O Sacred Head Now Wounded

A very blessed Good Friday to everyone! This afternoon we were blessed at Good Shepherd to gather around the blessed Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ in both Word and Sacrament as we celebrated the Chief Service. My dear faithful and pious wife and I observed our annual watching of The Passion of the Christ after service. In a bit, we will again gather around the Light of the World as we extinguish the candles during the meditation on the last words of our Lord from His blessed throne. Tomorrow morning we will again gather to meditate upon His holy repose in the tomb and the faithless faith of His disciples and the faithful faithlessness of His enemies. And joy beyond telling, we will gather at the foot of the cross as we keep the Vigil of His glorious and blessed Resurrection through which we are given the assurance of life and justification through His holy sacrifice. This year one of the faithful saints of Good Shepherd has constructed a life-size cross beneath which we will gather at the fire and await the raising up of our Phoenix, Christ, the Life and Light of the World.

This week is very busy for faithful pastors, but a better busy I could not hope for! If you are in Western Michigan and would like to stop by to join us that would only make our joy more wonderful. For my brothers and sisters who await the joyous dawning of the Feast of the Resurrection, God's peace and comfort as we wait expectantly at the foot of the cross and the door of the tomb!

Want to preach good funeral sermons?

Then start by preaching the commemorations and feast days of those blessed saints who have gone before us in the faith whenever possible (although I think it best to keep with the Sunday readings unless a saint's feast day falls on the Lord's Day and it is not already a feast of Christ).

That is how I look at funerals, as feast days of saints of God in Christ, for that is truly what those faithful departed are, full and complete saints, revelling the in the glory of the Lamb who was slain. When preaching on a saint day or commemoration, we Lutherans know that we do not preach about the individual, but rather about that golden and precious thread of faith that binds them to Christ and through Him to all the Church, militant and triumphant. Indeed, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints!

My prayer closet

I have debated for a long time whether or not to share this with others on my blog, but I have decided it may be a good thing. When we bought our home in November of 2007, one stipulation that I had was that the home would have a place devoted to prayer and devotion. I believe it is vitally important for Christians to actually devote such spaces in their homes for this one and only purpose for many reasons, but mainly because it stands as a witness that we need to pray. Just as the kitchen and dining room stand witness that we need to eat, the bedroom stands witness that we need to sleep, the living room stands witness that we need to rest and spend time with our family, and the bathroom stands witness to the fact that we need to do other things (let the reader understand!), so too a space in the home devoted to prayer and meditation on Sacred Scripture stands witness to our need as Christians to pray, praise and give thanks.

So, in our home office there is a small (3'X3') closet that my wife and I both decided would be a good place for a prayer space. Now, the pictures that follow are what I have done and I do like icons and candles. It is not necessary to have these things, but it helps me and is a faithful confession of the Evangelical Lutheran faith. I do not post these pictures to brag or to show how "holier than thou" I am, but the use of a prayer closet or devoted prayer space has been a great source of blessing to me as a Christian and as a pastor and I encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ to devote their own spaces to prayer and meditation.

This prayer altar is a cabinet I got at a garage sale and painted. The icons on the three sides are (from left to right), The Blessed Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, Our Lord's Crucifixion, the Archangel St. Michael. One of the most important things about my closet is that it must be centered on Christ and Him crucified.

These pictures should give you the main idea of what I have done with my prayer closet. If you have any questions of concerns about it, please don't hesitate to ask either in the comments, via e-mail or in person. Everything in this prayer space was carefully thought out that it may confess Christ and Him crucified. Please keep in mind that the use of Eastern icons is my own personal preference, it in no way is meant to suggest that I am swimming any rivers. I am Lutheran and I give thanks to our evangelical freedom that allows any art that faithfully confesses the truth of Holy Scripture.

I also use prayer beads (aka, a rosary) but I do not pray to Mary or the saints. There is one Mediator between God and man, the one man Jesus Christ. They simply help me to focus my attention on the Psalms (and I also use them to pray the Small Catechism).

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us!

Very near to the top of Mount Calvary in our Lenten journey, we weary travelers are given a reminder and joyful feast to fill our hearts and souls.

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, or, perhaps more appropriately, the Feast of the Incarnation. For that is surely what it is, the incarnation of our good Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of His holy mother.

It is that incarnation, that putting on of our flesh, that allowed our dear Savior to bear our sins bodily on the cross. It is that same flesh that rose again on that still more glorious Feast of the Resurrection. It is that flesh, glorified and whole, that sits at the Father’s right hand making intercession for us even now. It is that Feast of the Incarnation that we celebrate every time we take the incarnate Word of God into our mouths at the Holy Supper and into our ears and hearts at the hearing of the beautiful Gospel message.

Also at this under celebrated feast we give thanks for that faith of the Virgin Mother. That faith which says in the midst of uncertainty, improbability and foolishness "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." That faith first uttered on the lips of Eve when she was given a son, that faith acted upon by Abraham with his Son. That faith that is a gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the faith that we give thanks for and the faith that, through our baptism, we share. Such amazing faith!

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Lord, give us such faith as we look upon the awful cross of Christ, that we may not turn in fear from the gifts You give us, but, with Your good gift of faith, embrace that gift of mercy, grace, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation found in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

*

The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came (LSB 356)

The angel Gabriel from Heaven came,
With wings as drifted snow, with eyes as flame;

“All hail, to thee, O lowly maiden Mary,

Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

“For know a blessèd mother thou shalt be,

All generations laud and honor thee,

Thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,

Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,

“To me be as it pleaseth God,” she said,

“My soul shall laud and magnify God’s holy name.”

Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born

In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,

And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say—

“Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

_____________________________

* The Annunciation by Fra Angelico

A Blessed Feast of the Holy Fetus

Isn't this what we should start calling Annunciation? Those who are pro-death use words like "fetus," and "embryo" to dehumanize the babies they say it is ok to kill. But Christ makes no distinction. He came to save those whom He lived for. He lived as a fetus and and embryo in the blessed womb of the Virgin Mother. Christ died for those He lived for, and today the Church celebrates His life as a fetus and gives thanks that those whose lives are so tragically and brutally taken have a Redeemer who lives for them.

Whoa! What a break!

To those of you who may have feared that I had given up the ghost, I am still alive, still preaching and teaching, still thinking about things, but I have not had much desire to blog for quite some time.
We are in the midst of the Lenten season, as are all Western Christians. At Good Shepherd this Lent we are looking at the faithful example of the saints who have gone before us: Ash Wednesdaywas faithful Polycarp who boldly and faithfully served his Lord until his grizzly and blessed death. Next was Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas, young mothers who gave up everything rather than deny their Lord and Savior, St. Patrick with his missionary zeal and faithfulness to the orthodox teaching of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, may we all bind unto ourselves Christ and Him crucified! Tonight we looked at St. Joseph, the chaste and faithful guardian of our Lord Jesus Christ. He teaches us to guard that good and godly treasure of Christ crucified, the only begotten Son of the eternal Father.

We look forward with repentant joy and contrite anticipation to the dramatic events of Holy Week. Good Shepherd will gather to pray a cappella Matins Holy Monday through Holy Wednesday at 8 am. Maundy Thursday at 7 pm we celebrate our Lord's Institution of the Holy Eucharist and His command to love one another (we also will have individual Holy Absolution the the somber Stripping of the Altar). Good Friday we celebrate the Cheif Service with the complete Passion account and the Holy Eucharist at 12 noon and Tennebrae Vespers with the seven final words of Christ from the Cross at 8 pm. Holy Saturday a cappella Matins at 9:30 am, Easer Vigil at 8:10 pm (sunset, weather permitting we will begin outside of the church and process in with candlelight). Easter sunrise Matins (again, beginning outside, weather permitting) at 6:55 am, we break our Lenten fast with Easter breakfast at 8 am. We then feast the Resurrection with the risen Body and Blood of Christ with the Divine Service at 9:30 am.

If you are in the area, join us! A blessed Lenten, may your hearts be prepared to celebrate the Paschal feast.

Advent Midweek Sermon Series

This year at Good Shepherd we are looking at Blessed Unions during the Advent Season. Last week it was Adam and Eve. Through that blessed union we have the disgraceful fall of humanity into sin, but we also have the promise of the Messiah in Genesis 3:15. In Luke's geneaology we see how Christ is the fulfillment of that promise as His lineage is taken all the way back to that first father Adam. Through Adam all men die, through Christ all men now live. This week we will look at the blessed union of St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through the faithfulness of Mary and Joseph Christ was brought into the world. How easy it would have been for Mary to lie about the blessing that God planted in her virgin womb. How easy it would have been for Joseph to demand satisfaction for his wounded honor. But through their faithful union, to one another and to their heavenly Father, they were made partakers of righteousness through Christ, their Son and Lord. Finally, we will look at the blessed union of Christ and His Bride, the Church. Christ came into the world for the sole purpose of giving life through His perfect and atoning life, death and resurrection. As He came once in blessing, putting on our flesh, with healing in His wings, so He will come again in judgment, establishing His eternal kingdom which will have no end. His holy Bride, the Church, will be perfectly and eternally united in that most blessed union.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Issues, etc Pastor's Roundtable on the Second Petition of the Lord's Prayer

Why ought we to pray without ceasing?

Here is a wonderful story, adapted from the Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales that illustrates beautifully the reason we ought to pray without ceasing.

There once was a sly, cunning old Fox that roamed the world. Once, during his roaming, he came to a meadow in which was a flock of fine fat geese. When he saw these fine fat geese he smiled and said to them, "I come at the nick of time, you are sitting together quite beautifully, so that I can eat you up one afte the other." The geese cackled with terror, sprang up, and began to wail and beg piteously for their lives. But the sly, cunning old Fox would listen to nothing, he had heard all the wails and begging before. He looked at them very cooly and said, "There is no mercy to be had! You must die."

One of the smarter geese mustered up her courage and said, "If we poor geese are to yield up our vigorous young lives, show us the only possible favor and allow us one more prayer, that we may not die in our sins, and then we will place ourselves in a row, so that you can eat us all up from the fattest to the thinnest." "Yes," said the Fox, "that is a reasonable request. Pray away, I will wait till you are done." Then the first began a good long prayer, forever saying, "Lord, have mercy!" and as she would make no end, the second did not wait until her turn came, but began also, "Lord, have mercy!" The third and fourth followed her, and soon they were all cackling together seeking mercy from their Maker.

When they have done praying, the story shall be continued further, but at present they are still praying, and they show no sign of stopping.

***UPDATE***St. Nicholas Day Open House

***Due to some illness in the Roemke household, the St. Nicholas Open House will now be on Sunday, December 14th at 2 pm.***This Saturday, December 6 Middleville is having their annual Christmas Parade. Good Shepherd will have a float in the parade this year (brrrr and yay!) After the parade, anyone who would like to come is invited to our home for hot spiced cider, hot chocolate, and other finger foods prepared by the Mistress of Liverhedge, the fine Lady Lesa. The parade starts at 5 pm (meet at the church at 4 to assemble and get your marching orders!) After the parade our house will be open in joyful thanksgiving for all the blessings our loving Father has bestowed upon us this past year, for the faithful witness of St. Nicholas, and chiefly in thanksgiving for the saving work of Christ Jesus who comes to us in humility and love this Advent season.