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Higher History

Concord #6: Augsburg Confession (Justification)

Jesus justification God

Article 4: Justification

Original sin has replaced our original righteousness. That is to say, in the beginning God created man and woman in a right relationship with Him and all of creation, properly oriented toward God in knowledge and worship, and toward creation in vocation. But sin disordered that relationship. We became disoriented, crooked, skewed. Now our orientation is every which way but toward God.

Justification is getting lined back up again, like this paragraph is “left justified” because the words are lined up straight on the left side. Justification is how we get pointed back toward God; it’s how we get restored to that right relationship with Him that we lost. And being right with God, we also become right with the world.

No strength, merit, or work of our own can do this. It might get you close—really close, in fact. But if it’s not right in line, even minor imperfections will be amplified when it comes to reaching God. Like traveling to the moon—if you’re off even by fractions of a percent, you’ll sail right past into the outer darkness.

So how do we get right?  Lutheran churches teach that people “cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4” (Augsburg Confession, article IV). Faith. Faith is what justifies.

But it’s not just any old faith. It’s faith that we are justified for Christ’s sake. He’s the One who does the work with His sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. We don’t justify ourselves by approaching God; God justifies us by receiving us into favor. And He does so by forgiving our sins.

This faith He imputes for righteousness. That means that He counts it for righteousness. It’s like you log into your bank account to find that someone has deposited more money than you could ever hope to spend. Through faith, God gives us credit for Jesus’ work. And we are justified.

You can read the Book of Concord at http://www.bookofconcord.org

 

“Concord” is a weekly study of the Lutheran Confessions, where we will take up a topic from the Book of Concord and reflect on what we believe, teach, and confess in the Lutheran Church. The purpose of this series is to deepen readers’ knowledge and appreciation for the confessions of the Lutheran Church, and to unite them “with one heart” to confess the teachings of Holy Scripture.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard serves as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO.

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Catechesis

Catechism: Intro to the Small Catechism

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.

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Pop. Culture & the Arts

The Father’s Heavenly Embrace

Rev. Bror Erickson

“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” Luke 15:20 (ESV).

In this painting, The Prodigal Son (1924), Giorgio de Chirico revisits one of his favorite themes, a motif he first drew in 1917 as the “Great War” was coming to an end, and first painted in 1922. He would paint the motif several times again with near compulsiveness until his death in 1978. Only then would he be reunited with the father he lost as a child, even as the Father received him into the kingdom with His heavenly embrace.

Chirico gained early fame. It was his father, an engineer working on the railroads of Greece, who first taught him to draw before sending him to art school in Athens. Later, as a young man, Chirico would study art in Munich where he would soak up the ethos of Nietzche and Schopenhauer.

Existentialist philosophy emerged in his early metaphysical art that in turn would pave the way for Surrealist painters such as Salvador Dali and Max Ernst. From 1909 to 1918 he gained notoriety, mostly for empty town squares with distorted light and elongated shadows giving the vibe of an existential crisis, and capturing the sentiment of society caught up in the midst of World War I that claimed the lives of 16 million people.

This painting marked a transition for Chirico, who denounced modern art after the war, but found a return to classical techniques and themes to be difficult, especially as those he inspired with his early works became estranged from their muse. It’s a painting of transition that still carries themes of the proto-surrealism that he was known for in his early works. Yet here the embrace of the prodigal occupies the center of the canvas. Everything else fades off into a distant existential emptiness.

It’s a stunning portrayal of the beloved story. The son returns from his sordid sojourn in foreign lands. The life of debauchery, the inheritance squandered running from responsibility and family have reduced him to a mannequin-a shell of his former self-and everything he owns is carried in a hobo bag tied to a swineherd’s staff. But before he can repent, the cold image of his father, a stone statue worried about his image in the middle of the town square breaks loose from dignity, and free from his pedestal of honor gives him a dad’s embrace. It is an embrace that reflects the Father’s love for all His children as my friend Scott Keith says in his new book on fatherhood, Being Dad, which expounds upon the same parable:

“The love of a father is deep magic that can be sensed by all readers both Christian and non-Christian. The grace of an earthly father is a mere shadow or foggy picture of the grace of our Father in heaven. This story feels true because it is true. This tale tells everyone that the father’s love for his children, for us all, exists even though he is fully aware of all that we have done. This isn’t the story of a doting grandfather who doesn’t really know the details of the situation and just steps in with a smile saying, ‘I’m sure it will all work out in the end.’ We know that without the father stepping in and fixing it, it won’t work out in the end. This is the story of a father and his sons. The father knows of both our greed and our licentiousness. The Father knows of our pride and sanctimony. The father knows of our deep despair, our mistrust of him and our hopelessness apart from him. Yet the father loves us and shows us mercy, and in this tale, Christ tells us precisely that.” (Being Dad, Scott Keith, pg. 19)

Rev. Bror Erickson is pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, Farmington, New Mexico.

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Lectionary Meditations

The Glory Fills the House – A Meditation on 1 Kings 8:6-13

“And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.”

The highlight of the building and dedication of Solomon’s temple was the glory of the LORD filling the house. The glory cloud was the visible sign and manifestation of God’s presence with His people. From the exodus onward to the tabernacle, and then to the temple, the cloud of glory was the evidence that the LORD was there for His people.

That goes away with the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Ezekiel speaks of this in chapter 8 of his book. And even when the temple was rebuilt after the exile and rededicated, the glory of the LORD did not return as it had at the tabernacle or Solomon’s temple. Even when Herod expands the temple and really gussies it up, still the glory of the LORD is not there.

Until the day when Christ Jesus arrives in the temple. Whether that’s the presentation where we get Simeon singing, or the boy Jesus in the temple teaching, or all the other events – then the glory of the LORD is there in the temple. And when He comes to the temple the last time during Holy Week, Christ Jesus is glorified upon the Cross, and with His death the priests are put out of work. No more will they need to minister or perform the sacrifices, for the true Glory of the LORD has come – the Word has become flesh and dwelt, tabernacled, tented with His people, and He Himself has work atonement and forgiveness and mercy with His own death and resurrection.


This same Christ Jesus comes to His Church throughout the world, to buildings around the globe, where He has gathered His people together. There in the House of the LORD, Jesus comes to us all in the preaching of His Word and in His Supper. This is His glory – not a glory the world would recognize or understand, but the true glory of God – to be with and redeem His people, to be with and redeem you.

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Higher History

Concord #5: Augsburg Confession (Jesus)

Jesus christian

Article 3: Jesus

In the second article of the Augsburg Confession, the first evangelical Christians presented the problem of sin. Without delay, the solution to sin is given in the very next article of faith: Jesus Christ. It’s a simple and straightforward confession of faith, but there’s a lot packed into a few words.

 

Two Natures

A whole book can be written on this topic alone, but simply put, Jesus is truly God and truly man: not one or the other; not part God and part man; not the body of a man and the soul of God. All of Jesus-body and soul-at the same time human and divine. This is the mystery of the incarnation: “Also they teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God, did assume the human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably enjoined in one Person, one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary,” (Augsburg Confession III.1-2).

 

Sacrifice

He shared in our humanity so that by His death He would be the sacrifice for the sin of humanity. This includes the sin that has been passed down from Adam, as well as all sins which we ourselves have committed since. His blood earned our forgiveness. He “truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men” (Augsburg Confession III.2-3).

 

Reign

He is now risen and ascended to God’s right hand where He reigns over all creation, and in particular His kingdom of grace. His reign is His gracious activity in sending the Holy Spirit to create faith and to sanctify the faithful. “He also descended into hell, and truly rose again the third day; afterward He ascended into heaven that He might sit on the right hand of the Father, and forever reign and have dominion over all creatures, and sanctify them that believe in Him, by sending the Holy Ghost into their hearts, to rule, comfort, and quicken them, and to defend them against the devil and the power of sin” (Augsburg Confession III.4-5).

 

Return

We believe that Jesus will return, and that will be the Last Day of this present creation. He will raise the dead and give everlasting life to those who believe Him. “The same Christ shall openly come again to judge the quick and the dead, etc., according to the Apostles’ Creed” (Augsburg Confession III.6).

 

There is it. Simple. Clear. Compact. In fact, the whole content of the Christian faith is summarized in this article of faith. The rest of the Augsburg Confession simply unpacks what is already found here: Jesus — true God and true man, the sacrifice for sins, who reigns from God’s right hand, and who will return.

You can read the Book of Concord at http://www.bookofconcord.org

 

“Concord” is a weekly study of the Lutheran Confessions, where we will take up a topic from the Book of Concord and reflect on what we believe, teach, and confess in the Lutheran Church. The purpose of this series is to deepen readers’ knowledge and appreciation for the confessions of the Lutheran Church, and to unite them “with one heart” to confess the teachings of Holy Scripture.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard serves as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO.

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Catechesis

Ichabod!

by The Rev. Rich Heinz

Ichabod? That seems like a funny name to bring up right now. Most often that name makes us think of Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman. But the name is recorded in 1 Samuel 4:21. Eli the Priest was judge over Israel. His two sons had died and the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant. Eli fell over and died from the news. Eli’s daughter-in-law went into labor at the news, and gave birth to a son as she died. She named the baby Ichabod, which in Hebrew means, “Where is the Glory?”

The Old Testament Church understood that our God who is present everywhere, locates Himself in a wonderful, mysterious way. He causes His Glory to be present when and where He promises. At that time, it was with His Ark. The Ark was taken for a time, and the people began to realize that the Lord’s judgment was on the house of Eli and unfaithful Israel.

Ichabod? “Where is the Glory?” The Lord removed His Glory from them for a time, so that they might repent. Later, He restored that Glory as He brought the Ark back, blessed the Old Testament Church with His real presence, and dwelt among them in His Tabernacle.

 

In the New Testament Church, the Lord locates His Glory among us in His preaching of the Gospel and though His Holy Sacraments. Jesus IS the Glory of God, enfleshed as the Bethlehem Babe – the Suffering Savior and Coming King!

As you gather with His people week after week, you may or may not ask, “Where is the glory?” Whether or not the question is asked, it is always answered, as Saint John the Baptizer reminds us in our liturgy: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He is God’s Glory. He alone is where we find that Glory!

Now that we know the answer to “Where is the Glory?” during Advent we may ask the question: “Where is the Gloria?” The Gloria in Excelsis, or “Glory be to God on High,” is an ancient hymn of the angels that we sing in the Divine Service.

Here God proclaims to us the joys of Christ coming as our Savior, born of the Blessed Virgin in Bethlehem, and risen from the dead for us.

In the midst of this season of repentance and reflection, awaiting the Coming King in hope, we refrain from the Gloria. We also may ask, “Ichabod?” “Where is the Gloria?” Yet we know where He is. Liturgically we fast from this hymn of praise, giving ourselves time to ponder its words before we are joyfully reunited with it. The anticipation builds during the Advent season, as Christmass draws closer, when we nearly burst at the joy of hearing the angels declare this Glory in Luke 2, and we have the privilege of joining their hymn!

Where is the Gloria? Where it has been all along. We simply fast from it that we may hunger for the One who IS God’s Glory – the One who lies in the manger – and praise Him adoringly with His holy angelic army! As you enter this period of repentant hope, drawing near the manger, remember that the Glory of God has not departed from you. He continually is forgiving and strengthening you, preparing you for His final coming, to gather you body and soul into His eternal glory!

 

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Pop. Culture & the Arts

The Good Shepherd Calls His Sheep from the Kalahari Cattle Herds

Rev. Bror Erickson

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.” – John 10:14-17

It was the herding life that John Muafangejo was born into as a member of the Kuanjama tribe on the border of Namibia and Angola in 1943. He understood the patience, care, and self-denial it took to be a good shepherd, the patience, care and self-denial that Christ bestowed upon him as one of his sheep leading him by still waters and laying him down in green pastures even amidst the conflict and turmoil of life in 20th century South Africa where racial tensions raged high.

John was not born a Christian. It was the traditional religion of the Kuanjama that elders would hand down to him as the village gathered about bonfires at night under the African sky. After his father died in 1955, his mother as one of John’s father’s eight wives was left with nothing, and moved to an Anglican mission station in Namibia. It was only then that he converted to Christianity. It was at this mission station at Epinga that his artistic talent was noticed by Father Mallory who would then send him to the famous art school at Rorke’s Drift in South Africa that had been started by the Swedish Lutheran missionaries Peder and Ulla Gowenius. They saw art as one way to empower Africans in the fight against apartheid, and the school they started would at Rorke’s Drift would become a major influence in the international art world during the second half of the 20th century. Mallory had taken notice of his carving abilities, but it was at the Arts and Craft Centre of the Evangelical Lutheran Church that John learned to perfect the medium that would make him famous, black and white linocuts depicting all aspects of life in Africa. The school specialized in linocuts because the material needed was extremely cheap, and yet because one linocut could produce many prints the medium offered the school hope of economic success. John so enjoyed the possibilities of the medium that he averaged a linocut a day for the next twenty years leaving over 5,000 for prosperity. (Source: culturebase.net)

“A Good Shepherd” is typical of John’s style of linocut. It looks a bit primitive, and yet his play on black and white would not only carry a subtly sophisticated commentary on life amidst turmoil during the period of apartheid in his homeland, but it would also communicate his “Hope and Optimism” for the future of Africa that he shared with Nelson Mandela. His linocuts would be jammed packed with all sorts of animals upon animals, people and running text explaining the events as in “Anglican Seminary Blown Up” commemorating a sermon given by Bishop J.H. Kauluma to a racially mixed congregation after the bombing of a seminary on the Namibian border of Angola in 1981, the mission station where John was first brought into the Good Shepherd’s fold. No one took responsibility for the event, the sort of which was common to everyday experience in John’s life and yet exacting a heavy tax on the soul. Still, even in the midst of this, John would know the comfort of Christ’s rod and staff, “A Good Shepherd” indeed. The Good Shepherd that restored his soul as he prepared a table of international fame before him in the face of his enemies. It would be Christ, the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, the good shepherd that would be the anchor of John’s hope. The shepherd who constantly calls his sheep from different folds around the world, even from the Kalahari cattle herds of northern Namibia.

Pastor Bror Erickson is pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, Farmington NM.

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Lectionary Meditations

A Weak and Crying Glory – A Meditation on Isaiah 60:1-6

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” – Isaiah 60:1

The wise men followed the star that shone so brightly, and they brought their gifts of gold and frankincense as Isaiah had predicted (but wait, there’s myrrh!), and they went to where one would expect glory to be – Jerusalem. The Capital. The place with the palace and the temple and the splendor. But that wasn’t where the glory was.

The star arose, and they were led to Bethlehem, where the Light of Light Himself had come, where the Glory of the LORD and His presence with His people was made manifest. Glory was there in Bethlehem, and the wise men rightly worshiped and offered their gifts, but what sort of glory was it?

An infant. A kid. Kids might be cute or cuddly (at least until they make a mess of things), but they aren’t seemingly “glorious”. And certainly not just some kid in some backwater town in the boonies. Yet, right there was glory. There was God present for His people to redeem them.

God’s glory is not shown or demonstrated in outward acts of might. It’s not a “my dad can beat up your dad” sort of glory. Oh, to be sure, God could act that way, but as we were born trapped in sin and bound in Satan’s kingdom, that beat down would have ended up beating us. Instead, God shows His glory in coming to earth in humility to be our brother, to win us the adoption of sons, to make the Father our Father once again. And this is done not through might or strength, but through weakness and humility. It is done through God becoming man – a weak and frail man who would suffer and die, and who would rise again. Rejoice, for the Glory of the LORD has come to you, and He has died and risen for you.

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Life Issues

So God Made Vocation

 

Did you see the great Super Bowl commercial about farmers? In this week’s article spotlight, HT is pleased to share a blog post by Pastor Sam Schuldheisz in which he talks about the great example of the biblical teaching of vocation provided by that ad. Pastor Sam Schuldheisz is a Son of Adam who serves as pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach, CA.
The original blog article appears here.

 

Overall the commercials at his year’s Super Bowl (er, excuse me, Big Game) were about as good as the Niners in the first half. At one point I was actually hoping that a similar power outage would have taken place at my local CBS station so as to avoid any more painfully gross Go Daddy commercials, gack! Of course, there were a few honorable mentions, the Volkswagen bit was clever, although it was no Darth Vader of a few years ago. And the talking E-Trade baby always gets a snicker or two. But the winner in my playbook was the Dodge Ram commercial featuring the late Paul Harvey giving his famous speech, So God Made a Farmer. Here’s the text below in case anyone missed it. You can also check out the video here.

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon — and mean it.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain’n from ‘tractor back,’ put in another seventy-two hours.” So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place. So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church.

“Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life ‘doing what dad does.'” So God made a farmer.

And now for the rest of the story…

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Of course, we know from Genesis 1-3 that God didn’t actually say any of these things. But that’s not the point. Without ever using the word (perhaps even without even knowing it at all), Paul Harvey spoke truthfully about God’s gift of vocation, a gift that began even before the Fall into sin. And a gift which continues after the Fall into sin as well, whether you’re a farmer, a truck driver, a teacher, pastor, law enforcement officer, mother, father, sibling, gardener, and the like. The farmer, you see, is a mask of God. Because of the vocation of a farmer – and countless others – we are able to sit around our dinner table and not only thank God for our daily bread but eat it and enjoy it as a gift. Above all, that’s what vocation is, gift, given to us without any merit or worthiness in us, out of pure Fatherly, divine goodness. Truth be told, God could snap his fingers – zap! poof! wizbang! – and your refrigerator and table would be be graced with more abundance than all the Big Game parties combined, a veritable smorgasbord of First Article gifts. And, it’s worth noting, that He could do the same with miraculous healing as well. We read of countless examples of Christ’s immediate work throughout the Scriptures. But mostly, he works mediately, that is to say, through means. For healing, he uses doctors and nurses. He uses medicine and technology. And the same is true for every facet of earthly life. God uses means. And it’s no less miraculous when He uses ordinary means to hide his work behind for our benefit. In fact, if Luther is right (and I think he is here) it is precisely in the ordinary that God continues to work his hidden holiness for our well being and the good of the neighbor.

And it’s not just the farmer and the myriads of other masks God uses to serve us, it’s also in the seed, the seed of God’s Word. Not only does Christ make farmers. He himself is the archetype farmer, the Sower in human flesh and blood. So it should be no surprise that He also uses the means of His creation to bless, preserve and save us. He plants His Word in the mouth of sinners – and it is no less miraculous than when he says it himself. Pastors are mouthpieces, hands, heralds, and helpers. He waters that planted Word by water, Word and Spirit. And our faith in Christ grows by the same breath of life that hovered over the waters of creation and filled Adam’s lungs with life. That’s the Holy Spirit’s vocation, to show you Jesus. You are fed with the finest of foods and the richest of wines, Christ’s very body and blood. And all of this through means. That’s good news. Because the best part about it all is, it’s free – not an over-paid, sensationalistic advertisement in sight. Your vocation is a gift because Christ is crucified and risen for you. And you are a living sacrifice for your neighbor.

So God made vocation…on the 6th day and every day since then. And he made it for you. Behold, it is very good.

 

by Rev. Sam Schuldheisz

Categories
Catechesis

A Strange First Christmas

“What Child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping, whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?”

I love Christmas! I always look forward to the holiday and every year I imagine the snow-covered lawn, the beautiful Christmas tree, and the joyous music that comes with the holiday. This particular year is even more exciting for me, because the dream of a white Christmas actually came true.

Why is Christmas so wonderful? Why do we spend so much time waiting for it to come each year? It cannot be just because it looks beautiful outside, or because you think your parents will get you a really good present this year, or because you don’t have school or work on that day. There must be a reason that this holiday is so special.

Well, it is because about 2,000 years ago there was no snow, no festive lights, and no holiday music, but there was a tiny baby born in Bethlehem to new parents who really didn’t understand exactly who this child was. This child had come unexpectedly into the life of a young Jew named Mary who was planning her marriage to a young man named Joseph. They were not expecting to have a baby and the news of Mary’s pregnancy nearly ended her engagement to Joseph. Despite these less than perfect circumstances, God had chosen Mary as the mother of His most precious Son, and had chosen Joseph to raise the child in a good home.

It must have been a strange night-the night of Jesus’ birth. His parents, unable to stay in any lodging place were forced to make themselves comfortable in a stable with the other horses, cows, and donkeys of the other travelers to Bethlehem. So many today say that they would have given up their rooms to Mary and Joseph if they had been there because they would have known how important this new child was. How could they have known? Even His own earthy parents really had no idea how special this child was. They couldn’t have foreseen His eventual death on the cross and His resurrection. They couldn’t have guessed that this little child would bring eternal salvation and new life to the entire human race: past, present, and future. They couldn’t have seen the peace and comfort His words and promises would bring to sin-stricken consciences. On that night, He was just a new, small baby who needed food, clothing, and shelter from the night air just like any newborn.

I cannot help but imagine what Mary and Joseph would think if they could see our holiday lights, hear our Christmas hymns, and observe us stopping everything we normally do just to celebrate the birth of this little baby. They might be surprised, they might not believe it, or they might ponder the way Mary did when the shepherds came to worship the newborn Jesus. Yet, the reason we celebrate is because we do know just how wonderfully important this baby is. He is the entire reason we have hope for eternal life, and His birth on that night over 2,000 years ago is also a reminder to us that God always keeps His promises. The birth of Jesus had been promised ever since the fall into sin, almost from the beginning of the world, and His birth in a lowly stable fulfills that promise.

So, each year, enjoy decorating your Christmas tree, spending time with loved ones, and attending Christmas Day services because Jesus has come to save each and every one of us! How wonderful it is to have a God who not only keeps His promises, but also comes down to us in human form to rescue us from this world of sin.

“This, this is Christ the King whom shepherds guard and angels sing. Haste, haste to bring Him laude- the babe the son of Mary.”

by Monica Berndt