Combating Evil
Apr 25th
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
–1 Peter 2:9
Threats by North Koreans to attack neighboring countries and the United States prompted international debate about the rationality of North Korean leader, Kim Jung Un. Closer to home, the bombings in Boston prompted a similar discussion about the rationality of two young men, one a teenager, who attacked Boston Marathon participants–men, women and children. Senseless acts of violence.
Evil is senseless and afflicts society and confounds the Church. When evil produces outbursts such as those in Boston, Christians offer consolation to the victims, and more often than not, lament the acts as senseless and irrational. When evil afflicts the Church within, it often goes unnoticed. It grows and festers with impunity.
Less celebrated evil presents itself as sensible, even reasonable. This low-profile evil works quietly over time and finds a willing host where it can breed and grow. It may take years, even decades, to manifest itself. This evil, this evil that incubates within the host, is the most insidious and most dangerous.
The Church combats such evil by the faithful preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. The Word and Sacraments offer life to the Church when afflicted by evil within. Without such means, the Church surrenders to evil and rots and decays until it is no more a Church but a spiritual corpse.
Preaching Christ’s atoning work is the Church’s life-saving message for the world; its special calling. Anything else accommodates evil; tolerates the discomfort, and leaves the world without hope. This accommodation is sin at its worst for it not only is self-destructive, it is the manifestation of hopelessness.
Evil will remain until our Lord returns in glory. Whether evil explodes on the world or resides dormant within, it is the Church that offers the sure and certain final victory. Let the Church carry out its work faithfully that sinners would be brought to life, delivered from evil, and from sin, death, and hell.
May God in Christ bless and keep the Church. Amen.
Gregory Williamson
LCMS Chief Mission Officer
Resources for Sunday of Easter 4 in Light of the Boston Marathon Bombing
Apr 16th
Download in MS Word format
Collect:
O Savior, our Good Shepherd, You taught us that the thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy, but that You have come to bring life in abundance. Remember in Your divine pity those who have endured the terror attack in Boston, and comfort them with Your presence and promises. Receive our thanks for the care provided by the first responders and all who have ministered to those suffering. Continue to grant to the afflicted Your healing and to those who mourn, grant the peace that can come only from Your victory over death. Thwart the desires of those who would sow fear and discord among us and lead them to repentance. We make these prayers to You in confidence, for You have known in Your own flesh the irrational hatred and violence and overcome them with divine compassion and love, You who live and reign with the Father and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Petition to add to the Prayer of the Church (Series C):
For all injured in the attacks in Boston; for those who mourn their dead; and for all who have been traumatized, that they may each experience the comfort of Your unfailing love and the strength of Your divine life, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
Petition to add to the Prayer of the Church (One-Year Series):
Lord of life, to Your merciful hand we commend all who have been injured in the attacks in Boston; all who mourn their dead; all traumatized by what they saw and experienced there. May Your merciful love sustain, comfort, and uphold them. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
A Litany:
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, have mercy.
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, hear us.
God the Father in heaven, have mercy.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy.
God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, have mercy.
Be gracious to us, spare us, good Lord.
Be gracious to us, help us, good Lord.
From all crafts and assaults of the devil;
From sudden and evil death;
From the seductions of fear and terror: good Lord, deliver us.
By Your holy wounds, suffered freely for us, help us, good Lord.
By Your love’s victory over every hatred and violence, help us, good Lord.
By Your triumph over death and the grave, help us, good Lord.
For all who have been wounded in body or spirit, heal them, O Lord.
For all who have lost those they love, comfort them, O Lord.
For all who labor to bring relief, order, and justice, strengthen them, O Lord.
For all who are perplexed and struggling with fear and doubt, grant Your peace, O Lord.
For those who have died, that we be given grace to commend them to Your merciful hands, grant it, O Lord.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy!
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy!
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us Your peace!
O Christ, hear us.
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, have mercy.
O Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Taught by our Lord and trusting His promises we are bold to pray: Our Father . . .
Harrison on Boston: “Ask our dear Lord Christ for blessings for the injured and strength for the bereaved”
Apr 15th
The deplorable attack on innocent citizens in Boston while they were joined in healthy and joyous activity is beyond comprehension. As Christian citizens of this nation, we stand against wanton violence. We express our deepest sympathy for those whose loved ones have been lost and with the families of the injured. We ask our dear Lord Christ for blessings for the injured and strength for the bereaved. We pray for every blessing upon the doctors; emergency workers; and city, state and federal officials as they face this evil in dedicated service.
Like the death of our Lord Christ Himself, we pray that, even in this dark hour, the sacrifice and pain of those affected will not be in vain, but redound in good as yet unseen. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Cor. 1:3-5).
Pastor Matthew Harrison
On Holy Baptism in the Large Catechism
Apr 11th
The following letter was sent to 2013 LCMS Convention delegates from President Harrison.
Easter Monday, A.D. 2013
Dear Delegate,
Luther wrote of Baptism, “It is, in short, so full of consolation and grace that heaven and earth cannot understand it. But it requires skill to believe this, for the treasure is not lacking, but this is lacking: people who grasp it and hold it firmly. Therefore, every Christian has enough in Baptism to learn and to do all his life.”
In the past weeks, I’ve been paying very close attention to the Supreme Court cases on gay marriage. What is billed as simply allowing people to love whom they please, in reality threatens to rule unconstitutional the divinely created mandate that marriage is between one man and one woman And we who hold to natural law and the Scriptures are increasingly labeled “bigots.” The assault on our religious freedoms will increase exponentially—and soon, as we refuse to capitulate to the world. Our world is slipping so rapidly away from sanity that I shudder to think what is just ahead. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
“Nevertheless,” writes Luther in the Large Catechism, “I am baptized!” These are times for us to get back to the basics and stand squarely on the firm foundation of Holy Scripture. Luther’s treatment of Baptism in the enclosed excerpt from his Large Catechism is precious. Luther lays out the scriptural teaching on Baptism with all its glorious “consolation,” “promise,” and “victory.” Baptism is the delivery of what was won for us on the cross.
Luther ends his treatment of Baptism with what Baptism means for our daily lives. “A truly Christian life is nothing other than a daily Baptism, once begun and ever to be continued.” “Repentance is really nothing other than Baptism.” “If you live in repentance, you walk in Baptism. For Baptism not only illustrates such a new life, but also produces, begins, and exercises it. For in Baptism are given grace, the Spirit, and power to suppress the old man, so that the new man may come forth and become strong.”
Baptismal strength is what we need now. We need it as we face a world gone berserk. And we need it as we face this world, together, as The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. God grant us all a daily return to Baptism through repentance. God grant us all faith in his blessed Son’s cross. God grant us love for each other, and strength to stand as witnesses before the world, come what may. We are baptized for this moment.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Matthew C. Harrison
President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
P.S. With all the convention material coming your way soon, you are going to have to be “strong”!
Letter on the Augsburg Confession
Apr 11th
The following letter was sent to 2013 LCMS Convention delegates from President Harrison.
Patrick, Missionary to Ireland, A.D. 2013
March 17, 2013
Dear Delegate,
Grace and peace in Jesus!
In this second mailing we are providing you with a copy of the Augsburg Confession (1530) with some explanatory notes, taken from the wonderful Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord (CPH, 2006).
I am asking you to carefully read this brief and basic confession of our Lutheran Church. The section, “Confessional Subscription: An Evangelical Act,” explains why we all subscribe to this confession. The Bible is God’s Word to us. The confession is our response to God, and before all people, regarding what we are convinced the Bible teaches about Jesus. “But you, who do you say that I am!” (Mark 8:27; cf. Heb. 4:14; 10:23; Rom. 10:10; 1 John 2:23). The thrust of the Augsburg Confession is about keeping the Gospel front and center. This confessional standard is enshrined in the constitution of all of our congregations, in our Synod’s constitution, and is solemnly subscribed to by all of our church workers when they are ordained, commissioned, and installed.
Luther claimed the content of the Augsburg Confession as his own work, even though his sidekick, Philip Melanchthon, wrote it. But in a real way it is the great layman’s confession, being signed by the Lutheran princes. It speaks to a context that was heavily Roman Catholic, as the European empire at the time was officially Roman Catholic. It does, however, also mention and reject some teachings of the more radical Protestants.
Herman Sasse often pointed out that in Lutheran churches where people said, “I don’t want to hear the Confessions, just give me the Bible,” the authority of the Bible, too, was soon lost. That is because our Augsburg Confession takes the Bible seriously. And as you’ll see, or be reminded (I’m re-reading it, too, pastors!), the Augsburg Confession is finally a very pastoral document, aimed at delivering the Gospel to people troubled about their salvation.
We must never allow the Augsburg Confession to be pitted against “mission,” or vice versa. The Augsburg Confession is a solid confession of the teaching of the Bible, and a great aid and incentive for us to share the Gospel and all its teachings with the whole world.
As you read the “Augustana” (as it’s sometimes called), you will no doubt recognize the very broad agreement we have in the Missouri Synod on many, many topics. There will also be areas where our confession will challenge us to improve our teaching and practice for the sake of the Gospel.
I hope you enjoy it! You remain in my daily prayers, and I covet yours.
Blessings in Jesus,
Pastor Matthew C. Harrison
President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
