I am so bloody tired that I cannot sleep.  Well, really I cannot sleep because I have had fiery pains shooting down my right arm since about noon.  I am pretty sure it is nerve pain, being very much like that which I get in my legs.  Funny that I have a day of pain after a night of joy.

I am very, very tired, but am still in awe of God's grace last night.  I want to read Walther, but even the thought is too much.  So, I have been listening to the hymns Pastor recorded for me all evening.  I set up a play list to start with Psalm 103, then the Agnus Dei from Divine Service 5 Pastor gave me last week, then four hymns, then repeat Psalm 103 and the Agnus Dei before more hymns, and so on and so forth.  A great cycle if you ask me!

If posting the audio file would not violate my promise to Pastor to only use the files for my own instruction and subsequently lose me any and all future recordings I would post the Agnus Dei for you.  It comes just before the distribution of the Lord's Supper, a testimony of who He is and what He has done for us, a cry for what we need.  Speaking these words is better than just reading them, so that they might rest on your tongue, fall from your lips, and fill your ears.  Singing them is far, far better.

Agnus Dei, Divine Service 5, LSB 198:

O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, 

that takest away the sin of the world, 

have mercy upon us. 

O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, 

that takest away the sin of the world, 

have mercy upon us.

O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, 

that takest away the sin of the world, 

grant us Thy peace.  Amen.

Honestly, I do not understand why anyone would not cling rather fiercely to the Liturgy, would not pester his/her pastor with great perseverance until he agreed to follow at least one of the Divine Services.  To have the Word spoken, chanted, prayed, sung...all the while proclaiming who God is and what He has done, what He plans and purposes for us, His beloved children...is such an absolute blessing that lingers far beyond the time spent beneath His roof.