Today is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.  And
the longest night.  Though it is the darkest day, the Advent candles
burn brightly.  The church calls from the darkness to her Lord, her
Dayspring from on high, who is “the joyous light of glory.”

God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness.  God spoke Light into
the darkness.  Light is life.  Without lLght there is no life. 
Darkness is death, the silence of God, the absence of God.

Our sin plunged the creation into darkness and death.  Sin loves the
darkness and hates the light.  Sin loves the death and hates the life. 
Man turned away from God hides in the darkness.  Adam hid in the
darkness of the trees.  Judas betrayed his Lord at night.  Sin seeks
shelter under the cover of darkness.  Darkness cannot produce light. 
It is nothing, formless and void, empty.  Light must be spoken into
darkness from the outside.

God sent His Son, the light of the world thrown into darkness.  He is
the light no darkness can overcome, the light of God’s love, His
promise of mercy.  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great
light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light
shined.”  Jesus is the Morning Star, the Dayspring, the signal of the
coming morning.  Day is at hand.  The Dayspring has risen.  The sun of
righteousness rises with healing in His wings.  He was born in darkness
that we might be reborn as children of the light.  He died in darkness
that we might live in the light of His life.  He rose at dawn to usher
in the new day of His resurrection.  He shines into our hearts by the
Holy Spirit who works through the Word, dispelling the darkness,
killing the death, bringing light and life.

Advent calls us out of the darkness to live in the light of Christ, to
be the children of the Light that we are.  “If we walk in the light, as
He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood
of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  The night is over.  The
Day has dawned.  Christ has risen from the dead.  He has cast the
bright beams of His light upon you. 

Flee the darkness.  Confess your sin.  Expose the darkness, the death,
to His light.  Cling to the light of His Word.  Live in the warm
brightness of His Light.  “You will do well to pay attention to this as
to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning
star rises in your hearts.”

O come, Thou Dayspring from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Keys represent authority.  The one who has the keys has authority. 
Shebna was King Hezekiah’s chief-of-staff.  He held the keys to the
palace.  He misused his authority by having his tomb carved where kings
were buried and enriching himself at his master’s expense.  The servant
wanted to be king.  And so he was stripped of his office, and Eliakim
was called to replace him.  Shebna had to turn in his keys.  It’s a
dire warning to all who hold authority not to use it for personal
profit.

God used this little bit of palace power politics to prophesy something
greater:  “I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David;
he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall
open.”  Those words are applied to Christ in the Revelation.  He is the
one “who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who
shuts and no one opens.”

Sin locks the doors on us.  It makes our lives a prison of fear; it
places us in solitary confinement – isolated from God and from each
other.  Like the disciples in the upper room on Easter evening, we are
locked up into ourselves, locked away from others.  As we confess in
the liturgy, we are "in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves."  No
matter how much we struggle against the chains and rattle the bars, we
are unable to break out of the prison.

But Christ has come and entered the prison.  He took on the Law’s death
sentence.  He stormed the gates of death and hell with His death.  He
turns the key to our cell.  He is the key, the key that unlocks us from
the Law and breaks the chains of death that bind us in fear. He sets us
free to live as free children in His free city.

Jesus is the key of David, who opens and no one can close, who closes
and no one can open.  And He entrusts the keys to His church, to bind
and loose from sin in His name.  He established the office of the keys
in the church, that is, the office of the ministry that turns the keys
which bind and loose in His stead and by His command.  We don’t have to
wonder where the keys to heaven are.  They are in the mouth of Peter
and of the pastor God has called and ordained to speak forgiveness to
you.  His mouth is the Lord’s mouth to forgive you.  The sins he
forgives are forgiven; the sins he retains are retained.  He turns the
key that unbinds you from your sin and frees you.  He does it not on
his own authority, but by the permission of the One who is the Key of
David.

Advent disciplines us in the discipline of being forgiven, of
delighting in the Key of David who unlocks us from our sin, of living
in the freedom of being the forgiven children of God.

O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!

by Pastor William Cwirla

Tonight is the third of the “golden nights” of Advent on which the
church sings her longing cry to Jesus to come and deliver her. 
Tonight’s “O Antiphon” is the Root of Jesse, the promised shoot from
the stump of King David’s family tree that sprouted in the fulness of
time in the womb of the Virgin.

“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples;
the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be
glorious.”  Leave it to the Lord to make an homely root His banner at
which all kings will be silent and all nations will bow.  Roots are
best left unseen, underground, invisibly drawing up nutrients from the
soil, feeding the branches which produce leaves and fruit.  Expose the
root and the whole tree dies.  But cut down the tree even to a stump
and it will return, so long as the root is alive.

The Root of Jesse is God’s Promise that David’s throne would stand
forever, that a son of David would establish his kingdom and sit on his
throne.  That promise is the root of Israel's existence.  Even when the
tree was cut down, when Israel was reduced to a lifeless stump by her
Babylonian captors, the Promise lived in the Root.  “Then shall come
forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots.”

I think about that image at this time of year when chopped down trees
are a commodity.  We picked out the tree for the church and for our
living room this past week from a parking lot.  Row after row of trees,
cut down by the chain saw of Christmas commerce, leaving a lifeless
stump in the ground somewhere.  Those of you who have cut down trees
know what happens to those stumps.  They sprout.  It’s hard to stop
it.  You have to kill the root, and when the root is the promise and
love of God in His Son, you simply can’t kill it.  It always sprouts to
life.

Just when King David’s family tree seemed as good as dead, reduced to a
stump with Israel carted like a Christmas tree to adorn Babylon’s
living room, the promise of God sprouted in Israelite soil, in the
obscurity of Nazareth with the word of the angel to the Virgin, “You
will conceive and bear a son, and you will call His name Jesus.  He
will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the
Lord god will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He shall
riegn over the hosue of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there will be
no end.”  King David greater Son, the promised Son and Successor .  The
shoot, the branch, the tree – the King in His kingdom.

Our sin goes all the way to the root.  Not only the fruit, but the
whole tree is bad, roots and all.  The axe of the Law must be laid to
the root.  We must die and rise anew.  It’s the only way to save us. 
We must be grafted to new rootstock.  We must be joined to the stump of
Jesse, fed by the Root of Jesse, nourished by the Promise of God to
save.

God grafted His Root to our sin, nailing it to a cross.  The Root of
Jesse became a banner for the world to see.  Jesus of Nazareth. 
David’s son, David’s Root, David’s Lord.  “"I am the root and offspring
of David,”  Jesus said in the the last of His I AMs (Rev 22:16).   He
was lifted up on the tree of the cross as a banner for the nations to
see.  As Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness to be a
sacrament of healing, so the Root of Jesse was lifted up on the tree to
be the Sacrament of salvation.  Here is how God saves from sin and
death.  He sets the axe of the Law against His own Root, His Son, and
then joins you to His death.  The cross is the meeting place of God and
man, Law and Gospel, wrath and mercy.  There the Root absorbs your sin;
there He feeds you His righteousness.

When you make a graft into wood, you need to keep the graft moist.  The
life's sap of the tree must flow into the branches or the graft and the
branch will die.  You were grafted to the Root of Jesse in your
Baptism.  Don’t let the graft dry out; always keep it immersed in
baptismal water.  Draw on His forgiveness, His life, His salvation. 
You are living branches grafted to the living Root of Jesse. Jesus is
your Vine and your Root.   Apart from Him you can do nothing.  Joined
to Him, believing in Him, you bear much fruit.

Wait patiently on this Root of Jesse.  He is the source of your life,
who feeds and forgives you, who nourishes and sustains you, and who
will come to raise you.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Read about it here.

A special offer for all Lutheran congregations is coming in the new year, so be looking for it! We will offer promotional pricing and materials to make this collection available to the whole congregation so they can place a group order. Or you can order now and pay full price if you do not want to wait. If so, here is where you can place your order.

by Rev. William Cwirla

O Adonai,
et dux domus Israël,
qui Moyse in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai and Ruler of the house of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the burning bush
 and gave him the Law on Sinai: 
Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.

Adonai is Hebrew for "LORD."  LORD is the substitute term for YHWH, the
ineffable, sacred, saving, Gospel name of God under the old covenant. 
“Say this to the people of Israel, ‘YHWH the God of your fathers, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to
you.”  This is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered
throughout all generations.'”  To say Adonai, LORD, is to say YHWH, the
Name that saves.

“Whom shall I say sent me?  What is His Name?”   To have the Name of
God is to have God Himself.  “Tell them Ehyeh asher ehyeh sent you.”  I
am who I am.  Ehyeh.  I AM.  YHWH.  He is the One who is.  The God
whose saving Name is a verb.  His Name is action.

Every day, in the morning and in the evening, the Name of the Lord was proclaimed by Israel:

“Shema Israel, Adonai eluhenu, Adonai echad.”  Hear O Israel, the LORD
our God, the LORD alone.  There is none other like YHWH.  (Deut. 6:4)

Where God’s Name is, there is holy ground.  YHWH is present save and to
redeem.  Where His Name is, there is Gospel fire, Pentecost fire that
burns but does not destroy.  His burning love and passion to save. 
Where His Name is, there He is mighty to save.  “I am YHWH, and I will
bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will
deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment, and I will take you
for my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am
YHWH, your God.”

“Hail, O favored one, YHWH is with you,” the angel Gabriel said to
Mary.  “You will bear a son, and you shall call His name Y’shua.  YHWH
is salvation.  Jesus incarnates the Name of God.  He is YHWH in our
human flesh.  “Before Abraham was, I AM,” Jesus said.  To reject this
Jesus is to reject the I AM of the burning bush, YHWH of Sinai and the
Sea, the Lord of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  There
is no other Name, no other Lord who saves you, no other salvation than
by His cross and resurrection.

To have a Lord is to have a redeemer.  Jesus is your Adonai, your
Redeemer.  You didn’t make Him Lord any more than you gave Him a name. 
He became your Lord by being born of a Virgin, by dying and rising for
you, and by baptizing you into His death and resurrection.  He will
come on HIs Day to raise you from the dead.  And then you will confess
what you now confess by faith:  Adonai Y’shua Hamashiach, Lord Jesus
Christ, to the glory of God the Father.

Artwork:  "The Burning Bush" – Marc Chagall

Beginning tonight, and running through the last seven nights of Advent, the Christian Church, for many centuries, has used seven short poetic phrases [called antiphons] to preface portions of theevening prayer service called Vespers.

They are beautiful summaries of various names and descriptions of Christ. Pastor William Cwirla features a nice series of devotions on these classic devotional treasures, and I'm going to be sharing them with you here as well. Many of us are familiar with these antiphons in their hymnic setting in the ancient Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

O Sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Wisdom,
proceeding from the mouth of the Most High,
pervading and permeating all creation,
mightily ordering all things:
 Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Wisdom is God’s spokeman, the One who speaks the truth about God from
the mouth of God.  By wisdom the simple gain prudence, and the foolish
gain understanding.  Wisdom is more precious than jewels; wisdom’s
gifts are worth more than gold.  Wisdom is a gift from God.  For the
Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and
understanding.  Wisdom is knowledge and understanding shaped by the
fear of the Lord.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Wisdom permeates the created order.  Through Wisdom all things were
created.  Wisdom was with God before all things, and through Wisdom all
things were made.  The beauty of the stars, the splendor of the seas,
the marvelous variety of birds and fishes, the intricacies of a DNA
double-helix, the mystery of distant galaxies.  These are Wisdom’s
fingerprints.  Science can dust for the Designer’s fingerprints, but it
cannot see nor can it comprehend the designing hidden Hand.  Holy
Wisdom is not revealed to reason and sense through science but through
the Word.

Man turned away from God seeks knowledge without the Wisdom of God. 
Information and facts without faith.  Study the creation without
worshipping the Creator.  Worship the creature instead of the Creator. 
“You can be like God,” said the original Lie.  “You can have knowledge
without God.  Just reach in for yourself and grab it.”  That is not the
way of Wisdom but Folly, foolishness, unbelief.  “The fool says in his
heart there is no God.”  The end of Folly is death.

Jesus Christ is Holy Wisdom incarnate,  in the flesh.  He is the “power
of God and the wisdom of God.”  “He is before all things, and in Him
all things hold together.  He reflects the very glory of God and bears
the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His word of
power.”  He is the “glue” that holds the universe together.  Your
cells, your DNA, a table, a chair – all hold together by the power of
His Word.  He is what the scientists search for and the theologians
long to understand.  The ordering Wisdom of the universe.  The
Intelligence of the Designer.  His name is Jesus Christ – the One born
in Bethlehem who hung on a cross and rose from the dead.

He teaches us the way of prudence, the way of Wisdom that leads to
life.  That way is the way of His cross, of dying and rising in Jesus,
of repentance and faith.  This way is foolishness to the wordly-wise,
yet to those made wise through His Word and Spirit, it is God’s holy
wisdom to save and to raise from the dead. 

And then those who are wise in Him will shine as the brightness of the heavens.

Oh, come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who ord'rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel! (LSB 357:2)
 

Artwork:  Spiral galaxy as seen through the Hubble telescope. 

Artist:  God

I have seen, in several places, photos of the "burgundy books" that Concordia Publishing House has been publishing in recent years. This is an open call for you to submit your best photo of your collection of "burgundy books." Post a link to your "burgundy book" photo as a comment and I'll move it up into the main post. I will feature the winner of the contest on this blog site and great and wonderful prizes will be awarded to the winner.***

Let's get this party started.

*** Consisting of a word of thanks and a virtual hearty-hand clasp.

December 15, 2008

Dear Fellow Blogging Lutheran Pastors,

I
read a lot of Lutheran blog sites. I particularly enjoy reading the
blogs of Lutheran pastors, like yours. You teach me a lot and I learn a
lot, from all of you. I always welcome your fraternal admonishment and
correction where you believe I am in error or where I can improve what
I'm saying.

It is in this spirit of mutual consolation and
conversation of the brethren that I feel a need to offer this open
letter and fraternal appeal.

It is of great concern to me that
there are some of you who are using your blog sites to engage in what I
would term "pious speculating."

Let me cite but one recent
example: there is a conversation going on among a group of Lutheran
pastors that are interested in preserving the historical liturgy, to
the effect that because John the Baptist's birth is observed on the
Christian calendar, this might allow a person to believe that John the
Baptist was freed from original sin on this side of glory. Obviously,
this is theological error, but the speculation is being indulged in on
a Lutheran pastors' blog site and actually being encouraged. That's but
one example.

Here then, dear colleagues, is the problem with all
this "pious speculation", and I do wish and pray you would take this to
heart. We are not in our seminary dorm rooms, or frat houses, but
rather making comments on public blog sites. Therefore, it would be my
fraternal and respectful advice that the "pious speculations" — which,
of course, in this case, are simply errors in doctrine, plainly and
simply, be avoided.

Since the blogosphere is a public square and people actually form
opinions about Lutherans from what they read, we who are pledged to
Scripture and Confessions are not to be indulging in whims, fancies,
and "pious speculations," enjoyable as it all may be when together with friends sharing a beer or two.

We
are not liturgical or theological hobbyists, or theorists analyzing
some body of assorted data. We should not be engaging in conversation
that is more along the lines of interesting pastime, and unfounded
musing for musing's sake. Rather, our blogging must conform itself to
the pattern of sound words as it is provided for us in Scripture and as
we confess it together in the Lutheran Confessions.

St. Paul
admonishes us, in 2 Tim. 1:13: "Retain the standard of sound words
which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ
Jesus."

And our Lutheran Confessions, reflecting this Apostolic
instruction, wisely note: "It is safe to hold fast both to “the pattern
of the sound words” and to the pure doctrine itself. In this way, much
unnecessary wrangling may be cut off and the Church preserved from many
scandals." (FC SD IV.36).

Dear brothers, indulging in theorizing
and speculating over matters about which Scripture and the Confessions
are silent, or unclear, is unhelpful and potentially very harmful to
the Church. What we might share in a private gathering of pastors,
where we can be admonished, corrected, or counseled, privately among
our peers, should not be put on public display on our blog sites. And
we surely, none of us, would want to put ourselves in the position of
speaking falsely and stirring up unnecessary wrangling and causing
scandals.

Thank you for your efforts in the Lutheran blogosphere.
And thank you for hearing me out as I express this word of concern and
make this fraternal appeal to you. Verbum sapienti satis est.

Your fellow bond-servant of Christ,

Paul

"It must be maintained that faith or being a Christian is quite distinct from its fruit, as I have often said. So far as being a Christian and bearing the Christian name is concerned, one is no different from the other; everyone has an identical treasure and the identical possessions. The Baptism of St. Peter is no different or better than that of St. Paul, and the Baptism of a child born yesterday is no less a Baptism than that of St. John the Baptist or St. Peter and all the apostles. Nor do they have any different or better Christ than the most insignificant Christian.

"Now, from this perspective, no merit or distinction means a thing. The most insignificant Christian receives the same body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament; and when he listens to the Gospel, he is listening to the same Word of God that Peter and Paul listened to and preached. Similarly, no saint can pray a different Our Father or a better one, or confess a different Creed, or recite a different Decalog from what is my daily prayer and every child’s. This is so obvious that anyone can understand and comprehend it. In that which entitles us to the name “Christian” there is no inequality or discrimination among persons, but one is like the next—man or woman, young or old, learned or unlearned, noble or ignoble, prince or peasant, master or servant, major or minor saint. There is only one kind of Christ and one kind of faith. The sun in the heavens is the same toward everyone. It shines on a peasant as well as on a king, on a blind man as well as on a man with sharp vision, on a sow in the street as well as on the loveliest woman on earth. It shines on a thorn no less than on a rose, on a clod no less than on a purple robe. The same sun shines on the poorest beggar and on the greatest king or emperor.

"But it is in the outward sphere and in our activity that the inequalities and the various distinctions among Christians appear—not as Christians nor as to what makes them Christians, but as to the fruit. I am a baptized Christian, but over and above this I am also a preacher, though I could be a Christian without that. As a preacher I am the kind of Christian that is supposed to present the Word to the people, to console the sorrowful, and to instruct the erring and ignorant. Another person is the head of a household or a manual laborer, who is supposed to govern his household, take care of his work, and support his wife and children. Such a man is quite different from you and me, and yet I have to say: “He is just as much of a Christian, and he has as much of Baptism, the grace of God, and eternal life as I and everyone else. In Christ he is no less significant than I, and here there is no distinction between women and men.” A woman’s task is different from a man’s, a servant’s from a master’s, a preacher’s from an ordinary citizen’s, a child’s from a father’s, a pupil’s or disciple’s from a teacher’s. Everyone of them has his own task or fruit. So throughout the outward sphere there are differences, while in the inward sphere they are all Christians and identical. There is only one Christian estate and only one natural condition of all men."

Source:
Martin Luther
Sermons on The Sermon on the Mount, 1532
American Edition
Volume 21
Page 285

Pastor Weedon posted this sermon he is presenting to his congregation during an upcoming Advent Vespers, and I thought you would enjoy reading it here.

Funny how modern-day Lutherans start to squirm a bit with too much Mary going on. St. Elizabeth must not have been a modern day Lutheran, for she is overjoyed when the Mother of God enters her house. At the very sound of the Blessed Virgin’s voice, the child in old Elizabeth’s womb, St. John the Baptist, does a somersault of joy. Thus, even before he is born, he is announcing the arrival of the King and testifying to the little heart that was already beating beneath Mary’s own. The heart of a Child who is truly God.

Elizabeth teaches us to understand the blessedness of Mary. St. Luke is clear that St. Elizabeth spoke by the Holy Spirit. So these are not just words of some long ago saint, but they are words prompted by the Holy Spirit himself and so words given us to treasure, to which we do well to give great heed.

First, she announces: “Blessed are you among women.” Blessed indeed, for never again and never before would there be a woman who became a mother and remained a virgin. The type that Isaiah had foretold had a bigger fulfillment than anyone could ever imagine. A virgin conceives and bears a Son. The hymns of Advent and of Christmas never cease to invite us to marvel over God’s chosen way of coming to rescue us. “Here a maid was found with child, Yet remained a virgin mild. In her womb this truth was shown: God was there upon His throne.” (LSB 332:3) “Thou cam’st the Bridegroom of the bride, As drew the world to eventide, The spotless Victim all divine, Proceeding from a virgin shrine. “ (LSB 351:3) “Of her Emmanuel the Christ was born, in Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn. And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say: Most highly favored lady, Gloria!” (LSB 356) Only in Mary do virgin and mother unite. Blessed among women.

But there’s more, and so St. Elizabeth cries out: “Blessed is the fruit of Your womb.” Do you get that one? The One promised so long ago to Abraham to bring blessing to all the peoples of the earth. The Blessed One is in Mary’s womb. The One who comes in the name of the Lord. The Blessed One is in Mary’s womb. She is the living Ark of God! For it is the Eternal Word of the Father who is growing day by day in her swelling womb. The heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain Him, and yet in love for us, He deigns to take up residence in Mary’s body so that she could give Him the flesh and blood by which He would bring blessing to all – by suffering and dying in that flesh to destroy death, to wipe out sin, to raise it from death incorruptible and to seat that flesh and blood that came from Mary at the right hand of the throne of God as the firstfruits – for we shall surely follow. This is the blessing – to raise humanity to what God intended for us from the beginning – that we might be His children, His heirs, sharing a life that never ends. Blessed indeed is the fruit of Mary’s womb, our Lord Jesus.

But St. Elizabeth is not done. There’s more. John the Baptist in her womb confessing the advent of his Lord no doubt put her in mind of it. I always picture St. Elizabeth cutting her eyes at old Zechariah sitting silent in the corner, but with eyes sparkling, as she pronounces the last blessing upon Mary: “Blessed is she who believed.” Unspoken, then, the words: “Unlike you, you old goat! See how silly you were? This maiden’s faith has shamed you.” And I don’t doubt for a second that old Zechariah was laughing silently right along with the two ladies. When Dr. Luther reflected on St. Elizabeth’s words, he opined that perhaps it was the last blessing that is the most amazing. That Mary should believe it. That she should receive such a shocking and incredible promise from God and say to it her great fiat: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to Your Word.” A miracle that a virgin should conceive. A miracle that the Child she bears is the Eternal Son destined for an Eternal Kingdom. But Luther thought perhaps the greatest miracle of the incarnation is that Mary believed it, said yes to it, gave space and time in her life to the God who begged entrance so that He might bring blessing to a world gone wrong.

People loved by God, do you see? The Holy Spirit doesn’t set Mary before you tonight for you to worship, for you to pray to and seek favor from. That would horrify her in the extreme. She is set before you for you to love. For as you love her Son, her flesh and blood, you cannot but help joining with St. Elizabeth in calling Mary blessed. Indeed, inspired by the same Spirit, the Mother of God would cry out: “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” Don’t worship her or pray to her, but do learn to love her. There is no need to fear her. She’s not in competition with her Son. But she is His mother.

Look at all the artwork of the Church from early years and you’ll see that they got it right. Invariably she holds forth her hand to her Son and directs all your attention from her to Him who made her blessed. Of all the gifts our Jesus gives us, we must not forget to bless and thank Him for His mother, and to ask that our faith might come to be like hers – a blessed faith that says “Yes, enter in” when God knocks.

Let us stand now and join the Mother of God in her hymn of praise, the Magnificat – for surely as He has done great things for her, so He has also done great things for us. And holy is His name. Amen.

Today when many Christians remember Mary by thinking of an incorrect doctrine, the view that she was conceived without sin, we do well to properly honor the Mother of Our Lord, the Mother of God, the God-Bearer [all perfectly good titles for Mary], by recalling her example of faith and virtue, and by praising and thanking God for His work through her. That is how we best honor all Christians who have gone before us. Here then is a nice devotion written some years ago.

"Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"

       (Luke 1:28 RSV)

Some Christians are almost afraid to honor Mary. Because some of their
brothers and sisters have gone overboard in giving attention to Jesus’
mother, they lean over backward and shy away from any show of respect
to the one who was chosen from all other women to bring our Savior into
the world.

We
don’t have to be afraid to admire or look up to Mary. After all, God
singled her out for a signal honor. She occupies a unique position
among all women. She is mentioned in both the Apostles’ Creed and the
Nicene Creed.

Even so, hers is a derived glory. Her fame depends
on the child she bore. We call her "blessed," not because she was
sinless but because her Son was sinless; not because of what she did
for God but because of what God did for her.

The Virgin Mother
carried the flesh of God’s Son near her heart. That privilege will
never be duplicated. Yet the same Christ wants to dwell in our hearts
through faith.

What God is doing for us is not the same as what
He did for Mary. Yet all saints on earth and those in heaven can truly
say: "The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad" (Psalm
126:3).

Lord, we join Mary in magnifying You. Amen.

^{Author: Bertwin L. Frey/Feb. 13, 1972}

"Literature adds to reality, it does
not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that
daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the
deserts that our lives have already become.  In reading great
literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the
night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still
I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in
knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.”

— C.S. Lewis