My wife, Kitty, has been unemployed for a year. She is a teacher by profession and worked for many years as an adjunct professor at U.S.C.Upstate here in Spartanburg. The past year has been a challenge, to put it mildly. The good news is that Kitty has a job again. She will be teaching world American history at Greenville Technical College. God is good. He does answer prayers. Her new boss is very pro-adjuncts (unlike the man who took over the history department at Upstate). Kitty will be teaching two and maybe three courses. Praise God.
The Rev. Ted Crandall will be installed as the Associated Pastor of Lamb of God, deployed to Beaufort, SC, August 30, 2009 at Lamb of God in Spartanburg. Rev. Cliff Gade, the Circuit Counselor of Circuit 18, will do the actual installation. Circuit Counselors often represent the District President in matters such as this. There will be dinner after the installaion service. While I will be sending an invitation to all the LC-MS churches in circuits 18 & 19, please also consider this post an invitation to come and be a part of this joyous event.
Blessings in Christ, Pastor John Rickert
P.S. The installation service will begin at 6:00 PM.
For those of you that might be interested, everything was indeed routine in reference to my colonoscopy yesterday. There was one itty-bitty polyp, which was removed and will be examined. Though I don't remember, apparently I solved the world hunger problem while "under" and asked the nurses to take notes. I also apparently started to make "beeping" sounds as they wheeled me from the operating room. (I guess that was the inner-child coming out.)
Because I will be having a completely routine colonoscopy on Thursday, which is the day I normally would post this blog, and because I will be kind of out of it on Wednesday preparing for this test, I am posting it today.
This coming Sunday is the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. We will be using the Service of Prayer and Preaching for our liturgy (page 260). The assigned lessons are: Exodus 16:2-15; Ephesians 4:1-16 and John 6:22-35. The text for the sermon is John 6:27. The sermon is titled “A Different Kind of Food.” The opening hymn is “Feed Thy Children, God Most Holy,” LSB 774. The sermon hymn is “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer,” LSB 918. The closing hymn is “O Living Bread from Heaven,” LSB 642.
The hymn “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer” was originally published in Welsh by William Williams in 1745. It was first translated into English by Peter Williams. Today it is known in many denominations, sometimes as “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” (as it was in The Lutheran Hymnal). It has been said of William Williams, “What Paul Gerhardt has been to Germany, what Isaac Watts has been to England, that and more has William Williams of Pantecelyn been to Wales.” I found a great YouTube video of a Welsh church singing “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer,” and it is at the end of these notes. The words are included in the video so you can sing along.
Preview of the Lessons
Exodus 16:2-15: The people of Israel had followed the Lord (and Moses) into the wilderness, but quickly their joy turned into grumbling. They forgot the misery of slavery and longed for better food. God mercifully treats their grumbling as a prayer and answers with manna and quail. Their real problem, which reappears time and time again, is a lack of faith. In verse 10 the people look out at the wilderness and see “the Glory of the LORD” in a cloud. This probably appeared as a supernaturally bright cloud, based on the root meaning of “glory.” I’m not going to go into why, but I believe this was a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Son.
Ephesians 4:4-16: Paul, writing from prison (v. 1) urges the believers in Ephesus to live together in Christian love. Verses 4-6 accent the unity of the Church. This unity comes from the One God (v. 6), Holy Spirit (v 4), Son (v. 5) and Father (v. 6). Just as there is one God, so there is only one Christian Faith and only one Christian Baptism (v. 5). This is a statement of faith. There are members of this One Holy and Christian Church wherever the Spirit converts people by the Gospel to faith in Jesus. Verses 7-10 have been understood as a reference to the incarnation of Jesus by some, and as a reference to Christ’s descent into hell by others. I think of it as referring to his descent into hell, but as those who think of it as referring to the incarnation are not teaching any false doctrine, I have no problem with that view either. In verses 11-16 Paul tells us what the function of the ministry and Church is. Basically we are to facilitate growth in Christian maturity. This is growth in knowledge which should lead to loving actions towards others. If loving actions do not follow, then there is something wrong with the understanding. Perhaps it has just become “head” knowledge. Perhaps it is flawed doctrine. Whatever it is, true knowledge/faith leads to the Church working together like a living body. [By-the-way, because there is only one baptism (v. 5) if you have been baptized more than once, only the first time you were baptized in the name of the Triune God counted in God’s eyes. In essence, if you get “re-baptized” you are saying that you were not a Christian before (even if you believed in Jesus) and that the Church in which you were baptized is not a Christian church (even if they proclaim the Triune God and Christ as Redeemer). This is why we do not re-baptize people who join Lamb of God if they were baptized in non-Lutheran Christian churches.]
John 6:22-35: Jesus, in John 6, gave what has become know as the “Bread of Life Discourse.” Most of the Jews who heard Jesus that day didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about (6:60, 66). The text has been difficult for many since then as well. The Gospel lessons for the next three weeks is a continuous reading through this sermon of our Lord’s, and gives us an opportunity for a sermon series based on John 6. Because my sermons for the next three weeks will be based on the Gospel readings, I’m not going to write anything else here. Instead I encourage you to come and worship with us.
Sunday’s Collect
Merciful Father, You gave Your Son Jesus as the heavenly bread of life. Grant us faith to feast on Him in Your Word and Sacraments that we may be nourished unto life everlasting; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Gradual Psalm – Psalm 145:10-21 (antiphon: v. 15)
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words and raises up all who are bowed down. The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
Blessings in Christ, Pastor John Rickert
The "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer" YouTube video.
I subscribe to the blog SEDCongregationsAblaze. On it I found an excellent short devotion by Vicar Jim Driskell of First John’s Lutheran in York, PA. It seems that I’m not the only one who thinks our hymns are an excellent tool for sharing the Gospel. Martin Luther had the same idea. Vicar Driskell quotes the great reformer,
“To be silent about God’s grace in Jesus Christ is no longer an option for the Christian. For believers to refuse to sing and speak about their faith …”
Check out the quote in the devotion and then review some of the quotes in the booklet I made and handed out at church, “Tell Ev’ry One What He Has Done.”
I just watched a YouTube video sent me by a fellow pastor. It was of a wedding processional in a church. In it, the wedding party boogalooed down the aisle of the sanctuary to a grinning and swaying priestess. The grasping for novelty in worship is nothing new. In the first half of the 20th Century, Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of the foursquare Church, was a media sensation with her outrageous costumes and theatrical antics. In the 19th Century, great crowds were drawn in by the "new measures" employed by the Methodists. In England, the Booths founded the Salvation Army using brass bands (the popular music of the day) and rejecting such confusing teachings like the Lord's Supper and Baptism in their worship services. Their pastors dressed up in military uniforms, and were given ranks like captain. Every generation faces the same challenge going back to the Gnostics of the Second Century with their super-spiritual knowledge rituals drawn from Eastern Religions. Such caving in to whatever the current culture is tickled with reveals a real lack of reverence for the truth that was once passed down to us. Now, I'm not saying that just because something is new it has no value. If that were the case many of the great hymns and liturgy pieces we use today would never have seen the light of day. but when it comes to the worship of God, reverence for Him and respect for the history of the Church seems to be proper. Our goal is not the gathering of the largest crowd possible simply for the sake of having a large crowd, but the faithful proclamation of the Gospel to as many people as possible so that they may be saved. Such antics like portrayed in the YouTube video detract from the Gospel. I wonder what people will remember from that day, the dancing wedding party or the message from the priestess? It is through the Gospel that the Holy Spirit converts people. We are to transform the world, not have the world conform us into its image. At Lamb of God, we do indeed have quite a variety of worship formats, but you will never see me boogaloo down the aisle Sunday morning.
There is a blog titled “I Trust When Dark My Road – A Lutheran View of Depression”. The LCMS pastor who writes it says,
“This site is about Christ and His gifts, especially as He gives them to those of us who suffer with mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety. I’m a Lutheran pastor who suffers from clinical depression, and this is where I pose questions about treatments, theological questions, a little humor, and generally discuss the matter of how Christians respond to mental illness.”
There is a free downloadable book with the same title. You can also get a free print copy published by LCMS World Relief and Human Care. Click here if you want to go to the I Trust When Dark My Road site to learn more. I’ve seen nothing but good comments about the book.
