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News

Higher Things Magazine for Summer 2019 – Now Available!

It’s clear that summer isn’t going away without a fight, which is why we’re inviting you to take some time to cool off and dive into the summer issue of Higher Things® Magazine. As you sip your lemonade and hopefully hunker down in some good air conditioning, you’ll notice something all these articles have in common: God’s overwhelming mercy for us in Christ Jesus. It’s in these various reminders of mercy you’ll find lasting spiritual refreshment even if the high temperatures are weighing you down.

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Categories
The Catechized Life

The Catechized Life: The First Commandment

 

Categories
Higher Hymnody

“All Christians Who Have Been Baptized”

god faith christian hymn baptism

by Rev. Rich Heinz

There is a Latin saying in the Church: Lex orandi, lex credendi – literally, “the law of prayer is the law of belief.” In plain English, this means that what we pray and how we pray contributes to the form and practice of our faith. Likewise, our faith shapes the content and pattern of our prayers.

Hymnody is also prayer. What we sing contributes to the formation of our doctrine and practice – our faith – and our faith directs our selections in song. As we sing to the Lord, He is speaking to us – teaching, proclaiming, and declaring Christ to us! That is one of the marks of a truly Lutheran hymn; it is not simply singing about Christ – it proclaims Christ and His saving work for you!

One such song that is returning to us is Paul Gerhardt’s “All Christians Who Have Been Baptized” (#596 in Lutheran Service Book.) This treasure of a hymn was written by one of Lutheranism’s — indeed, one of the Western Catholic Church’s — greatest hymn writers. Sadly, most English language hymnals seem to have set it aside, and not translated it. However, thanks to the scholarly efforts of the Rev. Dr. Jon D. Vieker, it returns to us as fresh and lively teaching on our new life, cleansed in Christ.

All Christians who have been baptized,
Who know the God of heaven,
And in whose daily life is prized
The name of Christ once given:
Consider now what God has done,
The gifts He gives to ev’ryone
Baptized into Christ Jesus!

Stanza 1 is an invitation. The first half of the stanza tells us who we are, the baptized Christians that the hymn writer is addressing. Then he urges us to consider the works of God – the gifts He gives through our Baptism into Christ. In the following five stanzas he then proclaims those gifts!

Stanza 2 speaks clearly on the scriptural truth of original sin:

You were before your day of birth,
Indeed, from your conception,
Condemned and lost with all the earth,
None good, without exception.
For like your parents’ flesh and blood,
Turned inward from the highest good,
You constantly denied Him.

Here is echoed King David’s preaching that we are conceived in sin – flawed from the moment our first two cells united. At the same time, this is a reminder of our Lord’s biblical teaching on the gift of life from conception, and a reinforcement of the teaching of original sin. Flesh and bone descendants of Adam, we inherit his rebelliousness. Left to our own works and words, we are self-centered, inward-turned, doomed creatures.

On the other hand, we dare not despair! Stanza 4 proclaims our joy of putting on Christ!

In Baptism, we now put on Christ –
Our shame is fully covered
With all that He once sacrificed
And freely for us suffered.
For here the flood of His own blood
Now makes us holy, right, and good
Before our heav’nly Father.

The Lord has not left us dead in our trespasses. He has given new birth – new life, made right and holy and good with God! We rejoice and love others and we live out our faith in our vocation.

Stanza 5 goes on to encourage Christians: “firmly hold this gift.”  Why? “When nothing else revives your soul, your Baptism stands and makes you whole, and then in death completes you.” In this world there is no creature or thing can truly give and refresh life. Life is given by God alone, and He alone sustains it. He blesses and revives our lives beyond imagination, with this sacred New Birth. The Eternal Word who spoke all things into existence gives true life as He attaches His Name to the water. We are gifted to fully enjoy this forgiven, renewed life here and now. However, the best is yet to come—He will fulfill and complete it all when we fall asleep in Jesus and He gathers us to Himself.

“All Christians Who Have Been Baptized” is a joyous gift from God, teaching us about original sin and our depravity. Yet it also teaches the absolute joys of living as New Creatures, baptized into Christ! At the same time, because we believe these truths of Holy Scripture, we joy in singing such a hymn.

What a joy, dear saints of God, that the Lord has taken this old song, and given it new life among us! A dear blessing has been given to us with a larger section of baptismal hymns in Lutheran Service Book. Our Savior is giving sweet comforting Gospel, assuring you of the treasure of this sacred washing with lasting effects!

Jesus now blesses you as His new creation. He places you in your various vocations to live in faith toward Him and in fervent love toward one another. As you do, rejoicing in your Baptism, He leads you to anticipate:

…that day when you possess
His glorious robe of righteousness
Bestowed on you forever!

Categories
Life Issues

Writing as a God-Given Vocation: Faith Meets Fantasy Fiction

In addition to being a writer myself, I teach writing at a university. On the first day of each new course, I talk to the students about the impact and far-reaching effects of writing. Students are considering their futures, their careers—where they will fit into the world, and how their lives will affect the people they encounter. I point out that if a person wants to change the world for the better, writing is one of the very best ways to do it. All that we know about the ancient world, we know because people wrote things down. We can feel what others have felt, see what they’ve seen, and understand something of their thoughts—all through the wondrous power of the written word to span time and geographic space.

 In John 15:16, Jesus tells His disciples that He chose and appointed them to bear lasting fruit . . . not simply fruit, but fruit that remains. That passage always speaks to me as a writer, because that is precisely what writers do: we produce “fruit” that stays on the page long after we move onward. As the writer of Hebrews says about Abel, who offered his best to the Lord: “through it he, being dead, still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4).

In particular, I love the genre of fantasy, having grown up as an avid fan of The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I am drawn to the universality of fantasy. Because it is so often set in a time and place not our own, we focus as we read on the common ground we can find, on what we share with the characters—the emotions and the themes that are true for all people. Fantasy deals in archetypes; it is often rendered in epic, dramatic scenes that are larger than life. In following its characters through their overwhelming hardships, their struggles against all-but-unbeatable foes, we learn something of how to deal with our own lives. As a Christian, I understand how fantasy can thus be a vehicle for communicating the deepest truths.

Tolkien did this in some wonderful ways. His great story reinforces what the Bible teaches us of the value of striving, of giving the last measure of strength and devotion, of remaining true to a purpose and to the people one holds dear. Even more, The Lord of the Rings strikes dead-center with its portrayals of human weakness, of our absolute need for help from outside ourselves. An important concept for Tolkien was what he called the “eucatastrophe”: the final righting of things, the triumph of goodness despite all probability and expectation. Christian faith is based on eucatastrophe—on God’s sudden unraveling of the black night of death into the glorious light of resurrection—our Lord’s, and ours through Him.

Consider: so much secular fiction presupposes that the notions of good and evil are childish, that a happy ending is unrealistic, and that we are deluded to look for help anywhere but in our own resourcefulness. Our own life experience shows us that the non-believing world doesn’t have the full picture. There is a God in control. We see great evil in the world, but we also feel the supporting hand of a greater Good. Like buckets lowered into deep wells, fantasy stories—with their grand arcs and undiluted emotions, their underlying sense of a Plan—have the freedom to draw up life as it is on its purest levels.

Ironically, in the field of Christian fiction today, the major publishers have rigid guidelines that would prevent a story like Tolkien’s or even like C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia from being accepted for publication. The reasoning is that the fiction should present no premise that is different from reality as established in the Bible. A story cannot include elves, for example, because elves are not part of the created order in Scripture. Therefore, a fantasist who is a believer must decide whether to be a “Christian fantasy” writer or a Christian writing fantasy. Either choice, of course, can be valid and God-pleasing. Personally, I choose the second path and work with secular publishers, since I feel it is ridiculous not to avail ourselves of the rich “storytelling language” of folklore and imagination we have been given. The Bible, after all, mentions sea monsters, giants, gaggles of sorcerers, a witch . . . to be sure, God clearly condemns sorcery; but I believe His Word just as clearly suggests the breadth and mystery of His creation. Even if they contain magical beings, the works of Tolkien and Lewis are among the most truly Christian fiction ever written. There is good news in that the Christian publishing field is beginning a shift toward more flexibility without sacrificing a solid grounding in Christ.

As with anything worth doing, good writing is not always easy. There are times of doubt, struggle, frustration, and rejection. But in the end, there is nothing so exciting as watching a story take shape where none existed before. There is no fulfillment like bringing one’s experience and ability to the Lord and crafting a tale that may entertain and edify readers. Tolkien called this process “subcreation”: it is God Who makes the pieces (the world we perceive, the books we read, the people around us); writers rearrange these elements with His help to tell new stories.

What a blessing it is to hear, sometimes from a stranger, that a story we’ve written has brought joy or encouragement! That’s all part of why I write. And that’s why fantasy is my favorite genre, with its infinite possibilities for conveying the wonder that is the life in Christ.

by Frederic S. Durbin       

Categories
Higher Hymnody

“No Tramp of Soldiers’ Marching Feet”

stanza behold hymn king

by Rev. Randy Asburry

I had never sung this hymn before this week. But now that my kantor has been introducing it to us, I can’t imagine preparing for Holy Week or going through Holy Week without it. The hymn is “No Tramp of Soldiers’ Marching Feet” – #444 in Lutheran Service Book.

The tune, “Kingsfold,” has taken just a bit of effort to nail down for singing, especially because, as my kantor says, my ear wanted to sing something else at a couple of points. But I have come to realize that with sturdy, durable hymns, good things come. Not for those who put little effort into learning their hymns, but for those who do have to put some effort into learning and singing their hymns. Quite often the best and sturdiest hymns and hymn tunes — the ones that stay with you and put spiritual meat on your bones, so to speak — are the ones that take some time and effort to learn!

But back to the hymn itself. Once learned, this tune seems to have both a regal and a marching quality to it. Perfect for Holy Week as we ponder our Lord’s kingly procession into Jerusalem without customary regal fanfare. We can almost hear the tramping feet of soldiers marching to arrest Jesus and deliver Him to Pontius Pilate, and then as we raise the rafters of heaven in the singing of our Lord’s Easter victory.

The truly glorious thing about this hymn is how it immerses us in the humility of Palm Sunday, then takes us through our Lord’s Passion. In the final stanza, elevates us to the genuine victory procession of our Lord’s Resurrection. (By the way, a humble suggestion to any organist, pianist, or keyboardist who plays this hymn: Stanza 4 should be played as regally and triumphantly as possible!) And throughout the hymn, we keep singing of our King of glory and, in each stanza, repeating the words: “Behold, behold your King!”

I find it quite fascinating that each stanza places those words on quite different lips. In stanza 1, the Palm Sunday crowd joyously cries out. It’s the only thing that heralds the King’s coming. As the rest of the stanza says: “No tramp of soldiers’ marching feet” and “No sound of music’s martial beat” and “No bells in triumph ring, No city gates swing open wide.” Our Lord’s Palm Sunday entry is oh so humble.

In stanza 2, it’s the very stones that cry out, “Behold, behold your King,” reminding us of Jesus’ words that if we humans keep quiet, His creation will certainly sing His praises. The children cheer, the palms are strewn along the way, and, most powerful of all, “With every step the cross draws near.” Even if we were to keep silent, or be forced into quietude, the King still receives His due praised for what He has done for our life and salvation.

Then, in stanza 3, the statement “Behold, behold your King!” takes on the ironic note of Pontius Pilate’s utterance as he hands Jesus over to crucifixion. The joys of Palm Sunday have faded. The thorn replaces the bloom and leaf. “The soldiers mock, the rabble cries, The streets with tumult ring.” The cheery joys of Palm Sunday quickly transform into the jeering, chaotic din of Good Friday. What beautiful poetry!

But the genuine climax and meaning of the line come out fully in stanza 4, as “heaven’s rafters ring” and as “all the ransomed host proclaim ‘Behold, behold your King!” The stanza resumes the cry of “Hosanna to the Savior’s name,” but on the other side of the Resurrection. After all, once our Lord rose again, He revealed what it all means. He bore the cross for us mortals, and He took on the servant’s form in order that we may raise the rafters of heaven for all eternity in singing, “Behold, behold your King!”

It’s a great holy week hymn, and I highly recommend learning it, if you haven’t already. It will be well worthy of the time and effort it takes. The pictures and poetry of the text give much to ponder, and you will likely find yourself humming the tune to yourself long after you’ve sung the hymn in church or in your prayers.

Categories
HT Legacy-cast

Episode 10: November 11, 2008

[ download lowfi version ] [ download hifi version ]

Blessed All Saints Day to you! In a special conversion issue, recorded live on Pastor Borghardt’s new Mac, Higher Things will bring you the Gospel in your ears and on your iPod. After opening with a monologue, Pastor Borghardt will interview Rev. Rich Heinz on All Saints Day and what this special festival is all about. He’ll point us to the Gospel as we remember those who have gone before us to be with the Lord. In conclusion Pastor Borghardt will talk to Stan Lemon in Lemon’s Lectionary about the end of the church year as we approach the final Sundays before Advent.

Categories
The Catechized Life

The Catechized Life: The 10 Commandments – Protecting God’s Gifts to You

 

Categories
Catechesis

For You and For All

“Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off,” (Acts 2:38-39).

Whoa there Peter! Better try that again! After all, we Americans are told time and time again by the popular TV, radio, and book pastors that Holy Baptism is a nothing! That Holy Baptism is only for the adults! “The Bible says! The Bible says!” is their never-ending mantra. And yet here you are, Peter, saying just the opposite. And it’s right here in the Bible.

Peter won’t try again. No, do it over for him. He only confesses what the Lord Jesus has taught. Peter doesn’t make things up. No creative, innovative stuff with him. “Make disciples of all nations,” Jesus said, “by baptizing,” (Matthew 28:19). Jesus died for all. Won salvation for all. In Holy Baptism He dishes out the forgiveness of sins salvation stuff that He accomplished on Good Friday.

And so Peter’s invitation. Not to an American Protestant tent-like revival altar call where you give your heart to Jesus. But to the baptismal font! To the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). “Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” In other words, receive this gift from the Lord Jesus. Be given to by the Lord Jesus Himself. Baptism is His gift. His giving. His doing. For whoever is baptized in God’s name is baptized by God Himself.

Who is to be baptized? “Every one of you!” What part of “every” don’t you understand? “Every one of you” leaves no one out! Peter doesn’t discriminate and says that Holy Baptism is only for a few. Jesus died for all. Holy Baptism is for all.

And then the benefits or gifts of Holy Baptism. Check this out! Baptism is not nothing! Peter proclaims quite clearly that this gift is “for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Forgiveness of sins! All your sins! No sins left out of Jesus’ dying for you. So now, no sins not forgiven in Holy Baptism. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Himself promised: “He [the Holy Spirit] will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you,” (John 16:14). Indeed!

And it’s all not just for the adults! Holy Baptism and its magnificent benefits are for the kids too. “For the promise [the promise of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism] is for you and your children, and for all who are far off.” For you! For your children! For all! No age restrictions. It’s all gift. “For you” talk is Gospel talk. Gift talk. Holy Baptism and its benefits are for everyone.

So, are you forgiven? Of course, you are. How do you know that? “Jesus died for me. He rose for me. He put His Name on me in Holy Baptism.” Are you Holy Spirit-filled? Of course! How do you know that? I am baptized in Jesus’ Name! “Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Great stuff Peter! Thanks a ton. Your pastoral care in Acts 2:38-39 is for faith. After all, Jesus promised: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,” (Mark 16:16). So when your conscience, the devil, or the world, accuse you because of your sin, the only reply that counts is faith: “I am baptized! And since I am baptized I have the promise of the forgiveness of all my sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit who is the Lord and giver of life.”

Happy living in your Baptism! In the Name of Jesus.

by The Rev. Brent W. Kuhlman

Categories
News

Reflections for the Eleventh Week after Trinity 2019 Now Available

Higher Things® is pleased to provide free daily devotions, called “Reflections,” for youth and their families.  These Reflections are centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and are based upon each day’s texts from the weekly readings in the one year lectionary and from Luther’s Small Catechism.

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Categories
Catechesis

The Gift of Incense

 

“And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11

“When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” Leviticus 2:1-2

Discussions of using incense in worship always tend to come up much more around The Feast of Our Lord’s Epiphany  (one of the magi’s gifts being frankincense and all). Unfortunately, the discussions are usually missing something. They’re missing something big. They’re missing the gift of incense! They miss how it points to Jesus.

Now, of course, there are many who really, really don’t like incense. Maybe they associate all smoke with the smell of not-so-good smelling smoke. Maybe they have trouble breathing when there is too much incense smoke or countless other reasons. On the other hand, there are people who love the smell of incense, they love burning incense and end up burning too much for the space that they are in and what the ventilation is like. That certainly isn’t very helpful for those who already don’t like incense.

But let’s put all of that aside and assume that everyone can sit (in good health) in a sanctuary where an appropriate amount of incense was burned before the service or during select points of the liturgy (like the singing of Psalm 141). Now what? Why should we use incense?

Here are the answers you usually tend to get: “Shouldn’t church smell like church?” “Incense visualizes our prayer before God.” Along with that, “It’s biblical! The Psalms say, ‘Let my prayer rise before You as incense.’” “No one was ever allergic to incense before – People just don’t like it because they think it’s too Roman Catholic.” I’m sure you’ve heard some of those before. None of those are completely terrible answers but they still miss the gift of incense. Some of them get close but just don’t get to it.

Those answers miss the gift of incense because they have nothing to do with Jesus! If you ask someone why they do what they do during the liturgy and their answer has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus, they’re probably better off not doing it. There are times when incense is burned for the sake of having incense without even a passing thought of what it confesses about Jesus. When incense is burned because that’s how the liturgy is really SUPPOSED to be done, there’s no gift there. No gift at all!

Then comes the Feast of Our Lord’s Epiphany. The magi bring Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We always hear a lot about the gold and myrrh – how they are fitting gifts for Jesus. What about the gift of frankincense?

What was frankincense used for? It was used with sacrifices to make the aroma, the smell, of the sacrifice pleasing to the Lord. Pastors who have studied Biblical Hebrew usually mention that in the Old Testament when God was angry with Israel the text literally talks about His nose burning. The incense was meant to soothe the nose of God so that the Israelites might once again be in His favor.

That’s where the gift of incense lies. The magi bring frankincense to Jesus which point us to why He is born in the first place. He’s born to be the ultimate sacrifice, the final sacrifice, for them, and for you!

So, now what? What purpose does incense serve? How does it point us to Jesus? The gift of incense is that it reminds us that God is angry with His people no more! Incense proclaims that there has been a sacrifice whose aroma was pleasing to God. Jesus, on the cross, taking upon Himself the sin of the world, for you! No longer will God’s nose burn against you because the sweet fragrance of Christ’s sacrifice has soothed it! Jesus has taken the full blow of God’s anger so that you might have forgiveness and everlasting life!

That’s the gift of incense. It’s always pointing to Jesus, who makes you smell good to God! Happy Epiphany!

 

by Jonathan Kohlmeier