21
This is the feast: Joy in heaven If the Gloria in excelsis reminds us of Christ’s birth, “This is the feast” comes straight out of the pages of Revelation, where John records songs of praise.
Once again we hear the voices
of angels, and now saints and believers of all ages join in the praise.
Quite often in the Bible, Jesus eats with people and shares parables about banquets and feasts.
Although this hymn of praise is rather recent (from
the 1970s), it, too, points us to the
Lord’s Supper as a foretaste of the feast to come. This is an opportunity for us to hear and sing the angels’ other song with all the saints in heaven.
Cheering for God’s word Christian worship often includes three readings from the Bible (if you attended church every week for three years, you would hear nearly one-third of the entire Scriptures)— interrupted with what can only be described as cheers.
The first cheer is a song from the book of Psalms, which was a sort of hymnbook for Israel (and Jesus). The Psalm usually relates directly to the theme of the day’s readings. The next cheer is an “Alleluia
verse.” Although this special verse can vary from week to week, most churches use the standard text from John 6. Jesus has just asked his disciples whether they are going to forsake him like everyone else. Peter responds: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life” (68). Lutherans sing Peter’s words to prepare themselves to lis- ten to the Gospel. Two more short cheers come before and after we read Jesus’ words in the Gospel: “Glory to you, O Lord,” and “Praise to you, O Christ.” You won’t find these specif-
ically in one of the Gospels, but they summarize all of the Bible’s praise of Christ better than any college or university cheer supports its team.
The Apostles’ Creed: The Reader’s Digest Bible If you took the Bible and did to it what Southern chefs do to green beans (cook them for 24 hours), you would find the Apostles’ Creed at the bottom of the pot when you lifted the lid.
One of the oldest continuously recited statements of faith, the Apos- tles’ Creed originated in the third cen- tury (or perhaps earlier) as what was recited at baptisms in the churches of Rome. It slowly spread to all Latin- speaking congregations and later was translated into the many native lan- guages of Europe and beyond. Unlike the Eastern (Greek, Slavic and Near Eastern) churches, where the Nicene Creed is used exclusively, the Western church has retained two creeds (the Apostles’ and the Nicene), using the former especially at baptisms and the latter in worship (especially for the festival seasons of Christmas and Easter). Both reca- pitulate the faith of the church and are (even without boiling a Bible) grand summaries of the heart of Scripture.
Prayers for all people In 1 Timothy, Paul encourages people to pray for all people, even kings (who often encouraged Christian persecution).
His reason is simple: God wants everyone to be saved. Or, to use the words of a contemporary hymn, “All are welcome in this place.” How can Christians be sure of this? Paul goes on to remind us that there is one God and one media- tor between God and humanity, the human being Jesus Christ (who is also God). Thus, in the very middle of our worship, we pause to pray not
MICHAEL D. WATSON 22 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52