40 Days of Prayer - Week 4

John 13:12-17 After [Jesus] had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

Devotion: The hallmark of Lutheran teaching is that salvation is a free gift of grace, given not on account of anything we do but on account of the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even so, Jesus reminds us, as he taught his disciples in this account from the Gospel of St. John, that how we treat one another is not a matter of indifference. We are not saved by our actions; but we do bear witness to our salvation from Jesus Christ in how we act toward one another. Do we insist on our rights and privileges, or do we kneel before our brothers and sisters, washing their feet? For all our emphasis on right teaching and right belief, the blessing is given in what we actually do, how we care for each other. And this is particularly true when relationships are strained and at the breaking point.

What matters most is not whether one is in the ELCA, the NALC, or any other church body; not whether one is in Lutheran CORE, Word Alone, or even Lutherans Concerned/North America; not even if one “speaks in the tongues of angels” and “possesses all knowledge”: rather, did any of us give a cup of cold water to one of God’s little ones? Did we visit those in prison, pray with those who were sick, and bring good news to the poor? Did we welcome in those who came seeking Jesus? Did we serve the least of these? Did we wash feet?

Prayer: Precious Jesus, even our best thoughts and beliefs are bankrupt if we fail to see you calling us to serve others on our knees. We are not comfortable there. It is fearful to follow your example. Did you really mean wash that person’s feet? We have so much business to take care of, such a full schedule to work through. This serving one another takes so much time! Forgive us, Lord, for thinking that our agenda takes precedence over your call. Teach us how to be church again. Bring us to our knees, along side of you on yours, that we may know your blessing. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Erma S. Wolf, Brandon, South Dakota, Steering Committee Member, Lutheran CORE since November 2005, and Chair of the Theological Education Task Force.

Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Devotion: What a wonderful benediction and promise. When I was a parish pastor I loved the administering of Holy Baptism. It was always a great time. When I was a Bishop the ordination of pastors was a similar occasion, especially since I didn't do many baptisms then. It was this final benediction shared with new pastors that always brought a catch in my throat. How filled with hope! How loaded with power and strength!

We still use it also at funerals, at the end of the committal. It carries the living reality of Jesus blood shed, and the resurrection from the dead which is the assurance of life eternal for those we love. But it is also the promise of power to survivors to strengthen and keep them as the new future begins to unfold. And so it is a great text of hope!

And now in these days we are living with uncertainty. We have experienced in many ways a death, loss and grief. For many of us life in the ELCA was a precious gift, now tarnished and crumbling. How then shall we live in these days? Hebrews reminds us. NOW..the author says..here's the promise.

And so we pray that as we approach these momentous latter days of August, the God of peace will equip us with whatever we need so that we may serve Him with hope and confidence in the days ahead.

Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for bringing our Lord Jesus again from the dead, by the blood of the eternal covenant. Strengthen and guide us and all who gather for the Lutheran CORE convocation. Work in us so that our decisions and purposes may serve your will, and proclaim your mission, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Kenneth Sauer, Columbus, Ohio, former Bishop of Southern Ohio Synod and Advisory Council Member, Lutheran CORE.

Psalm 18:1-3 I will love you, O Lord my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.

Devotion: When my grandfather’s uncle was a small boy in Sweden, he worked for room and board as a carriage boy for Innkeeper Jansson in Risinge, Sweden. It was his duty to act as errand boy to everyone and to run everyone’s errands, and quite often he was out late at night driving travelers to the nearby village of Vexjö. On one very dark night he was driving a farm hand to his home in the village when, in an instant, the sky lit up with a blinding light and at the same moment came a roar “like a giant cannonade.” The horses were driven to their knees by the air blast, and my grandfather’s uncle and his traveler were thrown to the wagon floor like rags. Although he later realized it was an exploding meteorite, at the time his first thought was that it was “Odin out hunting trolls”.

A good friend and I were standing near the wife of a bishop as she expounded on something. She finished by saying, “And if the god of judgment has a problem with what I just said, let the god of judgment do something about it.” My friend and I looked at each other and then quietly moved away from the bishop’s wife, so as not to be in the vicinity in case of lightning.

Both my grandfather’s uncle and the wife of the bishop were baptized Christians, yet neither spoke out of a dynamic Christian faith. Although many Lutherans have moved beyond the naïve paganism at the heart of the cry of my grandfather’s uncle, I fear that many others have moved to the sophisticated paganism at the heart of the comment of the Bishop’s wife.

It is my prayer for the North American Lutheran Church that this church might point always to the God who fights for her, admonishes her, and cherishes her as His pearl of great price. It is my prayer for the North American Lutheran Church that this church might regard God as a genuine deity, and might invite others into a relationship with this God, who came to us in Jesus Christ and comes to us still by the power of His Holy Spirit. It is my prayer that the North American Lutheran Church might be used by God in a way that brings glory to His holy Name.

Prayer: Holy Father, use us in the North American Lutheran Church in whatever way You see fit, that Your name might be glorified and that all the world might come to salvation through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. N. Amanda Grimmer, Co-Pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (NALC), Abington, Pennsylvania. She serves there with her husband, The Rev. Dr. Michael G. Tavella.

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.

Devotion: Many of us are preparing to make the journey to the Columbus, Ohio area later in August. Unlike Abraham, we know our physical destination. Like Abraham, we don’t know what it will lead to. A theological vision will be laid out. A new Lutheran denomination will be formed. Lutheran CORE will somehow devise a way to keep in one fellowship those who leave and those who remain in the ELCA. Those who remain will have to determine how they will remain. And we will ponder what our Church will be like without those who leave. Columbus will not be a destination as much as a place of embarkation.

Before I get to Columbus my wife and I are going on vacation. We both need it. Although I feel like I need a rest at the moment, and I’m ready to fly off to places I’ve never been, I know that I’ll be back in two weeks and the work of the congregation and the issues in the wider church will demand my attention, and I’ll be setting off on another journey. Hopefully refreshed, I’ll be ready to travel again. But, like Abraham, we don’t know where we’ll end up. God has given us a sense of direction, but only a vague sense of destination. Our faith is shown in our willingness to embark on a journey in that direction. What is constant is the God we serve, made known to us in Christ, and experienced among us in the Spirit.

It is in the Holy Trinity that we put our faith, not in any church structures or short term vision. For no matter how clear a vision may seem to us now, a bit further down the road we will see that we only had part of it, or maybe we weren't even seeing straight. But our faith is in God and God leads us on.

As I read on through this passage in Hebrews 11 I was stopped by verse 16. “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” That is what it meant back at the start of the passage when it said that by faith our ancestors received approval. We receive God's approval as we take each faltering step in obedience to the Spirit's leading and in pursuit of the glimpses of the vision that God has given us. Christian faith is not about taking Jesus into your heart, or about opening the door to let Jesus in. It is about opening the door and going out and letting Jesus take you places. The church is not our destination. At best it is the bus that takes us to our destination—the city prepared for us by God.

Prayer: Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Dr. Frank C. Senn, Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Evanston, Illinois and Senior of the Society of the Holy Trinity.

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely (or easily distracts), and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

Devotion: We, the Church of Jesus Christ, are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, witnesses of the past, witnesses of the present, and witnesses who will come after us in the future. In the preceding chapter of the text above, the writer of Hebrews attests to the faith of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others from Israel’s history. Today we can look not only to them but also to the apostles, the Church Fathers, Luther, Bonhoeffer, Mother Teresa, and many others sustained by God’s grace through faith in times of trial. We also can look to those living today who stand firm in the faith, witnessing in the midst of trials and temptations. In contemplating this great cloud of witnesses, we can be strengthened and encouraged in our own troubles and times of weakness.

Yet, how easily we are distracted from our call to be faithful to the Triune God and our call to hand on the faith once delivered to the apostles. The temptation is alluring to follow another path, to fall in line with the world around us. How tempting it is to give in to the ‘new’ direction that some say the church should be going.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to endure; we are to persevere! Rather than looking at how hard it is to hang in there when the going gets tough, we, like the great cloud of witnesses, can look to our Lord who endured more than we ever will, even the cross. Because he is raised from the dead, he can strengthen and sustain us so that we do not get tired or lose heart. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Gracious God and Father, you have surrounded us by a great cloud of witnesses to serve as examples of faithful living. By your Holy Spirit, sustain and strengthen us for the trials and temptations we face, that we will persevere to the end and be faithful to your will, as was your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Carol Hendrix, Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, former Bishop of Lower Susquehanna Synod and Advisory Council Member, Lutheran CORE.

1 Samuel 2:1-10 Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory. “There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail. The LORD! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Devotion: It is obvious that we live in a godless age. This is the age when the name of God is being taken in vain and scriptures are desecrated even by leaders of the Christian church. Subsequently, millions of Christians around the world grieve. We may be perplexed by the unprecedented circumstance of our churches, especially in the western hemisphere. But this is not the time only to grieve and be silent. But it is a time to stand as confessional Lutherans to fight the good fight with the power of prayer.

Andrew Gih says; “God’s time for revival is the very darkest hour, when everything seems hopeless. It is always the Lord's way to go to the very worst cases to manifest His glory.”

Hannah's prayer is one of the great prayers in the Bible. Hannah was a very ordinary woman living in an extraordinary time in Israel's history. It was the time when openly sinful practices were tolerated in the house of Holy God and accepted into the holy ministry of the temple. As the Bible says, it was a time when the voice of God was rare in Israel. The coming of Samuel was a response to the power of prayer for the restoration and reformation of the holy ministry.

Paul says; "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10: 4 - 6

Prayer: Dear Our Lord and heavenly Father, here is NALC to respond to your call and to say, as your servant Samuel said in his time, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.' Use NALC for your glory. May the birth of NALC be for the reformation and revival of the true teaching of the Holy Scripture once again, as the birth of your servant Samuel was to restore the holiness to the holy place. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by Challa G. Baro, Associate Pastor of Our Redeemer Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Director, Union of Oromo Evangelical Churches (worldwide organization).

Matthew 6:9-13 “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”

Devotion: Although there is no specific petition in the Lord's Prayer devoted to the church, the prayer Jesus taught us begins with the means God uses to create this assembly. It may seem to be a stretch from God's name, as in "Hallowed by your name," to God's word. But biblically, both God's name and God's word perform the same: they express God, in Luther's language, serving as a mirror of God's loving heart. So when we pray, "hallowed" or "holy be your name," we are asking that God will open his heart to us, expressing both what is expected of us and what is promised to us, at the same time putting it into effect among us. Every other word depends on its hearers; God’s word does what it says.

So, praying for the Northern American Lutheran Church in its beginnings, we say with Christians across the ages and throughout the nations of the earth, "hallowed be your name." With these words, we are in effect asking, “In the preaching, at the font and the altar, so express yourself among us, dear Lord, that in the hearing of your word we may receive all you have to give." As God answers this prayer, sinners gather, preachers preach, the sacraments spill over with all of Christ's gifts. The church happens, this time the NALC.

Prayer: Speak your word, O Lord, and so carry us beyond opinions and illusions to place us on the solid rock of Christ's death and resurrection. Make of us sinners a church, one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Amen.

Today’s devotion and prayer is offered by The Rev. Dr. James Nestingen, Dallas, Oregon, Professor Emeritus, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota and Advisory Council Member, Lutheran CORE.