Uncategorized – Page 11 – What Does This Mean?

Why Can’t We Just Go Back to TLH?

Some people do share your opinion. I understand the motivation to a certain degree. There are many wonderful things about The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941 (TLH). Unlike the scriptures, the canon of the hymnody can never be closed. Like preaching, there is always something new and useful to say regarding God’s Word to His people. Like preaching, the older things should not be thrown away. And they’re not. 340 of TLH hymns are preserved in the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). That’s greater than 50% of its hymnody (h/t Rev. Dr. Paul Grime). TLH is still in print today. There are also congregations that retain the use of both TLH & LSB, and even TLH exclusively.

There are some historical failures of the church, leading to the notion that TLH is the only right hymnal. Emotions, which are a poor standard of decision making in most contexts, notwithstanding, poor timing is among the chief concerns.

There were theological errors in the Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978 (LBW), causing a stir at a time when a new hymnal was needed and desired. Our (LCMS) participation with the other Lutheran groups produced a hymnal, whose use we could not encourage. We had to back out of the project, but retained copyright usage authority over the materials produced.

This led to a hasty publication of the Lutheran Worship, 1982 (LW). That was a bad move. Simply stripping-out and correcting theological errors didn’t produce a good hymnal. In fact, it produced a fairly poor hymnal. It was not well received. At LW’s peak, it was in use in just over half of LCMS congregations. As evidence of that, the old LWs are even difficult to give away.

Among the complaints about LW are these: the defaced common service, organ arrangements, and altered text. By “Common Service,” I mean TLH p. 5/15, LW Divine Service I, and LSB Divine Service, Setting Three. The TLH and LSB settings are quite similar. The LW setting updated the Jacobean English and stripped the chorale harmonies from the pew edition. Further, LW has also removed and/or rewritten common chorale harmonies to several hymns. These were not well received.

All of this failure has encouraged the notion that TLH might be the only good hymnal. Even the great TLH contains some noticeable weaknesses. Some translations of the German hymns are theologically sketchy, leading to some of the revised wording more recently. A more subtle, but more significant, error comes from the sequencing of the services. The Order of Morning Service without communion on page 5 for use on Sunday is followed by The Order of the Holy Communion on page 15 are a two-fold failure. Prior to TLH there was no printed chief service for Sunday without the Lord’s Supper. TLH not only introduced an innovation but also gave it priority by placing it first in the book. This may have been an editorial oversight. However, it leaves the impression that not only is Sunday without communion normal, it may be preferable.

At a time when the frequency of the celebration of the Lord’s supper may have been at an historic low, TLH inadvertently or deliberately reinforced the same. For LCMS congregations that celebrated as infrequently as once a month, once a quarter, twice a year, or once a year, TLH gave at least a nod to encourage the practice. Ask some of your own elderly members. You’ll likely hear about how infrequent it was. You may even hear like I have, “Well, p. 5 comes first. That’s the one we used most.”

LSB is also not a perfect hymnal. It is a good hymnal. A harsh reality at its publication was division in hymnal usage throughout the LCMS. In 1999, 35% of LCMS congregations retained TLH only, 60% had adopted LW, and scant number had even adopted LBW (h/t Rev. Dr. Paul Grime). There was no hope of returning to TLH more broadly. LW had demonstrated the peak of its acceptance. LSB achieved its goal of unifying a greater number of LCMS congregations under a single, common service book. By returning to the TLH, page 15 liturgy (LSB DS 3), as well as the LW Divine Service II: settings one & two (LSB DS 1 & 2), LSB struck a balance. LSB also restored the original settings and text of many of the TLH hymns with a few translation corrections.

LSB enjoys greater than 70% adoption among LCMS congregations. It’s not perfect by any means. It does, however, improve the likelihood of lifelong Lutherans like us and new converts finding a familiar hymnal in use, when they travel or move their families.

That’s good for the synod as a whole.

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

Sunday School: Isaac and Rebekah’s Favorite Sons

Encore Post: God blessed Isaac and Rebekah a lot. He gave them a good land to live in, riches, servants, flocks and twin boys. God promised to make their family to grow to become a nation. The Messiah would come from their descendants.

Yet the family of Abraham was dysfunctional from the very start. Abraham loved Isaac more than Ishmael. Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob, and Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah and Rachel’s children, especially Joseph, more than all his other children. That really did not work well for them.

God told Rebekah that Jacob would be the family’s leader when Isaac died. But normally, the older son had this blessing. So Isaac didn’t listen to God and intended to give that blessing to Esau. Rebekah was afraid that God would not keep His promise and helped Jacob to trick Isaac. Esau didn’t think his father’s blessing was very important, so he sold it to Jacob for a good meal. Jacob didn’t want to wait for God to give the blessing to him, so he tried to get it himself by tricking his brother and father out of it. The story did not end well. Esau was very angry and Jacob ran away to his uncle Laban with only the clothes on his back.

Still, God forgave them. He continued to bless Isaac, Rebekah and Esau. He gave Jacob two wives, Leah and Rachel, many flocks of sheep and riches. When he came back home, afraid that Esau would still be angry with him. To remind Jacob that he was still with him, God came to Jacob at night in the person of the Son of God and wrestled with him all night. When the night was over, God renamed Jacob (which means “heel”) Israel (“he struggles with God”)

Soon, Israel discovered his brother loved him still and forgave the mean things Israel did to him years before. So they lived together as a family from that time on. Yet it appears that Israel didn’t learn much through experience, as we will discover in later posts.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Isaac and Rebekah

Encore Post: The story of Isaac and Rebekah sounds very strange to us in America of the Twenty-First century. In our culture, people search for their own spouses — if they get married at all. The thought that a parent would find a wife for their son, much less trust a servant to search for her, negotiate the marriage as a business deal seems all wrong. And yet, for most of human history and in many cultures today, arranged marriages were the way that marriages are done. Many of these marriages developed into very close, loving relationships.

Abraham knew that he was getting old. He had buried his wife three years earlier. He knew that a wife from the unbelieving world around him would not be God-pleasing or helpful in producing a family from which the messiah would be born two thousand years later. He also knew he couldn’t make the trip back to Haran to seek a wife for his son among those who believed in God. So, Abraham trusts his servant, who would inherit everything if Isaac didn’t have children. His servant makes the search his own, devoting himself to prayer and seeking a bride with a servant heart. While he was praying for wisdom at a well near his destination, Rebekah came up to offer him and his camels water, which she did not have to do. Recognizing a selfless, serving heart in her, the servant sought to arrange a marriage between her and Isaac.

Rebekah’s family shows faith in God and love of Abraham in sending Rebekah to Isaac. When the servant told his story, they also recognized God’s hand in the marriage. Yet they still asked Rebekah’s consent, who agreed. Isaac was praying when the servant and Rebekah arrived in Canaan. He receives her as his wife and loved her from the start. Because of these acts of love and trust, Jesus would one day be born, descended from Rebekah and Isaac.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: God provides a Lamb for Abraham

Encore Post: The sacrifice of the Son of God and the sacrifice of Isaac are closely related. Isaac is Abraham‘s son, His only son, whom he loves. Jesus is God’s Son, His only Son, Whom He loves.

When God told Abraham to go to Mount Moriah, He picked the place that Solomon would choose to build the temple. On this spot, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son. God had promised that it would be through Isaac that Abraham’s descendants would become more numerous than the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. Abraham did not know how God would keep His promise. He thought perhaps God would raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-18).

When Abraham was ready to perform the sacrifice, the Angel of the Lord appeared and stopped the sacrifice. Christian theologians believe this figure is the Son of God Himself, appearing before His birth. So, God spared Abraham’s son, but He did not spare His Son, His only Son, Whom He loved, but provided Him as the sacrifice that ends all sacrifice. Two thousand years after this event, Jesus would be condemned to death on the very same spot. God indeed provided the Lamb for the sacrifice for our sins.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Abraham, Sarah and Isaac

Encore Post: In ancient times, names were very important. People thought names told you something about the person who had them. When something important happened in a person’s life, sometimes they changed their name as well.

In the Bible, a name is often given with its meaning. When Adam gave his wife the name Eve, because she would be the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20) — The word Eve sounds like the word for life giver in Hebrew. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham because “I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” (Genesis 17:5) Abraham means father of a multitude in Hebrew. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means “princess.” (Genesis 17:15) When both Abraham and Sarah laughed at God’s promise to give them a son, God told them to name that son, Isaac, which means “laughed.” (Genesis 17:19) Later, God would tell Mary and Joseph to name their son, Jesus, because he would save His people from their sins. In Hebrew, the name Jesus means God saves or God is salvation.

For nearly a lifetime, Abraham lived a life of faith. He trusted God to keep his promises. God told him to become a nomadic herdsman and take his family to the land of Canaan, which God promised to give to his descendants. He promised to give him and Sarah a son and through that son make him the ancestor of many nations. Yet, year after year, they did not have children. So, then, they decided maybe they were to have a child through a surrogate — Sarah’s slave Hagar. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, whom God revealed would not be Abraham’s heir. When Abraham and Sarah sent them away, God provided for them. Ishmael would be the ancestor of the Arab peoples.

So God came to visit Abraham to renew his promise. He came as three men, for whom Abraham threw a feast. They promised a son to Abraham and Sarah within a year. It was then that the couple laughed — since they were barren and long past the age to have children. When finally Isaac — Laughed — was born, Sarah laughed again. She said the laugh was at her, since she doubted to power of God to keep his word.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Nativity of John the Baptist

Six months is all that separates the Baptist and Jesus, at least by earthly age. And so typically on June 24th, the Church celebrates and remembers the birth of the Baptist. For with his coming into the world, the Sun of Righteousness also would follow soon after.

Zechariah, when he was confronted by Gabriel, was confused and unbelieving of the news that he and Elizabeth would have a son. As part of the sign that Elizabeth would have a son, Zechariah would be mute until the child was born. And when he named the child John, in accordance with what the Angel told him, Zechariah’s mouth was loosed. He could speak. And the people were filled with awe and asked: “What then will this child be?”

Being filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah prophesied the song that we commonly call the Benedictus, Latin for “Blessed.” Zechariah’s song does not answer the question of the people right away. He first prophesies of the One that his own son would point to as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This song is not about John, but about Jesus. And He had actually been in Zechariah’s house for the past 3 months via the womb of Mary. And the redemption of God’s people was the plan from of old as far back as Adam’s fall. John still proclaims that message into your very ears every Advent season, preparing us for the coming of our Lord, the Sun of Righteousness.

Some think John’s preaching is fire and brimstone, and it might be on that side, but how else to rattle and crack the hearts of stone of a dead people? The preaching of repentance puts you to death, but not only that, it raises you to life. John’s preaching causes the Light of the Lord’s mercy to shine upon you. It gives you the new birth of the Holy Spirit, and gives to you the Name of God by his Grace, granting you peace that passes all human understanding. John preaches not his own word but the Word of the Lord, in order that they might be made alive by the Gospel and Comfort of the coming of the Lord Jesus who would die for the sin of the world and be raised from the dead on the 3^rd day and would then lead the way unto everlasting life with the Father in Heaven.

John’ preaching of repentance is the preaching of the forgiveness of sins. But John’s preaching is really the preaching of Christ! And thus by John’s preaching, you are not just prepared for Jesus’ coming, but it is by this way and means that Christ comes to you in love and visits you with tender compassion.

Christ did not just visited Zechariah or the people of Judea and Galilee, but He has come and visits you with tender care and mercy this day. He has redeemed you just as we swore he would do, giving you the forgiveness of sins which He won for you by his cross, now by giving you His body and blood in the Sacrament, the Covenant/Testament of His body and blood. That you may be led in the way of peace forever.

John was the forerunner, the preparer, the preacher who pointed to Jesus without fail. May the preachers of this day follow on coattails of John and continue to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, that ears and hearts be prepared to receive Christ now and always, for it is He who has released you from all sins, and has removed from us one and for all fear of death and hell and now guides our feet into the way of Peace.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

Sunday School: The Tower of Babel

Encore Post: The Egyptians were not the only people that built pyramids. The Mayans, the Aztecs, the Sumerians — and the Babylonians did as well. They all had the same purpose. They were man-made mountains that would be a ladder from Earth to Heaven, where they could visit the gods, sacrifice to them and get what they want from heaven. Most had temples at the very top, where sacrifices were made, some of them human sacrifices.

The people of Babel intended to settle down, build a city and one of these temples. This idea was sinful in two ways. God had commanded them to migrate over the whole earth and fill it with people. They saw good farmland and decided to stay. They decide to build a great temple to manipulate God so that they could get everything they wanted. In a sense, they worshipped themselves. But God confused their language and scattered them, anyway. Their sin resulted in people fearing each other and set one nation against another.

But Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice. His death did not attempt to manipulate God, but was God of His own free will, paying the price for their sins of rebellion. In Jesus, all divisions among people come to an end. The miracle of the Day of Pentecost showed God can make us one people again — not to serve ourselves, but to worship God together.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Noah’s Ark

Encore Post: After the Fall, sin spread to every corner of creation and infected it with evil. Two groups of people emerged among the sons of Adam and Eve. One group Moses called the Sons of God, those who clung to God according to faith, and the other the daughters of men, who lived according to their sinful desires. When the Sons of God began to marry the daughters of men, the trend of unfaithfulness to God grew in strength. God saw “that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” ( Genesis 6:5). But Noah found favor in God’s eyes.

The first time we read about the flood, we get the impression that Noah and his family were saved because they were saints in a world full of sinners. But this is not true. They were just as sinful at heart as their neighbors. The difference was that they “walked with God” (6:9) and were righteous by faith (Hebrews 11:7), trusting God to care for them and obeying His commands. Even when God decided to wipe out all the sin, he delayed while Noah as a prophet warned people and built the Ark. When the flood came, God preserved the lives of Noah and his family and breeding stock of all living creatures. He made a covenant with mankind through Noah never to destroy the entire world by flood again, sealing it with a rainbow as a reminder to him to spare them all.

The flood reminds Christians of baptism, in which our sins are drowned and we are safely carried to new life. Martin Luther’s “flood prayer,” which calls attention to God’s saving of Noah, has returned to the Baptism service in the latest Missouri Synod hymnal. The early church used the image of the Ark as a symbol for the church, which carries us to everlasting. In fact, the place in a church building where the people sit is called the nave, Latin for ship, because of that imagery.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Cain and Abel

Encore Post: After the Fall, God was still with Adam and Eve. He blessed them with many sons and daughters. We do not know the names of most of them. After some time, how long we do not know, God blessed Adam and Eve with a son, Cain. Martin Luther was convinced she thought he was the promised Messiah. Even if this is not true, she recognized he was a gift from God. “I have gotten a man (with the help of) the Lord.” (Genesis 4:1) Not long after, she gave birth to another son — Abel.

Adam and Eve, like many of us, put a lot of hope in our firstborn child. God, however, is not impressed with appearance, skill or birth order. He looks for what is in a person’s heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) In Genesis especially, God tends to favor the second born. Here that is Abel, who trusted God rather than Cain, who didn’t trust God so much.

Both Abel and Cain brought offerings to God. Cain gave some of his crops to God because he felt he had to. Abel gave the very best of the very best of his flock because he loved God. God accepted both gifts, but favored Abel’s over Cain’s because Abel gave his gift by faith, while Cain offered his as a work. This made Cain angry and jealous. God warned him not to give into these sinful thoughts. But Cain did not do so. Instead, he killed Abel, committing the first murder.

Cain thought he had silenced Abel. But no one can hide anything from God. Abel’s blood called out for vengeance. God cursed Cain to the life of a nomad, but protected him from the vengeance of others. The Scriptures are silent whether Cain ever repented, although he did not at first. We do know God never gave up on him.

Jesus named Abel as the first martyr, killed for his faith in God. Yet, as the hymn writer puts it:

Abel’s blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries. (“Glory be to Jesus” Stanza 4)

Jesus also died an innocent death, but he did so willingly. He took the guilt of the murders of all the martyrs and all people to the cross, where God worked his vengeance on his only Son. Having paid the price of all sins once and for all, he rose from the dead to justify all who had faith in him.

The story of Cain and Abel is the beginning of a long, sad tale of evil, but it is not the last story. The Cross is God’s answer and one day Jesus will return so all can live happily ever after.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Sin Enters the World

Encore Post: Everything was perfect in the Garden of Eden. Sin did not exist. There was no sickness, suffering, grief, or pain. Death did not exist. If nothing had happened, Adam and Eve would have lived in harmony with God, each other, and all creation. There was only one rule: do not eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Into this perfect scene, Satan came in the form of a snake.

Satan tempted Eve with a lie. This is not surprising because he is a liar and the Father of Lies. “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4–5) The irony, of course, is they were already like God. And, in trying to become like God, they became not like God at all. They decided to become their own gods.

The church calls this the Original Sin. The effect was immediate. Instead of being turned outward to serve God and each other, the original sin changed their orientation. They were curved in on themselves, serving their desires above all else. They were separated from God and hid from him, as if you can hide from God. (which, of course, you cannot!) They transmitted this orientation to their children, and, through them to every human being (except one… but that’s later in the story of the Bible!) — including us.

God was not kidding when he warned Adam: “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Everything was cut off from God, the author of life. From that moment, everything began to die: Adam, Eve, plants, animals, their children … even the air, the sea and the ground. Disease began to infect people. Everything became a struggle to survive. God summed it up: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)

Yet even on this, the darkest day, the first ray of the gospel shone. God himself gives the first prophecy of Christ, called by the Church the protevangelium, — the First Gospel. To Satan he said: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”” (Genesis 3:15) Jesus, the Descendant of Eve, will wound Satan by defeating him on the cross. While God held Adam responsible for the Fall. St. Paul explains that sin infected all people through this one man, Adam. However, the good news is that by the sacrifice of one man, Jesus Christ, sin is paid for and God’s forgiveness comes to all people. Yet much suffering was yet to come before his coming.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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