Today was a hymn day!  Pastor emailed them early this morning.  I admit that I feared he would not do so, given the words that were spoken yesterday.  I must weary him so.

One of the hymns intrigued me: God of the Prophets, Bless the Prophets' Sons (LSB, 682)...yes, another prayer hymn!

Do you remember Behold a Host Arrayed in White? I really like this hymn because the tune sounds like being in a rocking chair...or how I imagine that might feel.  Whenever I told a friend I thought it would be a great one to memorize to sing her boys to sleep.

Not to the same degree, but in part, I think God of the Prophets, Bless the Prophets' Sons is another great bedtime one. Both tunes have a soothing quality that lend themselves to being sung to children.  Both hymns teach.  Both are comforting in that they speak of God moving through those who do His work.  One past, one future.

God of the prophets, bless the prophets' sons

Elijah's mantle o'er Elisha cast.

Each age its solemn task may claim but once;

Make each one nobler, stronger than the last.

Anoint them prophets, men who are intent

To be Your witnesses in word and deed,

Their hearts aflame, their lips made eloquent,

Their eyes awake to ev'ry human need.

Anoint them priests, strong intercessors they,

For pardon and for love and hope and peace,

That, through their pleading, guilty sinners may

Find Jesus' mercy and from sin release.

Anoint them priests, strong intercessors they,

Anoint them with the Spirit of Your Son.

Theirs not a jeweled crown, a bloodstained sword;

Theirs, by sweet love, for Christ a kingdom won.

Make them apostles, heralds of Your cross;

Forth let them go to tell the world of grace.

Inspired by You, may they count all but loss

And stand at last with joy before Your face.

Speaking of future and past, during my last lessoning, I asked Pastor if he had to assign a verb tense to forgiveness, which one would he pick.  You could say he cheated, choosing two.  But...given that God is outside of time...there really is no tense that could fit forgiveness.

Perfect Tense:  A completed action in the past that has enduring results in the present
Present Tense:  An unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that exists only now

The first is why, so Veith explains in The Spirituality of the Cross, Lutherans, when asked when they were saved, will not give the date God first granted them faith in their life, be it through baptism or through the Living Word, but will name a date some 2,000 years ago.

The second is why Pastor teaches "I am baptized" instead of "I was baptized."  I believe, too, the second is the why of the seal of confession.  What is spoken in confession is forgiven and never spoken of again.  It is forgiven so it is no more.  You cannot speak of what does not exist.

I shall leave you with a snippet from the most perfect argument for Liturgy that I have read to date, which I found this day on Pastor W's blog:

Divine worship is a battle to strengthen faith for holding onto the promises. We know faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. Faith comes from the promises - they are what the Holy Spirit uses to give and to strengthen faith! So we hurl the promises at each other, drench each other in them, wrap each other up in them to help one another in the struggle as we live in this very broken and damaged world, stumbling on, crawling toward the joys of the Age that is to come - where everything that is not Love will at last and blessedly be history! 


Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief!