Pastor David Nehrenz
tlcnormanpastor@gmail.com
FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
Dear Saints Walking in the Light of Christ,
“Songs of thankfulness and praise, Jesus, Lord, to Thee we raise,
Manifested by the star, To the sages from afar,
Branch of royal David’s stem, In Thy birth at Bethlehem:
Anthems be to Thee addressed, God in man made manifest.” LSB 394 v. 1
We are in the Epiphany season from Friday, January 6, the Epiphany of Our Lord, until Sunday March 2, the Transfiguration of Our Lord. There are four key events in the life of Christ during the Epiphany season:
First is the actual Epiphany of the star that brings the Magi to Jesus. They exult in the glorious Light of the Christ, and bow down and worship him.
Second is the Baptism of our Lord, where the voice of the Father speaks forth from the clouds in the sky and announces, “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased!”
Third is the first Miracle of our Lord, when Jesus shows his glory to his disciples by changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana.
Fourth is the Transfiguration of our Lord, where on the high mountain Jesus shines forth in brilliant light from the cloud of God’s presence. There Moses and Elijah (the Old Testament) and Peter, James and John (the New Testament) hear the Father say, “This is my Beloved Son, Listen to Him!”
These four events are some of the most important manifestations of Jesus’ glory shining through his human nature!
Epiphany is indeed a celebration for Gentiles like us. The Magi or Wise Men were Gentiles from the east. They followed a star they had seen in the sky and came to worship the One who is the Light for all the nations. Their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were gifts for Jesus who is a king, priest and prophet.
Also, this month, on Sunday January 26, we consider the God-given gift and sanctity of human life. God created human life from conception in our mother’s womb and sustains us till the day of our death. Christians must stand up in defense of God’s gift of life and speak out against abortion, infanticide, mercy-killing and euthanasia, genocide and suicide. Instead, we offer mercy and love for those in hurt and in need.
“Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord, Present in Thy holy Word—
Grace to imitate Thee now, And be pure, as pure art Thou;
That we might become like Thee, At Thy great epiphany
And may praise Thee, ever blest, God in man made manifest..” LSB 394 v. 5
In the Light of Christ,
Pastor Nehrenz
Vicar Tanner Sawall
tlcnormanvicar@gmail.com
FROM THE VICAR
“The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.” – Proverbs 14:12
What does this proverb mean? As fallen man, things often go wrong. Wives and husbands can be lost to the jaws of death. Children stray from The Way to the heartbreak of their parents. Spouses can cheat on spouses. Heartache and pain are commonplace. Pain seems to be the baseline experience of humanity. All we have are words to attempt to share our emotions that spring from the heart. Poetry is the ultimate attempt at communing. The gift of language that God gave ultimately is the gift of communion with each other as social creatures. Along with the corruption of the whole world by the fall of man, so too was language. Its effectiveness has been reduced because of sin.
Yet there are degrees of emotion, of suffering, of loneliness that words fail to convey. Try as you might, a mother who has lost a child stillborn will never be able to fully share the agony of such a traumatic loss. A man who has experienced war will never be able to communicate the horror of war, despite using a plethora of vivid imagery and skillful prose. As a result of this failure of language, the heart is left in its isolation, completely alone with its emotion and tumult.
However, here is where the theology of the cross and the doctrine of the Incarnation shines brightest. Though we cannot perfectly share our hearts to one another due to the limitations of fallen language, God in His perfect love sent the Word into our world to restore to us a right and perfect communion with Him. He gives us His Word since ours fail by becoming Man.
And while He was on this earth, He experienced all the pain, suffering, loneliness, and loss that is so common to humanity, and yet remained without sin. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15) Jesus knows exactly how we feel. He understands profoundly your trials and pain. When our prayers falter because, once again, our language fails us, “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Rom. 8:26)
Beloved children of God, our God is not One without mastery of the heart. He has felt as we do. He has suffered as we do. And He promises to be with us, His frail but beloved children. Due to the Incarnation, our hearts are never alone, never unheard, never not understood. Our God is with us, hears our tumult, understands our pains and anxieties… And He answers us gently with His body and blood to strengthen us, the water which flowed from His riven side to wash us, and His Word to cheer us.
