the god’s instructions and blessings to people and their prayers and their sacrifices to the god. Our role as the nation of the priests of the Holy Trinity is to bring the good news of salvation to the nations and to pray for them, calling on God to have mercy on them.
This Priesthood of All Believers, as Martin Luther called it, has received God’s call to forgive sins for Christ’s sake, to proclaim the good news to all the ends of the earth, to baptize and to teach them. Together we have done these things for 2000 years and counting. As God’s church, we primarily do this through men God has called to represent us — to be our pastors. Yet we do not sit back and watch. We are all his priests, his messengers, his witnesses to everyone. This is who you really are.
[Seventieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]Encore Post: Changing the diaper, taking out the garbage, answering the phone call. Some events during our days are grinds. Getting the coffee going, putting breakfast plates together. They don’t sound like much, but if you are a baptized child of God, you are doing a good work for your closest neighbors, for you are united to Christ Jesus by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
That is a great comfort! And it ought to be because, more often than not, the everyday grind is tough enough. But God uses the “small things” in our daily lives and provides through them the occasion and opportunity to do good works. And these good works are not something that we chase after, no God has put us into various vocations. I am a father, so I go to work to provide for my wife and children. That is my calling as a father.
In Luther’s day, daily vacation such as being a mother and father or a worker were thought of as to be inferior to the vocation of priest because the mother or father was a secular vocation whereas the priest had a religious calling. Nothing could be further from the truth! Luther, in his Treatise on Good Works, makes sure that the reader sees from Scripture again and again that whatever is done in faith, is pleasing in God’s sight.
It is easy to get discouraged though, because some people no longer know what their vocation is. The kids have moved out. Some people are in a nursing home wondering when the Lord will call them home. I get the privilege as a pastor to visit them. They ask, “Why am I still here?” I usually respond, “God has given you the vocation to receive these wonderful gifts that Jesus has won for you and your salvation. And by you being here I get to serve you. And that brings me joy. So thank you for living in out this God-pleasing vocation.”
Our daily lives may seem small and perhaps arduous at times, but when we are connected to Christ by faith, whatever we do is pleasing in the sight of our heavenly Father.
[Sixty-Ninth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]Encore Post: In Holy Baptism we are made God’s child. This is perhaps the greatest and most wonderful vocation into which we are placed. Let’s call baptism ground zero for vocations. Moving from ground zero, there are other vocations that are built into the kingdom of God. The vocation or calling of a pastor comes to mind.
In the Old Testament God commanded the men of the tribe of Levi to serve in his tabernacle and later temple as priests and the specific men who would do the bulk of the public preaching and teaching concerning the Lord and his wonderful works of salvation, like the Exodus events of the Passover Lamb and Red Sea.
[Sixty-Eighth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Encore post: You probably have heard the phrase “purpose driven life” or something similar within the great “Christian” sphere of influence. With some of that teaching, it can go awry because the “purpose” becomes singular, and unfortunately, it can make you abdicate other duties or vocations in pursuit of that singular purpose. Instead of a single purpose, God, having justified us by grace through faith, has also created us in the image of Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them.
What are good works? Good works are those things which flow from faith in Christ Jesus, as well as those things that are carried out within our vocation. Where do you find yourself? In the Small Catechism after the 6 chief parts, there is a lesser known but ultra important section called the Table of Duties.
The Table of Duties is a listing of Bible passages addressing the common but holy vocations of Christians in their daily lives. The table begins with vocations within the church, out to the public square, then back into the household. The Bible passages compiled are not an exhaustive list of the duties that comprise each calling or vocation, but they give a good overview of the most common vocations: pastors, laypeople, children, parents, worker, employer.
Some vocations can be chosen. Others are handed down to you without your consent. I am a son. I am also a brother. I was not asked how I felt about that. I learned quickly what it meant to live in the vocation of son and brother. But other vocations came through my own choosing. I am a husband and I am a father. Now that I have become a husband and a father, however, I am called upon and admonished to do the duties required of me from Scripture.
You might consider each kind of job a vocation. You might even say you are called to a certain job, etc. But we must be careful how far we take that discussion because what would happen if we left that job? Would it be sinful to switch your career? We should not go that far, but understand that we are accountable to the more general descriptions of being a worker, etc.
The term vocation is freighted with all kinds of weight. But we Christians should turn our attention to the table of duties and ask ourselves, “Where do I find myself?”
Encore Post: [Sixty-Seventh in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] That seems odd, doesn’t it? It’s most noticeable when we pray for our national and synodical presidents: Donald J. Trump and Matthew C. Harrison. In the prayer of the church, they are Donald and Matthew.
Surely, not one of us would address Pres. Trump or Pres. Harrison by their first names. Our discomfort is informed by the 4th Commandment. We are to honor those who God has placed in authority over us. It feels uncomfortable to use familiar terms with these folks.
Though the common culture around us has left formality behind in the last 30 years or so, we still rebel in the church. Especially in our southern culture, there are still vestiges for forgotten formality. Our children often learn to address Ms. or Mrs. Linda, Becky, Lori, or Mandy with a title, even when speaking their first names.
But, in the prayers, we speak differently. Taking our cues from David in the Psalms, we pray in humility before the throne of the Lord. All sinners seeking forgiveness and blessing are of the same status coram deo (before God). So, in confessing the truth about ourselves and everyone for whom we pray, we use first names.
Even POTUS and our synodical president are Donald and Matthew on Sunday morning in the prayer of the church. If we were to pray for Pope Francis, we would pray for him using his Baptismal name: Jorge. This is how we pray.
Let us lift up our voices to petition God, Our Father, through Jesus Christ, His Son.
