Solemn Vespers for the Free Conference at Redeemer
For those of you who will be attending the conference at Redeemer on January 21, on Monday before the Symposia, here is the bulletin for Solemn Vespers, developed from The Brotherhood Prayer Book. We are making this available in advance so that you may prepare and practice the Gregorian chant prior to the conference, if you wish. In the following files, all of the service has been chanted by Pr. Sean Daenzer. Special thanks to Dr. Benjamin Mayes for developing the bulletin.
Solemn Vespers:
Bulletin (.pdf)
Introductory Versicles and Psalms
Responsory
Hymn
Magnificat
Prayers and Benediction
Click here for a full schedule. We look forward to seeing you there.
The Brotherhood Prayer Book: Text Edition – Now Available for Kindle and Nook
After numerous requests for an e-reader version of The Brotherhood Prayer Book: Text Edition, it is finally available for Kindle and Nook!
The Brotherhood Prayer Book: Text Edition is a book of prayers centered around the entire 150 Psalms. It includes liturgies for Matins, Lauds, Sext, Vespers, English Compline, Latin Compline, German Compline, and more. It also contains a full set of propers for the Liturgical Week, the Liturgical Year, and Saints’ Days. Another highlight is the Beichtspiegel unique to The Brotherhood Prayer Book. This “confession mirror” is a tool used for reflection and self-examination in preparation for private confession and absolution or for the Divine Service.
Thy Kingdom Come: An Excerpt from Ascension
“God’s will is constant. Fallen men need a preaching of repentance, an exposure of our complicity and selfishness, a warning of impending death, and an invitation. You are not God. You do not make the rules. You have not behaved in ways honorable or just or good. You have looked the other way. You have cheated. You are a traitor to your own cause, in league with demons, a pervert, a deviant, a sycophant, a liar, a braggart, a hypocrite, a bureaucrat. Repent. Submit. Stop making excuses. Do not seek to have your sins justified, but seek instead to have them forgiven, removed, and counted against Him, that His good works might be counted to you.”
-David H. Petersen, author of Thy Kingdom Come
Katie Schuermann reviews Thy Kingdom Come
Katie Schuermann, of He Remembers the Barren, relates how her morning run was stopped dead in its tracks while listening to an Issues Etc. podcast which reviewed a sermon by Pr. Petersen:
“I noticed that I had slowed down. In fact, I was standing still on the curb, looking up the street but seeing nothing. Well, I was seeing something. I was seeing my reflection in Rev. Petersen’s words, and it wasn’t pretty. It’s never pretty when you stare your Sin in the face, when your conscience plays chicken with a Law-wielding pastor. This guy was telling me that I turn everything, even Scripture, into something about myself. And he was right.
My Old Adam lay slain on the pavement….
With the blessed Word, this Midwestern pastor had gunned down the black heart of an insignificant pastor’s wife way down below the Mason-Dixon line and then resuscitated it back to life with the precious, life-giving blood of Christ, all within a span of a few minutes.
Needless to say, I didn’t get much of a workout that day, but I did start downloading more Issues, Etc. episodes, especially the ones with the word ‘Petersen’ in the tag line.”
Read her entire review here.
Last Day to Pre-Order Thy Kingdom Come
Tomorrow is the official release date for Thy Kingdom Come, which makes today the last day to pre-order a signed copy! Of course, if you live in or near Fort Wayne or if you’re coming to the Symposia, there will be other chances to have Pr. Petersen sign your book. But still, go ahead and order now! That way you’ll be ready to read the sermon for the Confession of St. Peter on January 18.
Adriane Dorr reviews Thy Kingdom Come
If there was ever any question as to where Adriane Dorr gets her quirky sense of humor, take a look at her dad in the picture at left.
All hilarity aside, Adriane gets to the point in her review of Thy Kingdom Come. We have posted an excerpt here, but you really should read the entire review, including her 5 good reasons why you need this book.
“[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.
That’s why I joined Pastor David Petersen’s church when I moved to Fort Wayne. His preaching had its own reputation. I knew he would preach what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear.
I wasn’t disappointed. And now, thanks to Emmanuel Press, you don’t have to move to Fort Wayne and join Redeemer in order to get those same sermons, to hear of your sin and your salvation….
It’s the start of a new year. So if you set one resolution, let it be that you order this book. Use it as your devotions leading up to Lent and Easter. Let the Law have its way with you. Be pointed to Christ, your salvation. Look to the cross. See your Savior, your Life. For “He is in our midst, according to His promise, in His risen, living, physical body, speaking peace, forgiving sins, feeding saints, and encouraging faith. No locked doors, no synodical bureaucrat, no bully, no fallen flesh will keep Him out’ (Thy Kingdom Come).”
A Review of Thy Kingdom Come by Rev. Larry Beane
*3 more days to pre-order a signed copy
Pastor Larry Beane gives a thoughtful, comprehensive review, addressing the book itself as well as Pastor Petersen as a preacher and teacher. His review, entitled “Meet My New ‘Old Friend,'” reads, in part:
“One found out pretty quickly about the law’s ability to sting, to bludgeon, and yes to kill. The entire sanctuary would be filled with silent men and woman staring at their shoes as Pastor Petersen condemned our Old Adams without allowing a loophole or even any wiggle room. With his intonation of one word: “Repent!” he would have his hearers almost in tears. And just when you think you could not take any more, you didn’t have to, as Pastor Petersen proclaimed the cross, the forgiveness of sins, the sweet and refreshing Good News that Jesus, the Crucified One, is our Savior and our Redeemer. If I could sum up David Petersen as preacher and as celebrant in one word, I would say: intense.
In his interactions with students, I found him to be truly “apt to teach,” possessing a sense of humor and a candor that was formative to the many men who count it a privilege to have been formed – at least in part – by his work and ministry in Fort Wayne. Obviously, men who served as field workers and/or vicars at Redeemer (I was not) have been the most influenced by him and credit him for making them the preachers they are today.
Thy Kingdom Come is a book that is not only wonderfully deep devotional material for any Christian, it is also a mini-homiletics course for pastors. Just as I counted Pastor Petersen to be a great teacher to me before I was a pastor, I count him an even greater teacher now that I am considered to be his colleague – both in the ministerium of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, and as a fellow editor at Gottesdienst. Although I am the sermons editor, I continue to look to my brother-in-arms in the Lord’s service as an instructor and mentor.”
The Brotherhood Prayer Book: Hymn for the Nativity of our Lord
Audio: Hear A Solis Ortus Cardine chanted by Pr. Sean Daenzer
From east to west, from shore to shore,
Let every heart awake and sing
The holy child whom Mary bore,
The Christ, the everlasting King.
Behold, the world’s Creator wears
The form and fashion of a slave;
Our very flesh our Maker shares,
His fallen creature, man, to save.
For this how wondrously He wrought!
A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became, in ways beyond all thought,
The chosen vessel of His grace.
She bowed her to the angel’s word
Declaring what the Father willed,
And suddenly the promised Lord
That pure and hallowed temple filled.
He shrank not from the oxen’s stall,
He lay within the manger-bed,
And He, whose bounty feedeth all,
At Mary’s breast Himself was fed.
And while the angels in the sky
Sang praise above the silent field,
To shepherds poor the Lord Most High,
The one great Shepherd, was revealed.
All glory for this blessed morn
To God the Father ever be;
All praise to Thee, O Virgin-born,
All praise, O Holy Ghost, to Thee. Amen.
___________________
A Solis Ortus Cardine, Coelius Sedulius, c. 450, trans. by John Ellerton
From The Brotherhood Prayer Book
Thy Kingdom Come: An Excerpt from the Feast of the Annunciation
“The Holy Spirit overshadowed the peasant virgin of King David’s line. The Word of God entered into her ear and impregnated her with the second person of the Holy Trinity. Eve had a Seed. And by that holy Seed in her womb, St. Mary found favor with God and was freed from her fear. In this way, God took up human flesh in order to redeem human flesh by sacrifice of that flesh in perfect love. His name can only be ‘Yahweh saves,’ that is, Joshua, Jesus.”
-David H. Petersen, author of Thy Kingdom Come,
now available for pre-order
Thy Kingdom Come: An Excerpt from Saturday of Oculi (3rd week of Lent)
“He has girded His sword to His thigh. What a joyous truth this is. He rode into the death trap, the vineyard where the workers had killed His Father’s servants, into the midst of the angry mob, and He put the scarlet letter upon Himself. ‘Here am I, kill Me.’ He says, ‘I am the sinner for sinners, the scapegoat, the substitute, the whole burnt offering, the ransom, and the mercy seat.’ He rode with truth, with meekness, and with righteousness. ‘Neither do I accuse you,’ He said. No sweeter words have ever been spoken in all of history.”
-David H. Petersen, author of Thy Kingdom Come, regarding the woman caught in adultery in John 8
*This book is now available for pre-order with a release date of January 2. All pre-ordered books will be shipped first and will be signed by the author.