Every Knee Should Bow: Advocate

This name of Jesus is one to cling to! Hold fast to Him, sisters, and rest knowing that He speaks on your behalf.

It's especially meaningful this time of year as we consider His sacrifice. In my Lenten reading, I ran across Jesus on trial before Pilate. He was 100% innocent and yet He allowed Himself to be subjected to such inhumane treatment. He did this with an end goal in mind - you and me. He needed to do this so that He could be our Advocate and speak in our defence. He has made satisfactory payment for your sin and justice has been served. 

Your assignment this week is to workout. 

What?!

Practice moving your pointer finger in and out so that you'll be ready for your court date and you'll be ready to point to Jesus when the Judge asks what you have to say for yourself. 

Oh, and read John 18:28-40 this week and contemplate how the One on trial is now the One who speaks for our defence! 

Every Knee Should Bow: Alpha and Omega

This name seems to emphasize the bigness of God. It definitely makes my head hurt! But there is much comfort in knowing that He has come before ... well, EVERYTHING! He will always be. And I gotta be honest - it keeps me in my place. Humbled. I may not completely comprehend this one but that's OK. 

"He knew us before we existed and He knows us as though we've already spent eternity together!"

This name gets a little "Christmasy" because of the beautiful hymn that quotes the name of Jesus as Alpha and Omega. Man, I love that song. Here you go. Your welcome:)

Shortly after Jesus was born, the angels showed up to make their announcement to the shepherds of what just happened. It was as if the sky opened up and unveiled what is always there that isn't usually visible to our human eyes: Angels praising and worshiping God. I usually think of angels on guard for us often clumsy and clueless humans, keeping us out of trouble and possibly some car accidents we'll never know we would have had without their interference! Oh, the stories they must have to tell!!! But here we see them created also for worship and praise to God like we are. Some day we'll see this massive worship with our eyes. But until then, we have the Gloria in Excelsis.

Here's the liturgy again! When we sing the Gloria in the Common Service, I love to imagine that sky full of angels and what magnanomous sound must have filled the earth in that moment when heaven collided. It may take only a minute to sing, but I like to picture our worlds colliding again as we sing the words:

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you, of your great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty. O Lord, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us. You take away the sin of the world; receive our prayer. You sit at the right hand of God the Father; have mercy on us. For you only are holy; you only are the Lord. You only, O Christ, with the Holy Spirit, are most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

In that moment, heaven doesn't seem so far away ... 

*church photos taken on our recent trip to Montreal, Quebec

Every Knee Should Bow: Second Adam

All mankind fell in Adam's fall; One common sin infects us all.

From one to all the curse descends, And over all God's wrath impends.

But Christ, the second Adam, came  To bear our sin and woe and shame,

To be our life, our light, our way, Our only hope, our only stay.

As by one man all mankind fell  And, born in sin, was doomed to hell,

So by one Man, who took our place, We all were justified by grace.

This last Sunday in our church, we heard a sermon preached  (scroll to March 5) on the words from Romans 5. It was the perfect start to our study of Jesus being our Second Adam! (God has great timing) If your church follows this same pericope of Bible lessons, maybe you heard these words preached too! *be prepared to want pumpkin pie after listening to Wayne's sermon;)

We had an extra bonus last Sunday of hosting a speaker from Creation Ministries International.  The speaker gave two lectures, one before the service and one after. They were titled  I Can See Clearly Now: Making Sense of the Creation/Evolution Question and Amazing Evidences for a Young Universe. The former lecture dealt with evolution being contrary to Scripture and that it removes the first Adam from history. It's a pretty slippery slope - once you've rejected the first Adam, what is the need for our Second Adam? I pray that if you are struggling with the creation/evolution debate that you would continue to struggle - search, listen, ask questions - your life depends on it! The latter lecture was more scientific based research and proof, equipping the saints in this world of confusion and lies. We were grateful to experience such a thought provoking day! 

We thank you, Christ; new life is ours, New light, new hope, new strength, new pow'rs;

This grace our ev'ry way attend  Until we reach our journey's end.

*Hymn #378 All Mankind Fell in Adam's Fall from Christian Worship (verses 1,4,5,6)

Your assignment this week as you ponder Jesus being our Second Adam is to memorize Romans 5:18,19 "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."

Every Knee Should Bow: Amen

I love our Lutheran liturgy! Even though I've been blessed to experience it my whole life, I am still affected by the corporate confession of sin we begin each and every Sunday with. It never fails to escape me that as I'm publicly confessing my own sin, it's the people I share a pew with that get to live with those faults and often take the brunt of my weaknesses and failures. How sweet it is to hear words of absolution from the mouth of my own husband speaking as a called servant of Christ and by His authority! 

Amen.

Yep. I'm a liturgy lover. And it's not just for church - I bring it into our home too. 

I decorate liturgically. Seriously. Those colours you see changing on the altar at church throughout the year? I do that at home. Right now it's the colour purple found in my candles, runners and napkins. Notice how stark the altar looks during Lent without any flowers? I do that at home too. Except I take down all my tchotchkes and knicknaks and don't replace them with anything. It's bare and plain and bonus: I can dust easier! I also have a "Lenten tree" which has artwork of Jesus' passion history hanging from it's branches. For Lent I take off my toe nail polish that I usually keep pretty year round. I blame my mother for that weirdness. What's the point if I'm still wearing boots this time of year?  I look down at them in the morning, at night and once during the week when I take Hosanna to swimming and I'm wearing flip-flops. In all these cases, they are reminders I surround myself (and my family) with that remind me of my need and point me to my Saviour in random moments throughout the day.  
There's more but I fear I may have overwhelmed you;)

The purpose of the liturgy (and what I strive to do at home) is to keep our eyes on Jesus. Everything points to Him. Every part teaches us about Him. Our hymns are taken directly from Scripture and tie into the service. The colours and banners and paraments all have meaning and point to Him. Because Amen is used so often in all of it, we can easily gloss over the weight of it's meaning. It's important to be reminded of why we say this word and that it's only through Christ and His saving work that it holds any certainty! 

But Amen as a name for Jesus is such a perfect name to meditate on as we begin Lent! As we enter this season of repentance and renewal, reading the words to the church in Laodicea are words meant for you and me too. My first reaction to reading this section was Yikes! Glad He wasn't talking to me! Until I realized He was ...

Enter: repentance. Sweet sisters-in-Christ, let us stand together in spirit and unity if not in body when we worship on Wednesday night and recall the words our great Amen spoke when he said in Revelation 3:19-22, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Amen promises to forgive us in our repentance! He's speaking to His children here, His church, as we are members of this family. It's objective truth. Not based on whether we feel forgiven or not, we can know that His Word is truth. 

Your assignment for this week: make an effort not to gloss over this word used so often but meditate on it. Take the time to appreciate both uses of it - the subjective use that often is part of our prayer life and liturgy - but also the implication it brings as a name of Jesus! Find comfort in the assurance of your forgiveness. 

What does the liturgy mean to you? How do you keep Lent and how does that point to Jesus, our Amen? 

Every Knee Should Bow: Introduction and Lent

Welcome to all my new study buddies as together we start our journey of looking closely at 6 different names of Jesus during the season of Lent! 

You already know that you are my guinea pigs and I thank each and every one of you for taking a chance on something new. Where two or three come together in His name (even online!) He promises to be with us. 

Before we dive into the study, I'd like to do a quick introduction for those that may not know me. First off, I've been writing at this blog for 10 years. My original motivation was to use it as a travel log and way to communicate with family and friends while we journeyed to China to adopt our daughter.  Since then I've continued using it for those purposes since we live far away from ALL our family. I've personally enjoyed it as an outlet of expression and creativity, to journal our family life (since I'm prone to forget), and to keep connected to others. 

I introduced the idea of a blog book club for Advent, 2013. I continued that idea for the following Lent and have done at least one if not both of those every year. It's been so much fun hosting these and I have been so spiritually blessed by the experience. But this is the first time it's not based on a book but on what I've studied and written. Hence, the guinea pigs:)

We're a pastor's family in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We've been here almost 15 years right out of seminary. I'm a DMLC (Dr. Martin Luther College) dropout turned hairstylist, homeschooler (oh, the irony) for 12 years, and homemaker/home based hair studio stylist. My passions are learning, reading, cooking, baking, decorating and all things home. I'm blessed with a great husband who takes my crazy ideas and makes them happen, fixes them when they're broken, and makes sense of them when they don't. I'm also blessed with two great kids - Will, who is 16 1/2 and a junior at Luther Prep School in Watertown, Wisconsin and Zanna, who has just turned 11 and is a mini me Chinese version. OK, enough about me.

Lent

If you haven't watched it yet, please take a minute now to look at the short video posted above about Lent. There are some misunderstandings out there as far as what it is and what it's not. I think this one does a great job at focusing us on several key points that tie in really nicely to our study of the names of Jesus. 

Here's the thing about it for me: 

I'm not ready...for Easter.
I need to set aside this time of year to examine my heart and see it for what it really is  - sinful and broken. I must see how truly great my need is for a Saviour so that when I see Him in the passion history readings throughout the midweek services, I better comprehend that it's for me. 

My soul could use some significant time to meditate on the suffering and death of Christ and appreciate the lengths He went to for the whole world! It's a break from the alleluias. Not to wallow in some self-condemning misery for 40 days, but all the while knowing the sweet gospel message of Jesus overcoming sin and death and that my own sin is buried in His triumphant death and resurrection!

Now we've sung our final alleluias this past Sunday and we enter into the season of Lent to focus on our Saviour. My prayer is that this study will be a way to do just that! With each name we draw closer to understanding who our Saviour is and what that means for us. It's also a time of reflection and repentance as we consider our need and how He met that need in love! 

I'm going to meet you back here this Sunday to discuss our first name, Amen. I want you to read the chapter and take some time to consider it. I encourage you to use it in your prayers to Jesus this week calling on Him with this name! Listen for the usage of it in the church services you attend and don't let it pass you by. 

You can come back here at any time, of course! But Sunday will be when I will put my post up. You'll actually have all week to make comments, continuing stewing on it, etc. Lent isn't a time for rushing ... it's time to slow down. Meditate. Focus on your Saviour. 

You should have read the introduction What's in a Name? by now. Since the introduction is all about names, I'd love for you to introduce yourself. Where are you from? What does your name mean? What do you appreciate about Lent? Comments or thoughts on the introduction?