Category: Catechesis

The Mississippi River isn’t exactly what you would call “clean.” Its waters are murky, muddy, and filled with all kinds of things that are just better left to the imagination. It’s not the kind of river that invites swimming or eating its fish. This summer we really got to see these murky, muddy waters up close and personal as water levels rose far above normal flood stage. We also got our first taste of sand-bagging, as we desperately tried to keep the floodwater from overtaking our town’s water pump. Fortunately for us, we live upon a bluff, far out of the danger zone. But we know plenty of people whose homes and fields were destroyed. One thing is for sure, wherever the water went it left behind an appetizing(!) trail of silt, dead fish, and driftwood.

Contrast this with the crystal clear waters of Holy Baptism. Here is a flood of a completely different sort, one in which the filthy darkness of sin is engulfed and covered by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. It is a cleansing flood, one that takes away all the disgusting filth of sin, and leaves in its path a trail of faith and good works.

Like the flood of Genesis, and to some extent like the flood of 2008 on the Mississippi, Holy Baptism has both a destructive and a saving element to it. It both destroys and drowns the Old Adam with all of its sinful desires, and it brings forth a new creation, an entirely New Man within the sinner. New life springs forth where there was only death before. By this saving flood, sinners are made saints; children of the devil become children of God; hearts of stone are replaced with hearts of flesh.

There is nothing dirty or murky about the waters of Holy Baptism. The Prophet Ezekiel calls it “clean water” (Ezek 36:25 ESV). The writer to the Hebrews says that our hearts have been “sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22 ESV). In Revelation 22, John refers to Holy Baptism as the “river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb” (Rev. 22:1 ESV.) What makes Holy Baptism “clean,” “pure,” and “bright as crystal”? What gives it the power to clean up the mess of sin, and to remove an evil and sin-stained conscience? What else but the blood of Christ Jesus, shed on the cross on behalf of sinners.

Have you ever tried to clean a window with dirty water? It doesn’t work very well, does it? It leaves even more smudges and stains than there were before. That’s what happens when we try to clean up our mess of sin by our own efforts. It just makes things worse. Even our best and most concerted efforts and intentions are stained with sin, as the Apostle Paul even complains: “When I want to do right, evil lies close at hand” (Rom 7:21 ESV).

God does not use dirty water to make us clean or to give us a clean conscience. He uses only the purest, cleanest, freshest water that there is: “the washing of water with the word.” (Eph 5:26 ESV)

by the Rev. Paul L. Beisel

Teenage readers of Higher Things may not remember a time before chanted services, especially if your pastor graduated from the seminary within the last 15 years. Even the youngest of us pastors and parents, on the other hand, can recall a time when fully chanted services were almost non-existent in Lutheran churches. Chanted psalms and prayers were virtually unheard of. That’s not to say that there was no singing. The congregation sang hymns and liturgical responses, but in the majority of congregations, the pastor spoke all of his parts, in part because only the responses were set to music in The Lutheran Hymnal (1941).

Now known by many as the “old” hymnal, Lutheran Worship (1982) made strides to re-introduce chanting in the early eighties, and since then congregations have grown more and more accustomed to the practice, though many still see chanting, like making the sign of the cross, as verboten (forbidden) for Lutherans. Lutheran Service Book (2006) has continued and in many ways expanded what was begun in Lutheran Worship, providing chants for the pastor, chant tones for the Psalms and for the prayers in the Divine Service and Daily Prayer Offices. Now it is not uncommon, especially at Higher Things Conferences, to hear the pastor chant not only his parts of the service, but the Collects, Psalm verses, and in some places even the lessons.

It is hard to say with any precision why the Lutheran Church has seen such a resurgence of chanting in America in recent years. Perhaps one of the easiest explanations for it is a simple fact that we can. God’s Word neither commands nor forbids the chanting of prayers, psalms, or other parts of the Christian service. There is certainly nothing unbiblical about it. Throughout the centuries Christians have joyfully chanted Psalms and Hymns, following the advice of the blessed Apostle St. Paul to the Colossians: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). Early Christians were not doing anything new when they sang psalms and hymns during the service but were doing what believers had always done.

Another likely reason for the return to chanting among us is the realization that chanting no more makes one a Roman Catholic than does reading the Epistle or the Gospel in the Church. When Protestant Christianity made its way into the New World, it did not leave its anti-Catholic sentiments behind. Following the lead of their Puritanical neighbors, many of our Lutheran ancestors who came to North America utterly rejected anything that resembled a Catholic service, including chanting.

Happily, there were a few Lutherans who escaped this prejudice, like C.F.W. Walther, the first president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Walther refused to let criticism of chanting by Lutheran pastors stand, writing in Der Lutheraner (pre-cursor to the Lutheran Witness): “If you insist upon calling every element in the Divine Service “Romish” that has been used by the Roman Catholic Church, it must follow that the reading of the Epistle and Gospel is also “Romish”; Indeed, it is mischief to sing or preach in church, for the Roman Church has done this also…”

Lutherans who are opposed to chanting might be surprised to hear that several of the chants used in our services today were composed by Luther himself. Like many theologians and pastors before him, Luther understood the gift that God had given in music, echoing the long-held belief that “next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.” If your pastor chants the Words of Institution during the Communion service, you can thank not Rome, but Luther.

The common practice of Luther’s day was for the Words of Christ to be said inaudibly by the priest, and Luther believed that the whole church should hear those words. And what better way to make them heard than to set them to music? So it was Luther who arranged the chant that is commonly used for Christ’s words instituting the Sacrament of the Altar. Not only did Luther compose chants for the Words of Institution, he did so also for the Epistle and Gospel readings, and allowed for the Creed to be sung as well in his Deutsche Messe (German Mass). No one can say that Luther was opposed to chanting.

Is chanting absolutely necessary for a valid celebration of the Lord’s Supper, or is it somehow more pleasing to God than speaking? Not at all! There are a time and a place for both in Christian worship. Whether you chant or speak God’s Word or prayers to God, what matters above all is faith. Chanting does not make one any more of a Christian than anyone else, or any less of one for that matter. There are, however, several advantages to chanting that pastors and congregations are beginning once again to acknowledge. Some of these are explained by Rev. David Petersen in the Liturgy and Hymns booklet for a 2003 Higher Things Conference: “Chanting is meant to make the words more distinct and easier to hear. It also lends beauty to the service. It helps to set Divine Words apart from the everyday, secular words, and ceremonies. The music is deliberately simple. It is intended to carry the words, not to interpret them. That is part of what distinguished chanting from singing” (p. 4).

Furthermore, chanting helps the congregation slow down and recite Psalms in unison, rather than having three or four people at the end of the psalm while the rest are still in the middle. Chanting also tends to be easier on the pastor’s voice and makes it easier for one to project. Chanting also aids in the learning process. Think of all the song lyrics you know. I’ll bet it is easier to recall those lyrics when you sing them than when you just try to speak them. It is the same with Holy Scripture. Set it to music, and suddenly you just made it that much easier to remember it!

Inevitably you will have this experience at some point in your life: you bring a friend to church and after the service, he or she says to you, “Why did your pastor sing everything? Isn’t that what Catholics do?” To which you can respond: “Yes. So is reading the Epistle and Gospel, singing, preaching, and praying.” And then, if you really want to sound intelligent, you can say in the (incorrectly quoted) words of St. Augustine: “He who sings prays twice.” Happy chanting!

by The Rev. Paul L. Beisel

Have you ever wondered if you might have sinned so much, or in such a way, that God’s forgiveness in Christ Jesus would no longer apply to you? If you have, what have you turned to for confident answers? It is not uncommon for Christians who have been battling nagging sins that trouble to wonder if they might be running out of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Is there an end to God’s forgiveness? Can a Christian sin so persistently that God would lose his patience and withhold his forgiveness? Can we reach a point when our sinning becomes unforgivable? Indeed, is there such a thing as an unforgivable sin? Anxious sinners who see alarming sins sticking to their lives, desperately want to know the answers to these questions. Do you know someone like this? Are you one of them?

Let’s ponder what the Scriptures tell us about God’s forgiveness in Christ Jesus and hold fast to what they tell us despite how we may be inclined to feel at times. Notice how comprehensively Paul describes the saving work of Christ in II Corinthians 5:19: in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. . .

Notice how Paul describes the who and what is included in the saving work of Christ. The who is the whole world of sinners and the what is described as simply their trespasses. Paul’s words are categorical and provide for no exceptions. Christ forgives all the trespasses of the whole world of sinners. He does not say that some have their trespasses forgiven, nor does he indicate that only some trespasses are forgiven. It is as simple as that: all sins of everyone are forgiven through the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus. The same point is made with different wording by the Apostle in Romans 5, and this language maybe even more helpful to those Christians who may have questions about the magnitude of their sinfulness. Paul states: . . . where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more (Rom 5:20). Christians alarmed about their sins may take comfort in these words of the Apostle. If you see your sins abounding more and more through the accusing finger of the Law, you can be assured by the Word of God that grace is abounding all that much more – big sins, small sins, infrequent sins, habitual sins, all sins, period. The riches of God’s grace will always outstrip the magnitude of your sins.

Let’s carry the matter further. Some sensitive Christians may be alarmed over the question: Yes. Jesus forgives all my sins, but have I separated myself from his forgiveness by the way I am living my life? Perhaps some may recall that the famous actor, George C. Scott won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the 1970 movie. Patton. Perhaps, less remembered is the fact that Scott refused the Oscar. Objectively the Oscar exists and it is his, but Scott has chosen to live separate from it. Tragically, while everyone is forgiven in Christ Jesus, many do not live with it through faith. Sinners receive and live with the forgiveness of Christ through a faith that is created and sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit through the power of the Gospel (Rom. 1:16, 10:17). Can the sinfulness of your life put your faith in Christ at risk? Perhaps. God makes our sinful hearts hungry and ready to receive his forgiveness and strengthen our faith again and again through the Gospel by fashioning and maintaining a repentant heart by the accusing work of his Law. It is why we need the ministry of his Law as well as the Gospel continually in our Christian walk of faith. It makes a soft heart hungry for his healing, restoring forgiveness.

Satan, however, is always about trying to turn Christ’s forgiveness into a license for sin, rather than a remedy for sin. (see Romans 6:1-11) When we become uncaring about our sins; when habitual sins no longer bother us; when we no longer struggle against them; then, God’s Law is blunted, our hearts become hardened, and we refuse to feed on the Gospel. As a result of not feeding on God’s Word of forgiveness, faith is weakened, the Holy Spirit is grieved, and we are in peril of having our trust in Christ’s forgiveness snuffed out by unrepentant indifference. In this sense, the Church has spoken of the unforgivable sin.

The unforgivable sin is not the absence of forgiveness, but rather like George C. Scott and his Oscar, it is the refusal of forgiveness. It is not unforgivable because Christ did not die for such a sin; it is unforgivable because it is the separation of the self from His forgiveness. Such is the condition of all who have died without faith in the forgiveness of Christ and are now in Hell. It is not that they were bigger or more despicable sinners; it is that they refused to live with Christ’s forgiveness through faith.

But now, you ask: Am I committing the unforgivable sin? You want to know if your nagging, habitual, nasty sins are destroying your faith and ultimately working to grieve the Holy Spirit and separate you from Christ’s forgiveness. You can take your measurements on this very important question in the following way. If you are bored by this topic, if you don’t care about the matter of your sins and God’s forgiveness, if you think that you have a great arrangement, loving to sin so much while God loves to forgive so much . . . then, the answer is Yes! You probably are in danger of committing the unforgivable sin. You need to repent of your indifference, your mocking of God, and your smugness; and then you need to feed on his forgiveness, not simply presume it.

However, if you are alarmed about your sins and the threat of them choking off your faith and appetite for the forgiveness of Christ, you need not be. If you are longing to have and live with the grace of our Lord, be assured; you have it securely. If you desire the mercy of God while your sins bother you – regardless of the continuing presence of nagging sins – be assured your faith-life is healthy and you, like St. Paul may gloriously consider yourself chief of sinners. If these things shape your attitudes and concerns, be assured, you are not committing the unforgivable sin. We live by grace, not getting rid of our sins. While we are called to smash, bash, and trash the old sinful nature in all of us, there is no ridding ourselves of that old Adam until we enter glory. It is not the presence of persistent sin, but the absence of faith that separates us from the graciousness of God in Christ Jesus. The forgiveness of Christ saves because it covers our sins, not because it removes them. And let me encourage you to cling to God’s objective Word of forgiveness as it comes to you through Holy Absolution, through its objective presentation to you in sermon and lesson, and through the body and blood of Jesus in His Holy Supper. As sinners, we live as by grace, or we just do not live at all. But thanks be to God, Who has called us to a faith in that forgiveness by Christ Jesus . . . we live by grace!

by The Rev. Dr. Steven Hein

by The Rev. Richard Heinz

A few years ago, a dear friend of our family moved to Delaware, Ohio. She shares our love of tea.  To make a long story short, she and her daughter discovered a little cottage where afternoon tea was served.

Now, tea rooms usually have an assortment of loose teas that brew in the pot and are poured through a strainer into your cup.  This little shop, however, had a specialty blend – one that we always selected – no need to waste time with the other choices.  The Apple Tree Cottage’s special tea was Cinnamon-Vanilla.

Soothing.  Calming.  A delightfully mellowing way to relax, sipping cinnamon-vanilla tea and tasting some great sandwiches, pastries, and desserts.  We had to take some home!

We were pleased to be able to buy some sachets of it, and have since shared it with other friends.  Emma and Brian were over one evening when we served this delightful hot beverage.  That night Emma first called it “comfort in a cup.”

How true!  This amazing mixture of sweet and spicy was truly comforting.  Yes, comfort in a cup!

Yet as I think of it some more, as much as I enjoy this amazing treat, there is another cup that is far more comforting!  Saint Ignatius, the first-century pastor and bishop of Antioch, called it the “medicine of immortality.”  Jesus said: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54 ESV)  Saint Paul reminds us why: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?”  (1 Corinthians 10:16 ESV)

Jesus gives you the true “comfort in a cup” as He pours out His blood, shed on the cross for you. He quenches your thirst with the fruit of the True Vine, which spilled from His veins and sacred wounds. This precious lifeblood removes all fear and guilt over your sin, as He feeds you forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Some will warn against this precious Sacrament if you are feeling weak or ill-prepared.  Yet when you are troubled by your sin and doubt, feeling weak in your faith and weary of this world, it is precisely the time to be drawn to our Savior’s holy altar and receive His saving feast!  This is the hour that you most desperately need to be nourished and sustained – and comforted!

Our Lord Jesus bids you come to His Table, to taste and see that the Lord is good!  He desires that you in your weakness would be filled with His strength, as He gives it in His Most Precious Sacrament.

The body of God’s Lamb we eat,

A priestly food and priestly meat;

On sin-parched lips, the chalice pours

His quenching blood that life restores.  LSB 624, stanza 6

Kristi and I still enjoy the soothing simple joys of tea, especially our cinnamon-vanilla blend. But far more central to our lives in His grace is the best and truest “comfort in a cup” – the true Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

by The Rev. Rich Heinz

The commercial begins with a racing, horse-drawn coach. The white horses gallop toward the home where the children are sleeping, while parents are online, discovering that there is an affordable vacation package for them. The excitement rushes through your veins as you begin to think, “Maybe there is a great bargain for me, too!” and you check out the Disney website.

In recent years, an advertising slogan has emphasized Walt Disney’s remarks from the opening day of Disneyland, collectively referring to the Disney parks as “The Happiest Place on Earth.” But are they? Are you truly happier there than any other place on the planet?

There is a certain rush as you go through the gate, and enter Main Street, USA. The excitement builds as you stop for your first “must-have” photo with the castle in the background. Your week continues to place one treat on top of another, as you receive excellent service, happy pampering, and continuous smiles and courtesy in shows and on rides.

Yes, Disney provides an amazingly high level of service and leisure. In many ways, most people would agree that it is the happiest place on earth. But let’s take a moment to ponder that thought.

As we approach All Saints Day, we are reminded of our heavenly future with the Lord. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:15-17 ESV).

Christians have this wonderful promise of a blessed eternity with the Lord. And yet it’s not only a future promise; Christ blesses you even now to enjoy a foretaste of this feast to come. Every time you gather around His altar and our Savior places His holy Body on your tongue and quenches your thirst with His most precious Blood, He truly comes to you! He brings a bit of heaven here and now so that our holy God touches you. Heaven intersects earth! In every chancel where Jesus delivers Himself, an amazing and wondrous event happens. Oh! That your eyes could actually see the miracle taking place! Jesus Christ is bringing the throne of Most High God to your parish altar. The Lamb of God who is slain and risen feeds and gives drink to His great multitude that no one could number (Rev. 7:9 ESV).

So, as dear Dr. Luther would ask: “What does this mean?” It means that there is not one single place elevated among all others as the happiest place on earth. Actually, there are thousands upon thousands of “happiest places on earth” on any given day. Every altar on which our Lord Jesus becomes incarnate in bread and wine becomes the happiest place on earth. Wherever our Lord celebrates His Holy Eucharist, preaching His Gospel in your ears and placing His Body and Blood in your mouths becomes the happiest place on earth for you!

For a Disney fanatic like me, this really gives some food for thought. As beloved as my family’s favorite vacation spot is, we are given perspective by our loving Savior. Every Lord’s Day He reminds us: THIS is the happiest place on earth!

by Jonathan Kohlmeier

This world isn’t very peaceful is it? You are always hearing about hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, flooding and other natural disasters. The news is plagued with stories of tragic accidents, homicides, suicides, rape, or the constant slandering of public officials. Just viewing the world from the outside can show that it is not a peaceful place. In fact, all the evil may even lead one to become extremely depressed.

But it doesn’t stop there, does it? The violent attacks of sin, death and the devil don’t just stay “out there;” they hit close to home. You don’t do as well as you know you should in school. Your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you. Your parents go through an ugly divorce. A friend is killed in a car accident. You lose your own house to a natural disaster. You finally get up the courage to ask that special girl out – only to be turned down. You cry when you find out that the guy who you have liked for as long as you can remember changes his Facebook relationship status to “In a relationship.” That peace thing… it seems like a distant memory, if not some old fairy tale. How can there possibly be any peace in a world like this?

Depressed. That’s where it leaves us; in a dark hole that we have no hope of ever getting out of. Hopeless. Depressed with no reason left to go on.

“Now, wait a second Jon. That can’t be right. We’re still going on, sometimes even with a little happiness in our lives.”

Unfortunately, that IS all the world offers to you. That’s all you can achieve on your own. Left to yourself, you are just “going on,” but empty and void of peace.

But, there is hope! You are baptized!

Christ says in Matthew 11, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” His yoke is easy and His burden light because He bares them for you! He takes all the evil and sin of the world onto Himself and leaves you with rest and peace. And in John 14 his promise of peace is heard, “Peace I leave with you; My Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

The above passages are two of the recommended readings for the Order of Compline (LSB p.253), a beautiful prayer service for use at the close of the day. An overriding theme is peace, both throughout the night and at the end of our lives. In fact the first line is, “The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and peace at the last. Amen.” Psalm 4, which is historically chanted during Compline, ends by saying, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

This sure peace that we are given comes from the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was first given to you at your baptism! You are washed clean of all sin! The devil has no power over you! You are no longer of this world! You are of Christ! Therefore you have hope and you have that peace of God which passes all human understanding.

This sure peace is granted to you in Holy Absolution. Those sins that you have committed in thought, word and deed by no fault but your own have been pardoned, forgiven and absolved. The full price was paid by Christ’s Death.

This sure peace is granted to you at the Lord’s Supper. That peace enters your mouth in the Body and Blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and the wine. It is given to you for the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. Not some forgiveness and everlasting life to come later; but In Christ you have forgiveness and everlasting life now!

Now violence, depression and death will always be a part of this world. But, you are baptized! You have hope and peace even amidst all the evil of this world. You can repeat another of the readings from Compline in full confidence. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

“Guide us waking O Lord, and guard us sleeping,

that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace. Amen.”

Pax Christi.

by The Rev. Jonathan Naumann

As we recently contemplated during Christmastime, the Gospel of St. John says, “[Christ] was in the world, . . . the world did not recognize Him” (John 1:10). Unfortunately, even when Jesus walked the earth in human form, many people failed to “see God”.   Also today, it is a sad reality that many people do not understand God’s plan  of salvation properly.

In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul was inspired to write:   “I pray . . . that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).

God’s Word tells us that the ability to see with the heart comes from God who pours into our hearts the gift of faith. And an instrument God’s Holy Spirit uses to accomplish that is the Bible. “Faith comes by hearing the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

To encourage our faith, Holy Scripture gives us examples of human beings who had “hearts that see”. Remember Simeon and Anna, a righteous and devout pair who were among the first in Jerusalem to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah even while He was still a baby.  We are told that they waited patiently year after year for the consolation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem. Simeon and Anna had been seeing their Savior, through faith, for years.  On that very special day, however, when He was brought as an infant to the temple, they saw Him with their eyes.

True seeing takes place in the heart – through faith.  Faith in our hearts can see further than our physical surroundings.  Faith can see all the way through this life to the eternal promises of God.  That precious gift of “inner sight” – our faith – which we receive from God, produces a hope that works for today!  It works for us in the real world of pain and problems, struggle and mess, in which we must live and function.

That heaven-sent hope says, with the voice of God, “Remember, you are holy and blameless in my sight.”  (Ephesians 1:4) Knowing that God sees us with a heart of love gives us all the reassurance we need to make it through today.  When He gives us the faith to believe it, we see with our heart that He loves and forgives us.  For when God looks at you and me with His heart, He always looks at us in mercy, for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ.  If God were to look at us the other way, through His Law rather than His Gospel, it would be better for us NOT to be found!

Epiphany reminds us again to look with our hearts:  to “look where your treasure is – for there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).  The Magi saw a star in the sky, but their hearts saw a new born king, so they ventured on a long journey to a foreign country (Matthew 2:1-2).  Shepherds saw angels in a starry sky, but their hearts saw the fulfillment of a long awaited promise.  Two new parents saw midnight feedings, sleepless nights, and diapers, but their hearts saw Immanuel – “God with us”.

Today we can think of beliefs and objects of faith that cannot be seen but are nonetheless true:  We can’t see Baptism’s water and Word washing away sin and breaking the hold of the devil; we can’t see the old Adam die and the new Adam arise; we can’t see the body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.  We can’t see God with us always; we can’t see Jesus carrying our sins and defeating the Devil.  We can’t see the Holy Spirit giving the gift of faith and interceding with sighs too deep for words. We can’t see heaven’s angels protecting and defending.  Yet all these things are true.  God is doing His work, according to His Word.

Though our physical eyes don’t see, we Christians believe these promises from God.  We know they are true because He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  Yes, thanks be to God!  He has given us a spiritual vision, – a “heart that sees.”

by Rev. William C. Cwirla

From the moment of our birth, God places us in an order. We have a father and a mother who have begotten and birthed us. Even if we have been adopted or have stepfathers or mothers, God has set us into the holy order of a household as children under the authority of our parents.

This is the very heart of the 4th commandment. ” Honor your father and your mother.” Out of fear and love of God we should not despise or anger our fathers and mothers, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them. Father and mother are God’s deputies; they share a verb normally reserved for the Lord alone: to honor. Their rules are God’s law for us. This is why the apostle Paul warns fathers not to exasperate their children. Don’t frustrate them with endless, useless rules, which will only make them worse and teach them to despise God’s Law.

Rather parents, with fathers at the head, are to bring up their children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord. This begins with bringing their child to Baptism, where the life of being a disciple of Jesus begins. It means bringing the kids to church, teaching them how to sit still in the pews, how to use the hymnal, how to hear and speak and sing with your fellow believers. It means involving the children in devotions at home, teaching them the Scriptures and the catechism, confessing and forgiving each other, and training them to live as God’s free and forgiven children.

Parents are for our blessing, even though it may not always seem that way, especially when we as children don’t get what we want. They protect us, provide for us, nurture us, and mentor us into adulthood. The apostle Paul reminds us that this commandment is the first one that contains a promise: “…that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

While obedience to parents doesn’t necessarily increase your life span, life does tend to go a lot better when you live at peace within the order God places you. You don’t get into trouble with your teachers. You don’t run afoul of the government and wind up in jail. You aren’t a nuisance to your neighbors. In short, you become a good citizen, member of the household, and congregation member.

Our problem is that we have this old Adam, our inborn “brat” who doesn’t want to be under anyone’s authority and even despises father and mother. Our old Adam is why we act up at home and in school, why we don’t help with the dishes or clean our rooms or come home at the appointed hour or don’t listen with respect to our parents. The Old Adam is why we resent their place in our lives. God’s order of the household is intended to reign in that old brat of ours.

Like the Law itself, parents are a curb, a mirror, and a guide. They curb the effects of sin with curfews, rules, and expectations. They show us where we have fallen short of the glory of God and how we have failed to live up to standards. They guide and instruct us into adulthood, apprenticing us, and teaching us by example. This literally kills our old brat, Adam, and that’s precisely what’s supposed to happen. Daily we die to sin; daily we rise to new life in Christ, until we attain full maturity in Christ (Ephesians 4).

The evangelist St. Luke tells us that Jesus, as a 12-year-old young man, was obedient to his parents, Mary and Joseph, and lived under their authority in Nazareth (Luke 2). Imagine that. The Son of God in the flesh, the second Person of the eternal holy Trinity, lived in the household of Mary and Joseph under their authority and was obedient to them. He did this for us and for our salvation. He did this to redeem our broken homes by His obedience, suffering and death. He became the obedient child for us all, so that in Him, our lives might again be ordered as God’s children, and we would receive the gift of an ordered household as God’s good and gracious gift to us.

Where sin has disrupted the holy order between parent and child, Christ brings forgiveness and reconciliation. Where we have sinned against one another, confess to one another and forgive one another as you have been forgiven in Jesus.

Gracious Father, bless our homes with ordered peace. Bless fathers and mothers in their holy vocations of raising their children in Your nurture and instruction. Bless children in their vocations as they apprentice to adulthood and train to form their own households. Bring healing and forgiveness to homes that are broken by sin, and turn the hearts of parents to their children and children to their parents, for the sake of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus. Amen.

Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California.

by Rev. William M. Cwirla

For this special edition of Dare to be Lutheran, we’re going to take a quantum leap to the sixth commandment, which deals with the gift of marriage, sex, and family.

First, the Catechism: What is the sixth commandment? You shall not commit adultery.
What does this mean? We should fear and love 
God that we lead a chaste and decent life in word 
and deed, and each love and honor his spouse 
(Small Catechism, 1943 ed).

Unlike the other commandments, the Small Catechism doesn’t dwell on the negatives—the “shalt nots.” That’s probably because we already know far too many ways to sin against this commandment and there’s no need to put more ideas into our heads than are already floating around in there.

The gift connected with the sixth commandment is the gift of sex, marriage, and family—in that order. Sexual union is what makes Adam and Eve, man and woman, “one flesh” (see 1 Corinthians 6:16). Marriage is a protective fence built around that “one flesh” to keep husband and wife turned toward each other and to keep outsiders away. “What God has joined together let man not separate.” We may take down the fence through divorce, but we can’t undo the “one flesh.” The one-flesh union man and woman within the boundaries of marriage is the foundation of the family and the household. Out of that one-flesh union, children are conceived, born, and nurtured to adulthood.

God elevates our human sexuality far above mere biology. In the animal world, sex is not for union but for procreation. This is the result of the blessing that God speaks to man and beast when He says, “Be fruitful and multiply.” The birds do it, the bees do it, and we do it, but when we do it, there is much more going on than simply being fruitful and multiplying. For us who were made in the image of God, sex is the means to a greater personal union between Man and Woman. They become “one flesh”. The only greater union we have is our baptismal union with Christ through faith. That union is eternal; the one-flesh union of man and woman lasts “until death us do part.”

Now you can understand why the Scripture says, “Flee from sexual immorality.” (1 Corinthians 6:18). All sin is bad, but sexual sin is uniquely destructive. It eats away at your psyche, your soul, and even your faith. It leaves you vulnerable, not only to dangerous diseases, but also to serious psychological and spiritual consequences. God isn’t trying to spoil our “fun” when He says, “You shall not commit adultery.” He wants to protect us against the dangers of misusing His good gift of sex.

Sex is good and pleasurable. God made it that way and declared it “very good” along with everything else. He was pleased to make Eve from Adam and bring her to him. He was delighted in Adam’s delight in receiving Eve as “bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.” Sin corrupts God’s good and turns it into something perverse and selfish. Ultimately, sin turns sex into an idol.

The Greeks had a word for sexual desire: eros. While eros is a gift from God, eros corrupted by sin is a wild beast that must be tamed. Marriage confines eros inside a fence of commitment, fidelity, and covenant and brings it under a higher form of love—agape— a self-sacrificing covenantal love, the kind of love that God has for us in Christ.

One of the devil’s great lies is to tempt us to confuse eros for “true love.” When two people “fall in love,” what this usually means is that she finds him attractive and vice versa. Sometimes we dress up eros and call it “romance,” but it’s still the same thing. There is nothing wrong with romantic love. Romantic love often brings us to the threshold of marriage, but it can’t sustain marriage. Eros is a fleeting pleasure that easily becomes bored and distracted. Think of all the celebrity marriages between “beautiful people” that have fallen apart simply out of boredom.

A marriage is a unique partnership—part friendship, part business partnership, part something completely different—male and female as “one flesh.” When you look for a husband or wife, you need to look beyond “romance” and eros and not simply “follow your heart.” You need to follow your head guided by the Word and your parents and family. Sure, it’s important that you be attracted to your future husband or wife, but can you spend an exclusive lifetime with this person? Is this person a good father or mother for your future children? Can you build a home and a life together? Can you respect him as the head of your household? Is she “to die for,” which means, laying down your life for her?

God calls us to chastity—to keep the “one flesh” union of male and female safely within the confines of marriage, whether we are married or single. The devil, the world (especially the advertising world), and our Old Adam will surely tempt us to great shame and vice, to our own destruction and the destruction of others. We daily sin much under this commandment, and truly deserve God’s punishment.

Jesus lived chastely and decently. Though He wasn’t married, Jesus upheld and affirmed the gift of marriage as the will of His Father. In becoming sin for us, Jesus took the sum total of our unchastities to the Cross in His own chaste body. He became the Adulterer in our place in order to present us to His Father chaste, pure, and holy, washed by water and Word in Holy Baptism. He gives us His chastity as our own, so that we may lead chaste and decent lives in all that we say and do, and, as husbands and wives, we may love and honor one another. You were bought with the price of Jesus’ body and blood, therefore glorify God with your bodies 
(1 Corinthians 6:20).

Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California. 

by Rev. William M. Cwirla

It’s so easy to take the Small Catechism for granted. Most of us spent a year or two memorizing it for confirmation class and now it sits up on the shelf like a trophy, never to be opened again. What a great sadness that is!

The Small Catechism and its companion Large Catechism are two of the greatest documents ever written in the history of the church. They are the heart and soul of the Lutheran tradition, embodying what everyone must know and confess to be a Christian. Together with the Scriptures and the hymnal, the catechisms are the core of the Lutheran “catechetical method”—how we hand on the faith to the next generation. They ask and answer the important questions: “What does this mean?” and “Where is this written?”

Armed with nothing more than the Small Catechism, you could teach another person the Christian faith. No wonder our Confessions call the Small and Large Catechism, “the layman’s Bible,” for they “contain everything which Holy Scripture discusses at greater length and which a Christian must know for his salvation.”

Luther wrote the Small Catechism after visiting the congregations of Saxony with Philip Melanchthon. They were appalled by the conditions they observed. The common people had virtually no knowledge of the Christian faith and their pastors were no better. Many people didn’t even know the Lord’s Prayer or the Apostles’ Creed or the Ten Commandments. To look at them, you wouldn’t even know they were Christians! And this, only eleven years after Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door! You can imagine Luther’s disappointment.

For several years, Luther had urged others to write a simple catechism for the common people, but nothing happened. After the Saxon visitation, Luther decided to do it himself. He made a simple booklet out of the core texts of the Christian faith: The Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, and provided simple explanations that were easy to memorize. These were even printed as wall charts—a huge innovation for the day. The Large Catechism is sermons on the Small Catechism, preached during 1529. Many of the common people couldn’t read very well, so by memorizing these texts and discussing them with their households, they could teach the Christian faith to their children and servants.

The method is really quite ingenious. In his preface to the Small Catechism, Luther laid out a simple three-step learning process. First, learn the text by heart. Stay with the same text and recite it out loud. Second, discuss what the text means. Again, keep the explanations simple and constant. Also take your time, so you don’t get overwhelmed. Third, take up the Large Catechism for a fuller and richer explanation. In this way, Christian knowledge is built up, layer by layer, over the years.

Luther never envisioned a “confirmation class” from which one “graduated,” never to return to the catechism. Instead, he saw catechesis as lifetime learning, going over the basics again and again, as a little child goes back to his ABCs.

You might think of the catechism as a seed or a nut in which is contained the entire Christian faith in a short and concentrated summary. Just as a seed contains everything for the full plant to develop, so the catechism contains everything for faith in Christ to grow to full maturity.

At the center of the catechism seed are the three basic texts of the Christian faith: The Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. These texts deal with repentance, faith, and prayer. The Ten Commandments provide a framework for the Law that diagnoses our sinful condition, maintains outward order, and disciplines the “old Adam” in the believer. The Apostles’ Creed is the symbol into which we were baptized and is a faithful description of the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and their works of creation, redemption, and sanctification. The Creed teaches us who God is and what He has done as our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier.

The Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father, is the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples (Matthew 6:9ff). It is the most perfect prayer in the whole world because the Son of God Himself taught it. It has the Son’s guarantee that His Father is pleased to hear it and will act on it according to His good and gracious will.

The next layer of the seed is the sacraments: Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. These are the means by which God shows Himself to be gracious to sinners and how He offers, delivers, and applies to each of us what Jesus won on the cross for everyone. Through the Word combined with water, bread, and wine, the Holy Spirit delivers Christ for all to you and for you. “For you” are the faith words. They call for faith and they create faith.

The third layer of the catechism seed is Daily Prayer and the Table of Duties. This is our “vocation,” or our calling as God’s priestly people. We are to sanctify the day with the Word of God and prayer, and we are to serve our neighbor where God has placed us in home, church, and state.

You can see why the catechisms are the “gems of the Reformation.” They make the Christian faith accessible to anyone, and they enable us to hand on the faith to our family, our friends, and those who come after us.

If you haven’t looked at the catechism since your confirmation, go find it and explore it again, now that you don’t “have” to do it. There’s a lifetime of learning in those simple sentences.

Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California.