Parish life

I have really enjoyed this Lenten season and the opportunity to gather with my Brothers and Sisters for mid-week Lenten services on Wednesday evenings.

Now, I confess that I have had mixed feelings about the sermon series that is being preached - it is about "repairing broken relationships". Each week the sermon has looked at behaviour patterns that contribute to unhealthy relationships - having unrealistic expectations of each other, the negative interpretation of motives, escalating responses, etc. I'm not quite able to put my finger on why I don't like them; they seem to be too law driven, almost "self-help" in nature, with too much focus on fixing broken human relationships and not enough on how Jesus fixes our broken relationship with the Father. There's nothing wrong with them per se, it's just not my cup of tea, I guess.

Despite this, I've still come away each evening fed and refreshed. It occured to me that this is one real advantage that the liturgy has over a non-liturgical worship setting: even if you get a less than stellar sermon, you still hear the Word - spoken by the pastor from the readings and spoken and sung to one another by the congregation. The Word runs through the entire service and you are immersed in it from beginning to end. I will miss having these midweek gatherings when Lent ends.

I've also REALLY enjoyed being in the choir! It kind of surprised me how much pleasure I've been getting out of it. We have a full docket for this upcoming Holy Week: leading the congregation in the canticles for Palm Sunday, and anthems/hymns on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I have discovered that I have a not bad voice too! It's not a "solo" voice to be sure, but it sounds quite nice when it is blended with other voices. I get a real sense of satisfaction in praising God in this way.

This past Sunday our church held a special candlelight service of Evening Prayer. It featured a men's choir, and several organists from around our district contributed their talents. It was not a heavily attended event (which disappointed me a bit) but the smaller gathering of people gave it a peaceful, intimate atmosphere. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Lutheran Liturgy: The Service of Preparation

Pretend that you are coming to church with me...

If you've never been in a Lutheran Church before you may notice that it looks different from what you are used to. A brief explanation about the layout of the church can be found here.

As we enter the sanctuary, you will notice that the atmosphere is somewhat subdued. Some people may be talking quietly, but others will be listening to the prelude music or have their heads down in prayer, preparing for worship. As we take our seats, I will silently pray a brief prayer of thanks to the Holy Spirit for bringing me to church and asking the Spirit to give me ears to hear the Gospel. You can pray too, if you like. There is a prayer for coming to worship in the cover of the hymnal if you would like to use it, or you can pray an appropriate prayer of your own.

By now, the church should be filling up and there will be music playing. Most often it is our beautiful organ, but sometimes there are other instruments: we have a handbell choir and quite a few musicians who lend their talents (on the clarinet, trumpet, guitar for example) and recently we've had a beautiful flute accompany the grand piano. The music helps to set the atmosphere for the coming service - somber on a Good Friday service, for example, or triumphant for Easter.

We see two acolytes enter the sanctuary to light the candles at the altar. The pastor enters and we stand to sing the opening hymn.

We will remain standing after the hymn and the pastor will face the altar and say "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" and we will respond "Amen". This is called the Invocation. The invocation is based upon Matthew 28:19a

Following the Invocation, we will kneel and confess our sinfulness and hear the pastor pronounce God's forgiveness to us. This is called Confession and Absolution. The words we use for our confession are from 1 John 1:8 "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Following our confession, the pastor will pronounce absolution according to John 20:23, Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18.

With absolution pronounced, we have finished the Service of Preparation and are now ready for the actual Divine Service to begin.

Ok, I can hear you now. Huh??? So, what just happened here? Well, let me try to explain...

To understand what's going on in the liturgy in general, you need to remember that it is focussed entirely on Christ and the saving work that He did, and continues to do, for us. The liturgy is a beautiful reflection of the order between God and man: God acts, we respond.

Our sin separates us from God and prevents us from entering into his presence. On our own we can't approach him - He must come to us. The primary way that he comes to us is through his Word and Sacraments.

So when we gather to worship, the first thing we do is acknowledge that we are not here by our own strength or reason but have been brought by the Spirit. We acknowledge this in the liturgy through the Invocation. When the pastor speaks the invocation, he does so outside of the chancel area; he is still in the nave with the rest of the congregation. As he speaks the invocation, he makes the sign of the cross (we may do so also) by which we recall our baptism and the name of the Triune God into whose name we have been baptized. It is on this basis that we may now approach him. Maybe that sounds like a no-brainer, but notice how it points us firmly back to Christ? It keeps us from thinking that we're here because we have something to "offer" to God. We're not here on account of any merit or work (even the work of praise) of our own - we're "name-dropping" if you will, using God's own name to approach Him, because of what Christ did for us.

But emboldened though we are by God's promise to hear us for Christ's sake, we have some dirty business to attend to first. We are sinful and constantly in need of God's forgiveness. How can we even contemplate entering into His presence in such a state? Our sorrow for our sin causes us to go to our knees and cry out for mercy and forgiveness. God in his mercy hears our cries and assures us that we have been forgiven for Christ's sake. As the pastor pronounces God's forgiveness to us, he remains outside of the chancel, reminding us that he is just a servant and in need of forgiveness as well. What he pronounces to us, he receives himself.

The Service of Preparation establishes the rhythm of our worship: God Himself serves us with his gifts of pardon and forgiveness and we respond in joyful thanksgiving. Now we are ready to begin worship...

There aren't too many things that I consider myself to be an "expert" on. I'm "pretty good" or even "good" at some things, but there's nothing that I'm really "accomplished" at or that I would feel comfortable giving advice on. The only thing that I think I am anywhere near competent to give advice on is marriage. I have a really good marriage - I cherish it, and my husband.

We had a pretty rocky start, you know. We both were young - I was 22 and Ken was 23 - and we were pretty foolish to boot. It took us more than a few years to "become one"; we didn't understand that it was more than just two people living alongside the other. but as the years went by, we learned to become one; to submit to each other in love and to serve one another humbly, always seeking for the other the highest good.

I am not bragging here. That we have a tremendous marriage is nothing other than a grace and I give all the glory to God for his mercy towards us.

And I pray the same for you.

I regularly pray for you, and your husbands and your marriages. Sometimes I pray "in bulk" - that is I make intercession for all the marriages of all my friends and family, but very often the Lord will put one of you on my heart and then I will pray specifically for that particular couple.

If you're wondering if I've ever prayed for you and your marriage, I can tell you that if you read this blog even semi-regularly, I have prayed for you.*smile* A good marriage is such a profound gift from God that I can't help but wish it for everyone.
I hope that knowing that someone is praying for your marriage is an encouragement to you.

A reader asks...

In an email, Beth from Arizona asks,

“Is the Holy Spirit within all people including non believers? If not, then how does God communicate with or guide us before we are baptized? Isn’t something leading us to the desire to be baptized?"

Blessings, Beth

Thank you for your email and your questions, Beth. The answers, happily, can be clearly drawn from the Scriptures.

The Scriptures indicate in a number of places that there are those who are in the Spirit and those who are not.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8

Forthe one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6:8

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3

Just as a distinction was made between the Isrealites - God's chosen people - and the Gentiles, so too is there a distinction between those who have been regenerated by the Spirit and those who have not. All are God's creatures, but not all are His children.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

Believers have been adopted into the family of God and are heirs to the Kingdom. Believers hear and understand the that which is of the Spirit, while unbelievers do not - indeed cannot.

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

But God does not speak to us exclusively through his indwelt Spirit - he uses ordinary physical means to communicate with us as well. Scripture teaches that God's grace is conveyed to us through the Gospel (that is: God's saving word about His love for us in Jesus).

When we hear the Gospel preached - which comes to us by sound waves carried across space to our ears - we hear God's very own Word spoken. When we read the Scriptures - paper and ink bound in a book - we are seeing the the Word that God wanted to preserve for us so that we may know about the Saviour. God uses all these physical means to convey his Word to us.

Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16

The Holy Spirit creates faith in us by the Gospel, and all who receive this Word in faith are saved. If we desire to be baptized, it is solely by the work of the Holy Spirit in us. (1 Cor. 12:3 again: "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit".)

I hope this is helpful to you Beth. Anybody else care to chime in?

Lord, let me love Thee

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,

For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?

O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded ~ J.W. Alexander

Here we grow again

Yes, lame. I know. I apologize that I could not come up with a more clever way to announce that...our family has expanded again!

We have decided to take in a young lady named Timika who needs a safe place to stay. She has been with us for a week now and she is settling in nicely.

The Lord has been good, giving us inner assurance that He has called us to do this. Can't explain it - just know it.

A couple of years ago we considered fostering -even investigated it - but at that point we weren't sure the time and circumstances were right. Now, apparently they are. *grin*

I sure would appreciate prayers for our family as we all adjust to our newest member. Thanks so much!