The Golden City of God

“Jerusalem, thou city fair and high,
Would God I were in thee!
My longing heart to thee would gladly fly;
It will not stay with me.
Far over vale and mountain,
Far over field and plain,
It hastes to seek its fountain
And leave this world of pain.”

— “Jerusalem, Thou City Fair and High,”
Christian Worship, 212:1.

The golden light in the picture above was from the heavenly sunset, but the air of earth was bitter cold and biting.  It bit my fingers.

Soon after taking these pictures, and with fingers cold and hurting, I pulled my glove off to retrieve keys from pocket.  However, the wrist strap for my camera had caught the glove, causing my Canon G12 camera to go flying.  It dropped on the sidewalk, bounced on the cement, and slid through the snow.

A very nice camera damaged is not overly important, but it is a reminder of all the large and small frustrations and pain we feel in this world.  Jesus reminds us:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

— Matthew 6:19-21, NIV1984.

Christ is our treasure.  It is He who prepares a place for us in the heavenly Jerusalem.  It is He who prepares us to be His heavenly Jerusalem.

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”  Her husband is Christ.  The new Jerusalem is where Almighty God lives with man, lives in man, and is man.  (Revelation 21:2-5, NIV1984).

“Jerusalem the golden,
With milk and honey blest—
The sight of it refreshes
The weary and oppressed.
I know not, oh, I know not
What joys await us there,
What radiancy of glory,
What bliss beyond compare.”

— “Jerusalem the Golden,” Christian Worship, 214:1.

Our “citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20, NIV1984).

“Jerusalem, my happy home,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?”

The time is short.

The time is coming when Christ will return to earth in glory.  Until then, He gives us a taste of heaven in the Eucharist and the Communion of Saints.  In this meal we share together with new Jerusalem, Christ is with us, He is in us, and he is one of us.

“Apostles, martyrs, prophets, there
Around my Savior stand,
And soon my friends in Christ below
Will join the glorious band.

“O Christ, do thou my soul prepare
For that bright home of love
That I may see thee and adore
With all thy saints above.”

— “Jerusalem, My Happy Home,”
Christian Worship, 215:1, 4, 5.

The pictures are of St. Nicholas Church in Freedom, WI.

May God bless you in Christ.

P.S.  Those white specks in the picture above are an airplane and its contrails.

Lutherans in Siberia

In this world, we often see the powerful becoming more powerful, and the downtrodden being trodden down even more.  But Jesus said to his disciples:

Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

— Mark 10:43-45, NIV1984.

HT: Father Hollywood.

Three Dangerous Words: “It’s a Girl”

This video focuses mostly on China and India, but the problem of lack of respect for life is worldwide.

This weekend in the United States, we observe and protest the infamous Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.  In the United States 53 million boys and girls have been intentionally killed through abortion.  53 million here, 200 million there, the numbers are mind numbing.  How will God react?

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied.  “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The LORD said, “What have you done?  Listen!  Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground…”

— Genesis 4:9-10, NIV1984.

Should we ask for justice on earth?  True justice might be more than the earth could bear.  What the world needs is repentance, mercy, and forgiveness in Christ.  This is what we all need.

Book of Concord Pocket Edition Giveaway

I have some extra copies of the Christian Book of Concord, pocket edition from Concordia Publishing House, and thought I’d try to give away one of them here on Light from Light.  This is the small, regular soft-cover paper-back edition without the annotations or graphics.  The condition is new, never used.

If you would like to enter the drawing for a free copy, just fill out the form below.  However, you must be at least 18 years old, a resident of the United States or Canada, and may enter the drawing only once.

Name(required)

Email(required)

After the winner is chosen at random, all names, addresses, and e-mails will be permanently deleted.  The deadline for entries is Tuesday, January 31, 2012 A.D.

O winter snow, there you are!

When I wrote the previous post, “O winter snow, where are you?” the forecast had been for a few flurries a few days later.  We received a little more than that.

It is amazing that countless beautiful snowflakes can fall every winter, and none will be the same.  God has truly made His creation wondrous and glorious in every aspect and from every perspective.

•  “Why no two snowflakes are the same” is an interesting article from The Washington Post that also has a gallery of snowflake pictures.

God’s blessings to you, please drive safely, and stay warm.

O winter snow, where are you?

Without the white crystals, Winter in Wisconsin is not as photogenic.

“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

— Psalm 51:6-7, NIV-1984.

Here is a video of snow and wind in the evergreen trees.  (It is from last year).

Can we all agree that we’d like to see more of that?

:)

Intrepid Lutherans Discuss the Cup

Pastor Rydecki posted an excellent discussion of the Cup of Christ on the Intrepid Lutherans blog entitled: “A Pastoral Rationale for Using the Common Cup.”  It is recommended reading.  I especially appreciated this description of the Lutheran tradition:

We are not minimalists in the Lutheran Church.  We don’t ask the question, “How little do we have to do to get by in following Christ’s words and institution in order to have a valid Sacrament?”  Instead, we simply stay as close to his words as possible, and rejoice in the blessings we receive through them.

I have attended church where there were so many communicants that they used five “common” cups (all chalices).  It is not the number of cups that is important:  Every Sunday, the one universal Church communes with countless cups the world over.  However, what we confess by our practice is important, and cheap disposable plastic cups are a poor confession of the physical reality.

The gifts God gives us are physical gifts, and they should be treated with not just spiritual reverence, but also physical respect.  Jesus is not just calling us on the telephone, he is actually present.

Shortly after the first post, Pastor Rydecki published a follow-up entitled: “Not exactly the image I had in mind.”  That second article partially inspired the production of the photo at the top of this post, although, I had been trying to take a picture of a chalice for years.  My old congregation (St. Peter in Freedom, WI) had lost their chalice, so I was not able to photograph it.

The chalice featured in this post belongs to St. John in Center, WI.  When the silver and gold chalice is filled with red wine, and the life-giving blood is poured into the Congregation of Christ, then it is very beautiful for the Sacrament, the physical presence of God, and for the forgiveness of sins.

Happy Epiphany, and God’s blessings.

A New Year, 2012

The sun blazes orange on the trees of an ice blue lake.

“I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.”

The sun broke free under a cloudy sky, to say farewell and bye to eye.  It was a cloudy day that relented, but only for the sunset.

My shadow waves goodbye to the old year, 2011.

“For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.”

The world is full of many beautiful greens and blues, each in their time.  Sometimes, I enjoy going out just to see what unique perspective or light might appear for even a few fleeting minutes.

Long journeyed sunbeams skim across the frozen blue lake.

“I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.”

The three verses above were spoken by Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings as written by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Because they were leaving from Rivendell on their quest in Winter, Bilbo also said to The Fellowship of the Ring:

“When winter first begins to bite
and stones crack in the frosty night,
when pools are black and trees are bare,
’tis evil in the Wild to fare.”

In Winter is the coldest and darkest hour.  It is a difficult time to be in the wild.  Nonetheless, in the winter of this wild and sinful world, Christ was born.  Therefore, at this uncharacteristic time we celebrate the dawning of new life and a new year.  Since our calendars are based on the birth of Christ, New Year celebrations are a fitting aspect of Christmas.

“Behold, a Branch is growing
Of loveliest form and grace,
As prophets sung, foreknowing;
It springs from Jesse’s race
And bears one little Flow’r
In midst of coldest winter,
At deepest midnight hour.”

“This Flow’r, whose fragrance tender,
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere …

“O Savior, Child of Mary,
Who felt our human woe;
O Savior, King of Glory,
Who dost our weakness know,
Bring us at length, we pray,
To the bright courts of heaven
And to the endless day.”

— “Behold, a Branch Is Growing,”
Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, 121: 1, 4, 5.

Happy New Year!

O Magnum Mysterium

O Great Mystery!
O Magnum Mysterium!

I especially appreciate the picture that starts at 3:45.  This song and these pictures are not emotionally bouncy or catchy, but they convey truth.  Deep truth.

O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.

Blessed fourth day of Christmas.

HT: Pastoral Meanderings.

The Christmas Story, read by Sissel

In the City of David, a Savior was born.  He came to make peace between God and Man.