El, Pizza Man's sister already wrote her new verse for Jesus Came, the Heavens Adoring for me!!!!

Jesus comes, His Words appealing
Righting all our Sin soil'd plans
Jesus comes to clear our conscience
Only He can give us peace
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
We are His and His we'll be
(El)

What a beautiful gift!  Though...she did twit me about the fact that I never asked either Pastor, Pizza Man, his Lovely Bride, Bettina, and her to do so.  I practically demanded they do it!  Alas...she has yet to learn who I am....

I fainted from low blood sugar.  Allergy attack.  Asthma attack.  Diabetes "attack."  I would like a break, please!

Pastor came for another parking lot confession/absolution.  I led us into a mud pit, unfortunately, so we ran over and I could not ask for another hymn.  So, the day was not marked by secret hymn joy at work.  But I did receive the words of Christ's forgiveness.  And I am very thankful for his willingness to help me in this rather unorthodox fashion.  Were you in doubt as to the condition of his heart, I will say that when I asked if I should read the Psalm I used to prepare my heart aloud, because it occurred to me that he might like to hear it, too, his response was Either way is fine...or should I read it to you?  I promptly passed over the bible.  Although I sang the Agnus Dei with him this time, I let him finish with the Amen and savored the idea of him reading to me.  His heart? you ask.  After taking the bible from my hands, he declared he should probably record it since it is not one that he has done so for me yet. After fetching his gizmo from his bag in the back seat, he did.

[Praying a psalm and now singing the Agnus Dei are not part of the confession/absolution liturgy, but I find it most helpful to begin with the Word of God before I walk down the path of baring my heart, so that I am cognizant of Him and why I am there, rather than just what I am feeling or thinking or both....]

Then end of the liturgy was hasty and disjointed and most...well...distracting for me.  And I am not really sure there were words of comfort (too much trying to explain that which should have been left unsaid on my part).  He did tell me of two circumstances that gave me pause and reminded me that there are so many more ways that I, as his parishioner, could be praying for him and for his flock and for his brothers.

When you think about it, Paul's instruction to pray without ceasing, in part, was not really necessary because there is too much for us to be praying about to ever have a time when we are not praying.  Although, Luther would say that that particular bit of instruction was not Law, not a demand, but a reminder of Gospel, a reminder of the fact that we have a God who longs to hear and to answer our prayers, a God who welcomes them and cherishes them so much that He sent His Son to die in order that He might approach us in our sinful condition and His Son sent His Spirit so that we might approach Him in His holiness.

Because we have a High Priest Who knows every sin but remains unstained, we can approach God in fearlessness.  Because we have an intercessor Who places our prayers on our lips and speaks for us with groanings too deep for words, we can be sure that we will be heard.

Selah.

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NOTE:  In case you wish to write me a new verse to sing, the pattern is:

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Alleluia! Alleluia!
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