FW: Unpleasant truths.... and comforting lies...

Consider…

 

Feed: Pastoral Meanderings
Posted on: Sunday, December 18, 2011 4:30 AM
Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters)
Subject: Unpleasent truths.... and comforting lies...

 

We must take note also of a most deplorable tendency of our times, namely, that of preferring the shallow modern "Gospel anthem" to the classical hymns of our Church. The reference is both to the text and to the tunes in use in many churches. On all sides the criticism is heard that the old Lutheran hymns are "too heavy, too doctrinal; that our age does not understand them." Strange that the Lutherans of four centuries and of countless languages could understand and appreciate them, even as late as a generation ago! Is the present generation less intelligent or merely more frivolous? (Paul E. Kretzmann, Magazin für evang.-luth. Homiletik und Pastoraltheologie [June 1929], pp. 216-217)  It has been said by those inside and outside Lutheranism that the Reformation was sung as much as it was preached or taught.  We would do well not to forget how singing the faith embeds the doctrine or teaching of the faith into our hearts and minds.  This is no less true for youth than it is for old age. I find it interesting that in Luther's day the youth were confirmed and communed at a much earlier age than the eighth grade or freshman age of my own youth and much of our current LCMS practice.  The children of Luther's day did not have the benefit of a universal system of public school education to teach them to read and write, cheap and accessible published books and materials to teach them, and a host of technological tools to use in the classroom.  Yet somehow they learned the faith, went to private confession, and came to the Lord's table and to their place as confirmed members at a younger age than our children tend to do today. I find it interesting the modern complaint that the great Lutheran chorales and hymns as too heavy, too difficult to sing, too doctrinal, and too long.  We are told that the kids cannot sing or get anything out of those hymns (and perhaps it is true of the adults, as well).  How is it that nearly five hundred years ago, without benefit of a universal system of public education and without the abundant presence of music in their lives like we have today, these children learned, sang, and grew in the faith through the use of the great Lutheran chorales and hymns?  Were these children smarter than our kids today?  Were they more apt musically or theologically to sing the music and to understand the doctrine inherent in these hymns? I believe that we are selling our kids short.  We have already decided for them that there is nothing for them in the liturgy or the hymnal.  We have already taught them to expect to hear the music of the radio or mpe player in Church on Sunday morning.  We have already taught them that feelings are more important than truth and that personal taste is the primary criteria for what we sing or do on Sunday morning.  We have made these choices for them and we have sold them short.  We have told them lies about what they can learn, what they can sing, and what needs to be present in the music of the liturgy and then we are surprised when they turn up their noses at the hymnal.  It is not their fault.  It is our fault.  We have sold them short, discounted their intelligence, their capability, and their wisdom. Too much of what is dumbed down in the liturgy and hymnody of Sunday morning is because the parents have decided what their kids can learn, what they will like, and what will be effective teaching and nurturing them in the faith.  We as adults in Church should repent of the way we have sold short our youth, made poor decisions on their behalf using them as excuses or justifications for those bad choices, and then criticized them when they fit into the stereotype we have have created.  It is time to stop.  If not for their sake, at least for ours... We dull their senses with the baby talk of Sunday school, catechism, hymn, liturgy, and children's sermons.  We act as if they are incapable when, in reality, we boomers and the like are using our kids and grandkids to justify our personal preference for entertainment that is both shallow and trite.  We are pushing them out the door by deciding not to emphasize catechesis, by putting down what happens on Sunday morning, by allowing them to make decisions that are reserved for parents, and by using them to justify our own doubts, fears, and personal taste for what we think the Church should be and do.  I think it is high time we stopped selling our kids short.  They are smart.  They are capable of far deeper levels of learning and comprehension than we have allowed.  They watch what happens on Sunday morning.  They learn by memorizing familiar texts and melodies (not by a constant parade of new things).  They want to learn.  They want to participate.  Maybe we should give them a chance!

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FW: A Touch of TV... Is it so bad???

Consider…

 

Feed: Pastoral Meanderings
Posted on: Friday, December 16, 2011 5:00 AM
Author: noreply@blogger.com (Pastor Peters)
Subject: A Touch of TV... Is it so bad???

 

The subject of video media in worship is bound to set off all sorts of fireworks.  There are those who insist not and those who say why not.  While I am not one of those in favor, my position is somewhat nuanced.  A part of me is actually very attracted to the idea of video in worship.  I watch YouTube.  I love good movies.  I have seen (and passed on here) clips that were and are deeply moving, inspirational, and informative.  My inclination would be for judicious use and yet I cannot seem to bring myself to use video.  There are trade offs that come with video that have made it impossible for me to cross the line.  In fact, despite the fact that the idea is attractive, my greatest fear is that actually using it would negate everything else we do in the liturgy.  Let me give some reasons for this fear. Video tends to trivialize whatever is shown on it.  Be it graphic images of sex or violence, be it awe inspiring shots from nature, video as a medium does not engage us.  We are passive before it.  We turn it off and turn it on.  We control it.  We are entertained by it.  We are repulsed by it.  We are informed by it.  But the things on the screen are not accessible to us the way the spoken Word, the splash of water, and the taste of bread and wine are.  It is impersonal.  Even when we are deeply moved by what we see and hear on a screen, we do not participate in it.  There is a great divide or distance between the world of the screen and the world in which we live.  In this way, video as a medium works against the medium of the means of grace.  Worship engages us.  We are not passive but participate in the liturgy.  The Word and Sacraments are not our means but the Lord's means of grace.  It is the Lord's Supper.  We are bidden to us and to eat and drink of it but it is concrete and real in a way that the things we see on TV never are to us.  The whole nature of the means of grace is that they bridge the gap, they come to us, they bid us come, and they engage us not only in an inspirational way but in a personal way.  God is personal in the Word and Sacrament.  The function and work of the liturgy are to frame the Word and the Sacrament where God comes to us in the touch of water, in the voice of absolution, in the smell and taste of bread and wine.  God is embodied in these earthly elements -- that is the sacramental mystery which mirrors the incarnational mystery of God in flesh.  The screen cannot embody anything and, if we are honest, it only emphasizes the hiddenness of God and makes Him as unreal as are the things we watch on it. Video is primarily entertainment.  I do not mean that entertainment is a bad thing.  I love to be entertained by a good book, a good movie, a good TV show, a good performer, etc.  I am not against entertainment.  But worship is not entertainment.  Even if we may be entertained in moments of the Divine Service it is accidental and not intrinsic to what worship is.  There are moments in the liturgy which I feel myself being entertained and I find myself embarrassed by the feeling.  It is not that the feeling is bad -- the setting is wrong.  Americans are entertaining and amusing themselves to death say Andrew Strom and Neil Postman.  While part of me wants to agree another part of me does not want to make such a sweeping indictment.  But when it comes to worship, I can see the problem more clearly.  The entertainment only distances us from the God who has engaged us in the incarnation of His Son and in the means of grace the deliver Christ to us. Video is individual activity.  When a couple come to talk to me about problems and I find out that their primary interaction together is sitting on the same couch watching the TV or sitting in the same room while at work on different video screens, the problem is clear.  Watching TV is not a joint activity.  We may both be in the same room and we may both be watching the same thing, but our minds and hearts digest and react individually to what we see and hear.  The worship of the Church is communal.  We stand, we sit, we kneel.  We speak, we listen, we sing.  We do this together -- not as isolated individuals in the same space but as part of a community in which God bids us entrance and God makes us one.  Finally, the bigger concern is that we have such a fragile understanding of the divide between the sacred and the secular, between the holy and profane, that video undermines what little remains of this vital distinction.  This is the greater area of concern that gives me pause.  Whenever we bring the world into the liturgy, we automatically diminish the holy that God has placed in the midst of the world.  The more we blur the distinction between the world and this sphere of the holy, the greater the danger to the Church and to our identity as the baptized people of God.  Putting a giant TV on the wall of the chancel is not a neutral or indifferent act.  It is a monumental action.  It brings what is perhaps the most powerful symbol of the world right there into the midst of what God is doing.  Where two or three are gathered in My name... in other words, where we gather around the Word of the Lord and the Sacraments (which are the embodiments of His name, the elements to which He has attached His name, His promise, and that make Him known to us and deliver to us His grace and gifts). Blending things together only distorts the identity of both.  Jesus is no blend of the human and the divine.  As we confess in the creed, the divinity has not been converted into flesh (the human) but the human assumed into the divinity.  The means of grace are not blends of the divine and earthly.  Lutherans do not say that the bread or wine has been replaced by the body and blood nor do we say that the bread and wine and the body and blood are intermingled so that they are no longer distinct.  What we confess is that the bread is still bread and to it the Word has added to it the flesh of Christ given for the life of the world and that the wine is still wine but the Word has added to it the blood of Christ shed for us and for our salvation.  To delve any further into the mystery is beyond us or our manifold explanations.  We simply accept what is.  In the same way, Christ speaks of us as those who are in but not of the world, the set apart whom He has declared and made righteous and holy in our baptism.  Our citizenship is not of the world but of heaven.  We are not who we were but the people Christ has made us to be, His own new creation.  The Church is in the world but not of the world -- not a building or an address but the Bride of Christ.  The Church consists of those called out, set apart, and made distinct from the world by God gracious act in the means of grace.  This cannot simply be reduced to a dualism in which flesh and world are evil and spirit and heaven are good.  This is beyond that.  We are the children of God, created anew in Christ Jesus for good works, for the holy purpose and vocation assigned to us and given to us in baptism. The liturgy or Sunday worship either preserves and assists this or else it distorts and conflicts with this baptismal identity.  That is why when we bring the TV into the worship service, we make a statement that gravitates against the very reason and purpose for which we are there.  We can certainly do this in unassuming ways with the same ultimate effect.  When the organ is no longer a servant of the Word and insists upon its own voice distinct from its role of supporting the church's song, something is wrong.  When the choir sings for the entertainment of the people instead of being an integral part of the liturgy existing for the sake of the Word and the worship of God, we have the same distortion.  When the Pastor becomes the central figure and no longer exists in the liturgy as the servant of the Word (its voice), there is danger.  When art becomes an end instead of a servant of the Word (the object of that art being that Word), then we find ourselves in conflict with the purpose for which we are here.  When music (hymns and songs) become matters of personal taste or objects to be used for one end or another by those who plan and execute the service, such music is suspect.  When we look up and see the most prominent secular symbol of our time upon the wall, how can we deny the association with the computer, tablet, smartphone, or TV that dominate our day to day life? As much as I would like to, I know it is a bad idea to include video in what happens on Sunday morning.  In the parish hall or classroom setting, well, that is a different story.  But in the Divine Service, video detracts from and does not add to what is there by God's design and promise.  You are welcome to try and change my mind... but this is how I see it...

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FW: An Announcement from scholia.net

Of interest to our readers…

Greetings,

 

On 16 December 1998, scholia ( http://www.scholia.net ) was launched and received its first hit. This site has been a personal mission project and I have been immensely blessed by providing it. The scholia website is a resource and devotional site for visitors, pastors, missionaries, vicars, parishioners, teachers, chaplains, parents, home-schoolers, seminarians and congregations throughout the world. It has provided free resources that have been down-loaded in all continents (including Antarctica) and in hundreds of nations. The site has been accessed millions of times. The resources have been in the form of bulletin covers, sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, pdf copies of public domain books, exegetical studies, orders of service for those in the Diaspora (particularly isolated people and military), graphics, audio files and so forth.

 

Three of the priorities at scholia have been and remain: 1.) to provide doctrinally sound materials that properly distinguish Law and Gospel, 2.) to provide these resources free and 3.) not to restrict broadcasting of the resources by imposing copyrights that limit distribution. It has been a satisfying privilege to do this. The Word has neither been bound nor restricted. Rather, it has simply been allowed to go forth over the internet and accomplish God's purpose where and when He wills.

 

The scholia.net site has now been turned over to the able stewardship of Pastor Tim Pauls and his son, Nathan. We have been of like mind concerning the scholia site for years. Pastor Pauls has been a major contributor to scholia. Nathan has been the webmaster for quite some time now. No doubt they will be able to use the ever-evolving technologies and applications to make scholia better and more helpful in getting the message of salvation by the grace of God through faith in Christ out to the nations, and particularly to those in the Diaspora. Your continued prayers for them and words of encouragement to them would be beneficial and greatly appreciated.

 

As for me, I am focusing on providing books (including hard cover, paperback, pdf as well as epub copies e-readers) through the scholia store at the lulu.com website. The lulu site utilizes the latest digital technology that makes it just as economically feasible to print and bind one copy as it is to make ten thousand copies. Oh, and once again, the pdf files provided through the scholia store at lulu are free and I am trying to make the epub ones free as well. People are encouraged to download the files and send them to others. Please take a look at what's available by clicking on the lulu linking below.

 

Please pass this along on appropriate e-lists where it would not be considered spam. Thank you.

 

The peace of the LORD be with you alway,

 

Pastor Michael L. McCoy
http://stores.lulu.com/scholia
mailto:mmccoy19@gmail.com

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FW: Preachers are you wasting your time?

Behnken…

 

Feed: Gnesio
Posted on: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 12:21 AM
Author: Gnesio
Subject: Preachers are you wasting your time?

 

To all preachers these words of the Savior have something very positive to say. We must not attempt to entertain men with all kinds of so-called sermons on social improvement. It brings no spiritual blessing to the hearts of sinners to hear discussions of political questions, of moral issues, of civic advancement, and, for that matter, any other temporal issue. What God wants sinners to hear is His Word. He tells preachers: "Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season," 2 Tim. 4:2. You and I are to expose the sin and guilt of our hearers. With the hammer of God's holy Law we are to crush their hearts. We are to cause them to tremble that they may ask, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Acts 16: 30. And then we must tell the story of Jesus and His love. We must lead poor sinners to the Cross of the Redeemer and tell them, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all," Is. 53:6. "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin," I John 1:7. "He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him," 2 Cor. 5:21. Are you proclaiming this message? Or are you wasting your own time and the time of your hearers with subject matter that does not belong into the pulpit? Unless we proclaim the Word of God, we miss the mark altogether. Only the Word of God is "the power unto salvation," Rom. 1:16. John Behnken, President of the LCMS 1945-1962, in "Mercies Manifold: Radio Messages Broadcast During the Summer of 1949, CPH 1950, pp. 117f. See also: They Err Who Deny Preachers the Power to Forgive Sins Preach the Word of God In Its Truth & Purity

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FW: O Vater der Barmherzigkeit (Kyrie for Christmastide)

Cantemus…

 

Feed: HYMNOGLYPT
Posted on: Monday, December 12, 2011 9:23 PM
Author: Matt Carver (Matthaeus Glyptes)
Subject: O Vater der Barmherzigkeit (Kyrie for Christmastide)

 

Here I repost, in advance of the proper date, my translation of the Christmas Kyrie trope, "O Vater der Barmherzigkeit," from a German rendering of the beautiful Kyrie Magnae Deus Potentiae; here with words by Peter Herbert (Kirchengeseng 1566; see Kirch. 1580 p. 150). It should be sung on Sundays of Christmastide, and the office of the Sunday after Christmas also when it is observed on another day. The 2-phrase version represents the form found in Layriz' Choralbuch, where it is appointed as an optional Kyrie for Christmas, though Kyrie V in the Kyriale is only assigned the rubric "II classis 2." The original has three stanzas to each Person (per the ninefold Kyrie use accepted in Lutheranism); Layriz' has two, with the 2nd stanza being entirely new, and the whole shorter, including the kyrie addresses, and all in all much more fitting for public worship. In the German below, the original 2nd and 3rd stanzas are labeled "b" and "c" resp., while the newer closing stanzas from Layriz are labeled "b-c." 2-PHRASE VERSION (Layriz): O FATHER, God of mercies great, Our hearts to Thee we elevate, Praying Thee, Thy grace bestow On rich and poor below. :: O Father God of matchless might, We beg Thee to attend our plight: In Thy mercies inifinite, Kyrieleison! CHRIST the Savior of the earth Thy children save by heav'nly birth, That they in Thee / May flourish ceaselessly. :: Hear us, Christ, our Helper sure, Made man and born of Mary pure, To be our Cure: / Christe eleison! O HOLY GHOST, true God, we pray, Regard Thy people's needs today; By Thy grace make bright and fair The hearts of those who err. :: O Holy Ghost, grant us the pow'r To love Thee truly every hour, And in Thy good virtue flow'r, Kyrieleison! Translation © Matthew Carver, 2010. 3-PHRASE VERSION (Boh. Brethren): O FATHER, God of mercies great, Our hearts to Thee we elevate, Praying Thee, Thy grace bestow On rich and poor below. :: All those who seek Thee heartily, Will find such grace and help from Thee, That they ever may fulfill Thy gracious, holy will. :: Give them the truth for which they long, And pardon for all sin and wrong, In Thy holy house as one, Until our life on earth is done. CHRIST the Savior of the earth Thy children save by heav'nly birth, That they in Thee / May flourish ceaselessly. :: As on earth Thy yoke they bear, Oh, suffer not the devil's snare To cast them down / And steal the victor's crown. :: Through the shedding of Thy blood Assist them here to know Thy good, And worship Thee / For all eternity. O HOLY GHOST, true God, we pray, Regard Thy people's needs today; By Thy grace make bright and fair All the hearts of those who err. :: O come, Thou promised Comforter, Thy heav'nly priesthood to confer, That we may to Thee upraise Fitting offerings of praise. :: Oh, let us all by faith be giv'n The blest inheritance of heav'n, That we may Thy name adore With our praises evermore. Translation © Matthew Carver, 2010. GERMAN 1a. O Vater der Barmherzigkeit, wir bitten dich mit Innigkeit du wollest dich erbarmen der Schwachen und Armen. 1b. Die sich herzlich zu dir kehren Gnad und Hilf von dir begehren, aufdaß sie deinen Willen stets mögen erfüllen. 1c. Hilf, daß sie die Wahrheit finden, zur Vergebung aller Sünden, in heiliger Gemeinschaft- en denn ihr Bilgerschaft. [1b-c. O Vater, allmächtiger Gott! zu dir schreien wir in der Not: Durch dein groß Barmherzigkeit erbarm dich über uns!] 2a. Christe, aller Welt Heiland, hilf allen die dich han erkannt, daß sie in dir / zunehmen für und für 2b. Laß sie nicht kraftlos werden, unter deinem Joch auf Erden, aus deim Gesetz / fallen ins Teufels Netz. 2c. Hilf durch dein Blut vergiessen, daß sie dein hie wohl geniessen, und benedeit / dich loben allezeit. [2b-c. O Christ! wollst uns erhören, für uns bist du Mensch geboren von Maria, / erbarm dich über uns!] 3a. O Heiliger Geist, wahrer Gott, sieh heut an der gläubigen Not und erleucht durch deine Güt der irrenden Gemüt. 3b. O komm du verheissner Tröster, und mach uns geistliche Priester, daß wir dich unsern Schöpfer, preisen mit Dankopfer. 3c. O hilf, daß wir durchs Glaubens Kraft, erlangen die himmlisch Erbschaft, und deinen edlen Namen. ewig loben Amen. [3b-c. O Heilger Geist, wollst uns geben, dich allzeit– herzlich lieben und nach deim Willen streben, erbarm dich über uns.]

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FW: Annual Reading List

Consider…

 

Feed: Musings of a Country Preacher
Posted on: Monday, December 12, 2011 10:20 AM
Author: Country Preacher
Subject: Annual Reading List

 

Recently, I mentioned that I read St. Athanasius' "On the Incarnation" each year during Advent.  There are a few other books worth reading each year, at specific times.  Here is my list: Advent: St. Athanasius, On The Incarnation Epiphany: Bo Giertz, The Hammer of God (If you haven't read the new one with the final chapter translated into English, do get yourself a copy.  I always felt the book seemed incomplete and abruptly ended.  The final chapter is a beautiful enactment of  redemption.) Holy Lent: Johann Gerhard, An Explanation of the History of the Suffering and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eastertide: The Apostolic Fathers.  (I prefer the Lightfoot-Holmes translation, but you can get the Schaff one for free.   It also includes Irenaeus and Justin, which are also good for Easter.) Pentecost (St. John's Tide): Walther, Law and Gospel. Again, some seasons I read them voraciously, other times I read them lightly, and pick up where I left off the previous year.  There is no exam.  You will not be tested.  But you will find that your sermons are much easier to write if you get some good devotional reading for yourself.  For me, these are the top books for various seasons.

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FW: Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

Advice…

 

Feed: Musings of a Country Preacher
Posted on: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 10:30 AM
Author: Country Preacher
Subject: Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

 

We're about half-way through Advent.  For the new pastor, this can be a very exciting time.  It is the first holiday season since your Ordination.  If you are serving as a sole pastor, you are now preaching at least twice a week, and you have an extra two services coming up on Christmas Eve and Day (This year, you only have one extra, because Christmas is on a Sunday, but anyway…)  That's a lot of preaching.  I recall my first year, discovering that all that I learned in seminary was used up after about six months of preaching.  As one older and wiser pastor said, "You can't just keep going back to the well without refilling it.  It will get empty." But more important for the young (or even the middle aged) pastor is figuring out how to do all of these things while not neglecting your own spiritual life.  How does this simple country parson keep himself from getting burned out on all the Christmas stuff? There are two things I do each year.  They seem to do the trick for me. The most important is some advice I received from a veteran pastor in my circuit during my first year of ministry.  He said that what he does to keep from getting burned out is visit all of his homebound members on the Eve of the Nativity.  I can not stress this enough.  Many pastors like to do them slowly throughout the week leading up to Christmas.  If that works for you, I suppose it's fine.  But for me, the anticipation of visiting all my homebound right as the calendar turns from Advent to Christmas, is greater than my excitement over any other part of the holiday season.  As others are rushing about with last minute preparations, I am going from house to house, bringing the Christmas Gospel to those who can not attend church.  The first time I sing the Gloria In Excelsis after putting it away for Advent is not at the service on Christmas morning, but for the sick and infirm on Christmas Eve.  (Technically, it's during the day, but you get the idea.)  The Gloria never sounds quite as beautiful to me as it does repeated over and over during that day.  The Passage from Luke never seems so important and fresh, and rather than saying, "Here's the final push" as I get to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service, I am filled with excitement from having preached and read to those who need it most.  In addition, the homebound members hear the Gospel just as Christmas is beginning, so it is also fresh in their minds on Christmas day. I can not commend this practice enough.  I have done it every year since my ordination.  My record is nine visits in one day. I do make allowance for those who live a distance away.  I visit them earlier.  But it is not the same.  To bring the "good news of great joy which shall be to all people" to those who need it most, just when they would normally have been getting ready for church themselves in years past, means a lot to them.  It is worth your time, and the exhaustion you will feel on December 26.  It is a well-earned nap that I take that day, sleeping like a very contented rock. The other thing I do is read.  But not just anything.  Advent is the time to read Athanasius "On the Incarnation."  This is a more recent addition to my schedule, but no less important.  Each year I try to read through it, and some years, I almost succeed.  The point is not that I pack away so many pages or chapters each day, but rather, whenever I have a few quiet moments, I read and ponder a little bit.  It helps focus me on what is truly important in the Christmas season, in my preaching, in my teaching, and in my own meditation.  If this interests you, I have the public domain version formatted to fit in a coat pocket.  It's a little large, but it does fit.  I put plastic covers on mine, and carry it with me everywhere.  You'd be amazed how often you have two or three minutes to read a few lines.  Of course, this applies not only to pastors.  Anyone can read Athanasius.  I recommend it. And that's how I prepare my heart for Christmas.

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