THE LORD'S SERVICE TO US



These five homilies were orginally preached at the daily prayer

services at Concordia College, Seward, Nebraska on the week of

February 1-5, 1993. They were crafted with the intent of providing a

thematic exposition of the liturgy, the Divine Service, under "the

impact of the Gospel" (Elert). The aim of these homilies is aptly

stated by the following paragraph from the Introduction to Lutheran

Worship: "In Christian worship our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word

bestows what it says. Saying back to him what he has said to us in His

Word, we repeat what is most true and sure. Most true and sure is his

name, which he put upon us with the water of our Baptism. We are

his. This we acknowledge at the beginning of the Divine Service: "In

the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Where his name is,

there he is. Before him we acknowledge that we are sinners, and we

plead for forgiveness. His forgiveness is given us, and we, freed and

forgiven , acclaim him as our great and gracious God. The rhythm of

our worship is from him to us, and then from us back to him. He gives

his gifts, and together we receive and extol them. We build one

another up in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Finally his blessing

moves us out into our calling, where his gifts have their fruition"

(Lutheran Worship, p.6).



- John T. Pless

  Easter Monday 1993

  University Lutheran Chapel

  Minneapolis, MN





+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





THE LORD'S SERVICE TO US IN HIS NAME

Exodus 20:22-24 / Saint Matthew 28:16-20



In the Christian Year, Epiphany celebrates the glory of God made

manifest in the flesh of His Son. "The Word became flesh and dwelt

among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten

of the Father, full of grace and truth," writes St. John. The glory of

the Lord made manifest in tabernacle and temple now resides in the

Word made flesh. Where God puts His name, there is His glory.



By His name, God identifies Himself. God tells us who He is: Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit. With that name His blessing as He says to Moses:

"In every place where I record my name I will come to you, and I will

bless you" (Ex.20:24). We call it Divine Service, Gottesdienst, the

Lord's service to us. God carries the action of the verbs. He records

His name. He comes to us. He blesses us.



Our Lord said to the Samaritian woman, "You worship what you do not

know; we worship what we know" (St. John 4:22). The liturgy is not

directed to an unknown diety. We do not worship as agnostics, that is,

as those who are uncertain or unsure as to the identity and will of

our God. We call on the name of the Lord who has called us by His own

triune name in the waters of Holy Baptism. With water and word, He

etched His name - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - upon us for time and

eternity. In the Old Testament, the Temple was the place where God

caused His name to dwell. In holy Baptism, God made your body the

temple of His Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of His presence. In the

font, He consecrated you to the hallowing of His name. Remember the

First Petition of the Our Father in the Catechism:



	God's name is indeed holy in itself; but we pray in this

	petition that it may be holy among us also.



	How is this done? When the Word of God is taught in its truth

	and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead a holy

	life according to it.



The Lord's name tells us whose Service it is. It is the Lord's liturgy

and everything in the Service flows from the Lord's Name. Indeed as

the Psalmist said, "Our help is in the name of the Lord who made

heaven and earth." There is a great deal of anxiety about worship in

our churches today that appears to be fueled by a fear that people are

non-worshippers who must be transformed into worshipping

creatures. The Scriptures work with another assumption: Man is a

worshipping creature by nature. The problem is that he worships the

wrong god, an idol. In his commentary on the First Commandment in the

Large Catechism, Luther notes that, "There has never been a people so

wicked that it did not establish and maintain some sort of

worship. Everyone has set up a god of his own, to which he looked for

blessing, help, and comfort" (LC I:17). The problem is not that we do

not worship, but that we worship the wrong god.



The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is the

name from which all blessings flow. Faith receives all that He

gives. This indeed is the highest worship of God.





+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





THE LORD'S SERVICE TO US IN HIS WORD AND MINISTRY

Saint John 20:19-23 / II Timothy 4:1-5



We put vestments on our pastors so that we do not see the man but

Christ Jesus for it is in His stead and by His command that the pastor

speaks. Luther writes, "It matters not that dishes are made of

different materials-some silver, others of tin-or whether they are

enameled earthen dishes. The same food may be prepared in silver as in

dishes of tin. Venison, properly seasoned and prepared, tastes just as

good in a wooden dish as in one of silver. We must also make this

application to Baptism and absolution. This ought to be a comfort to

us. People, however, do not recognize the person of God but only stare

at the person of man. This is like a tired and hungry man who refused

to eat unless the food is served on a silver platter. Such is the

attitude that motivates the choice of many preachers today" (AE

22:529).



In this last decade of the 20th Century, Luther's words are perhaps

more urgent then they were at the time of the Reformation. It seems

that everyone has a notion of what the church needs in a pastor: An

entertainer who keeps the interest of the congregation alive. A

promoter of programs. A motivator for sanctified living. A kindly and

understanding counselor. You could, no doubt, add other job

descriptions to the list. But the Office of the Holy Ministry does not

belong to us but to the Lord. We look to the Lord who instituted the

Office. It was Easter evening and the disciples were huddled together

behind locked doors. The Risen Lord Jesus, their Good Shepherd, their

Pastor comes to them and He says what your pastor says to you, "Peace

be with you." The Lord showed them the nail holes in His hands and the

gash in His side. The disciples were glad, overjoyed to see the Lord.

Then, a second time, Jesus speaks the word of peace and with that word

of peace He sends them just as the Father had sent Him. The Lord

breathes on them His Holy Spirit giving them His on work to do: "If

you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the

sins of any, they are retained."



What the Lord Jesus set in motion on Easter Evening still happens

today in the liturgy, the Divine Service. The pastor is there for

nothing else so much as He is to speak the word that forgives sins and

in forgiving sins bestows peace and life in the blood of Christ

crucified. Pastor and congregation are reminded what the pastor is

there for in the words of absolution, as the pastor speaks not for

himself but for Christ: "I, as a called and ordained servant of the

Word, announce the grace of God to all of you, and in the stead and by

the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the

name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."



The pastor is there as servant of the Word and so he declares, "the

Lord be with you" and the Lord is with you-a fact you acknowledge by

saying, "and with your spirit." The pastor is there as servant of the

Word. In the Divine Service, you hear from a Prophet, Apostle, and

Evangelist in the Old Testament Reading, Epistle, and Holy

Gospel. Then, your pastor, in continuity with the prophets, apostles,

and evangelists proclaims into your ears the Word of Life. It is a

word of peace through the forgiveness of sins. The peace that Jesus

Christ established by the shedding of His blood on the cross is now

delivered into your ears and into your life. The pastor is there for

the delivery of that gift. "How beautiful upon the mountains" writes

Isaiah, "Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims

peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims

salvation, Who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"(Is. 52:7). The pastor

is there for the distribution of those gifts of peace in Jesus' words

and with His body and blood. The liturgy serves us well by keeping the

pastor at that work. Amen.





+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





THE LORD'S SERVICE TO US AS HE HEARS OUR PRAYERS

I Timothy 2:1-8



 "In peace let us pray to the Lord." Jesus said to His disciples in

that dark and doleful night of His betrayal, "Peace I leave with

you. My peace I give to you" (St. John 14:27). A few days later, on

Easter Sunday evening, this same Jesus fresh out of the grave bestows

the gift of peace on His disciples saying: "Peace be with you"

(St. John 20:19). Packed into Jesus' word of peace is everything that

He did for us by His dying and rising. Peace is the way things are

between God and man because of the "one Mediator between God and man,

the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all." Prayer is

not an activity which we engage in so that we might achieve peace with

God. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, making peace

by the blood of His cross. Peace with God won at Calvary and delivered

in the Gospel is the platform upon which our praying stands.



The words of St. Paul to Timothy find their fulfillment when the

pastor invites the congregation to pray saying, "Let us pray for the

whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to

their needs."  We call it the Prayer of the Church.



The Church of Jesus Christ is a praying Church. She has been tutored

by her Lord to call His Father "Our Father." The Church of Jesus

Christ is a praying church because she is first of all a listening

church. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his little book entitled Psalms: The

Prayerbook of the Bible notes "that it is the richness of the Word of

God and not the poverty of our own hearts that ought to determine our

prayers." Christian prayer does not rise out of silence of the human

heart. Prayer is not our vain grasping after a phantom god. Prayer is

faith learning how to talk to the Father. Even as "faith comes by

hearing and hearing by the word of God"(Romans 10:17) so prayer comes

from first hearing what the Lord has to say.



We may have confidence in our praying only as our prayers are glued to

the commands and promises of our God. Such confidence the church has

when she prays "for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for

all people according to their needs" for the Lord's Apostle exhorts

the church that "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of

thanks be made for all men, for kings and all in authority, that we

may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and

reverence. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our

Savior."



We call it the Prayer of the Church for here the Church with a single

mind and voice calls upon the name of the Lord. In this Prayer, the

Church speaks her mind, for united with Jesus Christ, she has the mind

of Christ. And Paul tells us what is on Christ's mind. It is His will,

His desire that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the

truth. In this Prayer, the Royal Priesthood has as its duty and

delight that priestly work of intercession and thanksgiving. Here we

do for others that which they will not or cannot do for themselves-we

pray for them.



Eugene Peterson writes, "Left to ourselves, we are never more selfish

than when we pray. With God as the Great Sympathizer, the Great Giver,

the Great Promiser we go to our knees and indulge every impulse for

gratification. But the Psalms that teach us to pray never leave us to

ourselves; they embed all our prayers in liturgy. Liturgy defends us

against the commonest diseases of prayer: The tyranny of our emotions,

the isolationism of our pride. Liturgy pulls our prayers out of the

tiresome business of looking after ourselves and into that

exhilarating enterprise of seeing and participating in what God is

doing.We are drawn into a large generosity where everyone is getting

and receiving, offering and praising" (Answering God, p.91-92). In the

Prayer of the Church we are exercising the Royal Priesthood, bringing

the hurts and pains, the joys and thanksgivings of our neighbor before

our Great High Priest Jesus Christ. In peace, let us pray to the

Lord. Amen.





+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





THE LORD'S SERVICE TO US AT HIS TABLE

Saint Luke 22:24-27 / I Corinthians 11:23-26



Martin Luther observes that the Christian should "go to the Lord's

Supper as though he were going to his death so that he may go to his

death as though he were going to the Lord's Supper." Note again the

words of the Apostle: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink

this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (I

Cor. 11:26). What transpires as the Lord feeds us with His body and

blood is no MacDonald's happy meal, no congenial spiritual cocktail

party, but an eating and drinking of death. The chalice that we lift

is indeed, as one writer has put it, "a toast of terrible joy." It is

the cup of the new testament in our Savior's blood. Body and blood

separate indicate a sacrifice has taken place. The sacrifice happened

once and forever at Calvary. With the body and the blood we are made

recipients of the sacrifice. It was for us-that sacrifice-and it is

given into our mouths. Hence we hear the words, "the body of Christ

given for you...the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of your

sins."



We acclaim the Lord who comes to us in His body and blood to be the

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The passover that

God instituted in Exodus 12 when He delivered His people from

Pharaoh's hellish Egypt had at its center a lamb roasted and consumed

by the people. Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished a new passover. He

is the Lamb basted with the juices of our sin roasted with the fire of

God's wrath. His blood spells our freedom from the Egypt of sin,

death, and hell for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all

sin. Where sin is done away with through forgiveness, death is

rendered impotent and hell is put out of business. The death of God's

Lamb is our life.



In the Holy Supper, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. You

proclaim that death by receiving the Lord's body and blood. "It is the

Lord's Supper, not the Christian's Supper," says Luther. Here Jesus is

host, chef, waiter, and entree and we are guests. The Lamb is among us

as the One who serves. Pious Peter thought it out of place for Jesus

to be the servant. He protested when the Lord came to wash his feet on

that Maundy Thursday evening: "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus

said to him, "If I do not wash your feet you have no part with Me." To

hold off from receiving the service that Jesus renders is hell. "There

is no way for Jesus to be your Lord unless He is first of all your

servant." You proclaim the Lord's death by allowing Him to feed you

with His body and blood. Faith is the only way to receive such divine

service.



Your reception of the Lord's Supper, His true body and blood, is your

confession before the universe of His saving death. This is the great

act of evangelism, for here at the altar you give testimony to the

fact that the Lamb of God was slaughtered for you and that He now

gives you the fruits of His death-His body and blood. It is a

confession before the universe for it is made not only in the presence

of those who might happen to be in the building but in the presence of

angels, archangels, and the whole company of heaven.



We are given the Lord's body to eat and His blood to drink "till He

comes," says the Apostle. By the Lord's Supper, He brings us on our

way to that glad feast of the Lamb with all His saints in heaven. We

are not there yet. The world is very much with us said the poet. And

we with the world. Temptations abound for like Peter we are tempted to

deny the Lord who bought us and we like Judas are tempted to betray

Him. We are tempted, like the other disciples, to flee into the

shadows, to run away from the cross. Till He comes again in open glory

and with great power, we need this Supper, this ration for our

journey, for it is the Lord's Supper. Luther said, "When you are

troubled and tormented by your sins do not go to Calvary, for at

Calvary sins were answered for, but come to the Lord's Supper for it

is here that the forgiveness won at Calvary is bestowed." And so we

pray:



	"Come Lord Jesus,

	 we'll be your guests

	 Let these gifts to us be blessed" Amen.





+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





THE LORD'S SERVICE TO US IN HIS BLESSING

Numbers 6:22-27 / Romans 12:1-2



"So they shall put My name on the children of Israel and I will bless

them" (Nu. 6:27).  The name of the Lord is the beginning and the end

of the Divine Service. We are now marked with the Lord's name in the

Benediction-that word of God's blessing in Numbers 6 in which He

favors us with His grace and peace. With the Lord's name given us in

Holy Baptism we are drawn together to worship Him in spirit and truth,

receiving His gifts in absolution, the Holy Scriptures, His proclaimed

Word, and the precious meal of His body and blood. Now with that same

name, He sends us back into the world, to the places of our various

callings to live by the mercies we have received as living sacrifices

to the praise of His glory and the good of the people whom God has

placed in our lives. The blessings of our Triune God do not as the

final Amen is uttered and the last hymn sung. These blessings of our

gracious God have their way with us, moving us from the nave to the

neighbor. As temples dedicated by the Lord's name we are made living

sacrifices, channels for God's service to the neighbor. This is "the

liturgy after the liturgy" to use the words of Carter Lindberg.



The Divine Service ends with the Benediction, but the worship of God

does not. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,

that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable

to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to

the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you

may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God"

(Rom. 12:1-2). We pray in the Post-Communion Collect that the Lord's

gifts would have free course in our lives as we give thanks to God for

the refreshment of the salutary gift of the Sacrament and implore Him

that He would strengthen us through that same gift in faith toward Him

and in fervent love toward one another.



The life that we have received from the High Priest and Liturgist of

our salvation, Jesus Christ may be summarized in those two words

"faith" and "love." Writing in his essay On the Freedom of a

Christian, Luther states "We conclude therefore, that a Christian

lives not in himself but in Christ and in his neighbor...He lives in

Christ through faith and in his neighbor through love" (AE

31:371). God serves us in His Word and Sacraments. In faith we embrace

His gifts with hymns of praise and acclamations of thanksgiving,

putting our Amen to His sure and certain promises.



Confident of the Father's promise to bless and keep us, sure of His

gracious presence in the face of His Son, and favored by the Holy

Spirit's gift of peace, we move back into the situations where God has

called us to live in faith and love. St. Paul puts it like this "Let

the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and

admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in

word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to

God the Father through Him"(Col. 3:16-17). Amen.