Category: Catechesis

Jonathan Kohlmeier

This is it! This is what the whole Church year rushes toward and flows from! The Paschal Triduum, the three days beginning on the evening of Maundy Thursday and concluding with the Easter Vigil on Saturday.

It began all the way back at the beginning of December with the Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Advent. It probably sounds familiar since you heard it this past Sunday as well. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. The Son of David coming to answer the cries of “Hosanna” and to save you now!

It didn’t stop with Advent either! Christmas celebrates these holy days. Jesus christ, born of the virgin Mary becomes man for you. He is placed under the Law and fulfills it for you. He is named Jesus–Yahweh saves–as His flesh is broken and blood is poured. 40 days after His birth Jesus is presented at the temple and Simeon proclaims that he can now depart in peace for he has seen the salvation prepared for all people.

Then come the Magi bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts point to the Triduum too. The gold confesses that Jesus has “purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver but with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” The frankincense confesses Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice, soothing the nose of God, burning in wrath at our sinfulness and unbelief. Myrrh is the strange gift that young Jesus received from the magi: a burial spice. You don’t think about the death of a young child unless that is what the child came to do–to die for you, and to die for all of fallen creation.

Jesus is baptized by John in the waters of the Jordan river. People would come and be baptized by John leaving their sins in the waters of the Jordan. Jesus is baptized to pick those sins up and take them upon himself as he continues to move toward the cross. The season of Epiphany ends with Jesus transfigured on the mountain top. Moses and Elijah appear and talk with him about His death on Good Friday. From the mountain Christ sets His eyes toward Jerusalem and His death on the cross for you!

Now here we are in the season of Lent. It began with Jesus overcoming the devil’s temptation for you. The Canaanite woman’s faith receives the crumbs from her master’s table and Christ drives out the demon who is possessing her daughter. The Lord continues to drive out demons, give His gifts and forgive sins!

That leads us to this week. It began the same way the church year began, with palms, shouts of ‘Hosanna!’ and a lowly king riding into Jerusalem with His eyes set on the cross to save you. Maundy Thursday he absolves us and institutes His supper. He gives you His body broken for you on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. He bids you drink His blood which is shed for you for the remission of all your sins. Finally comes Good Friday. The cross that the whole church year has been leading up to–which the remainder of the church year points to. The cross of Christ is what our whole theology is centered on and flows from. His body is pierced with nails and a spear for you. Water and blood flow with forgiveness. Your forgiveness and salvation is won there. On that cross, Jesus dies in your place to rescue you from death and the devil.

But death could not hold Him! The victory remains with life! Christ rises again for you! You die and rise too in baptism.

The rest of the church year points back to Christ’s death and resurrection for you. We celebrate this Triduum each week as we keep time with the church year until the Lord returns. Your pastor absolves your sins. Preaches the word to you. Delivers to you the body and blood of Christ which was broken and shed for you on the cross.

That’s the church year. That’s our theology. Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection for you! Your death and resurrection in the waters of baptism! Christ’s gifts of forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life given to you during Holy Week and every other week of the year.

Jonathan Kohlmeier is a member of Mount Zion Lutheran Church in Greenfield, WI. He loves the church year and how it points to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for him. Jon is also Webmaster for Higher Things and producer of HT-Radio.

Rev. William M. Cwirla

I remember when I was in high school. I couldn’t wait until I was in college. I thought life would be all fun and I could do whatever I wanted. But college classes were harder and more demanding, the workload was heavier, and the responsibilities were greater.

When I lived at home under the rule of my parents, I couldn’t wait until I was out of the house, on my own, and FREE. I thought I could do anything I pleased. But there were rent, food, clothes and books to buy. Then a job, a family, a congregation. More responsibilities and duties. Two things I learned: You’re never without responsibilities. And you’re never out from under authority.

We’re going to spend some time now on The Table of Duties. It’s the eighth and last part of the Small Catechism and deals with responsibilities and authorities. This part probably wasn’t prepared by Luther, but was later taken up into the Small Catechism and became a part of it.

The Table of Duties is a collection of Scripture passages dealing with various aspects of our temporal life in this world under the categories of Home, Church, and State. These are the three realms or “orders” in which all of us, as baptized believers, live. We are born or adopted into a family and home. We are members of a congregation. We are citizens 
of a state.

A simple Venn diagram of these three orders would look something like this:

It’s really all about the 4th commandment and the gift of “parents and other authorities.” God is a God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33) who sets everything in His creation in order and under His authority. Without order and authority, there would be only chaos and anarchy, which may sound like fun until you have to live in it. Just ask anyone who has lived in a country whose government has collapsed. Our old Adam needs to be kept in line.

In each order—home, church, state—there is office 
and authority which are God’s representatives under the 
4th commandment.

In the home, husbands are the heads of their wives and their households, and fathers and mothers are over their children. This is not to boss them around and make their lives miserable but for their blessing and protection. Also included here are bosses and workers, since the original workplace was the home.

In the state or civil society, God has ordered things so that there are those who govern and those who are governed. In our country, we participate in the selection of those who govern, and by means of elections God places them in authority above us. This, too, is for our blessing and benefit, both to restrain the evils of sin and our sinful natures and for the promotion of the general good.

In the church, God has established that there are those who preach and those who hear: pastors and people. While every Christian is a priest 
in Christ’s royal priesthood, not all Christians are pastors. Priests are born in Baptism; ministers are made through 
call and ordination.

As baptized believers in Christ, we live at the intersection of all three orders in family, society, and congregation. This is where God has located us to serve our neighbor with His goodness and mercy. Each of us has a place and purpose in each of these orders. Lutherans call that “vocation,” or “calling.” Where God has placed you and gifted you defines your vocation, your calling—that is, the way in which you serve your neighbor, whether as a teacher, fireman, father, mother, pastor, plumber, etc.

Our old Adam hates order. He’s a natural-born anarchist who wants to be a god in place of God and doesn’t like to be told what to do. Our natural inclination when confronted with a “table of duties” is to let out a big sigh, give an eye roll and say, “Do I have to?” And the answer from God is, “Yes, you have to! Repent!” Of course, this ultimately kills the old Adam, which is precisely what the Law is supposed to do. But in the meantime, it forces the old Anarchist to get with the 
program and keeps him in line.

“The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And in dwelling among us, Jesus came into all three of these orders and lived under their authority. He was obedient to His earthly parents, Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:51). As a boy, He sat at the feet of the teachers of the synagogue and the temple (Luke 2:46). He was subject to the religious and civil governments of His day—the same authorities who would eventually sentence Him to death and crucify Him. Jesus did the Table of Duties to His death for you.

You do them, too. They are your duties and responsibilities, the holy orders of your priesthood. 
You do them not to earn God’s favor or reward. Christ has already done all that for you. You do them to offer your bodies as a living thank offering to God (Romans 12:1) in loving service of the people God put around you: your family, your community, your congregation. God is “hiddenly” working through you to do His goodness and mercy to those around you. You have a vocation, a calling.

At the moment, you are exploring and discovering how God has gifted you. You’re learning in classroom and laboratory. You’re developing skills and honing talents and testing your abilities. You’re apprenticing adults, preparing to take up adult-sized responsibilities and authorities. You’re preparing to be husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, workers and citizens, members of congregations. Priestly servants.

There isn’t any secret plan for your life in the mind of God. There’s no waiting for God to reveal some special “plan” He has in mind for you. He’s left you free to design one for yourself. How will you thank God for His saving you in His Son? How will you serve those around you in the love of Christ? The Table of Duties will be your guide.

Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California, and President of Higher Things. He can be reached at wcwirla@gmail.com.

Rev. Riley cautions us against taking Scripture passages that were meant for the Old Testament nation of Israel and applying them to any other nation or time. Learn how such passages, specifically Psalm 85, apply to His people, the Church, no matter where or when they may be. God’s gift of the Gospel has been for His people throughout the ages. For more articles on this topic of Church and State check out the Winter Issue of Higher Things Magazine.

Rev. Donavon Riley

I will hear what God, the LORD, will proclaim
– for He promises peace to His people and to His saints;
Only do not let them fall again into folly.
His Salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.
Faithful loving kindness and Truth will meet together,
Righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Truth will spring out of the earth, and Righteousness will look down from heaven.
The LORD will give every good thing, and our land will again give its increase.
Righteousness will go before Him as he sets out on His Way. (Psalm 85:8-13)

This psalm holds up the great gifts of God. In these six verses we are shown all the spiritual blessings of salvation. First, there is salvation itself. Then there is God’s faithful loving kindness and Truth. Next, righteousness and grace. Finally, glory and prosperity—with the LORD blessing all these gifts by delivering them to us Himself. However, this psalm is not about earthly gifts. This is not a message for use as a patriotic national anthem.

As Jesus says, “ … this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). Here the function of the Church and the churches is clearly defined. Yet, many have tried to establish a church that dominates the state. Most of these state churches have crumbled. Why? Because Christ’s kingdom is spiritual and will remain that way. Even when the churches are a blessing to the state, they continue to be distinct from the state. So we decline attempts to translate God’s gifts by earthly definitions of power, glory, success, and so on. Men will never establish a heaven on earth. We cannot build a “Christian nation.” History rolls on toward the resurrection and there’s nothing anybody can do to speed it up or sidetrack it.

This psalm stands out as an example. God had favored His people in past times with His Word and good governance. Now, as the Psalmist writes, He is angry. God has given them over to false preaching in the congregations, wicked counselors surrounding the throne, and the people are grumbling. The Psalmist sees all this, so he prays for the return of God’s favor. These verses are the sum of his prayer: a description of God’s gifts to His believing and faithful people…if they will only listen to Him.

But they won’t listen. They have mixed up heavenly and earthly things: government, peace, authority, the cause of good harvests, even their worship. Therefore, they are afflicted by God. He’s withdrawn His favor. He doesn’t speak to them anymore, because they won’t listen to Him. The affliction and their unfaithfulness hang together.

The Psalmist then prays that God will speak [again] so his people will not fall [again] into destruction. They are impatient, so they blaspheme God’s Name. They are ignorant, so they go searching for other gods to worship. They are upset, so they look for peace, unity, truth, and love elsewhere: the national pulse, homespun wisdom, smooth-talking priests and sweet-talking prophets.

The real issue is that they choose idolatry, which is death, and they rebel against the call to faithfulness: participation in the life of God. There is no third way. Mixing up heavenly and earthly things turns them toward idolatry—the ceaseless attempt to save their life from death by earthly means. They try to carve meaning out of earthly things—food and drink, clothing and life. These are the things which captivate them. With them they dig for a real life which never turns up.

At their root, all of these ideas are mistaken. God sends no prophets to bend the national ear. He is not about to rehabilitate their homes. Patriotic sermons are a sign of faithless preachers. Idol worship is always about God, but never delivers His gifts “for you.” Listen to the words of the Psalmist. He prays his people will turn from their foolishness and be saved. He exhorts them to listen to God’s promises that are always “for you.” Look at God’s holy hill. Look at whom He’s set on the heavenly throne. Listen to what He says to you today:

Therefore, “Kiss the Son so that He will not be angry and you will not be destroyed … because His anger burns easily. Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in Him!” (Psalm 2:12)

The Psalmist points them to the source of all God’s gifts: His holy hill. Calvary. Calvary is for them, from Him—a gift. There, and nowhere else, they are shown all the spiritual blessings of salvation. Therefore, blessed are those who are given eyes to see God’s blessings at Calvary. They are God’s saints, “the poor in spirit” of the first Beatitude. If there is any hope of salvation it can only come from God. The poor in spirit wait on the Lord. His giving to them is not hindered by the false hopes they have crammed together and would use for bargaining.

Blessed are those who are given to by God. Blessed are those who receive gifts, even affliction and death, as a gift from His hands. Nothing slips out of His nail-pierced hands. This is the Good News of the kingdom of the Gospel that stretches through Israel’s history to the present and on to the Last Day. By His affliction and death you are blessed. In affliction and death you are glad.

God’s kingdom is for “the poor in spirit,” “His saints,” and, “those who fear Him.” This is its limitation. Whether a nation is godly in part or wholly ungodly this psalm still applies. Political prosperity doesn’t determine when God’s promises will be fulfilled. History shows wonderful nations who never knew God or feared Him. Their earthly power and greatness was unequaled. God’s saints dwelt in that land, too. They were most often politically insignificant, and far inferior to their neighbors in wealth and power. However, their glory consisted of God’s mercy, truth, righteousness, and peace. Their comfort, then, as it is for Christians today, is that the church does not exist for the sake of glorifying the state. Rather, the state is established by God to hold back His disfavor, and protect the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom. This is a great gift of God.

Rev. Donavon Riley was born and raised in Minnesota and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota. Rev. Riley and his wife recently celebrated the birth of their fourth child. 
He can be reached at elleon713@gmail.com

Jonathan Kohlmeier

The music stops. The lights fade. The trees come down. Unwanted gifts get returned.

That’s what happens now that Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning have passed. That’s what happens everywhere but the church. The church continues on in its lonely celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord.

While the Christmas themed candy and decorations go on sale in stores, the church is just beginning its twelve day feast in celebration of the Nativity! Not with pear tree dwelling partridges, golden rings, leaping lords, or piping pipers but with the Word made Flesh, the body and blood of Christ given for the forgiveness of sins. The church joins with the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven in celebrating the coming of Emmanuel in the flesh.

The world looks on and laughs, “Don’t they know Christmas is over?” “How can they celebrate Christmas without gifts?” “Feast of the Nativity? Doesn’t look like much of a feast to me.”

The world gets it wrong. It fails to see that Christmas is the celebration of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. That Word made Flesh still dwells among us in His gifts! No, the gifts don’t sit nicely waiting under a tree to be opened. The gifts that were won on the Good Friday Tree are delivered directly to you, freely! The old Adam is daily drowned in your baptism. The words of absolution are delivered directly into your ear. The Christmas feast of the body and blood of Christ are placed into your mouth.

But the church’s Christmas celebration doesn’t stop after this twelve day feast either! In the Nicene Creed, we continue confessing that Jesus Christ “for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.” At the beginning of the Divine Service, we join in the Christmas song of the angels, “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” The Word is delivered into our ears in absolution and in the lectionary readings. Your mouth becomes a manger, the place where Christ is, as His body and blood under the bread and wine are placed into your mouth.

That’s the church year! All the seasons run together. We continue praying the Advent prayer of “Come, Lord Jesus.” Those prayers are answered when He comes and is revealed in His gifts. He has mercy upon His people, in the forgiveness of sins won for us on the cross. His gifts enliven us to serve our neighbor.

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas throughout this twelve day feast! Merry Christmas whenever you sing the Gloria in Excelsis and say the Creed! Merry Christmas as the Word made Flesh is placed into your mouth at the communion rail! Merry Christmas as you receive the Lord’s Gifts, all year round!

Jonathan Kohlmeier is a member of Mount Zion Lutheran Church in Greenfield, WI and the IT Assistant for Higher Things. His favorite Christmas hymn is the From Above conference hymn, Of the Father’s Love Begotten.

Rev. Mark Buetow

One of my favorite things this time of year is the lights. Christmas lights. Maybe it’s because it gets dark so early now here in the Northern Hemisphere. Maybe it’s because I don’t generally like things dark. But I do enjoy sitting with no lights on in the house but the Christmas tree and trim lights. I like driving down Main Street in our little town, seeing the light poles adorned with twinkling lights. I eagerly anticipate the candlelight singing of “Silent Night” in the church lit only by candles and Christmas tree lights. Perhaps I like the lights so much because they are a reminder of Jesus, the Light of the world.

The prophet Isaiah says that “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Is. 9:2). When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, St. John writes that He is the “True Light coming into the world. The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.” (John 1:5). Later, Jesus says of Himself, “I AM the Light of the World.” (John 8:12). Jesus. Light. Dispelling darkness. Making things bright. Brighter than Christmas tree lights. Brighter than Rudolph’s nose. A Light so bright it destroys the shadows and darkness even of sin, of despair and of death.

We live in a dark world. It’s dark with sin. People do whatever they want. The selfishness of sinners knows no upper limit. The cruelty and hatred we exhibit can always sink lower. We live in a world dark with sadness. Suffering. Sickness. The inevitable rush toward death. We live in a world dark with despair. Some people are so hurting that they see nothing but darkness all around them. A darkness they so much want to fall into and maybe, seeing no hope, will try to plunge themselves into. We live in a world glaring with the harsh lights of a holiday that few understand. Outwardly, the world cranks up the wattage until it can match the Griswold’s house from “Christmas Vacation” while inwardly it is dying of sadness and gloom with bah-humbuggery and disgust at the whole thing.

Into that darkness, angels appear over Bethlehem. Into that darkness, the Word-made-flesh shows His face from a manger. Into that darkness, the Father places a star to guide magi. Into that darkness Jesus walks, head on. To the darkness of Good Friday. To the darkness of a newly cut tomb. Into darkness. To light it up like Christmas lights and candles. To shine the light of Himself to send death and sin scurrying, retreating, fading, wiping out shadows, darkness gone.

Into your darkness too. Whatever that darkness may be. Despair. Doubts. Unbelief. Sins inside yourself. Sin around you. Families falling apart. Death stealing your friends. Hurt and sorrow around you. The great emptiness of the world’s Christmas. Into all of it, the Light of Christ shines for you. It’s light in your Baptism, brightening by the absolution and shining forth in the Supper where the flesh and blood of the Light of the World almost glow and radiate forgiveness. Peace. Light. No shadows there. No darkness. Can’t be. Those are the gifts of the Light of the World. Jesus is the Light of the World. His gifts bring Light to rescue you from every darkness there is.

That’s why I like Christmas lights. They remind me of Jesus. And whether they give you a sense of wonder and peace or not, whether the whole Christmas extravaganza is something you relish or could do without, know this: Wherever there is darkness, the Light of Christ shines. Nothing can put it out. For He shines to bring His Light to you that you may be forever comforted and never afraid of the dark.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. He is also the Media Executive for Higher Things. Which means he writes a lot, edits a lot, tells Stan and Jon what to do a lot, and puts out a video short each week.

By Rev. Michael J. Schmidt

It was July 1994, the Major League Baseball All Star game had ended, and I was getting ready to go to bed. I put on my PJ’s, brushed my teeth, and then I prayed. Now I had prayed before, during church and before meals, but this was serious: A player’s strike was imminent, and the baseball season was in danger. After years of watching the Yankees lose, they were finally having a playoff season (the first in my lifetime), and now a strike was threatening everything.

From June through August 1994, I was on my knees every single night, praying like crazy, offering God anything and everything if He would just do the seemingly impossible and bring the players and the owners together and save the baseball season. But it was not meant to be. On August 12th, the players went on strike. Then in mid-September the commissioner announced that there would be no World Series that year. I was crushed. Football meant nothing to me, and I had not really gotten into basketball. Baseball was everything and now it was gone. And if you think that maybe that’s a bit too idolatrous, well, read on and see how the Lord works even our selfish prayers for good!

As I think back, I can grin about it and realize how, amidst all the other problems of the world, I was praying for baseball. However, it did teach me some things.

First, it taught me that whenever we pray, we are placing all of our trust and hope in God—that He can bring about a desired outcome. In 1994, President Clinton invited the players and owners to the White House to try to find a resolution, only to find that there was nothing he could do to bring the sides to a compromise. There was literally no human way to find a resolution. This, of course, led me to place all of my hope in God, that He might solve the problem.

Second, it taught me how to pray. At first my prayers were basically, “Dear God, please help the players and owners so they do not go on strike. Amen.” As the summer wore on the prayers grew, not only in length and detail, but also in structure and form. Believe it or not, the prayers began to follow the five parts of the traditional collect form: address; thanksgiving, request, desired result, and closing.

Third, it got me in the habit of praying. During those months of praying for baseball, I also began to pray for other things: weather, safe travels, the sick and world events. It eventually got to the point where I did not really stop praying before bed even after the strike and canceling of the World Series; how could I when all these other things needed to be prayed for?

Fourth, and probably most importantly, praying also led me to accept God’s answers. There was a strike in 1994 and it did cancel the rest of the season and the World Series; not to mention the beginning of the 1995 season. But that is how God works when answering prayer: Sometimes God answers, “Yes” and sometimes, “No” and then there are those times when He just says, “Wait.” I was crushed when the players went on strike, but by then I knew that it must have been what God wanted.

God seemed to have had something bigger in mind through all of this. He used a baseball strike to get me into the habit of praying. I pray daily to this very day: in the morning, at meals, in church, and before bed, or simply whenever the opportunity arises. It’s a great reminder that the same Lord who has commanded us to pray and promised to hear us didn’t hold my selfish desire against me, but in His mercy and grace taught me to trust in Him even more for ALL things.

Rev. Michael Schmidt serves at Peace Lutheran Church in Natoma, Kansas and blogs at http://revschmidt.wordpress.com and can be emailed at revschmidt@yahoo.com

Jonathan Kohlmeier

The Feast of All Saints is celebrated on November 1st. Many churches celebrate it on the following Sunday.

*TOLL*

…

*TOLL*

…

*TOLL*

…

…goes the bell. In between each, a name. A name of one who has fallen asleep. A name of one who has died. A name of a saint.

Names of grandparents, parents, family, friends. Names of congregation members, those murdered, and those never born. Even if the name isn’t audibly heard, we hear it in our hearts and minds. We hear the name of a loved one lost.

This Sunday we celebrated All Saints’ Day. Part of that service was the reading of the faithful who had fallen asleep this past year with ties to our congregation. Among those names read was the name of my grandfather, Rev. William Kohlmeier. Other names were not heard audibly, but were in my thoughts. A former classmate, parents and grandparents of friends, my third grade teacher, and friend’s children who died in the womb. As we go further back the list grows and grows.

Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones, the conference hymn for TWELVE, was the first hymn sung at the All Saints’ Divine Service. It immediately reminded me of when I received news that my grandfather had died. At the time I was in St. Catherines at the final conference of the season. That night, I helped Pr. Buetow lead a group in Compline. The reading was this from 1 Corinthians 15:

“51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Death is swallowed up in victory! Where is your sting, death? Where is your victory? My grandfather died on the anniversary of his Holy Baptism, in which he received the sign of the Holy Cross marking him as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. He received the victory won by Him.

Yet, we weep when faced with the death of those around us or our own death. And rightly so, I think. Death isn’t natural. We weren’t created to die. That’s probably why I hate death so much. It gives the impression that God isn’t on the scene and the enemy is winning. It’s extremely difficult to receive as gift. But as Christians we have this comfort: Christ too was faced with death – the death of loved ones, death on a cross, and the enemy Death itself. He struggled with it, endured it, and beat it. The victory remains with life, the reign of death was ended. In Christ, we don’t fear death. Death is defeated.

Above the handle where I lifted my grandfather’s casket was an engraving of the Last Supper. It was a great reminder that here on earth we stand with the church militant. In the Lord’s Supper, we are joined with the saints who have gone before us. We share in that feast of victory over death. With angels and archangels and all the company of heaven we are joined into the song and feast of heaven. We are joined with those loved ones who have fallen asleep in a far greater way than we were in most of our memories of them.

Thanks be to God that He can take the ugly abomination of death and turn it into a thing of beauty and a feast of victory.

Jon Kohlmeier is a member of Mount Zion Lutheran Church in Greenfield, WI. He is also IT Assistant for Higher Things and co-host of HT-Radio.

Rev. Mark Buetow

If you asked most people what they think being a Christian is all about they would likely say “living a good life.” You know, help others. Don’t hurt other people. Always do the right thing, whatever that is. Of course, we know the world’s reaction to that: “Christians are just hypocrites. They talk about doing the right thing and then they don’t do it.” Another popular answer about what it means to be a Christian is that God changes your life. If you were a drunk, now you’re sober. If you had a bad temper, now you’re gentle. The problem with that answer is what happens if you have a relapse? Are you still a Christian? What if your supposed overcoming of sin gets derailed?

The Christian faith isn’t about these things. It’s about Jesus Christ. Jesus once said that He did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. He also told His disciples that He came to give them life. That’s a life not like the world thinks of it, easy and care-free, but life as opposed to death, victory over death. Jesus told His disciples that He would raise them up on the Last Day. In order to do this, Jesus deals with the root cause of our problems: not our behavior, but our sinfulness. Sinners sin because they are sinful. So Jesus deals with sin by making it His own. Do you sin? Do you have idols, false gods in your life? Do you lust? Murder? Hurt others with your words? Steal? Covet? Well, whatever of that you have, it belongs to Jesus. It’s His. He dies for it on the cross of Calvary. He leaves it behind in the grave when He rises again on Easter three days later.

When Christians get confused about what is central, what the Christian faith is really about, it becomes a mess. When Christians think the church is about how we live rather than how Jesus lived and lives for us, then everything gets out of whack. When the emphasis is on our works instead of Jesus’ works, the water is poisoned, the light is blacked out. Worse, when someone accuses Christians of being hypocrites, they’re absolutely right!

When someone tells me, a pastor, that the church is full of hypocrites I reply, “Of course it is! Where else do we preach a particular standard of right and wrong and then spend all day long violating that standard? Of course the church is full of hypocrites.” And that is why the Christian faith is not about the Ten Commandments. It’s not about how you live. It’s not about what you do. It’s about Jesus fulfilling the Law and Commandments. It’s about how Jesus lived for you and still lives for you. It’s about what Jesus has done for you and still does for you. It’s about how Jesus forgives you. All of you. Every sin. Every transgression. Every wrongdoing. And not just for you, if you’re a Christian, but everyone. All of you: reading this and the whole world past, present and future besides.

When the message of the cross is what is central in the Christian church, the whole problem of how we live and hypocrisy and all that is irrelevant. Now, I didn’t just say that it doesn’t matter how you live! It DOES matter. To your neighbor. To those who need you to live to work and help them. What I mean is that how you live is irrelevant to whether or not Jesus is your Savior and God loves you. In fact, the Bible tells us that God loved us while we were yet sinners and while we were still dead in trespasses and sins. In other words, when you want to know how it is with you and the Lord, you don’t ask, “How am I living? Am I doing the right things?” No, you ask, “What did Jesus do? Did He take away my sins? Did He rise from the dead? Am I His baptized child? Has He forgiven my sins?”

Remembering that Jesus is the center of the Christian faith-and that we aren’t-saves us from all sorts of misunderstanding and confusion. It doesn’t mean the world will get it. But it does mean we don’t have to do any mental gymnastics to try to argue our way out of being hypocrites. Rather, we just own up to it and remind whoever is asking that we aren’t the big deal, Jesus Christ is. And in Him, there are no hypocrites, only those redeemed by His blood shed for the whole world. And such a Jesus means we’re also rescued from any despair that we haven’t improved enough or changed enough. In short, when Jesus and His cross and empty tomb are the center of the Christian faith, we aren’t. What a relief! And that makes all the difference in the church and in the world.

by Rev. William M. Cwirla

It’s a tender invitation to pray as a member of the family. Jesus invites you to address His Father as your Father and to say “Our Father,” and to come as a dear, little child coming to his or her dear Father in heaven.

The pious Jews of Jesus’ day would not have been so familiar and forthright in their prayers. They rarely, if ever, addressed God as Father. Instead, they would say, “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the great, mighty, and most revered One, the most high God, the Master of all things….” But “Our Father?” Not a chance!

One reason for their reluctance was that God rarely referred to Himself as “Father” in the Old Testament. “Father” had overtones of “Father Baal” and the whole idolatry of Baalism. They didn’t want to go anywhere near that sort of thing.

Another reason was that it seemed just a bit too familiar, which today would be like coming up to the President of the United States and addressing him by his first name.

Still the psalmist could pray, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him (Psalm 103:13). The prophet Isaiah could say, “Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand.” (Isaiah 64:8). And Jesus, with the same tenderness and compassion, teaches His disciples, “When you pray, say ‘Our Father.’”

Prayer is tender, familiar speech. It’s like a little child coming to his or her dear father and saying, “Daddy, let’s talk about stuff.” The apostle Paul reminds us that we have received the Spirit of adoption in our Baptism, and it’s by that Spirit that we cry “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). That’s why we pray the Our Father in the rite of Holy Baptism with the pastor’s hand laid on the head of the person being baptized. In Baptism you are made a member of God’s family. You may now say “Our Father” along with us and with our big brother Jesus.

Don’t forget the “our”! Jesus didn’t say “My Father” but “Our Father.” Even when we pray by ourselves in secret, we never pray alone. We pray for and with all baptized believers everywhere. And Jesus prays along with us as our elder Brother.

I heard a great image of prayer from my pastor on vicarage who was a wise man of prayer. He pictured prayer like a long distance phone call (though it actually isn’t “long distance” since God is always very near to us). The Father is in His comfortable easy chair watching the game (you may pick whatever team you wish), and the phone rings in the next room. Jesus picks up the phone and answers it. He brings the phone to the Father and says, “You have to take this call. It’s one of the family.” The words “Our Father” invite us to bother our Father in heaven with our prayers, as children coming to their dear Father in heaven.

This gives us confidence and even boldness. Jesus once compared the life of prayer to a pesky widow who kept coming to a dishonest judge who didn’t want to be bothered with her (Luke 18:1-8). Or to a man who had the audacity to bang on his neighbor’s door at midnight to borrow some bread for out of town guests (Luke 11:5-10). How much more is our loving Father in heaven willing to hear the prayers of His children?

Prayer is an exercise of faith. You can’t pray without faith. Jesus dares us to be big and bold with our prayers and to come the way children come trustingly to a father who loves and cares for us and to talk about anything, trusting that He listens to us and will act on our prayers in the best interests of our salvation.

Sadly, for some people the image of a “Father in heaven” is not a comforting or inviting picture. They have been neglected, harmed or mistreated by their fathers on earth. Some have been hurt deeply. It’s understandable when someone says, “I can’t pray to a Father in heaven because I can’t trust my father on earth.” Our fathers on earth are sinners; some are terribly broken by sin and the sins of fathers have trickled down for three and four generations—alcoholism, abuse, adultery—to name but three of the ways.

Here we must view our Father in heaven, not through our experience with our fathers, but through the cross of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the One who reconciled the world to His Father, who became our sin, who trumps every evil in this world with the good of His suffering, death, and resurrection. And it is this same Jesus, who shed His blood to make you a member of God’s family, in whom you were baptized and born as a child of God, who says to you, “No matter what your father on earth was like, dear child of God, you have nothing to fear of your Father in heaven. I am always with you, praying with you, praying for you. When you pray, be bold and confident and say, ‘Our Father.’”

Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California, and President of Higher Things. He can be reached at wcwirla@gmail.com.