Nicene Creed Video

Here's the scoop on this from Cyberbrethren...

Here is a beautiful YouTube video of the reading of the Nicene Creed which dates back over a 1,000 years in the the Christian church. This recitation was done at Trinity Lutheran Church, Klein, TX during the March 4, 2012 church services by three members of Trinity as part of Lutheran Schools week. These three members, and students (former and present) are: Mr. Erich Klenk, 97 years old, confirmed in 1928, past Chairman of the congregation, charter member of the Men’s Club in 1946, and Trinity’s oldest member. Lyle Lovett, great grandson of Trinity founding father Adam Klein, confirmed in 1971, singer/songwriter, and winner of four Grammys. Erin Pali, class of 2016 and current 4th grade student of Miss Marilyn Peterson/ Erin’s Dad Brett also had Miss Petersen in 4th grade during his years at Trinity. This video was posted to YouTube by Pat Blake.

Getting Away From It All

From Messiah Lutheran Church's July/August 2011 newsletter

The summer months are here. The kids are out of school. The weather is nicer (at least we hope it will be). The days are longer. It’s time to get away for a vacation. Could be a couple of weeks. Could be a couple of days. Whatever the case may be, it’s good to get away for a while. See new places. Do new things. Rest. Recharge.

Jesus knew the importance of “getting away from it all” once in a while. He often would withdraw from the press of the crowds who followed him and go into “desolate places” (e.g. Mark 1:45). At other times, a brief “cruise” on the Sea of Galilee was in order (e.g. Mark 3:7). And after the disciples returned from their first preaching mission, Jesus encouraged them to “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).

What did Jesus do in those “desolate places”? As True Man, he needed to rest his body. But the Scriptures also inform us that he prayed (e.g. Mark 1:35). Jesus knew that prayer was a vital part of his rest and an opportunity to express his fellowship with his Heavenly Father.

I hope you get the chance to “get away from it all” and rest a while this summer, if only for a brief time. But as you do, take time also to pray and worship. One of the joys of traveling is visiting other congregations and making connections with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in another region. Make use of the congregation locator at the LCMS website to find a church in the cities or towns where you plan to be. If you are reading this on the internet, click here to find a sister LCMS congregation. If you don’t use the internet, check in at the church office, and we can give you contact information for the churches in the areas to which you will be traveling.

Maybe it’s not possible for you to find a “desolate place” to get away. Your work responsibilities are keeping you close to home. Your finances don’t allow you to travel farther than Everett or Arlington. That’s when you need to find a “desolate place” right under your own roof … a moment or two of quiet reflection where you can read God’s Word and spend even a brief moment in prayer. If the Holy Son of God thought it necessary to “get away from it all,” how much more important it is for us weak and sinful creatures.

And don’t forget about the most important time of rest … when we gather together on Sunday mornings to rest and receive our Lord’s gifts of life and salvation in the Divine Service. Here we have a respite from all our troubles … a place to “get away from it all” (another reason why I like the word “sanctuary” for our worship space). Here all the baptized hear the precious word of forgiveness in the Gospel. Here God’s reconciled people receive the body and blood of our Savior who was sacrificed for our salvation. Here God’s redeemed receive a foretaste of the eternal rest promised us in Paradise at “the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which has no end.”

In Christ’s service and yours,
Pastor Onken

Learning a New Setting of the Divine Service

From Messiah Lutheran Church's June newsletter

During the summer months, our congregation will learn a new musical setting of the Divine Service in Lutheran Service Book. Our congregation already knows Divine Service 1 very well. We also know Divine Service 3 (especially those of us who have been Lutherans for a very long time). Setting 4 has become a favorite, too, ever since it was introduced in Hymnal Supplement ’98. Once in a while, we will also use Divine Service 5 with some modifications. But most of us may have never learned Divine Service 2.

Why learn a new musical setting? Some people may feel that it’s unnecessary, even overwhelming, since we already know four settings (not to mention Matins, Vespers, and Evening Prayer which we use at other times). But there are other congregations around our synod that use Setting 2 as their primary setting of the Divine Service. You may happen to visit them when you are on vacation. Or suppose you move to a different part of the country, and you transfer to another congregation that uses Setting 2. It would be helpful to have at least a minimal familiarity with this particular musical setting so that you can join in worship with a certain measure of comfort.

Setting 2 will already be partially familiar to us. The text of this setting is identical to Setting 1. However, the music of Setting 2 will be new to most of us (unless you learned it in a previous congregation, as I did; two churches of which I was a member in California used it as their primary setting). Both Setting 1 and Setting 2 of the Divine Service were written in the 1970’s when the LCMS and the predecessor bodies of the ELCA were jointly working on a new hymnal. The LCMS eventually withdrew from the joint project and produced its own hymnal, Lutheran Worship, in 1982 (the blue hymnal which was replaced by Lutheran Service Book in 2006). Both new musical settings were included in the publication. They retained their popularity and were therefore included in our current hymnal. Prior to that, the only musical setting that was familiar to LCMS congregations was what we know now as Setting 3 (contained in The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 and even earlier in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book of 1912, the first official English language hymnal of the Missouri Synod).

As we learn Setting 2, you will find some challenging sections to be sure. For the most part, you will find it very singable. I have full confidence in our ability to learn it together. You are a very musically talented congregation. You love to sing (one of the things I love about you!). You have learned many new hymns over the years. Eventually, perhaps we will be able to say that we have learned all of the musical treasures that are a part of our hymnal.

In Christ’s Service and yours,
Pastor Onken

P.S. For further reading on the history of hymnals in the LCMS, here are few links for you…

Sing to the Lord a New Song: A Brief History of Our LCMS Hymnals

A Brief History of LCMS Hymnals

A Brief History of Hymnals in the LCMS

Or, if you are really ambitious, here are some books you may be interested in…

God’s Song in a New Land (Carl Schalk)

Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church (Timothy Maschke)

Lutheran Worship: History and Practice (ed. Fred Precht) (also available in our church library)

The Ongoing Life of Jesus in His Church

From Messiah's May 2011 newsletter

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Lent is over. The solemnity of Holy Week is past. The joy of Easter shines brightly. For seven weeks, we bask in the glory of the empty tomb during another Easter season until Pentecost. Actually, our entire Christian life is shaped by the fact of the resurrection of Christ. “Every Sunday is a little Easter,” goes the old adage. In fact, for the Christian, every day – not just Sunday – is a “little Easter.” We don’t ever need to stop basking in the glory of the empty tomb. St. Paul wrote, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins … But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Cor. 15:14, 17, 20)

There is a unique feature in the lectionary during the Easter season. The reading from the Old Testament is replaced by a reading from the book of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. This makes much sense. Easter is the time of fulfillment. All that was promised about Christ Jesus in the Old Testament was fulfilled in the Gospels. Following upon the accounts of the Gospels are St. Luke’s accounts of the life of the early Church in the book of Acts. Here, the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus was fresh in the hearts of the apostles. “All the possibilities of that event were being explored. The Spirit that breathed on the apostles was unfolding God’s intentions for his people even as they received his gifts. Challenges were met, problems were addressed, the wonder of life in Christ was being discovered. The life and growth of the apostolic church is opened up for us [in the book of Acts] so that we may immerse ourselves in the same life and growth of the church.” (from Proclaim, Series A, Part 2, p.178) The life and growth of the Church continues today. The Risen Jesus is among us with his Word and Spirit. He gives life and grows his Church through Word and Sacrament. In that sense, we are no different from the first Christians, even though culturally, technologically, and linguistically we are centuries apart.

At the end of the book of Acts, the author sort of leaves us hanging. It ends abruptly with Paul under house arrest in Rome. The last sentence of Acts says that Paul lived in Rome for two years “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31). Perhaps Luke meant to write “Acts Volume 2” someday (or “Volume 3” if we include Luke’s Gospel as “Volume 1” of his opus). On the other hand, the way Luke ends the book can be significant for us. Dr. Al Barry, in his book To the Ends of the Earth, explained it this way:

True, the last sentence does not tell us what happened after Paul’s two years under house arrest, but what difference does that make? Acts is not the story of Paul as much as it is the story of Jesus continuing to proclaim His Word through His Church … It is an open-ended account so the rest of His story – all the way down to us – can fit in. (A.L. Barry, To the Ends of the Earth, CPH 1997).

As you hear the readings from the Acts of the Apostles this Easter season, listen and see yourself fitting in to the story of Jesus and his ongoing work in and through his Church.

In Christ’s service and yours,
Pastor Onken

Hymns and Readings for Lent 5 (April 10, 2011)

Hymns (all from Lutheran Service Book)
419
430
635, 563 during Distribution
687

Readings
Ezekiel 37:11-14
Romans 8:1-11
John 11:1-45

Hymns and Readings for Lent 4 (April 3, 2011)

Hymns (all from Lutheran Service Book)
545
411
635, 566 during Distribution
692

Readings
Isaiah 42:14–21
Ephesians 5:8–14
John 9:1–41

Hymns and Readings for Lent 3 (March 27, 2011)

Hymns (all from Lutheran Service Book)
635
824
619, 561 during Distribution
685

Readings
Exodus 17:1-7
Romans 5:1-8
John 4:5-30, 39-42

Hymns and Readings for Lent 2 (March 20, 2011)

Hymns (all from Lutheran Service Book)
635
708
617, 560 during Distribution
683

Readings
Genesis 12:1-9
Romans 4:1-8, 13-17
John 3:1-17

Hymns and Readings for Transfiguration Sunday (March 6, 2011)

Hymns
LSB 395
LSB 413
LSB 680, 537 during Distribution
LSB 417

Readings
Exodus 24:8–18
2 Peter 1:16–21
Matthew 17:1–9

Lent 2011 at Messiah Lutheran Church

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 9, with Divine Service at 7 pm, preceded by a soup supper 6 pm. Throughout the Wednesdays of Lent, we will continue our recent tradition of having a hymn sing in the sanctuary between the soup supper and our services of Evening Prayer.

This year's theme is called "Amos: Restore the Roar!" The sermons and some of the elements of our worship services will be adapted from material prepared by Dr. Reed Lessing of Concordia Seminary St. Louis and author of a recent commentary on the book of the prophet Amos (published by Concordia Publishing House). Dr. Lessing presented a workshop last Spring to our Puget Sound Pastor's Conference on the book of Amos. On Sundays, the Adult Bible Class will study the Book of Amos in conjunction with our Wednesday night worship.

Why "Restore the Roar?" Amos 3:8 says, "The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?" The temptation is to put our hands over our ears to drown out Lion Yahweh’s roar. The world, the devil, and our old Adam continue to urge us to clip the claws on the Lion and clean up His bloody Passion we are called to follow. This Lenten sermon series dares to let the Lion out of His cage to roam, roar, redeem, and restore. This Lenten theme will enable us to dig deeply into this minor prophet who has a major message for the church. So plan to come and learn again that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has triumphed!

Each midweek service during Lent begins at 7pm preceded by a soup supper at 6pm. The times for the Holy Week services are noted below in the schedule.

• Ash Wednesday, March 9 - “Rescued from the Rubble” (Amos 1:1-2)
• Evening Prayer, March 16 - “The Four R’s of Election” (Amos 3:1-8)
• Evening Prayer, March 23 - “This is the Night the Lord has Made!” (Amos 5:18-20)
• Evening Prayer, March 30 - “Grieving for Joseph” (Amos 6:1-7)
• Evening Prayer, April 6 - “Locusts Here, There, Everywhere!” (Amos 7:1-6)
• Evening Prayer, April 13 - “Lion Alert!” (Amos 7:10-17)
• Palm/Passion Sunday, April 17 (8 & 10:30am) - The Triumphal Entry
• Maundy Thursday, April 21 (7 pm) - “The Taste Test” (Amos 8:11-14)
• Good Friday, April 22 (7 pm) - “Buried!” (Amos 9:1-6)
• Easter Vigil, April 23 (7 pm) - Remembering Our Baptism
• Easter Sunday, April 24, (7 & 10:30 am) - “Come to the Feast!” (Amos 9:11-15)

Hymns and Readings for Epiphany 8

Hymns
LSB 574
LSB 819
LSB 639, 523 during distribution
LSB 922

Readings
Isaiah 49:8-16a
1 Corinthians 4:1-13
Matthew 6:24-34

Worship: It's not merely about the pastor's preferences

From Pastor Weedon's blog...

A Conversation Today reminded me of a conversation held many years ago with another friend. He was opining that pastors really just gravitate to the sorts of services that they themselves prefer. They shape their congregations that way, he thought. I told him that I disagreed, and he was surprised. He assumed that the way we worship at St. Paul's was the way *I* preferred to worship. Actually, it is not. If I had my druthers, we'd swing incense every week and all the music would be like Rachmaninov's heavenly stuff and believe it or not - no organ.

But as I told him, I'd choose over my preferences to worship instead according to any of the orders in our hymnal with their sweet incense of the Gospel shining through in the words of our liturgy. It's a better choice to me to go with music I don't find nearly as appealing as Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil but which delivers the Gospel solidly to me than to ask Mary to save me, however sweetly it is sung.

You see, I follow the Liturgy of LSB not because it is my preference; it's not. I follow it because I know now matter how badly I may screw up in the sermon, the liturgy will still clearly deliver to the congregation the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. "For You alone are holy, You only are the Lord, Forever and forever be worshipped and adored!"

I can't trust my own preferences; I've found from experience I can trust the liturgies and hymns in our Hymnal to deliver the Gospel itself, the one thing needful.

Hymns and Readings for Epiphany 7

Hymns
401
834
821, 529 during Distribution
921

Readings
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
1 Corinthians 3:10-23
Matthew 5:38-48

Outstanding post on the purpose and use of music in worship

Click on the link below to read it at Jim Pierce's blog.

Confessional's Bytes: Worship Wars—Is Music Neutral?

Greek Tuesday with RevFisk...

...is quickly becoming part of my weekly sermon prep. You ought to watch and listen, too. Check out all his videos at his channel on YouTube.

If you ordered the leather edition of The Lutheran Study Bible...

...you didn't get the cool prayers and devotions that were included in the inside of the cover. Those were only available in the hardback edition. However, the other day I was poking around on the CPH website and ran into a file to download which contains those same prayers and devotions. Print it off in booklet format and you have a handy little insert to place in your leatherbound TLSB. Click or on the link below to download the file.

http://www.cph.org/images/topics/pdf/tlsb/devotions_prayers.pdf

Regarding saying "Amen"

I've been trying to get our folks to say their "Amens" a bit more loudly. Not Pentecostal loudly. Just firm, believing, assured-that-our-prayers-have-been-heard-and-that-what-the-pastor-just-said-is-true loudly ... after the Invocation, after the Collects, after the Pax Domini, after the dismissal from the Lord's Supper ("Depart in peace"), after the Benediction, et. al.

Here's what Luther had to say about firm Amens, courtesy of Scott Diekmann at Stand Firm.

Quoting from Luther's "A Simple Way to Pray (...for Master Peter the Barber)":

Finally, mark this, that you must always speak the Amen firmly. Never doubt that God in his mercy will surely hear you and say "yes" to your prayers. Never think that you are kneeling or standing alone, rather think that the whole of Christendom, all devout Christians, are standing there beside you and you are standing among them in a common, united petition which God cannot disdain. Do not leave your prayer without having said or thought, "Very well, God has heard my prayer; this I know as a certainty and a truth." That is what Amen means.

Closing hymn at Nashville Higher Things

Our group returned on Saturday from Nashville. We went to the Higher Things conference for high school youth held at Vanderbilt University, preceded by a few days of sightseeing in and around the city. I'll be posting some pictures and a summary of our trip soon. In the meantime, as I promised in church in Sunday, here's a video of the closing hymn at Friday's Divine Service. The whole service was breathtaking, and it was hard to keep a dry eye when you heard 1100 plus participants singing this.

Thinking about Dad

My dad died in 1996 after a ten year battle with cancer. I still think about him a lot.

I think about him when I’m shaving. Gillette Foamy is what he used, and that’s what I use. None of that frou-frou stuff for us. No aloe. No strawberry scent. Plain old Foamy. That smell is embedded in my olfactory memories. When I lather up, I can smell my dad.

I think about my dad every time I watch a baseball game. He passed his love of the game on to me. There was a long time after his death when I would automatically reach for the phone to call him whenever I saw a great play or saw an outstanding “web gem” on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. I don’t reach for the phone anymore. But I still recall our days when we used to watch the Angels and the Dodgers together.

I think about my dad every time I watch a Clint Eastwood western. There were some times when he and I would actually put on our cowboy hats and boots to watch a film together. Not in the theatre, mind you, but at home, where we could prop up our feet and pop open a cold beer.

I suppose I could go on and on telling you about the many occasions when I think about my dad. The most important memories I have of my father have to do with church.

I think of my dad when I put the hymn numbers up on the hymn board near the chancel. When my dad was an usher and an elder, that was one of his duties, and he would often take me along on a Saturday morning and have me help. Someone once asked me, “Pastor, why don’t you let someone else do that job?” I told them that I don’t mind doing it, because as I put those numbers up on the board I’m also reminiscing and giving thanks to God for my dad’s faithful example of humble, quiet service.

I think of my dad when we sing the Te Deum, when we sing hymns about the saints in heaven, and during the preface in the Divine Service: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven…” My dad didn’t have the greatest singing voice. But that didn’t stop him from loudly singing the liturgy and hymns. He didn’t think, as some men do, that singing was “unmanly.” Dad had his hymnal opened and sang boldly.

Dad also faithfully partook of our Lord’s body and blood in Holy Communion. I used to wonder where dad would go after we would return to our pews. Coming back from the altar, he always slipped out the side door of the church. We didn’t see him again until after the benediction. Only as I got a bit older did I learn that he had to get outside to satisfy his nicotine craving. He kicked that habit years later during his battle with cancer. But years of smoking had already taken its toll on his lungs, adding to his health issues.

Dad wasn’t perfect. Not because he smoked … but because he was a sinner. And he knew that himself. That’s why he also publicly confessed his sins with the rest of us in the Divine Service, acknowledging that he trusted in the shed blood of Jesus for his forgiveness and salvation.

Another Father’s Day has come and gone. To you dads, here’s a question for you: What kind of example are you setting for your children, in particular with your spiritual life and your involvement at church? Many faithful mothers have had to pick up the slack where their husbands have abdicated their responsibilities as the spiritual heads of their households. God bless those faithful women. But remember, men: the example of a father is of immeasurable importance in the spiritual life of a child. Your kids are watching you. Do they see you regularly in church? Do they see you participating? Do they see you volunteering your gifts and talents? Do they see you reading the Bible and praying at home?

That doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. There’s only one father who’s perfect, and that’s our Heavenly Father. He sent his only Son to live a perfect life in our place and to die for the sins of the world, including the sins of us sinful fathers. Repent, receive his forgiveness, rejoice in his grace, and rejuvenate your spiritual life by availing yourself of the opportunities to hear the Word of God and partake of the Lord’s Supper. Guided by the Holy Spirit, you can set the kind of example that will make a difference in the spiritual life of your children.

Defense of chanting from Hobbits

According to Pastor Weedon at his blog...

I'm convinced that no one ever offered a better insight into the Church's penchant for chanting than J. R. R. Tolkein in The Lord of the Rings, when the hobbits are in the house of Bombadil:

"The guests suddenly became aware that they were singing merrily, as if it was easier and more natural than talking."

Song is the native tongue of heaven; speaking is so of the earth.