St. Paul's Announcements

St. Paul's Winter Celebration

2009-10-20T16:35:00.003-05:00

Help support St. Paul's Early Childhood Center by attending our first annual Winter Celebration December 5th at the Senior Center in downtown CB. Plan on light refreshments, silent and oral auctions, good music and lots of fun. For more information and tickets, contact the church or school offices.

Let the Blogging Resume!

2008-07-29T14:33:00.003-05:00

Friends in Christ,

My great apologies for the long break in action. Things have been slightly busy this summer, and the blog has suffered for it. However, thanks be to God our lives are not bound to blogs and that we can read, mark, learn and inwardly digest His word apart from the internet!

Remember Psalm 33? That's where we left off. The psalm that calls the nation "blessed" whose God is "The Lord."

Psalm 33 highlights God's work of creation and preservation throughout time. It reveals God's love for us through His creation and shows is ruleing and reigning over the course of history.

In this psalm we learn that God made the heavens, the stars, the waters. Broad expansive things, far above and beyond the ability of man to assemble, things that no mortal would dare to claim as their own work.

This psalm reveals that God is God and we are not. God creates and man merely assembles. God is power, we are not. God controls, God "thwarts", God "sees", God "looks" for God is God over all, even every nation of the earth.

If you are of a nation, a people that does not recognize this, you are to be pitied. However, if you are of a nation, a people that recognizes God as "THE LORD", "I AM WHO I AM" then you are certainly a blessed people. Is the United States a people that recognizes one God, that God being the LORD, Creator of heaven and earth? No.

However, there are some from every "nation" that do. Therefore the blessed nation in our day is not Israel, is not Germany or the United States. The LORD GOD has brought by the mercy of His Son life into every nation, even if that nation is evil, persecuted, poor or dangerous. For the Gospel has been proclaimed and is being proclaimed to every nation under the sun, and there are those in these nations that call upon the name of the LORD and will be saved.

There is no nation that collectively confesses Christ Jesus, THE LORD. By God's grace however, He has made a believing remnant from every continent members of one nation, through the shed blood of His only begotten Son.

Look at the Psalm again. Are you are product of evolution? Chance? Member of a nation because the stork dropped you off? Not quite.

You are the child of the All-Creator God whose name is THE LORD. He purposely made you. He gave you a place in time, and by baptism and faith has secured a nation within which you will dwell eternally.

Blessed are you oh Zion, for your God is THE LORD.

Psalm 33

2008-05-21T10:00:00.001-05:00

In the name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The 33rd Psalm, as Luther writes, is a general psalm thanking the Lord for "helping his faithful people in all kinds of distress and for not letting them perish."

In our day Christians have used this Psalm, and others like it, to take pride or exhort their country to faithfulness to the LORD. Read verses 12 and following,

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He chose for His inheritance."

Read Luther's commentary, the Psalm and prayer. Consider how you would go about understanding these verses. We'll pick up from here in a few days.

Psalm 32

2008-05-08T14:52:00.002-05:00

In the name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Saint and Sinner?

"The 32nd Psalm is an exemplary psalm of instruction that teaches us what sin is, and how one might be freed from it and be righteous before God. Our reason does not know what sin is and tries to make satisfaction for it with works. But the psalmist says that even saints are sinners..."

Psalm 32 is a penitential psalm. For those of you who attend our church the language used by this psalm of David should be very familair. Themes like repentance, justification and forgiveness flow out of the verses of this psalm with great clarity. Like Psalm 51, another of David's well-known penetential psalms, this psalm focuses on repentance and forgiveness for all mankind.

Luther uses the phrase, "saints are sinners" in this psalm. What does that mean, you might ask. How can saints be sinners? Isn't being a "saint" being holy, without blemish? Doesn't sin equal imperfection? How can you be both at the same time?

Luther writes, "Here stand the clear plain words: All the saints are sinners and remain sinners. But they are holy because God in His grace neither sees nor counts these sins, but forgets, forgives, and covers them. There is thus no distinction between the saints and the non-saints. They are sinners alike and all sin daily..."

It is actually comforting to know that your pastor is a sinner. Abraham was a sinner, Moses, David, Stephen the martyr, Peter, Paul, Timothy etc. There is no difference this psalm shows us, all are sinners. Yet, "blessed is the one whose trangression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."

You see, all of us by nature are covered in sin. Yet, God gave His only-begotten Son to die in order to wash our sin away. By faith in Jesus Christ the crucified, Christ Himself covers what covers us. Jesus own blood and righteousness ends up covering us completely. No longer are we defined by sin, but rather we are defined by our Savior, as saint.

Still sinner, yet now saint we are "glad in the Lord and rejoice..." for we, who were once poor miserable sinners, have had our sins covered by the righteousness of our Lord.

Psalm 27

2008-04-22T20:26:00.003-05:00

In the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear, the Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"

What comforting words written for our learning. When you know the Lord God, Jesus Christ the only-begotten Son of God, there is nothing to fear. Why is this so? Because mankind's greatest fear has been taken off the list. True, even though public speaking is a great fear of many, still the number one fear for all people is dying. The Lord has turned "dying" on its head.

Through Jesus' dying our dying is a "non-issue." Christ has taken the fear out of dying. Our "greatest fears" list has been shortened through the love of the only-begotten Son of God. Our life can be lived in peace now, knowing that as we look forward to our last day in this life, we have nothing to fear because the one thing asked of the Lord has been given. Heaven. "One thing have I asked of the Lord that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

So when you are having your bad day, when you are feeling sorry for yourself and being grouchy, when you're harping on your kids or talking back to your parents ask yourself, "What's the big deal? Why am I so cranky?" Sometimes we Christians really need to give ourselves a reality check, a good reminder. Christ has opened heaven to us by the cross and empty tomb. The most important thing in all of life that could have caused our utmost grief has been taken care of. Death has been destroyed. Sin removed. Forgiveness granted. Heaven opened.

So what's your bad day all about? Are you tired? Go to bed. Are you overwhelmed? Take it one step at a time. Are you anxious? Have a glass of red wine. Your God has saved you from hell. Your worries are only temporary. Joys are eternal.

Next time you're having a bad day, starting to feel a bit on the grouchy side, feeling like you might want to be overbearing, sing Psalm 27. "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear...One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Who's bad day can continue with words such as these?

Thanks be to God for granting forgiveness, life and salvation.

For further reading on the "our light and our salvation..." John 1, "In the beginning..."

Psalm 24

2008-04-12T21:18:00.002-05:00

In the name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It seems fitting to continue with the 24th Psalm after engaging in the past devotional study of the 23rd. As the 23rd ends with the kingly and royal imagery, we move right into a psalm that picks that imagery right up again.

Psalm 24, as Luther notes, is a "prophecy of the coming world-wide kingdom of Christ." The psalm's opening verse is an excellent reminder to us and to all people of the supremacy, sovereignty, power, might, majesty (you fill in the blank___________) of the Creator God.

Truly, when we think of the Creator of this universe, of even we ourselves, can you even comprehend the work of our God? One chapter earlier we were receiving great comfort in knowing that God is our Shepherd and we have nothing to fear, and suddenly now we are back to hearing again that this God who loves us so tenderly is the Almighty Maker and Sustainer of all things, the universe and all that is in it.

Read the psalm, Luther's comments and prayer. Search the Scriptures for other places that remind you of this Psalm in terms of God's reign over all things. There are many.

By the way, are the words of this psalm at all familiar? Do you know when you have heard them before?

Until next time,

Peace in Christ.

Psalm 23

2008-03-25T16:21:00.002-05:00

In the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Friends in Christ. Now that we have observed the passion of our Lord and had the joy of celebrating His resurrection last Sunday, let's move forward in the psalms to the most familiar in all of Christendom. Psalm 23.

Psalm 23 is the hymn of the OT that supports the idea of our Lord as "The Good Shepherd." Luther writes, "the psalmist compares himself to a sheep that a faithful shepherd leads..." Written by David, this psalm was especially meaningful because of his work as a shepherd. Anyone who can understand this work, will immediately have a better understanding of the work of our God. He wants us to know that He cares enough to guide us, to lead us, to give to us, to protect us, to watch over us, to stay with us, to defend us, to deliver us. Due to our loving Lord's actions for us, we have come to use the term "shepherd" or "shepherding" as a word that describes the compassionate action of our Lord first, and secondly His ministers. This is what Christ meant when He commanded Peter, as an outgrowth of Peter's love for Him, to "feed My sheep." (John 21)

When this psalm is read in conjunction with other OT texts such as Isaiah 40:11 and Ezekiel 34:11-16 one can clearly see the Gospel proclaimed in the OT. Combine these texts with John 10 in the NT and the reader is given some of the most comforting images received from Scripture. Needless to say, because of the message brought out of these texts, many of you have grown to love the Sunday we have historically called, "Good Shepherd Sunday." (Which, by the way, is the Second Sunday of April this year.)

Read devotionally Psalm 23 and at least John 10, if not the other OT texts mentioned. In the next post we will read through the psalm verse by verse.

It is fitting to study this Psalm soon after Easter.

Psalm 22

2008-02-29T21:25:00.004-06:00

In the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Friends in Christ,

I debated studying this Psalm at this time, or waiting until next week or the following. The conclusion I have come to however, is to enjoy all that this Psalm offers us for the next weeks leading up to Easter.

Psalm 22 is one of the most important Psalms recorded. No Psalm so clearly relates the details of Jesus' suffering and crucifixion and no Psalm is quoted more times in the Scriptures. Thus Luther calls this "one of the chief psalms." Because Psalm 22 is so weighty, we will pick it apart piece by piece, little by little.

Read Luther's comments, the Psalm and prayer. For the next few weeks, meditate upon the portions of this psalm that we cover as well as what is recorded for us in the Gospels during Holy Week, that is, from Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem through Good Friday. Read one or all of these sections devotionally as you have time. If you live with your family this would be a great section of Scripture to highlight for daily reading from now through Easter. You will find these accounts beginning at:

Matthew 21
Mark 11
Luke 19
John 12

Now then, we will go no farther than verses 1-2 today. For already you are reminded of the crucifixion:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God I cry out by day but you do not answer, by night but I find no rest."

In Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 Jesus cries out, "Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani" which is translated, "My God, My God why have you forsaken Me?" Jesus words exactly.

Here in the first two verses of the Psalm the Messiah is pleaing for help from the Father. Just as He prayed in Gethsemane, "If it be your will take this cup from Me..." so now He continues to plea but it looks hopeless.

There are so many questions to ask, "What is going on here?" Why does the Son receive no help from the Father? Why is He tortured so? It is bad enough to be physically tortured, but being forsaken by your beloved, the Father no less, is unimaginable. We often miss the absolute horror of Christ's passion when we only talk about physical things. It is safe to say that Christ's spiritual suffering was far more torturous than the torture endured by His body.

The Son of God is the only one in the world who was ever forsaken by God. Yes, God's only-begotten Son from eternity, God Himself, the perfect one, is the only one to be forsaken.

To be forsaken is to be rejected, trashed, discarded, ignored, abandoned. Like an item left off at the local landfill, Jesus was dumped by the Father because He was loaded up with OUR SINS.

That's right. No human being, no matter how trashy and corrupt has, is or will ever be forsaken by the Father because out of His great love for the world, the Father saw fit to forsake the Son on our behalf. So there hangs Jesus, pleading for mercy from the Father, and He doesn't get it.

I don't know what was worse when I was growing up, getting a spanking or knowing that I displeased my father. When you have someone's full attention, full love and full trust and you do something stupid or thoughtless, you ruin a relationship. There is no way to fix something that is ruined. Your only option is repent. Say you're sorry. Be forgiven.

Christ took a spanking for us. Christ felt the heat. Christ was trashed, abandoned, forsaken for our sins so that we wouldn't be. By His death and resurrection He has brought us into a new relationship with our heavenly Father. Because Christ was forsaken, our God is not an angry judge, a Father waiting with a paddle. Rather, He is love, like the Father anxiously awaiting the prodigal sons return. Full of compassion, He wants us to come home and can't wait to lavish us with kisses.

In the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Psalm 16

2008-02-19T12:41:00.003-06:00

In the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Having meditated upon Psalm 51 let's turn our attention to another Psalm fitting for the season of Lent.

Psalm 16 is a psalm where David reveals to us the very words of the preincarnate Christ, the Son of God speaking before His birth. This psalm therefore opens us up to the mind of God in a different way than we often consider.

Read Luther's comments on Psalm 16, the Psalm and prayer. Also, take time to read Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts chapter 2. (If you have been in bible class in the fellowship hall, you will notice the connection to Joel in this portion of Acts.) Finally, read Acts 13:35 and it's context.

Notice how Scripture interprets Scripture! If you had any doubt that Christ Himself was speaking in Psalm 16 or whether or not Psalm 16 was speaking of Christ, the apostles in Acts leave no doubt!

This Psalm and others leave the Church no question regarding our confession of faith. We should never leave our confession of faith up to the dictates of the times, we should not look at other churches to decide what we should believe and confess, we shouldn't even look to one another for guidance. Rather, we collectively "search the Scriptures" for true understanding. The Scriptures: Law, Psalms, Prophets, Gospels, Epistles etc. all testify of Jesus Christ. The one who was crucified, God has raised up from the dead not allowing Him to see corruption and has seated Him at His right hand!

Now, with Peter, Paul, David and the whole church we confess with joy that "Through this Man is preached the forgiveness of sins." (Acts 13:38)

As you study the relation between Psalm 16 and the New Testament, consider how closely are we keeping to the clear and bold confession Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen again for the forgiveness of sins and salvation of the world.

Would our church today confidently stand with Peter and Paul as they confessed their faith so clearly?
Would Peter and Paul be pleased with our confession of Christ? More importantly by far, would our Lord consider us faithful?

Mill that one around for a while.

Until we meet again, Peace in Christ.

Psalm 51

2008-02-06T11:32:00.000-06:00

In the name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Friends in Christ,

Today is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday has historically marked the beginning of the season of Lent, the time of the Church where we focus upon our Lord's work for us. His sinless life in the midst of sin and tempation, His suffering, His death and ultimately His resurrection.

On Ash Wednesday, the Church has always called believers to repentance, sorrow over sin and recognize their need for God's mercy and grace. The name, "Ash Wednesday" reminds us of the historic rite called the "imposition of ashes." The ashes from the palms used in the former years Palm Sunday procession were used to "make the sign of the holy cross upon your forehead." This sign of the cross made in ashes reminds us of our human fraility and mortality due to our sin and rebellion. Yet, made in the sign of a cross and placed upon our foreheads, reminds us of our baptisms, where we have been clothed with Christ, granted forgiveness of sins and the certain hope of eternal life.

The annually appointed Psalm for Ash Wednesday is Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is the cry of King David after his grevious sins against the sixth commandment with Bathsheba, and against the fifth commandment against her husband Uriah.

If you have time today, read Psalm 51, Luther's commentary and the prayer. There you will notice many familair sections, many of which we have sung over and over in worship for hundreds of years. Tonight as you come to church, notice the singing of Psalm 51 by both the adult and confirmation choirs, especially verses 10-12.

If you are at prayer and don't know what to pray, the words of Psalm 51 that many of you know by heart are always very fitting.

"Create in me a clean heart O God. And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence nor take Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore to Me, the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Amen." Psalm 51:10-12

We will spend the next week or even two meditating upon this Psalm.

Psalm 14

2008-01-25T19:09:00.000-06:00

In the name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let's turn our attention to Psalm 14.

So you think you're a pretty good guy or gal huh? Well, if you want to keep thinking that way you'd better not read this Psalm.

Psalm 14 is a condemnation of the foolishness of the wicked. As Luther says, "human doctrine and a life without faith is nothing but an abomination before God." Turn on your TV. It won't take you 5 minutes to be immersed with foolishness, human doctrine and a life without faith.

Please now, turn your TV off. Take up your sword of the Spirit and read this Psalm. If you have time you may take a look at Romans chapter 3 over the next day or two. Note how Paul uses some verses from this Psalm in his New Testament Epistle.

How does this Psalm preach the Law to us?
How does this Psalm preach us the Gospel?

Everyone taking this Psalm seriously must admit, "there is no good in me." However, those who repent and believe the Gospel can admit with joy, "the Lord is my refuge" for He has become our salvation through the forgiveness of sins.

Psalm 13

2008-01-17T22:11:00.000-06:00

Now let us turn to a shorter chapter, Psalm 13.

As Luther notes, Psalm 13 is a psalm of prayer against sorrow or saddness, even against the devil himself.

Read this psalm and think to yourself what saddness this world has brought to you, your family, friends etc.

Now consider the prayer that follows. By Christ's "Incarnation," assuming human flesh, our Lord Jesus voluntarily endured our saddness, sorrows and sin by becoming sin, sorrow and saddness Himself.

As we approach the season of Lent we will be greeted by Jesus' temptation by Satan in the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1-11) Truly there we see One who was so willing to bring us comfort for our earthly sorrows and saddness that He specifically came to this earth to be tempted, tested, tried and even killed. He did this because He not only wanted you to be comforted in your sorrows, but by His steadfast love seen clearly through cross and empty tomb, He won for you everlasting life in heaven.

Sorrows in this life will come. But stronger than our sorrows, our Lord has come to wipe every sorrow from our midst. On that great and glorious day He will usher us into the land where sorrow is gone, sin and saddness unheard of and only true joy will be found.

Until that day, the Church on earth prays: "Come Lord Jesus, Come Quickly"

Psalm 9

2008-01-08T23:15:00.001-06:00

Welcome Back! Or should I say, "I'm Back!"

I pray that your Christmastide was full of Christ and no other. I am happy to finally get back to the blogspot and able to carry on with our Psalm study.

Unfortunately, I lost a comment sent to us by the editor of our book. It was submitted by ScotK. I glanced at the post and then it was gone and I don't know where it ran off too! If you see this, please send it again for all of our readers to see!

Now then, on with our study. So far, some of our Psalms, or portions of the Psalms, have been familair to us. Now we will take up Psalm 9 which represents a less familair Psalm and a longer one at that.

Read Luther's comments and Psalm 9 devotionally this week.

Note how often judicial terms are used in this Psalm: Righteous Judgement, Justice, Judges, righteousness, uprightness, enthroned etc.

These terms in the OT help us understand another judicial term: Justification. Do you remember the importance of this word? You may look the word "Justification" up in your Small Catechism and see what you find. Is it there?

What do all of these words have to do with our God? And, how does a proper understanding of the term Justification help us to appreciate this and other portions of Scripture?

Psalm 8

2007-12-19T21:14:00.000-06:00

Psalm 8:

How richly blessed we are to be recipients of the Psalms. The Psalms truly reflect the Church's song throughout the ages. The Psalms represent the song of the Church as it awaited the coming of the Messiah. So, Psalm 2 very clearly portrayed the Messiah and now we have the Messiah spoken of again already six chapters later. Truly, awaiting the coming of the Messiah was central in the life of the Church of the Old Testament.

Read Psalm 8 and Luther's Commentary. Take a few days to devotionally follow the verses of this psalm through the Scriptures. Notice how so much of the content of these verses are so strongly paralleled throughout the Scriptures.

For example: verse 2

"Out of the mouths of babes and infants, You have established strength because of Your foes..."

This verse highlights the humility of the Kingdom of the Messiah. The "voice" will establish this kingdom, that is, the Word of God that even dwells within babes and infants.

This then, is not a kingdom of "sword and armor" as Luther says, but one of humility.

A parallel theme appears in 1 Corinthians 1 :27-28ff

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are..."

Take some time to search out other parallels. Feel free to share your findings!

.

Psalm 4

2007-12-12T13:24:00.000-06:00

Welcome to week II!

If you're just arriving we're reading from the book "Reading the Psalms with Luther." Purchase the book from www.cph.org

At the beginning I said let's study the "Messianic Psalms." However, I think a better idea is to select and highlight certain Psalms in the order in which they appear. This, I believe, will help us retain them better in our memory, and will allow us to hit other very well-known and comforting psalms along the way.

Psalm 4.

David is the writer of this "Individual Lament" (pg. 357) as the subscript shows. (See your bibles) Psalm 4 was used in the worship setting in Israel, much like we sing the psalms today.

Specifically, due to the final verse, "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safty," this psalm is often used in the service of "compline" (pg. 360) which is the service at the close of the day, right before you go to bed. (Note compline in your LSB hymnals, pg. 253. One would sing this Psalm at the point of the "Psalmody" pg. 254) If you own your own hymnal, this is a wonderfully rich and meaningful way to usher youself and your family into a peaceful night's sleep in the LORD's hands.

Read Luther's commentary and then the Psalm itself. Now it's your turn to start the conversation.

Luther says this is, among other things, a psalm of comfort.

What words make this a psalm of comfort?

How could you use Psalm 4 to comfort others, or yourself?

I will anxiously await your reply:)

Psalm 2

2007-12-04T23:10:00.000-06:00

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear Friends in Christ. Welcome to our first conversation. Read Psalm 2 and Luther's commentary. The prayer at the close can accompany your daily prayers throughout this week.

The postings for each week will include daily reflections on various comments made by Luther in his commentary on the psalm. Offer comments, questions etc. as freely as you would like. Without further delay, let us begin.

"What in the world is this about"?

How often have you sat in church and thought as you were singing a psalm or listening to an Old Testament reading, "What in the world is this about?" We are not as familiar with the Old Testament as we should be. This, of course, applies to the Psalms as well.

Within the Psalms are some of the richest descriptions of our God and His only begotten Son (vs. 7). When reading or listening to God's Word, we often have to ask ourselves, "Who is the writer/speaker/author here?" When we know who is writing we can begin to get our bearings straight about the particular thing written.

So, look at Psalm 2. Who wrote this?........(if you said the Holy Spirit, you are correct, however my question is, by whose hand were the Holy Spirit's words recorded?) It doesn't say.
Don't be troubled oh student of Scripture. As you well know, one of many important general rules of biblical interpretation is, Scripture interprets Scripture. Look around in Scripture. Look in the little notes you may have in the margin of your bible. Already at the first verse I see Acts 4:25-26 highlighted. What do you find there in Acts? Luke writes,

...'who by the mouth of your servant David have said: 'Why do the nations rage, and the people plot vain things?'

So, Scripture has spoken, David is the writer. Now we ask, who is David? Well you know. David the shepherd, the giant killer, the king, the adulterer, the saint, the sinner...that David. So then, we can say for sure that this Psalm was breathed by the Holy Spirit and written by David's hand. This being true, we can further say that any personal pronoun (me, my, I, etc.) must refer to David, correct? That is the first question of the week.

1. Read verse 7 again. If David is the writer, who is "Me?" (If you were in church you might say, "What in the world is this all about."

2. Secondly, read the greater context of Acts 4:25-26. Note how correctly this Psalm is applied to the events around the persecution of Peter and John, and the rest of the early church.

"Why do the nations rage and the people plot vain things?" Why are the kings of the earth gathered together against the Lord and His Christ?

Ask yourself this Advent why are so many groups so adamantly opposed to anything that smells Christian? Really, are Christians intimidating? Are Christians wicked? While you may know one who is wicked or intimidating or be a wicked or intimidating Christian yourself, this is not Christianity! Christianity is all about Christ. Christ is neither wicked or intimidating. Rather, our dear Savior, though He has every right to be terrifying, intimidating, harsh and vengeful, He has chosen to be patient, humble, loving and selfless. He has chosen to assume human flesh, wear diapers, obey His parents, take orders from church and civil authorities and even allow them to nail Him to a tree. That is, death for the Christ so that kings, rulers and every other poor, miserable sinner can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Has Christ somehow offended the world by being so loving?

Why is the atheist, Phillip Pullman, working so hard at creating "The Golden Compass," a movie that mocks the Triune God and brainwashes children into rethinking their understanding of Christianity. (The movie to be released on Friday, for more info see http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp )

Why have the people, kings and rulers of the world taken their stand against our "Lord and against His Christ?"

So there are two areas of conversation. Talk about them around the dinner table, at work, play or when you walk along the way. If you would like to respond, jump right in. I will pose more questions or highlight specific portions of the Psalm or Luther's commentary more or less depending upon your desire to discuss the current questions. Feel free to ask questions not related to what I have highlighted. Of course, questions that may be way off the topic we may just save for a rainy day. Happy blogging!

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Introduction to "Reading the Psalms with Luther"

2007-11-28T23:07:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends in Christ,

Welcome to the first posting for our Psalm study! If you have not gotten your copy of "Reading the Psalms with Luther" please pick it up on Sunday morning. If you didn't order one, but would like a copy, let me know and we'll get you one. We will officially begin our study on Wednesday December 5th by studying the Messianic Psalms. Until then, let's get comfortable with our new book and the new blog.

When paging through your book you will notice a number of interesting pieces of information other than Luther's commentary and the actual psalms. On page 12 and 13 you will notice a section on singing the psalms. Since the psalms were actually a collection of hymns for the church of the Old Testament, they are heard in their truest form when they are sung. This is why we sing a psalm or introit every Sunday in Church. These pages allow you to sing the psalms at home. One of our members recently told the confirmation class that when she lies in bed on sleepless nights, she sings the psalms or a familiar hymn that she remembers from her childhood.

Also, at the end of the book on pages 357 and on you will notice different categories of Psalms and their use in daily prayer and worship. Take a look at page 357. Did you know that many of the Psalms were written specifically about Jesus Christ our Lord even before His incarnation? Did you know, in fact, that many of the Psalms actually reveal the words of the preincarnate Christ? For example, in Psalm 22, the Son of God is speaking long before He ever assumed human flesh. The Messianic Psalms do great things for those who have a hard time believing that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. They reveal very clearly the truth about the Son, that He indeed is Immanuel, God with us!

I look forward to our conversations as we begin a new year in the life of the Church. Let's be on guard and be alerted this season of Advent, and prepare our hearts for the coming of the bridegroom by immersing ourselves in His life-giving and sustaining Word, you know, our great heritage!