You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture
Proverbs 1:1-8
The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2    To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3    to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4    to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth--
5    Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6    to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8    Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
 
Devotion
We have had several of Paul Gerhardt’s hymns as the basis of our devotions. I thought this letter would be good for us to reflect on – especially as so many of us are reevaluating priorities and what life should look like after this pandemic is over.

Paul Gerhardt’s Testimony to his only surviving son in the Spring of 1676:

Now that I have reached the 70th year of my life and also have the joyful hope that my dear, holy God will soon rescue me out of this world and lead me into a better life than I have had until now on earth, I thank Him especially for all His kindness and faithfulness which, from my mother’s womb until the present hour, He has shown me in body and soul and in all that He has given me. Besides this, I ask Him from the bottom of my heart that when my hour comes He would grant me a happy departure, take my soul into His fatherly hands, and give my body a peaceful rest in the ground until the dear Last Day, when I, with all of my [family] who have been before me and also may remain after me, will reawake and behold my dear Lord Jesus Christ face to face, in whom I have believed but have not yet seen. To my only son whom I am leaving behind I leave few earthly goods, but with them I leave him an honorable name of which he will not have to be ashamed.
My son knows that from his tender childhood I have given him to the Lord my God as His possession, that he is to become a servant and preacher of His holy Word. He is to remain now in this and not turn away from it, even if he has only few good days in it. For the good Lord knows how to handle it and how sufficiently to replace external troubles with internal happiness of the heart and joy of the spirit.

Study holy theology in pure schools and at unfalsified universities and beware of the syncretists [those who mix religions or confessions], for they seek what is temporal and are faithful to neither God nor men. In your common life do not follow evil company but rather the will and command of your God. Especially: (1) Do nothing evil in the hope that it will remain secret, for nothing is spun so small that it is not seen in the light of day. (2) Outside of your office and vocation do not become angry. If you notice that anger has heated you up, remain still and speak not so much as a word until you have first prayed the Ten Commandments and the Apostles’ Creed silently. (3) Be ashamed of the lusts of the flesh, and when you one day come to the years in which you can marry, then marry with God and with the good advice of pious, faithful, and sensible people. (4) Do good to people even if they have nothing with which to repay you, for the Creator of heaven and earth has long since repaid what humans cannot repay: when He created you, when He gave you His beloved Son, and when He accepted you in Holy Baptism as His child and heir. (5) Flee from greed as from hell. Be satisfied with what you have earned with honor and a good conscience, even if it is not all too much. But if the good Lord gives you something more, ask Him to preserve you from the burdensome misuse of temporal goods.

In summary: Pray diligently, study something honorable, live peacefully, serve honestly, and remain unmoved in your faith and confessing. If you do this, you too will one day die and depart from this world willingly, joyfully, and blessedly. Amen.
​
Collect
O Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who has given us Your holy word, and has bountifully provided for all our temporal wants, we confess that we are unworthy of all these mercies, and that we have rather deserved punishment: But we beseech You, forgive us our sins, and prosper and bless us in our several callings, that by Your strength we may be sustained and defended, now and forever, and so praise and glorify You eternally, You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one true God, world without end. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
​
Scripture
1 Kings 19:1-18
 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. 17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Devotion
I came across a fascinating quote that I really love: The demon in your heart is called, “What’s the use?” (To be clear this quote is clearly using the term “demon” rather broadly.)  This is where Elijah is at in 1 Kings 19. Victory looks more like defeat. Think about it. He had just won a great victory on Carmel, and the people yell, “The LORD, He is God. The LORD, He is God.” They basically yell the prophet’s name – and it sounds like victory. It appeared he had won the majority to his side…but nothing seems to have changed because most of the people are still worshipping idols.

When Elijah challenged and then killed the prophets of Baal, he was impelled by the Spirit of God, yet, when Jezebel’s wrath has been reported to him, he fears for himself. He is not commanded by God to withdraw. His reason kept telling him that he would be safe if he hid in the desert. He is ready to give up, he is ready to die, Elijah thinks in his heart, “What’s the use?” These facts were recorded to comfort us, who have no other thought about the saints than that they were blocks and logs without feeling.

I have seen it happen time and again that faithful pastors become weary and distressed when they see that their earnest labors bring so little fruit. I have experienced this myself – sometimes it feels like I am trying to empty the ocean with a thimble.

But I am certain you have experienced this in your Christian life as well - as the devil, your sinful flesh, and the world seek to wear you out and lead you astray. You strive and struggle in the Christian life and it seems like your efforts are bearing little fruit – and there are probably days when you think, “What’s the use?”

Maybe you look around at our culture and how bad things are and you say in your heart, “What’s the use?”  We see even Christians living and confessing contrary to God’s Word and indifferent to God’s gifts. Maybe you are struggling with a certain sin and it seems to get the better of you time and time again, and so you say in your heart, “What’s the use?”

Perhaps you say this about going to church or reading your Bible or praying, “What’s the use?”
Nothing seems to change, victory seems far from me, things don’t feel like they are getting any better, “What’s the use?”

The bills are piling high, your family is stressed out and at its breaking point, your health is still failing, God seems to not be fulfilling His promises…and you hear the words in your heart “what’s the use?”

This is a real temptation for the child of God and when you fall into it, you must repent.
It was not hopeless for Elijah and it is not for you either. Elijah did not see all that God was doing to uproot idolatry and even preserve 7000 who had not worshipped the false gods. Through His Word He was still working, still saving, still rescuing – even though Elijah could not see it.
God always has strength for you in His Word and in the power of His Spirit.

This is beautifully depicted: 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

The Law is a hammer that crushes rocks, a fire, a wind, and a great and mighty earthquake that overturns mountains. When Elijah could not bear the terrors of the Law that were signified by these events, he wrapped his head in his mantle; and after the storm he had seen was over, there came a still small voice, in which the Lord was present.

But the violence of the fire, the storm, and the earthquake had to come first, before the Lord Himself followed in the still small voice. The voice of the Gospel comes and brings the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, and eternal salvation which Christ purchased and won for you on the cross.  

The power of God’s Word forgives you your doubts and your despair and your lack of faith…and strengthens you to face all those things that make you say, “What’s the use?”

The demon in your heart says, “What’s the use?”

 But the LORD says, “What are you doing? Why are you despairing? Why are you afraid? Why are you giving up? I am your light and your salvation…you have nothing to fear…wait on me…be of good courage and I will strengthen your heart…look to me…I am in control…these things are not done in vain…I am in control of all things… I will not abandon you nor forsake you…Arise and eat…be strengthened for the journey…” Amen.
Collect
O Lord, it is very tempting to despair and throw up our hands and cry out, “What’s the use?” Forgive us for not trusting You and Your Word. Strengthen us by Your Word; through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord, Amen. 

You can listen to the devotion here.

I picked this text and hymn for our devotion for today because this will be the hymn we sing this Sunday and I will be preaching on Lamentations 3 as well.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
​
Scripture
Lamentations 3:22-26
22  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23    they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24    “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25    The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26    It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
 
Devotion based on Rejoice, My Heart, Be Glad and Sing 737
1 Rejoice, my heart, be glad and sing,
A cheerful trust maintain;
For God, the source of ev'rything,
Your portion shall remain.

2 He is your treasure, He your joy,
Your life and light and Lord,
Your Counselor when doubts annoy,
Your shield and great reward.

3 Why spend the day in blank despair,
In restless thought the night?
On your Creator cast your care;
He makes your burdens light.

4 Did not His love and truth and pow'r
Guard ev'ry childhood day?
And did He not in threat'ning hour
Turn dreaded ills away?

5 He only will with patience chide,
His rod falls gently down;
And all your sins He casts aside
In ocean depths to drown.

6 His wisdom never plans in vain
Nor falters nor mistakes.
All that His counsels may ordain
A blessed ending makes.

7 Upon your lips, then, lay your hand,
And trust His guiding love;
Then like a rock thy peace shall stand
Here and in heav'n above.

You can listen to the hymn here.

Today’s commentary on the hymn comes from Pastor Richard Resch as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 

There are those who cannot believe that a pastor would write a hymn asking them to rejoice during trials and testing. These saints will have a difficult time with the seven stanzas of this hymn by Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676).

It is one thing for the faithful to understand and trust that God, in His infinite wisdom, needs to chasten them from time to time. But it is quite another thing for them to rejoice, be glad, and sing about it while enduring the chastening. Without help, very few rejoice and sing in such times. Yet hymns give Christians a voice and provide the words that lead them to do just that. There may be tears, but the muffled singing still confesses a confident hope and trust in the One who sent a form of testing – for their good.

This is how Paul Gerhardt becomes the master teacher of the theology of the cross, for he teaches the unthinkable. He teaches joy through tears, a heart to be glad when it is breaking, a cheerful trust when it appears that one is forsaken and alone. Gerhardt frequently experienced such trials and knew what he was talking about. Yet he saw a blessed road, one that also gives us rejoicing and gladness. His pastoral advice is for us to sing that Jesus Christ is a treasure, a shield, a reward, a counselor, a light, and the Lord in contexts that extraordinary and filled with despair, extreme suffering, and severe crosses. Gerhardt nevertheless has us sing that Christ is our song. Only in Him could rejoicing be on our lips in such times (Habakkuk 3:17-19). Such unique singing baffles the world and sends Satan running.

Collect
Lord God, heavenly Father, who in Your divine wisdom and fatherly goodness makes Your children to bear the cross, and sends diverse afflictions upon us to subdue the flesh, and quicken our hearts unto faith, hope and unceasing prayer: We beseech You to have mercy upon us, and graciously deliver us out of our trials and afflictions, so that we may perceive Your grace and fatherly help, and with all saints forever praise and worship You; through Your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, world without end. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
Scripture
1 Corinthians 11:23-32
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
 
Devotion
One of the reasons I picked our hymn, All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night, for this week (see Monday’s devotion) is because of the third stanza.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awe-ful day.

I love that stanza. It reminds me of the quote, “You go to the Lord’s Supper as if going to your death, so that you can go to your death as if you are going to the Lord’s Supper.” 

Four years ago, I wrote the following piece in remembrance of Pastor Steve Sanderson. I thought it was fitting with the themes of our hymn and would be beneficial given all that is going on in the world right now. I have edited it some from the original.

Martin Chemnitz wrote: Very beautiful is the statement of Augustine in which he says of his mother Monica that she bound her soul with the chain of faith to that sacrifice which is dispensed in the Lord's Supper so that neither lion nor dragon could tear it away. (Examination 2.321)
​
I loved this “very beautiful statement” the moment I first read it. The imagery it evokes of a vicious lion or a ferocious dragon trying to tear away a faithful saint from the body and blood of Christ as given in the Lord’s Supper, is stunning. I loved it, but I do not think I truly understood it until a few years later.

I can remember exactly where I was when I got the call. I had been mowing the lawn and pulled out my phone to check the time. The news still rings in my ears, “Steve has cancer.”  At the time, none of us had any way of knowing how savage and brutal this particular cancer would be.
The cancer attacked the fit physical specimen who had run marathons and eventually made even walking short distances an exercise in pain and endurance. Even as the pain increased, on Sunday mornings you could still find Steve in church. The cancer forced him to move from his regular spot near the front to the back so that he could sit in my desk chair – a somewhat successful attempt to make sitting through church bearable.

When it came time for the Lord’s Supper, he refused to let me bring Christ’s gifts to him where he was seated. His reason, “I want to be at the rail with everyone else.”  I am sure there was an element of pride in this, but I also know that he desired to be with his brothers and sisters and receive Christ’s gifts with them.

For weeks, Steve would drag himself up to the rail. Usually, he was too weak to make it back to his chair without assistance. It was painful to watch him do this to himself.
​
And yet, he encouraged us all. Steve embodied Augustine’s quote about Monica. Neither lion nor dragon, neither cancer nor excruciating pain, could keep him away from Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. When I consider all the excuses (not legitimate reasons – and to be clear I do believe being at high-risk for the coronavirus/serious concerns over getting it is a legitimate reason) I hear for people missing the Divine Service - everything from pathetic to “I can’t believe you just said that out loud” – it is an astonishing thing to watch a man racked with pain do all that is within his power to be present to receive Christ’s gifts.

It is a beautiful example of what happens when God gives someone the faith to simply trust the Word: “This is my body. This is my blood…for the forgiveness of sins.” When someone believes that the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ truly preserve them in body and soul unto life everlasting there is no telling what they will endure to get it. He knew his desperate need and he knew where to find the only remedy.

Steve did get to the point where he was physically unable to attend the Divine Service. The last time I gave him the Holy Supper was a few days before he went into a coma. He knew death was near and he was not afraid. As I quoted earlier, “You go to the Lord’s Supper as if going to your death, so that you can go to your death as if you are going to the Lord’s Supper.”  I have seen this to be most certainly true.

On May 22nd, 2016, Trinity Sunday, Pastor Steve Sanderson’s battle with cancer ended as our gracious Lord ushered him into glory and four years later he still has much to teach us all. I am still encouraged as I think of Steve dragging himself to the communion rail. May we too see our desperate need and drag ourselves to where the remedy is found in Word and Sacrament.

Collect
O Lord God, heavenly Father, we praise and thank you for your grace that through your Son Jesus Christ you established this supper in which we eat his body and drink his blood. By your Holy Spirit, help us to use this gift worthily, to confess and forsake our sins, to confidently believe that we are forgiven through Christ, and to grow in faith and love day by day until we come at last to the joy of eternal salvation, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
Scripture
1 Samuel 15:22
22 And Samuel said,
       “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
       Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
 
Devotion from the Blessed Dr. Martin Luther
 Context: I don’t normally do this but I thought giving this devotional reading some context might be helpful.  Luther believed that a person could only be saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone apart from any works of the law or obedience. So, he is not saying in this devotion that you are saved by works. What he is saying is that as Christians we live lives of faith and obedience in the vocations that God has placed us in – and that when we are faithful and obedient in those it is good and pleasing in God’s sight.  He is arguing against the idea that you must be something like a priest, or a monk, or a nun to do works that are pleasing to God. You see this in his Small Catechism in the Table of Duties where he says, “Certain passages of Scripture for various Holy Orders and positions, admonishing them about their duties and responsibilities.”
 
I wrote about this in an article for the Lutheran Witness several years ago: The six chief parts deal primarily with faith – that is what is to be believed. The Table of Duties deals with love – that is how we are to love our neighbors in our various vocations. Whereas the Ten Commandments speak in general terms to all men, the Table of Duties shows what responsibilities we have as individuals in our various vocations.

Luther went so far as to call these vocations “holy orders” to offer an alternative to the medieval piety of his day. Instead of only certain vocations being holy, Luther teaches that all the vocations one has in the church, state/society, and the home are holy.  How do we serve our neighbor in our vocations? What does the Christian life look like day in and day out? The Table of Duties shows us the way.

It is in this context that we should understand this writing of Luther.
 
And now, Luther:
 
A pious maid, who occupies herself doing what is commanded her and in accord with her office sweeps the house or takes out the chamber pot; or a servant, who in that manner, plows and runs; these go straight to heaven on the right road, while another who goes to St. James, or to church, and totally ignores his office and work goes straight to hell.

So we must close our eyes and not behold the works, if they are big, small, glorious, disgusting, spiritual, physical, or what appearance and reputation they have upon the earth; but rather see the Command and obedience that are in them; whether the same work is truly impressive and purely divine or if it is so poor as lifting a blade of straw. But if it is not of obedience and the command, then the work is not legitimate, truly the devil’s own, even if it were something so great as raising the dead.

Then this is certain. God’s eyes do not look at the works, but rather on the obedience of the works. So he also desires that we should look upon his command and calling, of which St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:17, “Let each one remain in the calling in which he is called.” And St. Peter in 1 Peter 4:10, “You will be as the true good steward, or people called in manifold grace; that each on serve and be available to the others by grace, as he has received it.” See, St. Peter says that the grace and gifts of God are not singular but manifold. And each should accept his own, use them and by them be of service to others.

What a fine thing it would be if it so happened that each minded his own business and served others thereby so they would go together on the true road up to heaven. So writes St. Paul in Romans 12:4-6 and 1 Corinthians 12:12, that the body has many members, but not all members do the same works. So also we in the Christian congregation are many members, but not all have the same works. So no one should do the others’ work, but each accept his own and all in one unified obedience, in many types of commands and manifold works, move in harmony.

Then you say: “So, should the dear Saints’ lives and examples not be followed? Then why do we preach about them?” Answer: One should preach them so God is praised by it, and to motivate us and also to comfort us with God’s goodness and grace so that not works, but rather obedience is illustrated by it. Not that one should leave his own obedience behind so that we are led so deeply into works of the great saints that we would depart completely from our own obedience, so that our jaws would drop at their stupendous works and so we would despise our own command and calling. Therefore, there is no doubt that it is only the most miserable devil’s work that one becomes anxious to serve God only in the church, at the altar, at mass, singing, reading, offering, and doing the like as if all other works were nothing or of no use. How could the devil better lead us from the true way than when he compels us to serve God so narrowly, only in the church and with works that are done therein?

Collect
Gracious Lord, grant us the grace we need each day that we may serve you faithfully in the vocations that You have placed us in. And grant us forgiveness for all the ways in which we will fail in those vocations; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
Scripture
Psalm 91
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2    to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
3    to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
4    For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5    How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
6    The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7    that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
       they are doomed to destruction forever;
8        but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9    For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.
10    But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me fresh oil.
11    My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12    The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13    They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14    They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15    to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
 
Devotion based on the hymn All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night 883
All praise to Thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light!
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath Thine own almighty wings.

Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done,
That with the world, myself, and Thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awe-ful day.

Oh may my soul on Thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that may me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake.

When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No powers of darkness me molest.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The hymn commentary for today comes from Pastor Larry Peters as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 

The echo of Psalm 92:1-2 is found throughout the hymn: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” Psalm 91 is an even greater influence on the hymn, and verses 1 and 4 are clearly referenced in the final two lines of stanza 1: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge.”

Stanza 2 reminds us that our rest is tied to a clear conscience. It is a confession of sins and a prayer that God forgive the sins of the day and enable to singer to sleep at peace with all things (Mark 9:50b; Job 22:21; Psalm 4:8).

Psalm 90:12 prays that we might be taught to number our days and apply them wisely. In the same way, the third stanza asks that we live as a child of God in a fallen world, set apart by Him for a new day of eternal life. Sleep is an oft-used description of death (John 11:11-12; Matthew 9:24). Here the Christian sees death as a sleep from which we are awakened by Jesus Christ to resurrection and eternal life. Note that in the last line, the Day of Judgment is an awe-filled day and not an awful, terrible day.

The fourth stanza is a prayer that we may rest our hopes and fears in the Lord so that we are prepared better to serve Him with all our strength and will in the morning.
Stanza 5 acknowledges the difficulty in sleeping when the burdens of this mortal life press upon us, asking that our thoughts may be of heaven and not of earth, of hope and not of fear. Often the themes for evening hymns seem somewhat out of place in a modern world where the work does not end with the daylight and where the night sky consists more of manufactured light than of a darkness pierced only by moon and stars – the idea in stanza 5 of being molested by the powers of darkness, for example.

The hymn ends with the stanza often called the “common doxology” (LSB 805), probably the best-known and most frequently sung hymn in Christendom. It was in these hymns that Ken wrote for morning and evening and midnight that the stanza originated.

Collect
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
Scripture
Luke 12:32-34
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
 
Devotion from St. Peter Chrysologus
You have heard today how the Lord has joined the sound of the heavenly trumpet to the shepherd’s song, so that he might raise to divine matters the minds of his sheep that had been stooped down for so long, and immediately lift them up to the heavenly kingdom. Do not fear, little flock, it says, because it has conjointly pleased your Father to give you the kingdom (Lk 12:32). Humility has acquired what arrogance lost, and the little and meek flock has subdued every kind of savagery by its own gentleness. The little flock has conquered and crushed as many kinds of beasts as the nations were diverse that it put under the yoke of Christ.
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The flock that was little and meek, endured being put to death, and for a long time submitted to being devoured, until the cruel pagans, filled up with blood and flesh, after partaking of the pleasant food of the Gospel and the streams of the divine fountain, would shun all sustenance coming from the world of their own kind, and after having deteriorated from being human to becoming beasts they would return from being beasts to becoming human. Moreover, that the prophets experienced this, that the apostles accomplished this, that the martyrs endured this, Scripture attests in that instance where it says: “On your account we are being slain all day long; we are considered as sheep for the slaughter.”

But for this flock of the new order to engage in battle, whereby the one who had been killed lives, the one who had fallen has conquered, and the one who loses his life finds it, it imitated its King, that sheep, and it followed that Lamb who “as a sheep was led to slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer, did not open its mouth.” The one who is silent suffers willingly; he screams who is slaughtered unwillingly; one cannot bewail death if he has deigned to accept death and was not coerced. It is a mark of power when one willingly dies for many; when one is led to death unwillingly it is a matter of great distress: because the first arises out of contempt for death, the second out of one’s natural condition.

So Christ is sheared like a sheep that is both willing and silent, in order to cover that nakedness that Adam first introduced. Just like a lamb he is killed so that by his sacrifice he may pardon the sin of the whole world. He lays down his life for the sheep in order to carry out both the devotion and the care of the shepherd. For you, therefore, he has become King, for you Priest, for you Shepherd, for you Sacrifice, for you the Sheep, for you the Lamb, for you for whom he had made everything he has become everything; and he who for himself never, but for you so often is changed; for your sake he is shown in various forms, he who remains in the form of his unique majesty. And why should I say more? God gives himself to you as a man so that you can bear it, because you are unable to endure him as he is. But let us hear now what such a Shepherd promises his little flock.
2. Do not fear, little flock, it says, because it has conjointly pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. What abundant goodness! What exceptional devotion! What unspeakable affection! The Shepherd receives the sheep as partners in his wealth, and the Lord grants the servants a share in his authority; the King admits the flock of the whole people to participate in the kingdom. In this manner does he make his gift, he whose wealth cannot be diminished, whose kingdom cannot be weakened, whose power cannot be lost by his generosity. But the Lord begins prudently by saying: Do not fear, little flock, because it has conjointly pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.

The one whose status is a servant is not able to hear the promise of a kingdom without fear, because the one who is hardly worthy of freedom is not strong enough to take up the insignia of sovereignty. Therefore, the Lord strengthens the minds of his servants with these words so that the unexpected news that the kingdom is promised them may not be their downfall. It is a crime for a servant to desire a kingdom, it is dangerous for him to hear such a thing, and it is reckless for him not to be fearful. But in Christ’s regard really how great or how wondrous is it that he gives the kingdom to servants, and that he makes his servants sharers with him in his authority, since he washes the feet of his servants in order to serve his servants with unparalleled service?
Let them come here, let them come who attack his power, and then let them argue about his benevolence when they are able to grasp, declare, and evaluate such great kindness…Come now, man, and spare yourself, because in order that you spare yourself, God washed your feet, he held them, and he embraced them!

Collect
Almighty God, merciful Father, since You have wakened from death the Shepherd of Your sheep, grant us Your Holy Spirit that when we hear the voice of our Shepherd we may know Him who calls us each by name and follow where He leads; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
 

You can listen to this devotion here. 

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
Scripture
Exodus 5
Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’ ” 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”
15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”
 
Devotion
In the beginning of Exodus chapter 5, Moses declares the Word of the LORD to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh refuses to listen and instead makes things even more difficult for the Israelites by requiring them to make bricks without giving them straw.

The LORD, through Moses, had commanded Pharaoh to let His people go so that they could hold a feast to Him. Pharaoh considered himself to be the incarnation of the deity Horus and the son of Ra.  Since the LORD is not one of the gods that the Egyptians worshiped, Pharaoh refused to let the people go and worship the true God and instead saw it as an excuse for the people to be lazy. 

At the end of Exodus chapter 4 the people were excited that their deliverer, Moses, had come. But that joy quickly turned to complaints when their deliverance did not come as quickly as they had hoped. Rather than being delivered right away their suffering was made even worse. The conditions of their slavery had been made impossible by the efforts of their deliverer!

The people blamed Moses and Aaron. They said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (5:21)

Moses, in response to Pharaoh's hardheartedness and the people's grumbling, goes to the LORD in prayer with his own complaint.  Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”  (Ex 5:22–23)

This is evidence of Moses’ faith – when Moses doesn’t understand the ways of the LORD, he flees to him in prayer.  The cry of “Why, O Lord? How long, O Lord?” does not show a lack of faith in a believer – it shows that they know where to go in the time of need.  The LORD actually wants us to wrestle with Him in prayer!

Many times things appear to get far worse before they get any better and those are certainly times of severe testing for our faith.  And yet, we must look in faith because God is always helping us – even though it often isn’t in the way we think he should. Consider Paul praying for deliverance, and God instead giving him the grace to endure it. The fact is we don’t usually know what is best for us and we must trust our good and gracious heavenly Father who ALWAYS does what is best for us.

Christ has accomplished everything necessary for your salvation in His life, death, and resurrection, and He has given you the wonderful gift of prayer. Know for certain that you are blessed by Christ. Keep praying – even when you don’t understand what the Lord is doing…especially when you don’t understand what He is doing. Take refuge in your God who hears your prayers because of Christ and promises to give you whatever you ask in His name.  
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Collect
Eternal God, You counsel us not to be anxious about earthly things. Keep alive in us a proper yearning for those heavenly treasures awaiting all who trust in Your mercy, that we may daily rejoice in Your salvation and serve You with constant devotion; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture 
Colossians 2:8-15
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
 
Devotion
Awake, My Heart, with Gladness by Paul Gerhardt is one of my favorite Easter Hymns. It perfectly captures the joy and the meaning of Easter. I am going to read the whole hymn but then I want to focus in on a couple stanzas that really grabbed my attention as I sung this (10x) on Easter – especially since they so beautifully capture the end of what I just read from Colossians 2.

1 Awake, my heart, with gladness,
See what today is done;
Now, after gloom and sadness,
Comes forth the glorious sun.
My Savior there was laid
Where our bed must be made
When to the realms of light
Our spirit wings its flight.

2 The foe in triumph shouted
When Christ lay in the tomb;
But lo, he now is routed,
His boast is turned to gloom.
For Christ again is free;
In glorious victory
He who is strong to save
Has triumphed o'er the grave.

3 This is a sight that gladdens--
What peace it doth impart!
Now nothing ever saddens
The joy within my heart.
No gloom shall ever shake,
No foe shall ever take
The hope which God's own Son
In love for me hath won.

4 Now hell, its prince, the devil,
Of all their pow'r are shorn;
Now I am safe from evil,
And sin I laugh to scorn.
Grim death with all his might
Cannot my soul affright;
It is a pow'rless form,
Howe'er it rave and storm.

5 The world against me rages,
Its fury I disdain;
Though bitter war it wages,
Its work is all in vain.
My heart from care is free,
No trouble troubles me.
Misfortune now is play,
And night is bright as day.

6 Now I will cling forever
To Christ, my Savior true;
My Lord will leave me never,
Whate'er He passes through.
He rends death's iron chain;
He breaks through sin and pain;
He shatters hell's dark thrall;
I follow Him through all.

7 He brings me to the portal
That leads to bliss untold,
Whereon this rhyme immortal
Is found in script of gold:
"Who there My cross has shared
Finds here a crown prepared;
Who there with Me has died
Shall here be glorified."
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I want to focus in on stanzas 4 and 5.  One of the things Good Friday and Easter mean for us as Christians is that hell and the devil have been stripped of their power over us. Hell, death, and the devil are powerless because Christ has conquered them. So, we joyously sing, “Now I am safe from evil, And sin I laugh to scorn!” We can laugh at sin and death because even with all its might, no matter how much it raves and storms, grim death cannot scare us because Christ is risen from the dead. Where is our hope as the world cowers in fear in the face of pandemics and economic uncertainty? Our hope is in the crucified and risen Christ  who is strong to save and in glorious victory has triumphed over the grave.

I love how Athanasius talks about this in On the Incarnation: But if a man is gone down even to Hades and stands in awe of the heroes who have descended there, regarding them as gods, yet he may see the fact of Christ’s resurrection and victory over death. He may infer that among them also Christ alone is true God and Lord. For the Lord touched all parts of creation and freed and undeceived all of them from every illusion. As Paul says, “Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, he triumphed on the cross”; that no one might by any possibility be any longer deceived but everywhere might find the true Word of God.

The stanza that caught my attention even more than stanza 4 was stanza 5. It is not only the devil that is out to get Christians, it is also the sinful world that is against Christians. It too, like grim death, rages against us but its fury we disdain and hold in contempt – as our Lord does in Psalm 2. All its efforts against the Christian are in vain! So, our hearts can be free from all care and anxiety.  No trouble needs to weigh us down and trouble us. Because of this we sing, “Misfortune now is play, And night is bright as day.”  That is a confession that we can make in faith because of Christ’s victory over death and the grave.

Collect
Gracious Father, I thank you that because You have made me Your child in baptism that I have been united to Christ’s victory over sin, death, hell, the devil, and the sinful world.  Grant me the grace and faith I need to always cling to Him for my salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

You can listen to the devotion here. 

​Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture 
Mark 4:37–41
37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  

Devotion
You have to understand that this was no normal storm. Many of the disciples were fishermen and they had seen quite a few storms, but this was different.  In fact, this is most likely a demonic storm. A storm caused by the devil to try to get Jesus. The disciples thought they were going to die.
And Jesus is sleeping.

Throughout the Bible we are told that to sleep soundly is a sign of faith – a sign of trust in God - and Jesus, fully God and fully man, perfectly fears, loves, and trusts in His Father above all things, no matter what is going on around Him.

And so, the Son of God sleeps, and the terrified disciples rush to wake Him up.

Have you not felt like God was asleep at times?  Haven’t you been terrified in the midst of the storms that have come your way and thought that God must be taking a nap?

Think about how many people are living in fear right now because of this pandemic. Many think that God must be asleep or not paying attention. They feel like the storms are crashing in on them and that God is not able or willing to help.

There is much that we can learn from this event.  Today we will focus on just one:  the disciples, and we ourselves, are taught that it is to Christ alone that we should flee for refuge.
The disciples rightly teach us that we should always run to Christ for refuge – whether temporal or eternal. He neither slumbers nor sleeps!  He is always ready and willing to assist you in your time of need.  His ears are always attentive to your prayers.  Does He sometimes appear to be sleeping? Yes, but only so that we might even more seek to “wake” Him through our prayers, so that He might strengthen our faith.

That very same Christ that calmed the storm wants you to have peace as well.  Psalm 127 says that He gives to His beloved sleep, that is peaceful rest.  His desire for you is to trust in Him even when things are bad…even when things look like they can’t get any worse and then they do…even when you are scared and struggling and wondering when or if the storm is ever going to end.
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Because He is fully God and fully man, He speaks a Word and calms the storms.  He is willing AND able to help you in your time of need. We know this because He has suffered and died for your sins, and He is risen and ascended -- all for you and your salvation.  So that even in the face of death and hell itself you can be at peace.  Because you know that the One who has conquered death and hell for you is on your side and fights for you, even when you are of little faith.
 
Collect
O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen