Growing Up With Tradition

[Phoebe]

A "Lutheran Rosary" for Lent:

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CONCEPT: Whether prayed using prayer beads or not (one would have to make one's own*), the idea of this "Lutheran Rosary" for Lent is to help people ease into the spiritual discipline of prayer. We do suggest making a calendar to keep track of individual prayers for each day. People who are not in the habit of daily prayer may want to start with just one "daily prayer" on Ash Wednesday, then expand by one each succeeding day; others may prefer to pray the whole "rosary" every day during the season.



PROCESS: Cross

Following Martin Luther's advice, in the morning, when you rise, make the sign of the cross and say, "God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit watch over me. Amen.

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1st bead

The Apostle's Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

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2nd bead

The Lord's Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

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3rd bead

Luther's Morning or Evening Prayer

I give thanks to you, my heavenly Father through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you that you would also protect me today from every sin and all evil, so that my life and actions may please you completely. For into your hands I commend myself: my body, my soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.

I give thanks to you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have graciously protected me today, and I ask you to forgive me all my sins, where I have done wrong, and graciously to protect me tonight. For into your hands I commend myself: my body, my soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.

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*Around the circle, then, are beads for the days of Lent plus the Sundays of Lent (a little larger, a different color to make them stand out), for, of course, the Sundays are all celebrated as "little Easters" and thus are not counted among the 40 days of Lent. First four Lent beads, then one Sunday, then the rest in groups of six and one. The last bead is Easter and may be larger and lighter in color than all.

Ash Wednesday:

Pray for one's own sinfulness, asking for forgiveness and renewal of one's heart.

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1st Sunday:

Give thanks for God's guidance through the wilderness of this world.

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2nd Sunday:

Give thanks for the gift of faith for one's self and for others.

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3rd Sunday:

Give thanks for the Word of God as printed and proclaimed.

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4th Sunday:

Give thanks for God's healing and forgiveness.

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5th Sunday

Give thanks for God's love and for all who are able to share that love.

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Sunday of the Passion:

Give thanks for God's greatest gift of all; the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Maundy Thursday:

Pray for the ability to follow Christ's command to love others as He loved us.

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Good Friday:

Pray for the ability to forgive those who crucify others daily – in little ways or in large.

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Holy Saturday:

Pray for the help of God, that we may have good intentions and be able to carry them out, even as his Son fulfilled the punishments of the Law on our behalf.

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The Resurrection of our Lord:

Rejoice in the fulfillment of the New Covenant as Christ rose from the dead, and commit oneself to new life in his service.

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SUGGESTIONS FOR PETITIONS:

Weekdays:

• Peace in the world and in our hearts
• People you know with specific needs
• The lonely, depressed, those with mental illnesses
• The physically ill or handicapped, the dying
• The homeless, those who have no employment
• Those burdened with the cares of others
• People who are grieving the loss of someone they loved
• Someone you heard about in the news who needs help
• Someone who has hurt you

Sundays:

Poem by E.E. Cummings:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings; and of the gay
great happening ilimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

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Psalm 150:

Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!*
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!

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Back to Spiritual Center

 

[Phoebe]

I think that it is. That's what it's probably best at.

I thought those robes were pretty cool when I got to wear them. I felt important. lol
I don't know about Lotar, but we had to go to confirmation classes once a week for two years during the school years of grade seven and eight. Then we were questioned about our faith and our knowledge of the Lutheran church's doctrine.

Terri, I like your sig. It's cute!

When I see the white robes, I think of Revelation 7:14-17.

 

[Phoebe]

How often does eveyone else take communion? My church has dropped back to the first and third Sundays each month. There were enough people that thought if we had communion every week, it would lose its specialness.

 

[Rechtgläubig]

Hi Phoebe,

We commune the first and third Sundays too. I'd do it every week if I could.

 

[Terri]

Plus, because of some of my beliefs, I'd get kicked out if I taught them. One middle school teacher got kicked out for teaching too strict of Calvinism, when we are basically a 3.5 point Calvinist church, imagine if I taught infant baptism

OK, I would be interested in knowing what a 3.5 Calvinist believes. Maybe you could PM me if you think discussing that would get this thread off track.

And, I hope I know your beliefs well enough to think that you don't believe that infant baptism is a matter of salvation. Please correct me if I'm wrong...in PM if necessary for the sake of the thread.

 

[Phoebe]

Part of the sermon today was about the Office of the Keys.
Our lessons were Acts 4:8-13 and 1 Corinthians 10:1-5.
The Gospel lesson was Matthew 16:13-19.
I learned that when it reads whatever you loose on earth is whatever you forgive on earth will be forgiven in heaven.

 

[JVAC]

Phoebe,

My Church holds communion usually three to four times a month (this happened because we didn't have a full-time pastor, and the group fell into a 'communionless tradition' where they got it once a month.), even though the ELCA teaches that it should be offered every time. When it is not present in our service it is sorta like a let down, here we go through all the steps to prepare for it and then we get to the benediction.

Anyways, I am going to do what I can to get it to be offered all the time. Luther himself taught it should be offered always, for those who want it. We shouldn't deny it, especially when we come together as a body to worship. This is where I applaud the LCMS and WELS churches, they do an excellent job of keeping the tradition and right practice.

Only thirty or so percent or ELCA churches offer the Holy Sacrament every worship time, this is a little disheartening. It seems to me, we are slowly becoming like the other denominations that hold, it can't be offered too much or it won't be 'special', and you have to be 'right' with God before you can take it.

I would encourage you to make some noise in your church and maybe remind them of thier heritage.

 

[Phoebe]

We have confession every Sunday, too. I don't get it.

I had a nice little cry in church today. The father of our Sunday School Superintendeant entered into eternal rest of Friday night. Pastor spoke about Bob being able to accept communion just days before his passing. I was sitting next to his daughter. Praise God that he was able to accept the Sacrament of the Altar. He hadn't been in church for many years. Our pastor felt that had he lived longer, he and his wife would have been back at church.

 

[JVAC]

Well we have confession too. I love it! The main reason is for the sake of the Absolution. We need to hear the words, you are forgiven, or at least I do. It isn't for the sake of the Holy Sacrament, but for the sake of our consciences that we do this.

(assuming you do it the same way)

We start in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for it is right that we do everything in His name, with respect to the Scripture Col 3:17, Eph 2:18 and 1Cor 12:3.

Then the Minister offers a prayer for the purification of the Congregation, usually calling on the Holy Spirit to do the action for us, because we are inherently evil.

After which the Minister may say something to the extent of "If we say we have no sin, we decieve ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This finds its roots in the Scripture 1John 1:5-10. The purpose of this is to assure us that we have sinned and cannot gain salvation for our sake. It is deliberately intended to make the confessor despair in his/her own merits.

Then we have silent time to reflect on those sins, in order so we may despair even more. From this despair we also abtain humility.

And so as humiliated and desperate children, we confess to our Father "...that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved Him with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves..." Then our confession turns into a plea for mercy and salvation "...For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us, forgive us, renew us and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the Glory of Your Holy Name."

So as broken and dead people we can finally grasp the Love of God by the words "In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for you, and for his sake God forgives you all your sins. To those who believe in Jesus Christ he gives the power to become children of God and bestows on them the Holy Spirit." This is the emphasis of Confession. The Love of God. Even though we be evil, he still loves us and provides a way. The Christian is thereby desolved of his inequities and made a Child of God.

It is also a precursor for the Holy Sacrament of the Altar. For here we realise that we are desperate, broken and wanton children of God's Divine Mercy. This Divine Mercy is embedded in the Bread and Wine we recieve. So here we focus on the fact that Jesus died for those sins we have done and recieve his forgiveness. Before Christ died he asked the Father to "forgive them for they know not what they do". So also he forgives us, and this done we then proceed to his death, the body and blood of the Sacrament. Thereafter we rejoice in the life we were just promised from our faithful participation.

 

[ByzantineDixie]

Here are some more traditions to consider...some I like, some I am not so crazy about:

1) Organ music (definitely not my cup of tea but it works for so many and worship is not about me...)
2) Advent and Lenten Wednesday evening services in the Lutheran church. (I genuinely love these times in the church calendar but am discouraged that so few take advantage of Wednesday night services during the rest of the year. I'd starve without them!)
3) Late service on Christmas Eve (brings back fond memories of me going to Midnight Mass while growing up Catholic)
4) Tenebrae Service on Good Friday. (it sends chills up my spine when the book slams and exiting the church in silence brings tears to my eyes)
5) Reformation Sunday (I like this especially with a "Marty Party" for the Sunday school and like seeing so many in the congregation wear red.)

I have mixed feelings about the liturgy...but that is a topic for another time and another thread.

I think traditions have a place but I am definitely not a slave to them. Perhaps I would appreciate them more if I had experience worshiping with a congregation that did not have or embrace traditions. Hard to tell....

Rose

 

[springnjoy]

Aaahhhh....it's great to find some Lutherans here! I have been searching for awhile on here. I personally am WELS and have been WELS my entire life. I'll post more and I have some responses to other posts, too, but I have to get to class (going to a Lutheran college for elementary education).
God's greatest blessings!

 

[mrversatile48]

It was training to be an altar boy, age 10, that turned me to an atheist

Kneeling by the 6'5" vicar, to pray facing the altar, I had my hands together but relaxed, & nearly jumped out of my skin when he sharply said, "Point your hands up!"

Startled witless, I said, "Why?"

"Because, if you point your hands down, you are praying to the devil!"

At 10, you don't argue with a 6'5" irate vicar, but I lost my faith for about 2/3 years!

Need to regain yours?

More Bible prophecies have been fulfilled since 1948 rebirth of Israel pinpointed this as the climax generation of history than at any time since Christ's earthly life

All the signs the Bible forecast prove that Jesus is coming soon: get ready now!

Also, as Romans 1:20 shows, the details of obvious intricate design in creation alone mean that men are without excuse for not praising & thanking God

I'm sure there is a poetry board here - I'll go right there & post my 2 lyrics, "Before Our Eyes" & "All The Wonders of the Universe"

 

[springnjoy]

1) Organ music (definitely not my cup of tea but it works for so many and worship is not about me...)

Rose, I love to see that you too know that worship is not about us!

Like many of you, I wish my church had kneelers during Confession, but I attend a very old church in which the pews are too close together! However, I have attended a number of WELS churches that do kneel, and I have wished I could do it more.

My church has communion once or twice a month, depending on how the Sundays fall. I wish I could have communion each Sunday. I think it's more or less tradition that has made it this way. I suppose there's no real wrong in it.

I was baptized as an infant. I took confirmation class for 2 or 4 years, depending on how you look at it. It was more or less 4 years of Catechism class, with the last 2 being more intense and confirmation-focused. I was then confirmed on Palm Sunday of my 8th grade year. Tradition at my church had us wearing white dresses and white robes. I like the symoblism of that. Confirmation really did make communion more sacred in my mind.
Breetai, I received Joshua 1:9 on my confirmation, too!

JVAC, I can definitely relate to the "Stand up, Sit down, Fight, Fight Fight!" type of service! There is a chapel speaker (also a pastor) here at college who says that WELS Lutherans tend to think that you have to pray standing and sing sitting! (He's joking, of course) So he always switches it around in chapel, which I actually have found to enjoy more!

I love the sound doctrine at many Lutheran churches. Of course, Lutheran churches can vary just like any other, but many are wonderful!

Lotar, I'm curious how your beliefs compare to the teachings of the WELS? I'm curious as to what you mean by a 3.5 Calvinist? Like someone else said, you can PM me if you'd rather.

Thanks for letting me add my thoughts to all those that have went on this thread! You all seem wonderful!

 

[Lotar]

I have to say, I like organ music much more than contemporary

 

[Blessed2003]

I am not bashing my own "denomination" or anyone elses either but I was brought up in the "Church of Christ" (that happend to be the name on the building.) Inside there were not any ceremonies about what we believed, I was told "we speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent," which is a good thing by the way, but someone forgot to tell me we were Pharisees. I am not sure if all churches that bore the same name practiced "Phariseeism" or not, and the one I go to now does not, they are the most loving group of people I have ever known. Anyway, I just love the Lord, and try to follow Jesus, not any person or creed. Thanks - I hope I did not offend anyone, If I did, I am truly sorry- Love in Christ
B

 

[Terri]

I am not bashing my own "denomination" or anyone elses either but I was brought up in the "Church of Christ" (that happend to be the name on the building.) Inside there were not any ceremonies about what we believed, I was told "we speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent," which is a good thing by the way, but someone forgot to tell me we were Pharisees. I am not sure if all churches that bore the same name practiced "Phariseeism" or not, and the one I go to now does not, they are the most loving group of people I have ever known. Anyway, I just love the Lord, and try to follow Jesus, not any person or creed. Thanks - I hope I did not offend anyone, If I did, I am truly sorry- Love in Christ
B

Hi Blessed! Now I'm not sure to what you are referring and I don't know what the Church of Christ teaches. But as one that was recently refered to as a "fool" because I think the Bible is enough and I don't feel it necessary to have a creed, I would try not to worry about people that are calling you names.

I find I have no need for ceremonies either other than those decribed in the Bible, and some people find that offensive too.

I'm afraid if you have a different opinion from some people that alone is cause for them to find you offensive.

 

[Lotar]

We know and firmly hold that the character, the soul of Lutheranism, is not found in outward observances but in the pure doctrine. If a congregation had the most beautiful ceremonies in the very best order, but did not have the pure doctrine, it would be anything but Lutheran. We have from the beginning spoken earnestly of good ceremonies, not as though the important thing were outward forms, but rather to make use of our liberty in these things. For true Lutherans know that although one does not have to have these things . . . one may nevertheless have them because good ceremonies are lovely and beautiful and are not forbidden in the Word of God. Therefore the Lutheran church has not abolished "outward ornaments, candles, altar cloths, statues, and similar ornaments," but has left them free. . . . The sects proceeded differently because they did not know how to distinguish between what is commanded, forbidden and left free in the Word of God . . . We on our part have retained the ceremonies and church ornaments in order to prove by our actions that we have a correct understanding of Christian liberty, and know how to conduct ourselves in things which are neither commanded or forbidden by God. (Essays for the Church, 1:193)

http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=3934


Pretty much the polar opposite of Church of Christ.

 

[Terri]

Well, I'll ask my Dear Husband what the Church of Christ teaches when he gets home!! He knows everything!! Now, I'm not being ugly--he really does!!

I do believe we have great liberty in Christ and I have no problem with people that understand grace having what ever ceremonies they wish. The only problem I have is when people suggest that they are somehow holier than you because of their ceremonies. That your communion or something else isn't quite as good because you don't do it the way that they do. I'm afraid I really loose respect for people that do this.

I wish that we here in PRE could learn that just because we prefer our own way of worship that doesn't mean that the other person doesn't love God as much as we do and that we are not all worshiping God to the best of our ability with or without the outward sign of ceremonies.

 

[Lotar]

Hi Blessed! Now I'm not sure to what you are referring and I don't know what the Church of Christ teaches. But as one that was recently refered to as a "fool" because I think the Bible is enough and I don't feel it necessary to have a creed, I would try not to worry about people that are calling you names.

I find I have no need for ceremonies either other than those decribed in the Bible, and some people find that offensive too.

I'm afraid if you have a different opinion from some people that alone is cause for them to find you offensive.

As I remember, he also called you arrogant.

Church of Christ teaches that if it is not in the NT, it is forbidden, I have seen many be quite legalistic about it. They also teach that works are required for salvation.

I don't know if you read my reply to your post in the creed thread, but basically, we have a parradox here. On one hand you believe that all we need is the bible, and on the other hand you see the lack of knowledge that plauges the creedless churches. The creeds are the most basic of the Christian doctrines and theology, every Christian should know the creeds. Pastors should teach doctrine and theology. There are some really smart guys who wrote books on this stuff, though what they have said shouldn't be taken as the gospel, it certiantly shouldn't be ignored.

Have you ever read Luther's small catechism? It is ironic, but he wrote that book because the church was going through the same exact troubles that todays non-denoms are experiencing.
http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/LCMS/smallcatechism.pdf

 

[Lotar]

Well, I'll ask my Dear Husband what the Church of Christ teaches when he gets home!! He knows everything!! Now, I'm not being ugly--he really does!!

I do believe we have great liberty in Christ and I have no problem with people that understand grace having what ever ceremonies they wish. The only problem I have is when people suggest that they are somehow holier than you because of their ceremonies. That your communion or something else isn't quite as good because you don't do it the way that they do. I'm afraid I really loose respect for people that do this.

I wish that we here in PRE could learn that just because we prefer our own way of worship that doesn't mean that the other person doesn't love God as much as we do and that we are not all worshiping God to the best of our ability with or without the outward sign of ceremonies.

I have no problem with people not wanting traditions, the problem is when they forbidden them and condemn them.