Lent IV
Congregation at Prayer
A Guide for Daily Meditation and Prayer
For the Week of March19thto 25th
These Words: For You!
Responsive Prayer 2 – LSB p.285
Catechesis Notes for the Week…
The Word does it all. The bread used in the Lord’s Supper isn’t magical. It’s not bionic bread or anything like that. It’s just normal, even less than substantial bread. You can’t get much of a meal out of the wafers we use in Communion. And the wine—oh, well let’s just say we didn’t break the bank buying our Mogen David Communion wine! And if it’s not the bread and not the wine, is it us? Is it the way we eat? Is it something we do that makes this eating and drinking different from all other eating and drinking we do? No. Not that either. In this Divine Supper, the Word does it all.
Our Catechism question for this week asks, “How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?” And the answer Luther gives us isn’t found in the way we eat or drink, but in what our Lord says: “These words: Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” It’s all about the Word, and more than that, all about the promise!
But how? How can simple words do this? Well, it’s not just simple words, their the words that come from the mouth of the creator. Our Lord loves to work by His Word: He created the heavens and earth with a word (see Gen 1-2). By His Word the cedars quake (Ps 29). By His Word He calms the storm (Mk 6). By His Word He casts out demons. By His Word He cleanses the leprous and heals the paralytic and forgives sin.
It’s all done by His Word. Because when the Lord speaks, things happen. This is what we call performative speech. Whatever He says is performed, or enacted. His Word does what it says.
So also, then, in the Lord’s Supper. When He says, “This is My body, given for you—He actually gives you His body, along with the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting! Not because of anything you’ve said or done, but because He spoke it with His Word: Given for you.
Learn-By-Heart Scripture…John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Learn-By-Heart Catechism…Lord’s Supper
How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?
Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: “forgiveness of sins.”
Daily Readings…
Monday (3/19):Gen 42:1-34, 38; Mark 12:1-12
Tuesday (3/20):Gen 43:1-28; Mark12:13-27
Wednesday (3/21):Gen 44:1-18, 32-34; Mark 12:28-44
Thursday (3/22):Gen 45:1-20, 24-28; Mark 13:1-23
Friday (3/23):Gen 47:1-31; Mark13:24-37
Saturday (3/24):Gen 49:29-50:7, 14-26; Mark 14:1-11
Sunday (3/25):Exod 1:1-22;Mark 14:12-31
Prayer of the Week…
Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Hymn of the Week…“God Loved the World So That He Gave” 571
Looking Forward to Next Week…
Jeremiah31:31-34Hebrews 5:1-10Mark 10:32-45