Watching and Waiting on the Lord in Hope

Most of you will already have heard about the shooting at a church in Texas this past Sunday morning.  Two parishioners were shot and killed before the assailant was taken out by another.  It is a sobering reminder of the troubled times in which we live and of how precarious this life is.

Various “mass shootings,” school shootings in particular, have been much in the news in recent years, often being used as political playing pieces to advance one agenda or another.  Lots and lots of strong feelings, understandably, and many conflicting opinions as to the causes and solutions. But setting aside all the clutter, it remains a tragedy when even one child is killed — to say nothing of the fact that 3,000 children are being “gunned down” in the womb every day in the United States (making Herod’s wicked slaughter of the Holy Innocents look like child’s play by comparison).

In early 2018, I happened to catch an impassioned statement and plea that one bereaved father, Andrew Pollack, made to President Trump following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.  Grieving for his murdered daughter, he pointed out that it wasn’t about partisan politics or even gun laws, but simply about protecting the children.  “We need our children safe,” he said.  “Let’s get together and work with the president and fix the schools.  That’s it.  No other discussions.”  “Whatever we have to do,” Mr. Pollack insisted.  “I didn’t think it was going to happen to me,” he noted.  “If I knew that, I would have been at the school every day if I knew it was that dangerous.”

To be sure, if the parents, principals, teachers, or school boards knew ahead of time that there was going to be a shooting — if they knew on what day and at what hour the gunmen were coming — they would have their schools on lockdown before the tragedies could happen, in order to prevent them.  They would take whatever steps were necessary to keep their children out of harm’s way.

But, of course, there is far more at stake than temporal life and mortal flesh and blood.  Our life on earth is not very long, in any case, whether six or sixty years, or barely more than 100 at most.  And this brief mortal span is not yet the Life for which you and your children have been created.

It is a tragedy for anyone to be gunned down, whether at church or school, at a movie, a concert, or a club, or in the womb.  But for those who are catechized in the Word of the Holy One of Israel, who are kept in the true Christian faith by His Word and Holy Spirit, their death from this body and life (whatever the cause) is their release from the burdens and labors, pains and sorrows of this fallen and perishing world, and the beginning of true peace and Sabbath rest in the nearer presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as they await with us the Resurrection of all flesh.  For the steadfast love of the Lord abides forever with those who fear Him, who are called to faith by His Gospel.

Blessed are those parents who teach their children the fear and faith of the Lord by caring for them with His Word.  There is no more significant or valuable work for any father or mother than that!

To bring their sons and daughters to the washing of water with the Word and Spirit of God in Holy Baptism, by which the Lord guards all their going out and coming in, henceforth and forevermore.  And to catechize their children in the Name of the Lord, with which they have been named.  To teach them the pattern and practice of repentance and forgiveness, both by exemplifying the use of Confession and Absolution with the pastor in the life of the Church, and by exercising mutual confession and forgiveness of sins in the life of the home and family.  And to bring their children to the pastor for the Holy Communion, also, in order to be fed by the Lord Jesus at His Table.

Fathers and mothers, you do not know the day or the hour when death may snatch your sons and daughters from your stewardship forever.  You have no idea how much time you’re going to be given to care for your children, to give them what they need the most, and to teach them the most important things there are to learn in life.  So do not waste the time you do have now!  Bring them to Christ Jesus in His Church; and give Christ Jesus to them by rehearsing, confessing, and praying His Word together with them.  Thus do you prepare them for the ongoing Feast in His Kingdom.

What, then, if you have no children?  Blessed are you, one and all, who watch and wait upon the Lord by giving careful attention to His Word and to His works, whereby you live now and forever.  Blessed are you when you remain awake and alert and alive by His Holy Spirit, by the grace of God in Christ, even through the night.  Not that you must never take your rest or get any sleep; for He does also give to His beloved sleep.  But how is it that you might stay up late to bring in the New Year on a night like this, and yet not keep vigil to watch and wait upon the Lord your God?

You do not know how little time you may have, or how long you may have to wait.  What if the loud and angry voices that you sometimes overhear at McDonald’s, or even at the library, were to escalate into physical violence?  What if treacherous roads or a fire in the night were suddenly to wreck your car, destroy your home, or end your life on earth?  A tree might fall on you; accidents do happen.  Deadly cancer might strike you down, regardless of your age.  Or your mind might fail long before your body.  Number your days, therefore, and let each one count for what matters most.

Do you not hear the watchmen singing on the heights?  “Christ has come!”  And “He is coming!”  Be ready, then.  Have your loins girded, and keep your lamp burning.  Do not be caught unawares.

If you were a father, a mother, a child, young or old, a big brother or a little sister in Egypt on that night of the Lord’s Passover, then you would know from the Prophet Moses that the Lord was coming at some hour after twilight.  A terrible Thief in the night, He would come to steal away the firstborn sons of Egypt — from the mighty Pharaoh in his palace to the lowly captive in his cell.

But how many sons of Israel has Pharaoh already put to death?  And now shall the Lord Himself slay even more?  Not so!  For He has heard your cries.  He knows your sorrows.  And He has come to save you, to release you from the Egyptians.  He shall bring you through the waters into safety and freedom, and feed you generously with bread from heaven in the wilderness, and bring you at last into the Good Land He has sworn to give you, a land of creamy milk and sweetest honey.

What, then, shall you do, now, on this dark night in Egypt?  The Lord your God has told you.  He has given you His Word to guide you and guard you.  You shall take a male lamb, unblemished, from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall slay it in the evening, as the night falls.  If your household is too small for the lamb, then you shall join with your neighbor and his household.  And you shall anoint the doorposts and the lintel of the house with the blood of the lamb, and you shall roast its flesh and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  Eat it with haste.  Your loins shall be girded as you eat, with staff in hand and sandals on your feet, ready to leave in a hurry.

You know the story.  The Lord is faithful, and He brings you out of Egypt with His mighty arm and outstretched hand.  No plague befalls you, for the blood of the lamb covers and protects you and your whole household, all according to the Word that God the Lord has spoken to you.

Now, then, this is how you are to live each day and every night of your life on this earth.  For the Thief is surely coming at an hour you do not know.  Death is coming, yes, tonight, tomorrow, in the new year ahead, or at some point in the years to come, if the Lord in His wise mercy grants such years to you and to this old earth.  But the Lord Himself is coming like a Thief in the night.

You do not know the day or the hour of His coming.  But He has not left you clueless or without a Lamp to light your path.  He has given you His Holy Scriptures and the preaching and teaching of His Word.  And there is for you also the Lamb who has been slain.  His Blood anoints your lips and tongue, the doorposts and lintel of your body, and so covers you from death.  And His Flesh is your Meat indeed, your true Passover Feast, which you eat with the unleavened bread.  You share this sacrificial Meal in the household and family of God, regardless of your station in life, no matter the size of your own household.  And here you are kept safe, in order that you may live.

Therefore, let your loins also be girded, and be ready to leave at any time.  Be dressed for work and packed for travel at a moment’s notice — like a woman ready for her labor and delivery to begin.

And know that your watching and waiting upon the Lord are not simply “biding your time.”  But, no, these serve the point and purpose of your time on earth, whether in Egypt or the wilderness.

Here and now you learn to live by the grace of God, by faith in His Word.  You learn to live each day in view of your Holy Baptism, dying and rising with Christ Jesus.  You learn to live with Him, to follow Him through the water, and to be fed by Him in the wilderness, without complaining or grumbling.  And thus are you taught to number your days, to know how short your life here is, and to apply your heart unto wisdom, which is to fear the Lord your God and to love and trust in Him.  You are taught to repent of your sins, and so to rest in His mercy and forgiveness.  You are taught to be alert to the Lord and to His coming, neither anxious nor afraid, but in quietness and peace.

In such repentance and faith, you also love and serve your neighbors, especially those who are entrusted to your care: Your spouse and children, if you have them; your siblings and parents, your co-workers and customers, your neighbor next door, and your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

If your own household is small, or if you are alone, you still share the Lamb with your neighbors.

You love and care for all of these others, as the Lord so enables you to do, in order that they too may be prepared for His coming; so that, when death and judgment come, they also shall be found ready and waiting in the faith of Christ Jesus.  Such love for your neighbor is a priceless service.

All the while, dear little child of God, you already do live by the grace of your Father in heaven, through faith in His beloved Son, your Savior, Jesus Christ — even while you are still watching and waiting upon Him in the power and peace of His Holy Spirit.

For the Lord is coming to you here and now, and He is already with you by and with His Name, with which He has named you as His own in Holy Baptism, and by which He still claims you and richly blesses you with His Glory in the Divine Service, in the Invocation and the Benediction.

He is your very present Help in every trouble, for with His Word and Holy Spirit He attends you.  And because you are His very own, and you are dear to Him, He watches over all your going out and coming in, even to the last: With His Holy Angels, whom He has given charge over you; and through the service of His watchmen, your pastors, who shepherd you with the staff of His Word.

By the preaching of His Gospel of forgiveness, He satisfies you in the morning with His steadfast love, and He gives you peace and rest in the night season, no matter what terrors may lurk outside.

And now, again, as day by day and week by week throughout the year, through summer and winter, seedtime and harvest — here and now He comes into His House.  And though He is your Lord, He girds Himself to serve you.  He gently invites you to recline at His Table, and here He waits upon you in tender love and mercy.  He washes you and feeds you.  And doing so, He gives you Life.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sanctifying Time to the Glory of God

As we have recently heard from the Holy Gospel on Christmas Day, and as we confess throughout the year in the Creed, it is by and through the Son of God (the Word who became Flesh) that all things are made and exist.  Even in the face of sin and death, we thus affirm that all of creation is good, for it is God’s good work and His gracious gift.  It is to be received with thanksgiving, sanctified by His Word and prayer, and used to the glory of His Name in faith and love.

By the same token, you know how easily and how often God’s good gift of creation is abused and misused in contradiction of His Word.  It is so typical that it is either idolized or demonized, either worshiped and feared as though it were God, or despised and rejected as though it were the devil.

Time itself also belongs to God’s good creation and is therefore subject to sanctification by His Word and prayer, or to the idolatry and sacrilege of sinful unbelief.  It is created by God and given for a good and godly purpose, namely, that you should live by faith in His promises, day by day and year after year, in patience and in love.  Thus is it marked and measured by the days and nights that God the Lord has established; by the rhythm of weeks, the turning of seasons, and the passing of years which the Holy Scriptures and the servants of God, the sun, moon, and stars, determine.

The purpose of these signs and seasons, of evening and morning, sunset and dawning, of winter, spring, summer, and fall, and of seedtime and harvest, is that you should remember the Lord and His mercies, as He remembers you according to His steadfast love, and as He generously provides you with your daily bread.  For all of time, together with all of creation, is sanctified to the glory of God and for your eternal good by the Cross & Resurrection of the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.

Even so, time is likewise subject to blasphemous abuse when it is worshiped and feared instead of God, or when it is resisted and denied as though it were the work of the devil.  Time becomes a cruel taskmaster and a prison house, when it is viewed, not as God’s good creation and good gift, but as your lord and ruler, whether for good or ill; that falsehood will destroy you, either way.

Then you find that time pursues you on swift horses, indeed, until you are utterly undone.  Except, it is actually the Lord your God, your Maker and Redeemer, who pursues you in love — also with His servant, time — in order to recall you to Himself, to faith and love, and to eternal life in Christ.

Thus, it is here in time that you suffer and die on account of your sin.  But it is also here in time that you are brought to repentance, that you receive life and live by the grace and mercy of God.

It is within time that you may be hurt and disappointed, lied to, betrayed, and left waiting on those who let you down.  And it is within time that you, also, do both good and evil to your neighbors.

But it is in repentance and rest, quietness and peace, that you are saved here in time for eternity hereafter.  It is within time that you are called to live by faith, to wait in patience on the Lord; and in time that you are called to love and serve your neighbors, to carry out your duties in the fear and faith of God — not knowing the hour in advance, but only that your Master is certainly at hand.

Therefore, do not lose heart, and do not grow weary of doing good, but keep your loins girded, and keep the Word of the Lord in view as the Lamp unto your feet and as the Light upon your path.

Blessed are you, who are so ready and waiting.  The Lord will surely reward you in due season.

It is for you as it was for Israel in Egypt: Waiting and watching, suffering and dying, praying and hoping.  Not always faithful, but never forgotten.  The Lord hears your cries and remembers you.

Ten plagues the Lord sends upon your taskmaster.  But things get worse before they will get better.  The Cross puts to death every part of Egypt that reigns, not only over you, but within your heart and mind, your body and soul.  But all goes according to the Word of the Lord.  And at exactly the right time He raises you up and delivers you from every evil of body and soul, within and without.

For those who know and believe that the angel of death is coming to strike down the firstborn, the Lord provides the lamb to be sacrificed and eaten, sanctified by His Word and prayer.  So it is that death passes over, and His people come out of slavery into freedom, out of death into life.

So imagine yourself and your family on that night, gathered around the table of the lamb, guarded by nothing but his blood upon your door.  Whether it will happen in the second or third watch of the night, you have been told what is coming.  So you wait, you watch, you pray and confess.

And then the hour comes, and the cry goes up, and with your loins girded and your lamps lit you are brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand and outstretched arm of the Lord your God.

Beloved, that is how you are to live at all times and in all places, in readiness and waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ who is coming to set you free.  And He does set you free, though not from His creation, nor from your body of flesh and blood.  He redeems and sanctifies creation to become the new heavens and the new earth, and He sets your body free from sin, death, and the power of the devil, that you should live with Him, both now and forever, in body and soul.

He makes of time, not a tyrant, but a servant of faith, hope, and love.  So it is that, precisely in time and through time, He delivers you from death and brings you into the life everlasting in Himself, into the eternal Eighth Day of the New Creation in His own crucified and risen Body.

If you find that Egypt pursues you on swift horses, and if you are put to death all day long for the Name of the Lord, you also find yourself driven to the Pole on the hill, that is, to the sign of the Cross on Mt. Zion.  And you are brought through the waters of Baptism, through the drowning and death of repentance, into the resurrection of forgiveness and the divine life of faith and love.

You are taught by the Lord Himself to number your days in this way, day by day, from one week to the next, year after year.  For when His Hour had come, and the Lord Jesus was handed over to His voluntary suffering and death, He was watchful and alert on your behalf, girded in readiness, girded with love for you and for all people, even though all the world was at enmity with Him.

So now He invites you to recline at His Table, and here He comes to wait upon you and to serve you in grace, mercy, and peace.  Here you are gathered around the Table of the Lamb, and you are guarded by His holy, precious Blood.  In this way He remembers you, and you are made ready.

This is how you live and love and wait for the reception of your Master, here in time, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection and eternal life.  Not only when you are kneeling at the Altar and actually receiving the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood into your mouth and body; but, no, your whole life moves to and from this Table, so that, whether you are eating or drinking, or whatever you are doing, you live by faith, you live in love, and you glorify the Lord’s Name.

Live, therefore, as one who receives the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and consider what that means for your life in the body here in time.  Use your body to care for your neighbor’s body, respecting your neighbor, of course, and keeping yourself pure, but feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, caring for widows and orphans in distress.

Use the time that you are given to love and serve your neighbor; to listen with patient compassion; to pray and intercede for your neighbor in peace; and then, also, to gird yourself for good works, that you might be the answer God provides to your prayers and intercessions for your neighbor.

Live as one who receives the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that, as He died and was raised in His Body, so also are you justified by God for a resurrection ready to be revealed in due time.  As God the Lord has bound Himself to you with the very Body of Christ Jesus — here in time — there is nothing at all in time or space that shall be able to separate you from His Love.  Not 2015, nor 2016.  Neither life nor death.  Not now, not ever.

Time is neither your savior nor your enemy.  It is neither God nor the devil.  But the one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, uses time and all of His created things to serve and care for you: to feed and clothe and shelter you; to bring you to repentance and faith; to feed you with Himself.  He has, He does, and He will, tomorrow as today, throughout the New Year, unto life everlasting.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Your Loins Girded, Your Lamp Burning

Her name was Charlotte.  She was six years old; not much older than my Gerhardt or Stefan Horner, but she was all girl.  Like some other young ladies we know, she enjoyed Tae Kwon Do with her Dad, but she was into pink and pretty dresses.  Her brother, Guy, was three years older, but they attended the same elementary school, where her Mom was an active volunteer.

Charlotte’s Grandma & Grandpa, on her mother’s side, live in Minnesota, on the western outskirts of the Twin Cities, not far from where I worked and went to church between college and seminary, and not far from where I served my vicarage a few years after that.  Small world, isn’t it?

You may have seen pictures of Charlotte’s funeral procession, as her body was taken from Christ the King Lutheran Church to be laid to rest in the Newtown Village Cemetery.  It’s been in the news a bit.  She and her family were not members of Christ the King, but Charlotte attended the Sunday School there, and Pastor Morris has been caring for her family and conducted her funeral.

Charlotte’s parents, Joel and JoAnn, had no idea how little time they would have to care for their daughter, to give her what she needed most, and to teach her the most important things there are to learn in life.  I’m sure they were doing the best they could.  They were actively involved with their children in school and sports.  I don’t know why they weren’t members of the church; maybe they were in transition, or maybe they had let that slip in the busyness of so many other things.  But in the providence of God — maybe it was at Grandma Irene’s urging — they had taken Charlotte to the church, to learn of Christ her King, her Savior and her God.  In doing this, they gave her life.

Be sure of this, dear friends in Christ, if the Principal and PTA of Sandy Hook Elementary had known on what day, and at what hour, the gunman was coming, they would have had that school on lockdown before the tragedy could happen, in order to prevent it.  They would have saved lives.

But there is always more at stake than temporal life and mortal flesh and blood.  Six years is a tender age, but life on earth is not long, in any case: maybe sixty years, or barely more than 100 at most.  But this brief span in a fallen world is not yet the Life for which you (and all) are created.

As it was, the gunman, twenty-year-old Adam Lanza, took the lives of almost thirty children and adults, none of them very old.  But for each of those victims who were catechized in the Word of the Holy One of Israel, who were brought to faith by His Word and Spirit, death was but an end to their watching and waiting upon Him: It was a graduation to the neverending Day — to the new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells, and where the Prince of Peace reigns in Glory — to the nearer presence of God in Christ, in order to behold Him face to face.  For the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever on those who fear Him, who are called to faith by His Gospel.

Blessed are those parents who teach their children the fear and faith of God, by caring for them with His Word.  There is no more significant task that any father or mother is given than that:

To bring their sons and daughters to the washing of water with the Word and Spirit of God in Holy Baptism, by which the Lord guards all their going out and coming in, henceforth and forevermore.  And to catechize their children in the Name of the Lord, with which they have been named.  To teach them the pattern and practice of repentance and forgiveness, both by exemplifying the use of Confession and Absolution with the pastor in the life of the Church, and by exercising mutual confession and forgiveness of sins in the life of the home and family.  And to bring their children to the pastor, also, for the Holy Communion, to be fed by the coming Lord at His Table.

Fathers and mothers, you do not know the day nor the hour when death may snatch your sons and daughters from your stewardship forever.  But in bringing them to Christ Jesus in His Church, and in giving Christ to them with His Word, you prepare them for the ongoing Feast in His Kingdom.

What, then, if you have no children?  Blessed are you, one and all, who watch and wait upon the Lord by giving careful attention to His Word and to His works, whereby you live, now and forever.  Blessed are you, when you remain awake and alert and alive, by His Holy Spirit, by His grace, even in the nighttime.  Not that you must never take your rest or get any sleep; for He does also give to His beloved sleep.  But how shall you, perhaps, stay up late to bring in the New Year on such a night as this, and yet not keep vigil to watch and wait upon the Lord your God?

You do not know how little time you may have; nor how long you may have to wait.  What if the loud and angry voices that you sometimes overhear at McDonalds, or even at the library, were to escalate into physical violence?  What if treacherous icy roads, or a fire in the night, were suddenly to wreck your car, destroy your home, or end your life on earth?  A tree might fall on you; for accidents do happen.  Deadly cancer might strike, irrespective of age.  Or, your mind might fail long before your body.  Number your days, therefore, and let each one count for what matters most.

Do you not hear the watchmen singing on the heights?  Christ has come!  And He is coming!  Be ready, then.  Have your loins girded, and keep your lamp burning.  Do not be caught unprepared.

If you were a father, a mother, a child, young or old, a brother or sister, in Egypt on that night of the Lord’s Passover, then you would know from the Prophet Moses that the Lord was coming at some hour after twilight: A terrible Thief in the night, He would come, to steal away the firstborn sons of Egypt, from the Pharaoh in his palace and from the captive in his cell.

But how many sons of Israel has Pharaoh already put to death?  And now shall the Lord Himself slay even more?  Not so!  For He has heard your cries.  He knows your sorrows.  And He has come to save you, to release you from the Egyptians.  He shall bring you through the waters into safety and freedom, and feed you generously with bread from heaven in the wilderness, and bring you at last into the Good Land He has sworn to give you, a land of creamy milk and sweetest honey.

What, then, shall you do, now, on this dark night in Egypt?  The Lord your God has told you.  He has given you His Word to guide you and guard you.  You shall take a male lamb, unblemished, from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall slay it in the evening, as the night falls.  If your household is too small for the lamb, then you shall join with your neighbor and his household.  And you shall anoint the doorposts and the lintel of the house with the blood of the lamb, and you shall roast its flesh and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  Eat it with haste.  Your loins shall be girded as you eat, with staff in hand and sandals on your feet, ready to leave in a hurry.

You know the story.  The Lord is faithful, and He brings you out of Egypt with His mighty arm and outstretched hand.  No plague befalls you, for the blood of the lamb covers and protects you, and your whole household, in accordance with the Word that God, the Lord, has spoken to you.

Now, beloved, this is how you are to live, each day and every night of your life on this earth.  For the Thief is surely coming, at an hour you do not know.  Death is coming, yes:  Tonight, tomorrow, in the new year ahead, or at some point in the years to come, if the Lord shall grant such years to you and to this earth.  But the Lord Himself is coming like a Thief in the night.

You neither know the day nor the hour of His coming.  Yet, He has not left you clueless, without a Lamp to lighten your way.  He has given you His Scriptures and the preaching and teaching of His Word.  And there is, for you also, the Lamb who has been slain. His Blood anoints your lips and tongue, the doorposts and lintel of your body, and protects you from death.  And His Flesh is your Meat indeed, your true Passover Feast, which you eat with the unleavened bread.  You share this sacrificial Meal in the household and family of God, regardless of your own station in life, no matter the size of your own household.  And here you are kept safe, so that you may have Life.

Therefore, let your loins also be girded, and be ready to leave at any time.  Be dressed for work, and packed for travel at moment’s notice; like a woman ready for her labor and delivery to begin.

Not as though your watching and waiting upon the Lord were a waste of time.

But here now is the point and purpose of your time on earth, whether in Egypt or the wilderness:

Here and now you learn to live by the grace of God, by faith in His Word.  You learn to live each day in view of your Baptism, dying and rising with Christ.  You learn to live with Him, to follow Him through the water, and to be fed by Him in the wilderness, without complaining or grumbling.  And so you are taught to number your days, to know how short your life here is, and to apply your heart to wisdom; which is to fear the Lord your God, but also to love and trust in Him.  You are taught to repent of your sins, and to rest in His mercy and forgiveness.  You are taught to be alert to Him and to His coming; neither anxious nor afraid, but in quietness and peace.

In such repentance and faith, you also love and care for your neighbors, especially for those who are entrusted to your care: Your spouse and children, if you have them; your siblings and parents, your co-workers and customers, your neighbor next door, and your brothers and sisters in Christ.

If your own household is small, or if you are alone, you still share the Lamb with your neighbors.

You love and care for all of these others, as the Lord so enables you to do, in order that they too may be prepared for His coming; so that, when death and judgment come, they shall also be found ready and waiting in the faith of Christ Jesus.  Such love for your neighbor is a priceless service.

All the while, dear little child of God, you do already live: by the grace of your Father in heaven, through faith in His beloved Son — even while you are still watching and waiting upon Him in the power and peace of His Holy Spirit.

For the Lord is coming to you, here and now, and He is already with you: By and with His Name, with which He has named you as His own in Holy Baptism, and with which He still claims you and richly blesses you with His Glory in the Divine Service, in the Invocation and the Benediction.

He is your very present Help in every trouble; for with His Word and Holy Spirit He attends you.  And because you are His very own, and you are dear to Him, He watches over all your going out and coming in, even to the last: With His Holy Angels, whom He has given charge over you; and through the service of His watchmen, your pastors, who shepherd you with the staff of His Word.

By the preaching of His Gospel of forgiveness, He satisfies you in the morning with His steadfast love, and He gives you peace and rest in the night season; no matter what terrors may lurk outside.

And now, again, as day by day and week by week throughout the year, through summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, here and now He comes into His House; and though He is your Lord, He girds Himself to serve you.  He gently invites you to recline at His Table, and here He waits upon you in tender love and mercy: He washes you and feeds you.  And in doing this, He gives you Life.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.