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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: 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 Star Who Crushes His Foes

I have been reflecting quite a bit on the book of Isaiah as I am teaching through it in my Bible study. We just came through Isaiah 25 and the feast that the Lord prepares for all people. But interestingly, Moab is singled out as a nation not welcome to the feast (Isa 25:1-12). At the same time, I was reading to prepare for the Feast of the Epiphany. I was reading Matthew 2, and I did more work around the Magi and the “Star.” Just do a bible search for wise men or Magi and you will find yourself in the book of Daniel. Daniel, remember, was the chief of the wise men in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. The wise men probably were men from Babylon. So that helps us get a better picture of where these men came from. But how did they notice the star? Daniel was much more than a leader of Magi in Babylon. He was a prophet of the God of Israel. Daniel most likely had access in some way to the scrolls of the Pentateuch. He preached the Word of God to the Babylonians who would listen. And listen they did.

But the star–where does the star appear in the Pentateuch? The gentile prophet Balaam prophesies of the star coming out of Jacob along with a scepter (Numbers 24:17). This star does not just come out of Jacob. This is where the Isaiah 25:10 passage comes in. The star is promised to crush Moab!

The word crush is the same word that is used to describe the act of the seed of the woman upon the serpent. The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. So now this star will crush Moab. In the “oracles concerning the nations” in Isaiah, Moab is seen in a negative light. And in Isaiah 25, Moab is seen as the universal enemy of all the people of God. Though the word is not “crush” and not a verbal match, the idea is the same. However, it is not the seed or the star who will trample down Moab. It is the people of God who will trample down their enemies. Moab is said to be like the dung trampled into the ground.

Taking this into the New Testament, we can see Jesus crushing the head of the serpent at the cross and giving us the benefits of that victory. You and I have eternal life because of Christ’s coming into the world to be our atoning sacrifice for sin, defeating death and Satan for us by His death and resurrection from the dead. In the Gospel of Luke and Mark, we get the continuation and the language of that victory being something we too participate in, too. We get to trample down serpents (Luke 10:17-20 also see Mark 16:14-20 and Paul in Acts 28:3-6). Theologically speaking, this crushing and throwing down of Satan takes place when the word of God is preached in its truth and purity and the sacraments are rightly administered (AC V, AC VII). It is not us who do the crushing that is left to Christ, our Bright Morningstar. That is His principle work, but we, in Christ, get to trample under our feet the old evil foe.

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

God in Man made Manifest

Encore Post: Epiphany is a season of unwrapping God’s gifts. The word comes from Greek. It means reveal, make known, and, in old English, make manifest or clear. As creatures and sinners, we cannot fully understand God. Even if we could stand in God’s holy presence, we would die. (Exodus 33:20) Even as Christians, we often find ourselves say, “I don’t get you, God!”

God knows this well. It is why he reveals himself to us in Jesus. When we want to see God, we can look at Jesus. The Apostle John sums it up well: “No one has seen God. The only begotten God, he is from the Father and he has made him known.” (John 1:18) In the season of Epiphany, we get to know Jesus by what he said and did. We sit at his feet and see with our own eyes that he is the Messiah — and more than that — that he is God himself.

The season begins with a θεοφάνεια (Theophaneia) — God appearing or making himself known to people. At the Baptism of our Lord, we see the Son of God, hear the voice of the Father, and the Holy Spirit settles on the Son in the form of a dove. For the Three-Year Lectionary, the season ends with another θεοφάνεια. The Son glows with his full glory as God; the Father speaks and the presence of God settles on the mountain in the ancient Cloud of Glory.

In between, he calls disciples from their nets, turns water into wine, feeds whole crowds with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He casts out demons, raises the dead, gives sight to the blind, not with shows of great ritual, but with a few words: “I will; be clean!” “Get out!” “be still!” He prays and teaches with authority — unlike the Pharisees and Bible experts. In the next season, Lent, we will see him be the Lamb of God, who takes our sins to the cross, pays the price of our salvation with his own blood and rises from the dead to break the seal of the grave forever.

So we get to know Jesus, and, through him, get to know God. One day, we will see him — and God face to face — in our own flesh, we will see God.

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. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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

Who are the Saints?

Encore Post: “He’s a saint!” you might hear someone say. What they probably mean is that the person is very good, generous, kind or helpful. Most often when we use the term, we mean someone respected and honored by the early or medieval church for their example of holy living or strong faith. Such people, called a saint in the first few centuries, were witnesses to Jesus to the point of death. They were also called martyrs, witnesses.

The Bible does not use the word saint in such a narrow way. The word means, “holy one” and is used to describe God’s people, saved and made holy by his grace. St. Paul goes to great lengths to describe how those God is making holy should live. Many Lutheran pastors follow this custom and call the hearers of their sermons “saints.”

During the Middle Ages, saints who were admired for their faith went from being good examples to being venerated — worshipped really, although Catholics would object to that description. The church redefined a saint to be someone whose good deeds were more numerous than their sins and so they did not go to purgatory, but directly to heaven. (that subject is for another post!) There, it was said; they are aware of what is going on and pray for us. They are able to hear our prayers and do miracles for us — or rather ask God to perform them. The honoring of and praying to the saints became known as the cult of the saints.

Martin Luther and the reformers believed the cult of the saints had gotten out of control. They believed it was good to give thanks to God for saints, to study their lives and to imitate their faith. The Book of Hebrews says as much. (Hebrews 13:7) Yet the saints in heaven do not know what is happening on earth and they do not hear our prayers. Prayer and worship belong to God alone.

So Lutherans do not pray to saints, collect pieces of their bodies or things that belonged to them as magic objects. We study some of their lives, consider what happened to them, learn from their sins and mistakes and imitate their faith and good works. We do this not because they are better than us, but because they are just like us. If God got them through this life by faith, he can — and will — keep us to everlasting life.

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

Posts from What does this Mean? blog are also available on Substack at: What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack .

Christmas Message from Martin Luther

Encore Post: A Wonderful thing happened when the angel announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds.

If this birth had been proclaimed to the nobles of this world; If the shepherds had measured themselves against the standard of these important fellows; If the shepherds had compared to royal wisdom and wealth, they would have been afraid, because power frightens and wisdom intimidates people.

If Christ had come with trumpets sounding; If he had a cradle of gold, His birth would have been a stately thing. But it wouldn’t comfort me.

So, He had to lie in a poor girl’s lap and be scarcely noticed by the world. In that lap I can come to see Him; In this way, He now reveals Himself to the distressed. Yes, He would’ve had greater fame, if He’d have come in great power, splendor, wisdom and high class. Yet, He will come some day, in another way, when He comes to oppose the great nobles. But now He comes to the poor, who need a Savior.

— Martin Luther
Sermon on Christmas Day 1530
Translated by Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus

Translation: ©2022 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

Introducing St. Lucia: Virgin, Martyr

Lucia was a virgin maiden born in Syracuse, Sicily to a well-to-do family in the Roman Empire around the year 286 AD. She was put to death for faith around the year 304 AD, during Emperor Diocletian’s persecution. She is upheld in nearly every Christian tradition that remembers and commemorates the saints. Lutherans commemorate her day on December 13^th. Other traditions, like the Roman Catholic Church, hold a Mass on her day, in her honor. While Lutherans do not hold a festival service with the Eucharist on her specific day, Lutherans with connections to Scandinavia are more prone to hold some kind of service, whether it be a Divine Service or more simply a prayer office on the day.

What do we know about Lucia? Well, unfortunately, we know very little, honestly. The oldest records come from the 5^th century book Acts of the Martyrs. The accounts of Lucia all agree that she was betrothed to a man who was not a Christian. According to the traditional story, Lucia was born into a wealthy family. Her father was of Roman origin, but died when Lucia was quite young. Lucia’s mother was of Greek descent.

As Lucia got older, she took more seriously the Christian faith, even consecrating herself to the Lord, meaning that she was to remain a virgin. However, she did not mention this to her mother. Her mother, fearing for Lucia’s future, arranged for Lucia to be married to a wealthy young son of a pagan family.

Now this is where the legend becomes weird to our Lutheran ears. Lucia’s mother was sick with a bleeding disorder (from my reading of the different accounts it sounds like the flow of blood of the woman in the Gospels). 52 years or so before, St. Agatha, another virgin, had been martyred. It is said that St. Agatha came to Lucia in a dream to encourage Lucia to get her mother to take a pilgrimage to Catania. Mom went and was cured of her disorder, and Lucia persuaded her to allow the dowry for her impending marriage to be given away to the poor. This did not sit well with the man to whom she was to be married.

Lucia’s husband to be sent word to the Governor of Syracuse, accusing her of being a Christian. The Governor took Lucia into custody and ordered her to burn incense to the Emperor. Lucia refused to do so. The Governor then ordered her to be sexually assaulted. Legend also states that when they tried to move her from place to place, a team of oxen were unable to move her. Then they attempted to kill her via burning, but the wood would not catch flame. Lucia was killed via the sword. Other traditions speak about her eyes being gouged out and given to the man whom she was to marry because he prized her eyes. We do not know the truth of such claims.

Lucia’s name appears to have a connection to the Latin “Lux” or “light.” Many traditions, especially those in Scandinavia, connect Lucia to light. She is a bearer of light in the darkness of winter. Some traditions that still occur in households involve setting a crown of candles on the head of the daughter of the house, and she going to each family member’s room in the morning with “St. Lucia Buns.” They are a baked good that incorporates saffron in the dough.

While Saint Lucia may not be well known in our day, she can serve as a model of keeping the faith and expressing hope in the Lord Jesus, who has called all his Christians to take up their cross and follow Him daily. While Lucia’s story is likely embellished in places, we can and should remember her as a saint who died for her faith in the face of brutal persecution. Like all the faithful who call on the Name of the Lord, she has been given the crown of life, and basks in the light of our Lord’s mercy.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

Preparation of the Gospel: The Peace of Rome

Encore Post: After the defeat of Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, great nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, had gained sole control of the Roman Republic. With a combination of political skill and military power, he unified a badly divided empire. Having the Roman Republic declare him first citizen and give him the title Augustus and the title the Son of God (meaning Julius Caesar), he gained absolute power with the trappings of the Republic. This political unity would more or less hold for two hundred years. Successfully pushing warfare to the edges of the Empire, Augustus established the Pax Romana — the Peace of Rome.

This peace was a great blessing in the Mediterranean world. Travel was free of political barriers. A network of durable roads was constructed from Rome to the edges of the empire. Many of these are still in use today. Roman culture gave status to rulers and rich people who constructed public buildings, works like aqueducts, baths, theatres and temples, resulting in a sustained construction boom. A unified currency made trade relatively easy to conduct.

Rome was justly proud of its unified legal code, which, except for the highest levels of society, was stable and, for the most part, objectively enforced. Being a practical people, Romans adopted and adapted Greek culture and language. Where possible, Rome preferred to allow local nations to rule themselves, as long as they paid their taxes, were politically loyal, raised troops when needed and bowed to Roman law when it conflicted with their traditions.

God prepared the way for his son by establishing this common government. It allowed the apostles to fan out quickly across the whole of the Mediterranean World with the Gospel. It protected St. Paul in Jerusalem and allowed his appeal to the Emperor. The census of Caesar Augustus brought the holy family to Bethlehem. It assured the fulfillment of prophecy by sending the true Son of God to the cross rather than to death by stoning. It placed objective guards at his tomb to witness to his resurrection.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and eventually as a print booklet at: Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.