Kneeling for “and
was made man”
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T
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hat phrase is the portion of the Nicene Creed
under the Second Article, which reads as follows: “[I believe ] in one Lord Jesus Christ
. . . who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was
incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified
also for us under Pontius Pilate. He
suffered and was buried,” etc.
The phrase is not identical in meaning with the phrase that
precedes it, namely, “and was incarnate . . .”
That is, we are not simply repeating here the fact that our Lord took
upon Himself human flesh. Rather, we are
saying that in His incarnation He also chose humiliation; He chose to take upon
Himself the curse of our flesh. The
distinction is important, for it separates the importance of His incarnation from
the importance of His deep humility for our salvation. The incarnation is highlighted at Christmas;
the humiliation, during Passion-tide and especially Holy Week. The incarnation
is logically prior to the humiliation, even though both begin at the same
time. Hence they are confessed
separately in the Creed.
It is also for this reason that I’ve long taught about the helpful
practice of kneeling for the phrase. It is of course a very traditional practice,
in addition to which it is a very helpful way of remembering that when we say
“He was made man” we are affirming His humiliation in the flesh for us. The physical (and Biblical) way to make this
confession is to bend the knee.
The space between pews is a bit narrow for this, and some members
have difficulty with the knees, so I’d suggest that perhaps you can at least
bow the head at this place.
I believe this parish will benefit greatly from learning this
traditional practice together, and what better time than Lent to learn it? In our Propers books, the section of the
creed is actually marked with three asterisks (***) and underlining, where the
underlining begins from the time to prepare to kneel until the time we are
again standing upright. The actual
kneeling, when the right knee is on the ground (if possible), is during the
words “and was made man.” For a visual
cue and reminder, just watch me when as celebrant I do this, and the server and
acolyte.
For we will all do well to recall well and ponder our Lord’s deep
humiliation for us and for our salvation.
+ Pastor Eckardt
Robin Sighting
Contest
This year’s winner for the contest is Michele Keehner, a
friend of the congregation from Peoria . Although Peoria is a wee bit south of here, the judges
have ruled that her sighting, on February 11th, can be counted.
Congratulations!
Shut ins
Mary Hamilton at home; Anna Baker at
home; Mirilda Greiert at Kewanee Care; Emmy Wear at Williamsfield.
Private Confession is always
available to anyone between 6 and 6:30 pm on these Wednesdays (and also, as
always, by appointment). Pastor is usually available as well on Saturdays, from
about 4 pm until Mass.
In Our Prayers
In addition to our shut-ins, our
current list of prayer intentions at mass includes the names on the lists here
following. Anyone wishing to update the
lest by ddition or subtraction, please inform the pastor.
in our parish:
Ann Baker
Sara Bidni
Emilie Ricknell
John Ricknell
Linda Rowe
Sharon Hartz
John Sovanski
Jean Russell [surgery March 24]
And also:
David Dakin [re Harris]
Anna Rutowicz [re Harris]
Julie Ross [Svetlana Meaker’s daughter, cancer]
Caleb Cleaver [Ricknell]
Christian Johnson [re Kemerlings]
Madison Lindsay [re Andersons
Michelle Steuber [re Fisher]
Jill Matchett [re Shreck]
Anthony Strand, [re Murphys]
Mark Elbus [re Kegebeins]
Edna Day [Chris Harden’s mother-in-law, cancer]
Carolyn Lewis [re Campbells
Barb Fornoff, having surgery tomorrow
[Feb 17]
Rev. Don Chambers [Manito]
Rev. Brian Feicho [E. St. Louis ]
Rev. Glenn Niemann [Pekin
Rev. Arthur Baisch [cancer]
In the military:
John Eckardt
Donny Appleman [re Ricknell]
Thomas Kim [re Shreck]
Jaclyn Harden Alvarez
Michael Creech
and Richard Heiden
In trouble:
any unborn children in danger
of abortion, and those suffering from unrest, persecution, and imprisonment in
Columbia, Malaysia, China, North Korea, and elsewhere.
Details at the bottom of the newsletter.
Altar Guild Notes
·
The new paraments have been dedicated and are
now in use.
·
We welcome Carol Eckardt as our newest member.
·
The paraments color for the month of March is
VIOLET, except:
·
Wednesday, March 19th, is St. Joseph ’s Day. Color is WHITE.
·
Wednesday, March 26th, we will
observe the Annunciation. Color is
WHITE.
Next meeting is Tuesday, March 4th.
First Tuesday
Vespers, etc.
March 4th, Altar
Guild is at 6 pm, Vespers is
at 6:45, and Elders is at
7:15, as usual.
March
Birthdays:
3/1 Barbra Kraklow
3/2 Joseph Eckardt
3/8 Carol Kegebein
3/25 Carol Eckardt
March Ushers
Allan Kraklow Steve
Kraklow, Tom Wells
March Anniversary
3/19/1977 Jeff and Diana Shreck
Lenten
Masses
Daily mass is scheduled throughout
Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5th. The most excellent way to
benefit from Lent is through worship. See the calendar for the schedule. If
your schedule does not permit you to take advantage of daily mass, perhaps at
least an added effort to make it to Wednesday evening mass would work for you.
Lenten
Suppers
We are again having Lenten soup
suppers on Wednesdays in March except for Ash Wednesday, at 5 pm. Join your
family of the faithful for this time together.
It’s a convenient time too, just prior to midweek Lenten masses.
Daily
Mass during Lent
We will again be holding daily masses during
Lent, beginning with two on Ash Wednesday.
Members have the option of attending at 7 am or 7 pm (or both) on Ash
Wednesday. Thereafter, daily masses will
be held at 9 am, excepting Wednesdays (when mass is at 7 pm) and Saturdays
(when mass is at 5:30 pm). Members (and guests) are encouraged to observe Lent
in this most fitting of ways.
Anyone traveling from a distance to attend
one of our special masses should call first, since occasionally these masses
have to be cancelled on short notice.
"Call No Man Father:" Luther's Take
Excerpts from a Gottesdienst
Online post from Fr. Jason Braaten
When reading the Large Catechism, which is in
the Book of Concord, I
stumbled upon this juicy bit. In the section covering the Fourth Commandment, Luther
writes: “So we have two kinds of fathers presented in this commandment: fathers
in blood and fathers in office. Or, those who have the care of the family and
those who have the care of the country. Besides these there are still spiritual
fathers. They are not like those in the papacy, who have had themselves called
fathers but have performed no function of the fatherly office [Matthew 23:9].
For the only ones called spiritual fathers are those who govern and guide us by
God’s Word. In this sense, St. Paul St. Paul
There
you have it guys. Luther says it's okay. He also says that whatever you do to
honor your fathers, temporal and spiritual, “shall be richly repaid.”
The New Testament in His Blood
This series contains brief
liturgical explanations which appear in Pastor Eckardt’s book The New Testament in His
Blood (Gottesdienst, 2010).
Pax
The Pax follows the Words of
Institution: the celebrant takes the chalice in his left hand and holds the
celebrant’s host over it in his right hand and turns to face the people. He
elevates the elements, keeping the host over the chalice, and declares, “The
peace of the Lord be with you alway.” The celebrant had had his back to the
people during the Sanctus, the Our Father, the Verba, and his own
self-communion, as if to hide the face of Christ, who died and thus was hidden
from His people; but now when the celebrant turns to them again for this
blessing, he is essentially reenacting the resurrection appearance of Jesus to
His disciples in the upper room on the day of His resurrection when He said,
“Peace be unto you.”
The
old rubric holding that a bishop uttering the Pax and simply repeating the
words of the Lord verbatim (Pax vobiscum—peace be with you) made the
connection even clearer.
Agnus Dei and Secrets
As soon as the elements have
been consecrated and adored, the congregation breaks into singing the Agnus
Dei: O Christ Thou Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, have
mercy upon us . . . These words are an echo of the words of John the
Baptist who pointed Christ out to His disciples, saying, “Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world” (St. John 1:19) Thus the assembled
Church also, who likewise have just been shown Christ the Lamb in the consecrated
Elements, now confess that He is truly there. Thus it is toward the Sacrament
that these words are sung, a subtle but profound movement of heart and mind
during this singing. That is, we do not here merely pray to Christ in the same
way as we do at other times. The Agnus Dei (which is Latin for “Lamb of God”)
is directed specifically toward Christ on the altar.
In
this way we make another subtle confession against receptionism. Receptionism
is an error by which some hold that the Body and Blood of Christ are not
actually present until or unless they are received. The receptionist error
seeks to slice and divide which of the consecrated elements are Jesus’ Body and
Blood and which are not, or worse, to put off the moment of the change until
the bread is received. It amounts to a new reading of Christ’s words, as if He
had said, “This will become my Body when you eat it, but is not yet at this
moment of consecration my body.” But Christ said is, and He cannot lie.
The Zwinglians of Luther’s day denied altogether that the Sacrament is truly
Christ’s Body and Blood, but that is only a difference in degree: the
receptionists put off the effect of is until later, whereas the
Zwinglians put it off until never. The sophistry of receptionism is far worse
than transubstantiation, which is merely a philosophical construct by which it
is held that the essence or substance of the elements changes while the
attributes or accidents of them stay the same, with the result that bread and
wine are no longer essentially present at all. Though we reject also
transubstantiation as a philosophical attempt to unravel the mystery, we find
receptionism to be much more offensive, since a wholesale rejection of Christ’s
is is worse than the mere impropriety of its philosophical analysis.
Hence we are given a most fitting opportunity to confess especially against the
receptionists at the Agnus Dei: we are kneeling, adoring, and praying to Christ
whom we believe to be truly present in the Sacrament as it sits on the altar,
His true Body and Blood.
A
helpful rubric during the singing of this canticle is to strike the breast with
closed fist each time at the word “sin,” an acknowledgement that the sin of the
world is also my sin.
Meanwhile
the celebrant is praying the Secrets, which are different but similar prayers.
He is also kneeling and privately praying, “. . . Lord, I am not worthy that
Thou shouldest come under my roof; only say the word and my soul shall be
healed . . .” In this way the Church is reenacting the events of Gethsemane,
wherein Jesus instructed His disciples to watch and pray as He went a stone’s throw
from them and prayed privately. The celebrant, who represents Jesus here, does
in essence the same thing.
Details of the persecuted:
On January 10th, "Manuel," 35, and his 11-year-old son, "Daniel," were brutally tortured and murdered by members of the FARC guerrilla group in the
A church in
Despite the lack of search warrants, more than 330 copies of the Bible in the Malay and Iban languages were confiscated.
CHINA: Crackdown Preceded Chinese New Year Celebrations
Before the commencement of the nation's Chinese New Year celebrations, which began on January 31st, Christians were targeted several times in what is believed to be a crackdown on church activity. In
NORTH KOREA: Perpetrators Stir Strife Between Religious Groups
According to a UN report released in February, Christians are among those held in permanent suspicion as would-be "enemies of the people," a treasonous condition in which one forfeits all humanity: merciless starvation within prison camps, forced abortions, and other atrocities.
Sources: Open Doors, VOM
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