We recently collaborated with Issues, Etc. to design a brand-new greeting card for Eastertide, and we are pleased to offer it here on our website, too. Visit the page for our new Resurrection card for details about the artwork, the inside text, and purchase information.
“The world is beautiful. I’ve said that to myself a thousand times as I walk through the greening meadows in the spring and listen to the song of the lark. But we Christians must be mindful not to speak of the beauty of nature with such expression, with such rapture, as if indifferent to the obvious groaning and sighing all around, of which our text speaks (Rom. 8:18-23). Just look at the animals with their mute, joyless, pleading eyes; isn’t their sighing evident? The stark mountains and the naked cliffs, which are scattered out under the sky like old bones, weep with the anxious expectation of rebirth.”
-Wilhelm Löhe in The Word Remains (p. 61)
*It is worth noting that Löhe lived from 1808 to 1872, during the time of Romanticism, which was characterized by an emphasis on emotion and a glorification of nature.
“We mourn for our sins. We have been selfish, greedy, impatient, angry, lustful, and full of pride. We have hurt ourselves and our loved ones. We have failed to serve and love our neighbors. Let us repent and set our faces toward Jerusalem. Ash Wednesday looms close. We prepare for the journey. For we know that we have been too attached to this world, too afraid to leave behind the pleasures of the flesh. We are desperately in need of a Savior.
But for all that, let us not sorrow for the love of God that has sent the Son to be handed over to the Gentiles, to be mocked, shamefully treated, spit upon, flogged, and crucified. In that, rather, let us give thanks and rejoice. Let us be like the cured blind man, following to
Jerusalem, glorifying God, knowing that leaving behind our sins is like leaving behind blindness. What do you want? To be free of sin, O Lord.”
-David H. Petersen in Thy Kingdom Come: Lent and Easter Sermons
“The danger of the traditional rites and ceremonies degenerating into formalism and even superstition has shown itself here and there in all ages. But the same danger is manifested in the use of nontraditional rites and ceremonies of the so-called informal churches. Because of that danger, some people have denounced all rites and ceremonies. But such denunciations solve nothing. First of all, it is impossible to live without some kind of rites and ceremonies, and secondly, the history of the church shows that the solution is not in trying to discard the traditional ceremonies, but in revitalizing them by constantly teaching their meaning and value.”
-Paul H.D. Lang in Ceremony and Celebration
“God isn’t like you. He doesn’t think the way you think. His ways are not your ways. And He doesn’t owe you, or anyone, anything. For reasons all His own, however, He loves and welcomes you into His kingdom—not for free, but for the bloody, torturous death of His beloved Son. This is the essence of the Gospel: The Lord rewards those who don’t deserve it. He loves those who hate and abuse Him. He gives gifts to those who steal from Him. He is generous, merciful, and good despite you. If that doesn’t send a tingle down your spine, and you haven’t just lost a baby or your mother, shame on you. The Gospel doesn’t promise an emotional reaction, but it almost always gives it. The Bible calls that emotion joy.”
-David H. Petersen in Thy Kingdom Come, now 20% off though Friday, Feb. 10
Pre-Lent begins with Septuagesima, which is only 5 days away! With over sixty sermons spanning Pre-Lent, all forty days of Lent, and the Sundays after Easter, this book serves as an excellent daily devotion for both pastors and parishioners. Use the word cloud in the right sidebar to find more excerpts and also have a look at our reviews.
With Ash Wednesday just one month away, now is the time to order your copy of Thy Kingdom Come. This book of sixty sermons actually begins with Septuagesima (February 12) and continues with Pre-Lent, all forty days of Lent, and the Sundays after Easter. Pastors and parishioners alike find it to be an excellent daily devotion during Lent. Click on the Reviews tab above for links to interviews and reviews, have a look at the Table of Contents here, or use the word cloud in the right sidebar (“Thy Kingdom Come” or “Petersen”) to find a variety of excerpts.
“Almost no one I know of has the ability that Fr. Petersen has to simply speak God’s truth to us – both in its devastating exposure of the darkest secrets of our hearts and in its intense comfort to the troubled conscience. You can tell the man likes and reads poetry. You can tell the man likes, reads, and knows his Luther.”
-Rev. William Weedon
“Preaching is not primarily teaching, but teaching goes on in the process of proclaiming the Good News. Pastor Petersen has a way of cutting to the chase quickly in explaining biblical symbolism….He has the gift to speak with accessible profundity without falling into academic jargon. Pastor Petersen also brings in etymology and translation issues from the original languages, at times preaching in poetic patterns and lushly picturesque turns of phrase, thereby searing biblical imagery into the mind.”
-Rev. Larry Beane, “Meet my New ‘Old Friend‘”
“[W]hen I’m in the Divine Service, when my Lord is there for me really and bodily, I need to hear that I stink, that I’m an awful sinner, that I need to be humbled at every turn. I need to hear that He’s forgiven me for all those things, that the way in which He loved me was to die for me, that He is my comfort and peace, that He fills all the gaps and the holes I didn’t even know I had and the ones I’m painfully aware of….You get a chunk of Law and a heaping dose of Gospel, a lethal and loving set of Lent and Easter sermons in Thy Kingdom Come….The comfort of the Gospel isn’t vague and nebulous in these sermons. It’s real. It’s actual. It’s Christ incarnate for you in ways you’ve never understood before. You will know hope and peace. You will be relieved of your suffering because Jesus lives.” -Adriane Heins, “A Resolution You Can Keep”
“I commend this book of sermons for pastors to hone the art of purposeful and exegetically grounded preaching….It is helpful for pastors to read the sermons of other faithful pastors to break free their own style and usual vocabulary to express the unchanging faith. Pastor Petersen gives much in the way of a model for both new and experienced pastors who want to deliver a sound proclamation of Christ into our postmodern context. For the laity, sermons are most always good devotional material to read….While Pastor Petersen’s sermons are meaty and substantive, they are also very accessible, and most of them are brief enough for a brief gathering of the family for prayer and catechesis.”
-Rev. John Frahm, a review on Brothers of John the Steadfast
“This is the hallmark of a good sermon: does it preach Jesus Christ crucified for you, a sinner? If it doesn’t, no matter how good it may be in other respects, it is not a good sermon. St. Paul himself said, ‘For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Cor. 2:2). Jesus requires this of his preachers. He charges His Church with the task of preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His Name to all nations (Luke 24:47)….Every one of Pr. Petersen’s sermons is a bloody mess of Law and Gospel. The mess of your sin and the mess of Jesus’ cross are on display in every sermon. No matter the occasion, no matter the readings, every sermon is about Jesus in His saving work, Jesus crucified for you.”
-from the Foreword by Rev. Todd Wilken
In honor of the annual Symposia at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne next week, all of our books are on sale through Saturday, January 21! And if you’re planning to come, please note that there will not be an Emmanuel Press table at the Symposia next week, but you can place your order online and pick it up while you’re in town. (We’ll reimburse shipping.)
Explore our website by using the tabs above or the “word cloud” on the right sidebar. In addition, here are brief descriptions of each book:
*The Brotherhood Prayer Book (and CD) includes services for the day (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vepsers, and Compline), the entire Psalter, daily and seasonal propers, and a Beichtspiegel unique to the BPB.
*Paul H.D. Lang’s Ceremony & Celebration gives a confessional apology for why the Lutheran Church is a liturgical church. It instructs in every aspect of the service, such as liturgical actions, liturgical space, and the church year. It explains why we do what we do.
*The Conduct of the Service describes what to do in the chancel, such as where to stand and how to move so that the emphasis remains on Christ and not on the liturgist.
*Prof. John Pless’s Didache uses the Bible, Luther’s Small Catechism, and the hymnal to instruct in a basic pattern of catechesis which expounds upon doctrine, liturgy, and vocation.
*An Explanation of the Common Service is an excellent supplement to Ceremony & Celebration in that it explains the actual words, or the rite, of the Divine Service. Read a review here.
*Liber Hymnorum: The Latin Hymns of the Lutheran Church is a collection of hymns taken exclusively from Lutheran hymnals and chant-books of the Reformation and post-Reformation era. It is two hymnals in one, the first half being English, the second Latin, exactly mirroring the first half in contents and numbering.
*The prayers in Wilhelm Loehe’s Seed Grains of Prayer contain collects for all occasions and are particularly good for personal devotion.
*Thy Kingdom Come and God With Us by Pr. David Petersen are books of sermons which are invaluable for homiletical ideas and for the devotional reading of good Law & Gospel sermons. In particular, Thy Kingdom Come offers over sixty sermons spanning Pre-Lent, all forty days of Lent, and the Sundays after Easter. Many customers find it to be an excellent daily devotion during Lent.
*What an Altar Guild Should Know gives details about church services, rubrics, altar care, sacred vessels, and other topics related to liturgical worship. However, anyone who is interested in liturgical worship will appreciate Lang’s keen theological insight into why reverence and beauty and the externals of worship matter.
In The Word Remains, Wilhelm Löhe gives insight into the confessional Lutheran understanding of the church year, the Word of God, and matters related to the Christian life.
Why is it that some Christians kneel, bow, genuflect, make the sign of the cross on themselves, or hold their hands in a particular fashion during the Divine Service? These physical actions are called ceremonies, which are solemn religious actions that help to confess what we believe.
As Paul H.D. Lang writes in Ceremony and Celebration, “Communication is not limited to language. We express ourselves to others and we receive impressions from others and from God through signs and symbols. These communications by signs and symbols are often more effective than those of language. While this is true in ordinary life, it is particularly true in the church’s worship. The things communicated there have to do with the mysteries of our holy faith. These deep mysteries cannot, of course, be communicated so as to be understood fully or else they would no longer be mysteries. But signs and symbols often communicate the realities of the mysteries better than language.” (p. 64)
Here are a few brief excerpts on the particular actions, taken from Lang’s much more detailed explanations in his book:
