Catechesis – Page 8 – What Does This Mean?

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Sign of the Cross

Encore Post: [Second post in a series on the Divine Service] I began this series on the liturgy by talking about Confession and Absolution as preparation. Today, I am hoping to talk about one action that pastors do over the people: making the sign of the Holy Cross.

I received a question from one of my confirmation students asking about the sign of the cross, and why “we don’t do it.” I responded that all Christians are encouraged to make the sign of the cross, for it is their mark. It was given to you all the way back at your baptism (see page 197 of the link). It is by this sign of the cross that you were and are marked as of one of the redeemed by Christ.

The Lutheran Service Book encourages all the baptized to make the sign of the cross at the Invocation and elsewhere throughout the service. There in red, we read, “The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their baptism.” The sign of the cross is not just for the pastor to make, but for the whole congregation to do for themselves.

The sign of the cross is the oldest symbol of Christianity. The cross and specifically the crucifix, that is the cross containing the body of Christ, represent clearly that Jesus Christ and him crucified is the object of our faith and worship. There is no other sign more Christian than the cross, and it is a sign for all the baptized to use in worship and devotional life.

Luther in the Small Catechism makes that explicitly clear. “In the morning when you get up [in the evening when you go to bed], make the sign of the Holy Cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” The sign of the cross is not just for Sundays. It’s for every day because every day we are to drown the Old Adam and rise to newness of life. Remembering our Baptism into Christ helps us in that fight. Making the sign of the cross then is a physical action in which our body and our brain are engaged in worship, helping us to further meditate on the gifts given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have the desire, make the sign of the cross this Sunday when the hymnal suggests, and may it be an aid to you in your worship and devotional life.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, 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: Confession and Absolution

Encore Post: [First post in a series on the Divine Service] We go from one activity to another, often without even beating an eye. This certainly can happen within the Divine Service. How much attention do we pay to what’s going on? Do we know why we do what we do in worship service?

Before confessing our sins as a whole congregation, we speak back and forth responsively, “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord” and the congregation responds, “and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” After those words, there are some important red words printed in the hymnal. They say, “Silence for reflection on God’s Word and for self-examination.”

There is a time of silence. It is a time to consider myself and yourself in light of God’s Law found in the Ten Commandments. Have I been the best father and husband I could have been for my children these past days? Probably not. I failed in my responsibility to my wife and children, breaking the 4^th commandment not being a faithful to my calling as head of my household. Did I grudgingly congratulate someone who won the raffle or the lottery, when in reality wishing it was me? Yup, so I broke the 7^t^h, 9^th and 10^th commandments. And oh, by the way, I broke the first commandment because I didn’t trust God to give me all that I need.

Lord, have mercy. I am a sinner. I deserve exactly what I am about to confess about myself. I deserve death. We plead for God to have mercy on us.

But God who is faithful and just forgives our sins. Thanks be to God that, for Christ’s sake, God forgives our sins. We cannot add anything to make God forgive us. Christ has done it all. Thanks be to Christ!

When we confess our sins and receive His forgiveness in the words of Absolution, we are prepared to sing our Redeemer’s praises. We are prepared to receive from His bountiful goodness the forgiveness of sins purchased and won for us by our Lord Jesus by his death on the cross.

So, take a moment slow down and brush up on the Lord’s Ten Commandments in preparation for Confession and Absolution as we begin the Divine Service where God comes to serve us His gifts of forgiveness, life, salvation given to us on account of Christ, our Lord.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, 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

Your Pastors Already Know

Encore Post: The data is out there. The trends are known. We know before we go about our duties. We know who is likely to remain in the church. We know who is likely to return to the church. We already know.

Will the married couple remain in the church after their wedding in our building? Will the family bring their baptized child into the Lord’s house regularly? Will the catechumens remain in the church after they’re admitted to the altar? Will the new visitors become a permanent fixture here after transfer or conversion? Will the family newly invigorated by the death of a closely related blessèd saint of the Lord lose their zeal or keep it? Will the children keep coming when the duties, passions, and hormones of adolescence drag them around wildly in their own minds?

Your pastors pray the data is more dire than reality.

In each case, it boils down to habit and patterns.

Newlyweds: what is their family background? Was the couple from a similar upbringing: LCMS, regularly attending as a child and adolescent, and both parents bringing them to church? It’s the same way that similar ideas about money, number of children, and chiefly if moms and dads were married and remain married, improve the chances of a successful marriage. The commonalities of faith also improve the chances that these kids will be and remain in the church.

Your pastor will coach you concerning the difficulties in your future when the odds are not stacked in your favor. Only in extremely rare circumstances will he refuse marriage. Success is always possible. But, in order for that to blossom, we have to be honest about poor odds. Your pastor prays the Lord will deliver you from misfortune and strife, even the foreseeable kind.

Baptized child: what’s the deal with Mom and Dad? If they are or become regular attenders, the kids will probably follow suit. If they are not, their kids will still likely follow suit. Your pastor will often baptize a child whose future in the church is uncertain. He prays that foreseeable apostasy does not befall your house.

Catechumens: Again, what’s the deal with Mom and Dad? Here, there’s more data readily available. Did y’all attend regularly before confirmation was on the horizon? If not, there’s a mighty high chance the catechumens will peter out quickly following confirmation.

Your pastors will desperately attempt to instill new habits in the kids. He’ll impose strict attendance standards or require seemingly endless piles of sermon reports. He’s seen parents drop children off for required church attendance, while driving off themselves. He’s grieved to know the child may be lost already. He prays he’s wrong, keeps up with his efforts, and prays the Holy Spirit defeats those odds. Rarely would he withhold confirmation.

Transfers/Converts/Those motivated by a close death: Where were you before? Are you returning to lifelong patterns of attendance to the Lord’s house? Or are these attempts to develop a new pattern? Those who attended before are more likely to attend again. Those who did not, are not.

Adolescents: This group gets the most attention, the most ink spilt over them, and even individualistic ministerial attention. How often have you heard of a church with a minister of newlywed Christianization, baptismal life, catechetical instruction, or newly returned Christian life instruction? Prob’ly never. But, we’ve all seen churches with a youth minster or a youth ministry team.

Sadly, that’s also an example of the poor return on those efforts. Again, data indicates that strong youth programs don’t predict strong Christian adults from within them. Worse, when those programs look distinctively different from the churches from which they spring, they serve as an offramp directly out of the church. By the time the youth are at that age, the patterns are well-established. It will take an earth-moving effort by their father, dragging to the entire family to church, consistently to develop a new pattern. That effort has a chance. The youth group or activities are woefully unlikely to move the needle.

Can’t we beat the odds? Yes, we can. Your pastor prays you do. He preaches, teaches, and conducts himself towards you, assuming the data is wrong in your case.

As a body of believers, we have data to help direct our efforts. Children follow the patterns established by their fathers regarding church. As we discussed before, the data is stark in this regard. If we want baptized babies in church, children in church following along and learning, catechumens attending to the Lord’s house, youth who remain in or return to church, newlyweds who attend regularly and bring their babies to the font, we must have fathers to build those patterns into their children.

Your pastors already know. We pray every day that the data is wrong in your case.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

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

Life Everlasting

Encore Post: Three words in the creeds go by quickly when we confess them — but we talk about them very little. The closest we come is when we think about what happens when we die or when we comfort each other at the death of a Christian loved one. “She’s in heaven now,” we say. Or “my baby is now an angel.” There are a lot of misconceptions packed into these thoughts. Perhaps the greatest of these is that things cannot get any better for them. But that is far from true. Things are very good indeed for them, for they are with Jesus and at rest from their labors. But the best is yet to come.

On a day we do not know, Jesus will return from heaven. He will bring an end to sin, suffering, grief and pain. He will raise them and us from the dead, reuniting their spirits with their bodies and transforming them to be like his. We will be reunited with them in the sky. After the last judgement, the real joy begins. It is so far beyond our comprehension that words cannot describe it. So God’s Word tells us bits and pieces, in symbol, metaphor and image. The bottom line: we will see Jesus and there can be no greater joy. God will have restored his creation to the state he intended from the very beginning. He will again call it “very good.”

The announcement in the Book of Revelation says it best:

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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. 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. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Worship is About God’s Gifts to You

Encore Post: In most churches, worship is about what Christians do to glorify God. It is about praying, giving contributions to support the work of the Church, singing your song, and dedicating yourself to follow Jesus. Lutherans understand worship as all about what God gives to us — Absolution, God’s Word read, sung by us and preached to us, and the Sacraments, especially the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus gives us his body to eat with bread and his blood to drink with wine. In these gifts, his means of grace, mysteriously, God places and strengthens faith in our hearts, gives us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. We sing his praises, pray to him at his invitation, and offer the sacrifice of our lives to thank him for these gifts.

So, worship really is not about us — it is about God’s gifts. God invites us to gather together the same way that our mothers and fathers gathered for dinner. When we call us to eat a well-prepared, delicious feast, we don’t say “Do I have to eat it?” or “But we just had a big dinner last week!” We get up and hurry to receive this wonderful gift of our host’s love and enjoy the time together with those we love.

So, the question we should ask ourselves and each other is not: “Do we have to go to church?” but really is “Do we get to go to church?” The Lord and Creator of the Universe is coming to church. He is the same Jesus who loved us so much that he became one of us, suffered, died and rose again so that he could give us his gifts, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. So, let’s go and unwrap them!

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2018-2024 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Sunday School: Parables

Encore Post: A parable is a story told about very ordinary things and events, but that has a hidden spiritual meaning. Jesus loved to teach by parable. About 35% of His teaching uses them. Jesus used parables to help us understand God, His people, people in the world, and the things God wants us to do. The stories themselves are very easy to understand. Sometimes the meaning is not so clear. In fact, Jesus once said He told parables so that some people would not understand at all. Thankfully, Jesus almost always tells His disciples what the story means.

Most parables make just one point. All the details in these stories are there to make that one point. So, for example, the three parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son (Prodigal Son) (Luke 15) are about the joy God wants us to feel when He saves someone and not so much about the grace of Jesus who seeks and saves the lost.

Allegories are parables where each character or thing in the story has an independent meaning. These allow for many interpretations. When Jesus wants us to draw more than one point from a parable, He tells us when He explains the story. He tells us what each item in the story stands for. This he does with the Parable of the Four Soils (The Parable of the Sower) (Luke 8:4-15).

Strictly speaking, simple metaphors are not parables, but proverbs or illustrations. Parables are stories. So sayings such as the City on a Hill, the Light of the World and simply metaphors. Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether Jesus is telling a parable or simply speaking about something that actually happened. The Good Samaritan is one of these stories. (Luke 10:25-37)

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Isaiah

Encore Post: On the 6th of July, the church commemorates the prophet Isaiah. If you have never read the front part of the hymnal, I highly recommend it. The Church sees the good in remembering the saints.

Isaiah ministered to God’s people during an era of great turmoil. Reading his book, you see, he was called to serve as the Lord’s prophet the year that King Uzziah died, and he served as a prophet through the reign of Hezekiah. During this period, there was a lot of political turmoil, and the book speaks about some of these situations in detail. But the promise of the Lord saving his people and gathering them together on His Holy Mountain is in the background.

Isaiah did what every other prophet did: speak the word of the Lord to the people, even the kings of his day. He preached the Law of God, proclaiming that judgment was coming on Judah and the northern kingdom in the form of the Assyrians, and later the Babylonians. He preached to them repentance. But Isaiah also offers much gospel and forgiveness from the Lord. We only need to look to Isaiah 40. But even before that we see throughout his book that he preaches Law and Gospel.

In the three-year lectionary of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, we find Isaiah’s book is used on a whopping 77 Sundays. That is over 50% of the Old Testament lessons, when you consider the season of Easter replacing OT lessons with readings from Acts.

Perhaps we should ask why Isaiah is so prominent in the lectionary. Perhaps it is because Isaiah preaches Christ’s kingdom in a way that the Gospels preaches it. Some even called Isaiah “the fifth Gospel” because Christ and His work come through so clearly. Even the name “Isaiah” conveys Christ. His name means “YHWH’s Salvation”. And it is no surprise that two of Isaiah’s favorite words to use in the book are the verb “he shall save” and the noun “salvation”.

Isaiah’s prophecies of Christ are quite clear, and perhaps that is why we like him so much. Isaiah also is quoted a number of times by the Gospels too, and Isaiah 52 and 53 are highlighted in Acts as the text that converted the Ethiopian Eunuch.

So we in the Church give thanks to the work that the Lord did through His prophet Isaiah, as we remember and commemorate Isaiah today.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp

Christ Lutheran Church

Noblesville, Indiana

Rule #2: The Bible is All About Jesus

Encore Post: When you see a good friend reading a book, so taken by it that they shut the whole world out, you ask them, “what’s it all about?” Your friend will sum it up in a few sentences. Of course, there is a lot more detail to the tale, but all of the words, images it creates set the mood and move the plot along. Yet no really good story holds our interest if there is not a single, central story that we care about.

The Bible is the most important book in the world, because it is God telling the story. This story is more than an enjoyable yarn. It is the story about how God saved us and how he will make the creation new again. Theologians call that Salvation History. So, if someone asks, “What is the Bible all about?” The best answer is “It is all about Jesus.” Jesus himself tells us this. (John 5:39)

Knowing that the Bible is all about Jesus helps us to understand its message and the place of each verse in that message. On the surface, the Bible is a small library of sixty-six books with different messages. They can seem disconnected and at odds from time to time. By this rule, we come to see the Bible has one story with a beginning, middle, climax and end, all tied to what Jesus did and will do to save us. It helps us to see that we are actually a part of this story. Unlike good fiction, this story is real news, not fake news. It is actually has a two-part message for us — which we’ll take up in the next post.

So, by knowing that the Bible is all about Jesus, or said in more formal language, all theology is Christology, we can unlock the treasures of the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is not all about how to live a happy life in this world, although it can help us with that. It is not about predicting the future, like some giant puzzle or math problem. It is not the key to success and riches, or even about what we should do to be good people. In fact, it is not so much about what we do, but what God has done: In Christ, he made the world, sorrowed over its sin, set out to save the world, was made man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life in our place, suffered, died, rose again, ascended into heaven and one day will return to raise us from the dead to live with God forever. As you read the Bible, then, ask yourself: what does this have to do with Jesus? You’ll be surprised how much it helps to hear what God is saying to you in his word.

Rule #1| Rule #3 | Rule #4 | Rule #5 | Blog Post Series

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Offering

Encore Post: With the conclusion of the singing of the Offertory, the offerings of the church are collected. While we do not often see this in our churches anymore, it was at this time that the bread and wine used for the Sacrament of the Altar would come forward as well. Churches in the Roman Catholic Church and similar traditions have the option to bring up the bread and wine at this time.

Dr. Arthur Just, Jr. in his fine book Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service talks more about it. He adds, “The bringing forward of the bread and wine is part of the sacrificial part of the liturgy where we offer our gifts to God, including our tithes and offerings. These gifts are given in response to hearing the very words of Jesus in the Gospel and are given in thanksgiving for the gift about to be received…”(Just, 209-210).

We should not think that we are giving to God to earn favor. No, these gives should be given out of the thankfulness of our hearts for the salvation which we have received from Christ. Even if we thought that we could earn God’s favor and blessing by our gifts, our gifts are far too small and minuscule. They are humble things, some money, some bread and wine.

Another way I have been thinking about these gifts is in terms of the feeding of the 5,000. There the people were hungry and only a few loaves and fish were around. They were a humble collection of food, as is bread and wine, but be given into the Lord’s hands, this humble offering He can make it the very food from heaven that satisfies us for everlasting life.

This is also seen in our tithes and offerings of money too. What little offerings we gather in this since also are brought before our Lord and He uses our gold and silver and whatever else we might have to sustain the mission of the local congregation as well as those abroad furthering his Kingdom, that others might know the grace and mercy He has for us for the sake of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

The Eighth Day

In a previous post, We talked about the significance of the sixth and seventh days, the day of preparation and the Sabbath, reinforcing the calculus of Jesus death and resurrection on the third day. The third day is also the eighth day. In Christianity, we make a big deal out of the eighth day as the day of resurrection. It’s the day of the proof of our salvation. Jesus paid for our sins through His death on the cross on Friday, the sixth day. His resurrection on the first day of the week, the eighth day, proves His victory over death and the grave.

1st Century Christians quickly began gathering together on the first day of the week. The shift from the Sabbath, seventh day to the first day, the eighth day, reflected our understanding from faith in a promise yet to be revealed to a promise of salvation delivered in Christ. The Resurrection happens on the “first day of the week.” (Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:1-6; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:1-18). We now call the first day of the week Sunday. That’s also the eighth day.

This less than exhaustive look at Old Testament eighth day theology reveals quite of few of these. The fall and protoevangelion (first Gospel), can be understood as eighth day events. We fall way, corrupting creation. And, God promises to restore us by the seed of the Woman. (Genesis 3)

God’s covenant with Abraham was sealed by eighth day activity too. As a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham’s offspring. Circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day. (Genesis 17:9-13) It’s prob’ly no accident that the Lord puts the sign of His promise on the eighth day. It’s as if we’re to be on the lookout for an eighth day event sometime soon.

Even the critters of the Jews are reflecting eighth day significance. The firstborn of all livestock are to be given to the Lord. Care to guess which day? Seven days with its mother, and it’s given to the Lord on the eighth day. (Exodus 22:29-30)

When Aaron and His sons or ordained for service in the tabernacle. The atonement for them and the altar is appointed for seven days. Beginning on the eighth day, they may serve in the tabernacle the offering for the sins of the people. (Exodus 29:35-37)

There are several rites within the Jewish Levitical code, which peculiar eighth day events. Leprosy was determined by two seven-day seclusions. (Leviticus 13:4-6) The cleansing of lepers revolves around the eighth day. (Leviticus 14) The feast of booths begins and ends with a sabbath convocation. The second on is called the eighth day. (Leviticus 23:36, 39)

Ezekiel prophesied in his vision of the new temple and the return of the glory of the Lord. The altar is to be erected and consecrated to the Lord. Seven days are appoint for the atonement of the altar. On the eighth day and following, the Lord will accept sacrifices for the people. (Ezekiel 43:18-27)

In the New Testament, Baptism becomes the fulfillment of the eighth day promise of circumcision. “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:11-14)

The eighth day is the day of Christianity. It’s the day of resurrection. It’s the day of new birth in Jesus. The eighth day is now and not yet. Forgiven in Christ by grace through faith given in Baptism, we await the fulfillment on the last day, the final eight day.

We surround ourselves with eight-sided figures. Our baptismal fonts are often eight sided. The quadifoils surrounding gospel moments and characters in stained glass and vestments are even eight sided comprised of four arcs and four angles. The old European coffins were eight sided with six edges, a top, and a bottom. Church columns were often eight-sided. Other architectural features in the church may also assume an octagonal catechesis. They are a constant reminder of the promise of new birth, forgiveness, restoration, and resurrection to immortal life in Christ.

Jesus was raised on the eighth day.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
and
Mission planting pastoral team:
Epiphany Lutheran Church
Bastrop, TX