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Friday, October 30, 2015
Concordia Seminary Launches New app, Websites
Worship Notes for All Saints' Day, 2015
Friday after Reformation Sunday
October 30, 2015
The Lord be with you.
Well, I’m a day late in posting the worship notes for this
coming Sunday but that is because I’ve been out of town. But, as my mother used
to say, “Better late than never.”
This coming Sunday is All Saints’ Day, November 1. We will
celebrate this Feast using the appointed readings for the day and sharing in
the Lord’s Supper. In the past we have used a special liturgy for the day but this
year we will use Divine Service, Setting One (page 151).
The appointed lections for the day are Revelation 7:2-17,
1 John 3:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-12. The text for the sermon will be Revelation
7:9. The sermon is titled “Living in Heaven.”
Our opening hymn will be “Sing with All the Saints in Glory”
(LSB 671). Our sermon hymn will be “I’m But A Stranger Here” (LSB
748). Our closing hymn will be “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” (LSB 649). We
will have only two distribution hymns as the second one has eight verses. They
are “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” (LSB 621) and “For All the Saints” (LSB
677).
During our prayers we will remember saints who have gone to
be with the Lord.
Below is a video of our sermon hymn, “I’m But A Stranger
Here,” sung by the Lutheran Quartet.
Our adult Bible class continues with the study, Word: God
Speaks to Us. Though you may have missed the class up to this poing, you
are still encouraged to attend. What you learn will be a blessing. The Bible
study hour begins at 9:00 am. Fill
free to bring children. Class is provided for them as well.
What follows is a synopsis of Sunday’s lessons, provided by
the synod, then the lessons. Following
the readings are some additional important notes.
Saints Are Blessed in the Eternal
Presence of Christ
“A great multitude …
from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on
the throne” (Rev. 7:9–17). Faith-filled saints from every place and time,
with unified voices, eternally magnify the Lamb of God. As His beloved
children, we, too, “shall see him as he
is” (1 John 3:1–3). Joined with the throng of angels and a myriad of
saints, we shall “serve him day and night
in his temple” (Rev. 7:9–17). In our earthly tension vacillating between
saint and sinner, faith and doubt, sacred and profane, we earnestly seek Jesus
to calm our fears, comfort our spirits and forgive our sins. The Holy Spirit
through faith in Christ propels us forward, fortifying us in Word and
Sacrament, to our eternal home. In the midst of our constant struggle as
believers, we need to be blessed. And so we are. The poor in spirit, the meek,
the hungry, the thirsty, the merciful, the pure and the persecuted are all
blessed, and we will most certainly inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matt.
5:1–12).
Revelation 7:2-17
2 Then
I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the
living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been
given power to harm earth and sea, saying, 3“Do not harm the earth
or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their
foreheads.” 4And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed
from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 12,000
from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000
from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from
the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000
from the tribe of Asher,
12,000
from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000
from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000
from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000
from the tribe of Levi,
12,000
from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000
from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000
from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000
from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
9 After
this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from
every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God
who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11And all the angels were
standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures,
and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and
might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then
one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes,
and from where have they come?” 14I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “Therefore
they are before the throne of God,
and
serve him day and night in his temple;
and
he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor
any scorching heat.
17 For
the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and
he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God
will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
1 John 3:1-3
3:1 See
what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children
of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did
not know him. 2Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will
be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him,
because we shall see him as he is. 3And everyone who thus hopes in
him purifies himself as he is pure.
Matthew 5:1-12
5:1 Seeing
the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came
to him.
2 And
he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed
are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
11 “Blessed
are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before
you.
Some Additional
Notes
- Daylight Savings Time ends. Set your clocks back one hour before going to sleep Saturday.
- Our Second Coat Drive is in full swing. We team with the Bethlehem Center, who distributes the coats to individuals in need. An insert will be in the bulletin with more information.
- Our November newsletter has been posted. Just go to the page on the right-hand side of the blog to read it.
- Keep Praying for your Neighbors and Walking your Neighborhoods.
- Don’t forget to check out the other posts from earlier this week. An easy way to review the titles is by looking at the left hand side of this blog. If a title catches your attention, just click on it and you will go to that post. Remember, you can link one or more of our blog posts to your facebook (or other social media) page. Find one you like and share it.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Rickert
Why Did Luther Post His 95 Theses on Halloween?
Blest
Halloween!
This
article first appeared on October 2, 2009 in The Lutheran Witness.
It was no coincidence that
Martin Luther chose Oct. 31 as the day to nail his 95 Theses to the door of the
Castle Church in Wittenberg.
by
Rev. Mark Loest
For
most people, October means cooler weather, raking leaves, and, at the end of
the month, celebrating Halloween. For Lutherans, October includes the
commemoration of Reformation Day–the day Martin Luther is said to have nailed
his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.
It
may seem strange that a day so preoccupied with the devil and death is also
Reformation Day. But Luther chose this date with a purpose. His theses
(academic statements for discussion and debate) were on the topic of
indulgences, and Luther chose the eve of All Saints Day–when the church
commemorates the faithful departed–as the date to make them public.
Penance
and Indulgences
By
the time they are confirmed, Lutherans know that the public outcry that fueled
the Reformation of the church started with Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses.
They also know that Luther’s theses had to do with the selling of indulgences.
However, today’s Lutherans do not always understand exactly what indulgences
are and why Luther protested their sale.
Indulgences
have to do with the Roman Catholic Church’s practice surrounding the Sacrament
of Penance that developed during the Middle Ages. Penance is the fourth of the
seven Roman Catholic sacraments.
Basically,
sinners, fallen from the grace they originally received in Baptism, may, by
God’s moving and by certain acts (contrition, confession, and satisfaction),
recover the lost grace. Sinners are absolved only after displaying sorrow
through prescribed acts of penance, such as praying, taking a pilgrimage, or
giving alms. In other words, doing works, as well as having faith in the mercy
of God, are necessary for full forgiveness.
But
what especially alarmed Luther were the outright payments in connection with
indulgences.
For
money (and sometimes even goods like fowl and dairy products), a person could
buy an indulgence that claimed to offer the merits of the saints–and even of
Christ–on behalf of the owner, and, in that way, sins were forgiven and a place
was secured in heaven.
Defined
in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is “the
remissions before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has
already been forgiven.”
According
to the Catholic teaching, indulgences offer forgiveness for the penalties that
come with sin, even though Christ paid for those sins. A Christian can acquire
an indulgence in a number of ways through the Church, which has authority over
the “treasury” of Christ and the saints. In other words, indulgences either
transfer or reduce penitential acts and punishment for sin. An indulgence is
considered partial if it removes part of the temporal punishment due to sin and
plenary if it removes all punishment.
Indulgences
have been around for about one thousand years. In 1096, Pope Urban II offered
plenary (meaning complete) indulgences in connection with the first crusade.
The
great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224-74) fully developed
indulgence theory, allowing for the possibility of indulgences to be applied to
souls in purgatory. For the sinner who does not make complete satisfaction in
this life, there is purgatory–an intermediate state between heaven and hell.
The soul that departs this life and is not immediately judged to heaven or hell
is purified for a time in purgatory until released to heaven.
The
result was that by the time of Luther, Christians cared more about avoiding
purgatory than living and dying a Christian life and death. And indulgence
claims were inflated beyond the original idea of release simply from temporal
punishment imposed by a priest.
In
1530, the Augsburg Confession rejected the medieval errors concerning penance
by declaring: “Rejected … are those who teach that forgiveness of sin is not
obtained through faith but through the satisfaction made by man” (Augsburg
Confession, Article XII, page 35–Tappert).
95
Theses
Martin
Luther (born Nov. 10, 1483), was the son of Hans Luder, a mine and foundry
owner in Mansfeld, Germany. He originally began his studies to become a lawyer,
but in July 1505, everything changed when during a terrible thunderstorm–and
fearing for his life–he promised St. Anna that if she would spare his life he
would become a monk.
Luther
survived the storm and kept his promise, promptly quitting his university
studies and joining the Augustinians in Erfurt. Taking his vows seriously, he
soon experienced great spiritual conflicts over the forgiveness-of-sins-through-good-works
system of monastery, which he came to realize was a completely inadequate way
to be forgiven. In order to save the young monk from spiritual ruin, his
superior, Johann Staupitz, directed Brother Martin to Scripture.
Luther
began his studies again–only this time in biblical theology. By 1508, he was
lecturing. In 1512, he earned his doctorate. Upon completing a trip to Rome
(from the fall of 1510 until the spring of 1511), Luther may well have begun to
question the medieval penitential system, especially in light of what he saw in
the “holy” city, but he said nothing publicly at the moment. More would happen
to shape his insights.
At
the same time, Luther was transferred permanently to Wittenberg, to eventually
take the place of Father Staupitz as professor of biblical theology. It was in
Scripture that he was to find the answers that troubled his soul.
Luther
describes what happened at Wittenberg:“At last, by the mercy of God, meditating
day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, ‘In it the
righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, “He who through faith is
righteous shall live.”’
“There
I began to understand that the righteousness of God is revealed by the Gospel,
namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by
faith, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’ Here I
felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through
open gates” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 34, page 337–Concordia Publishing House).
It
was as a preacher, rather than professor, that Luther encountered the abuses of
indulgences. Against the wishes of Luther’s prince, Frederick the Wise of
electoral Saxony, indulgences were hawked to the people of his land, albeit in
neighboring ducal Saxony. They needed only to cross the border to purchase
them. To make matters worse, the indulgence-salesman and friar John Tetzel told
Luther’s parishioners they could even purchase indulgences from him for sins
they had not yet committed.
It
was no coincidence that Martin Luther chose what we know as Halloween as the
day to put forth is 95 Theses, mailing them to the archbishop in charge so
something might be done, and, as the story goes, nailing them to the door of
the Castle Church in Wittenberg. In Wittenberg, Luther’s own prince offered the
pious the opportunity of indulgence through his enormous collection of relics
in the Castle Church on the Day of All Saints, Nov. 1.
Luther
took advantage of the occasion. Luther himself never told the story, but after
his death, co-worker Philipp Melanchthon described the scene.
On
the Eve of All Saints, Oct. 31, 1517, Luther posted on the door of the Castle
Church (in a manner customary at the university) the 95 Theses, which called
into question and for discussion the abuses associated with indulgences.
The
posting of the theses became the spark that ignited the Reformation.
A
poem written long ago to commemorate the Reformation praises Halloween with the
words:
Blest
Halloween that struck the hour
When Luther’s hammer rose and fell
At Wittenberg in heaven-born power
And rang dark popery’s funeral-knell,
When long and cruel night was gone
And smiling rose the promised dawn!
When Luther’s hammer rose and fell
At Wittenberg in heaven-born power
And rang dark popery’s funeral-knell,
When long and cruel night was gone
And smiling rose the promised dawn!
Rev.
Mark A. Loest is pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost, Saginaw,
Mich. This story appeared originally in the October 2001 Lutheran Witness. LCMS
congregations may reprint this article for parish use. All other rights
reserved. Text copyright © 2001 by Mark A. Loest.
The Lutheran Witness —
Providing Missouri Synod laypeople with stories and information that
complement congregational life, foster personal growth in faith, and help interpret the
contemporary world from a Lutheran Christian perspective.
complement congregational life, foster personal growth in faith, and help interpret the
contemporary world from a Lutheran Christian perspective.
Know Where You Stand
 |
| Rev. Matthew Harrison |
For loads of good documents explaining LCMS theological positions on various topics see
http://www.lcms.org/CTCR.
http://www.lcms.org/CTCR.
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