I came across this new song and video by the duo Big & Rich. It's a very honest yet hopeful look at our time. I'll let it speak for itself, but do watch/listen for several key things: a crucifix at 0:55, the personal confession beginning at 2:43, and the sudden change at 3:09.
And be reminded that we "ought always to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjJyZfDCa88
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Faith Is a Candle
"Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe; help my unbelief!'" (Mark 9:24).
What is clear from this man's prayer is that he should be teaching at the seminary. For he understands the true theology of faith: that faith and unbelief are found in the same heart. Looking in his own heart, he formulates a five-word confession and prayer among the most insightful in the New Testament.
He is saying to Jesus, "The problem is not that I don't believe. The problem is that I don't believe!" In other words, "I've got faith, but I've got unbelief too. Help me!"
Let us make two points.
1. This prayer is reassuring. If you're a Christian and experience doubt, you needn't worry. It is to be expected. But true doubt is only possible right next to true faith. Think of faith less like a bright sunny day and more like a candle burning in a dark room. Faith burns as a candle in the darkness of our own sinful, unbelieving hearts.
Our faith is not yet all it should be, but it is enough. Luther said, "On earth the heart can never attain or feel faith to such a degree as it should; but it always stays in the stage of a wishing and a sighing of the spirit, too deep for a man to express. Then the heart says: 'Oh, that it were true!' Again: 'Ah, if only one could believe it!' Nevertheless, this sighing and this spark of faith achieve so much that God regards them as a complete faith and says: 'According to your faith be it unto you; and because you believe, you are certainly saved.'"
Ask yourself not, "How much faith do I have?" But rather, "How much Christ?" And the answer is: All of Him, crucified and risen!
2. The Lord is responding. Pray this five-word prayer and then know that your Lord is responding. He comes running to anyone who prays this prayer and gives them His sure Word and strengthening Sacrament. He is risen, dear Christian, for this purpose, and to keep your little flame from ever going out.
Now practice praying, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
What is clear from this man's prayer is that he should be teaching at the seminary. For he understands the true theology of faith: that faith and unbelief are found in the same heart. Looking in his own heart, he formulates a five-word confession and prayer among the most insightful in the New Testament.
He is saying to Jesus, "The problem is not that I don't believe. The problem is that I don't believe!" In other words, "I've got faith, but I've got unbelief too. Help me!"
Let us make two points.
1. This prayer is reassuring. If you're a Christian and experience doubt, you needn't worry. It is to be expected. But true doubt is only possible right next to true faith. Think of faith less like a bright sunny day and more like a candle burning in a dark room. Faith burns as a candle in the darkness of our own sinful, unbelieving hearts.
Our faith is not yet all it should be, but it is enough. Luther said, "On earth the heart can never attain or feel faith to such a degree as it should; but it always stays in the stage of a wishing and a sighing of the spirit, too deep for a man to express. Then the heart says: 'Oh, that it were true!' Again: 'Ah, if only one could believe it!' Nevertheless, this sighing and this spark of faith achieve so much that God regards them as a complete faith and says: 'According to your faith be it unto you; and because you believe, you are certainly saved.'"
Ask yourself not, "How much faith do I have?" But rather, "How much Christ?" And the answer is: All of Him, crucified and risen!
2. The Lord is responding. Pray this five-word prayer and then know that your Lord is responding. He comes running to anyone who prays this prayer and gives them His sure Word and strengthening Sacrament. He is risen, dear Christian, for this purpose, and to keep your little flame from ever going out.
Now practice praying, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Holy Cross Days
I wrote this devotion last year. The Ground Zero Cross must be remembered. It tells of a God who suffered for us, and who suffers with us.
"...the cross of Jesus" (John 19:25).
September 13 and 14 should share the name Holy Cross.
To begin with, September 14 has long been called Holy Cross Day. On that day in the year 320 Helena, the mother of Constantine, is believed to have discovered the cross of our Lord on which He died. It is one of the earliest Christian feast days, and points to the centrality of the death of Jesus in the Christian faith.
Enter September 13, one day before. On this day in 2001 an excavator named Frank Silecchia discovered, amid the rubble of the World Trade Center, a cross. A T-beam weighing thousands of pounds had the unmistakable shape of a cross, and had fallen into a perfect upright position. It was carefully removed, blessed, and stands today.
I confess, I don't know for a fact whether Helena found the actual cross of Christ. What I do know is that Frank Silecchia did. And he found it where the true cross will be found: right smack in the middle of human tragedy, suffering, and death.
To bring us through.
"...the cross of Jesus" (John 19:25).
September 13 and 14 should share the name Holy Cross.
To begin with, September 14 has long been called Holy Cross Day. On that day in the year 320 Helena, the mother of Constantine, is believed to have discovered the cross of our Lord on which He died. It is one of the earliest Christian feast days, and points to the centrality of the death of Jesus in the Christian faith.
Enter September 13, one day before. On this day in 2001 an excavator named Frank Silecchia discovered, amid the rubble of the World Trade Center, a cross. A T-beam weighing thousands of pounds had the unmistakable shape of a cross, and had fallen into a perfect upright position. It was carefully removed, blessed, and stands today.
I confess, I don't know for a fact whether Helena found the actual cross of Christ. What I do know is that Frank Silecchia did. And he found it where the true cross will be found: right smack in the middle of human tragedy, suffering, and death.
To bring us through.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
9/11's Silver Timing
"Then Peter came up and said to Him, 'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times'" (Matt. 18:21-22).
"Every cloud," goes the saying, "has a silver lining." 9/11 had a silver timing.
Next week, Tuesday, will mark the eleventh anniversary of 9/11. Last year, in preparing for the tenth anniversary, I made a little discovery. It was new to me anyway. And because it has helped me in the healing process, I want to share it with others.
Of the four planes involved on 9/11, the first one (Flight 11) crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower at 8:46 a.m. And the last one (Flight 93) crashed in the Pennsylvania field at 10:03 a.m.
The discovery was this: That's a total of seventy-seven minutes.
There are other measures. But from one basic angle the timeframe of the 9/11 attacks was exactly seventy-seven minutes long. Or seventy-seven long minutes.
I immediately thought of the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:22 and the deep significance carried by the number seventy-seven.
File it under "coincidence," "there are no coincidences," or somewhere in between. All I know is that I was turned to the voice of Christ and heartened by it.
Adding to the "coincidence" was the fact that last year's tenth anniversary fell on a Sunday and, incredibly, the appointed Holy Gospel for that day was Matthew 18:21-35!
The discovery of the seventy-seven minutes along with the "seventy-seven times" of Jesus has been for a year now like a salve on the wound of 9/11. And for me, as a Christian, it has been a reminder and a promise that God wills to work in me and maintain a loving, forgiving heart toward all, including those who don't deserve it, and even those who don't desire it. He does this through meditation on my own sin and the cross of Christ.
I see in the seventy-seven minutes a silver timing and lesson that even a wound as deep as 9/11 needn't leave us with a bitter heart, but rather a faith that mercy is stronger than evil. And always will be.
"Every cloud," goes the saying, "has a silver lining." 9/11 had a silver timing.
Next week, Tuesday, will mark the eleventh anniversary of 9/11. Last year, in preparing for the tenth anniversary, I made a little discovery. It was new to me anyway. And because it has helped me in the healing process, I want to share it with others.
Of the four planes involved on 9/11, the first one (Flight 11) crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower at 8:46 a.m. And the last one (Flight 93) crashed in the Pennsylvania field at 10:03 a.m.
The discovery was this: That's a total of seventy-seven minutes.
There are other measures. But from one basic angle the timeframe of the 9/11 attacks was exactly seventy-seven minutes long. Or seventy-seven long minutes.
I immediately thought of the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:22 and the deep significance carried by the number seventy-seven.
File it under "coincidence," "there are no coincidences," or somewhere in between. All I know is that I was turned to the voice of Christ and heartened by it.
Adding to the "coincidence" was the fact that last year's tenth anniversary fell on a Sunday and, incredibly, the appointed Holy Gospel for that day was Matthew 18:21-35!
The discovery of the seventy-seven minutes along with the "seventy-seven times" of Jesus has been for a year now like a salve on the wound of 9/11. And for me, as a Christian, it has been a reminder and a promise that God wills to work in me and maintain a loving, forgiving heart toward all, including those who don't deserve it, and even those who don't desire it. He does this through meditation on my own sin and the cross of Christ.
I see in the seventy-seven minutes a silver timing and lesson that even a wound as deep as 9/11 needn't leave us with a bitter heart, but rather a faith that mercy is stronger than evil. And always will be.
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