Articles Archive for January 2012
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Lent begins later this month. But while the season certainly colors the activities around St. Peter’s, there are also some festive events in this month. The dedication recital of the new organ, with Samuel Hutchison, is coming up on the 19th!
February 2012 Newsletter
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And for those with the ears to hear…for not everyone can hear it…but for those with the ears to hear, for those who know how divine Wisdom took on human flesh in Jesus, for those who know how Israel gave birth to Messiah, who know how Tradition went to the cross and died, yet was reborn new and more glorious on the Third Day…well…for us, suddenly the story of “Fiddler” is not merely a Jewish story, but it is a story for God’s whole Israel, old and new, Jew and Gentile alike!
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“But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek Him and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of [another human being]. Therefore, a Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without [betraying] the truth. He needs his brother as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine Word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is [far] weaker than the Christ in the Word [spoken by] his brother….” This is what Jesus is getting at when He calls the disciples to be “fishers of men.”
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Sunday, February 19, 2:30 pm, Samuel Hutchison, Principal Organist and Curator for the Madison Symphony Orchestra, will be the guest recitalist for the dedication of the new organ at St. Peter’s.
The organ was designed primarily to accompany the Lutheran liturgy, but it is a versatile instrument and well-suited to the full range of recital literature. Among the pipes that have been augmented with digital voices by the Walker Technical Company are most of the ranks of the late 19th century Wangerin tracker organ that was purchased from St. John’s Lutheran Church, …
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When St. John writes that Jesus saw Nathanael “under the fig tree,” it’s John’s way of casting this whole scene into that Old Testament image of the messianic kingdom where each person will sit under his own fig tree and no one can make them afraid anymore. That’s how Jesus looks upon the Nathanaels, how He envisions the cynic and the skeptic, as though they are there in the prosperous ease of His kingdom, in the shade of God’s grace. Ultimately that fig tree is Jesus’ cross by which the kingdom comes; the tree with its fruit of forgiveness, life and salvation; fruit so very real that it does shape the lives of those who follow Jesus. Come and see.
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Yes, right from the beginning, we see the end. The cross is present from the beginning. The cross, which means on the one hand, the shedding of blood, the suffering, the death. The cross, which means on the other hand, the place from which Jesus promised, “I will draw all men to Myself.” All people—Jew and Gentile, shepherds and Magi, us and them. And this suffering-death-drawing-all-to-Himself cross is present from the beginning of Jesus’ earthly calling as Messiah, as King.
But…we’re not entirely comfortable with that. We prefer our Jesus holidays neat…nice and tidy. Christmas here. Easter there. But…as the Bible reminds us…God’s ways (to our way of thinking) are anything but neat and tidy. In fact, God’s ways seem to lead to a big mess before everything comes clean.
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Jesus seems to be growing up really fast. Our Biblical texts move at fast-forward in the days of this Christmas season and soon, Epiphany. Here we are, only a week from Christmas, a week from the Baby lying in a manger, and suddenly Jesus is an adolescent, wandering off on His own. Last week Jesus was “prophecy fulfilled.” Now in this week’s Gospel Reading here He is, questioning the teachers and theologians about that very tradition. We’re still in chapter 2, but things seem to be moving so very fast in St. Luke’s Gospel. Is he making a point?
