Have you ever been blessed with pastoral care? I am not sure how to even put into words what that actually means other this incredible combination of teaching the Word and caring for you as a person, meeting your needs. That really pales in comparison to what I have come to understand about the approach to pastoral care confessional Lutherans take, but today was another day where I felt as if the God was humbling me in His love for me.

Pastor D took me to my second appointment to see a specialist about a problem I am having. To say that I was nervous, would be a profound understatement. In fact, once the doctor came out to greet me and gestured to me to follow her back, I actually asked him to walk with me to the door and then pray. He did. I entered.

The first thing I saw when I raised my eyes? A simple plaque with "All things are possible if you only believe." I was not sure, at first, if it meant to be a paraphrase of Luke 1:37, "For with God all things are possible." But that didn't really matter. I got the message.

Not only was I bolstered by the Living Word, but I was also able to share my faith and even some of the Lutheran theology I have been studying with the doctor. At one point, two tears slipped down her cheek. Certainly the Spirit moved this morning.

But what truly humbled me was the fact that Pastor D did not take the rare free time while waiting to delve into the book he had brought, but instead spend the entire hour praying for me. I had asked him at the door to pray, but meant at that moment. I did not dream he would lift me up the entire time.

Our next appointment is on Monday. Another difficult session for me. Another labor of pastoral care for him.

While I long to write of what I have been studying [the Book of Concord, A Straw in God's Hands (thesis), The Spirituality of the Cross, and three versions of the bible (NASB, ESV, and KJV)], I am so feeble in words that I dare not in case I would destroy the message. However, I do have just one thought for you: Have you ever really meditated on what it means for Scripture to be the Living Word?

Here is but a small passage from the third text I mentioned:

And that Word, whether oral or written, enfleshed in Jesus or preached from a modern-day pulpit, is powerful, incisive, and convicting: "For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

Later

Lutherans and other Christians agree, then, that the Bible is authoritative. It is the source and test, the touchstone of all theology.... Lutherans, however, see something else happening when we read or hear the Bible. It is a means of grace. The words of the Bible do not merely convey information, they convey the Holy Spirit. "The Word of God is living and active." As we read those words on the page, God is literally and objectively present and working, inscribing in our hearts the gift of faith.

What an incredible perspective and sobering, joyful Truth!