The Health of the Church has more than just religious significance

In 1945, Easter fell on April 1. Walking backwards through the Lenten calendar – Holy Week, Judica, Week, Laetare Week, Oculi Week, Reminiscere Week, and Invocavit Week – we see that Ash Wednesday of 1945 fell on February 14 – Valentine's Day.

At the end of World War II, in a series of raids on an essentially undefended city, targeting primarily civilians and cultural artifacts, British and American bombers dropped over 3,900 tonnes of explosives on Dresden, Germany, including many thousand incendiary and phosphorous bombs, with such precision and timing as to create swirling drafts of superheated air that would engulf the city in a literal firestorm, leaving it in a heap of ashes. The double symbolism of February 14, 1945, being both Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday is significant, and it is probably more than just a coincidence that the days surrounding this date were chosen for this attack.

American and British government figures, continuing to defend the Dresden firebombing and to minimize the casualties, place the number of dead at around 25,000 to 35,000. Critics of the raid, however, including survivors of the Dresden bombing, have maintained a number nearly ten times higher. The 1945 firebombing of Dresden remains controversial to this day. The following video tells the story from the perspective of those sympathetic to the cause of the civilian victims:


The Dresdner Altmarkt, the central city square of Dresden and focal point of cultural life, was also the center of the Allied attack. After the the War, being under Soviet occupation, most of the Altmarkt continued to lay in various states of disrepair, the most iconic pile of rubble being that of the Frauenkirche, which lay in a heap for half a century until after the fall of the Berlin Wall (pictured at the top-left of this page). Under funding from a private effort which collected donations from all over the world, rebuilding of the Frauenkirche finally began in 1993. We briefly blogged about the Frauenkirche in April of 2011.

Dresdner Requiem
I thought about this last night as I was listening to Rudolph Mauersberger's Dresdner Requiem. We haven't blogged about Mauersberger on Intrepid Lutherans before, though many recordings under his direction have been recommended on our pages. In 1930, the Kreutzkirche¹, which is located just a few blocks from the Altmarkt, appointed Rudolf Mauersberger as “Kreutzkantor” of the Dresdner Kreutzchor – a boys choir initially “founded as a Latin school at the 'capella sanctae crucis'”² over 700 years ago, which continues “the medieval tradition of liturgical singing by a boy's choir”³ even to this day, specializing in choral works of the sacred genre (and especially, it seems, of Lutheran composers).

Rudolph Mauersberger was in Dresden during the 1945 Ash Wednesday firebombing. “The destruction... gave rise to a strong creative impulse,”⁴ within him. Not really known as a composer, most of his creations follow from the destruction of Dresden, beginning with the piece he is probably most well-known for as a composer, Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst (the first piece of the four-part choral cycle, Dresden), which was performed with the surviving members of the Kreutzchor in the ruins of the Kreutzkirche that following August. His Dresdner Requiem was composed a couple years later, and revised through 1961.

Apart from the Latin introit, Requiem aeternum, the entire work consists of German texts taken from passages of the Old and New Testaments in Luther's translation, and from versus in the German Evangelical Hymn Book... The work is divided into the following sections:


Introitus
Kyrie
Transitoriness/Death/Dies irae and Comfort through the Gospel
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Conclusion

In its liturgical character it is, in the words of Mauersberger, an “Evangelical Mass for the dead, such as the Protestant Church does not yet possess.”⁵

Mauersberger's statement remains true. His compositions remain largely ignored and unknown. Yet, in my opinion, they make the distinct sound of the Church. They are a prime example of fine “Contemporary Worship.” Edifying artistic creations, in form and composition they properly display a prima facie catholicity, and call for wholesome and reverent execution. They are proper vessels for carrying the weighty and eternal truths of Holy Scripture. Here is an excerpt from Mauersberger's Dresden Requiem – the Agnus Dei:




Becoming One's Enemy
But as I listened to Mauersberger's Dresdner Requiem last night, I thought about more than just the firebombing of Dresden, the loss of innocent life and important cultural artifacts, and the music that such circumstances inspired. The Ash Wednesday firebombing of Dresden became a living representation of what happens when important distinctions between one and his enemy disappear – when he, by all appearances, becomes his enemy. By all accounts, the people of Dresden put their faith in the good-nature of America and Great Britain, “Christian nations” with a shared Western heritage that valued the cultural significance of Dresden, a relatively unimportant military target that by that late stage of World War II, no longer had any significant defense system. The Germans wouldn't trust Russia, of course, and the rest of the world wouldn't trust Germany, but America and Great Britain were recognized by the Germans as different from them – as distinct, separate from them. By all accounts, under the rules of the Geneva Convention, which both America and Great Britain were known to fastidiously observe and hold in high esteem, Dresden was a very unlikely target. Yet, by all accounts, Winston Churchill and military leaders working with him, betrayed what those characteristics called for. By all accounts, he repeatedly sought advice on how he could “roast and baste German civilians,” and operational orders for the Dresden raids laid out a plan that carefully explained how they would deliberately inflict maximum civilian casualties. In this way, in taking on the methods of his enemy, Churchill, became indistinguishable from his enemy, dragging the reputations of America and Great Britain into shame along with him. Adolph Hitler was known to be active implementing his “Final Solution”, a wanton extermination of Jewish people – a “megalomaniacal anti-semite.” Churchill, showing himself in this incident to be a “megalomaniacal germano-phobe,” made himself indistinguishable from his hated enemy. And with him, Great Britain and America.

So who is the enemy of the Christian? Of the Church on Earth? I have been taught that the Christian's Great Enemies are three: the Sinful Flesh, the Devil, and the World. The Christian, along with the Church, is called to separate himself and remain distinct from all three. But what happens when a Christian unites himself with Worldliness? What happens when the Church “becomes the culture?” We, at Intrepid Lutherans, addressed this question over three years ago, in a blog post entitled, Law and Gospel: What do they teach? -- Part 3.2, What Happened to the Events of the Gospel? (When the Church "Becomes the Culture"), from which the following lengthy quotes are excerpted:

It was stated above, that the Church “has struggled mightily and in various ways against the withering onslaught of man's great enemy – the World – yet has been forced into retreat.” Following this, a litany of false teaching, in which some truth and great struggle is evident, was produced to show how the Church has conducted its struggle: from within the context of having “become the culture.” In point of fact, the recent history of the Christian Church is littered with the theological ruins of Christian movements which have, in a flailing desperation for the “survival of the church,” become the culture, either not realizing, forgetting or rejecting the fact that the World is one of the Christian's Great Enemies. In the modern West, doing so has meant adopting one of two perspectives: that of rationalistic Empiricism or of mystical Existentialism. In reality, neither perspective is acceptable; both place mankind at the center of truth, and argue their way to God and for man's relationship with Him from (a) the intellectual (objective), or (b) experiential (subjective) attributes of man's existence – the historical record of God's Special Revelation of Himself to mankind no longer being relevant for this purpose, by the World's standards.

In response, one option has been the route taken by American Christian Fundamentalism. Recognizing that the church was “becoming the culture” by absorbing or importing its false ideas and anthropocentric priorities, and concerned that the Bible's teaching would be lost as a result, Fundamentalism began developing among Presbyterian theologians at Princeton in the late 19^th Century; and into the early 20^th Century its influence spread to include Baptists and other Christians. In an attempt to articulate and draw attention to the doctrines of Christianity which were under attack by liberal theology, and to secure continued adherence to Biblical teaching among Christians, a public confession to the “fundamentals of the faith” was secured by those desiring to stand on these teachings and be identified with the fundamentalist movement. Those fundamentals were:


1. Biblical Inerrancy,
2. the Virgin Birth
3. the Vicarious Atonement and bodily Resurrection of Christ, and
4. the authenticity of the miracles recorded in Scripture.

Because of the stark contrast between these “fundamentals” and the liberal consensus in greater Christianity, Christian Fundamentalists in America also began to take on a “separatist” platform over time, which called for not only theological, but, increasingly, social separation from those outside the fundamentalist movement, including separation from non-Christians in society...

As a result of sequestering themselves from society in this way, Fundamentalists almost entirely lost their influence among liberal theologians – their separatism being cause for suspicion among liberals on the one hand, while causing a growing ignorance among Fundamentalists regarding relevant categories of thought and modes of expression on the other. Yet, their Christian piety was still a highly potent witness in society. Nevertheless, by the late 1930's, discontent with separatism had grown sufficiently among Fundamentalists that a counter-movement began to develop from within it: Evangelicalism. This movement initially stressed a healthy involvement in the World – in the context of evangelism and ecumenical dialog. By the close of the 1950's, however, it was clear that Evangelicals had begun to absorb Worldly perspectives from the liberal Christians they had, in evangelical zeal, endeavored to associate with, Dan Fuller and other leading elements of the Evangelical Movement at Fuller Theological Seminary having introduced neo-orthodox controversies over the inerrancy of the Scriptures (the institution eventually rejected inerrancy in the early 1970’s), while that institution had begun to develop philosophies and techniques for evangelism that were engineered to bring about mass conversion – which was the basis of today's “Church Growth Movement” (see our blog post dedicated to this topic, as well, The Church Growth Movement: A brief synopsis of its history and influences in American Christianity. See also various articles on Intrepid Lutherans dedicated to the topic of The Church Growth Movement). Once again, the Church in America set itself on the road of “becoming the Culture,” eventually insisting that, for the survival of Christianity, the church must become the culture.

That the Church must “become the culture” is a lie. That it has increasingly “become the culture” is the manifest reason Western Christianity has slowly disintegrated over the past three centuries. Taking on the culture of the World has produced a vacillating imbalance between emphasis on intellect and emotion in the Church, between reason and experience, objectivity and subjectivity – and not just an imbalance, but a thrashing between these emphases that has drawn the attention of the Church away from the saving events and message of the Gospel, away from the centrality of Christ, and instead upon man and the dual fundamental characteristics of his existence. No, Christianity must not “become the culture” any more than it should it cut itself off from society. No, the Church must not abdicate in the face of its great enemy, the World, either by joining it or by running from it. Rather, as an historical institution, with an historical and saving message, it must stand and face the World on the basis of its confession, it must earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 3), by (a) holding on to the specific and historic truths of Scripture in its doctrine, and (b) defending and proclaiming this truth in its practice.

It has been said that a good summary of Christianity and its influence in Western Civilization can be stated simply:

“In the 18^th Century, the Bible died, in the 19^th Century, God died; and in the 20^th Century, man died.”

This is really just the recent history of secular Natural Law, from the Enlightenment to our current, post-Modern era. We detailed this progress a little more fully on Intrepid Lutherans, as well, in a blog post entitled, Law and Gospel: What do they teach? -- Part 2, The Teaching of the Law, as follows:

Though acknowledging natural law, Enlightenment philosophers and scientists did so primarily as an enemy of the Church, in an attempt to sweep away any need for, or recognition of, Special Revelation and the divine law it contains. Enlightenment “Natural Theology” represented the notion that all there is to be known of God can be determined from a study of nature. A recognition of God and His law in the created order, while rejecting specific knowledge of Him or of His will from Special Revelation, is the foundation of modernistic deism. Following from this foundation, very sophisticated and intellectually honest attempts to systematize nature produced clear evidence of design and of a nameless “Intelligent Designer” that was admitted with little question.

Yet, the discoveries of science did not yield a tranquility and peaceful harmony as, perhaps, some may have thought that neutering revealed religion, by depriving it of Special Revelation and of a voice in society on that basis, would achieve. Instead, the same observations of the primitives manifested themselves: natural systems are inherently corrupt, they deteriorate and decay; cells, like animals, attack and devour one another; there is struggle, exploitation, and miserable death at every level of nature; over time, entropy is the dominant reality of the universe. Escaping the moral consequences of such observations, it seems, by the end of the 19th Century, even the deity was eliminated from natural law (some of the final blows being struck by the philosophical contributions of Immanuel Kant), making “natural law” entirely anthropocentric.

The philosophy of Materialistic Rationalism, with which Western man was equipped as he entered the 20^th Century, was a very optimistic philosophy – the pinnacle of Modernistic thought. Declaring the future equivalent to progress, and limiting reality to the scientifically observable, it confidently identified man's capacity for scientific achievement as the source of that progress, and with this as foundation for the ordering of society, held high-expectations for cultural advancement. Yet, the 20^th Century is on record as the bloodiest in history. Indeed, it took less than two decades for serious doubt to develop, as the destruction and human suffering of World War I simply galvanized the sensibilities of modern Westerners. Man was indeed powerful, yet demonstrated that he was not powerful enough to restrain his own inbred evil. The horrors of World War II sealed the fate of Modernism, and the West has increasingly advanced beyond it, into post-Modernism – an essentially experiential philosophy questioning the adequacy of formal language as a vessel sufficient to carry the message of Truth, which is thus utterly dismissive of objective truth-claims and ambivalent toward the future.

The caption under the image at the head of this post reads, “The state of the Church on Earth, today.” And in my opinion, this is an accurate picture. It is nearly everywhere in utter ruin. Though the message of the Gospel continues to stand on its own, it by definition stands as a remedy for man's sinfulness and the certainty of his eternal separation from God apart from the promises offered through it. Post-Modernism rejects certainty. It is ambivalent toward the future. And most of the Church has united itself with the thought patterns and priorities of post-Modernism. Neither certainty nor the future can be experienced in the present. The only message that can be known with any certainty by a post-Modernist is one that can be verified by experience. And the one experience with any genuine religious significance that seems to endure is fundamental to the message of the Law, a message which is increasingly rare in Lutheran circles and misused nearly everywhere else: a realization that the world is full of evil, that people act selfishly and often with evil intentions toward others – they are not “basically good,” they are “basically bad,” and the smart person today acts in ways that will preserve himself from the thoughtlessness of others, and will place him in a position of advantage should he need to defend himself. This is a world set against itself, individual by individual. It is a world absent the wholesome cultural impact of Christian teaching, which, for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, impels the Christian to daily put down the old man, to restrain the evil that inheres and to put the welfare of others before his own, and which, by Christian example, inspires others to do the same. If the image of Luther, still pointing to the Word, but standing alone in a pile of rubble that used to be one of the most awe inspiring churches on the planet, is representative of the state of the Church today, then the ashen landscape of Dresden is a suitable representation of the World without the influence of a healthy, robust Christianity. The evidence is all around us.



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Endnotes:

1. It is worth noting that the Kreutzkirche has not been an insignificant church in Saxony. Through the end of the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy, the rise and fall of Lutheran Pietism, to the birth of the Enlightenment in Germany, the Kreutzkirche served as the seat of the Saxon Bishop, which (as we read in our post, Music for the Twelve Days of Christmas, Part 3: Johann Sebastian Bach), was held by the “last of the Lutheran theologians from the Lutheran Age of Orthodoxy, and vigorous opponent of Pietism, Valentin Ernst Löscher (1673 – 1749).” Among many other things, from his post at the Kreutzkirche, he oversaw the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche as one of the wonders of church architecture for which it is recognized today. “A large Gothic structure since the Middle Ages” (as we read in our post, Music for Holy Week, Part 2 – excerpts from Markus Passion), by 1722 the Frauenkirche “had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it needed to be demolished and rebuilt. The rebuilding began in 1726...” Even as society was sinking into Enlightenment thinking, and the church was dying all around him, Löscher, a champion of Lutheran orthodoxy to the last, spared no expense overseeing the construction of a Masterpiece of Christian Architecture, that has remained a symbol of the Gospel beloved by all who see it.
2. Direct quote taken from the liner notes of the following album: Dresdner Requiem, by Rudolph Mauersberger
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.

A Sermon for Ash Wednesday: “The Reason for Christ's Passion” — Dr. Adolph Hoenecke

On Wednesdays through the Lenten Season this year (2013), we will be publishing sermons from Dr. Adolph Hoenecke (1835-1908), who is among the most important theologians of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), and from Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann (1883-1965), a prolific author, educator, historian and theologian of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (LCMS) and among the more significant figures of 20^th Century American Lutheranism.

Today is Ash Wednesday, 2013 – the inaugural day of the Season in the Church Calendar called Lent. We will be hearing from Dr. Adolph Hoeecke (WELS) on The Reason for Christ's Passion. For the reader who is unfamiliar with the term “Lent,” or who is not sure what it means, the image at left contains a brief explanation of its meaning for Christians (taken from our blog post, Confessional Lutheran Evangelism: Confessing Scripture's Message about Lent). For those who may be under the influence of false witnesses claiming that Lent is somehow borrowed from pre-Christian paganism, Rev. Joseph Abrahamson (ELS) does an excellent job dispatching such lies in his essay, Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Ash Wednesday and Lent. For those unfamiliar with the term “Passion” in application to the Season of Lent or to Christ's atoning work on the Cross, read on. Dr. Hoenecke will explain.

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A Sermon for Ash Wednesday

The Reason for Christ's Passion
by Dr. Adolf Hoenecke¹

Text: Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. (John 12:27-30)

We are again approaching the season in which the farmer goes out to the field to sow his wheat. If he is wise, he will select the best, most nearly perfect seed-grains for planting. He does not regret that he has to scatter the best kernels into the ground. He knows, of course, that all the fine, golden kernels will first die and decay in the ground, but he knows, too, that out of the dying and decaying kernels of wheat new stalks will sprout and produce in each ear many kernels in return for every one that was sown. Truly, “except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). That was said by the Master Sower. Naturally, he had no intention of restating the truth regarding the physical kernel of wheat which is already well-known to all earthly tillers of the soil. Rather, with this universally known truth about a physical matter He was pointing to Himself. He was pointing to the day when He Himself, as the noble Seed, would be planted in the ground to die, in order to bring forth precious and abundant fruit for all mankind. This day is also approaching, the day of the Passion. We have already entered the time which is to prepare us for it, the Passion Season.

What purpose is this time to serve? Simply the purpose of viewing Jesus’ Passion in the right light, of understanding it, and of learning to understand it better and better: its causes, His manner of bearing it, its nature, its purpose, its results and fruits. For the man who has not come to a knowledge of these most important points does not understand Jesus’ Passion, nor can he rejoice in the comfort which these sufferings are to afford him. Let us, therefore, in this first Passion sermon take the first step toward such a better understanding. Let us, under the guidance of our text, devoutly weigh the reason for Christ’s sufferings. Our theme is:

UNDERSTANDING THE REASON FOR CHRIST’S PASSION AFFORDS GREAT COMFORT

1. Let us use our text to give us the understanding of the reason for Christ’s Passion.
   
2. Let us consider what great comfort this knowledge affords us.
   

I.
Let us use our text to give us the understanding of the reason for Christ’s Passion. “Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this” (John 12:7). In this way the Lord rebuked Judas when Mary had anointed Him. That was during His last visit in Bethany, in the home of Lazarus, which was most dear to Him. A heart overflowing with grateful love impelled Mary to pour the costly spikenard over Jesus’ feet. Only a short time before, the blessed Lord had conferred the inexpressibly great boon on her and her sister, Martha, of calling their brother Lazarus back from the dead. Certainly, this anointing of the Lord was a beautiful act of love. We can imagine the great satisfaction Mary found in being able to pay her Lord this homage. We can conceive, too, how deeply alarmed she was when the beloved Lord made the declaration: “You have kept this against the day of my burying. You have had this costly nard in readiness for a long time. Now the time to use it has come – my burial is near.” And deeply alarmed were the others with her. Far, far from their minds were thoughts of the Lord’s death! But the Lord’s mind? It was filled completely with thoughts of His death, and from this time forward nothing dislodged them.

But though it was a beautiful homage Mary paid her Lord when she anointed Him with precious ointment, the next day brought a still greater homage. It was the Day of Palms, the day on which the Lord entered the city of Jerusalem to the people’s shouts of “Hosannah!” It was also the day that brought the fury of the Pharisees to a boil, as they were forced to admit: “Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19). It was the day on which certain festival guests, come from far, approached Philip and said: “Sir, we would see Jesus.” It was on this day that the thoughts of death, His own death, filled the mind of the Lord anew, thoughts which He expressed in the words: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:20-24).

And it was a hard death, a death mid great agonies, for which the Lord had to brace Himself. The very thought of it was able to fill the strong soul of Jesus with such sorrow that it brought from His lips the anguished sigh, yea, the anguished sigh of prayer: “Now is my soul troubled.” For these first words of our text are words of prayer.

Now, when we hear our dear Lord proclaiming His thoughts of death only during this period of six days before the Passover, it must be clear to us that they did not, by any means, arise in Him only during these days. True, the Saviour had taken good note of the fact that the resurrection of Lazarus, which He had recently performed, had goaded His enemies into decreeing His death. He had recognized very well that His triumphal entry to the shouts of Hosannah and the jubilation of the multitude had raised the hatred and the fury of the elders among the people to the highest pitch. But it was not these facts, by any chance, that led the Lord to conclude: “Now the end is not far off; I see that my death is near and certain to come.” Not at all! The Lord prayed: “And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.” Whenever an hour is spoken of in this way, then such a time is meant as has been determined and ordained by the Father in His eternal counsel, and whatever such an hour brings with it is something predetermined by the Father; whatever such an hour imposes is something imposed by the Father.

Therefore our Lord’s words of prayer, first of all, tell us this about His sufferings: They were ordained by God; they were sufferings that God laid upon the Son in accord with His eternal counsel. All of the sufferings, every one of them, the sufferings in their whole extent and down to their smallest, finest detail – all were ordained by the Father for the Son. None of those things which Jesus suffered just happened, but the whole Passion was the very Passion which the Father had meted out to the Son. Not only the supreme suffering, the being-forsaken-by-God, the torments of hell, made up the measure of Jesus’ sufferings ordained and determined by God the Father.

It was not accidental, by any chance, that they mocked Jesus: “Prophesy unto us! Surely, a great prophet such as you ought to know everything?” (Matt. 26:28, para.) It was not accidental, by any chance, that they laid the purple robe on Him and thus clothed Him in mock pomp, as though He had sought vain pomp. It was not accidental that they pressed the crown of thorns upon His head and put a sceptre in His hand and thus made a mockery of Him, the Lord, for His supposed striving after high position, for His supposed ambition to be a lord over his fellows. All these things were bitter drops which, by sure design, had been made a part of the cup of Jesus’ sufferings. They did not drop into the cup by accident. No, they, too, had been prepared by God and, even as all the others, had been ordained as the measure of Jesus’ sufferings. Christian friends, on this very fact hinges much more of the teaching meant for our comfort than you usually suppose.

But what purpose did our heavenly Father have in mind when He, even from eternity, ordained for His beloved Son the severe sufferings which the Lord was now approaching? The next words of Jesus’ prayer solve that question for us. They are: “But for this cause came I under this hour.” Our Saviour does not at once add an explanation of His “for this cause.” But what thoughts busied His heart becomes evident to us from the petition He uttered, rather, the demand He made upon His heavenly Father at the close of His prayer. This was the request, yea, the demand He made upon His Father in prayer: “Father, glorify thy name.”

Fellow Christians, these words tell us, the children of the heavenly Father, in fact, tell all the world, the reason why God the Father in His eternal counsel meted out to His beloved Son this unspeakable great measure of sufferings, the very prospect of which was enough to make the soul of our dear Lord sorrowful, sorrowful unto death, as we are told in connection with His agonizing prayer in Gethsemane. To glorify Himself – that was the Father’s purpose in this. He wanted to display His glory through this. In this way He wanted to lead men to recognize and understand what a glorious and adorable God He is.

Let us say more: Exactly in this, and in this above all, His glory was to shine forth. Note that our text so teaches. Upon the Son’s prayer: “Father, glorify Thy name,” there resounded a wonderful Amen, a Father’s Amen. “Then,” we read in our text, “came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The praying Son received this answer from the Father in heaven: I have already glorified My name; I have already made My name glorious.

Surely, we know the ineffable, grace-revealing way in which the Father in heaven had already glorified His name up to the time that the beloved Son addressed this prayer to Him. He had done that through this very Son. Had He not caused His Son to become man, and had He not sent Him to men as their Comfort and Refuge, as their Helper and Redeemer? For whom did He do that? For men who in all justice had deserved only the curse and damnation. Moreover, God sent His Son into the world as a Saviour who was all loving-kindness, from whose lips flowed nothing but grace. He had given Him a message to proclaim that was pure comfort. He had given to Him a greeting to sinners that conveyed a heart-warming and heart-winning friendliness, and so we behold the Son lovingly seeking out and wooing sinners. Again, there are the many, many miracles He had granted the Son to perform.

In short, He had sent His Son as a Saviour whom all poor sinners simply had to love. Who, then, will deny that the Father even through the sending of this Son had glorified His name immeasurably? Whoever gazes upon this friendly, gracious Saviour and then realizes: He is the One sent by God as the Comfort, Refuge, and Help of all damnable sinners – surely, he is constrained to say: Glorious, glorious beyond compare is the heavenly Father; glorious is our great God as seen in the love which He accorded a damnable world by the sending of His Son!

But, God says in today’s text, all this is not enough for Me that I have made My name glorious so that I am revealed as “Love.” I will make it still more glorious in My beloved, obedient Son, whose will it is to do My will. It is not enough for me that My love is glorified by having My beloved Son become man, bring a loving message to men, impart tender comfort to them, and help them with great miracles. No! Now My work and counsel will receive its crown as I deliver My dear Son into the greatest sufferings for the sinners’ sake. Verily, I will show how great and supremely glorious My love is by giving my Son to die in the place of all sinners.

What a comforting revelation concerning Jesus’ Passion we have here! By letting His own Son suffer damnation out of compassionate love for damnable sinners, God the Father wanted to give the greatest proof that He is a glorious God. Assuredly, that is a comforting revelation. It can be of great comfort to you.


II.
Let us now consider the great comfort this knowledge of the reason for Jesus’ Passion affords us. This comfort is so great that surely none are to be pitied more than the people who lack this knowledge. And, alas, there are very many of them. Many act like the people in our text. When the voice from heaven came, “I have both glorified it arid will glorify it again,” the people that stood by said: “It thundered.” They heard a sound, but they did not distinguish the words; as a result they remained in complete ignorance in regard to it. And that, sad to say, is the reaction of many to the Word that the heavenly Father speaks regarding the sufferings of Jesus Christ. It remains an empty sound, stopping at the ear; it endows them with no insight. In fact, they do not desire any. They are simply indifferent.

The people of our text were just like that. They saw Jesus standing before them, and they very likely were able to tell from His whole conduct and conversation that something out of the ordinary was taking place; but when they heard the sound, they supposed it was thundering. They were quite satisfied with that conjecture, nor did they investigate whether it might possibly be something else. That is true of the mass of indifferent hearers today. They, indeed, hear the sound of the mystery of Jesus’ sufferings, but they are not at all concerned about penetrating into this mystery.

But all the people in our story were not like that. We are told that the rest said: “An angel spake to him.” These people realized to a certain extent the meaning of the sight Christ presented to their eyes. They saw that He was troubled. They saw that He was praying. They thought, when they heard the voice, that it was an angel who, upon God’s commission, was comforting Jesus, an unfortunate man with a great grief. So these people did form their opinions concerning Jesus, but their opinions were wrong. They, too, lacked the right knowledge.

What was true of them is still true of not a few. They always look at Christ merely as though He were like any other man overtaken by suffering and misfortune, who is, therefore, making a claim on the pity and sympathy of men. When they have permitted such pity and sympathy to be stirred by the sufferings of Jesus, when their hearts are deeply moved by them, then they think that theirs was a Passion meditation which is richly blessed. Since these people have no true knowledge of the reason why the Saviour really entered His sufferings, since they see nothing of the glory of God which is revealed particularly in these sufferings, they also find no comfort. God is not at fault here.

For it is God’s heartfelt desire that all come to a true knowledge of the true reason for Jesus’ sufferings, for the very purpose that they might receive the rich comfort which this knowledge imparts. How earnestly God desires this our Saviour also teaches in our text. He says: “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.” Thus the Lord spoke to the people who stood by, to those who were talking only about thunder, and to those who thought only of an angel. For your sakes the Father spoke from heaven, saying that through My suffering He would show and manifest to you what a glorious God He is in His love and compassion. For your sakes, so that the true knowledge of My suffering might dawn on you. For your sakes – with that the Saviour at once also cut away every excuse for those who do not gain a true and comforting knowledge of Jesus’ sufferings.

For your sakes, not for mine – in this we hear again a declaration of the great love God has for a sinful world, a love at which we cannot marvel enough. Consider it as pictured by our text. Here was the Saviour, the beloved Son, in whom the Father found nothing but pleasure. The soul of that Son was sorrowful. The prospect of the dread sufferings which He was approaching weighed down His soul with a mountainous burden of fear and terrors. And now, when He pleaded with the Father, the Father spoke from heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

One might think that the Son is here speaking chiefly for the sake of His Son, to strengthen Him, to let Him taste His love. But the Son Himself, whose lips spoke nothing but the truth, assures us: Not for my sake, but for your sakes the Father has spoken; not in Fatherly concern for Me, but in Fatherly concern for you and in His good intentions toward you, in order to help you. Tell me, does not the Father’s love for us sinners once again shine forth here in the most comforting way? But since God is so deeply concerned that sinners come to a true knowledge of the cause of His Son’s sufferings, then we may draw the sure conclusion that the comfort of this knowledge must be very great indeed.

That certainly is the case, dear friends in Christ. “Now is my soul troubled,” says the Lord in our text. To us, too, there comes a time when we say: My soul is troubled. This is the time when, not some earthly sorrow or grief, but divine sorrow takes possession of our soul. It is the genuine, deep sorrow and grief which God awakens in our soul. It is the sorrow that cuts deep into our hearts in an entirely different way than the sorrow over temporal misfortune, over earthly losses, the losses of wealth and goods, the losses by death of persons dear to us. It is the sorrow and grief which God works in the heart through His holy Law, the sorrow which always comes over the soul when a man realizes that he is completely guilty before God’s Law; that he has kept none of it; that he is utterly unworthy and damnable; and that he most certainly can expect nothing but the judgment, damnation, eternal rejection. It is the sorrow that causes the sinner to say:

Ah, whither shall I flee?
What shall my refuge be
When sins I cannot number
My conscience sore encumber?
Though all men aid would lend me,
Still anguish would attend me.
(Tr. a W. H. F.)

The fact that we must ever and again feel this sorrow and be deeply troubled and sorely distressed also testifies – mark it well – to the glory and majesty and greatness of God. Surely, God is very great and wonderfully sublime in view of this fact that no flesh can have any peace before Him; that when God lays hold of the soul with His Law, then men must tremble in terror, must live in fear and anguish, and no man can have peace of soul, nor can any conscience remain at ease!

But, God now says, the glory that shows itself in My holy Commandments, My Law, is not to be My greatest glory. No, you sinners, you are to see My greatest glory in this that I have Jesus suffer all the punishment for you. It is My will to be glorious in your eyes; it is My will that you praise My glory, but it is to be the glory of My great compassion, the compassion which decreed that Jesus, My beloved Son, suffer in your stead. Thus God, so to speak, gives us two pictures of His glory. The one, in the Law, portrays Him in His inexorable holiness; the other portrays His infinite compassion by the sacrifice of His Son. And it is in this beautiful picture of God, as the One who has compassion on us, that God wants to give us the true and final view of Himself. In this picture He wants us really to see and know Him. At all times we are to cling to this truth: God seeks His highest honor, the most precious praise, and the greatest glory among us as the One who in compassion offered up His Son for us.

What a rich comfort this is! As often as your soul is troubled because of sin, and you behold God as the holy, righteous God with terror in your soul, you are to say: Get thee hence, thou terrifying image of God! It is the dearest wish of my God that I view Him, above all, in this comforting picture as the One who in compassion had Jesus suffer for me. Can sorrow hold its ground here? Oh no, it must take flight. – My soul is troubled. Thus we speak at the thought of death, even as in death itself. Oh, we have to admit that we have deserved death. And God would be giving us our just deserts. Truly, great is the glory and majesty of a God who could make all flesh suffer an agonizing death and eternal perdition because of sin. But now God reveals that His greatest glory is not to be this, that He lets all the world experience well-deserved death, but that He lets His Son taste death for all the world, so that the world might be saved by Him and live. Therefore it is the will of God that there appear before our eyes in death only one picture, the picture that portrays Him as the God who in compassion redeems us from death through Jesus’ death, who leads us into life through Jesus’ death, and who most assuredly has no pleasure in our death, but would have us live.

What a comfort that this picture of God is to accompany us through death! Then a man can die serenely. Who can feel terror, now that God appears in this lovely, winsome light; now that it is His will that no terrifying picture of Himself, but only a friendly one is to hover before our eyes in our last hour? Here fear and anguish must give way. The soul takes its departure with a foretaste of the eternal seeing of God. This is a certainty. Then let us apply all diligence that we may gain a true understanding of Jesus’ Passion and thus have this comforting picture of God ever before our eyes.

AMEN.

---

Endnotes:

1. Hoenecke, A. (1957). Glorified in His Passion (W. Franzmann, Trans.) Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House. (Original work published in German, 1910.). pp. 1-14.
   
   Note: Dr. Adolf Hoenecke (1835-1908) is among the most important theologians of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). He, along with Johannes Bading (d. 1913), led the WELS out of pietistic indifferentism and unionism into strong confessional Lutheranism, was one of the founders of the the old Synodical Conference, and is credited with being the first German Lutheran to author a complete Lutheran Dogmatics in America – Evangelical Lutheran Dogmatics – recently translated into English and available from Northwestern Publishing House. For more information about Dr. Hoenecke, a fairly detailed biography written by Professor August Pieper in 1935, can be found at the following link: The Significance of Dr. Adolf Hoenecke for the Wisconsin Synod and American Lutheranism

 

Shrove Tuesday

A Brief History of “Shrove Tuesday”

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the last day of what was once called “Shrovetide,” originally a three-day period before the beginning of Lent. Eventually, the previous Thursday through Saturday was added to make a full week.

The word “shrove,” is from the Anglo-Saxon “to write down,” or “prescribe,” as in to prescribe a particular penance after confession. Shrovetide itself is the English equivalent of what became known in the greater part of Southern Europe, and eventually the Americas, as the “Carnival.” Strangely enough, this word, in spite of wild activities to the contrary, is derived from the Latin term for “taking away of the flesh" (carneum levare). The original idea was that during the week immediately before Lent everyone would go to his priest and confess his sins, and the priest would in turn prescribe or “shrive” what he needs to do in the way of penance during the upcoming Lenten season. Most of the time this meant depriving, or “taking away” some pleasure of the flesh.

Human nature being what it is, it is understandable that prior to a long period of going without a fleshly enjoyment of some kind, people allow themselves somewhat exceptional freedom in the way of festivity. Thus, this period has come to be known for great excesses in sin and vice of all kinds. In France and Latin countries it is called “Mardi gras” and in Germany “fetter Dienstag.”

The English custom of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday came from the need of using up all eggs and fat or oil, which were originally prohibited in the Christian’s diet during the forty days of Lent. This also partially accounts for the association of eggs with the Resurrection festival at the end of Lent.

Although the observance of Shrovetide in England never ran to the wild excesses which often mark this period in southern countries today, still various sports and games were common in almost all parts of the country. In the homes of the rich and powerful it was customary to celebrate the evening of Shrove Tuesday by the performance of plays, or to hold masquerade balls. And we learn from contemporary writers that the day was almost everywhere observed as a holiday, and many kinds of pranks and foolishness were tolerated or winked at in the schools and colleges.

Today, Shrove Tuesday has all but disappeared from Christian practice, while at the same time, sad to say, the wild mutation of Carnival has taken hold and indeed run amok. If I might make a small suggestion: The observance of Shrove Tuesday with a pancake supper and an evening devotion (for your convenience a version of the Office of Compline is copied below) would be a small way of paying homage to our Christian forbearers and setting our sights properly on the coming remembrance of the Passion of our Lord.

Here, let it be clearly understood that I do not intend to suggest the Roman practice of "penance," but rather the Biblical and God-pleasing practice as outlined briefly in the Augsburg Confession:

Article XI: Of Confession.

Of Confession they teach that Private Absolution ought to be retained in the churches, although in confession an enumeration of all sins is not necessary. For it is impossible according to the Psalm: Who can understand his errors? Ps. 19:12.

Article XII: Of Repentance (Penance).

Of Repentance they teach that for those who have fallen after Baptism there is remission of sins whenever they are converted and that the Church ought to impart absolution to those thus returning to repentance. Now, repentance consists properly of these two parts: One is contrition, that is, terrors smiting the conscience through the knowledge of sin; the other is faith, which is born of the Gospel, or of absolution, and believes that for Christ's sake, sins are forgiven, comforts the conscience, and delivers it from terrors. Then good works are bound to follow, which are the fruits of repentance.

Blessings and Peace!

Pastor Spencer


The Office at Compline

Blessing
L: The LORD Almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.
P: Amen.

Lesson (First Peter 5:8)
L: Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Response
L: But You, O LORD, have mercy upon us.
P: Thanks be to God.
L: Our help is in the name of the LORD.
P: Who made heaven and earth.

Confession
ALL: I confess to God Almighty, before the whole company of heaven, and to my brethren, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault. Therefore I pray God Almighty to have mercy on me, forgive me all my sins, and bring me to everlasting life.
L: The almighty and merciful LORD grants to us pardon, absolution, and remission of all our sins.
P: Amen.

L: Restore us again, O God of our salvation.
P: And put away Your indignation toward us.
L: Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
P: O LORD, make haste to help me.

Gloria Patri
ALL: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, for ever and ever. Amen.
[During Lent: Praise be to You, O LORD, King of eternal glory.]

Invitation
L: Have mercy upon me, O LORD,
P: And hear my prayer.

Psalmody (Psalm 4, Psalm 31:1-6, and Psalm 134)
L: Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach?
How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah.
But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself;
The LORD hears when I call to Him.
Tremble, and do not sin;
Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And trust in the LORD.
Many are saying, "Who will show us any good?"
Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD!
You have put gladness in my heart,
More than when their grain and new wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.

P: In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed;
In Your righteousness deliver me.
Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a rock of strength,
A stronghold to save me.
For You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name's sake You will lead me and guide me.
You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.
I hate those who regard vain idols,
But I trust in the LORD.

L: Behold, bless the LORD, all servants of the LORD,
Who serve by night in the house of the LORD!
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the LORD.
May the LORD bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.

Lesson (Jeremiah 14:9)
L: O LORD, You are in the midst of us, and we are called by Your name; leave us not, O LORD, our God.
P: Thanks be to God.

Response
L: Into Your hands, O LORD, I commend my spirit.
P: Into Your hands, O LORD, I commend my spirit
L: For You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.
P: I commend my spirit.
L: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
P: Into Your hands, O LORD, I commend my spirit.
L: Keep us, O LORD, as the apple of Your eye.
P: Hide us under the shadow of Your wings.
L: Save us, O LORD, waking, and guard us sleeping,
P: That awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in
peace.

Nunc Dimittis
ALL: LORD, now let Your servant depart in peace according to Your Word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel.

Kyrie
ALL: LORD, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. LORD, have mercy upon us.

The Lord's Prayer
ALL: Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
L: Grant, O LORD, this night
P: To keep us without sin.

L: Have mercy upon us, O LORD.
P: Have mercy upon us.
L: O LORD, let Your mercy be upon us.
P: As our trust is in You.
L: O LORD, hear my prayer.
P: And let my cry come to You.

Collect
L: Visit, we ask You, O LORD, our dwellings, and drive far from them all snares of the enemy; let Your holy angels dwell there to preserve us in peace; and may Your blessing be upon us always; through our Lord Jesus Christ.
P: Amen.

Praise
L: The LORD be with you.
P: And with your spirit.
L: We bless the LORD.
P: Thanks be to God.

Benediction
L: The almighty and merciful LORD, the Father, the Son(+), and the Holy Ghost, bless and keep us.
P: Amen.


About Compline . . .

The term Compline comes from the Latin "completorium," completion, because this hour marks completion of the day: the end or close of the day. The term was first used in this way around the beginning of the sixth century by St. Benedict in his Rule. However, it is evident from church history that a mid-night hour of prayer existed in the Eastern Church already in the Fourth Century, being used by St. Basil at his retreat in Pontus by A.D. 362, and also in his monastery in Caesarea no later than A.D. 375.

The Office of Compline, can be divided into several parts; the introduction, the psalmody, with its usual versicles, the hymn, the lesson, the response, the canticle, the prayer, and the benediction.

The current Office has modified the simple Benedictine psalmody by the insertion of a fourth Psalm, and adds the solemn introduction of a benediction with another reading, and the confession and absolution of faults.

In addition, the Office of Compline is given a very distinctive character and greater solemnity by the addition of the beautiful response, "In manus tuas, Domine," and the great canticle "Nunc Dimittis." It has always been somewhat of a mystery as to why St. Benedict, who always favored solemnity in this Office, should have omitted these elements, especially the Nunc Dimittus.

Pax

Imposition of Ashes

Dear Christian Friends,

The Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent marks the beginning of this season of the Church Year. Lent is the Christian's forty-day journey with the Lord to the cross and tomb, preparing for the joyous celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. The forty days are reminiscent of several biblical events: Moses' stay on Mt. Sinai at the giving of the law, Elijah's fast on his way to the mountain of God, and Jesus' forty-day fast at the beginning of His ministry, among others. The forty days are counted backward from Resurrection Sunday. Since all regular Sunday worship services are an observance of Christ’s resurrection, and thus occasions for reverent joy, the Sundays during this period are not counted in the forty days of more somber remembrance of Christ's Passion. This also explains why this season begins on a Wednesday.

In addition, for more than nineteen centuries the Christian believer’s Lenten journey has begun with a reminder of our mortality and a call to repentance through the placing of ashes on one’s head (Genesis 18:27, Job 42:6, Jeremiah 6:26, Matthew 11:21). Ashes are a sign of spiritual cleansing, as in the Rite of the Red Heifer (Numbers 19:17), in which the ashes of the calf, when mixed with water, had the ceremonial effect of purifying the sinner. (Hebrews 9:13). Thus, the first New Testament believers adopted the use of ashes as a symbol of sorrow and repentance over sin. This has been the normal practice of the Christian Church from the First Century onward.

It is this ancient practice of placing ashes on the heads of the faithful that gives Ash Wednesday its name. The ashes are a strong reminder of the need for God’s mercy, forgiveness, and the redeeming grace of Christ. Indeed, we remember well the words from the Christian burial service: “. . . earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust . . . ;” words that will someday be spoken over us all.

The imposition of ashes has never been an exclusive practice of the Roman church. It was already being practiced hundreds of years before the church of Rome gained its current prominence. Today it is observed by faithful Believers in many Christian churches throughout the world.

Thus, Trinity Orthodox Lutheran Church in Sierra Vista has incorporated the practice of “The Imposition of Ashes” into its observance of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent.

The ashes for this ceremony are taken from the palm branches of the previous year’s Palm Sunday service. These palms are gathered, burned, and then sifted, and placed in a shallow dish for the imposition. After a brief introduction, the minister marks a cross of ashes on each person’s forehead as they stand or kneel at the entrance to the church’s altar area.

At 6 AM on Ash Wednesday, during the Noon hour, and again that evening, about fifteen minutes before the Communion Service, people are invited to the Sanctuary for the Imposition of Ashes. This ceremony is intended as a meaningful and useful physical aid in each individual believer’s spiritual preparation for and observance of Ash Wednesday, the season of Lent, Holy Week, and ultimately the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. If there are any questions about The Imposition of Ashes, please do not hesitate to ask.

To God alone be the glory! Amen.

Your shepherd under Christ,

Pastor Spencer



The Imposition of Ashes

Pastor: We gather in the name of Jesus (+), the sinless Son of God.

Congregation: Adoration, glory, honor, and praise be to His most holy name, now and forever.

P: Let us pray: Almighty God, the Fountain of holiness, Who by Your Word and Spirit guides all Your servants in the ways of peace and holiness, grant unto us so truly to repent of our sins, so carefully to reform our errors, so diligently to watch over all our actions that we may not willingly disobey Your holy will, but that it may be the work of our life to obey You, the joy of our soul to please You, the satisfaction of all our hopes and the perfection of our desires to be with You always in Your kingdom of grace;

C: We ask this through Christ our Lord. (+) Amen.

P: Dear Christian friends, After the Fall into sin, God reminded Adam and Eve, “Dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19) From that time on, dust, and a special form of dust, ashes, have been used by believers to symbolize death, humility, contrition, and repentance. Job, at the end of his trials, and realizing his foolish slander against the LORD, proclaimed, “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”(Job 42:6) And, the prophet Daniel, seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness for the captive people of Israel, who had justly angered Him by their sins, recorded, “So I turned to the LORD God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”(Daniel 9:3)

The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that ashes are a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior, Whose death truly brings us peace with God, and makes us able to serve Him. He writes, “The ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14)

And so, brothers and sisters in Christ; may these ashes be to us a reminder of our mortality, a symbol of our repentance, a token of Christ’s death, a sign of God’s forgiveness, and a mark of our desire to live holy and righteous lives,

C: To the glory of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

(The people are invited to come forward in a single line down the middle aisle and kneel or stand at the communion rail. The Pastor will place ashes on each individual’s forehead in the form of a cross while saying: “Remember that you are but dust and ashes, and to dust and ashes you shall return.” The people then return to their places. When all have received the imposition of ashes who desire to do so, the Pastor shall pronounce the Dismissal.)

P: Believers in Jesus: Wear this mark as a symbol of your contrition and
repentance, and an outward sign proclaiming your faith in the atoning sacrifice
of Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation. God’s peace (+) be upon you all.

C: God be with you also. Amen.

(The people may remain for silent prayer and private mediation.
The Ash Wednesday Communion service will begin shortly.)


Prayers for use during Ash Wednesday

At the beginning of the day:
O LORD, mercifully hear my prayer and, having set me free from the bonds of sin, defend me now and always from all evil; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, my Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, ever one God, forever and ever. Amen.

At mid-morning:
O God, I believe in You, I hope in You, and I love you only because You have created me, redeemed me, and have sanctified me. Increase my faith, strengthen my hope, and deepen my love, so that giving up myself wholly to Your will, I may serve You faithfully all the rest of my life, and finally be found worthy through Your grace alone to inherit life eternal; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

At Noon:
O LORD, give me more charity, more self-denial, more likeness to You. Teach me to sacrifice my comfort to others and my desires for the sake of doing good. Make me kindly in thought, gentle in word, and generous in deed. Teach me that it is better to give than to receive, better to forget myself that to put myself first, better to minister than to be ministered unto; unto You, the God of love, be all glory and praise, both now and forever. Amen.

At mid-afternoon:
Almighty God, the Fountain of Holiness, Who by Your Word and the Spirit guides me in the ways of peace and sanctity, grant unto me so truly to repent of my sins, so carefully to reform my errors, so diligently to watch over all my actions that I may never willingly transgress Your Holy will, but that it may be the work of my life to obey You, the joy of my soul to please You, the satisfaction of all my hopes and attainment of all my desires to be with You in Your kingdom of grace and glory for all eternity; through Jesus Christ, my Lord.Amen.

At the end of the day:
Almighty and everlasting God, Who hates nothing that You have made and forgives the sins of all those who are penitent, create and make in me a new and contrite heart, so that, truly lamenting my sins and acknowledging my lowliness, I may obtain from You, the God of all mercy, perfect and complete remission and forgiveness always; only through Jesus Christ, Your Son, my Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, forever and ever. Amen.


“I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’ – and You forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)