So, today was my sixth appointment with Verizon that never happened.

My case is with an escalation team, and a supervisor personally set up the appointment.  He told me that it was for a window between 2 PM and 7 PM.  I slept until noon and awoke to three voice mail messages from Verizon telling my my appointment was from 8 AM until 12 PM and since I was not answering, no technician would be arriving.  I called the escalation team and the man who answered said he would resolve this.  Nothing happened for the rest of the day; no technician arrived; no follow-up call came.

So, I have spent this entire day, other than the hour and forty-five minutes I spent arguing with the Verizon supervisor (for the record, my first tech support call for the up-and-down service I am having was February 20th), listening to  sermons, taking notes, and studying my twelve Greek vocabulary words and six verb endings.  One of the words, the one that means "I proclaim," I cannot figure out how to pronounce so that I am having difficulty memorizing it.  Tomorrow, my plan is to write out the six verb tenses for each of the twelve new verbs as a way to learn both.

Have I mentioned that my formation of Greek letters is atrocious?  I no longer have very good fine motor skills in my hands; I almost always have a slight tremor.  If I were to hold my hands out before you, you would see it, especially if I hold my fingers out flat...if you were looking at me.  [For some reason, my hands curl ever so slightly and to have them flat on a table or to splay my fingers that way is painful.]  Sometimes the trembling is quite noticeable, such as at confession/absolution last week.  The paper with the liturgy flapped like an aspen leaf in the wind when I held it out for the new parish pastor.  Since the church was set up for the Divine Service that night, the microphones were on, magnifying the sound of the flapping paper.  I was a bit embarrassed.

There are some funky looking letters in the Greek alphabet and Pastor E is most particular that we form them correctly.  I am trying to do so; I really am.  I just am battling an utter lack of artistic skill and MS ravaged hands.  SIGH.

What are my verbs?  I see; I hear; I steal; I wash; I save; I heal; I write; I proclaim; I send; I lead; I loose; and I leave (abandon).  I cannot write the endings because I have not figured out how to type Greek letters, and even if I could do so I cannot on Blogger...unless I knew HTML, I guess. 

I cannot decide which of the sermons I have listened to I savor most.  Some have troubled me.  Some leave me a bit confused.  And some make me quiet deep within, restful with a peace that is truly not of this world.

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When I had dinner and devotions with Pizza Man and his Lovely Bride a little over a week ago, Pizza Man asked me what it was like to have heard different confessional pastors.  I have read many, many sermons from a collection of confessional Lutheran pastors I have found online.  But I have heard (the way sermons are meant to be taken in) five pastors:  my first and second parishes, Pastor F, Pastor W, and Pastor P, who frequently posts audio files of his sermons on his blog, Lutheran Logomaniac.

I tried to explain how Pastor F tends to teach through the text, while another tend to preach inspired by the text.  Pastor E does both.  All three are skilled at properly dividing Law and Gospel and all three very rarely put themselves in the sermon/homily but instead always give you Christ crucified.  All three are also blunt, oft call a spade a spade.  Pastor F is the most bald; I believe he and Luther would have understood each other quite well...hung out in the pub together jawing and clapping each other on the shoulder.  Pastor E offers these nuggets that have deep, deep veins of Gospel.  You think, when you first hear them, oh, that was well said.  Then you keep thinking, keep reflecting, and you find truth that you can chew on all week.  All the pastors present the Law in all its harshness, not blunting its edge even the slightest bit; all three pour out the sweet, sweet Gospel with great generosity and with a bit of awe that it is what God has promised to us, done for us, given to us.  But, as you may have guessed from this rambling paragraph, I struggled to answer his question because I crave being taught the Living Word and savor each opportunity to have it fall upon my hears, either liver or via digital recording.  Translated:  I am too biased to answer because any confessional Lutheran pastor who rightly divides Law and Gospel is a gift to be cherished.

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I thought I would leave you with Pastor W's discussion of gestures.  I found it a month ago, promptly forgot about it, and went back there today since I have been thinking so much about the things I saw sitting up front on Wednesday.  He wrote the post to say that all parts of the Divine Service ought to confess something.  I reflect upon all the "services" I attended as a Protestant and find my heart full of sorrow, for I cannot recall one where the whole of it was a confession of Christ crucified, where every gesture, every portion of Liturgy, every song, every Word, and every word were a confession.  I sorrow for what I missed; I sorrow for what all those Christians not in a Divine Service are missing still.  Grace and peace to them.  Grace and peace.

Gestures in Worship 


There's a rather disappointing discussion going on on a liturgy list I'm part of about the sign of the cross. But the discussion did get me thinking about gesture in worship. The most neglected part of thinking about gesture is recognizing that everything we DO confesses SOMETHING about what we BELIEVE. I know I may be a bit of kook on these matters, so take it for what it's worth...

Whenever I approach the altar or cross the midst of it, I will stop and bow to reverence the altar. Why? Because this is the table from which my Savior feeds me His own body and blood for my salvation. I never want to take that gift for granted.

At the invocation, benediction, and at several others spots in the Divine Service I cross myself. Why? Because I belong to the Crucified and need to remind myself of it constantly: every good in the world is wrapped up in the Crucified and Risen Lord and He has marked as His own with the cross.

At the reading of the Gospel - we almost always read this in the midst of the congregation confessing that Christ Himself is among us and speaking to us through these words. Before reading His holy words, I sign myself with the cross upon forehead, mouth and heart asking Christ to be in my mind, on my mouth, and in heart as I read to His people His holy words. When the Gospel reading is over, I lift the book above my head and announce "This is the Gospel of the Lord" - so that all can see it, and then I kiss the Gospel reading and close the book and it is returned to the lectern. Why kiss it? Because I love the Lord's words and am grateful for them - by them we live in hope and through them we can die in confidence. There are no words on earth so precious! I kiss what I love. It just seems natural.

At the intercessions, I raise empty hands to heaven, for we come before God always as beggars, as those seeking from Him His mercy for our needs and for the needs of the whole Church and indeed the whole world.

During the consecration, I elevate the host so that the people can see it. It is a visual proclamation as Dr. Luther described in German Mass. Then I genuflect before the One who has sacramentally united His crucified and risen body to that host, for "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." Similarly with the chalice.

These gestures - every one of them - fall within the category of adiaphora. I am not suggesting that everyone should do as I do. I am suggesting that everything we DO do in the Divine Service confesses SOMETHING. And most of it isn't rocket science. If you just stop and ask yourself: what does kneeling down before the Sacrament confess, it becomes pretty clear, doesn't it? Lutherans should never get their knickers in knots over such things; they are free. Free to be used. Free not to be used. But Lutherans should always press deeper and ask themselves: what do my gestures confess, for they surely confess something.


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!