Another Modest Proposal...

Today we have another modest proposal from A. Blaise. Monsieur Blaise's previous post recommending a new translation of the Book of Concord was very well received and still generates a large number of "hits." Enjoy!

“Consequently the church cannot be better governed and maintained than by having all of us live under one head, Christ, and by having all the bishops equal in office (however they may differ in gifts)…” (SA II:IV:9)
“But if our opponents would only listen to the complaints of churches and pious hearts! Our opponents valiantly defend their own position and wealth. Meanwhile they neglect the state of the churches, and they do not see to it that there is proper preaching and administration of the sacraments in the churches…Those who are now bishops do not perform the duties of bishops according to the Gospel…” (Ap. XVIII:3, 12)

The more things change, the more they stay the same. So it would seem in the church of the 16th century and that of the 21st. In the modern Missouri Synod, we of course mostly shun the title “Bishop” (save the English District). “District President” sounds so much more American and democratic. But the office seems the same and the abuses similar to the 16th century days and complaints cited above. Except, in the 16th century, those who exercised ecclesiastical supervision at least made a pretense of holding office in a Christian congregation where the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments was nominally required of them. Our current DPs in Missouri with only one or two exceptions (i.e. Atlantic DP) are not pastors anymore except in name. They serve no congregations, they have no pulpits, they administer the sacraments rarely, and preach only at anniversary celebrations, giving the same tired accolades over and over and over (if you can call that preaching). Pretty much the 16th century bishop revisited.

It’s rough being a DP these days in Missouri. You have to spend long hours bossing people around and collecting money. Even if you’re inclined, there’s no time and you’re not really supposed to preach the Gospel, give the sacraments, or make hospital visits. Even good, orthodox men seem easily corrupted by such an office. They come in with good intentions, but soon are the same sort of no preaching, no sacrament, no Gospel giving louts of which our Lutheran fathers complained. And so the church suffers today in astonishingly similar ways as it suffered in the 16th century. Money is king, along with numbers and organizational unity (though you can’t say the Synod is wrong about anything anymore, according to our Synod President. I guess we even have an infallible hierarchy again, but that’s a subject for another time). So our DPs sow seeds of dissent and cause considerable trouble for orthodox pastors, and seem to lack any sympathy whatsoever for the needs of humble parish pastors serving diligently in small parishes with little help or encouragement.

But there is a fairly simple solution! Several years ago, the former President of the St. Louis Seminary, Dr. John Johnson had a six month sabbatical coming to him. Instead of using it to sit on a beach in Tahiti, he went back to the parish and served six months as a pastor at a church in Houston. By all accounts, it was a great experience for Dr. Johnson and for that congregation, and served to connect him in a real and powerful way to the office he holds and for which he prepared men to enter.

So here’s a modest proposal: how about we pass a resolution at the next Synod convention (since such resolutions are infallible and unconditionally binding on all Synod members now!) that every District President serve at least six months of every three year term in a parish. And not just any parish: it is easy to serve in a big mega church and run a few volleyball leagues, chair a couple of boards, and pat all the lay leaders on the head, without preaching more than once or twice a year, or ever making a single shut-in visit. No, no they must be required to serve a church that has no more than 100 members average Sunday attendance, allowing the pastors of such congregations some rest and respite. If these congregations were in urban areas with challenging conditions and high crime rates (especially muggings), all the better! Then they’d really get a taste of modern parish life! Then they could truly empathize with the least of Christ’s servants.

I hear the cry “but Districts would grind to a halt without our DPs! Their strategery (sic) and what not is vital for the church to survive!” But I recall a presentation by the former SED DP, Dr. Scherer. He informed the brethren of a little known fact from the animal kingdom: if you shoot the lead buffalo in a herd, the whole herd stops and is easy prey for hunters. But if you shoot the lead goose in a formation, he drops out and is quickly replaced and the geese fly on. “Don’t be the buffalo, Dr. Scherer admonished: be the goose.”

We read ad nauseum anyway about “servant leadership” and how the mission of the clergy is not to actually minister but equip others to do the real work. What DP does not preach such things? So let them put their feet where their mouths are. If they are such dynamic servant leaders and have done their jobs properly for a year or two, they should be able to walk out of their cozy corner offices for six months and not even be missed. Surely they are all geese, are they not?

So let’s get those cards and letters flying into Synod, my dear fellow Lutherans, imploring the Synod to require the Six Month Parish Ministry Tour (small parish, less than 100 members in worship, inner city, high crime rate, lots of muggings) for all our DPs. They will be better, the church will be better, and our complaints may at last find redress…

A. Blaise

Tropical Storm Alberto Interrupts Posting

I will be taking a short break from posting this and probably next week. Tropical Storm Alberto came through town and put my shop under water. What a mess! I have flood experience from when Hurricane Floyd flooded the eastern half of the state a few years back. Trust you me, ain't no picnic!

The good news is that we are still here and are going to rebuild. I will try to post an update as soon as everything calms down.

The picture posted is the water crossing the street in front of my shop on the way to my shop.

I Bind Unto Myself Today

For Trinity Sunday we sang the hymn I Bind Unto Myself Today that is attributed to Saint Patrick (372-466) and sung to the tune St. Patrick’s Breastplate. This hymn is a beautiful Trinitarian hymn that confesses the three persons of the trinity, that is to say God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. I’ll take a closer look at the Trinity later in the week with an examination of the Quicunque Vult.

The Gospel reading for the day is taken from the Gospel according to St. John 3:1-17
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Here in this Gospel reading we have the Trinity. In the text there is God the Father who gives us His only begotten Son. We are told of God the Spirit who by grace gives us saving faith. And we have the Son, that just as the bronze serpent that was lifted up by Moses to heal Israel, will be lifted up on the cross as our propitiation, our atoning sacrifice.

St. Patrick confess the entire Gospel story in the second verse of the hymn. Without the incarnate Lord of the first line we are lost to sin. Since Christ’s baptism is our baptism we would lost to sin without it as well. Since Christ death on the cross is our death and since his rising from the tomb is our resurrection, St Patrick is confessing his absolute faith in God’s word. For if we couldn’t believe Scripture means what it says we would rightly be brought to the state of despair under the crushing weight of the Law! The Gospel give us the freedom to look to Christ for our salvation as the One who has done it all for us poor miserable sinners. And just as St. Patrick binds unto himself the good news of the Gospel, so should we daily with confidence!

My only “issue” with our opening hymn is my own difficulty in singing it. One would expect a cantor like myself to read music with little difficulty, and that would be a mistake! Chanting the Introit (the psalm of the day) back and forth with the congregation is quite a bit different than following the musical notes of what I consider a difficult hymn. That being said, I love this hymn for the doctrine it confesses; we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. It is for this reason that I look forward to singing it again.

I Bind unto Myself Today Text: attr. Saint Patrick para. Cecil F. Alexander 1823- 95

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The three in One and One in Three

I bind this day to me forever
By pow’r of faith, Christ’s incarnation,
His baptism in the Jordan River,
His cross of death for my salvation,
His bursting forth from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today

I bind unto myself the name
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three
Of whom all nature has creation
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word
Praise to the Lord of my salvation:
Salvation is of Christ the Lord

Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition.

"Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." That's how the Kansas City Star starts the story on the video game coming out based on the Left Behind series by Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces allows the gamer to convert the different charactors to Christianity. If the charactors don't want to just make that decision for Jesus, well then it's just peachy keen to go ahead and shoot them dead. In the multiplayer games, participants can choose to command the Antichrist’s forces.

Here's a quote from the article: "In the game, Tribulation squads unleash the usual arsenal against the Antichrist: guns, tanks, helicopters. But soldiers lose some of their spirituality every time they kill an opponent and must be bolstered through prayer. The failure to nurture good guys causes their spirit points to drop, leaving them vulnerable to recruitment by the other side. The player’s choices prompt intervention by angelic forces or unleash demons who feast on the faithful. As players progress through the increasingly difficult levels, they see Scripture passages presented as secret scrolls and hear inspirational music."

In multiplayer games, participants can choose to command the Antichrist’s forces.

I wonder what brain child thought this would be a good idea? Better yet, who really thinks this nonsense will attract Christians? Isn't there already a glut of first person shooter games out there?

But ya know, if this sells even a couple copies, wouldn't it be a good idea to release Koran: Eternal Jihad. Now that's a game I would consider playing on the ole Gamesphere 2000! Wouldn't it be cool to play one of the archangles and start wiping out the Mohammadians. I'm mean, if its ok to play the role of the Antichrist and his forces, well it must be ok to, well you know...

There's enough fodder in this one little story that I could start writing full time. To read what I have previously written about deciding or making a choice for Jesus go here. It's ridiculous I know, but I can hear folks out there already thinking "God is just using these programers to reach the unchurched and show them the error of their ways". Oh great, now I'm thinking like these half wits! Blast!


HT: my niece Valerie

Lutheran Carnival XXV

The latest edition of the Lutheran Carnival is up and running at Mrs. Terrible Swede’s site Journalistic Jargon. The theme for the first carnival after Pentecost is the life and ministry of Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm (C.F.W.) Walther. Make sure to stop by and say howdy!

A Superb Post At Gottesblog

Father Eckardt over at Gottesblog has a superb post on the administration of the Eucharist. He takes on the question: do men who receive grape juice as the second kind in the sacrament receive the forgiveness of sins that is promised in the Eucharist? His answer is a simple; no they do not.

His thought process in drawing the conclusion he does is the fact that faith must believe the Word of God recorded in the Gospel according to St. Mathew 26:27-28
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Here our Lord does not mention grape juice but refers to a very real element, wine. Faith must believe the very words of Christ. Here Jesus gives us an earthly element that, through His words, becomes a mystery that only faith can comprehend. He does not say that the wine in the cup is “like” his blood; he says that the cup is his blood. It is the same blood in that cup that in just a few short hours will flow down the cursed tree that He will be nailed to. He means what he says!

St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:29,30 write
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

St. Paul states for a fact that some didn’t recognize what it was that they were doing and in the process died after eating and drinking the Host and the Cup respectively. A number of the Corinthians thought the Eucharist something akin to brunch at the local Kountry Kitchen and not as a holy thing God. In treating the Euchrist lightly and without the due respect a holy thing of the Lord, they died!

Lutheran confess in AC X “Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed to those who eat the Supper of the Lord; and they reject those that teach otherwise”. It is the very body of Christ because Christ says it is! We also confess that both kinds are to be used in the administration as we confess in AC XXII 9-12 “But it is evident that any custom introduced against the commandments of God is not to be allowed, as the Canons witness (dist. III., cap. Veritate, and the following chapters). But this custom has been received, not only against the Scripture, but also against the old Canons and the example of the Church. Therefore, if any preferred to use both kinds of the Sacrament, they ought not to have been compelled with offense to their consciences to do otherwise. And because the division of the Sacrament does not agree with the ordinance of Christ, we are accustomed to omit the procession, which hitherto has been in use”. If the Lord of heaven and earth wanted us to use grape juice he would have surely said so. Introducing grape juice as a substitute conflicts with the command and the promise of our Lord and therefore can not have any salvific merit.

A student once asked me in my Sunday school class why don’t we use Oreos and milk instead of bread and wine. The student merely wanted to know where is the proof that Scripture commands what to use as the Host and the Cup. I pointed to the same verses in the Gospel according to Matthew as well as the Corinthian verses as the proof texts that the use of bread and wine is not adiaphra! Sure at any time we can use Oreos and milk and call it the Eucharist, but it would not be a holy thing commanded by God. A group of children “playing church” can pretend to administer the Sacrament by passing out Ritz crackers and Kool-Aid but all the wishing in the world will not make what they do holy.

It is refreshing to see that there are pastors like Father Eckardt that are willing, no matter how much flack they catch. confess the words of Christ as truth.

Elected...

Today I begin my reign as the Chair of the Board of Education at church. I wonder how upset will folks be when I require the Sunday school opening to chanted in Latin? I mean, Latin is the language of theology so isn't that what we should be teaching the kinder? I can hear the little raggamuffins chanting in harmony now...






POTESTATEM OBSCURI LATERIS NESCIS!
POTESTATEM OBSCURI LATERIS NESCIS!
POTESTATEM OBSCURI LATERIS NESCIS!

Yes, I can hear them already. Exxxcellent.

Appointed...

I've been appointed to the position of Webmaster for my church by the out going president of my congregation. It's sort of cool that I'll be the first "official" webmaster. We are losing the unofficial webmaster, "E", who really got the web page up and running, to a job change that will relocate him and his family to the Midwest. "E" and I really saw eye to eye when it came to using the internet as an evangelism tool.

The days of waiting till you are relocated to find a church are long gone. As someone who used to travel for sometimes weeks at a time, I know that more and more people look to the web to find a church. The web has the opportunity to be really the cheapest way to reach folks. I know it beats paying the local newspaper seven or eight hundred dollars for ads during Advent and Lent. So I guess now I'll get to help folks find our little confessional liturgical congregation.

Changes To Blogroll

I've made some changes to the blogroll today. Some of the changes were long overdue and some were just recent discoveries.

First on the list are the address changes. Wretched of the Earth is now up and running at Backward Kingdom. Josh S. has changed the name of his blog from Here We Stand to A Finger for Each Nostril. Jason changed the title of his blog from Rants From A Disgruntled Lutheran to Ranting No More---A Blog In Search Of A Title. And finally Kelly's Blog has its right link.

There are two additions to report. The first being Father Eckardt's blog, appropriately named, Gottesblog. Father Eckardt is editor-in-chief of Gottesdienst. Gottesdeinst is a Evangelical Lutheran liturgical magazine.

The second addition is Luther At The M0vies. This site is a real hoot! The only way to describe it is this: just imagine if Dr. Luther was taken out of his room at Wittenburg and thrown into the local cineplex five hundred years in the future. Like I said, a real hoot!

Easter Hymn For Rogate

This past Sunday we closed the our Divine Service with a hymn printed out of TLH: Lord ‘Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee by Josiah Conder sung to the tune “O du Liebe”.

This hymn draws its inspiration from the Gospel reading for the day from John 15:9-17
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.

In the text Jesus says that it is He that chooses us, and it is by grace alone that we receive this saving faith. The exact opposite teaching of this is what would be called decision theology. Decision theology states that it is us, poor miserable sinners all, that choose Jesus. This line of thinking has us determining our own salvation. This incorrect doctrine has us “running the verbs”. Believing the words of our Lord mean exactly what they say, Lutherans reject decision theology.
St Paul echo’s this in his epistle to the Ephesians 2:1-3
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
And also in 1 Corinthians 12:3
Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

St Paul believes and confesses the words of his crucified and risen Lord by saying conversion and faith are entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. Many of the churches in our country today like to quote Revelation 3:20 which says “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” While from our flawed human perspective this might seem like a decision to go ahead and open the door and let Christ into our hearts, it ignores the fact that we still don’t know when to open any such door until the Holy Spirit actually knocks on the door. Does anyone really think that if we open the door wanting a pepperoni pizza that the Pizza Hut delivery guy (or gal) will be there. I invite anyone to try that little trick on a Saturday night! Sounds like a new diet fad if there ever was one.

As flawed human beings we must, if we are to stay true to God’s Holy Scripture, confess that it is by grace alone that God has chosen us since before the foundations of the world were laid. And this is why our closing hymn is confessional, in beautiful words it repeats back the very doctrine the Lord has given to comfort us in his Gospel.

Lord ‘Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee by Josiah Conder

Lord, ‘tis not that I did choose Thee; That, I know, could never be;
For this heart would still refuse TheeHad Thy grace not chosen me.
Thou hast from the sin that stained me Washed and cleansed and set me free
And unto this end ordained me, That I ever live to Thee.

‘Twas Thy grace in Christ that called me, Taught my darkened heart and mind;
Else the world had yet enthralled me, To Thy heav’nly glories bind.
Now my heart owns none above Thee; For Thy grace alone I thirst,
Knowing well that, if I love Thee, Thou, O Lord, didst love me first.

Praise the God of all creation; Praise the Father’s boundless love.
Praise the Lamb, our Expiation, Priest and King enthroned above.
Praise the Spirit of salvation, Him by whom our spirits live.
Undivided adoration To the great Jehovah give.

Frank Miller's Lutheran World View

I always have been an avid comic book geek. I still have the first comic book I picked up at a local drug store from back when I live up north. I don’t know why I chose Fantastic Four #178 over the other titles but that’s the one I wanted and that’s the one my parents bought me. For those of you who are not big fans of the genre, Fantastic Four #178 came out in January of 1977. When I started going to high school I stopped reading and collecting comic books because, it just wasn’t cool to be caught even reading them anymore.

I picked up the hobby again when I was stationed in Germany by the Army. My roommate, James VanBeek, collected comics and I took the occasion to catch up with what was going on with Peter Parker and who was breaking into Wayne Manor this time around.

During the 80’s the comic book world started getting a little darker. Villains and heroes alike started getting killed off for the purpose of selling more books. Marvel killed off Kraven the Hunter, Doctor Octopus, and one of the Green Goblins in Spidey’s little corner of New York. Iron Man was turned into a murderer. The Punisher, a killer, had his own title as a hero who went around killing off members of the mob. DC killed off Supergirl and the Flash in one miniseries “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Soon, fans were asked to vote whether a hero should live or die. Jason Todd, the second Robin to Batman, was a causality of this effort to make comics more appealing to a mature audience. In an effort to increase sales, comic books became a little scary.




One of the good things to come out of the eighties was Frank Miller. Frank Miller updated Daredevil from a second rate hero fighting third rate losers like Stilt-Man to a tortured soul fighting a very believable Kingpin of crime. While Daredevil’s world got a little darker, it was still recognizable as one we all lived in. Frank Miller also gave us one of the greatest Batman stories of all time with The Dark Knight Returns. TDKR gave us a future vision of Batman’s return to Gothom after a ten year absence. A great read for all, I assure you. Then came the 90’s.

In the 90’s, Frank Miller went over to Dark Horse Comics, an upstart rival to DC and Marvel. Miller at Dark Horse treated us to a series of serial stories from a place called Sin City printed within the pages of Dark Horse Presents. With the Sin City stories Miller took the mood of the eighties, shot it full of steroids and forced it to start slamming down multiple shots of espresso. Sin City was a hard edged noir world where Sam Spade would seem like a choir boy. Even the best people turned out to be bad people who were either killers or prostitutes or strippers. The police, politicians, and even the priests were corrupt and vile. Not the kind of place anyone would take the kids to vacation. Nope, definitely not any kind of Disneyworld I’d want to visit. Recently three of the collected stories were made into the bestest comic book movie adaptation ever.

A friend of mine and I were discussing that movie version of Sin City after our Friday night Bible study last week. My wife had to chime in and say how much she despised the movie-“Why would anyone want to see a movie that has as it’s protagonists very bad people?” My friend said something rather profound concerning Miller’s world view, its Lutheran!

Many in today’s society, and worse yet, today’s Church, don’t see the world the way Miller does: a very bad place filled with very bad people. Miller’s right, there is nothing good about us or anything we do, period. We are not, as some seem to think, just good people put here to do good things with a lot of bad things going on around us.

Since Adam’s first sin we have been very bad people. Psalm 51:5 teaches us Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
St. Paul writes that no one is righteous in Romans 3:10-18
As it is written: “ There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “ Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;“ The poison of asps is under their lips”; “ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “ Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “ There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
The bottom line, we are not good people. As sinful human beings there is nothing at all about us worth redeeming.

But Frank Miller’s pessimistic world view is not the end of our story. If it were, we would be without any hope all! Thankfully, we have hope and faith in Christ as our propitiation to counter the world. We no longer have to worry about being poor miserable sinners as we have the promise of being justified before the Lord by not our own works but by Christ’s work on the cross. Augustana IV confesses that “Furthermore, it is taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through merit, work, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ’s sake through faith when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and for that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness in his sight, as St. Paul says in Romans 3:21-26.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
And in Romans 4:5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

I loved the Sin City movie because it was the most faithful comic book adaptation I’d ever seen. I should be clear and say there is nothing Christian about Frank Miller’s Sin City, not the movie and not the comic book. And I certainly don’t want to return to an era where comic book companies thought it would be fun to have heroes that were every bit as bad as the villains they were fighting. But, there is in this case something refreshing about Miller’s dark view of the world. Everything is not peachy with our fallen world, and never will be, at least on this side of eternity. Once we understand that Miller is right concerning how deep sin has its hooks in us, we should race to the promise of the Gospel. We should by faith believe that no matter how right Miller is about this earthly kingdom, our crucified and risen Lord has declared us his in the heavenly kingdom. The light that Christ brings to us in Word and Sacrament shines so bright it illuminates the darkest world, not a make believe world written by Frank Miller, but our world. It is that light that Christ gives that gives us hope and allows us to look at a movie like Sin City and say…cool.

Lutheran Carnival XXIV

The latest edition of the Lutheran Carnival is up at Nerd Heaven. Sam has made theme of the introduction of the Carnival the of the Ascension of Our Lord. Be sure to stop by and tell Sam what a great job he's done.

Easter Hymn For Cantate

Our hymn of the day this past Sunday was a seventeenth century hymn At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing as translated by Bohemian Brethren and sung to the tune Sonne Der Gerechtigkeit. This is considered an Easter hymn because of the numerous references to Christ’s sacrifice of His body and blood at the cross. It could easily be sung as a Eucharistic hymn for exactly the same reason.

I’ve said before in previous posts, (here and here), hymnody should always be confessional. And by this sung confession, the hymn becomes a proclamation of the Gospel. The text of the hymn is drawing inspiration from Revelation 5:11-13 (NKJV) which reads

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:
“ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
“ Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

While the hymn does state what our response is to our crucified Lord, the subject of the hymn is Christ and not our emotional response to Christ. A good number of enthusiasts prefer hymnody that focuses on us and our responses. This would make us the subject of the verbs and that would be, of course, wrong. When the subject of a hymn is not Christ, it is not proclamation and therefore is not a hymn but rather a song. Songs have no place within the walls of our sanctuaries. Songs belong on the radio or around a campfire, not in Church.

One of the things that I love about this particular hymn is the Eucharistic language that celebrates Christ’s victory on the cross. The first verse confesses that it is Christ’s blood that makes us righteous before God. The second verse confesses that Christ as our High Priest willingly gives up his own body and blood to become our paschal lamb. Verse four confesses that even today we can physically grasp that same Host which was nailed to a tree. Today, it is that same body that hung on a cross that we eat at the Holy Supper. It is that same blood that cleanses us that we drink in the Cup. It is in the Sacrament of the Eucharist that we get a taste, of that eternal heavenly feast that waits for us on the other side of eternity.

And to top things off, this beautiful hymn ends with a doxological verse confessing the Trinity. The word doxological comes from the Greek word doxologia meaning praise and laudation from the root word doxa, and word, speech, and speaking from the root word logos. So the final verse ends with a Trinitarian confession to which my congregation stands as if it was hearing the Gospel itself.

Here is our hymn of the day for your enjoyment.

At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing
At the Lamb’s high feast we sing Praise to our victorious king,
Who has washed us in the tide Flowing from his pierced side. Alleluia!

Praise we him, whose love divine Gives his sacred blood for wine,
Gives his body for the feast Christ the victim, Christ the priest. Alleluia!

Where the paschal blood is poured, Death’s dread angel sheathes the sword;
Israel’s hosts triumphant go Through the wave that drowns the foe. Alleluia!

Praise we Christ, whose blood was shed, Paschal victim, paschal bread;
With sincerity and love Eat we manna from above. Alleluia!

Mighty Victim from the sky, Hell’s fierce powers beneath you lie;
You have conquered in the fight You have brought us life and light. Alleluia!

Now no more can death appall, Now no more the grave enthrall;
You have opened paradise, And your saints in you shall rise. Alleluia!

Easter triumph, Easter joy! This alone can sin destroy;
From sin’s power, Lord, set us free, Newborn souls in you to be. Alleluia!

Father, who the crown shall give, Savior, by whose death we live,
Spirit, guide through all our days; Three in One, Your name we praise. Alleluia!

Busy Week This Week

I've been busy week this week as I needed to finish up a customer. I had hoped to post on the district convention's business sometime this week, but just couldn't find the time. I'll do better next week. I have a couple of things on my mind that are ripe for a post or two, or three.

Concerning the SED district convention, there... is... not... enough... time... in... the... day... or the week... or the month... to properly give it it's due. Next week I'll give it a shot though.

LUTHERAN CARNIVAL XXIII

LUTHERAN CARNIVAL XXIII is up and running over at the Random Thoughts of a Confessional Lutheran site! Be sure to stop by and see what a great job Random Dan has done with it. LUTHERAN CARNIVAL XXIII actually has an inaugural post for the Carnival from yours truly. How cool is that!