Treating of Greeting

The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness." -Jeremiah 1:3

It is common in many local parishes for the congregation to leave the sanctuary in a procession of sorts, either semi-formal or informal, allowing the Pastor (or Pastors) to greet them individually. On many occasions I have been a Pastor who greets individuals as they leave the sanctuary, just as my Pastor has.

Here it happens that a man given to consider eternal things day in and day out is presented with an unpredictable onslaught of faces and names, each of whom he holds dear to his heart, having often thought through their lives and conditions, needs and cares, and yet never knowing for certain whether his notions are in accord with reality, except that they struggle with the same flesh he does.

For you, dear one in Christ Jesus, who greets your Pastor after Divine Service or on any other occasion, Your Maker is appearing to you from afar and saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness."

A Pastor is often distracted. To you it may even seem as if he is aloof. Although he knows better, human judgments about performance hound him just as badly as your own concerns in daily life do. Yet, as he looks at each face, he is seeing the faces of those who are baptized into Christ Jesus; whose bodies will at the Last Day be raised up pure and unencumbered by all that sticks to these bodies of death; whose lives are hidden in Christ Jesus.

A Pastor delights in seeing the congregation one-on-one, as it were. He knows that despite any and all weaknesses that attend to his person, those under his charge have received the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life that Christ Jesus lavishly bestows upon the Church He purchased through His holy and precious blood; His innocent suffering and death, all of which He most earnestly desired and intended before you were born.

It is for you as you leave the sanctuary just as it is for you going in: that all things delightful and good for you are ready and present according to the way your Creator set up your eternal well-being in Christ Jesus, that He has loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore drawn you into the body and blood of Christ who is risen from the dead, having made perfect payment with joy to purchase and win you to Himself; that He has placed this weak vessel in your very presence to convey gifts that even the highest powers on earth cannot create or offer.
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The Vocabulary

The vocabulary used here are words such as missional, intentional, lifestyle, living practices, goal, process. Conspicuously absent is a Lutheran vocabulary, such as forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, repentance, resurrection, grace, mercy, liturgy, sacrament.

It does the heart good to know you will not sit idly by while certain teachers in the Church rob themselves and others of the comfort we receive through the sound pattern of words and instruction that, together with vessels of humble appearance, declare us righteous while bestowing every good gift from Above. The fact that you are able to recognize departures from the Truth may be attributed to your dear Savior, whose tender voice you have heard and known from youth; whose grace day by day has kept you faithful.

The proliferation of notions akin to those expressed by many in Church officialdom is nothing new. How to address them to salutary effect is an art I am not particularly adept at practicing. My tendency is to flee in the opposite direction. This I may do, because I know a place where these alien teachings do not hold sway, namely the place where together we are recipients of, and conductors for, the grace of God in Christ Jesus at Emmaus, South Bend. Many other such places have, by the grace of God, been put forth in this land and around the world. The Holy Spirit calls you to seek them out.

As we draw nearer to the end of time in this world, the opportunities to confess the Faith clearly will increase. I take Pastor Stuckwisch, President Harrison, you, and several others as examples of those whose teaching, life and conduct are exemplary in dealing with matters like this. There is definite, inward stress that comes about when those in the Church continually place emphasis on our work and activity, making it a starting point, when in fact all we are and have is, from one moment to the next, sustained by grace through the same Word that created the heavens and the earth.

Perhaps there will be others who, like you, take time to express concern. The LCMS seems to be taking significant steps toward doctrinal oversight, so we may see an increase in faithful teaching and practice in our midst for which we may give thanks and praise to Christ Jesus. At the same time, based on my few visits outside of Emmaus over the years, chopped liver tends to be more in evidence than one Body. Well . . . we walk by faith!

I was reminded by your concern to reach back to Dr. Herman Sasse, whose life of teaching in the Church, in the paraphrased words of Dr. J.W. Kleinig, "frequently reminds us that the church is not sinless and free from the ravages of original sin. Nor has it ever been! It isn’t as if only heretics, liberal theologians and heterodox churches have erred. No, the church has often erred and would always err; even its most saintly leaders and all its greatest theologians have erred and have perhaps done the cause of Christ the greatest damage; even Luther and our orthodox fathers have erred; he himself has erred, and we, too, will err. Only Christ and His Word have never erred, and they will never err."

It is to this we are given to yield as we deal with one another under the grace we have received, in Whom we abide, namely that all sufficiency for all time is ours in Christ alone. Since He is proven to know our weakness, we may also deal in love with our neighbor's weakness, knowing no weakness ultimately nullifies the end of all that has been ordained from the beginning for the Body of Christ.

Peace be with you.
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Threads

She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle. – Proverbs 31:19

You are joined to the Bride of Christ, The Church, holy and without blemish because the merits and righteousness of Christ Jesus have been given to you in Holy Baptism, and you abide in His Word by His grace.

So the beginning and end of each day - although you only know this by faith - are times of taking what is incomplete and unfinished in the way of good works, and working it into all that is built up to the end of the age. Your garment of righteousness has been woven and spun not by your own efforts, but by your Creator who, through His Bride, keeps hand on spindle and distaff, never tiring of this good and wholesome process.

It is the same for your day-to-day life, or garment, of sanctification. In every respect you are forging ahead in faith under the cross, with your body of sin crucified and joined to the Living One.

Just as threads going into fabric are neither self-aware nor contrary in behavior, you who were once dead in trespasses and sin have are continually built up as Christ is at work in you both to desire and to do His good pleasure. As you look inward you see nothing but sin and death, but the Seamstress has an end in mind that is glorious and beyond your understanding.

This all takes place over time, and it all involves the work of Jesus on your behalf, in Whom you may take rest and comfort as he enjoins and invites you to do. It is through His Bride that all needs are given and taught, so that you need not wrestle under pretensions and manmade notions, but may instead rejoice in the Truth, having a path in which to walk that is clearly delineated day by day, serving neighbor with the same love and forgiveness you yourself have received.

The threads and fabric in spinning do not change in substance when they go from distaff to spindle, but remain the same substance under the careful attention of She who hears and believes the voice of her Husband, even though the latter stage is more glorious than the first. The Bride of Christ will bring you good, and not harm, all the days of your life; from beginning to end; from distaff to spindle.

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