Lent and Easter Reflections

What a glorious day yesterday, celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord. It just never gets old.

This was a rather weird Lenten season for me, though. Not the usual. I cannot tell you why. It just wasn't the same for me. Maybe because we are still not in our regular church building - 8 months out now! I never would have guessed that, that it would take that long. Maybe it was because of other busyness I had to attend to, and all the trips I wound up taking. Maybe it was just satan playing with me, pushing my buttons. I cannot tell you, just that it was somehow different for me this year. I wasn't even as busy this year - at least, during Holy Week. I usually have to go to the rental place and pick up some chairs, and then have to haul all our church stuff to where we will be having our Holy Week services. Didn't have to do that this year, since we've been in our "temporary" location for 8 months now (did I mention that?). We also didn't have a Good Friday noontime service this year. The woman who reserves that room for us has been recovering from illness and a stroke all the season of Lent and was unable to do that.

So I got to Holy Week this year, and it just didn't seem right. But Holy Week . . . that just put everything right again. :-) I love Holy Week, soaking in the Word all week, thinking, writing. This was weird too - usually I cannot write my Easter sermon until Saturday, after I have been through all the other services of Holy Week. But this year, I was able to write it on Friday morning. Again, not sure why. Just the way it was for me this year.

And then our Divine Service yesterday! Our keyboardist who played yesterday is just awesome. I love all our musicians, just she just has a way. Sadly, she and her husband will be leaving our congregation soon, beginning a new time of life. I will miss them! And I think I was probably one of only a handful of pastors in the United States who didn't use April Fools Day in my sermon! (Click here to listen.) But getting all the parts of the liturgy back from our liturgical Lenten fast, getting all the chanting back, the wonderful hymns and readings . . . just great.

So now another 7 weeks to celebrate our Lord's resurrection! Some things getting back to normal, some new ventures begun . . .

Update

Well, time for a school update . . .

As I've posted before, I've been finished with my Ph.D. classwork for some time now and had my exams to take. I'd taken a leave of absence to deal with family issues, but the time had come to fish or cut bait, as they say. My congregation graciously allowed me to cut back on a few things this January - March, so that I could take my exams in April. As the year began, I registered and began studying.

Then my father went into the hospital . . . and went again . . . and went again. Again, as I've written before, this is tough because my wife and I need to be there with him because of his dementia. When he is sick, he is prone to agitation and upset when he doesn't have someone he knows there. So, my studying took a hit. Its just very hard to get much done in the hospital.

But I tried. In the beginning of March I had one exam to pass so that I could move onto my big, three-day, comprehensive exams. Well, I didn't do well. In fact, I was pretty sure I had not passed - 95% percent or more sure. So I was pretty bummed. At the same time I got slammed with an issue in the district that sucked up a lot of time, so for three week I didn't check my school email and I didn't continue studying. (For why study for exams I won't get to take anyway?)

Well, after about three weeks I decided to log onto my school email and just get the bad news over with. Except . . . I passed. As I told my advisor, I didn't know any human being had that much grace in them! But now I was in a pickle - for my exams were to come up in a couple of weeks and I was not prepared! Both because I got set back with my father's hospitalizations, and because I had stopped studying for a few weeks. But I also don't want to keep having these things hanging over my head, and my congregation had been so gracious. So I called my advisor to see how to move forward.

Turns out my advisor never got the email I sent him to register for my exams! I don't know what

happened, if the fault was on my end, his end, or somewhere in between, but no paperwork, no necessary signatures, nothing had been done! And this is all supposed to be in place 30 days before the exams which were now two weeks away. My advisor said he would see what he could do. Originally, if all had gone according to plan, I was to take them April 10-12 which, for those of you liturgically astute, is Holy Week! Yes, the first three days of Holy Week. My advisor realized these probably weren't the best days for a pastor to be taking them, but we'll see.

So he asks for permission for special days for me, which is sometimes done. I thought maybe the first week in May, since that was finals week. Kinda makes sense. These are like my finals. Administration says no. The logistics wouldn't work out; people wouldn't be in place. They counter with some alternate dates: what about April 17, 19, 20? Well that doesn't make sense, since the days aren't consecutive (which they're supposed to be), the 17th classes aren't in session and so the logistical and personnel would be a problem that day too, and the day after Easter is still not an optimal day for a pastor! So, we counter with April 24-26. Accepted.

That gives me one week after Easter to cram for the exams. So cram I did. The days for the exams came. I woke up each morning super early to study and get my notes together, reviewed them on the Metro, and then took them. Now I must say, in my opinion the exams were quite fair - no outlandish questions, no unreasonable minutiae. And I think I did as well as I could expect. My answers fairly reflect what I know. Now the question is: is that enough? I really have no idea. Just have to wait for the results.

But, as if all that isn't enough, one more heart-stopping thing happened. On Thursday, the day after all the exams were done and I was feeling quite a sense of relief, I get a call from the Associate Director of Graduate Studies . . . there was a problem with my exams. Oh no. They didn't have one of them. You see, each day I would go to an office with a computer they had ready for me, write my answers, and then email the test to the Associate Director. Except the third day, I emailed the wrong test. So she had two copies of the second day and did not get the third. Oh no! Was it still on the computer? In the trash? I really didn't want to go back and do it again! So I gave her my account logon information and waited while she went and checked it out. I think that was the longest 30 minutes or so of my life! Then she calls me back: she found it. It was there. All was in order.

Heart, you can start beating again . . .

So that's the story right now. I am waiting for the result. What will I do then? I don't know. If I pass, the school can give me candidate status, meaning I am full steam ahead to write my dissertation. But do I want to commit to that? That means several more years of intense research and writing, including a boat load of translating that I would need to do. And will I be able? Will my father go back in the hospital and need me to be there? Will I be able to travel for sources and research? Did I have the energy to devote to such an endeavor? I don't know. I am leaning toward no right now, though many are encouraging me to keep going. If I stop (assuming I pass) I can receive a Master of Philosophy - not a small accomplishment. So we'll see.

Now, I'm trying to catch up on all the stuff I put off to study!

Good and Holy Friday

A blessed Good and Holy Friday to you all as we pause to take time to meditate on the Passion of our Lord and remember His great love that would cause Him to do this for us ME.

Good Friday

A very good Friday indeed.

A happy coincidence this year is that Good Friday falls on March 25th, which is also the Feast of the Annunciation - the commemoration of when the angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced to her that she was to be the Mother of God. So this year, Jesus' incarnation and death are remembered on the same day. (Actually, liturgically, the celebration of the Annunciation will be transferred to after Easter, but you get the point.) Jesus was born for this, to die for us.

Why was March 25th selected as the day to remember the Annunciation? Some folks think it is because it is exactly nine months before Christmas. That would be a good reason. But it's actually the other way around! Christmas is on December 25th because it is nine months after the Annunciation. In ancient times, it was (yes, erroneously) believed that a person died on the day he or she was conceived. It is known that Jesus died on Passover, and so calculations were done and it was determined that He died on March 25th. So that was, then, the day He was conceived, and His birth was then celebrated nine months later.

You see, our calendar in many ways revolves around Christmas. How many shopping days til Christmas? It is the highlight of the year, what the rest of the year builds up to. But it was not always so. It is actually a relative late-comer to the Christian year of festivals and commemorations. Easter, the Ascension, and Pentecost being the first established.

It is factually correct that Jesus died on March 25th? Who knows. That's not really the issue. The Church is not claiming this fact is true, just that it is the day that has been chosen to commemorate a true event, and there were reasons for selecting that day. And this year, that day, today, is filled with significance as we also remember our Lord's death for the sin of the world, for the life of the world. God's richest blessings to all of you as we meditate on that wonderful work today.

Rest Well

Rest well, Beloved, sweetly sleeping,

That I may cease from further weeping,

And let me, too, rest well.

The grave that is prepared for Thee,

And holds no further pain for me,

Doth open heaven to me,

and close the gates of Hell.

~ JS Bach, St. John Passion, final chorus

Great and Holy Friday

Behold, the life-giving cross on which hung the salvation of the world.

My song is love unknown,

My Savior's love to me,

Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be.

Oh, who am I

That for my sake

My Lord should take frail flesh and die?

(LSB #430 v.1)

Christ Is Risen!

Christ is risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

I pray you all had a good Holy Week and a wonderful celebration of the resurrection of our Lord today. My week was very good. As I said in a previous post, it was a week spent in God's Word, meditation, and prayer, writing many meditations and sermons. The services gave the the truth - both the truth of our sin but even more, the truth of our forgiveness in Christ's death and resurrection. And the culmination today with our Festival Divine Service. A very good week.

I usually manage to strain my voice by the end of the Easter service, but this year we have a new wireless microphone (thanks Dave!) and I love it! I can speak normally and be heard! What a great thing.  :-)

My wonderful wife made my Easter lamb for dinner tonight! I look forward to this every year.

Tomorrow I travel up to my father's house where my brother and sister and I will begin boxing and cleaning out the items still there. I usually try to play golf the Monday after Easter to take a day off and rest my head, but this will be a good break as well. And it will be good to spend a few days with my brother and sister. So a good nights sleep and then off to Philly in the morning.

Working on Good Friday?

I am torn.

In years past, Good Friday was a day of - how to say it - respect? There was not much activity on this day. There was quiet. Many did not have to work. It was a different kind of day.

But now it is quite different. Ordinary. Normal. Most people I know go to work. There is the sound of lawn mowers, construction, trucks, and much else.

Now, I know that as our nation slides farther and farther away from Christian truth, this is what will be. Still, I find myself yearning for the days of old . . .

Do I condemn those who work? No - many of my own people must. They are fulfilling their vocation in service of their neighbor. And isn't that what Jesus did on this day? For us. Laying down his life for us.

Now true, if we do it only for money, only for our own selfish gain, then we are thinking and doing wrongly - not only this day but every day. But when done in faith, everything is pleasing to God. So in our vocations, we serve others, even lay down our lives for them.

So do I wish folks had off on this day? Yes, to be a day spent in God's Word, meditation, and prayer. But if you must work on this day, don't feel guilty or ashamed. Rather, while you work, remember your Saviour who worked for you. Who in loving service stripped off His garments and washed His disciples feet. Who in loving service had His garments stripped off of Him and was hung on the cross. And thus are you doing for others. Especially if you'd rather have the day off, but can't.

God bless you. You will be in my prayers.

Holy Week

Well, haven't felt like posting to the ol' blog of late, but thought that I'd post some Holy Week thoughts . . .

I really love Holy Week. There's so much hubbub around Christmas, so many extra activities that make it such a hectic time of the year. But Holy Week is different. For me it is very meditative, spending so much time in the Word, thinking and writing.

We had brief online Vespers services again this year for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I did this last year, reading through the Passion accounts of the various Gospels. This year we read through sections of John chapter 12 - the Gospels assigned for this time of year, and I wrote brief meditations on them. You can read them here.

Tomorrow I have to go to pick up the chairs we are renting for our regular Holy Week services and set up the house church where we will be. Yes, a house church, because we cannot use the church we rent for Sunday mornings during the week. So each Holy Week we have to set up at a different location. This year is a new location, so in addition to renting chairs, I need to go and figure out the logistics of it all. It makes it all a bit harder - both for me and for the folks - but that is what we must do. Someday, perhaps, we will have our own building . . .

Private Absolution tomorrow night as well. An hour before the main service in the evening. A very good way to begin the Holy Week observances.

I occasionally watch some of the big services that go on at the Vatican on their YouTube channel. I have them on in the background while I'm working on other things. Helping me to learn Italian! (Like I need to learn yet another language! :-) But seriously, one of the things that always strikes me is during the reading of the Passion story - St. Peter's square is packed solid with people, but right after the reading of Jesus' death, everyone drops to their knees and you can hear a pin drop! And they stay that way for some time in meditation. Now, I still disagree with Rome on some of their theology, but I gotta admire that piety.

I also like listening to the St. John Passion this week. It is - bar none - the greatest work ever written, in my humble opinion. If you want to see one of the finest performances of it, go here. You will not regret it! (Note: The close captioned translations of the German are not always the best, but they give you the gist. Also, there's a bit of a hiccup around 22:50 - not sure what that's about, but it doesn't last too long.)

A Busy Week?

As I was showering this morning, I was thinking about this week that is now almost past. Many folks know that Holy Week is a very busy week for pastors. It is indeed. But I also want you to know how wonderful a week it also is. This week I got to spend so much time in the Word of God and prayer! Much more than usual. It was like bathing in it. The usual Morning Prayer with some of you, but also Saturday this week. The reading of the Passion accounts and the praying of the Great Litany on Monday through Wednesday. Holy Thursday, Good Friday noontime and evening, and the Great Vigil of Easter. And not only doing these services, but thinking, preparing, studying, writing, praying - what a fortunate time of feeding and drinking in the Word of God! What a wonderful week.

Could every week be this way? Well, I suppose that is what the monastic life is like. But we are called to ora et labora - pray and work. So as wonderful as this week was, there is much work to be done and that must continue in teaching, visiting, serving, helping, and all that comes with the pastoral ministry. But here is where rubber of ora et labora hits the road - prayer leads us to work, and work leads us to prayer. The Word of God and prayer leads us out into the world to work and serve, and working and serving in the world (and the weariness and beatings that come with it) lead us back to the Word of God and prayer. And that is as it should be, until our Lord comes to take us to His eternal rest.

Which is what this Holy Saturday is about - our Lord's sabbath rest in the tomb. It is a quiet day, an in between day. Good Friday is past, Easter is not yet. But tomorrow . . .  :-)

Rest well, Beloved, sweetly sleeping,

That I may cease from further weeping,

And let me, too, rest well.

The grave that is prepared for Thee,

And holds no further pain for me,

Doth open Heaven to me,

and close the gates of Hell.

(from JS Bach, The Passion according to St. John)

Great and Holy Friday

A blessed Good Friday to you all.

Musings on Francis

Well, all the hubbub over Pope Francis should settle down a bit now that he has been officially inaugurated, receiving his pallium and papal ring. It has been fun, though, reading the apoplectic overreactions from both the far right and the far left in Catholicism. The far left because the Pope is too Catholic (!) and won’t be ushering in a new era of women priests, approval of homosexuality and same sex marriage, and abortion on demand; and the far right because the Pope isn’t Catholic enough - he isn’t wearing the right vestments, acting the right way, or celebrating mass the way Benedict was. You gotta feel a little sorry for the guy.

I liked how one cardinal responded to a question about whether they all choose the papal name they would take if elected - he said: “If you go into the conclave a pope, you come out a cardinal; if you go in a cardinal, you may come out a pope.” Apply that to many areas of life and there’s some wisdom there.

One of the things I wondered about Francis was how great his devotion to Mary would be. John Paul II was all in with his “totus tuus” - totally yours, the “M” on his papal crest, and how he spoke of Mary in many of his homilies. Benedict seemed much more subdued in this respect. I wondered whether Francis, being from Latin America, would be more vocal and focused on Mary (like JP II), and it appears that he is. That saddens me a bit. Mary deserves our honor as the mother of God, of course, but if we are “totus tuus” we are totally Christ’s, not Mary’s.

So, we shall see what the future holds. For me, the future holds right now Holy Week and all the preparations that still need to be made! So, it is time to “ora et labora” - pray and work.

Easter Monday Morning Thoughts

A wonderful weekend, the Holy Triduum followed by our Easter celebration. Singing Easter hymns with a shut-in. Lamb for Easter dinner. Sleeping in Monday morning (well, what is sleeping in for me!). I like getting up early and getting work done in the quiet, pre-dawn hours, but not this morning. This morning was for rest.

My post-Easter tradition has been to take Monday off and go play golf, but can't this year. Two large school papers due soon and I have to push the accelerator to get them done. So back to the grind later this morning. But not yet. A little quiet and reflection this morning.

How were your services? I love the Triduum. Holy Thursday and the gift of our Lord's Supper. Smaller attendance than I hoped for at the service. My children played violin for the hymns. Beautiful. Especially the last one, O Sacred Head Now Wounded.

Good Friday. Great and Holy Friday. Noontime meditations on "The Way of the Cross" as we call it. Sort of a modified "Stations of the Cross." We do this at a local adult care community where one of our members lives. This service has grown on me over the years, and I look forward to it. Very different than the Tenebrae service in the evening with the Reproaches and the darkness. Yet the Christ candle never being extinguished. For the second year now, we have concluded the service as Bach concluded his St. John Passion, by singing these words:

Lord, let at last Thine angels come,
To Abr'ham's bosom bear me home, That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me, That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face, My Savior and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end. (LSB #708, v. 3)

A great way to end Good Friday - by focusing not on the sadness of Jesus' death and feeling sorry for Him, but what it really means. Pro me.

Then the Easter Vigil. Quiet, calm, reflective, baptismal remembrance, a taste of Easter joy. It is the perfect bridge from Good Friday to the full-throated joy of Easter morning. Larger attendance than I expected! Many folks are still not used to this service, but I hope it becomes a favorite for them as it is for me.

And then the morning! Alleluia! Christ is risen! The very first words that sound forth in the service. A full-blown festival Divine Service. The great joy.

Now, back to the grind. But leave Easter behind? No. How could we? That will be my sermon for Wednesday Evening Prayer. The apostles went back to fishing, but they did not leave Easter behind. Everything was changed. Peter's reaction is the witness to that. Come listen if you're in town! But so too for me. Back to school work, reading, writing, papers, languages, questions, struggles. But not the same. Never the same. One never leaves Holy Week the same way you enter. The Word of the Lord does its work. Thanks be to God.

Great and Holy Friday

I tend to like icons better than other kinds of paintings, though there are exceptions. For icons tell the story without getting overly dramatic or romantic.

I found this modern-day icon (from the Coptic church) that I thought was interesting. It shows the usual things - the three crucified, the women and John at the foot of the cross, angels - but I thought this had more focus on the soldiers than other icons I have seen. The spear is there, the sponge with sour wine given Jesus near the end, and the soldier on horse back who proclaimed "Truly, this was the Son of God!" But the most striking feature is the light coming from Jesus. Here, on the cross, is the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of the world. If you want to know God and His love, here it is. You will not see it more brightly and clearly than here!

That, I believe, is the message of this day. Do not feel sorry for poor Jesus on the cross. That is the temptation. See the great price of your sin, yes; but see even more the love of God for you that is greater than you can imagine. The angels were at the ready around Jesus. Like He said in the Garden of Gethsemane: a word from Him and they would be there in full force, fighting for Him and rescuing Him. In this icon they are there . . . but no word from Jesus. He will not. He speaks, but not for Himself. He will stay and pay, He will redeem us and save us. Nothing else is on His mind but you. Your good, your life, your salvation. Not His own. Today He dies so we might live.

Thanks be to God!

Holy Thursday

Today begins the Triduum - the final three days of Lent - in which we remember and celebrate our Lord laying down His life for us.

Today, Holy Thursday, has two foci: Jesus washing the feet of His disciples and the giving of His Supper. The two are not unrelated. A close reading of the foot washing text from John 13 reveals that Jesus is doing more than washing feet - He speaks of cleanness and uncleanness in a greater way. He is teaching His disciples about forgiveness and the ongoing washing away of sins that is needed. He speaks of bathing only once (baptism), but the need of the ongoing washing of the dirt collected from everyday life (absolution). He says "not all of you are clean" because He knew who would betray Him. He also says "if I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Clearly, these are all statements of a washing not just of feet, but of sin. So what Jesus is doing here is a kind of "living parable," not unlike what the prophets in the Old Testament would often do - act out the words of their teaching.

Then Jesus gives them His Supper, the preeminent way this ongoing forgiveness would be given by Him through the service of the disciples who would now become apostles - sent ones, sent to do what Jesus has done: serve, love, forgive, and lay down their lives for the life of the world. Through them, and those who would come after them, Jesus will continue to serve His people and wash them and feed them with the forgiveness, life, and salvation they need.

So having taught and given all this, Jesus now goes to accomplish the forgiveness that will be given through these means - He goes to the cross.

Writing an Easter Sermon

Lots of posts today! My juices are flowing again . . .

It's a funny thing. No matter how hard I try, it seems near impossible for me to write an Easter sermon early. I studied and read and had pages and pages of notes, but writing? Nothing would come. I have to first go through Holy Week with its readings and the liturgies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and then! then the thoughts and words come joyfully. It seems to happen that way every year. And though I do wish I could get things done ahead of time, I must say, I love it! I love writing this sermon on Holy Saturday morning and anticipate preaching it tomorrow, even as I anticipate the Vigil and the quiet calm and joy of this night. There's just nothing like Holy Week.

The Lion of Judah Wins the Fight!

This is what the Passion of our Lord is all about:

The English subtitles say "the hero of Judah has triumphed," but better: The Lion of Judah wins the fight! (Revelation 5:5) In the midst of sadness and death is victory. Christus Victor!

The whole Passion is worth watching if you have the time. If not, at least watch this.

From Today's TDP Writing

A good writing today in the treasury . . .

"We all come together, as children of the same family, to the table of our common, heavenly Father. As great as the distinction between communicants in civic life may be, in the Holy Supper all distinctions evaporate. We are all the same, in that we each eat the same earthly and heavenly bread and drink the same earthly and heavenly drink. In this Meal, the subject and his king, the slave and his master, the beggar and the rich, the child and the old man, the wife and the husband, the simple and the learned, truly all communicants stand as the same poor sinners and beggars, hungry and thirsty for grace. Although one may appear in a rough apron while another in velvet and satin, adorned with gold and pearls, when they depart, all take with them that for which they hunger and thirst: Christ's blood and righteousness as their beauty and glorious dress. No one receives a better food and better drink than the other. All receive the same Jesus, and with Him, the same righteousness." (CFW Walther)

The Lord bless you all this night as you remember His institution and receive His Body and Blood.

Must See "TV"

Take some time today and watch this performance of Bach's St. John Passion on YouTube. It is magnificent. It is in 17 parts, but at the end of each part, you can click on the next and it is quite easy to watch it all. You will be glad you did.

If you cannot watch it all, make sure you watch parts 13 and 17. Part 13 is an aria on "It is finished." But right in the middle of such a sad aria, the soloist breaks out in a joyous "The Lion of Judah wins the fight!" That's the theology of the cross right there - our Lord's victory in death! Part 17 is the final part, "Rest well," and the Passion concludes with one of the greatest hymn verses ever written:

Lord, let at last Thine angels come,

To Abram's bosom bear me home,

That I may die unfearing;

And in its narrow chamber keep

My body safe in peaceful sleep

Until Thy reappearing.

And then from death awaken me

That these mine eyes with joy may see,

O Son of God, Thy glorious face,

My Savior and my Fount of grace.

Lord Jesus Christ, My prayer attend, my prayer attend,

And I will praise Thee without end!

(Someone please remind me to sing this on Good Friday next year!)

Are you still here? Go watch!

HT: Matt Harrison

Holy Saturday

A blessed Holy Saturday to all of you. This is one of my favorite days of all the year. We have remembered the love of our Lord shown to us by the cross and anticipate the full-throated joy of Easter tomorrow. Today is peaceful and calm. Crafting the sermon for tomorrow, looking forward to the Vigil tonight, everything sinking in. A very good day indeed.