Category: Catechesis

Coleman Geraci

“…as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…” – Ephesians 5:25-26

I can offer you no words of wisdom without first offering a confession. I believed a certain lie for a very long time. I believed the church was my possession. I believed it belonged to me. I believed it was there for me to take advantage of—that it owed me. Worse, I believed I could justify myself because I went to a church. I believed I could justify myself even more by contributing to a church, by staking my claim in it, by showing my merit badges as people I brought to it, by performing roles for it in worship and fellowship. But I was wrong.

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ Her Lord. She is the new creation of water and the Word. If I can pass one thing along to you, the church is not something you own. The church belongs to Christ. The church is His Bride. The church is much more than a four-walled building with stained glass and candles. The church is all who are gathered around the Word and Sacrament, all who have been called, gathered, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel—throughout all time and in all places. All who belong to Christ by faith through baptism belong to the church.

You belong to the church, because you belong to Christ. And because you belong to Christ, He gives you Himself in the church. For where the Word is, there is Christ; where Christ is, there is the forgiveness of sins; where the forgiveness of sins is; there is eternal life. The splash of baptism, the taste of bread and wine, the voice of your Shepherd Jesus saying, “It is finished.” There is the church. That church has always been here and will remain until Christ returns. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Find this church and you find your Savior, present in His Word and Sacraments.

You will be challenged with many different things in life, especially as you enter into “the real world,” whether that is going to college or working at a job. All different types of truth claims will challenge you. Though you will wrestle with all sorts of issues, including doubt, fear and sin, they can never take away the truth of the Word given to you in your baptism. You are God’s child, gladly say it, you are baptized. Though the church will appear broken, hopeless, and possibly even corrupt, the church still belongs to Christ through that same baptism. Though the church may seem irrelevant and outdated, Christ, who is eternal and always relevant, is there in her midst. The church is Christ’s church, and as He gave himself up for you on the Cross, so He continues to give Himself to you through her. The church is there for you because He is there for you.

Coleman Geraci is a first year student at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.

Rev. Gaven M. Mize

The thing about the world is that it gets pretty messy. Since the Fall into sin, we have been trying to claim God’s throne for our own. With each sin we are attempting to dethrone the One True God, creating for ourselves the idols that we prefer to worship. From the shut gates of Eden we carried ourselves out into the fallen world to wander and die.

Uplifting, no? Had God left us to the wiles of the evil one and to our own sin, then perhaps it would be rather discouraging. But, He didn’t. He sent His Son, born of a virgin. But why would Jesus come to earth in the first place? With that question the road forks rather abruptly. To the left you may choose the Theology of Glory or to your right you see the Theology of the Cross. And while the path of the Theology of Glory may appear clean, and without thorns, its endpoint is utterly without majesty, for it leads straight to self-righteousness. This path is incompatible with the truth, which is found in the Theology of the Cross. Gerhardt Forde called these two paths, “two different religions.” And they are two different religions, for while the left path will take you to works-righteousness the path to the right explains the present reality of righteousness worked in us by Christ. And this leads us to Paul Gerhardt and to his hymns, which consistently proclaim the Theology of the Cross.

In the parish that I serve, I often use the term “God rolled up His sleeves” to point to two absolute truths: the incarnation (and following that to its completion, the crucifixion) and the resurrection. I use it in the sense that when God took on flesh in Christ He was not standing far off, but He had come to take on the sorrows, pains, and sins of humanity. When we read the Gospel accounts of Christ taking these onto Himself, it becomes a resounding truth that beats in our hearts and trumpets out of our mouths in songs of praise and devotion. Gerhardt knew this well. He was a student and teacher who understood that orthodoxy and orthopraxy (correct belief and practice) were two sides of the same coin. That which we believe, teach, and confess is laid in front of us as we enter into prayer, devotion, and in worship. Gerhardt couldn’t separate piety from the mysteries of Christ, and what Christ has done for us on the cross and from the empty tomb. Gerhardt’s hymns are often paraphrases of what the Word of God stated and, because of this, the proclamation of the Gospel set to music shaped and taught meditation and devotion to the inerrant Word.

Gerhardt also promoted liturgical piety through his hymns. In his hymn, “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You” Gerhardt points to pious preparation of each Advent of Christ (incarnational, sacramental, and eschatological) as well as the overwhelming need for sinners to receive the Savior who has “rolled up His sleeves” to save us. How we would prepare and meet the Savior is a devotional concentration on the holy things of God, which emerges from worship, and permeates into everyday life and the personal exercise of the faith. Gerhardt taught sacramental piety in a way that hit at the heart of what it means to have the old Adam in us drowned, to be reborn, and to be fed with the life-giving Body and Blood of Christ. For Gerhardt, the reality of God’s own absolution in the sacraments was a mystical communication between Christ Himself and the receiver of these means of grace. This union between God and man is directly connected to the blood that was poured out for us on the cross of Calvary. In the second stanza of Gerhardt’s hymn, “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth” he shows that through Christ’s death we are given to fruits of the cross, namely His Body and Blood to eat and drink. The stanza ends with these words: “The wrath and stripes are hard to bear, But by Thy Passion men shall share The fruit of Thy salvation.” That fruit that we sing about is the fruit from the tree of the Second Adam. And so the offering of the Sacrificed Lamb connects us to the Divine and grants us, “…joy beyond all measure.”

When studying Gerhardt’s devotional understanding of scripture it’s not too difficult to see that he was never far from the cross. Gerhardt understood the consolation of the brethren extremely well. He also understood the heart of anthropology as it pertains to the fallen world and the havoc sin has created in our lives, families, and world. For Gerhardt there was one balm for all these ills: that in God taking on flesh in the incarnation, His steps were guided to the cross for our salvation. Gerhardt fleshes this out often in his hymnody. And one stanza that has always struck a chord with me, and with those to whom I have preached this topic, is from “If God Himself Be For Me.”

Who clings with resolution, To Him whom Satan hates,
Must look for persecution; For him the burden waits,
Of mockery, shame, and losses, Heaped on his blameless head;
A thousand plagues and crosses, Will be his daily bread.

This stanza brings to the forefront of our mind the devotion that God has toward us, and since He is for us and has taken on the pain of all pains and suffered all suffering, then surely through His victory on the cross He knows our woes and grants us salvation.

Suffering, illness, persecution, and death are not abstract concepts to our God. He knows them intimately. He knows them because He rolled up His sleeves and went to work earning our salvation. Paul Gerhardt knew this, taught this, and had the amazing ability to communicate in his hymns the human condition, the damnation of sin, the incarnation as compassion, and the crucifixion as atonement. He had his finger on the pulse of the Theology of the Cross. He also knew that from the path of Christ, all merits flowed from His wounds into the font and chalice. And so the hymnist of great compassion would find all consolation in the wounds of Jesus. And he would faithfully proclaim from the reconciliation found in the Means of Grace, that all mankind is comforted and no woe can harm us since God Himself be for us. To put it another way, Gerhardt reminds all forgiven sinners, “Hear! The Conqueror has spoken: “Now the foe, Sin and woe, Death and hell are broken!” God is man, man to deliver, And the Son, Now is one, With our blood forever.”

Rev. Gaven M. Mize serves as pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church, Hickory, North Carolina.

This article appears in the Spring 2016 Issue of Higher Things® Magazine. You can subscribe to the print and online editions at http://higherthings.org/magazine.

Rev. George F. Borghardt

She’s absolutely beautiful to Him—the most beautiful woman in all of creation. She’s perfect in every way: no spots, no wrinkles, no blemishes. There isn’t a single flaw with her. He sees none.

She is His Bride. He is her Bridegroom. He loves her. She is loved by Him. He does all that He does for her. She receives His love and loves Him in return.

He lives for her—completely, totally, and perfectly. Everything He does, He does for her good. He is perfect and counts that righteousness as hers. He is without sin and takes her sins upon Himself.

He doesn’t just love her with words. He loves her with actions. He takes the punishment she deserved before God. He is beaten for her faults. He loves her in the giving up of His life for her. He dies. She lives forever.

He left His mother and Father to save her—completely and totally. He rescues her from all that she’s ever done wrong. He washes her. He forgives her. He nourishes her: His Body to eat and His Blood to drink for the forgiveness of her sins.

In Him, she is a great wonder in heaven. Her wedding dress isn’t just white, she’s “…clothed with the sun, and the moon itself is under her feet” (Revelation 12:1). She shines with the brightness of His light.

He is holy. She is holy in Him. She is perfect. She is forgiven in the blood and water flowing from His pierced side.

The Bride wasn’t always this way. She wasn’t just unfaithful to Him, she was promiscuous. She tried out other bridegrooms. She adorned herself for them instead of for Him. She listened to their whispers about how she could fix things herself, believe in herself, just stay positive and everything would be okay.

The more she ran from Him, the more scandalous she became. No amount of makeup or cream could cover her blemishes. Her outside began to match her insides: trampy and evil.

And yet He still saved her. He washed her. He forgave her. He fed her. He would be her Bridegroom, she would be His Bride. He would hear none of her objections.

She struggled. She fought. Satan chased her—he always chased her. She couldn’t be free from his constant attempts to seduce her and drag her into the death and hell that God made for him, but not for her.

Her Bridegroom calls her holy. She looks at herself and sees only her sin. He calls her His beloved. She sees only her unfaithfulness. He calls her perfect. She sees only her flaws, mistakes, and bad decisions.

On the Last Day, all that happened on their Wedding Day—all that was finally finished on Good Friday—will be shown to have been true for her all along. She has been made holy and pure by the scars on His hands and side. And she will see Him, shining bright in all the glory and light of her gracious Bridegroom God.

Today…she struggles. On the Last Day she will not, ever again. On that Day, He will come for Her. He will rescue her. He will save her from all her enemies, for she has overcome her enemies in the blood of the Lamb and in the Word of all that her Bridegroom did for her.

Jesus is that Bridegroom. The church is His Bride. She isn’t going to be holy only on the Last Day. She is holy today. She isn’t going to be spotless only in eternal life. She is perfect, right now, in His Blood and Body and water and Word. The Last Day isn’t when she becomes what she is. She already is what He finished for her. The Last Day is when she sees the full reality of all that He promised.

The church is beautiful to Jesus—the most beautiful woman in all of creation. She’s perfect in every way to Him: no spots, no wrinkles, no blemishes. There isn’t a fault with her. He sees none. She’s perfect in every way to Him. It will be true on the Last Day. And it is true, now, by faith in the Bridegroom.

God has called you out of darkness
Into His most marv’lous light;
Brought His truth to life within you,
Turned your blindness into sight.
Let your light so shine around you
That God’s name is glorified
And all find fresh hope and purpose
In Christ Jesus crucified. (LSB 646:2)

Rev. George F. Borghardt is the Senior Pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in McHenry, Illinios. He also serves as the president of Higher Things.

Paul Norris

This is a question I pondered recently when a non-denominational friend of mine and I were discussing contemporary music in church and he asked me if I had ever been to a Third Day concert. I replied to him that I had not, and then he proudly proclaimed to me, “You need to go to a Third Day concert. It’s like going to church.” Trying not to offend his sensibilities I quietly responded, “Yeah… I don’t think that going to a Christian rock concert is going to church.” He then asked me, “What is going to church to you?” I quickly responded in standard Lutheran sentiment and fired off, “Word and sacrament.” This answer, of course, makes sense to me, but my friend quickly retorted, “Sacraments are things that people do.” It became clear to me that there were some deep misunderstandings between us about what “church” is really all about, and what the true nature of the sacraments is.

I think a lot of the disconnect happens because the word “sacrament” is so closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church (RC), and often evangelicals have a knee-jerk reaction against it. While this desire to distance themselves from anything RC is understandable, it’s not wholly correct. As it stands right now the RC church has seven sacraments: Communion, Confirmation, Confession, Baptism, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick. However, in Lutheran theology, there are only three: Confession and Absolution, Baptism, and Communion.

I would like to address my friend’s statement that “Sacraments are things that people do” first before I circle around and return to the initial question of “What is church?” It reminded me of a common criticism of the Lutheran faith—that we are somehow “Catholic-lite” and we “do things” (sacraments) in order to earn our salvation. Absolutely nothing about that statement or mindset could be further from the actual truth about the sacraments. We hold the Holy Scriptures to be God’s Word and it clearly says in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we cannot earn salvation through works: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” This we firmly believe.

The sacraments are not about what we, the congregation, are doing. Instead it is centered on what God is doing for us. Our only point of participation in the sacraments—whether it be baptism, absolution, or communion—is to receive the sacrament. In the sacraments, God tangibly touches us here on earth. In Holy Baptism we feel the water and, combined with the Word of God, we receive the forgiveness of sins and are made children of God. In confession and absolution, we confess our sin and, combined with God’s Word, we hear and receive the absolution for our sins from our Savior Jesus Christ. In the Lord’s Supper, with God’s Word spoken and in the real presence of Christ in, with and under the bread and wine, we receive the blessings Christ in the elements.

There is a key component to the sacraments that perhaps you already caught onto here: God’s Word. Without God’s Word, these things—water, absolution, bread and wine—mean nothing. It is only when combined with God’s Word that these things become sacraments. It is not anything the pastor is doing, it is nothing that the congregation is doing, but God, and only God working through His Word.

The Holy Spirit works exclusively through the Word and the Word in the Sacraments to give faith and salvation as we see in Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

I think Romans 10:17 is particularly important because it clearly states that faith is not generated by the person, but rather by the Holy Spirit who generates faith from the very words of Christ. Without the words of Christ preached there can be no faith. It is in the Word and Sacraments that the Holy Spirit delivers all the gifts and treasures of our Lord Jesus, His blood, His righteousness, His forgiveness and eternal life, and all of our joy and comfort and peace.

This is why I have a hard time agreeing with the claim that a Christian rock concert is somehow “church.” True, Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” It does not say where two or more are gathered in my name they are having church. When I pray with my buddies over a Dallas Stars pre-hockey game meal, we are gathered in Christ presence, but we are not having church.

The preaching of the Word and receiving of God’s sacraments is not only an ancient tradition of the church, but an integral part of the Divine Service. The more appropriate translation of the German “Gottesdienst” is “God’s Service,” to us sinners through His Word and sacraments. The bottom line is that there is no substitute for the rightful preaching of God’s Word, and God’s Word alone. Nothing is more comforting and satisfying to us wretched wicked, sinful people than being convicted by the law and then set free and redeemed in Christ by the preaching of His Gospel. This continues when we receive God’s blessings in the sacraments, through which we are brought everlasting comfort.

Paul Norris worked for ten years as a police officer, and now works as an administrative assistant at Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, Texas.

Rev. Gaven Mize

It was cold down there. Or at least I assume it was. From the beginning of time water was meant to sustain life. I know this now. But, I didn’t know it then. Had I even tried to search? Did I even care to look? Had I been aware would I have even sought out that which is so desperately needed? I doubt it. I didn’t even know how to feed myself. Didn’t know how to clean myself, so what hope did I have in saving myself? Rationality wasn’t even on the radar for me. I don’t recall it. But I’m reminded of it daily now.

There I was in the midst of dry bones. There, I hit rock bottom. I was dead. Who, dear God, who could raise these bones? I was damned. I was ruined.

I wasn’t alone in the journey, so to speak. There were many bones that once lay where I lay. Yet, there was no one to be found at the bottom. There was only death there. Who would dare to come keep me company in my worst hour of life? Who would snatch me from within the basin to make me renewed? Who would grant me a life worth not damning? Who?

So, there I was. I was bones in the bottom of the basin. The man in the robes spoke the words and the water was poured over me. But still, there was Someone there that day and in that basin: Christ. While I was dying in the waters of baptism there stood a cross before my eyes, though I couldn’t even think for myself. I died. I died the death of Jesus, yet it was He who brought me out of the water.

And now, having had my bones laid at the bottom of the font, I have been raised to new life. How could water do such wonderful things? But that’s just it; it wasn’t the water alone, but the water with the Word of God and the faith now granted to me that I could trust the very Word and water that put me to death.

Dark was the way, yet Christ preceded me. And now He spreads a table where He feeds me with His Body and His Blood. The hymn is right: “Christ preceded me in this death I have died.” Now a look down on the font as a risen saint of God. And that’s it. I have been resurrected in His resurrection. I’m new.

The bones that laid at the bottom of the font have, because of Christ’s death, grown sinew and muscle. New flesh has been grafted to the once dead body. The horror of it all; the beauty of it all. And now I stand as a forgiven saint and proclaim what has happened and I can’t go to the altar enough, for this new body hungers for the food that the Savior gives—Body and Blood for me that I would have part in Christ.

I was dead. Now, I am alive. I am baptized.

Rev. Gaven M. Mize serves as pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church, Hickory, North Carolina.

Rev. Michael Keith

Amen. That’s a strange way to begin an article isn’t it? That’s how we end something rather than begin, right? Saying “amen” is kind of like adding a period to the end of a sentence. When we say it in church it’s as if we’re saying, “Okay, that’s done, what’s next?”

Except it’s not.

Saying “amen” is so much more. In fact, saying “amen” is a bold confession of faith and trust.

The liturgy of the Church provides us many opportunities to say “amen.” Maybe you haven’t known how important this little word is to us in our life of faith.

The Divine Service begins with the Invocation. The name of God is spoken—the same name that was placed upon us in Holy Baptism. We are reminded that we are God’s forgiven and beloved children and we respond…. “Amen.” You say “amen” because you are confessing that you believe that what Jesus did in and through the waters of Holy Baptism is for you. You are confessing that you believe you are a forgiven and beloved child of God because Jesus has declared you to be so in the waters of Holy Baptism.

Then we kneel at the cross and confess our sin. We confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We say “amen” to God’s righteous verdict that we are sinful and deserve His present and eternal punishment. We don’t deny it. We don’t hide it away. We confess it and lay it at the foot of the cross. “Amen” means “Yes, this is true about me.”

We then lift our eyes to see Jesus speak His absolving Word through His called and ordained servant. We hear that Jesus forgives all our sins. We hear the absolution pronounced to us as if Christ Himself speaks and we say gratefully “amen.” It is true, by the grace of God, it is true, I am forgiven. “Amen.”

We then join our hearts in prayer in the ancient words of the Kyrie, the Gloria in Excelsis and the Collect prayer and make those our prayers by saying “amen” at the end.

After hearing the Word of God read and preached we join in confessing the Christian Faith in the words of one of the ancient Creeds of the Church. We make that confession shared by countless Christians through the centuries our own confession today as we speak it and say “amen.”

We join in the Prayers of the Church and pray for all the people of God and for all people in any need. We make the prayers spoken at the altar by the pastor our prayer as we say “amen.”

When you kneel at the altar and the pastor says to you: “The true body of Christ, given for you” you say “amen” because you believe it! When the pastor says “The true blood of Christ, shed for you” you say “amen” because you believe Jesus did shed His blood for you! And you say “amen” because you believe that in the mystery of the Holy Supper you are receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus! When you are dismissed from the altar with the blessing and told to depart in peace you say “amen” because you believe that you do have peace because God is at peace with you for Jesus’ sake.

At the end of the Service the Benediction is spoken over you and you are again given peace—the peace that comes from knowing that you have been forgiven. The peace that comes from knowing that you are loved. The peace that comes from knowing that Jesus has done all things well for you and that you have been assured eternal life. You say “amen” because you believe the promises of God are for you because Jesus says so!

So, you see, that little word “amen” is not a throw away word. It is not a word that is simply the way we signal the end of a sentence. No! It is a bold word of confidence and trust. It is THE word of faith. Saying “amen” is like shouting “I trust what Jesus says is true! I believe this!”

Jesus says you are forgiven. Jesus says you are a part of the family of God. Jesus says you have eternal life. We may not always understand it. We may not have any special “spiritual” feelings. We may not grasp how the Lord can continue to be so gracious and merciful to sinners like us. But I believe it because Jesus has declared it so. Amen.

Rev. Michael Keith serves as pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church and SML Christian Academy in Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada. He can be reached at keith@st-matthew.com.

Rev. Tim Radkey

“Lead us not into temptation.” This is a petition of the Lord’s Prayer that we pray daily. We pray that the Spirit may lead us away from temptations and prayerfully hope that we will, in God’s power and strength, not be overcome by the temptations we face.

God does make clear that we are all susceptible to the same temptations. God does make clear that He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability. God does make clear that for every temptation, there is an exit provided for the baptized–that we may be able to withstand it (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).

There are three temptations recorded, among the many Jesus faced after His baptism, in St. Luke 4:1-13. The second temptation often captures our attention when thinking about temptation. The devil leads Jesus to Jerusalem. Jesus follows where the devil leads. This is something we must realize only Jesus can do. Our flesh is too weak to follow the devil where he leads and come away unstained by sin. Sadly, the devil’s voice sounds very familiar–like our own–and sometimes we cannot distinguish between the two. This is most certainly true for us. This is most certainly not true of Jesus.

Origen was an early church father from the 3rd century. He speaks to Jesus’ following the devil to be tempted. What he says about Jesus is something we could never say about ourselves. Jesus is able to face temptation in a way we never could, for we are sinful and He is sinless.

Origen describes Jesus’ strength in this way, “Lead on where you will. Test me as it pleases you. I give myself willingly to be tried. I endure what you bring against me. I offer myself for any of your temptations. You will find that I am stronger in every way.” Jesus is able to face and conquer any temptation of the devil. In the cross Jesus demonstrates His ability to conquer the effects of sin, death, and the devil upon the world. The words of Origen are not a call for us to sturdy ourselves to take on the devil; rather, these words remind us we are not Jesus and we are left to cling solely to the cross of Christ and His resurrection on our behalf. Our strength against temptation is our baptism into Christ and Jesus’ absolution and body and blood given us to eat and drink. These gifts give to us Jesus’ victory over the devil, temptation, and sin.

“Lead us not into temptation.” This is the prayer Jesus gives us to pray. May we continue to pray this prayer and always look for the escape God has provided from the temptations we face. Lord, in Your mercy forgive, strengthen, save, and deliver us from all evil and when we fall prey to temptation, may Your Spirit lead us to turn from our sins to the forgiveness Your cross delivers to sinners.

Rev. Tim Radkey serves at Our Savior Lutheran Church, McKinney Texas.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard

Repentance. Metanoia. Literally it means, “a change of thinking.” A change of heart. Repentance is what brings you to Holy Baptism. “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” proclaims St. Peter (Acts 2:38). But repentance isn’t just to prepare you for baptism; it’s also for the baptized when they fall into sins. Repentance is life for a Christian.

Now, strictly speaking, repentance consists of two parts. One part is contrition, that is, terrors striking the conscience through the knowledge of sin. The other part is faith, which is born of the Gospel or the Absolution and believes that for Christ’s sake, sins are forgiven. It comforts the conscience and delivers it from terror (Augsburg Confession XII.3-5).

The first part of repentance is contrition. Sorrow over sin. This doesn’t necessarily mean overwhelming emotions and that you’re reduced to tears because of how horrible you are. It’s the knowledge of sin, to know that even your most righteous works are nothing before God. It’s a change of thinking.

But if you are left wallowing in your sin, you have not yet repented. The second part of repentance is faith that is born of the Gospel–the forgiveness of sins. It’s comfort for a terrified conscience. Faith completes repentance. It isn’t just faith in general, but faith that your sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. Repentance and forgiveness always go together. Our Lord makes doubly sure when He says, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem (Luke 24:27).

Repentance. Two parts: contrition and faith. Then good works are bound to follow, which are the fruit of repentance (Augsburg Confession XII.6). Notice that good works and the fruits of faith are not, properly speaking, a part of repentance. Your work neither begins nor completes your repentance. Repentance is God’s work. He works contrition; He works faith. And, therefore, good works–the fruit that repentance bears–are likewise not your works, but the work of God. He renews your heart and gives you the mind of Christ, who emptied Himself, became a servant, humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross–and God raised Him up to glory (Philippians 2:5-11).

Repentance. Metanoia. A new way of thinking. The rhythm of the Christian life. Contrition and faith. Confession and absolution. Death and resurrection.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, Missouri. He can be contacted at pastor.ehrhard@gmail.com.

Rev. Dr. Jonathan Charles Naumann

“Unless I see…I will not believe” was the notorious position of Doubting Thomas (John 20:25). Yet, such a stance is more popular now than ever. “Seeing is believing” has taken the place of traditional faith that, is “drawn to the love of those things which are not seen.”

Yet, Jesus’ reply to Thomas was, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Among the reasons why Christ would say such a thing, is the fact that God values faith (belief) so highly, that He is unwilling to reveal Himself in a way that would render faith unnecessary. With regard to human beings, our trust in His word is as important to God as our free will was, when He first created us.

Hence what theologians call the Deus absconditus–the way God chooses to hide Himself from our physical senses–so that faith in Him can be necessary. God does this in many ways.

God has so ordered the universe, that the miracle of its existence is hidden beneath a veil of material causation–so much so, that many a scientist fails to see His divine hand at work in it. He has so ordered the human body, so that the divinely revealed “soul/spirit”‘ in us is hidden. For example, a soul does not need an optic nerve to see (Luke 16:23). Blind people, during NDEs (near death experiences) report enjoying 20-20 vision, while their soul was separated from their defective body. Yet, the soul is normally required to make use of faulty biological mechanisms, like the brain, effectively hiding the miracle of God in what appears to be material functionality.

The single most complex entity in the known universe is the human being in general and the human brain in particular. Yet, however bafflingly amazing the human being is, unbelievers from Charles Darwin to Richard Dawkins still attempt to explain us in purely materialistic terms.

The most momentous example of God hiding His glory from our senses is the wonder of His almighty, eternal Son in the flesh. John Wesley famously described the incarnation with the words “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity.” Yet, having people see the Son of the Living God looking like an ordinary Jewish guy is not exceptional for God. Rather, it is the norm. Above all, this strategy was necessary or else Christ would not have been sacrificed for our redemption. “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8).

And so it goes; God’s Word and sacraments, like our crucified and risen Savior, are so easily despised and scorned, yet so full of miraculous power to save those who believe (Romans 1:16). Luther once said of Holy Baptism: “All that the mortal eye beholds is water as we pour it. Before the eye of faith unfolds the power of Jesus’ merit” (LSB 406).

Let us pray. Father in Heaven, in many ways, You veil much from human eyes, that would render faith unnecessary. We thank You that faith can include the precious and comforting gifts of assurance and conviction about the reality of things ‘not seen’, through the power of Your Spirit working through Your word and sacraments. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Jonathan Charles Naumann, lives in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. He was a career missionary who served in Great Britain.

Karina Pellegrini

In the garden of Eden, a perfect place teeming with life, the man and woman walked: pure, unashamed and content. Lucifer waited in the trees, disguised as a serpent. So soon after man’s creation, Satan was prepared to deceive and cause their death and separation from God. Satan’s master plan was death and hell for all humans–the damning of the entire earth and for God’s creation to fail. Cunningly and smoothly, he coaxed the woman closer to the fruit.

Satan knew that if the woman ate of the tree, she would die. In doing so, she would end her race and damn herself and her husband to hell. As they ate of the fruit, Satan was certain his plan worked. As their eyes were opened, they experienced shame at their nakedness, and shame for their actions. They became preoccupied with only self, being like God in the way that they now knew good and evil.

When God found them hiding in the garden, His kindness and mercy shone in full force. Our Creator was patient and loving towards His creation, which was still so new and young. Asking them three separate questions, He extracted the truth, that His beloved creation had been tempted and sinned against Him.

Turning to the Serpent, God cursed him, “Curse are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.”

God then disciplined the man and the woman. Pain was first mentioned in Genesis 3:16, when God told the woman, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe, with painful labor you will give birth to children.”

To the man, God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.”

But the story didn’t end there. God did not abandon His creation nor did His love ever waver. Satan’s plan did not account for the immense love God has for His creation and His willingness to sacrifice Himself for our salvation from death and hell.

From God there came a redeeming promise (Genesis 3:15): the restoration of Eve’s womb for life and not death. Before God spoke to His now-sinful creation, He said to the Serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

Through Eve’s womb now held a piece of the promise of salvation. From her womb would come the Savior of the world–the one who would carry the burden of the sins of every person to ever live, who would redeem our fallen race from the clutches of Satan and carry us to Heaven to be with Him forever. Amen. Yes, yes, it shall be so!

Karina Pellegrini is a member at Messiah Lutheran Church in Marysville, Washington.