Catechesis

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Adult Catechumenate: Week 5 “Commandments 1-3”

Week 5—Commandments 1-3

Join us for Adult Catechumenate classes following each Wednesday Divine Service. This is offered for those that would like a refresher course on their catechetical instruction and especially for those desiring to join us and confess the Lutheran faith.

The Ten Commandments

As the head of the family should teach them in a simple way to his household

The First Commandment

You shall have no other gods.

What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

The Second Commandment

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

The Third Commandment

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

Romans 14:1–12 Showing love to the weak: Part 1

The following is the thirty-third week’s lesson. Weak and strong Christians should live together in love. Both are serving God in their own way. Join us next week as we continue our consideration of how to love your fellow man, especially those who are weak (Romans 14).

Romans 14:1-12

Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. 2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written:

“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.  (NKJV)

Adult Catechumenate: Week 4 “Liturgy: The Service of the Sacrament”

Week 4—Liturgy: The Service of the Sacrament

Join us for Adult Catechumenate classes following each Wednesday Divine Service. This is offered for those that would like a refresher course on their catechetical instruction and especially for those desiring to join us and confess the Lutheran faith.

Prayer of the Church

God’s Word is always primary in worship. We speak only as we are spoken to. Gathered in Jesus’ Name, we bring the petitions and thanksgivings before Him that grow out of His Word. This prayer is called the Prayer of the Church for in it the royal priesthood of believers does its priestly work of making “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all men, for kings and for all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.” We stand for this prayer, for we are not slaves prostrating ourselves before the king asking for a favor. We are sons of God who come boldly to our Father with our requests, knowing that He welcomes us and them, and has promise to hear and answer.

Offertory & Offering

As we have received from the generosity of the Father who is the Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift, we now give of the gifts which He has given to us. Following the pattern of the apostolic church in 2 Corinthians 8-9, the congregation collects gifts to support the proclamation of the Gospel and works of mercy among those in need. The Offering symbolized the “spiritual worship” of Christian lives offered in response to God, and unites us in an act of fellowship. The offering is accompanied with an offertory from Psalm 51 which teaches us that the highest offering is simply to receive, in faith, the gifts God gives for body and soul.

Preface / Sanctus / Lord’s Prayer

Drawn toward the gifts of Jesus’ body and blood, our hearts are lifted up in thanksgiving and praise as we anticipate the reception of the gifts that carry with them our redemption. The Sanctus brings together the song of heaven’s angels in adoration of the Holy Three-in-One and the acclamations of Palm Sunday; “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” In the prayer, we give thanks to the Lord for the redemption which He has secured for us by His cross; we ask Him to prepare us to receive that redemption in living and joyful faith. The Our Father, the prayer which Jesus taught His disciples to pray, is the “table prayer’ with which we come to the Lord’s Table.

It is appropriate and salutary to bow during the words of Isaiah in the first half of the Sanctus, for in the Lord’s Supper, we are coming into the presence of the all holy one, and so show our reverence for this reality.

The Words of Our Lord 

The pastor speaks the Lord’s own words; these words give and bestow what they declare, the Body and Blood of Christ. The Sacrament of Jesus’ Body and Blood is the vehicle for peace. Showing them His wounds, the Risen Lord declared His peace is given us with the Lord’s Body and Blood. By sharing this “peace of the Lord” with each other, we lay aside all that stands in contradiction of the Lord’s testament. With the words of John the Baptist, the Agnus Dei confesses the mercy and peace that we receive from the Lamb of God in His Supper. We come to the Lord’s Table hungry and thirsty and He feeds us with His Body and refreshes us with His Blood. It is the Lord’s Supper. As Luther reminds us “Our Lord is at one and the same time chef, cook, butler, host, and food.”

It is appropriate and salutary to bow as the Words of our Lord are chanted, reflecting our belief that it is through the power of the Word of God that the Body and Blood of Jesus are now really and truly present “in, with, and under” this bread and wine.

Nunc Dimittis

Having received the Lord’s Body and Blood for our salvation, like Simeon who held in his arms the Savior of the world, we go in peace and joy singing Simeon’s Song from St. Luke, Chapter 2. Another song of thanksgiving based on 1 Chronicles 16:8-10 may be used instead. Before we leave the Lord’s Table, we give thanks, asking that the salutary gift of Jesus’ Body and Blood would have its way in our lives, strengthening us in faith toward God and fervent love toward one another. The Sacrament draws us outside of ourselves to live in Christ by faith and for the neighbor by love.

Salutation and Benedicamus

The Name of the Lord is the beginning and the end of the Divine Service. We are now marked with the Lord’s Name in the Benediction-that word of God’s Blessing from Numbers 6 in which He favors us with His grace and peace. With the Lord’s Name given us in Holy Baptism we were drawn together. Now with that same Name, He sends us back into the world, to the places of our various callings to live by the mercy we have received as living sacrifices to the praise of His glory and the good of our neighbor. To this benediction you add your Amen, declaring blessing received. After the recession the congregation is encouraged to silently offer prayer and praise to God. Such prayer is found on the inside front cover of the Lutheran Service Book (LSB).