In the midst of the time between the celebration of the Ascension and the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost comes Exaudi, a Sunday of hopeful expectation. We need comfort in the midst of our sorrows and griefs, persecution and suffering. This is expected for all those who confess Christ’s name. What is unexpected is the gift of the Holy Spirit sent by the Father and bearing witness of Jesus. Indeed, Jesus given by the Spirit through the Word brings a comfort that the world cannot give.

(Apologies for the audio. The final few minutes were truncated where we considered the lack of comfort found in Moses and the Law, in good works and holy living. True comfort comes only by Jesus through His Spirit-given gifts of Word and Sacrament. He takes our eyes off our conscience and onto Jesus. He takes from us sin, death, and hell and grants us perfection, life, and eternity.)

We’re on an Amazing Desert Journey this summer in VBS! Each day the children will learn about God’s love and how He provides for their lives now and in eternity through Jesus, His Son, our Savior! Kids meet friends, explore Bible stories, do activities, sing songs, make crafts, play games, and eat snacks. We expect a great response, so enroll your child today.

June 11th-15th 9 am to 11:30 am

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17. May 2012
Ascension
Psalm 110:1-4;  Luke 24:44-53

Solomon asked this question: Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know! (Proverbs 30:4).

No question is more important. The answer to this question is the essential Christian confession. Just as it was asked of the disciples, But who do you say that I am?, so it is asked of every Christian. Your entire faith hangs on your answer. Do you say He is a prophet? Do you say He is John the Baptist? Or do you answer with Peter, You are the Messiah of God (Luke 9:20)?

To confess Jesus as the Christ or Messiah is to confess His office as anointed one and King of Kings. If He is not divinely appointed to the office of Messiah then his sacrifice is in vain. If He is simply called Christ but does not fulfill the duties of his calling, then Jesus was merely a noble figure and a righteous dude.

Who is Jesus? Everything hangs on this question. If He is savior, then you are saved. If He is king, then you have a kingdom. If He is Lord, then He has conquered our foes and reigns victorious. To have an anointed king is one thing. Many heathen and hypocrite throughout Scripture and time call Jesus Lord but have a radically different notion of what this means. Maybe a Lord prophet? Or Lord king like David?

You recall the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, who came together and led Him into their council to try Him on Good Friday. They asked Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them,  “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.” And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth” (Luke 20:66-71). From then on they sought to kill him.

Simply knowing He is the Son of God, or the Lord, is not enough. Okay, Lord, true, and king, also true. But how does this king go about kinging? This is all important. For Jesus rules but in a particular way and not the way the elders of the people expected or even wanted.

Psalm 110 begins this way: The LORD says to my Lord; “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” For David, the answer to the question, who do you say that I am? is: My Lord and my God. And how does David say the Lord reigns? Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. In other words, Jesus, the one sent by the Father, will crush his enemies with His heel. The Son of God is sent to reign in righteousness and to anoint with oil of gladness. How? Recall the promise to Eve. A crushing blow by the heel was promised to her offspring. A boot smash to the head of the evil dragon, who is called Satan and the Devil. Our king kings by crushing Satan under our feet. His reign is over, his warfare ended.

Yes, he torments us day and night, seeking some to devour, some Christian fortress to overthrow. Yet, he can harm us none, the victory has been won, the kingdom ours remaineth. And along with the dragon, all his evil schemes and devices are destroyed. Sin is forgiven. Death has no more sting. The gates of hell are barred and heaven is opened.

Remember that Jesus prays the Psalms. They are his hymnal, prayerbook, devotional, and even his catechism. They are on His lips day and night. They are His Word. They guide Him on the way. They speak clearly of the Holy Trinity, of the Sacraments, and of the Church. That is, they speak of Jesus. Every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God is Jesus, the Word made flesh.

Thus, when you hear the psalms, you not only hear David singing with lute and lyre, you hear Jesus praying in Synagogue, temple, and in Gethsemene. When Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, its because He was learning of Himself by His own Word in the Psalms.

Even more so, when you pray the Psalms, you hear Jesus himself. That is, when you hear the Psalms you hear the promise and fulfillment of Jesus. He is David’s Lord who sits at the right of God. He is the one who makes our enemies our footstool. This is the kind of King you have, One sent by the eternal God to crush your enemies under His foot. He is the one, in whom everything written […] in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms [is] fulfilled (Luke 24:44).

How does the anointed Lord do this great work for you? He places your and His enemies under His feet. The full weight of the Lord of Glory hanging upon the old rugged cross bore down upon the slithering snake and crushed him. Yes, the dragon thought he had won, just as it was written that the Christ should suffer. But so also it is written and on the third day rise from the dead. Satan’s seeming victory was his defeat, for death could not hold our Lord. By His death He destroyed death and by His rising He brought life and immortality to light.

This festival of Ascension is more than confessing Jesus as Lord. It is more than simply stating He has destroyed your enemies. Or even that He has obeyed the Father’s will. It speaks of the joyous ascension of Jesus to sit at the right hand of the Father. Yes, dear Christians, this is the great blessing and a gift of this holy day. Our Lord Jesus Christ’s ascension is a source of great blessing. By His ascension to the right hand of the Father, he showers us upon us every fruit of the cross and every good gift from the Father. While heaven received Him (Acts 3:21), all who dwell in Him, whether in heaven or on earth are joined in His reign.

From this right hand, the gift of the Father, that is, the Spirit proceeds from both He and the Son, to call, gather, and enlighten the whole Christian church on earth. From this right hand of power, our Lord Himself blesses us with all His blessings of Word and Sacrament. Repentance and forgiveness of sins [are] proclaimed in His name to all nations (Luke 24:47).

From the right hand of power, Christ himself preaches to us. He calls us to drown the old Adam of sin and death in our Baptism. He calls us to put to death the works of unrighteousness in those precious waters. He calls us to turn from our old ways and to return to Him. This dying to self and rising to Christ happens each day in baptismal remembrance and each week in the proclamation of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit […] There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him (1 Peter 3:18-22).

From the right hand of the Father and by His resurrection Jesus Christ has been given all authority in heaven on earth. Thereby He grants us this saving baptism, the answer of a good conscience before God. So also from the same seat of power, He institutes and gives us His own body and blood to eat and drink. From the eternal throne, He serves as more than King but as our great high priest.

We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man (Hebrews 8:1b-2). All the sacrifices of old, the blood of bulls and goats, daily offered, could never take away sins. But this Man [Jesus], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:12-13).

For Christ is the anointed king, the dutiful priest, and also the eternal sacrifice. He is the eternal sacrifice that is given to you to eat and drink. By this holy food you are in holy communion with the Son of God, David’s Lord, who sits at the right hand of the Father. You dwell in heaven, feasting with prophets and saints, angels and archangels. For now your life is hidden with Christ in God but when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:3-4).

Do you now know what a blessing it is for Christ to be seated at the right hand of the Father? There He rules the heavens and the earth as Lord. There He serves as the great high priest, making intercession for the people. There is blesses you with the Word of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He graciously pours out, by water and Word, a saving flood, to drown your old man and sin, and make you clean in His own blood. This blood, too, is poured out and body given into your mouths for forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of faith, the proclamation of the Lord’s death until He comes.

The blessing of the Ascension is made known in the life of the church. We see this blessing in your faith in the Lord Jesus. We see the love of the saints. We see young and old alike growing in wisdom and knowledge of Jesus. The eyes of the heart are enlightened with understanding of the Scriptures. You know the hope of your calling and have and continue to received every richness of Jesus’s inheritance. All this comes because Christ himself was raised from the dead and seated by the Father at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.  And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:20b-23).

All the blessings of the Ascension will reach their fulfillment on the last day, when He will come again in the cloud. Then, Christ, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, will call out to those who have died and they too will rise like Him. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:24). Thus, our Lord reigns as Lord and King, keeping all enemies under His feet, until the last day, when that finally even death is destroyed forever. But we know and believe that death has already been destroyed in Jesus’ own sacrifice. We rejoice now in blessed hope for when our Lord who reigns will bring us to Him eternally.

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

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
Grace Lutheran Church
Dyer, Indiana

Summary: On this Sunday of Christian prayer, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us three necessary and essential marks of the Christian life. First, the Christian lives a life of prayer. Second, this life of prayer is grounded in the life of sonship. Third, a life lived in prayer and trusting in our adoption of sons is a life lived at peace. This is the life of the Christian, lived in communion with the Holy Trinity and with each other as one body.

Cyril (826–69) and Methodius (c. 815–85) were brothers who came from a Greek family in Thessalonica. The younger brother took the name “Cyril” when he became a monk in 868. After ordination, Cyril became librarian at the Church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople. In 862 the brothers were sent by the emperor as missionaries to what is now the Czech republic, where they taught in the native Slavic tongue. Cyril invented the alphabet known today as “Cyrillic,” which provided a written language for the liturgy and Scriptures for the Slavic peoples. This use of the vernacular established an important principle for evangelical missions.

Job was a blameless and upright man who came from Uz (Job 1:1), a land northeast of Canaan. The Book of Job examines the depths of his faith, which was severely tested through the sufferings God permitted. Despite the sudden death of his ten children and the loss of all his wealth and his health, Job refused to curse God: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21). Still, in the midst of his tribulations Job questioned the meaning and purpose of suffering to the point of asserting his own righteousness (34:5-6). Finally, the Lord revealed that a man cannot know the mysteries of God (chapters 38-41). Job’s faith in his Redeemer and the resurrection prevailed (19:25-27). In the end the Lord restored his wealth and blessed him with another seven sons and three daughters.

Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811–87), the father of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, served as its first president from 1847 to 1850 and then again from 1864 to 1878. In 1839 he emigrated from Saxony, Germany, with other Lutherans, who settled in Missouri. He served as pastor of several congregations in St. Louis, founded Concordia Seminary, and in 1847 was instrumental in the formation of the LCMS (then called the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States). Walther worked tirelessly to promote confessional Lutheran teaching and doctrinal agreement among all Lutherans in the United States. He was a prolific writer and speaker. Among his most influential works are Church and Ministry and The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel.

It is true that the departure of Jesus unto the right hand of the Father broke the disciples’ hearts. Yet, it also true that Jesus had a better fellowship in store for them. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is greater that mere earthly fellowship with Jesus because it gives spiritual comfort, eternal blessings, and joy that never ends.

The Spirit, the Comforter, convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, every sinner included. For the Christian, He brings us great blessings: forgiveness of sins, Christ’s righteousness, and acquittal for Christ’s sake. “Christian righteousness is that Christ has gone to the Father, has poured our his blood for us on the cross, and has seated himself at the right hand of the heavenly Father. This is the article of the Creed concerning man’s justification, and we must know it well, in order to be able to protect and sustain ourselves against the devil, false doctrine, and our own conscience, all of which contend against this article. Amen” (Luther’s House Postils, p. 103.)

Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony from 1486 to 1525, was Martin Luther’s sovereign in the early years of the Reformation. Were it not for Frederick, there might not have been a Lutheran Reformation. Born in Torgau in 1463, he became so well known for his skill in political diplomacy and his sense of justice and fairness that he was called “the Wise” by his subjects. Though he never met Luther, Frederick repeatedly protected and provided for him. In all likelihood he saved the reformer from a martyr’s fate. Frederick refused the pope’s demand to extradite Luther to Rome for a heresy trial in 1518. When Emperor Charles V declared Luther an outlaw in 1521 at the Diet of Worms, Frederick provided sanctuary for Luther at the Wartburg castle. On his deathbed, Frederick received the Lord’s Supper in both kinds—a clear confession of the evangelical faith.

Friedrich Wyneken is one of the founding fathers of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, along with C. F. W. Walther and Wilhelm Sihler. Born in 1810 in Germany, he came to Baltimore in 1838 and shortly thereafter accepted a call to be the pastor of congregations in Friedheim and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Supported by Wilhelm Loehe’s mission society, Wyneken served as an itinerant missionary in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, particularly among Native Americans. Together with Loehe and Sihler, he founded Concordia Theological Seminary in 1846 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He later served as the second president of the LCMS during a period of significant growth (1850–64). His leadership strongly influenced the confessional character of the LCMS and its commitment to an authentic Lutheran witness.

Athanasius was born in Alexandria in Egypt in AD 295. He served as a church leader in a time of great controversy and ecclesiastical disagreements. At the Council of Nicaea in 325, he defended Christian orthodoxy against the proponents of the Arian heresy, which denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ. During his 45-year tenure as bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius wrote numerous works that defended the orthodox teaching. His enemies had him exiled five times; on two occasions he was almost murdered. Yet Athanasius remained steadfast and ended his days restored fully to his church responsibilities. The Athanasian Creed, though not composed by Athanasius, is named in his honor because it confesses the doctrinal orthodoxy he championed throughout his life.

Isaiah 30:18–21
Psalm 36:5–12 (antiphon: v. 8)
Ephesians 2:19–22
John 14:1–14

Collect:
Almighty God, Your Son revealed himself to Philip and James and gave them the knowledge of everlasting life. Grant us perfectly to know Your Son Jesus Christ to be the Way, the Truth and the Life, and steadfastly to walk in the way that leads to eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

About Philip and James

People frequently confuse Philip the Apostle with Philip the Deacon, whose story is included in the Acts of the Apostles. See Acts 6:1-6; 8:5-40; and Acts 21:7-9 for accounts from his life. This Philip’s commemoration is on 6 June. Philip the Apostle appears in the Synoptic Gospels and in Acts only as a name on the list of the Twelve, but he appears in several incidents in the Gospel according to John.

He was one of the first men Jesus called to be a disciple (John 1:43-44), and promptly brought his friend Nathanael to Jesus as well (v 45). When some Greeks (or Greek-speaking Jews) wished to speak with Jesus, they began by approaching Philip, who took Andrew and went to Jesus. This led Jesus to His declaration, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (12:20-33). At the Last Supper, he said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus responded, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” ( see 14:1-14)”

Before feeding the Five Thousand (John 6:1-15), Jesus turned to Philip and asked Him, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip answered, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”

Some scholars think it might be significant that Jesus asked Philip rather than one of the others. Luke 9:10 says that the Feeding of the Five Thousand took place near Bethsaida, and John 1:44 shows Philip coming from Bethsaida. If they were in Philip’s home area, it would seem natural to ask him for directions. (As an aside, we note that Peter and Andrew also came from Bethsaida, but appear to have moved to Capernaum.)

James the son of Alphaeus (sometimes spelled “Alpheus”) appears on lists of the Twelve Apostles, usually in the ninth place, but is never mentioned otherwise. He is called James the Less, or James Minor, or James the Younger. (See Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13) Thus, we know nothing of him from the New Testament except that he was one of Jesus’ original disciples and one of the Apostles. However, because of other Jameses being mentioned in the New Testament, we get the impression that he is everywhere. This isn’t because of James the Less, but because he shared his name with several others — after all, it was one of the most common names among the Jews.

Why was James such a popular name in Israel? It was the given name of the original Israel: The English James is a variant of the name Jacob. While we may think of them as unrelated, the distinction grew after Bible times. In Hebrew, the name is Ya’akov. In Greek, it is Iakobos. In Latin, two forms developed, Jacobus and Jacomus. The former gives us the English Jacob and the Spanish Diego and Iago. The latter grew into the English James, the Scottish Hamish, the Spanish Jaime, and so on.

That ends what we hear of Saints Philip and James in the New Testament and we don’t get much additional help from extrabiblical tradition. One story says that Philip preached in Phrygia and died in Hierapolis, and that his remains were brought to Rome and buried in the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles, where an ancient inscription indicates that this church was formerly dedicated to Philip and James.

Source: Aardvark Alley.

Every Sunday our family goes to Church together. There is no question about whether we will attend or not, it is a given. Sunday Divine Service and Sunday School or catechesis is what we do every week. Why? We are Christians. Our Lord Jesus meets us each week in the Divine Service. We gather to hear the Lord’s preaching. He understands and penetrates the deepest needs of our lives with His Word. He calls us to see our doubts, our fears, our unbelief, our stubbornness, and self-centered loves. He calls us to repentance—to see our sin— that He might restore and renew our lives with His forgiveness. Our faith depends upon His Word and Sacraments. In His Word and Sacraments Jesus meets us and ministers God’s love to us by His Holy Spirit. It is a way of life for us to gather each week to hear His Word, to confess our sin, to pray for our family and the needs of our brothers and sisters in the congregation and community, to sing the praises of our Lord’s love and salvation, and to receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith in Christ and our love for one another.

When the Catechism begins each section of the Six Chief Parts of Christian doctrine with the subtitle, “As the Head of the Family Should Teach…in a Simple Way” most Christians don’t have a clue of the profound beauty, wisdom, and simplicity of the statement. We teach our children the Christian faith not with smart boards, classroom lectures, or doctrinal essays and exams; we teach our children the faith by doing with them those things that are central to what it is to be a Christian. When weekly attendance at the Divine Service and Sunday catechesis is the normal pattern for a Christian family, children learn that Jesus and His Word and Sacraments are the most important thing to Mom and Dad, and that the practice of our faith in Christ is at the center of our lives as Christians. In short, the habit of weekly attendance at the Divine Service and Sunday catechesis teaches our children what is most important in life.

Included in the habit of weekly attendance is the spirit with which parents approach the liturgy, hymnody, sermon, and catechesis with their children. One of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is simply to talk about what is going on in the Divine Liturgy that Sunday. What are we going to celebrate? What is this Sunday’s Gospel about? What hymns will we sing? When we return from the Divine Service we might talk about how we were drawn in to the Gospel story for the day and how Jesus demonstrated His love for us and for all people. We might also reflect upon the needs of those in the congregation for whom we prayed, and remind ourselves to keep them in our thoughts and prayers over the coming week. Finally, we as parents might be given the opportunity to reflect upon what we have heard and use it as an occasion not to upbraid our children with the Law but to confess our own failings to them and ask their forgiveness. By this they will learn that the Lord Jesus really is present in our lives and that our faith in Him really does matter. Such “sanctified conversation,” seasoned with a discussion of what Jesus has actually done for us and given us in the Divine liturgy and Sunday catechesis, can be among the most impactful and memorable experiences in our children’s lives. By bringing them to the Lord each Sunday and celebrating with them all that the Lord has given them in preaching and the Sacrament, they will learn to love Him as their Savior and Lord.

via “As the Head of the Family Should Teach…in a Simple Way”—Sunday Worship.

“A little while?” What is meant by “a little while?” The disciples want to know. You want to know. And for both they and you, Jesus has the answer. His answer is the promise of the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting. You may experience sorrow now but it will turned into joy in but “a little while.” Be patient. Wait for the Lord.

Pr. Fiene puts his finger on an issue of great consequence. How do Lutherans pray, evangelize, or care for neighbor? Do you know? Does Lutheranism even matter or can we run off to Rome or the local mega church without consequence? Should we protect our children or let them pursue their own confession? What do others know of us? This is no small matter.

In our nation, in 21st century America, there is no culture of Lutheranism. The world around us does not know who we are and what we believe. While your average American is highly ignorant of the basic teachings of the numerous religious groups in the world, his ignorance of Lutheranism is far greater than his ignorance of most other Christian-ish groups. Here is a table to illustrate my point:

A phony Romanist can’t trick the world into believing that the Catholic Church has women priests because the world knows better. A false Evangelical can’t convince people that his community cherishes the Word and Sacraments because everything else those people have ever seen tells them that the real marks of his church are Starbucks and soul patches. But, with a slate as blank as ours, a Pseudo-Lutheran can get away with pretty much anything.

via The High Mid Life: A Lutheran Manifesto.

Do you know what Lutherans believe? Do you know what Lutheran liturgy looks like? Do you know what the Lutheran life is like? If not, why not?

We ought to know so that we can communicate this to others.

The book of Acts mentions a Mark, or John Mark, later called a kinsman of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10). The house of his mother Mary was a meeting place for Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). When Paul and Barnabas, who had been in Antioch, came to Jerusalem, they brought Mark back to Antioch with them (12:25), and he accompanied them on their first missionary journey (13:5), but left them prematurely and returned to Jerusalem (13:13).

When Paul and Barnabas were about to set out on a second missionary journey, Barnabas proposed to take Mark, but Paul thought him unreliable, so that eventually Barnabas made one journey taking Mark, and Paul another journey taking Silas (15:36-40). Mark is not mentioned again in Acts. However, it appears that he became more reliable, for Paul mentions him as a trusted assistant in Colossians 4:10 and again in 2 Timothy 4:11.

The Apostle Peter had a co-worker whom he refers to as “my son Mark” (1 Peter 5:13). Papias, an early second century writer, in describing the origins of the Gospels, tells us that Mark was the “interpreter” of Peter, and that he wrote down (“but not in order”) the stories that he had heard Peter tell in his preaching about the life and teachings of Jesus. Debate continues as to the veracity of some of Papias’ records, but this one is considered genuine by many scholars.

The Gospel According to Saint Mark, in describing the arrest of Jesus (14:43-52), speaks of a young man who followed the arresting party, wearing only a linen cloth wrapped around his body, whom the arresting party tried to seize, but who left the cloth in their hands and fled naked. Many think that this young man was the writer himself, since the detail is hardly worth mentioning if he were not.

Tradition holds that after Peter’s death, Mark left Rome and went to preach in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was eventually martyred.

It is natural to identify the John Mark of Acts with the Gospel-writer and interpreter of Peter, and this identification is standard in liturgical references to Mark. However, “Mark” is the commonest of Latin first names, and they may well have been separate people.

Mark’s symbol in Christian art is a often a lion, usually winged. In Revelation 4 and throughout much of his vision, John sees about the throne of God four winged creatures — a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. (Compare with the beings in Ezekiel 1 and 10.) Custom supposes that these represent the four Gospels or the four Evangelists (Gospel-writers).

One way to match the creatures with the Evangelists is to say that the man stands for Matthew, whose narrative begins with the human genealogy of Jesus and who often quotes Christ speaking of Himself as “the Son of Man”; the lion stands for Mark, whose narrative begins with John the Baptist crying out in the desert (a lion roars in the desert); the ox, a sacrificial animal, stands for Luke, whose narrative begins in the Temple; the eagle, then, stands for John, whose narrative begins in Heaven with the eternal Word and who writes in a lofty style.

Lection:
Psalm 146 (antiphon v.5)
Isaiah 52:7-10
2 Timothy 4:5-18
Mark 16:14-20

Collect:
O almighty God, You have enriched Your Church with the proclamation of the Gospel through the evangelist Mark. Grant that we may firmly believe these glad tidings and daily walk according to Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Thanks to Aardvark Alley: 2011.04.

Johann Walter (1496–1570) began service at the age of 21 as a composer and bass singer in the court chapel of Frederick the Wise. In 1524, he published a collection of hymns arranged according to the church year. It was well received and served as the model for numerous subsequent hymnals. In addition to serving for thirty years as kantor (church musician) in the cities of Torgau and Dresden, he also assisted Martin Luther in the preparation of the Deutsche Messe (1526). Walter is remembered as the first Lutheran kantor and composer of church music.