LÖHE ON 1. PETER 2:21

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

KreuzesnachfolgeTo this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (1Pe 2:21 NIV)

The class of slaves is one of undeserved suffering. Born free or in captivity such a slave is in the power of another’s will. He must endure that another decides what to do with his time and strength and ability. His master decides arbitrarily what he should do, suffer and live like. In our epistle this suffering is called his calling (Beruf)and that this is the holy path of following his good shepherd. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you.” Behold Jesus in his undeserving suffering for others. Jesus is the example in suffering, an divine example according to God’s plan in whose footsteps all Christians – especially Christian slaves – should walk.

The suffering Jesus is our example! Can you imagine a more dignified and glorious example than this? Do you know a discipleship/following (Nachfolge) that you would prefer to this one following Jesus through shame and hardship from without and within to gain the open space that Jesus opened up for us? If it goes down into deep valleys, then another will pull us up on high. Do we sink down in deep sorrow, we will be lifted to great joy and never ending happiness – to a well being that knows no end. Therefore lift up your face and look at our leader Jesus Christ, who is the author and perfector, the Lord of all Saints and follow him to the very end! To enable you to do this, you have to fix your eyes on Jesus and trust him to lead you the way – listen to him and follow his directions.

O Lord Jesus Christ, you view our suffering graciously and you help even before we know it, remember us in all stages of our life and comfort us in bad days so that we may overcome confidently. Amen. 

Suffering we move heavenward. Follow me, calls Christ our kingly head and we look at him alone. He is calling with peace that nobody can hurt. (Hermann von Bezzel, 1861-1917)

This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Monday after the second Sunday after Easter: Misericordias Domini. It is found on Pg. 174 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu!   (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Herrenhuter readings for Monday, the 15th April 2013

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

fistsHe keeps my laws and follows my decrees. He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. (Ezekiel 18:17 NIV)

If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (Romans 14:8 NIV)

Posted in Losung & Lehrtext | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

LÖHE ON 1. PETER 2:21

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

suffering servantTo this you were called. (1Pe 2:21 NIV)

You? Who is this? Most likely those addressed by Saint Peter in the previous three verses. That means the slaves, those without liberty and freedom. To what are they called? With what goal and aim have they been called to Christ and into his Church? The answer is very clear. So that they would submit themselves to their masters with all respect and even bear up under the pain of unjust suffering. What a calling of these slaves! Who has a higher or more beautiful calling? The calling to labor and good works is beautiful, the call to suffer is beautiful too, but more beautiful is the double calling to good works and suffering, the call to practice benefaction, serving without repayment, without the hope of harvesting – yes suffering the whims and moods and even the whips of the tyrant, bearing his back to those beating him, not hiding his face from those spitting on him and if the tears flow and the heart bleeds hiding ones face in the dust and prayerfully confessing: This is my calling!

Consider yourself as a slave, who can do this and will do it. Consider to be drawn close to him in your daily experience and consider to follow this example as you go about your life and then answer this question: Do you know a higher or greater calling, a more triumphant glory of Christendom than this? Do you know anybody who is more like Christ than such a slave? Did not our Lord himself suffer in this way there in the religious and secular courts of Jerusalem? Did he not as benefactor of all still suffer the shame of the cross and the burden of the sins of all the world? What a tremendous dignity such a faithful Christian slave has! Who great will be the rejoicing and jubilation of the angels and their eternal King about such a slave, who was so patient, humble and faithful in his calling to follow Jesus +

Lord Jesus Christ, you are saviour and liberator! You gave yourself as a living sacrifice for us; help us that we too would sacrifice our hearts to you and that we would bring all our worries, suffering, trouble and hardship to you and lay them at your feet. Let us follow your calling faithfully, so that in all our doing and especially in our suffering we would look up at you and your hands – and become more and more like you. Grant this in your mercy! Amen.

Dress me with your meekness and imprint on me the image of your humility so that no anger or pride rise up in me and nothing else constitute my being than your most holy suffering. (Johann Anastasius Freylingshausen 1670-1739)

This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for the second Sunday after Easter: Misericordias Domini. It is found on Pg. 173 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu!   (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.

Posted in Meditations by P.Wilhelm Löhe (Translation) | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Herrenhuter readings for Sunday, the 14th April 2013

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

eyeTurn my eyes away from worthless things! (Psalm 119:37 NIV)

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Luke 6:41 NIV)

Posted in Losung & Lehrtext | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LÖHE ON JOHN 20:22-23

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

KeywsAnd with that Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (Joh 20:22-23 NIV)

How is the trumpet to sound a note without air and how should the guitar string twang without the plucking finger? How can the holy office of the ministry (heilige Amt) and the message of peace come together if the Holy Spirit does not join them? This ministry, which is to give the Spirit has to have the Spirit first before it can share it.

Our Lord gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples with the breath of his mouth with the aim of spreading out his message of peace. These words: “Receive the Holy Spirit” are not to be separated from the following: “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Remission of sins is granting peace, just as retention of sins means ongoing strife and confirming the conflict. His message of peace is to reach the world as a power of God, which overcomes the world and saves it.

The Lord foresaw that millions and multimillions would not receive this message of peace. Therefore he installed the office of the ministry – this service of pastoral care – through which he would in a very specific and personal way grant peace individually and grant divine grace to the single sorry soul. The power of the keys forgiving sins follows up the faith that has been initiated by the divine word of God in sermons, catechesis and evangelism. The Lord also knew long ago that many, many would only offer him lip service and worship him half-heartedly, while remaining in their favorite sins and continuing on the broad way into destruction giving others a bad example. Therefore he gave his disciples the power and authority to retain the sins of those unrepentant sinners – and instructed them even to do this faithfully. Wherever you have remission of sins, there the retention of sins is just the other side of the coin. Its part and parcel of this office of the keys. The first is not appreciated really, if the second is not practiced. Did the Lord want to bring peace to some, he would have to keep it from others.

Holy Lord and God! By your grace grant that we do not have to suffer the retention of our sins. Grant us the profound forgiveness of all our sins and prepare our bodies as your living temples so that our joy may abound and be fulfilled. Amen.

This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Saturday after the first Sunday after Easter: Quasimodogeniti. It is found on Pg. 172 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu!   (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.

Posted in Meditations by P.Wilhelm Löhe (Translation) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Herrenhuter readings for Saturday,the 13th April 2013

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

Kelch des HeilsLove the LORD, all his saints!  (Psalm 31:23 NIV)

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (1. Corinthians 13:6 NIV)

Posted in Losung & Lehrtext | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lutheran Order of service in isiZulu/seTswana

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

db_41-feed_my_sheep11“Jesus Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!” The Lutheran Order of Service for the second Sunday after Easter (Misericordias Domini) is available here in isiZulu and seTswana. Today it comes with a sermon written in isiZulu (wz1323130414 Miserikordiya Domini) by late Revered Aaron Ntuli (Enhlanhleni KwaZulu/Natal) based on the gospel of Saint John chapter 21 verses 15-19 and translated into seTswana (wt1323130414 Miserikordia Domini) by my father Rev. E.A.W.Weber DD (Welbedacht, KZN).

We thank the Lutheran Heritage Foundation for supporting the distribution of hard-copies of these orders of worship and sermons throughout Southern Africa. If you also want a copy please do not hesitate to subscribe by writing to EAWWeber@bundunet.co.za.

I pray you have a very blessed Eastertide and have time to meditate on the watchword of our Lord Jesus Christ recorded in the gospel of St. John in the 10th chapter: “I am the good shepherd. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life.” (Joh 10:11.27f NIV)

The liturgical colour is white and the Church rejoices with Hallelujahs, the Magnificat and the Gloria in exelsis.

Posted in Lutheran Order of service | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LÖHE ON PSALM 119:129

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

KircheYour statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. (Psalm 119:129 NIV)

What I have told you, dear brothers and sisters, is but a poor word and weak presentation of a magnificent and rich epistle. To read God’s word is sweet and to grasp in faith is lovely. However to comment the divine trumpet melodies of God’s message in human frailty and poverty makes truly humble. Just take God’s divine witness in word and sacrament, take hold of it and hold on to it, confess, preach and teach that – let it work in you creatively – and if the world becomes a strange and foreign place to you, if conflict and suffering arise against you, then don’t be afraid. Move forward confidently, take your cross and burden willingly until Jesus Christ let’s you triumph victoriously in that final peace to which you have been called and which will last forever and no war or hardship will ever break.

Help o Lord and God, who lives and works amongst us through the witness of your dear son Jesus Christ. Your threefold voice enter our ears and hearts and your wonderful power strengthen, complete, uplift and empower us in the true and saving faith, which recreates us anew and triumphs over all tribulation and hardship in this world. Amen.  

Let no joy or pain draw me away from you o Lord. Grant faithfulness unto the grave. You alone hold me in your hands and whom you grant this, receives it by grace. Your grace, which saves from death is not for sale nor can it be inherited through works.

I am in conflict and opposition – o Lord Jesus Christ help me poor and weak. I cling to your grace alone. You can strengthen and keep me even in temptation that it doesn’t upset me. You will preserve me in all danger. I know you are faithful.  (Paul Speratus, 1484-1554)

This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Friday after the first Sunday after Easter: Quasimodogeniti. It is found on Pg. 171 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu!   (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949

Posted in Meditations by P.Wilhelm Löhe (Translation) | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Herrenhuter readings for Friday, the 12th April 2013

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

missionThe Lord says: “I will send some of those who are saved to the nations and islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.” (Isaiah 66:19)

Our Lord Jesus Christ says: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)

Posted in Losung & Lehrtext | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Another chapter in Roodepoort mission station – a final one?

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Wilhelm Weber

Roodepoort.pngWell, the Church of Roodepoort near Ventersdorp (NW) has been pulled down and “returned to dust”. It was vacant for more than a decade now and it had fallen into disrepair after the congregation  moved on. A lot has been said about this and some things have been written too. The quotation “returned to dust” is from Psalm 90 – which continues to emphasize that our days here on earth are numbered and that our lives are but short and troubled. I am comforted, that the Word of God that was preached in this Church is still preached elsewhere and that the baptismal waters flowing in that font have fulfilled their saving purposes according to God’s command and promise – and that they continue to flow when and where it pleases the triune God – even if not longer flowing in Roodepoort.

 

In this our beloved Lutheran Church in Southern Church was constituted in 1967 on the 1st of April and the honourable Bishop G.Schulz DD was elected and inducted into office a day later by the eldest serving pastor Rev. Absalom Sibiya from the Eastern Transvaal. More than 26 years later the honourable Bishop D. P. Tswaedi DD was inducted into office in December 1993. I thank and praise God for everything he did in this Church for us and our salvation and I commit all else to him and his gracious mercies, which are new every morning. Just as Psalm 90 confidently pleads in its conclusion: “May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendour to their children. May the favour of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us– yes, establish the work of our hands.” (16-17).  Here is the newspaper excerpt from the local NW-Beeld: Media_24_Sentraal-NW-NWNews002-Noordwes-JHB-2

 

Posted in Articles from South Africa, Lutheran Church in Southern Africa | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment