Worship and Dining Out

The other day I was thinking about how to understand the role or part of the laity in worship or better in Divine Service. The analogy I came up with was one of comparing attending Divine Service to going out to a nice restaurant, after all, is not Divine Service food for the soul as dining out is food for the body? Now please understand, an analogy is only as good as the points one is attempting to make, so please do not push this analogy beyond the points or you will completely destroy the point I am attempting to make.

When a person or couple go out to eat, to dine at a fine eatery, they sit down and allow the waiter or waitress to serve them. They sit, are given a menu, are offered drinks and appetizers, and a menu. They make their selections and wait to be served. They eat their meal, pay their bill and then return to their homes. At no time do they think, should I get up and help wait on other tables? Should I go and help or offer help to the cook or tell him/her how to prepare my meal? Should I help the server bring my meal? These questions would detract from the dining experience.

Now, what about Sunday Morning worship or Divine Service? When we come to Divine Service we sit down and allow our Lord to serve us. We follow the Divine Service offering our sins to the Lord and hearing His Word of forgiveness through our Pastor. We enter into His presence with words of praise from the Psalms. We hear our Lord speak to us through His Word read by our Pastor, the man appointed and called by God to deliver those Words. We sing hymns of praise in response as well as offer our first fruit tithes and prayers to our Lord. We are given our Lord’s body and blood to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins and we have His blessing placed on us as we prepare to go out into the world.

Why would we question our role in Divine Service? Why would we suggest that we need to help God out, or help the one God appointed, the Pastor? Are we trained or called to distribute the gifts God has to give? Or are we called by God to come to the Divine Service in order that He might wait on us, that He might give us the gifts He has to give, through the means and instrument, through the man, the Pastor He has called in that place to give out those gifts. Attending Divine Service is the opportunity we have to come and be given to, to be filled with the gifts God has to give, our spiritual nourishment that we might grow in our faith and in our knowledge so that we might, as always, be better able, when asked, to give an apology, a defense of our faith, which is the most appropriate way of giving praise to God.

Jesus Christ, the Church’s One Foundation - February 23, 2014 Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: 1 Corinthians 3:10-23

This week we continue and actually conclude our trek through Paul’s first letter to the Christians at Corinth. Next week we move to Transfiguration Sunday and on Wednesday we celebrate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of our Lenten Season. And again I will remind you that these are not my words to you. These are not Paul’s Words to you. These are God’s Words, through Paul to us here today.
 

We talked a little last week about how to grow the church. This week God’s Word through Paul is a little different as God, through Paul talks about how the Church, that is the Holy Christian Church is built. Paul talks about the fact that he laid the foundation and someone else built on the foundation he laid. Of course, the foundation that Paul laid is the foundation of Jesus Christ. So, truly, it is God who laid the foundation and the foundation He laid was through the preaching of Paul. Interestingly enough, these words harken back to Jesus’ Words to Simon Peter when Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. At that time Jesus said that the Church was built on the foundation, not of Peter, but of Peter’s confession, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Here we see these words confirmed in God speaking through Paul that the foundation of the Church, the Holy Christian Church is Jesus Christ.
 

God through Paul laid the foundation and others built on that foundation. Today God calls pastors through congregations to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ and not to deviate from the foundation. Indeed, my preaching and teaching are not to be mine, but God’s Word in its truth and purity. I am not to deviate from the pure teaching of the Word of God, lest I be held accountable to God for any deviation.
 

Paul continues to explain that the building on the foundation will become manifest on the last Day. On the day of Judgement God’s Word will be the measure of the plumb of the building on the foundation. These words of God through Paul remind us that our job as listeners to what is taught and preached is to compare what is taught and preached to the very Word of God. As Paul says, we are to be as the Bereans, comparing everything we hear with the Word of God.
 

Through congregations, God calls Pastors to be His workers and the tools God gives to Pastors to do the work He has for them to do are the means of Grace. The means of grace are those ways that God has of giving us the gifts and blessings He has to give. In our world today our Lord does not usually distribute His gifts directly, or immediately, rather He gives His gifts mediately, through a mediator, through some means and in particular, His Word and His Sacraments. Why do you suppose I harp so much on making regular and diligent use of the means of grace, of being where the gifts of God are given out? Because God’s usual way of giving us His gifts is through His means of grace. It is kind of like the fact that you go to the grocery store to purchase physical food to eat, so we attend God’s spiritual grocery store, Divine Service and Bible Class to be given His spiritual food.
 

And what does God give. As one of my favorite professors said, and as I often quote on the Maundy Thursday bulletin, Jesus paid for and won, earned forgiveness of sins for us on Calvary, but that is not where the gifts are given out. The gifts are given out where the means of grace are present, Divine Service. The gifts are given out where the means of grace are most present.
 

And so, God calls pastors to preach the Gospel, to administer the sacraments and to forgive and retain sins, using the means He gives. God gives the means of Holy Baptism. Holy Baptism is simple water connected with God’s Word, namely His name being put on us and through which God gives what He promises, forgiveness, faith, and eternal life.
 

Of course, as we confess, our faith life does not end with Holy Baptism, but as God tells us, to make disciples by baptizing and teaching and so God gives the means of His Word. The Word of God does what it says and gives the gifts it presents. Through the teaching and preaching of the Word of God we are given faith, we are given forgiveness of sins, we are strengthened in the faith our Lord gives to us.
 

And even more, God gives forgiveness of sins through the very means of confession and absolution. As we confess our sin, either in corporate confession, that is all together on Sunday morning, or in private confession, which is encouraged and is good for the soul, so when we hear the Pastor speak those words of forgiveness, “As a called and ordained servant of the Word, I forgiven you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” we hear those words not as if our Pastor is speaking, but as if God Himself is speaking to us and we know for sure, we have forgiveness of sins.
 

And yet there is one more. God gives forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith through the very means of His Holy Supper, the Lord’s Supper. As we come to the Lord’s table, we are given His true body, as we say, “in, with and under” the bread and His true blood, again, “in, with and under” the wine, so we participate in His perfect life, that is His perfect life becomes our perfect life. We participate in His perfect suffering, that is His perfect suffering becomes our perfect suffering. We participate in His perfect death, that is His perfect death becomes our perfect death. We participate in His perfect resurrection that is His perfect resurrection becomes our perfect resurrection. And we participate in His perfect eternal life that is His perfect eternal life becomes our perfect eternal life.
 

Ultimately, the work of the works of the worker of God, the pastor, is judged in comparison with the Word of God alone. It is the Word of God which is the standard for my preaching and teaching. If I should teach or preach something contrary to the Word of God, it is you duty, privilege and even responsibility to call my attention to such err so that it might be corrected, so the Kingdom of God might grow.
 

But Paul is not done. He gives a warning and a promise to Pastor’s in particular, but I might suggest to all of us who offer our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord, that is to all who wish to share God’s Word with others. First Paul says that the worker is not to think too highly of himself in the case of the Pastor, and himself or herself in the case of any Christian seeking to share the good news with others. Indeed, none of us is above God’s Word, nor are we to speak more than or other than His Word, which is usually where people get into the most trouble, adding to or taking away from God’s Word in order to make it more reasonable or logical from our sin tainted human perspective.
 

Again we have Paul’s reminder that man’s wisdom is foolishness compared to God’s wisdom. This comparison is true mainly because human wisdom has been tainted by sin. Thus, as I have said many times, when human wisdom, or what is taught as human wisdom, which we might understand as scientific fact, contradicts God’s Word. I am going to stick with God’s Word as being right and correct and figure that human beings have made a mistake somewhere along the way.
 

Finally Paul reminds us that we are Christ’s. Because of God’s great love for us, a love seen in His creating our world and His redeeming our world. Because of God’s great love for us, He has purchased us, not with gold or silver but with His Holy Precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. Indeed, we are His.
 

What does this mean? Let me give you a heads up in case you might miss it, but look who is running the show. It is God who has given us the Church, indeed we might rightly say that it is God who has given us to be His church, His local congregation here in this place for over 114 years,  and this is not of us, but of God’s doing and God’s giving. Many people have come before us and many people will come after us. This really is not our church, but this is God’s Church made up of God’s people in this place. And God’s promise is that as His Word is rightly taught and the sacraments are rightly administered, His Church will remain and that means even despite us at times.
 

God has laid the foundation for this church with His means of grace, His Word and His Sacraments. And God expects those same means of grace are used to grow His Church, in other words, God calls Pastors through this congregation to preach the Gospel, administer the sacraments and forgive and retain sins. God also calls us to take His Word and work seriously, in other words, God expects us to take our eternal well being seriously. To think that we or any member of our family is going to be in heaven simply because our names are on the roles of this congregation is to be deceived and is to be a fool in God’s eyes. We do not boast in our craftiness, in our having our names on the roles, especially if our names are on the role but we make no effort to be a part of this congregation. No, rather we stand humbly before God week in and week out, begging Him for the forgiveness won, earned, and paid for by Jesus on the cross, knowing that as Jesus has paid the price for our sins, He delivers that forgiveness, and life and salvation, through His Word taught and preached, through confession and absolution and through His sacraments rightly administered. Indeed, our desire is to be given the gifts God has to give, unworthy though we are.
 

Yes, God grows His Church. He grows His church through the new lives of members born to this congregation as well as the new lives brought to faith by the Holy Spirit through His Holy Word. Our boast is only in the Lord and that we are His.
 

We are Christ’s, by grace through faith given to us. It is all gift and it is all from God. God gives and we are given to. God gives life at conception. God gives faith through Holy Baptism. God gives forgiveness of sins through confession and absolution. God gives faith and strengthening of faith through His Holy Word. God gives forgiveness and strength of faith through His Holy Supper. God gives, God gives, God gives and we are given to and we rejoice that we are His.
 

God knows what is in our hearts. As Paul so rightly says, “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it,” in other words, on the last Day God will see if we have rejected the gifts He has been giving, or if we have be given the gifts He has been giving. We are God’s temple, created by God, given faith and forgiveness, given all the gifts and blessings He has to give so that on the last Day we may rejoice that we are truly His and He will gather us and all the saints and take us and all the saints to be with Himself in heaven for eternity, where we will stand before His throne and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Wisdom of Christ Crucified - February 9, 2014 - Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 [13-16]

This week we pick up where we left off last week as we continue our walk through Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and again I remind you that as Paul is writing to the Christians at Corinth, or better said, as God, through Paul is writing to the Christians at Corinth, so these are God’s Words, through Paul to us here at St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Westfield in the year 2014. These are not my words to you. These are not Paul’s words to you. These are God’s Words to us.
 

We have already been reminded by Paul that outside the Church, that is outside of faith in Jesus Christ alone there is no salvation, only eternal condemnation. We have already been reminded that the cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing. And we have been reminded, again, that we get it right when we get right who is doing what, that is when we believe we are running the show, when we are running the verbs we are getting it wrong, but when God is running the show, when God is running the verbs we are getting it right. Thus if and when we are to boast, we boast only in the Lord and what He has done, does and will continue to do for us, namely give us faith, strengthen us in the faith He gives to us and keep us in faith until He comes again or until we go to Him.
 

In our text for this morning Paul talks about wisdom. The word he uses is the word sophia and Paul distinguishes between the wisdom of this age or world that is human wisdom and true wisdom which comes only from God. So, first let us look at the wisdom of the age or human, worldly wisdom. The wisdom of the world really only explains the processes of the world God created. What is called science and scientific fact in our world cannot prove what is taught as fact that is the religion of evolution. Even philosophically the religion of evolution cannot be proven. Evolution cannot be proven mainly because noone was there to observe evolution happening. The religion of evolution is not based on observable facts, but on historic conjecture that is that by looking at the world in which we live in today some people believe they can explain the world of long ago and even the creation of the world, and this is simply not the case. Worldly wisdom fails to distinguish between historical science and observable science and instead confuses the two which is why it fails.
 

So, rather than concede the truth of God’s Word, the wise men of this world simply make unsubstantiated claims and as those claims are disproved they simply rewrite their explanation. Anyone can look at the science books of the past and compare them with today and see that the only constant is the constant rewriting of explanations.
 

The main problem with human wisdom is the fact that we are conceived and born in sin and so the sin that is in our whole DNA affects our human reason so that our human reason is flawed. Human wisdom, tainted human wisdom does not seek to honor the Creator, rather tainted human wisdom seeks to remove the Creator and instead it seeks self glory. Look how smart I am and how I do not need a Creator God, that is the boast of human wisdom.
 

Godly wisdom on the other hand is indeed true wisdom. Godly wisdom comes only from God which means that too often it is not understood by sinful humanity. Human wisdom does not understand the Godly wisdom of how God can use the simple earthly element of water and His Word, namely His name to give and create faith in Holy Baptism. Human wisdom does not understand how God can be three persons in one Godhead. Human wisdom cannot understand how God can use the simple earthly elements of bread and wine and His Word to give us His body and blood and thus to participate in His life, suffering, death and resurrection. Human wisdom does not understand how God’s Word can be efficacious, that is how God’s Word by itself can do what it says.
 

Indeed, human wisdom probably has the most difficulty with understanding how Godly Wisdom is hidden in the crucifixion. How can death be a good thing? How can God die or even allow Himself to die? Death is not viewed as strength but as weakness. Death is not viewed as victory but as defeat, at least according to fallible, sin tainted human wisdom.
 

Thanks be to God that even though we are conceived and born in sin, even though our minds, our thoughts and reasoning are tainted by sin, that He gives us His Holy Spirit who gives us a right understanding, even an understanding mind so that we do have Godly Wisdom. As God gives us faith through the waters of Holy Baptism, as God gives us forgiveness of sins through confession and absolution, as God strengthens and keeps us in faith through His Word and through His Holy Supper, so He gives us His Holy Spirit who works in our hearts, lives and minds to understand the gifts of God, the power of God and the love of God, yes, to understand the things that are not discernable to the sinful natural mind.
 

What does this mean? This means that we begin by confessing that our human wisdom is flawed. Indeed our human wisdom is flawed and can be seen to be flawed in its constant correcting itself. As I have said before, when there is a discrepancy between what God has said in His Word and what tainted human wisdom puts forth as truth, my rule of thumb is that tainted human wisdom has made a mistake and needs to go back and see where they got it wrong. God’s Word has never been wrong and has never and will never change. God’s Word is truth and is the foundation upon which we build a true and right understanding of all things.
 

This also means that we confess that our sinful human nature cannot, of itself completely and fully understand God or the things of God. Here again as we hear God’s Word and study God’s Word, we know we have a right understanding when what we believe, teach and confess does not contradict what God says in His Word. When we speak what we believe, teach and confess it is always only what God says, never adding to it, nor taking away from it. Indeed, we truly understand God’s Word only as the Holy Spirit works that correct understanding in our hearts and minds.
 

God reveals His wisdom in His creation. God the Father, along with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in unity, created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. He created time on the first day when He created light and then on the fourth day when He created the sun, moon and stars He put them into the time system He created on day one. God created all creatures to reproduce after their own kind, so that one kind does not, has not and never will turn into a different kind. God created humanity to be the pinnacle of His creation and the earth to be the center of His creation so that there is no other planet like our planet. We are the center of our Lord’s universe and we are special to Him. In His wisdom, even knowing that Adam and Eve would sin and spoil His creation, our God shows His love for us in that He created us anyway.
 

And so, God reveals His wisdom in His redemption, in Christ crucified. Certainly knowing that Adam and Eve would sin could have discouraged God from creating humanity, but it did not. Certainly after Adam and Eve had sinned God could have destroyed all He created and started over, but He did not. No, instead, God demonstrates His wisdom and His love for us in His plan of salvation for us and all humanity.  As we said earlier, the world does not and cannot understand how death can be a good thing, how death can be a powerful thing, how death can be anything except defeat, because this wisdom of God is hidden from those who do not have faith and do not accept the things from God as Paul says.
 

Thus, God gives us His wisdom through the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel. Certainly, while the tainted human wisdom of the world does not and cannot understand why God does what He does, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and in the hearts of all believers to understand the depth of the love of our God. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand God’s love in His creating a perfect world and how God had the best in mind for His creation. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand that although God’s command is that we are perfect, because of Adam and Eve’s sin, sin conceived and born in us, we cannot be perfect. Thus the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the fact that it is because of our imperfections and sin that Jesus, who is truly God who took on human flesh and blood in order to do for us what we are unable to do. Jesus lived perfectly for us in our place. Jesus obeyed all of God’s laws perfectly. He fulfilled all of God’s prophecies perfectly. He did what all humanity was commanded to do but could not do, perfectly. And then because of His great love for us He took our sins upon Himself and suffered and paid the price, the eternal spiritual death penalty for us in our place. He did what had to be done according to what He had given and created for us because of His great love for us. Indeed, the Holy Spirit stirs in our hearts and minds to see, know and understand this love God has for us, which is truly Godly wisdom.
 

Godly wisdom, given to us by God Himself, that is given to us by the Holy Spirit working through the means He has given Himself to work, His Word and Sacraments, is to know and understand that it is God who gives. God gives faith, forgiveness and life and we are given to. God gives life at conception reminding us that every life, even the life of the pre-born child is special to God. God gives faith through the waters of Holy Baptism and through His Holy Word. God gives forgiveness of sins through His Word, through Holy Baptism, through confession and absolution and through His Holy Supper. God strengthens and keeps us in faith through these same means of grace. God gives us the gifts Jesus earned and paid for, for us. God gives and we are given to and as we are given to, our desire is to be given to even more. Our desire is to be where the gifts are given and distributed when and where they are distributed.
 

God’s desire is that all people are saved and yet we live in a world in which many people continue to refuse and reject God and the gifts He has to give. We live in a world which does not understand the wisdom of God, but instead trusts the fallible, sin tainted wisdom of humanity. And yet, God continues to pour out on us, His children, His Wisdom as it is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. My prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit will continue to work through the means of grace, the Word and the sacraments as you make regular and diligent use of these means of grace giving you faith, giving you forgiveness of sins, strengthening and keeping you in faith until Christ comes again, or until we go to meet Him. So that when we do meet our Lord we may stand before His throne with all the saints and say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Is Sunday Worship a Biblical Command?

Certainly we have all heard the question, “Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?” Some have suggested that a fair, simple answer is, “No, you do not have to go to church to be a Christian because Jesus fulfilled the law, so we are no longer subject to the law.” Is that answer completely true? Let us take a look at what God says.
 

Again, it has been said that Jesus came and fulfilled the law so that we are no longer under the law. That statement is only one third true. There are actually three different laws in the Bible. There is the civil law, the moral law and the ceremonial law. When Jesus was born, He was born under all three laws and He obeyed all three laws completely and fully. Most especially is the fact that He completely fulfilled the ceremonial laws which were the laws that regulated the sacrifice that pointed to the one ultimate sacrifice of Himself on the cross. Thus, logically, if He fulfilled all the laws that pointed to Himself, they are no longer in effect. However, there still remains the civil and the moral laws. The civil law is simply the law of the land. We live under the civil law of the United States of America. If you think we are no longer under the civil law, go run a red light (don’t actually do this) and see what happens. The moral law is the Ten Commandments and although Jesus did fully obey the Ten Commandments He did not do away with them so that even today we are still governed by the Ten Commandments.
 

When it comes to Sunday worship we are not talking about civil law, nor ceremonial law, but we are dealing with the moral law, that is we are dealing with the first three commandments. According to the first commandment we are commanded us to not put anything before God because anything we put before God is truly our god and is idolatry in other words we break this commandment when we fail to put God first on Sunday mornings and instead put some other idol before Him, i.e., fishing, golfing, hunting, sleeping in, etc. May God keep us from such idolatry.
 

According tot the second commandment we are commanded to have care for how we use God’s name. Luther explains this commandment by telling us, “We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” In other words, we obey this commandment especially by praying, praising and giving thanks which we do best in Divine Service.
 

According to the third commandment we are commanded to have a day of spiritual rest, i.e., Divine Service. Luther explains this commandment by telling us, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” In the explanation to Luther’s Small Catechism the following three questions and answers are quite telling: “37. Does God require the church to worship together on any specific days? A. God requires Christians to worship together. B. He has not specified any particular day. C. The church worships together especially on Sunday because Christ rose from the dead on Sunday.” “38. When do we sin against the Third Commandment? We sin against the Third Commandment when we despise preaching and the Word of God.” “39. How is this done? We despise preaching and the Word of God A. when we do not attend public worship; B. when we do not use the Word of God and the Sacraments; C. when we use the Word of God and the Sacraments negligently or carelessly.” We might summarize by saying that although God does not specify any particular day of worship, He does require that Christians worship together regularly, i.e., on Sundays as that is the day we have agreed as the day of worship in remembrance of Christ’s resurrection. And we understand that we sin the sin of omission (and commission) in despising God’s Word by refusing and rejecting the gifts God gives by absenting ourselves from Divine Service, not partaking of the Sacrament, failing to remember our Baptism, and neglecting to read God’s Word.
 

The Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer tells us to hallow God’s name and we do that, we hallow God’s name especially by being in Divine Service. Luther explains, “Hallowed be Thy name.” “What does this mean? God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also.” “How is God’s name kept holy? God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!” In the explanation to Luther’s Small Catechism the following questions and answers are helpful: “210. How do we keep God’s name holy? We keep God’s name holy: A. when God’s Word is taught among us in its truth and purity; B. when we live according to the Word of God.” “211. How is God’s name profaned? God’s name is profaned, that is, dishonored, A. when anyone teaches contrary to God’s Word; B. when anyone lives contrary to God’s Word.” We might summarize by being reminded that we hallow God’s name especially through our making regular (each and every day) and diligent (each and every Sunday) use of the means of grace and we profane God’s name by refusing and rejecting, even teaching something other than what God is teaching on Sunday morning.
 

One good way to help understand what it is that we believe, teach and confess is to contrast our doctrine with the opposite. So, what is the opposite of God’s command? The opposite would be the Pharisees with whom Jesus spoke about: “16And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 17And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:16-17 also see Luke 5:31-32). The opposite of recognizing one’s sin, is to think one is not a sinner, even to think that one has no need of being in Divine Service and Bible Class, even perhaps that one already knows it all or is simply a really good person. While the desire of one having faith is to be where the gifts of God are given and to be given those gifts, for the one lacking faith there is no desire for the gifts of God or for being where the gifts are given and thus there is a refusal and rejection of those gifts. Even King David, a man after the Lord says, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’” (Psalm 122:1). And Luke tells us about Jesus, “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read” (Luke 4:16, also see Acts 17:2 concerning Paul’s custom).
 

What does all this mean? Although God’s command to worship on a particular day is no longer in effect, His command to be in Divine Service every week is in effect, but even more we can see one’s faith and faithfulness or lack of faith and faithlessness in one’s desire or refusal of the gifts God gives and in being where the gifts are given or absenting oneself from the place where the gifts are given. As for me, I speak with David and I would encourage you to do the same: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’” (Psalm 122:1).

*Quotes from Luther's Small Catechism