So, another bible study, another...ahem...time off topic....

My boss was not really happy with me leaving today, so I took the extra time to see to her needs before I departed for bible study, which made me significantly late.  But those strange Lutherans keep telling me to come even if I am late, so I did.

When I arrived, I was very well-behaved, listening intently and taking notes.  But then we got to verse 11 of the 25th Psalm...and...well...I couldn't help myself but speak.

You see, these days, every time that I read "for my name's sake" or "for His name's sake" or "for the Lord's sake" my heart skips a beat and I am very, very thankful.  I am thankful because I have come to realize how important those words are.  God doesn't do things for our sake, because we are sinners and are deserving of only wrath and destruction and death.  God loves us so much that He sent His Son to die so that what He does is for His name sake, for the name of Christ brings glory and honor and praise and life and grace and mercy and peace and all manner of riches.  All those things are given to us because of Christ, because we bear the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit given to us in baptism.  If it were for my sake, none of that would be mine.

I mentioned this and then sort of went off the deep end talking about the givens of Lutheranism that are missing from Protestantism.  I was a bit emphatic, a bit passionate.  I almost wanted to stand on my chair and shout at them that they didn't know how good they have it being Lutherans, not being pressured to enlarge their own faith, to prove their own election.  SIGH.

Pastor mentioned again the key difference between Luther and Calvin.  Calvin started in heaven...God as sovereign and mighty.  Luther started at the Cross..God as He revealed himself to us.  Two very, very different perspectives, which ultimately end in very, very different places.  Protestants focus on what we can do for God, the One who saved us.  Lutherans focus on what God is doing for us, the One who is saving us.  Washing us, forgiving us, feeding us...now, not merely 2,000 years ago.  Luther is all about what we receive from God, the One who gives in love and mercy and grace, because, as sinners, there is nothing we can do for God, to reach God, to mitigate our sin.  Nothing.  That nothing is why I savor the word's for your name's sake.  I know what I deserve.  I can barely believe God, who knows the secrets of my heart, chooses to only look at me through the Cross.  And because of that He delights in me...in me!

So, you could say that, once again, I derailed bible study.  Now the nooner is not one I usually do so...I wonder how many train wrecks I can create before I am banished....

Pastor did give us homework for next week.  I wanted to answer him immediately because I think he is talking about something that is dear to my heart.  But, given my...ahem...near outburst earlier, I kept my mouth firmly shut.  Then, there is the fact that I usually fail at the guess-what's-in-Pastor's-head game he regularly plays at bible study (even though I know that the answer is usually Christ).  I thought if I went home and studied the matter more closely, I might have a better chance of arriving at the "correct" answer.  Being me, I promptly asked what the prize was for getting the right answer.  My godmother immediately followed with the advice that Pastor should make it a Myrtle-centric prize since all the others--parents of small children--will not have time to do the homework.

Hmm...what would be a good Myrtle prize?  Another reading of the book of Philippians in one sitting...extra Psalm recordings...a recording of my favorite passage from Job...singing three hymns of my choosing with me...answering five of my sticky note questions...don't those sound like most wonderful options for a prize????

But, wait, Myrtle, you did not tell us the assignment!  Read Psalm 25:11 (Pizza Man promptly read the verse to himself and quipped that he had done his homework!) in the NIV, NASB, and the ESV and come up with a verse in the New Testament that would join the seemingly disparate translations of that verse.

[Since I am the only one who does not have a spouse with whom to discuss the assignment, do you think it would be cheating to hire someone to serve in that role while I chase down the answer?]

Pastor, in his compassionate care of me, did a bit of homework of his own, looking up a question I had asked last week for me and bringing his notes to me so that I had fair warning of the discussion planned for next week on a topic that would be hard for me to hear cold turkey.  Twice before fair warning would have been of great benefit and the lack thereof hurt me.  This time, he remembered!  He did this even juggling grad school, his flock, and his family.  God is so very, very good to me!

I wanted to spend some time with Walther this evening, after my post-work-nap, and fully intended to move on to the fifth evening lecture, but the first one caught my heart again.

There was one bit that made me laugh with joy:  Wherever in Scripture you come across a threat, you may be assumed that that passage belong to the Law.  He would indeed be a blessed person who could fully realize this comforting truth. (The Proper Distinction of Law and Gospel, 11)

Ah, Pastor, are you grinning just now?  I am.  I had read this, several times in fact, and not really understood the consolation to which Walther could be referring.  But then I finally got it last week and now the words are very precious to me.  The Gospel contains no threats at all, but only words of consolation. (11)  The Gospel requires nothing but reception of His gifts, with sweet, sweet riches flowing from them.  The Law requires perfection of all thoughts, words, and deeds, with threats of dire consequences and ultimately death for failure.  No wonder Luther started with the Cross!

The second part that caught my eye and stilled my heart was a quote from Luke, chapter 4, verses 16-21:

And He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as His custom was, He went into the synagog on the Sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He opened the book, He found the place where it was written,

        "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
         BECAUSE HE HATH ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
         HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED 

         TO PREACH DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES,
         AND RECOVERING OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
         TO SET AT LIBERTY THEM THAT ARE BRUISED,
         TO PREACH THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."

And He closed the book, gave it again to the minister and sat down; and the eyes of all them that were in the synagog were fastened on Him.  And He began to say unto them, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."

Now, here Christ was proclaiming that He had come to fulfill the Law. By His death and resurrection, we are not bound to that Law anymore. But look at the setting...He paints not a picture of the threats He is mitigating, though rightly so.  Not at all!  Instead, He proclaims that which He was here to do for us....

One final note:  Pastor gave a great aside in today's bible study.  What does it mean to keep His commandments?  We think of keep as something we have to do, a process by which we accomplish something.  However, the Hebrew word really means something like treasure, hidden in your heart.  We are to cherish and treasure the Commandments, not be crushed by them.

What are you keeping this day?