Song: Psalm 37:1-8Hello and welcome to another episode of the Anno Domini podcast. My name is Joe Stout and as you may have heard during our last episode, the Anno Domini podcast is shifting from its normal format starting today.Today is the last Sunday of the Church Year. This means that next week we will be beginning the Advent season and the cyclical life of the Christian will begin all over again.This is truly a blessing and one we should never take for granted. The gospel marches forth in spite of the thrashing to and fro of the ungodly world around us. Those without Christ must look to other Kings for their comfort. They look to the government for their protection. Social media for their vindication and sanctification. Spreading and enforcing petty and tyrannical rules are their sacraments.When we began this podcast last year, the world looked a very different place. Now with nothing more than a threat of sickness, the equivalent of God saying “Boo!,” the unbelieving world with all of its pride and vanity has collapsed in upon itself. Cities burned, elections defrauded, civil liberties destroyed, and the worship of God experiencing the greatest attack witnessed in living memory. All this has been done in the name of the god of the age which is ironically called Rationalism.Since the one true God will not share glory He has toppled our idols of self sufficiency and knowledge which has only puffed us up. He has brought us low and delivered us over to our own sins.For the Christian, it can be tempting to feel helpless, afraid, and alone. As wicked men and women exercise their ungodliness with seeming immunity, we can feel as though the Lord has forgotten us, His people, among the wicked.We may not turn to this feeling of defeat. The gospel will continue to march on and our job as Christians remains to bring the kingdom of heaven right here to the people on earth. We are to heavenize the world and the destruction of our idols as a people does not change these marching order.So we do we need? We need encouragement. The Lord has not forgotten us nor should we think that those workers of iniquity shall prosper. They will soon be cut down like the grass.Listen to the words of Psalm 37 verses 1 - 8Do not fret because of evildoers,Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,And wither as the green herb.Trust in the LORD, and do good;Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.Delight yourself also in the LORD,And He shall give you the desires of your heart.Commit your way to the LORD,Trust also in Him,And He shall bring it to pass.He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,And your justice as the noonday.Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;Do not fret—it only causes harm.I have set these words, directly from the New King James Version, to music. This is not a metrical psalm. I haven’t rearranged the words to rhyme or to be set in a meter or as a poem. It is the very words of God as translated in the NKJV set to music. This makes the song harder to learn quickly but in the long run, when you learn to sing the psalms this way, you are storing, not a paraphrase, but the actual Word of God in your heart.Take courage Christian. Trust in the Lord. Delight yourself in Him. Commit your way to the Lord. Rest in the Lord.As we enter another Church Calendar year in this wonderful world God has given to His people, a world meant for Christians to fill, rejoice in, and take dominion of, remember to Trust in Christ, Delight in Christ, Commit your way to Christ, and always Rest in Christ. While the world tears itself apart for lack of a firm foundation we have been founded upon the Rock of Christ. May we Trust, Delight, Commit ourselves, and Rest in that Rock this year.

Anno Domini - In the Year of Our Lord

Last Sunday of the Church Year

Reformation Day and All Saints Day

Trinity Sunday (June 7th)Song: We All Believe in One True GodPassage: Genesis 1-2:4, Acts 2 14a, 22-36, Matthew 28:16-20Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #15 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. Last week I said that Pentecost might be the most important day we mark on the Church Calendar. My reasoning is that only with the coming of the Holy Spirit, are those of us who belong to Christ are actually given new hearts. Jesus said that we would be born again by the Spirit. The Father sends the Son. The Son atones for the sins of His people, and the Spirit gives them new hearts so that they can approach the holiness of the Father. It is this beautiful trinitarian reality that we celebrate on Holy Trinity Sunday. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, living in perfect harmony, three in one and one in three. The triune God head.PracticalTrinity Sunday is here. We are now beginning a new time within the Church Calendar; Ordinary Time. While the first half of the Church year focuses on the Life of Jesus, the second half focuses on the life of the Church now that the Spirit has come and filled our hearts with love of God and love of His people. This is where we get our idea of things being ordinary and special. The first half is special because it is all about the life of Christ, the second half is ordinary, or numbered, because we, the saints that comprised His bride, the Church, are being transformed into a better representation of Him. Ordinary isn’t boring, in fact, without ordinary you don’t have special. Things are only special if they are set against ordinary things. We are now living in the time of Pentecost and therefore we number our weeks as they correspond to the Pentecost Sunday when the Spirit was given to us. In this way we balance our focus on the life of Christ and the life of Christ’s people as they try and become more like Him. BiblicalEach episode of the Anno Domini podcast, we try and look at some or all of the readings found in the church lectionary. For those of you who are new, the lectionary is simply a prepared set of readings that are connected in a germane way to the day or week of the Church Calendar. This is a set group of readings that ALL the church is reading together regardless personal devotions. Usually there is an Old Testament Reading, A Psalm, a Gospel passage, and an Epistle reading. These passages usually share commonalities although sometimes you have to work to spot them. For Trinity Sunday the passages are from Genesis 1-2:4, Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 2:14a, 22-36. I will actually be reading snippets of each of these passages to highlight why they were chosen for Trinity Sunday. Let’s start with the passage from Genesis.Genesis 1:26-28Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him;male and female he created them.And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”As God is creating the world, His creation culminates with the creation of man, the image of God. When God prepares to create man, He refers to Himself using a first person plural pronouns “Us” and “Our.” He does not use the singular “I” or “My” but “Us” and “Our.” This means that God is one God with at least more than one person within the God head. We will see in the next passages that there are in fact three.Matthew 28:16-20Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”Christians have been given the task of calling to repentance and discipline, all the nations of the earth. We are to baptize them in a veryspecific way, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Once they’ve been baptized, we are teach them how to obey God in the ways He has commanded us. When we obey Christ in this way, He promises to be with us always.Acts 2:32-33,36This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing…Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”In this passage, Peter is giving His first sermon and He declares that Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father where He was given the promised Holy Spirit which He then poured out upon us. There again we see the three members of the Triune Godhead on display. We also see the love of our One God. The Father sends the Son to rescue His people from their sins so He can pour out His Spirit upon them. This in One God in Three Persons.PracticalThis week we are going to be examining a hymn from one of my favorite fathers of the faith; Martin Luther. Before we get to the hymn I would like to talk for a moment about this man God used to advance the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Luther of course started his life out as a Roman Catholic but was disturbed by many things he saw taking place within the Roman Catholic church. Martin Luther observed rampant greed, oppression, corruption, and blasphemy, which is the act of speaking falsehoods about God that make Him out to be liar. Martin Luther is one of Christendom’s greatest heroes because he stood against the zeitgeist of the day. Martin Luther was German and so is the word zeitgeist which, to my knowledge, does not have an english equivalent. Zeitgeist is a word that is used to describe the “Spirit of the Age.” Every age, or period has a defining spirit or characteristic. For Luther, that Zeitgeist was a Roman Catholic church steeped in corruption as priests taught the manipulative and unbiblical doctrine of indulgences. Parishioners were deceived into giving extra money to the church outside the normal tithe to “buy their relatives out of purgatory.” The lay people were not allowed to read the bible and had to rely entirely on the clergy to teach them God’s Word. Since it was in the best financial interest of the Roman Catholic church to require indulgences the church grew fat with wealth while the people suffered. This was real oppression with actual victims. This was true institutional oppression. Martin Luther stood up against the prevailing thought of his day and one day courageously nailed his 95 Theses to the church doors at Wittenberg. By going against the zeitgeist, the Spirit of the Age, Martin Luther brought true freedom to a people who were really being oppressed. Martin Luther chose to not follow the crowd and instead took his stand courageously on Scripture. Paul warns us in Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”The zeitgeist had its truth, its gospel if you will, hollow as it was. The zeitgeist promised true deliverance but only delivered a false deception dreamt up by the father of lies. The zeitgeist is fickle and is no substitute for true salvation. See the zeitgeist and if it doesn’t submit to Christ and His Word then reject this false gospel.As we seek practical ways of living a life that is shaped by Trinitarian thought let’s put 3 things at the forefront of our mind:Our sin is primarily against God the Father. We are guilty but not because we feel guilty. David didn’t feel guilty until Nathan called out his sin. David, while confessing his sin of adultery and murder confesses to God in Psalm 51 “against You and You only have I sinned.” This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t confess our sins to others, we absolutely should and must if there is actual sin involved but never forgetting that sin is ultimately against our Holy Father.Our sin against God the Father was atoned for by Jesus Christ, God the Son, through His work on the cross. He lived a perfect life, fulfilled the Law of God, and imputes that righteousness to His children setting us free from the power and guilt of sin. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Therefore regardless of the sin of your father, or their fathers, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation, the old is gone and you have been set free from that sin. Walk no longer in guilt or shame.Our sin having been atoned for, we are given God the Holy Spirit to indwell us. Since God the Son has set us free from the power of sin against the God the Father, God the Holy Spirit gives us power to walk in that newness of life. Those of us in Christ should walk by the Spirit by living lives that reflect this freedom by our willingness to love God and to love those around us who have been made in the image of God. We exhibit this love for others by standing up for truth, goodness, and beauty. We exhibit this love for other by confess our own sin and not the sin of others. We exhibit this love for others by believing and speaking biblical truth in love and not by spreading sweet little easy lies.The bottom line is that our allegiance is to our God and Creator and to His people. When we sin it is against Him. When we are forgiven it is because of His mercy. When we walk in freedom it is because of His grace. A double portion. This gospel is independent of any nation, tribe, or tongue. We are Christians first. Period. Nothing should come before our unity as Christians. The only solidarity Christians should make primary is their union with the body of believers that comprise the Bride of Christ, the Church. The Father is providing His Son, the bridegroom, with a beautiful and spotless bride. That bride is us and we must not make our allegiance to anyone or anything before our true Husband. As believers in the One True God, We will be spending eternity together in harmony, so let’s start practicing that harmony now. The gospel is grace and freedom for all who come. Let’s treat our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they have actually been set free. MusicalAs I said earlier, this weeks hymn comes from Martin Luther in 1524. This hymn was originally set to a chant that is hauntingly beautiful. I have put the song to a new a tune. This is an explicitly Trinitarian song and each stanza is dedicated to a different member of the Trinity. This song is a sung creed. Just as we say the Apostles Creed or the Nicean Creed, we sing this creed. All Christians believe what is within those creeds as they are the foundations for Christianity. Creedal songs such as this are wonderful because even if Christians disagree on many theological topics, we all believe these things to be true and we can gather around our true unity within songs and creeds like these. I will read each stanza and comment briefly on each.We all believe in one true God,Who created earth and heaven,The Father, who to us in loveHath the right of children given.He both soul and body feedethAll we need He doth provide us.He through snares and perils leadeth,Watching that no harm betide us.He careth for us day and nightAll things are governed by His mightAs I said in the previous segment, Christians have solidarity first with one another. We are Christians first always. The blood of Christ is takes precedent over the blood in our own veins. What do we believe? We believe in the maker of heaven and earth. The one true God. The God is a Father and He calls us His children. He feeds our souls and our bodies and provides us with everything we truly need. He leads us through the many snares and perils that abound in this life and He does this all while watching that no harm happens to us. He is always taking care of us and He is sovereignly in control of everything that happens in this world. He is a good Father.We all believe in Jesus Christ,His own Son, our Lord, possessingAn equal Godhead, throne, and might,Source of ev'ry grace and blessing;Born of Mary, virgin mother,By the power of the Spirit,Made true man, our elder Brother,That the lost might life inherit,Was crucified for sinful menAnd raised by God to life again.Christians believe in Jesus Christ who is the Son of God the Father. Jesus possess an equal Godhead. That is to say while Christ submits to the Father, He is fully God in His position and his power. Christ is the source of our joy and happiness. By the Spirit Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and while fully God was also fully man or a true man. As He is one of us, He is our elder brother. Think about that, all those claimed by Christ have them same Big Brother; Jesus. That means we’re all siblings. He was made fully man so that we, His lost sheep, might inherit eternal life. He was crucified for our sins while we were still sinful and unlovely but He was then raised by God the Father to life again on the 3rd day.We all confess the Holy Ghost,Who sweet grace and comfort givethAnd with the Father and the SonIn eternal glory liveth;Who the Church, His own creation,Keeps in unity of spirit.Here forgiveness and salvationDaily come through Jesus' merit.All flesh shall rise, and we shall beIn bliss with God eternally.We all believe in or confess the Holy Ghost who gives us grace and comfort. Jesus calls Him the Comforter. He lives with the Father and the Son in eternity which means He had no beginning and will have no end. The Church is held together in unity by the power of the Holy Spirit’s work in us. We choose one another because we are all a part of the same body. Within the Church is forgiveness and salvation because of the merit or work or Christ. One day all men, women, boys, and girls, literally ALL flesh shall rise for the final judgement. For those found in Christ we will have bliss with God forever. I will be going on an extended break as we are entering ordinary time on the Church Calendar. Ordinary time refers the time that is marked by ordinal numbers following Pentecost. Trinity Sunday is actually the 1st Sunday after Pentecost. We will have 19 more Sunday’s after Pentecost before we get to our next Church Holiday which is Reformation Day and then the week after will be All Saints Day. I will for sure produce an episode for All Saints Day and probably will for Reformation Day as well. I have some time to think about it though as either of those days won’t be here until the end of October. If I might make a suggestion it would be to download the Lectionary in the show notes so you can continue to read the biblical passages during this beautifully ordinary time.Anyways, that wraps up our episode on the Trinity. I hope you all have a wonderful Trinity Sunday and I hope you enjoy a new setting of Martin Luther’s Trinitarian masterpiece, We All Believe in One True God and we’ll see you in October.

Trinity Sunday

Song: Come Down O Love DivinePassage: Numbers 11:24-30, Acts 2 1-21, John 7:37-39Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #14 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. Pentecost has come! Christ is Risen, is Ascended and is Reigning, and now in the kindness of God the Spirit has been poured out onto all believers. Just as at the beginning of the world the Spirit hovered over the waters of the deep and from the formless and void was brought forth a new creation, on Pentecost, the Spirit hovers over His lost children and recreates them into living sacrifices fitted with tongues of fire from heaven. On Pentecost we celebrate an unraveling of the curse of Babel, tongue’s in Christ are now united in love and truth instead of divided and confused. On this day we celebrate that when the Spirit comes, people are changed, lives are renewed, and the Gospel marches on in victory. On the Day of Pentecost, that great vision of hope that came to Moses in the wilderness became not just a hope only but a reality. What was his vision and hope and how was it fulfilled? That is what we will find out together as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on this glorious Day of Pentecost. BiblicalThere are three major readings for Pentecost. One is from of course Acts 2 where we learn about the story. However there is an Old Testament reading as well from Numbers 11 as well as a 3 verse section from the Gospel of John. All together it is Numbers 11, Acts 2, and John 7. In Acts chapter 2 we read the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The believers are together with one accord in Jerusalem during the most holy week of the Jewish calendar. Jerusalem is filled with people from all over the known world. All of a sudden there is a mighty wind. This wind however isn’t whistling through the eaves of the house, oh no this wind is INSIDE the house and what’s more coming with the tremendous wind comes FIRE! This fire descends and rests on each of the heads of the believers and they are filled with the Holy Ghost. They then began to speak in a variety of real languages which, not by accident, were spoken by the multitudes that had come from all over the region to Jerusalem. We are given an extensive list of the many nations present each of which is hearing the gospel preached in his or her own language for the very first time. Some marvel that plain Galileans could speak fluently the many languages present. Some mock, and explain it away by saying they were drunk. And then Peter rises and gives his first real sermon preaching the good news that God has come to dwell among us and made His Son Jesus both Lord and Christ. The multitudes are convicted and 3000 souls were converted.This is familiar ground to many of us. There is a temptation though to fall into the modern day trap of thinking atomistically instead of holistically. To the modern man, everything can be reduced to atoms or at least to the simplest of its parts. We say you’re sick because a tiny virus has infected you. We say you’re healthy because tiny building blocks called vitamins and minerals are in sufficient quantities to keep you healthy. Anything worth understanding the thinking goes is worth understanding in its parts. But the bible isn’t like this. The bible is one story. It is one arching narrative of God choosing a people for Himself and then setting out to bless them, feed them, correct them, and ultimately save them. So when we read this account of the Holy Spirit, we might be tempted to think that this is the beginning of the Spirits work. But it’s not. The Spirit has been at work throughout all of history and seems to always show up during periods of creation, recreation, and change. In the beginning the Spirit was hovering over the waters and then God speaks and the world is formed. The Spirit comes upon men their fearful hearts are strengthened, and they no longer walk in disobedience but in obedience. Ezekiel 36:26 promises the fulfillment found in Pentecost when Ezekiel prophecies that “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” This same Spirit that descended on believers in Acts 2 was present at the crossing of the Red Sea, came over Samson on multiple occasions often with catastrophic results for the enemies of God. David begged God NOT to take His Holy Spirit from him in Psalm 51, and it was the same Spirit in the book of Numbers that rested upon Moses until one day when an extraordinary thing happened. In Numbers chapter 11, we read yet again about the unfaithfulness of Israel. They are moaning and complaining about the food even though they have been struck down by God in His anger multiple times for this sin. God is angry with the people. Moses is fed up and shows us the proper way to bring your complaints or your petition to the Lord, he pours out His heart before Him and says “ Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”To this God replies“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.”He also promises Moses that because the people are feeling so sorry for themselves that they wish they were still slaves in Egypt He would give them what they asked for in abundance until it became loathsome to them. Moses asks the next question which seems reasonable “where are we going to get all of this meat?” This is almost the exact question the disciples ask Jesus when they are in the wilderness with the multitudes. To this very “reasonable” question Yahweh responds in what I assume to be incredulity “Is the Lord's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” We are reminded that nothing is too much for the Lord and we should never question How He will do something but instead Trust Him to accomplish His work.So Moses gathers all the 70 men out side of the camp just as the Lord commanded and then the text continues “Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.” The Spirit has now been shared amongst the elders of Israel and they are prophesying but there are two in particular that were still in the camp when this was going on and they received the Spirit as well and began prophesying while they were IN the camp! This news gets back to Joshua who is jealous for Moses because to prophesy IN the camp is an honor that Joshua feels should be reserved for Moses. To this display of team loyalty, Moses makes an astonishing reply. “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” This is an amazing display of humility. It is not surprising that we are told in the following chapter “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” This truly is the kind of humility that seeks the good of others over one’s own exaltation. Moses desired to see the day when all the people of God would be prophets speaking God’s truth in love. With the coming of the Spirit, what was once the dream of the most humble man in all the earth, is now a reality. As the people of Christ, we are now prophets. Not in the predicting-the-future, wearing-camel-hair prophets; But faithful followers of Christ ready to give truth to a waiting world; a reason for the hope that is in us. HistoricalPentecost is a big deal. It is the 7th day of the 7th Week from the Resurrection. This may seem hard to believe. We live in an age that has been completely secularized and the few remaining holidays we do celebrate are understood mainly within the confines of their commercial and pop culture influence. Pentecost is a holiday that once held immense sway in our culture and political structure. Up until the 70s it was still a national holiday for the United Kingdom. It wasn’t always historically referred to as Pentecost but more commonly as Whitsun which is a contraction of the words White and Sunday, a reference to the color white being prominent during liturgical usage during Pentecost Sunday… From this came a national holiday Whit Monday, and entire of week of celebration Whitide, parades by different churches called Whit Walks accompanied by brass bands and girls in white dresses. Whit fairs and different weeklong celebrations were common when our people had a common culture that wasn’t steeped in a secularized worldview. In other countries such as Italy, it is common to throw red rose petals from the church steeples to symbolizes the fiery tongues that fell on the heads of believers. In France, often during the worship service there will be tremendous blasts on trumpets to remind people of the “sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind which actually filled the house!” Also common within the historical view of this holiday is that some have used the time between Ascension Day and Pentecost (the 9 days in between) for fasting and prayer much in what could be speculated was the actions of the apostles during those 9 days before the Holy Spirit was given.Here is a key historical takeaway as you think about the Day of Pentecost and the entire liturgical calendar as a whole. We as a people used to have these days as a blessing in structuring our lives. When I say we as a people, I mean everyone, not just our Christian brothers and sisters but everyone that comprised our county, state, or nation. Whether you were a Christian or not didn’t matter, the holidays came and the people as a whole observed them. Holidays are didactic by nature. They are meant to teach the observer something. Christmas teaches us that we were lost in the darkness of sin until the Light of the World descended. Epiphany teaches us that Christ has come to save ALL the world, not just the Jews. Easter teaches us that while we are dead in our sins, Jesus has conquered death and offers us Life abundantly. I could go on but you get the point. Holidays are meant to teach, impress, and shape cultures. This is no different today. What a nation feels is worth celebrating and emphasizing describes well the priorities of that nation. As an American, we have fallen far from the blessing of the church calendar. The holidays we celebrate are either completely secular (think Presidents Day, the 4th of July, Veterans Day), or celebrate secular ideals and morals devoid of Christ as King. (Memorial Day, MLK, Labor Day). As I said before, the few remaining holidays we have that ARE on the church calendar have been sanitized and stripped of their potency. Think easter bunny, santa claus, etc. When our culture was shaped by the liturgical calendar, common grace allowed that non Christians could benefit from the celebrations and observances that were meant to teach, spread, and live out the gospel. Non believers could ignore them, could join them, and could even blessed by them but they were teaching and calling the celebrant to an explicit Christ-centered righteousness. There was no worry about making the message “relevant” to heathens. The heathens were expected to make themselves relevant to God by responding in repentance to the call of the Gospel poured forth from the church every day including the church calendar holidays. As a nation and often within the church as well now preach a Christless righteousness through our holiday observances. We endlessly moralize the holidays and make them entirely humanistic and man centered. This is profoundly wrong as our celebrations should prioritize getting the focus off ourselves. C.S. Lewis noted a phenomenon in his day as it regarded preaching the gospel to heathens. His observations have become so common that I believe we are amazed to see anything to the contrary.“The greatest barrier I have met is the almost total absence from the minds of my audience of any sense of sin... The early Christian preachers could assume in their hearers, whether Jews, or Pagans, a sense of guilt…Thus the Christian message was in those days unmistakably the Evangelium, the Good News. It promised healing to those who knew they were sick. We have to convince our hearers of the unwelcome diagnosis before we can expect them to welcome the news of the remedy.The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.”― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and EthicsThe modern man makes holidays for himself that are self serving and full of the pride of life. Part of the role of the church is to continue to preach the reality that God is the judge and man is “in the dock.” Without this knowledge, man will perish in his blindness and vainglory. He will continue to reject days of celebration that honor anyone but himself and replace those holidays with celebrations more relevant to his own designs. MusicalEach episode of the Anno Domini podcast I highlight a hymn or psalm of some sort. Often these are ancient hymns and other times they are fairly new. This episode for Pentecost has a hymn that was written 586 years ago by Bianco da Siena. The hymn is called Come Down O Love Divine. I’ve set it to new music but my favorite arrangement is still the tune DOWN AMPNEY written by Ralph Vaughan Willians in 1906. I will have both versions linked up in the show notes so you can here the far superior Williams tune as it is sung by Kings College.This hymn is a Pentecost Hymn and basks entirely in the reality of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I will read the stanzas and then briefly comment on them.Come down, O love divine, seek thou this soul of mine,And visit it with thine own ardor glowing.O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.O let it freely burn, til worldly passions turnTo dust and ashes in its heat consuming;And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,And lowliness become mine inner clothing;True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,Shall far outpass the power of human telling;No soul can guess the grace, till he become the placeWherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.The first stanza asks the Holy Spirit, here called “Love Divine” to come and find our souls and to visit it with the “ardor” which is a great word and seems to mean passions and warmth. We ask that the ardor of the Spirit would come. We then sing, asking the Comforter, another name for the Spirit to draw near to us, to fill our heart, and kindle a fire of holy flame. All this is very challenging for me. Jesus is a physical King in a physical place. He had to go away and told us that only in His leaving would we receive the Spirit and a new heart. He then sent His Spiritual presence (The Holy Spirit of Christ) which is meant to stir our hearts in our zeal for the Lord just as Christ was filled with zeal for the House of God.Having asked the Spirit at the end of the first stanza to kindle a fire in our hearts we then ask that the flame would freely burn and that the ardor of this presence would consume our worldly passions turning them to dust and ash. We ask that the Spirit’s glorious light would fill our eyes and surround us while still being a light to our path. To put it succinctly, stanza 2 expresses a desire for the Spirit to cleanse us and guide us in the paths of life.While stanzas 1 and 2 are somewhat ethereal and open to various practical interpretations, stanza 3 is crystal clear with imperatives. We ask the Holy Spirit to clothe us in love with the hymn using the more ancient word charity. If love is what we put on we are also asking that lowliness or humility would be the clothes that we wear on our insides. In other words, we are asking the Spirit to give us hearts that are dressed in humility. That is convicting but just you wait. The hymn continues that if you truly want to be lowly in heart, you ought to be weeping over your OWN shortcomings. In other words be tough on yourself and be gracious to others. Give your own heart no quarter and believe the best in the intentions of others. The hymn even uses the phrase to “loath” our shortcomings. That is some cleansing stuff to hate the sin you sin in your own heart. That can ONLY come when the Spirit is at work in your heart.Stanza 4 ends in hope. For those that belong to Christ, our hearts long to be the dwelling place of the Spirit. While we don’t have the words to describe the yearning and longing of our hearts for the Spirit to fill us even if we did, we couldn’t even guess the blessings that will be received when we become the willing temple to the Holy Ghost. With that I will play the song and I hope you enjoy it. We will be back next week for Trinity Sunday and then there will be a long break as we enter into ordinary time.Have a blessed Pentecost Sunday everyone and enjoy this new setting of the ancient hymn Come Down O Love Divine.We’ll see you next week!

Pentecost

Ascension DayText: Ephesians 2:Song: See the Conquerer Mounts in TriumphWelcome to episode #13 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. Happy Ascension Day to you! It has been over 6 weeks since the last episode of Anno Domini and in that time we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. During family worship I often will begin with the words “Christ is Risen, Alleluia!” to which my wife and children reply “He is risen indeed, Alleluia!” While Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter are marked with repentance, and a sort of bittersweet dread knowing that the cross awaits, the 40 days following that glorious Easter morning are filled with joy unspeakable, countless alleluias, and hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts as a result of the Resurrection of Christ. However His resurrection was a part of His over all mission to save the world. The next step following Resurrection is Ascension and glory! Historical / PracticalWhen we look through the list of commonly celebrated Church Calendar days, Ascension Day and the following Ascension Sunday are two days that are often altogether ignored by Christians. It’s very rare for a church to have an Ascension Day service and most churches won’t even give it any mention on the proceeding Sunday. The significance is often not understood as celebrating this day has fallen out of practice and because of this, one of the most important days of the Christian calendar is missed and often without a second thought. I hope to change that perspective in some small way today. So let me begin with this, just as Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness alone, fasting, and being tempted by the devil, so now having been raised to life and having been given a glorified body, He will spend His last 40 days on earth fellowshipping with His people, eating and drinking, and enjoying His victory over death. At the conclusion of these 40 days we are told in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles that Jesus was taken up in and received into a cloud of glory and the disciples were unable to see Him. He was received into the glory cloud and the two cherubim flanking the entrance into this glory cloud, came and promised the disciples that He would one day come again in this same way. For Jesus, after He ascended into glory, we are told throughout the New Testament that He was seated at the right hand of God to reign over everything until He has put the last enemy under His feet, death itself.For most Christians, this is a fairly familiar story although hardly celebrated. While the coming of Christ into the world gets a LOT of attention, Here at the Anno Domini podcast, we did 8 episodes during Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany and yet here we’re only doing 1 episode for Christ’s victorious ascension and His enthronement over all creation. Why do we ignore what could be argued is the most important part of Christ’s life, His coronation as King? Good Friday and Easter Sunday play out for us the epic struggle of Good triumphing over evil but it is in Christ’s Ascension that the King is crowned.I’m sure there are many reasons the primary one being that our culture no longer emphasizes the holiday but it also could be that the conclusion of a journey or story, no matter how victorious somehow can leave us with a feeling of emptiness. As if you want the story to keep going and it has ended before you’re ready. Christ’s Advent is full of potential and anticipation. Therefore the thinking might go, His ascension signals the end of greatest story ever told and how do you get excited to celebrate that? I’ll probably always enjoy the beginning of the Lord of the Rings to the end of the story for the rest of my life. At the beginning I’m eagerly anticipating everything that is to come. At the end, I realize the journey is over and there is a sense that we now are left behind and the story has gone on without use. Now I don’t imagine people consciously think these thoughts when they read or think about the Ascension and the reign of Christ but could be that we’ve disconnected the Ascension of Christ into the heavenly realms and our own covenantal Ascension with Christ that we’ve been promised in Scripture? Certainly the story has none of the bittersweet ending if we have risen with Christ in a covenantal sense. To put it another way, if we are raised with Christ, it changes everything. Let me share a couple of texts that I think support this idea.Ephesians 2But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.Revelation: 1:5-6Grace to you and peace from… Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.Did you catch that? We have been raised up with Jesus in His Ascension and just as Christ is High Priest and King of Kings so we, who are called to be like Christ, have been made kings and priest to God the Father with Him. In other words, when Jesus ascended into heaven, He was taking us with Him in a covenantal sense.What do I mean by a covenantal sense? Well, Christians believe that we are covenantally sinful as a result of the sin of Adam in the Garden. When Adam disobeyed God, all of humanity was cast into sin. We are born into sin and before we even have a chance to actually do something wrong we are already guilty. This covenantal responsibility was passed from our first father, Adam. However, the covenantal responsibility however can cut both ways. Just as we were covenantally guilty through the sin of the 1st Adam, we have been made covenantally innocent by the work of the 2nd Adam. There are many ways in which this works itself out in the Christian life but as far as the Ascension is concerned it means that just as Christ was raised up in glory to His status of High Priest and King, so we are raised up with Him.Peter Liethart observes, that…“(The Ascension) connects the work of Jesus to the destiny of the human race…the Ascension is the climax which comes with Jesus, the last Adam, as the priest King fulfilling the mandate that Adam was given to rule the earth and to raise us up to thrones with Him so that we can rule the earth along with Him.” - Peter LiethartNow if this is true, and I believe it is, there must be some practical ways in which this changes us. We don’t want to face the realities brought about by Christ and walk away from them unchanged.The first thing to remember is that glory is always preceded with death. Christ was raised to glory on His day of Ascension. That is true but to get to this point in the journey He took up His cross and set the example for us to follow. He was tempted by Satan to be glorified before His death. He know the glory, the kingdom, and reign would ultimately come but that first He would have to give up everything to gain it. Therefore we can remember that to reign with Christ means to first die. This certainly is true for Christians in the literal sense but it is more immediately true in the metaphoric sense. Each day we must die to those desires that are antithetical to the Kingdom of Heaven. Die to desires that no King or Queen have any business in pursuing. As Paul tells us in Colossians 3:1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. To do this we must cultivate a hatred of worldliness and a love of Godliness. As the Kings and Priests of God, we must stop our love affair with the hollow and empty promises of the world.Second we must actually believe that it matters. Christ is reigning right now Not someday. Not after the tribulation. Not later. Not tomorrow, Now. The Ascension of Christ and the many New Testament verses that speak of Him being seated and reigning at the right hand of God are not future things that will come. They are realities that are present now. This is especially helpful as Christians find themselves living in a world gone mad. Psalm 2 says that the Heathen nations rage and the people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed,Now listen to what the Anointed one does when feeble man plots against Him…He laughs. “He that site in the heaves shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” I would encourage you to read the entirety of Psalm 2 but suffice it to say that in a world gone mad, a world when leaders try and take counsel together instead of submit to the Rule of the Christ, they will only find themselves mocked, terrified, and broken like a potter’s vessel. Christ is King right now. We are lifted up with Him and have been commissioned to bring the conquering good news to all the world are we’ve been promised that even the gates of Hell will fall before us. Now let’s go live like that was true. MusicalI have a hymn for you today that is of epic proportions. I mean that literally as it actually has 10 verses and for hymn that is about as long as they get. This particular hymn was written in 1862 by Christopher Wordsworth and I believe that after you have listened to and hopefully learn to sing this song, you will be encouraged to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. That would would walk as Kings and Queens and as Priests to God.Because this is such a long hymn I will read each stanza and comment VERY briefly on each verse.See, the Conqueror mounts in triumph;See the King in royal state,Riding on the clouds, His chariot,To His heavenly palace gate!Hark! the choirs of angel voicesJoyful alleluias sing,And the portals high are liftedTo receive their heavenly King.Christ is the heavenly King being received into glory as His reward for faithfulness. He rides on chariots because He is a Warrior King returning victorious from battle.Who is this that comes in glory,With the trump of jubilee?Lord of battles, God of armies,He hath gained the victory.He Who on the cross did suffer,He Who from the grave arose,He has vanquished sin and Satan,He by death hath spoiled His foes.Christ’s victory came about by suffering and laying down His life as a ransom for many. He gained the victory through suffering and in doing so cast down sin and bound the strong Man, Satan. He has thus destroyed all of His foes. Again go and read Psalm 2.While He lifts His hands in blessing,He is parted from His friendsWhile their eager eyes behold Him,He upon the clouds ascends.He Who walked with God and pleased Him,Preaching truth and doom to come,He, our Enoch, is translatedTo His everlasting home.Because we live in a society that is currently dominated by doom and gloom, we often forget that when Christ preached the doom to come, He was preaching about something that was coming within just a few short years. The doom to come was the tribulation He describes in Matthew 24 and elsewhere. The truth was that there was doom approaching for the Jews and Christ, a Jew, was preaching truth to warn “those who have ears to hear.” Also, this hymn is going to give us a LOT of typology. Typology is the miraculous way in which the stories and characters throughout the Old Testament are “types” of Christ, acting out their small part in the stories they were given and foreshadowing the who the Savior of the World would be. In this case Enoch was with God and was no more because God took Him directly up into Heaven. Now our heavenly Aaron enters,With His blood, within the veil;Joshua now is come to Canaan,And the kings before Him quail.Now He plants the tribes of IsraelIn their promised resting-place;Now our great Elijah offersDouble portion of His grace.Three types of Christ, Aaron, High Priest, Joshua, Conquering King, Elijah Prophet of God. Prophet, Priest, and King.Thou hast raised our human natureOn the clouds to God's right hand;There we sit in heavenly places,There with Thee in glory stand:Jesus reigns, adored by angels,Man with God is on the throne.Mighty Lord, in Thine ascensionWe by faith behold our own.Here we see a development of the covenantal nature of Christ’s Ascension, We sit with Him, We stand with Him, We see Christ’s ascension and as such behold or see our own ascension.Holy Ghost, Illuminator,Shed Thy beams upon our eyes,Help us to look up with StephenAnd to see beyond the skies,Where the Son of Man in gloryStanding is at God's right hand,Beckoning on His martyr army,Succoring His faithful band.Just a few days after the Ascension, Pentecost descended and with the coming of the Holy Ghost came courage to face the wickedness and danger of man just as Stephan did and see beyond the skies. Christ is in glory and He is beckoning on, encouraging on, and giving succor or aid to His faithful band of witnesses. See Him who is gone before usHeavenly mansions to prepare;See Him who is ever pleadingFor us with prevailing prayer;See Him who with sound of trumpetAnd with His angelic train,Summoning the world to Judgment,On the clouds will come again.Christ has gone before us and will return again. When He comes He shall judge the quick and the dead.Raise us up from earth to heaven,Give us wings of faith and love,Gales of holy aspirationsWafting us to realms above,That, with hearts and minds uplifted,We with Christ, our Lord, may dwellWhere He sits enthroned in gloryIn His heavenly citadel.More theology of the ascension believers unto heaven. We are asking for faith and love in the here and now to accomplish the work Christ has given us.So at last, when He appeareth,We from our own graves may spring,With our youth renewed like eagles',Flocking round our heavenly King,Caught up on the clouds of heaven,And may meet Him in the air,Rise to realms where He is reigningAnd will reign forever there.The blessed hope of every believer lies in the ground of every man garden or cemetery you drive by. When Christ returns all flesh will rise unto judgement. For those found in Christ, we will be given new bodies renewed like eagles. We will then go and meet our Returning Lord in the air as we welcome Him to the New Heavens and New Earth. Glory be to God the Father;Glory be to God the Son,Dying, risen, ascending for us,Who the heavenly realm hath won;Glory to the Holy Spirit!To One God in Persons ThreeGlory both in earth and heaven,Glory, endless glory, be.An epic Hymn like this should certainly end with a trinitarian doxology and Wordsworth does not disappoint. Glory endless glory be for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Amen.  With that I will play a new version of this Hymn. I didn’t leave out any verses so this song will take over 9 minutes to get through. However if you can add this hymn to your collection, you will find yourself being reminded constantly of the deep significance of the Ascension of our Lord.Enjoy the song and may you have a blessed Ascension Day and Ascension Sunday as well and we will see you in a few days when Pentecost arrives.See you then.

Ascension Day

Easter SundaySong: Christ Jesus Lay in Deaths Strong BandsPassage: MultipleHello everyone and Welcome to episode #12 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. Well folks this is the day we’ve all been waiting for. The day when Christ, who came in the very flesh of man yet was also also fully God conquered death and the grave and rose from the tomb. Death could not hold Him. Christ is risen!----more---- PracticalEaster Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. The day in which Christians everywhere can offer one another the following greeting “Christ is risen” and they can be certain to receive back the glorious reply “He is risen indeed.” Our faith rests upon the very real, historical, and literal resurrection of the body of Christ. As the Apostles Creed so aptly puts it“I believe in God, the Father almighty,maker of heaven and earth;And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, dead, and buried.He descended into hell.The third day he rose again from the dead.He ascended into heaven,and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Ghost,the holy catholic Church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.”The resurrection is the axis on which the entirety of Christianity hangs. As Paul tells us, if Christ has not risen then we, Christians, ought to be more pitied than anyone else. We are delusional beings following nothing but a mirage. Throw out the resurrection and you are left with an empty shell that is no more unique, redemptive, or salvific than every other religion the deceived of this world have to offer.We need creed’s like the Apostles Creed because we are constantly being tempted to water down the potency of the gospel. The Apostles Creed is a line in the sand stating, here is where the faith lives and dies. To compromise on anything in this creed is to compromise the gospel itself. But more than creeds, we need a Savior to whom the creed really belongs. Having faith is nothing special…many people have incredible faith. No it is not the amount of faith we have that matters, it is in whom we place our faith that makes the difference between right and wrong, life and death, heaven and hell. If we have but the tiniest scrap of faith, say faith the size of a mustard seed, faith that is nothing to brag about but that faith is placed directly in the loving care of Christ, we are promised there is nothing that cannot be done. Entire mountain ranges can be torn from their roots and drowned in the sea should God so desire. Christians have the best creeds because they are true they are not only beautiful and awe inspiring but they barely begin to scratch the glory of the one to whom they are written about.BiblicalThere are 10 passages to be read on Easter. 5 on Easter morning and 5 for Easter day. We have readings from Exodus and Jeremiah, Psalms, Acts, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, as well as Gospel readings of Matthew and John. Rather than read one entire passage out loud.Exodus - 14:10-15:1This passage is all about the Salvation of God’s people from a Prince of DarknessOur first passage comes from Exodus 14:10 - 15:1. This details the story of the Israelites being chased down by a mad man. Pharaoh and his armies are determined to bring the Israelites back to Egypt. When the people of God saw the doom of the Egyptians coming down upon them they bravely trusted in God’s Providence to provide for them a way of salvation…I’m just kidding they started accusing Moses of trying to kill them and complaining about how they wished they were still slaves back in Egypt. Moses has some choice words for them. He tells them “Don’t be afraid, wait for the salvation of the LORD. The LORD will fight for you. “…when I have gained honor for myself over my enemies”15:1 “He has triumphed gloriously!” “He has become my salvation.” “In the greatness of Your excellence, You have overthrown those who rose against you.”“You in your mercy have led for the the people whom You have redeemed.” (Speaking of the His chosen people, “You will bring them in and plant them In the mountain of Your inheritance.”There is little talk of personal choice here in the description of their salvation. Although willing hearts are expected. God does not ask each Israelite if they would like to be saved or not. He doesn’t give them “options.” He gives them the path to salvation, a long and scary walk through a dark ravine of water and expects them to follow Him because they simply have no other choice. Also, it should be noted that He does not secure salvation for everyone. Just as Christ shed His blood for His people, in this passage, only those whom He has chosen will be saved. This theme is repeated throughout scripture not as a way of describing a limit to the scope of His salvation but instead rather to enforce the efficacy of His salvation. Christ did not shed His blood needlessly for a single sinner. Every sin that the death of Christ paid for results in salvation. Christ, like Yahweh in the Old Testament always saves His people.Psalm 16This is a small about God’s children being saved by the Victory of Christ. Vs. 1 “Preserve me O God for in You I put my trust.” “my goodness is nothing apart from You.”Sorrow is associated with pursuing other gods. We often think that to follow Christ is to merely choose a life of saying NO to the fun things in life but this is profoundly wrong headed. While Christ does promise us suffering in this life when we follow Him, He also promises us here in this Psalm, written to us, that in following Him, our hearts are glad and we can rest in hope. In fact we are promised that in His presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.”Acts 10Closing benediction” “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.Musical1 Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands,for our offenses given;but now at God's right hand he standsand brings us life from heaven;therefore let us joyful beand sing to God right thankfullyloud songs of hallelujah. Hallelujah!2 It was a strange and dreadful strifewhen life and death contended;the victory remained with life,the reign of death was ended;Holy Scripture plainly saiththat death is swallowed up by death,his sting is lost forever. Hallelujah!3 Here the true Paschal Lamb we see,whom God so freely gave us;he died on the accursed tree--so strong his love!-—to save us.See, his blood doth mark our door;faith points to it, death passes o'er,and Satan cannot harm us. Hallelujah!4 So let us keep the festivalwhereto the Lord invites us;Christ is himself the Joy of all,the Sun that warms and lights us.By his grace he doth imparteternal sunshine to the heart;the night of sin is ended. Hallelujah!5 Then let us feast this joyful dayon Christ, the bread of heaven;the Word of grace hath purged awaythe old and evil leaven.Christ alone our souls will feed,he is our meat and drink indeed;faith lives upon no other. Hallelujah!This is one of those hymns that is so rich with theological depth that one can sing it over and over and continually get new insights and encouragement.Verse 1, Jesus was dead in the strong bands of the grave. He was dead because our sins were laid on Him. He is now at God’s right hand and is bringing us life from heaven. Our response to this is joy and song.Verse 2 When Christ (Life) was fighting the Satan and Death (the result of sin) it was strange in that it had never happened like this before. In fact, as GK Chesterton noticed, the Gospel is the only truly “new” thing to happen which is why it makes it such Good “news” Of course the victory remains with Christ and Satan is cast down like lighting and the reign of death is finished. Scripture promise that Death will be swallowed up by death (or victory). Christ will come to put to death, death itself and therefore death no longer has the sting it once had.Verse 3 The Paschal Lamb means the Passover Lamb. A spotless, without blemish lamb that God gave to His people. The blood of this perfect Lamb, whose love for us was so strong that He was willing to die on the cursed tree, His blood now covers the doorposts of our heart and “faith” points to the blood so that just as in the first passover, Death will passover and not have victory over us in the end. Because of this shed blood, Satan cannot harm us. Christian, you are forever protected from the evil one by the work of Christ. HallelujahVerse 4 The festival that Luther is describing is the Lord’s Supper. The Lord invites us to eat with Him since we are His sons and daughters. Christ who, just as Psalm 16 promised, is the Joy of all is also the Sun which warms us and lights our way. By the vastness of His kindness to us, we are promised “eternal sunshine to the heart.” Living in the Pacific Northwest, this is a promise I can get behind. Seriously though Luther ends verse 4 by stating that because He has given us this salvation, achieved by His resurrection, the “night of sin is ended.”Verse 5 Again, I believe Luther is describing the Lord’s Supper. He describes Christ as the Bread of Heaven purged of the leaven of false teaching and wickedness. We are then told that only Christ can truly feed our souls and that He is our meat and drink. In other words He is our entire portion and faith lives, not on bread alone but by the every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Easter

Good FridaySong: Stricken Smitten and AfflictedPassage: Isaiah 53Hello everyone and welcome to episode #11 of the Anno Domini Podcast. Today’s episode is all about Good Friday. It is common to wonder why the Church would celebrate the sorrows of the cross. the The beautiful polyphonic choir you are enjoying is singing a rendition of Psalm 51 written in 1630 by Gregorio Allegri titled: Miserere Mei Deus which is my clumsy pronunciation of the Latin phrase: “Have mercy on me, O God” This song was originally written to be exclusively sung in the Sistine Chapel Holy Week. Transcribing the song was forbidden and so only those who happened to be present in the Sistine Chapel during Holy Week would ever hear this song. That is until a 14 year old boy, visiting Rome from Austria attended a Wednesday night service during Holy Week and heard the song sung. He then transcribed the song on paper later that night entirely from memory. The forbidden song was now available for the world to hear and enjoy. Oh and the 14 year old genius who accomplished this? His name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.----more---- PracticalGood Friday is the time on the Church Calendar year when Christians remember their Lord in His sorrow. Christ was deserted after giving His disciples the “new” commandment to love one another. Instead of loving Him their King with their actions, they all fled and even Peter denied knowing Him. This was a bitter time in the history of the world. As Jesus said speaking to the Jews “But this is your hour--when darkness reigns." The perfect and spotless lamb of God would beGood Friday usually involves gathering together for an evening service. Parishioners enter quietly and leave quietly. There is a atmosphere of sobriety and somberness. This isn’t the service for glad handing and swapping fishing stories with your social groups. It is a time of mourning and pondering upon the wickedness of mankind and the truly heroic nature of God’s work here on earth. This day is called Good Friday for that very reason. Although mankind, left to our own devices and desires is very bad, God sent His Son into the world to save the world. The path toward salvation involves our King suffering execution for crimes He didn’t commit, sins He was not guilty of, and punishment He did not deserve. This is the Good News that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And He died for us, on Good Friday. BiblicalOur biblical portion from the lectionary is found at the end of Isaiah 52 and all of chapter 53. Let’s hear the word of God and discuss it.Behold, my servant shall act wisely;he shall be high and lifted up,and shall be exalted.As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—so shall he sprinkle many nations.Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,for that which has not been told them they see,and that which they have not heard they understand.Who has believed what he has heard from us?And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?For he grew up before him like a young plant,and like a root out of dry ground;he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,and no beauty that we should desire him.He was despised and rejected by men,a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;and as one from whom men hide their faceshe was despised, and we esteemed him not.Surely he has borne our griefsand carried our sorrows;yet we esteemed him stricken,smitten by God, and afflicted.But he was pierced for our transgressions;he was crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,and with his wounds we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray;we have turned—every one—to his own way;and the Lord has laid on himthe iniquity of us all.He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,yet he opened not his mouth;like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,so he opened not his mouth.By oppression and judgment he was taken away;and as for his generation, who consideredthat he was cut off out of the land of the living,stricken for the transgression of my people?And they made his grave with the wickedand with a rich man in his death,although he had done no violence,and there was no deceit in his mouth.Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;he has put him to grief;when his soul makes an offering for guilt,he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,make many to be accounted righteous,and he shall bear their iniquities.Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,because he poured out his soul to deathand was numbered with the transgressors;yet he bore the sin of many,and makes intercession for the transgressors.This is an extensive passage and I will only attempt to highlight certain parts. We are told that this servant of Lord shall be exalted and highly lifted up. But something has to happen first. He must first be despised and rejected by men. While He will one day be exalted, that day iscoming, He is, right now, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. In fact in verse 4 of chapter 53 we are promised that He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. This is a promise dear Christian. God has carried every grief and sorrow you’ve ever experienced. We were there when He was crucified. We were there covenantally in Adam watching Him, Smitten by His Father. When as Christians, we worry about the wrath of God, what we are really doing is exhibiting unbelief that Christ has already experienced the smiting Hand of God on our behalf. He was already smitten by God so that we, as His chosen people, will never have to experience that wrath. In fact we are told in verse 6 that the Lord laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. It actually pleased God to punish Him. Not because of some sick abusive personality but because Christ covenantally became our sin and it pleased God’s Justice to pour out punishment fit for our sin which He had become. This Man of Sorrows experienced the sorrow of abandonment, the pain of torture, and the terror of God’s wrath unleashed in all its Holy fury. Verse 12 says He bore the sins of many, this is true because we are also promised that one day the world will be entirely converted to Christ, and that the earth shall be as full as the knowledge of the Lord as the water’s cover the sea. This victorious end could only be accomplished by first going through monumental loss and sorrow and that’s exactly what Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, experienced on Good Friday.MusicalOur hymn this episode is titled “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” It was written in 1804 by Thomas Kelly. Ive changed the tune only. Let’s take a look at the words.1 Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,see him dying on the tree!'Tis the Christ by man rejected;yes, my soul, 'tis he, 'tis he!'Tis the long-expected Prophet,David's Son, yet David's Lord;by his Son God now has spoken:'tis the true and faithful Word.2 Tell me, ye who hear him groaning,was there ever grief like his?Friends thro' fear his cause disowning,foes insulting his distress;many hands were raised to wound him,none would interpose to save;but the deepest stroke that pierced himwas the stroke that Justice gave.3 Ye who think of sin but lightlynor suppose the evil greathere may view its nature rightly,here its guilt may estimate.Mark the sacrifice appointed,see who bears the awful load;'tis the Word, the Lord's Anointed,Son of Man and Son of God.4 Here we have a firm foundation,here the refuge of the lost;Christ's the Rock of our salvation,his the name of which we boast.Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,sacrifice to cancel guilt!None shall ever be confoundedwho on him their hope have built.Verse 1 describes Christ’s crucifixion and rejection as well as correctly identifies Him as the long awaited Prophet, from the line of David but also Lord of David. We then sing that God is now speaking to us through the true and faithful Word who is Christ.Verse 2 Asks the questions if there was ever grief like the groaning grief that Christ experienced. His friends leave him and His cause. His foes insult him, raise their hands to wound him and not a single person would put a stop to this. Through all of this though, the greatest pain He experienced was that of the stroke of Justice that came from His Father.Verse 3 puts a serious question to our hearts. All of us who don’t think that our sin is a big deal can see Christ suffering the wrath of God and realize that it was our sin that He is dying for. He is the one, the Word, who is the sacrifice and bears the weight of our sin.Verse 4 speaks to our hope in Christ. He is our firm foundation and for those lost, our refuge. He is the Rock or our salvation and if we boast in anything we boast in Him the Lamb of God who was wounded for sinners and took away our guilt and shame. The song ends with the following promise: “None shall ever be confounded who on Him their hope have built.” We can build our lives on the Rock of Christ and we shall never be let down. As I leave you on the Good Friday, remember that Easter is coming. God’s mercies are new every morning because they were new on that Easter morning and the world has never been the same since.We’ll see you on Sunday, the day the new creation was born.

Good Friday

We are well into Holy Week and with the Kingly and Joy Filled entrance of the previous Palm Sunday comes the sinking realization that our King of Glory, received with the praise and adulation fit for the King of Kings, will soon be Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted, stripped of His glory and will be nailed to the cross at the hands of wicked men....On the night He was betrayed, Christ sat down with His disciples and washed them, and taught them, and fed them. He gave His church one of our most treasured gifts on that most Holy Thursday…Maundy Thursday.----more----Maundy ThursdaySong: How Sweet and Awful is the PlacePassage: 1 Corinthians 11:23-32Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #10 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. We are well into Holy Week and with the Kingly and Joy Filled entrance of the previous Palm Sunday comes the sinking realization that our King of Glory, received with the praise and adulation fit for the King of Kings, will soon be Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted, stripped of His glory and will be nailed to the cross at the hands of wicked men. As awful as this, Christ knew this was coming. He told His disciples in Luke chapter 18 verse 31-34 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” This means Jesus knew exactly what was coming. He knew the agonizing death that awaited Him. He knew that He was about to become the vilest of sin for His people. The spotless Lamb of God, would take on and bear every sin, every single sin of His people. Even those sins that seem to our dulled senses “small”, He would bear for our sake. He knew also His own Father in Heaven would turn His back on Him in Justice leaving Him utterly forsaken. Jesus knew all of these things but instead of turning inward, instead of turning the focus on Him and the monument task that awaited Him in just a few short hours. Well instead of having a pity party, being in a bad mood, ranting, letting off some steam, having a few drinks to relax….instead of doing any of those things, Christ sat down with His disciples and washed them, and taught them, and fed them. He gave His church one of our most treasured gifts on that most Holy Thursday…Maundy Thursday. PracticalMaundy Thursday which is also called Holy Thursday is celebrated the day before Good Friday. The word Maundy is an ancient word that comes from Middle English and Old French words that and is based on the Latin root that means “commandment.” It refers to the teaching of Christ during the Last Supper when Jesus tells His disciples “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”Christ was emphatic during His earthly ministry that He did not come to set aside or change the law of God. He fully submitted Himself to His Father’s Law. Except for those parts that found their completion in His death, burial, and resurrection, things like dietary restrictions, ceremonial laws of uncleanness, sacrificial ordinances, etc., we are promised that Heaven and Earth will pass away before the smallest part of God’s Law passes away. Therefore when Christ tells us He is giving us a “new” commandment we should try and understand this as not “new” as in novel but new as in the way Christ comes to make ”all things new.” In other words, He has come to fulfill perfectly the Law which man could never keep perfectly. Since we can’t He does and since He did, His children can. Loving one another means humbling yourself to those that you’d likely rather not. Just as Christ washed His disciples feet He was saying that Christians ought to be known by their uncanny ability to love each other. The world should see our interactions with one another and even though the cross of Christ will be foolishness to those who are perishing, the world should still see Christians as those who love each other. When Christians exhibit genuine, humble, gentle, and kind love for their fellow Christians, it is one of the greatest evangelism tools we have. Just the fact that we are known for loving our own carries with it an winsome fragrance of newness or “renewedness” that will draw an unbelieving and crooked generation away from their love of themselves and into a God honoring, God obeying love of the Creator and His children. And all we have to do is love one another. BiblicalOur biblical segment comes from the epistle written by Paul to the Corinthians believers regarding the Lord’s supper. The Lord’s Supper or the Lord’s Table which we also call communion is one of 2 sacraments the Protestant church holds. These two sacraments are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that all Christians should be baptized and given the name Christian. When we are baptized, we are not making a public statement about our own faith, but we are rather making a public statement about who we belong too. In baptism we take on a new name and a new identity. Our baptisms are a physical display of the covenantal reality that we are now a new person because Jesus has given us a new name. Instead of viewing baptism as us declaring to the world how committed we are to Jesus, we should think of our baptisms as God telling the world how committed He is to us. With our baptisms, as with every covenant in Scripture come great blessings for obedience and great curses for disobedience. Those who are baptized have full access to the second sacrament, that of the Lord’s table. The Lord’s Table is not an intellectual act wherein we remember something while engaging in an arbitrary act. In other words, we don’t eat the bread and drink the wine so we can think about something. The Lord’s Table is the place where everyone claimed by Christ should gather. This includes men, women, boys, girls, the aged, the infirm, those with low IQs, those unable to talk, those unable to remember. When we associate the Lord’s Supper with intellectual thoughts, that of merely thinking about and remember the death of Jesus and how the bread represents His body and the wine represents His blood, if that is all that Communion means than we begin traveling down a path in which we begin to exclusion from the Lord’s Table becomes the driving force. Instead we ought to think of the Lord’s Table as a family table. My last name is Stout and all of my children have the last name Stout. Therefore everyone of my children belong at my table. They belong there not because of anything they’ve done. They belong there not because they’ve been good kids. They belong there because they bear the name Stout. How much more than should those baptized sons and daughters of Christ who bear the name of Christ be brought to the table. All that is an introduction of sorts to the text we will read for Maundy Thursday which comes from the Lectionary.1 Corinthians 11:23-34For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”Jesus instituted His new commandment hours before He was betrayed, deserted, and crucified.He commanded His follows to love one another and He gave them a culturally relevant way to go about doing this ie washing one another’s feet. He then dropped a bombshell on them, He told them that they were a part of the New Covenant now and as often as we eat the bread and drink the wine we proclaim the Lord’s death. Now the question has been asked, who gets to comes to the Lord’s table? I said earlier that it belongs to those who are baptized and claim Christ as King. Many faithful Christians have interpreted the previous passage describing “examining ourselves” and “discerning the body” to indicate there is some kind of mental exercise going on. That there is a certain theological level you must attain in order for God to feed you. The thinking goes that if you don’t think the right thoughts or discerning the theology of what you’re doing correctly while partaking of communion then God’s gonna get you for that. What I have found to be persuasive though is that to discern the body is to understand that you are the body of Christ. In other words, since you are part of the body of Christ you should be fed the body of Christ. The bread and the wine are for the strength and encouragement of the believer in the faith. God makes it so simple. He doesn’t require theological insight or intellectual horsepower. Simply eating the bread and drinking the cup you are proclaiming the fact that the Lord’s died and rose again. You are preaching the gospel. That is so simple even a baby can do it.I asserted during the last episode on Palm Sunday that communion really can’t be done at home. Even during this time of quarantine when the gathering together of God’s people is outlawed, we need to understand that communion means the body of Christ together partaking of the body of Christ together. If we don’t have Communion together than the ecclesiastical structure of the Church falls apart. The table is protect by the shepards of the faith. This would be your pastor and elders. These men have been placed in positions of authority over the people of God as having to give an account one day. This is why you should be so appreciative of your pastor and elders. They must take care of you and shepherd you. Because of this the Church has historically and is commanded biblically to exercise church discipline for those who are rebelling against the law of God. The final culmination of Church discipline is that of excommunication which was once regarded as the most awful of punishments. It is literally excluding those who once professed Christ from the Table. This is always a last resort but once excommunicated, the rebelling individual would find themselves cut off from the Supper and handed over to Satan. However if communion can just be simply celebrated at home with one’s family or by oneself than the God given authority of the local church to govern her parishioners is destroyed.I also said during the last episode that coming to the Lord’s Table is a gift God gives His children who are no longer at war with Him. If it merely is an intellectual assent to theological statements with a bit of styrofoam cracker and grape juice than we might be hard pressed to see the value. But that is not what communion is. Communion is a meal with God. We should be eating good bread, hearty chunks that satisfy not puffed rounds of styrofoam. We should be drinking the potent cup of blessing which in Scripture is always wine and it should be good wine. We should be feasting because we were at one time at war with God. But now by the broken body and shed blood of Christ we are no longer at war with Him. We now eat a meal of Peace with the conquering King. He conquered our hearts of stone and gave us hearts of flesh and we offer Him our love and obedience. He promises us that we are showing our faith in Him by eating at peace at the Kings table and will one day eat with Him in glory at the Supper of the Lamb.MusicalAs is our tradition on the Anno Domini we pick a hymn or psalm to finish off the show. Today’s hymn is from none other than the Issac Watts renowned hymn writer of the 17th century. Mr. Watts is one of the most well know hymn writers and although he wrote prolifically, his hymns were never “a mile wide and an inch deep.” In other words he was not only prolific but deeply profound and thoughtful. He wrote many hymns we still sing today such as Joy to the World, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, and Jesus Shall Reign. The hymn will be examining today is called “How Sweet and Awful is the Place”1 How sweet and awful is the placewith Christ within the doors,while everlasting love displaysthe choicest of her stores.2 While all our hearts and all our songsjoin to admire the feast,each of us cries, with thankful tongue,"Lord, why was I a guest?3 "Why was I made to hear your voice,and enter while there's room,when thousands make a wretched choice,and rather starve than come?"4 'Twas the same love that spread the feastthat sweetly drew us in;else we had still refused to taste,and perished in our sin.5 Pity the nations, O our God,constrain the earth to come;send your victorious Word abroad,and bring the strangers home.6 We long to see your churches full,that all the chosen racemay, with one voice and heart and soul,sing thy redeeming grace.Now this song is traditionally sung to an Irish hymn melody. I changed the melody and slightly altered the verse order, repeating verse 1 and 5 a second time at the end. Let’s take a deeper look at the words.Verse 1. We are told that the time of the Last Supper was a sweet and awful. Not awful meaning terrible but awful as in full of awe. Christ is offering Himself, the choicest thing in the world to His people. The body and blood of Christ is incredibly precious and belongs to those who belong to Christ.Verse 2. We are at the Lord’s table and our hearts and our minds are admiring the feast set before us. But we also aren’t so brazen and bold to understand there was nothing we did to deserve our spot at the table. In fact we ask, Lord why was I a guest?Verse 3. We extend this line of questioning by asking why was I made to hear the voice of God and enter into His presence while there is still room or time or in other words while I am still alive and breathing. We look around and see thousands of others making wretched choices and starving instead of coming to the King for bread. This is critical as much of modern church music is Armenian at best and Humanist at worst. We want to focus on our love for Jesus and our choice to follow Him and how committed we are. IN this song though we simply ask, why have I been blessed with this? We knowits not because of our devotion to God.Verse 4. The answer comes in verse 4 as we are told that it was the same love that gave His body broken for us and His blood spilled out for us, the same love that spread the feast, that also drew us in through the winsome song of the gospel. If the Spirit of Christ hadn’t done this, than we would have perished.Verse 5 extends the view out from the Church Militant to all of Christ’s elect throughout the earth. We ask God to take pity on the nations and to constrain or compel the inhabitants of the earth to come to Christ. We ask that the victorious gospel of Christ would be sent out into the world abroad and convert the nations and bring the stranger (who we once were as well) home.Verse 6. This verse is particularly poignant in our time of quarantine. We long to see the churches of Christ filled with people. Not just numbers for numbers for numbers sake but churches full of the chosen race of God and that we would with one voice, heart, and soul sing of the redeeming grace of Christ. I hope your Holy Thursday is filled with culturally relevant ways of loving your brother’s and sisters in Christ. This new commandment really will bring the strangers home. I will see you tomorrow for our Good Friday podcast. Enjoy this new setting of How Sweet and Awful is the Place.

Maundy Thursday

Palm Sunday

Ash Wednesday and LentSong: O God of Earth and Altar (Prayer for the Nation)Passage: Joel 2:12-19A Simple Church Year Catechism - Lent & Easter Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #8 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. Welcome back! My name for those just joining us is Joe Stout and the last few weeks have been extremely eventful in the Stout household. We welcomed with joy the birth of our 5th daughter, Ruthie Jane. Both Elizabeth and baby Ruthie are doing wonderfully well, God be praised. It’s been a little over 7 weeks since our last podcast. So In that episode I introduced the season of Epiphany in which we celebrate the manifestation or revealing of Christ to the world. He is revealed on Epiphany to the Magi, revealed to the world through His public baptism, revealed at the temple to Simeon, revealed to His inner circle on the mountain through His transfiguration and finally, His manifestation culminates as Christ goes into the desert and reveals Himself to Satan where he does battle for 40 days. With Christ entering the desert for 40 days of temptation we will transition from our celebration of His epiphany into the celebration of Lent. As the days lengthen and spring approaches we will daily be reminded that Easter is on the move and the days of the power of sin over God’s people has ended.----more---- As a quick reminder we will look at for different segments, we generally start with the practical ways of celebrating a holiday or season of time, we then examine the biblical rationale for the holiday, then we look at how the holiday has been celebrated in history and finish with a hymn or psalm of music that we examine and listen to together. So let’s get started PracticalStarting with the practical side, In the Stout house, we have never observed Lent or Ash Wednesday for that matter. This is due really to a combination of reasons the biggest one being that observing this time wasn’t a part of our families upbringing. We tend to emulate the way we were raised and that is a design feature not a bug. Kids turning out like their parents is how God made the world. It shouldn’t surprise us. Personally, this is an area of huge blessing for both Elizabeth and I as we had and still have righteous parents who raised us in the fear and admonition of the Lord. In fact in many cases we also had righteous grandparents going back several generations. We ought to go in the ways of our Father when our father’s go in the ways of the Lord. As GK Chesterton once observed, “these are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.” Christians shouldn’t fall into that temptation. We ought to feel a deep comfort in following the paths our father’s have laid for us provided those paths were honoring to God law. I say this because I have no paths to follow on this one; no prior experience to hearken back to. On the plus side, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent have no sentimental or nostalgic value for me or my wife that could cloud God’s voice. On the negative side, it has none of the familiarities that for many Christians they have come to expect and naturally are held accountable too.With that in mind what should Christians do during Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent? Let’s take a look at the historical practice of the church and then answer that question. HistoricalAsh Wednesday and the season of Lent precedes Easter by 40 days. As we stated earlier, In the gospel, Jesus fasts and does battle with Satan for 40 days in the desert. 40 days is a common number in Scripture and indicates a period of fullness or a complete cycle of time. Because the time of lent precedes the victory of Christ on the cross, we know that the suffering Christ experienced led ultimately to His glorification. Just as God’s promise to us is that if we humble ourselves, He will lift us up, so Jesus was tempted for 40 days and and beyond, was humbled to the point of death on a cross (a cursed tree) and during all of this faithfully obeyed His Father in Heaven. Because He was faithful in this, God raised Him up to glory and Christ calls us to follow the same path.Now if you check the math you will see that Wednesday February 26th 2020 is actually 46 days before Easter on April 12th. This apparent inconsistency is actually proof of a point I’ve tried to make every episode thus far on the Anno Domini podcast. And that point is this: The church calendar is not a binding requirement for Christians. However, the Lord’s Day each week is the one day that Christians are bound to observe. It is literally one of the 10 commandments so ignoring it is not an option. Therefore 40 days of Lent don’t include Sundays since those Sundays are the Lord’s Days and are ALWAYS and I do mean always, a day of Feasting, Celebrating, and Joyfully giving God glory by setting the day aside for Him. If we are in a season of penance, and I will define that in a moment, than we set that discipline aside on the Lord’s Day to give Him the glory due Him by feasting. Bottom line: The Lord’s Day is not a day for fasting.So what is Lent and what is Ash Wednesday?Lent comes from the Middle English word Lente (with an e on the end) which simply means “spring.” It also comes from an Old English word Lengten which means to lengthen, referring of course to the lengthening of days leading up to Spring and Easter morning.Lent is similar to Advent in that during lent, we are anticipating something coming that is well worth the wait. Just like in Advent, we patiently and eagerly anticipate the coming of the Messiah. During Lent we are anticipating and waiting on the victory of Christ over sin, the devil, and death itself.Ash Wednesday has historically been the day that Christian get an ashen cross drawn on their foreheads to remind them of that primeval curse pronounced at the fall that “dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” We are mortal and the dust or ashes signify this. Abraham seems to understand this truth while speaking to God in Genesis 18:27 when he remarks. “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,” and God certainly knows this seeing that he formed man from the dust of the ground and Psalm 103:14 promises us that He hasn’t forgot this either “for He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.” So the point of Ash Wednesday is to remind us that we are as frail as dust. Not that man is as lowly as dirt…nothing more than a worm. No we are not being reminded of this but rather the question which James 4:14 asks and answers “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”This is the point of Ash Wednesday, to set the tone for the weeks to follow which is that of penance. Now what do I mean by penance? This is important to define because in the Catholic church penance is an actual sacrament and I believe one of the chief ways in which Catholics wrongly follow a path toward what amounts to self justification. If I do enough penance I will be worthy. This is totally anti-gospel. We are not penitent so that we can become worthy, we are penitent because we’ve been made worthy by the blood of Christ and our only logical response to this kindness of God is a spirit of penance as defined in 1828 by Noah Webster as simply repentance. Lent ought to be a season, and certainly not the only time, in which we take careful notice of the gargantuan gulf separating sinful man from the Holy God. Christians often minimize the distance between the holiness of God and the lowliness of our own spiritual state. But our natural spiritual state is antithetical to the station of God in heaven. Without the blood of Christ making us worthy, no amount of penance could ever be “enough” to bridge the gulf. We are helpless and dead in our sin and only the empowering work of the Holy Spirit through gospel can change this. Therefore during the time of Lent we should use it as an opportunity to pay careful attention this empowering work of the Spirit. In Ezekiel 37, the Lord tells the prophet to preach the gospel to the valley of dry bones and both flesh and breath enters the bones and they are seen as a great army. This is a picture of the gospel. The breath of life entering and bringing life to a corpse so dead all that is left are a heap dry bones.During Lent we are reminded of our need to examine ourselves in the light of the gospel. What patterns in our life are inconsistent with a life of victory over sin?Practical Things to do during Lent:Devote your time to others. Give to those who cannot repay. Visit nursing homes, the sick, or shut-ins.Pray for the Spirit to reveal hidden sins and then confess them to God remembering that He is faithful to forgive them. Also remember that repentance and self hatred are at odds with one another. We are made in God’s image and only Satan hates that we never should. We can face our sin and repent of it without self loathing.Fasting from food, not just one or two things but actually experiencing times of fasting. Fasting works like a spiritual alarm clock, protecting you from the complacency found with a full belly.Devote yourself with other to times of prayer for specific requests and mark these times by fasting from food. But never on the Lord’s DaySeek community and unity during this time. While personal times of devotion to God are important we are the ONE bride of Christ. There won’t be any empty seats that table of supper of the lamb. We will be one body for eternity so we should act like we are now.A quick word on fasting which at this point is the main thing that Lent is associated with. In the law there is only one prescribed day of fasting which is called the Day of Atonement. However there are literally weeks and weeks of prescribed feast days. This seems to indicate that feasting is either more important or at least AS important as fasting. However Peter Leithart notices that as the scriptures progresses fasting becomes more common. He speculates that this could indicate that with maturity comes patience in waiting for the good things to come. You don’t expect nursing infants and little kids to fast but as they grow in maturity you expect them to grow in the discipline of waiting for good things. Fasting provides an opportunity for this. However don’t give things up simply for the sake of giving something up. Give something up in order that you can be a more useful servant for the Cross of Christ.Will we be celebrating Ash Wednesday by receiving an ashen cross on our heads? No. While I know that Catholics and Lutherans know about the teaching of Christ and His express prohibition on outward signs of fasting, I feel, at least at this point, that going and getting smudged with ashes so that the world knows I am now fasting is in direct opposition to the teaching of Christ when He said “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” This “anointing your head and washing your face” seems to indicate the greater feast that is to come and so the outward sign of an unwashed face seems to miss that point. While I won’t be getting a visible outward sign on Ash Wednesday I will be attempting to follow, in secret, the practical ideas listed above. Also, I will include a link to a wonderful little catechism that is excellent to use during Lent for yourself or your little ones too. Biblical Joel 2:12-19Our biblical passage today is from the Old Testament lectionary reading in Joel. I’m not going to give any commentary on it but just read it and you will see what an apropos passage it is for Ash Wednesday and the days of Lent to come. The Gospel as throughout this passage. God is full of lovingkindness toward those who humble themselves before Him.“Now, therefore,” says the Lord,“Turn to Me with all your heart,With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”So rend your heart, and not your garments;Return to the Lord your God,For He is gracious and merciful,Slow to anger, and of great kindness;And He relents from doing harm.Who knows if He will turn and relent,And leave a blessing behind Him—A grain offering and a drink offeringFor the Lord your God?Blow the trumpet in Zion,Consecrate a fast,Call a sacred assembly;Gather the people,Sanctify the congregation,Assemble the elders,Gather the children and nursing babes;Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber,And the bride from her dressing room.Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,Weep between the porch and the altar;Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord,And do not give Your heritage to reproach,That the nations should rule over them.Why should they say among the peoples,‘Where is their God?’ ”Then the Lord will be zealous for His land,And pity His people.The Lord will answer and say to His people,“Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil,And you will be satisfied by them;I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.The promise of God is that to those who humble themselves He will lift up but the proud He actively opposes. During this season of Lent may our attitude toward God be one of repentance and humility so that we might be lifted up by Him. May we choose the seat at the foot of the table so that we might be called up to the place of honor. MusicalIn 1906 there was a young energetic English Anglican by the name of Gilbert who penned a rousing hymn full of vitality and courage. It was a call to National Repentance. The song is called O God of Earth and Alter and in parenthesis were the words, (Prayer for the Nation). It was written by GK Chesterton in his early thirties before he converted to the Church of Rome. In the Spirit of the Lenten Season may this hymn, written 114 years ago be just as appropriate for us 21st century Americans as when it was written. Let’s listen to the words.O God of earth and altar,Bow down and hear our cry,Our earthly rulers falter,Our people drift and die;The walls of gold entomb us,The swords of scorn divide,Take not thy thunder from us,But take away our pride.From all that terror teaches,From lies of tongue and pen,From all the easy speechesThat comfort cruel men,From sale and profanationOf honour and the sword,From sleep and from damnation,Deliver us, good Lord.Tie in a living tetherThe prince and priest and thrall,Bind all our lives together,Smite us and save us all;In ire and exultationAflame with faith, and free,Lift up a living nation,A single sword to thee.Verse one is striking to say the least and sets the tone for what is a VERY striking and convicting hymn. There are no platitudes here. God is high in heaven and we are low on earth and we are asking God to bow down and stoop to our level and hear our cry. Why are we crying to Him? Because our rulers here on earth are faltering failures and we as a people are drifting and dying. We are drifting and dying because our walls, made of gold in our prosperity, are actually entombing us. Scorn has become so common place that it is merely used as a weapon to divide brother against brother. We are asking God not to spare His wrath or His thunder against us but instead to take away the one thing that is causing all of this mess…our pride.Verse 2 is even more visually intense. We confess that fear is teacher and not the fear of God either. Buttressing fear as our teacher are lies both written and spoken. Speeches that are nothing more than pandering platitudes to achieve political gain are the order of the day and they ease the conscience and comfort men and women who have cruelty bound in their hearts. We ask in verse two for deliverance from many things, greed, a love of the profane, violence, the fear of man disguised as honor, laziness, and ultimately the fires of hell. We ask the Father, our good Father in Heaven to deliver us from these evils.Verse 3 shows somewhat the peculiarity of the writers connection to the Monarch and Church of England. The prince is the monarchy, the priest is the Church of England, and the thrall are those bound under the rule of the King. I’d like to quote Peter Leithart again from an article he wrote last December on the website First Things “Few hymns offer so stark a portrait of the human condition—lies, terror, cruelty disguised as niceness, tombs of gold, lazy indifference, pride. It’s stark, and very contemporary. “Swords of scorn divide”: Chesterton could have been watching CNN or Fox News, or following Twitter. Chesterton doesn’t permit a jot of sentimentality. No “Sweet Hour of Prayer” for him; his prayer is an anguished cry. He’s not looking for a gently wafting Spirit; Chesterton invokes divine thunder. He doesn’t want God to hold back, because he knows salvation lies on the far side of judgment: “Smite us and save us all.”Yes Chesterton knows a secret that the mare Hwin discovered in the book “The Horse and His Boy” In the book Hwin, who is terrified of lions, is shaking all over while Aslan, the ruler of Narnia approaches her and goes to him saying “You may eat me if you like. I’d sooner be eaten by you than fed by anyone else.” The best place to be is a willing participant under Providence of God even if that means, like Job, the life as you know it will be consumed. Okay that concludes the episode for this week. As usual I have the preceding hymn set to music I’ve recorded. In this recording, I set the hymn a new tune and one of the things I am most excited about is that I was able to record this song with my oldest daughter Eva singing the vocals with me. She is a dear girl and I hope you enjoy it. I will be back on April 5th with four simultaneous episodes for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday itself. Until then, I hope you have a blessed Lent and may these next 40 days grow you in maturity in ways only the Holy Spirit can accomplish.

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Song: Setting of Psalm 67Passage: Isaiah 60:1-9Dutch Children Act out the Epiphany Copy and past this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If622_Fd4JcHello everyone and Welcome to episode #7 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. We have made it through the season of Advent and now we approach our next holiday on the Church calendar; Epiphany. Epiphany is the culmination of the Christmas season and comes after the 12 days of Christmas is over. It is a time when we celebrate the coming of the Messiah unto the Gentiles and up until the 19th century, it was on par with Christmas Day itself earning itself the title of “little Christmas.” As I’ve said before, Epiphany, like any of the feast and festivals found on the Church Calendar are not a requirement for Christians to observe but a blessings for those who enjoy the liberty found in the gospel. Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. If celebrating a holiday that is found only in tradition and not in the revealed Word of God bothers your conscience, then by all means sit this celebration out. Just remember this: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. The Lord’s day is not a day that we have the option to take or leave. It is the day God has set aside for us to rest and worship Him. To celebrate the victory of the Christ over Sin, Satan, and Death itself. ----more----Practical and HistoricalHave you ever heard of the 12 days of Christmas? You’ve know the song but contrary to popular belief now, the first day of Christmas is actually Christmas Day or December 25th and each following day until the evening of the January 5th or 12th day which is also called Twelfth Night those are the 12 days of Christmas. Westerners now generally start our Christmas preparations unfortunately on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and work at a frenzied pace to get everything ready for 1 day only. We then give all or most of our gifts on December 25th and many even have the tree and decoration taken down by the next day. It hasn’t always been like this though. Before the 19th century, when the industrial revolution put an end to extended celebrations, Epiphany was more important than Christmas Day itself. We would spread our gift giving and merry making out over 12 days, each day celebrating a different aspect of Christianity and our history. One day we would celebrate the first martyr of the Church, Stephan, another day we mark and mourn the slaughter of the innocents by the hand of the Romans and Herod in Bethlehem. This would all be building up to the very biggest part of the celebration which happens on the evening of January 5th or Twelfth night which was the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany. These were times meant for singing and caroling from door to door. A time of feasting and eating lots of great food with friends and family. It was also a time for making and eating something called Kings Cake which has many many variations with the version I’m most familiar with being called Panettone. Usually a dried bean would be placed on one side of the cake and a dried pea placed somewhere on the other side. The men and boys eat the side containing the bean and the women and girls eat the side containing the dried pea. Whoever finds the bean is King for that day and whoever finds the dried pea is Queen for the day. Historically, kids dress up on Epiphany as the three wise men and do nativity skits, sing songs, and go door to door caroling and receiving candy, coins, and many many smiles. I have a video I will link to in the show notes that is a good representation of what epiphany celebrations looked like 60 years ago in heavily Protestant Holland.The word Epiphany means manifestation which is itself a difficult word. Noah Webster defines manifestation this way: MANIFESTA'TION, The act of disclosing what is secret, unseen or obscure; discovery to the eye or to the understanding; the exhibition of any thing by clear evidence; display; as the manifestation of God's power in creation, or of his benevolence in redemption.Epiphany marks the beginning of the season of manifestation. Over the next several weeks we will see Christ being revealed in various ways. He is revealed on Epiphany to the Magi. On the Sunday of January 12th we will celebrate Him being revealed to the world through His public baptism. On the Sunday of February 2nd we will celebrate His revealing at the temple to Simeon. Simeon realized, or it was manifested to him that he was in the presence of the Savior of the world, a light to the Gentiles and a glory for Israel. On the Sunday of February 23rd we celebrate Christ revealing Himself to the inner 3 disciples through His transfiguration. He revealed to them in His transfiguration, all His glory. This revealing culminates as Christ goes into the desert and reveals Himself to Satan and does battle with Satan for 40 days. This is marked on Feb. 26th by Ash Wednesday and is the beginning of the Season of Lent. Up until Lent we will mark each Sunday as the Sunday After Epiphany. So while January 5th is the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, January 12th is the first Sunday after Epiphany. Likewise the Lord’s Day on March 1st is known as the 1st Sunday after Lent. In this way we are always finding ourselves in a particular season. Right now we are on the cusp the the season of Epiphany which itself is celebrating the coming light of Christ unto the Gentiles by the coming of the Magi or Wise Men unto Jesus. These wise men, sometimes called 3 Kings although we have no way of knowing if they were kings or not, are representative, in a way, of the Gentile world. They were not Jews but the Glory of the Lord was revealed to them. They were not Jews but they saw the light of God and followed the star, the glory of the Lord, and found the Christ and salvation as a result. They were not Jews but they did not come empty handed but brought gifts fit for a King. This theme of Light in darkness has been prevalent throughout the Advent season and in some ways it reaches it zenith during Epiphany. Christ came first for the Jews and when they as a whole, rejected Him, refused to seek Him, and would bring Him no gifts, the Gentiles, as our text will reveal, flying like clouds, came from all 4 corners of the earth unto the savior because they, The Gentiles, had been sitting in great darkness and upon them a light has dawned. Traditionally, Epiphany is the time that Christians take their Christmas decoration down. After celebrating Christmas for 12 days in one fashion or another, it is time for us to close out the season of Advent and Christmastime and move into the time of Epiphany when Christ, as we have discussed, reveals Himself in various ways to the world. Our family, for severals years now, has marked Epiphany by taking our Christmas tree outside in the darkness of the night and setting it on fire. Then we all shout at the top of our lungs “Jesus is the Light of the World.” It is a glorious end to a glorious season. BiblicalOur last segment combined both the historical with the practical. In this section we will look at the passages found in our lectionary surrounding Ephiphany and one of the passages in particular that of Isaiah 60 verses 1 through 9. The actual text only goes through verse 6 but I wanted to included the follow 3 verses for the discussion. Let’s read the text.Arise, shine, for your light has come,and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,and thick darkness the peoples;but the Lord will arise upon you,and his glory will be seen upon you.And nations shall come to your light,and kings to the brightness of your rising.Lift up your eyes all around, and see;they all gather together, they come to you;your sons shall come from afar,and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.Then you shall see and be radiant;your heart shall thrill and exult,because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,the wealth of the nations shall come to you.A multitude of camels shall cover you,the young camels of Midian and Ephah;all those from Sheba shall come.They shall bring gold and frankincense,and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,and I will beautify my beautiful house.Who are these that fly like a cloud,and like doves to their windows?For the coastlands shall hope for me,the ships of Tarshish first,to bring your children from afar,their silver and gold with them,for the name of the Lord your God,and for the Holy One of Israel,because he has made you beautiful.The themes of light within the lectionary during this portion of the year are everywhere. In this passage God’s people are told to shine because their light has come. This means that as God’s people, we are a sort of moon to the Sun of Righteousness. We reflect His glory and even though the world is covered in darkness His glory will be seen on us and the nations will come to our light. This of course is what Epiphany is celebrating. The coming of the nations unto the Sun of Righteousness following the one true Star, Christ is of course the Bright Morning Star and those who follow Him receive His light and can then reflect that light to an unbelieving world. In fact Isaiah promises the believers of the day that in that day, in the coming of Christ, the nations shall come to the light of the people of Israel and Kings to the brightness of their rising. The epistle reading for Epiphany is found in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1 through 12 where Paul explains that Gentiles “are now fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel. “This means that there is no longer Jews and Gentiles. Not at least in the sense of Jewish people specifically being the chosen of God any longer. That status no longer has the genetic requirements or stipulations that it once had. Before, you were a Jew if you were born a Jew. Now, since the coming of Christ, being one of God’s chosen people means you recognize Jesus as the King, the Son of God, and that He died for you and rose again to save you from your own wickedness. The Jews 2000 years ago rejected this idea and still reject it today. This means that the Church, baptized believers, are the true recipients of these promises found in Isaiah. When it says the your sons shall come from afar, those are our sons. When God says He will beautify His beautiful House, we are the living stones that make up that House. We are those that fly like clouds and like dove’s to Christ. We are those who hope for Him and whom He has made beautiful. And this is true of everyone who believes. Jew or Gentile. Male or Female. Slave or Free. All can come to Christ in faith and He promises never to turn any who come to Him away. MusicalToday we will be examining not a hymn but a setting of Psalm 67. While there are many incredible Epiphany hymns, the one I was preparing was not finished in time, so instead we will look at Psalm 67. Now I won’t spend a lot of time discussing the Psalm except to say that it fits nicely within the theme of Epiphany because it asks God to make His face to shine upon u that His ways may be known in all the earth His salvation known among all nations. It also speaks to the fact that the earth will be governed by God and will as a result yield her increase. This psalm is sung sung verbatim from the New King James Version. I will probably go to my grave remember this entire Psalm word for word because it has been set to music. As psalm literal means song, really all 150 psalms ought to be sung. However as the Church has recently moved from maturity to immaturity, the first thing to go the singing of psalms replacing them with hymns only. Then hymns were replaced by contemporary worship music and praise choruses. Finally many churches find themselves singing songs that were meant for kids and often have more in common with romantic love songs than the worship of the triune God. This is what is meant when some critique worship songs as being “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs. They follow the pattern of pop music instead of Scripture. This cause many of us to stay in what has been called, perpetual spiritual kindergarten. Instead of growing in grace and truth and sinking our teeth in to the meat of the word, growing in the fruit of the Spirit, and seeing those around us grow in grace too, we perpetually stay on milk, confusing childish faith with child-like faith and in so doing loose much of the blessings we could receive from the psalter or the book of Psalms. I hope you all have a wonderful Twelfth Night and Feast of the Epiphany. The next major celebration in the church calendar is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. This is not until Feb. 26th. I may do another podcast during Epiphany and I may wait until the start of Lent for the next one I haven’t decided yet but stay tuned and enjoy this time of the light coming unto us Gentiles, the new Israel.

Twelfth Night & Epiphany

ChristmasSong: The First NoelPassage: Isaiah 9:2-7For Unto Us a Child is Born: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7jhk-IjDoDownload the Album Advent: https://joestout.bandcamp.com/album/adventHello everyone and Merry Christmas! Welcome to episode #6 of the Anno Domini Podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.Welcome back again friends. I hope you have all had a restful day full of feasting, family, and fantastic merry making. I began the show by wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. Those are words that have been fought over for several years now. It can be considered a political statement in the clown world we now live in merely to wish someone a Merry Christmas. But I believe that as our Lord told us, the sons of the world are more shrewd than those of us in the light. They understand the meaning of Christmas better than we do at times and when they come to this understanding they mutter along with Gollum “we hates it”. Christmas stands for the total invasion of the world of sin and darkness by the king of glory. This means that idols will fall, strongholds will be torn down, and the powers of this age will carry their power no longer. When we wish someone a Merry Christmas we are not just wishing them happiness. In our vernacular Merry means happy or cheerful and so it should however a man I admire greatly by the name of George Grant shared with me something quite insightful regarding that word Merry. Quote from him…”The word “merry” is from an old Anglo-Saxon word which literally means "valiant," “illustrious,” “great,” or “gallant.” Thus, to be merry is not merely to be mirthful, but to be mighty. In Shakespeare, we read of fiercely courageous soldiers who are called “merry men.” Strong winds are “merry gales.” Fine days are marked by “merry weather.” So, when we say "Merry Christmas," we are really exhorting one another to take heart and to stand fast!And so dear listener we note that to say Merry Christmas is nothing short than to wish the hearer to be consumed by the love of Christ and that all his or her idols, strongholds, and towers of trust will be torn down by the invasion of God into the world. The incarnation of God into flesh. Christmas is now here. Advent is over and Christmastime has begun. Today is the first day of Christmas, there are twelve and at the end of these twelve days Christ will be revealed to the world through Epiphany at least as the church calendar reckons it. Just as a reminder to my listeners that there are no holy days that Christians are bound to… save the weekly Lord’s Day itself. All of this is extra goodies on top of the weekly rest Christ has given us. These days of feasting, celebration, and reflection are here to strengthen our walk with God not bind up burdens upon our backs. As we explore the practical, biblical, historical and musical, remember that God created a world fill with good things because he is the best kind of extravagant. He could have given us a world in which everything was efficient, practical, and economical. A world with bland porridge three meals a day and room temperature weather. Instead we live in a world filled with beef brisket, oratorios by Handel, freshly cut fir, hurricanes and tornadoes and yes even Christmas lights. Celebrate with me over the coming days the extravagant goodness of God.PracticalNo transcript available.Biblical and HistoricalToday we are going to combine the Biblical with the Historic. The reason for this is that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all fall under 1 heading, that of The Nativity of Our Lord. During this time there are three celebrations or services that were normally held over this 24 hour period. There would be a short service on Christmas Eve Day. Then came the Christmas Midnight Service where parishioners gather at church at midnight to celebrate the arrival of Christ due to the traditionally held view that Christ was born at midnight. If true then a midnight service is an appropriate form of homage as it take real sacrifice to go to church at midnight. Imagine keeping the kids quiet during church at midnight! Then there would be a church service to go to on Christmas morning as well. Much of this is lost to us as most churches don’t even do a Christmas eve service let alone one at midnight or Christmas morning. It’s not even uncommon for churches to cancel the Lord’s Day worship service when Christmas came on a Sunday! That is really quite unbelievable. Crazy to think that not too long ago, most people would go or at least would have the option to go to church 3 times in just a 24 hour period. All this was for the benefit of the parishioners who would be actively having their minds transformed and renewed instead of conformed to the world.As far as choosing a biblical passage from the lectionary, all these services mean there are 12 different passages to choose from. I won’t read them all but check out episode 2 for a download of the lectionary I am pulling from.The passage I will discuss will be from Isaiah 9:2-7. Let’s read it together and remember that this is the very word of God.The people who walked in darknesshave seen a great light;those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,on them has light shone.You have multiplied the nation;you have increased its joy;they rejoice before youas with joy at the harvest,as they are glad when they divide the spoil.For the yoke of his burden,and the staff for his shoulder,the rod of his oppressor,you have broken as on the day of Midian.For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumultand every garment rolled in bloodwill be burned as fuel for the fire.For to us a child is born,to us a son is given;and the government shall be upon his shoulder,and his name shall be calledWonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.Of the increase of his government and of peacethere will be no end,on the throne of David and over his kingdom,to establish it and to uphold itwith justice and with righteousnessfrom this time forth and forevermore.The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.The natural state of man is darkness. Just as entropy is constantly breaking things down into chaos, so darkness is the natural state of everything without the intervention of or act of an outside force. In the beginning there was darkness until God spoke forth light. In this passage there is a group of people, those who inhabit planet earth. These people, us, without the intervention of the outside force called God will continue to walk in darkness…deep darkness in fact. But the promised messiah would send light. The people wouldn’t make it, choose it, or will it, it would be given to them. It would shine on them. And as the first chapter of the gospel of John tells us the darkness would never again overcome the light. The result of the light shining on the nations is increased joy and rejoicing because the yoke of oppression has now been broken. In fact, all the warfare consuming the world, ruling the world in fact would be broken with the birth of a child a son given to the world to save the world. This was no spiritual leader only though, He would command the governments of all these nations blessed by His coming. These nations would submit to Him or as our other lectionary passage from Psalm 2 tells us, He would break them with a rod of iron that breaks clay pots. Jesus is the stone on which you can fall and be broken or can fall on you and you will be crushed. This child would be given many wonderful names. He was a counselor, He was God incarnate, He and the Father were one, and though He is a conquering King, He is also the Price of Peace. Finally, when the child comes it would be the beginning of the end of the curse and the increase of government, his rule, His dominion, and therefore His peace would have no end as He was also Peace incarnate. This would be true for the kingdom of David, also known as Israel, who we now know, thanks to the New Testament, is anyone who has been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace.I think it is helpful to notice something here. This is a pretty epic promise. It is an incredibly well known passage today because it is clear to us that Christ is the promised one. But in the time leading up to this event, nobody was paying attention. No one was watching Joseph’s house to see if he would produce any sons. No one is keeping tabs on Mary’s family to examine their progeny. Even in Bethlehem where this prophecy was said to take place was completely ignoring the fact that the coming Messiah could be on their doorstep. There was no sign of anything happening. Just like in the days of Noah, the were eating and drinking, and everything seemed swell. And then it started to rain. It was just like this in Bethlehem, very small and quiet just like God works, a still small voice. However, something big was about to happen in a small baby. MusicalWe have a well known hymn today. It really needs to introduction and I can’t tell you much about it’s history as no one knows who wrote it. The song is called The First Noel. Noel means Christmas or Christmas Season in French. The tune has been changed and slightly rearranged. You are welcome to listen to the whole album it comes from called “Advent” by searching your favorite streaming service or looking on YouTube. Let’s take a look at the words.1. The first Noel the angel did sayWas to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;In fields where they lay, keeping their sheep,On a cold winter's night that was so deep: They looked up and saw a star,Shining in the east, beyond them far:And to the earth it gave great light,And so it continued both day and night:3. And by the light of that same star,Three Wise Men came from country far;To seek for a King was their intent,And to follow the star whersoever it went: This star drew nigh to the north-west;O'er Bethlehem it took its rest;And there it did both stop and stayRight over the place where Jesus lay:5. Then entered in those Wise Men three,Full reverently upon their knee,And offered there in his presence,Their gold and myrrh and frankincense: Then let us all with one accordSing praises to our heavenly LordThat hath made heaven and earth of nought,And with his blood mankind hath bought:This song differs quite a bit from the others songs we’ve examined in that it mainly is meant as a story song that perhaps a traveling minstrel might sing. In the past history was preserved through song because it was easier to remember and more entertaining to hear. I would really like to say two things about this song. First that the King of Israel is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is not just a King of people group long ago, He is the King of Israel and Israel as we have already said are those who have been brought near by the blood of the King…King Jesus. Secondly because He created Heaven and Earth from the mere sound of His voice, we must sing praises in unity. The church militant is the church on earth right now. Every baptized man, woman, boy, and girl is called toward a unity under the banner of the King. And with that I will close out the show and play a new version of the First Noel. I won’t be producing another podcast until Epiphany and so until then, have a very Merry 12 days of Christmas!

Christmas Day

Amid the Silence Christmas Carol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDcHZ9i8KSkMerry Christmas Everyone! 

Christmas Eve - Midnight

Song: From East to WestText: Isaiah 7: 10-17Liturgical Calendar DownloadHello everyone and welcome to episode #4 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.We have now reached the beginning of the fourth week of the new church year. Last week was Gaudete Sunday or the Sunday of Rejoicing. This Lord’s Day is the 4th and final Sunday of Advent this year and by this time on Wednesday morning we will have completed the time of Advent and we will begin the joyful 12 days of Christmas also known as Christmastime or Christmastide. If this is your first time with us, my name is Joe Stout and I my wife and I and our 7 (soon to be 8) children decided to spend a year following the liturgical calendar. The following podcasts are produced in real time as a way of documenting the experiences discovered as a result of our attempt to structure our lives as so many of our Christian brothers and sisters have done in the past and are doing today. Our hope is that we will find that the liturgical calendar can give a framework for what we emphasize and when we emphasize it. We are in the season of Advent which is a time of longing and of joy. A time when we sing and pray and hope with all the saints, Maranatha or Come Lord Jesus. Our minds are bent in this way knowing He has already come and that He will one day come again. Like many of the promises of Scripture, Advent reminds us that God’s kingdom on earth has come in an “already but not yet” kind of way. Advent keeps us longing whether in joy, in pain, or in the groaning that all of creation experiences for the coming and fulfillment of the kingdom of God. The revealing of the sons and daughters of the King and the redemption of the body. This unraveling of the curse began when the Christ child, as the hymn tells us, the world’s redeemer, first revealed his sacred face.  I think I will continue, at least for now, the structuring of this podcast into 4 parts, practical, biblical, historical, and musical. It interests me and so far I haven’t run out of things to say about each. My wife might think I won’t ever run out of things to say…about anything and she might be right. The point is, I care deeply about practical Christianity. I don’t want it just in my head as intellectual knowledge. I also don’t want it just in my heart as emotional feelings. I want to be able to live in a way that displays obedience, love, and devotion to the Savior who put on the frailty of human flesh so that I could one day put on the glory of the resurrected body. Examining devotion and obedience to Christ in the real world, a fancy word called orthopraxy, is so critical for Christians to embrace since our culture has long since forsaken anything resembling Christian conduct. This is why I start with the practical and follow it up with the biblical. Here is what we’ve done and this is why it matters. Then we move to the historical as a way of saying, we are not alone in this, others have followed these old paths too. Our feet may be new but the paths are not. We then end with an ancient or not so ancient hymn as a way of tying together and reinforcing in a worshipful manner the practical, biblical, and historic connections we have made.So let’s get started. PracticalI spoke briefly last week on the paradox surrounding rest. We often have to work very hard to prepare to rest the way God commanded. Rest is not the same as relaxation and should be seen as a spiritual act of service, obedience, and done in joy. With that in mind I found it interesting that my wife and I found ourselves talking this week over morning coffee about the story of Mary and Martha as described in Luke 10:38-42. As you may recall, Martha invited Jesus to come to her house for supper. Mary, her sister, was so enraptured with teaching of Christ that she simply sat at His feet and didn’t even attempt to help her sister prepare for the feast. Luke tells us that “Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” Martha, exasperated I’m sure because she lived in a day and age without Costcos, electric ovens, or freezer meals, was frustrated by her sisters lack of help and complained to Jesus about Mary. Jesus’ response is startling, He tells Martha that she is worried about many things but only one thing is needed and Mary choose rightly. As Elizabeth and I discussed this, we both agreed that Mary choose rightly and at the same time people still needed to eat dinner. In other words, someone had to prepare the meal and serve the guest… I suppose if Jesus is your dinner guest and you’ve seen Him feed the 5000 you could take your chances and see what happens but the point is that sitting at the feet of Jesus and serving him dinner are not mutually exclusive. Martha could have been hard at work with her preparations and cheerfully acknowledge her sister sitting at the feet of her Lord. She could have even joined her sister at the feet of Jesus know that dinner would as dinners do, eventually happen and work itself out. What she did instead was complain in the midst of her preparations and this, I believe, is what Jesus gently admonishes her against. Jesus was telling Martha that she could rest even in her work because He was with her. I think this is really important as we enter the final stretch of Christmas preparations. The work is good, and the one to whom your work is given is even better so do all things without grumbling or complaining and you will shine as lights to the world. BiblicalEach week we examine a passage from the 3 year Lectionary. We are on series A this year and so since, during Advent, we’ve been examining the passages from Isaiah we will do that again. This weeks four readings are Isaiah 7: 10-17, Psalm 24, Romans 1:1-7, and Mathew 1:18-25Let’s read the Word of God and then discuss.Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”Ahaz was the king of Judah during this prophecy. Judah and Israel, as you may recall, were two divided kingdoms and often at war with one another. At the beginning of Chapter 7 Israel has banded together with Syria and has marched on Ahaz of Judah in an attempt to force Judah into an alliance against yet another kingdom, that of Assyria. Confused yet? When Ahaz hears that Israel has joined forces with Israel and is going to march on Judah, his heart, and the heart of all of his people ”shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. In other words he was terrified. In his terror, God tells him to ask for a sign. As high or as low as Ahaz wishes. Ahaz, who does not fear God, refuses to “test God” by asking for a sign. God gives him a sign anyway and the sign is a baby. A child, born of a virgin, who will be a king and will deliver the people from the terror before them. This prophecy was fulfilled in two ways. First it was fulfilled during the day of Isaiah with the birth of a king or deliverer. It could have been Hezekiah or another child of Ahaz. It could have been a son of Isaiah but in some way, the two kings that Ahaz dreaded would no longer be a dread to him. It was fulfilled in a perfectly complete way though with the birth of Christ. The gospel reading from the lectionary this week comes from Matthew 1:18-25. In this passage we read that the birth of Jesus fulfilled the prophecy spoken in Isaiah 7 because here was literally had God with us. We had and will forever have Immanuel. It is also important to notice what this child was destined to do, He would save His people from their sins. This, I believe is what Jesus meant when he promised in John 6:37 that All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out Jesus came to save sinners and there isn’t a sinner, given to Him by His Father, that he won’t save. This is the good news that Christmas is all about. HistoricalAs we move into the historical section I thought it would be helpful to give a broad overview of the entire church calendar along with a handy printable guide that marks it out from start to repeat. Now I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating. I come from a protestant, reformed, and evangelical background. I have been extremely blessed with faithful, God-fearing parents, grand-parents, and even great-grandparents. However, the church calendar was never a major emphasis within our family traditions and so therefore I have very little experience or tradition to fall back on in what it looks like to follow the cyclical life that church calendar provides. That cyclical nature of the calendar has lent itself to many written outlines in the form of circular / pie chart type visual aids that I have found helpful. I am going to describe one that I really like and I will have it in the show notes as a download if you’re interested in seeing it yourself.But in the broadest terms, the liturgical calendar is how the universal Church has reckoned time in spite of how the culture around them did. The calendar starts with the first Sunday of Advent and follows two main halves. The first half is where we celebrate the acts of Jesus. In other words this is the time to celebrate what Jesus did. This would be things like His advent, His birth, his revealing to the world (Epiphany), His baptism, transfiguration, His 40 days of fasting, His triumphal entry, Last supper, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This half of the church year is sometimes called the festival half. Jesus is with us, because we are celebrating His acts and therefore we feast. If the first half of the year celebrates what Jesus did then the second half of the year celebrates what Jesus taught. This time is also called ordinary time because the weeks are arranged using ordinal numbers based on how many weeks past Pentecost we find ourselves. This season starts after Pentecost because as the Spirit comes to us, He enables us to learn, understand, and be changed by the teachings of Christ in a way we could never be changed without the Spirits work. While Jesus was here he promised that if He left He would send someone who would enable us to do even greater things then He did. He was speaking of sending the Spirit and how believing and obeying His words was greater than even raising the dead. So the first half of the year is divided into 4 sections. The first is the Advent or coming of Christ which would include all 12 days of Christmas. That is the time we are in now. The second season of the first half of the year is Epiphany which means manifestation or Christ showing Himself. He is revealed to the wise men, He is revealed at His baptism, He is revealed to Simeon, He is revealed during His transfiguration. We then enter into the season of Lent with the start of Ash Wednesday. Lent means “spring” and also “to lengthen” referring to the lengthening light of spring. This is the time we prepare ourselves for the great events that will take place during Holy Week which begins 6 weeks after the beginning of Lent. As Jeff Meyers puts it “During Lent we are encouraged to examine ourselves anew in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We follow his example and seek for forty days to wage a more earnest struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our desire in this is increased sanctification and growth in Christian maturity and obedience.” This period leads into Holy Week which is Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and finally Easter itself where death itself was conquered by our Lord.After Easter there is what is often called the 40 days of Joy which are the weeks following Easter but preceding the Ascension of Christ into heaven. The first half of the church year culminates with arguably the most important event in human history, Pentecost. Pentecost marked an enormous shift in human history, the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell the chosen of the Lord and provide a way in which we could be, as Jesus promised, born again. Only when Pentecost has come, and we have been filled with the Spirit, can we now carry out the teaching of Christ in obedience and love. This is why the calendar is structure this way. The second half of the year as I said earlier is structured as so many days after Pentecost until we get back to Advent and start the process again. One interesting thing to note is that even though times such as Lent often involve fasting, there is no mourning or fasting allowed on the Lord’s day. The Lord’s day is when God expects us to show up and celebrate. MusicalThis weeks musical numbers jumps back to the 4th century to a song originally written in Latin by Coelius Sedulius which when translated in 1826 by John Ellerton was given the name, From East to West. Let’s take a look at the words:1 From east to west, from shore to shoreLet ev'ry heart awake and singThe holy child whom Mary bore,The Christ, the everlasting king. 2 Behold, the world's creator wearsThe form and fashion of a slave;Our very flesh our maker shares,His fallen creature man to save.3 For this how wondrously He wrought!A maiden, in her lowly place,Became, in ways beyond all thought,The chosen vessel of His grace. 4 And while the angels in the skySang praise above the silent field,To shepherds poor the Lord Most High,the one great Shepherd, was revealed.5 All glory for this blessed mornTo God the Father ever be;All praise to Thee, O Virgin-born,All praise O Holy Ghost to TheeThe song begins by urging all beating hearts in the world no matter where to awake and sing of the holy child, born of Mary, the Christ, the king of Kings.Verse 2 gives a devastating description of Christ putting on the form and fashion of a slave. Although Jesus was never a slave to sin He did put on our frail humanity and weakness so that he could save His people from their sins.Verse 3 puts the focus on the amazing story of Mary and how God indwelling a poor but virtuous peasant girl became the vessel of Grace itself in a way that is beyond our ability to reason.Verse 4 tells the story of the poor humble shepherds being the first to hear the good tidings of great joy about the one Great Shepherd who was now revealed and they could see with their own eyes.Verse 5 culminates in a doxology of praise to the triune God and a praise for the actual, real, physical morning on which the Christ came into the world. This was a real event in real history and history has never been the same again it was now Anno Domini, the year of our Lord. So I am planning on having a Christmas Eve podcast and a Christmas Day podcast. They will both be very short but I have another couple of songs from the album Advent I would like to share via the podcast format. If you would rather not wait to hear those songs, you can check out the new album which is now on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, and iHeartRadio. I will have a link in the show notes but simply searching in any of those sites should bring it up. The title of the album is Advent and the artist is Joe Stout…me. That is enough for this week everyone. Happy 4th Sunday of Advent and I will see you all in two days for a short podcast on the Christmas Eve Night and then another one on Christmas Morning. Until then, enjoy this new version of the hymn From East to West.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Song: Lift Up Your HeadsText: Isaiah 35Click HERE to listen to and download the new album "Advent"Hello and welcome to episode #3 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us. Welcome back to week 3 of our year-long journey of following the liturgical church calendar. My name is Joe Stout and I will be your host today. My wife and I and our 7 children decided to spend a year following the liturgical calendar. Since the church new year started on Dec. 1st 2019 with the First Sunday of Advent we are now at the Third Sunday of Advent which is sometime called GOW Day Tay Sunday which I will explain my understanding of later. This day should be marked with Joy and Rejoicing. We have much to rejoice over because the King of Kings is drawing near, the Savior of the World is here. So take joy dear Christians, Christ has overcome the darkness. Just a quick housekeeping note that Christians are called to keep one holy day only and that is the weekly Lord’s day. These days, weeks, and seasons of celebration are merely intended as a way of worshipping God with our entire being and provide communal focus to our lives as one body in Christ. We worship together, rejoice together, weep together…the Church calendar provides an opportunity for this and nothing more. This is the new covenant and if celebrating Christmas or Easter or Lent afflicts your conscience then by all means abstain. We all get to spend eternity together celebrating whichever way you choose. This podcast is divided into four parts. We start with practical ways to celebrate the holiday. We then move on to a biblical portion connected to the celebrated day chosen from the Lectionary, (see podcast #2 if you would like more information on the Lectionary). Our third section looks into historic ways in which the Church and our forefather’s have followed the calendar and the tools, traditions, and insight that has sprung from that. We finish the podcast with an in depth look at an ancient hymn that can be tied to the holiday.Let’s get started. PracticalOn the practical side of Advent celebrations I’ve got to say that celebrating holidays is a ton of work. When we look at the plethora of ways the Jews angered Yahweh in the old testament we often see a refusal to celebrate his commanded feast days at the forefront. In other words, God told His people to rest or party or somehow tried to bless them by giving them good works to do, they complained, corrupted the work, or simply ignored the feast day all together. While I certainly don’t want to condone their sin, I can also understand why not resting or celebrating is tempting. There is usually a lot of preparation that goes into the feast or celebration. This can make it hard to want to obey because what we think of as a blessing is usually self centered. We want peace and quiet, we want to veg out, we want to do our own thing and not be hindered by intentionally resting. We can sometimes conflate resting and relaxing. While they seem similar they can reveal themselves to be very different in their acts. Relaxing is like taking a long shower or sitting in a hot tub. It requires nothing from you and only offers benefits. Resting on the other hand usually requires discipline. The Jews understood this as they set aside the Friday before Saturday as the Day of Preparation. They were preparing for rest that paradoxically required work to achieve. This is not unlike our own journey of faith. We are accepted by God through the blood of Christ and we respond to this acceptance with faith. This faith results in good works. Lots of them. Good works that God has planned out long before the world began. These good works culminate when our temporal life ends and our eternal life begins which is referred to as “entering His rest.”So what is the difference between relaxing and rest? One requires nothing, the other requires work and obedience to something outside your own desires. With all that in mind our family of 9 found our celebrations of Advent while encouraging also not for the faint of heart. Celebrating the liturgical calendar should not be thought of in merely a romanticized way. In other words, celebrating is work in a way and should not be only done when it feels nostalgic or postcard-esque. We continued our nightly celebrations by turning out the lights and then marking some way in which our own lives are dark without Jesus. We are constantly reminded of the victory of the gospel as each night another candle is lit and the darkness flees a little more as we approach the birth of our Lord. BiblicalThe lectionary passages this week are Isaiah 35 which we will be discussing. Our psalm will be 146, our epistle will come from James 5:7–11, and our gospel reading is found in Matt. 11:2–15. In keeping with the theme of the last two weeks we will look at the passage from Isaiah 35. Let’s read it now, remember this is the very word of God.Isaiah 35The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;it shall blossom abundantlyand rejoice with joy and singing.The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.They shall see the glory of the Lord,the majesty of our God.Strengthen the weak hands,and make firm the feeble knees.Say to those who have an anxious heart,“Be strong; fear not!Behold, your Godwill come with vengeance,with the recompense of God.He will come and save you.”Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,and the ears of the deaf unstopped;then shall the lame man leap like a deer,and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.For waters break forth in the wilderness,and streams in the desert;the burning sand shall become a pool,and the thirsty ground springs of water;in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,the grass shall become reeds and rushes.And a highway shall be there,and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;the unclean shall not pass over it.It shall belong to those who walk on the way;even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.No lion shall be there,nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;they shall not be found there,but the redeemed shall walk there.And the ransomed of the Lord shall returnand come to Zion with singing;everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;they shall obtain gladness and joy,and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.In Chapter 34, Isaiah has been prophesying some pretty grim destruction on the people and the land of Edom. But now in Chapter 35 and new hope is foretold. It is promised that the wilderness will no longer be in sorrow but will be glad and shall blossom and rejoice with joy and singing. The ground, cursed not only by the Edomites but by the sin of Adam will begin to reverse with the coming of the King. Just as the Christmas carol promised “no more let sin or sorrow grow or thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessing known far as the curse is found.”Verses 3 through 6 speak of the work that will be done in that day. Weak hands will be made strong, knees that are shaking will be made firm, anxious hearts are calmed, blind eyes are opened, deaf ears are unstopped, lame men will go about leaping, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy. Does this remind us of anyone in particular? Was there perhaps a new Adam who was both fully God and fully man who set about on earth with this work in mind? A mind to accomplish what the first Adam could not? You see the first Adam plunged the garden into wilderness and His rebellion cursed the ground. The second Adam watered the wilderness and made it bloom once again. On the day of His resurrection, When Mary, seeing Jesus, assumes Him to be the gardener. She wasn’t wrong at all. Christ is the true Gardener the one who is making the wilderness bloom again. This passage ends with the promise that the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing and that everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. We are promised that these ransomed will obtain gladness and joy because the sorrow and sighing that was previously a part of their life will flee away. This Joy is both something in our hearts that we experience and it is the Savior of the World, Christ. HistoricalAs I alluded too in the opening of the show the 3rd Sunday of Advent is regarded somewhat differently that the first, second, or fourth. As a church we have called this day Gaudete (GOW day tay) Sunday because the historic passage read publicly during this day of worship has always been Philippians 4:4-6 which begins with Rejoice in the Lord always. The ecclesiastical latin word for Rejoice is Gaudete and therefore the theme surrounding this day is one of rejoicing. Interestingly the gospel reading shows John discouraged or perplexed in prison sending word via his disciples to Christ asking if He was the one promised. Jesus responds encouragingly that the words of Isaiah are being fulfilled. By extension we can say that he was building up the broken hearted. Building them up with what? Joy of course. MusicalOne note before we jump into this weeks hymn is that I am getting this podcast up very late in the week because I’ve spent an enormous amount of time getting the album that will contain all of the songs we’ve been discussing and that we will discuss in coming weeks finished and released. Well the good news is that it has been released to all the major streaming services such as Spotify and iTunes and should be available on those platforms in the next few days. If you would like to listen to and download it now, I also have it available for free on my bandcamp profile page. I will have a link in the show notes that directs you to the music. There are six songs in all two of which were highlighted in episodes 1 and 2 and 4 additional songs as of yet unheard. I hope you are blessed by them and I will be glad to get a break from working on them now that they are finished.Okay back to the topic at hand. The last two weeks we’ve examined ancient hymn from the 4th century. This week we are going to jump ahead over a 1000 years to a german hymn written in 1642 by Georg Weissel. The translated title of the hymn is “Lift up Your Heads” and while originally in German, was translated by the very prolific hymn translator Catherine Winkworth in 1855. Let’s get a look at the words.Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates,Behold the King of glory waits;The King of kings is drawing near,The Savior of the world is here;Life and salvation He will bring,Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing:We praise Thee, Father, now!Creator, wise art ThouThe Lord is just, a helper tried,Mercy is ever at His side,His kingly crown is holiness,His scepter, pity in distress,The end of all our woe He brings;Wherefore the earth is glad and sings:We praise Thee, Savior, now,Mighty in deed art Thou!Oh blest the land, the city blest,Where Christ the ruler is confessed!Oh happy hearts and happy homesTo whom this king of glory comes!The cloudless sun of joy He is,Who bringeth pure delight and bliss:O Comforter divine,What boundless grace is Thine!Redeemer, come! I open wideMy heart to Thee—here, Lord, abide!Let me Thy inner presence feel,Thy grace and love in me reveal,Thy Holy Spirit guide us onUntil our glorious goal is won!Eternal praise and fameWe offer to Thy name.This hymn is set around Psalm 24 which describes that the earth and everything in it belongs to God and so we should be reading for the coming of the King of Glory. We sing that the Savior of the World is here. What a wonderful thought, God set out to save His elect but that elect includes eventually, all of creation. No not everyone will be saved. Many will reject Him but many more will come to Him and unto salvation. With this salvation and life that He brings, and with the keeping of the theme of this Lord’s Day we remember to REJOICE and sing with gladness for God is indeed wise. An oft used device in hymns writing is to conclude the song with a doxology to the Triune nature of God. This hymn takes a different approach and focuses the first 3 verses on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit respectively. This first verse focused our praises on the Father.The second verse, focused on the work of the son, describes Jesus as just and a helper. Mercy is at His side and He wears a crown of holiness and yet carries a scepter of pity or compassion for those who are in distress. He ends our woe and so the earth is glad and sings! Therefore we praise Him our savior who is mighty in deed.Verse 3 begins by affirming the promise that the land and the city will be blessed where Christ is confessed as ruler. Oh how we need the reigning presence of Christ in our country and in the hearts of our rulers. I often hear Christians take the very secular argument that Christianity is a private relationship with Christ and therefore shouldn’t be brought into the public square. I couldn’t disagree more. Without Christ, our rulers have been driven insane by their own degeneracy with every imaginable lust of the heart and flesh. Without Christ as King our civic life can only exist for a time and then will come judgement. Happy hearts and happy homes are the vision for those to whom the King of glory comes and is received with Joy. The Holy Spirit of Christ is the cloudless sun that brings pure delight and bliss. Therefore we praise the Holy Spirit, here called the Comforter Divine for the boundless grace He bestows.When I first played this song for Elizabeth, she was surprised by verse 4 as it sounds much more Evangelical than the previous 3 verses or any of the other songs we will be discussing. It focuses on the heart of the believer which is a very common theme in modern music. We sing asking the redeemer to come and abide in our heart. We ask that we might be able to feel his presence and to have His love in us revealed. We ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our glorious goal of glorifying and praising Him during this earthly life and we promise our praise and fame to Him. Now shifting to sing to God about ourselves is certainly not bad. The psalms do it all the time and we shouldn’t be afraid to sing about us to God. However, I think it becomes an issue when the main focus of most of our worship is on us. Our devotion to God, our faithfulness, our feelings, our needs, our wants. These are important but need to be put in their proper place. In verse 4 after we have spent 3 verses giving God the glory due His name.And with that I will go ahead and finish up by playing a new version of the nearly 400 year old hymn Lift Up Your Heads. Again don’t forget this is track 3 of the new album called Advent. You can go to the podcast website annodominipodcast.com and find a link to the album there or just check your favorite streaming service in the next few days and it should show up there as well.I hope everyone has a Joyful 3rd Sunday of Advent and I will see you all next week.

Third Sunday of Advent - Gaudete

A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.

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Anno Domini - In the Year of Our Lord

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