Review: My Little ABC Liturgy Book

By Larry Beane

The Rev. Gaven Mize, pastor of Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC is the father of a newborn.

And he is already thinking about catechesis.

Father Mize and his wife Ashlee have actually been teaching their son Oliver already - as have parents of all the little ones in the parish - by means of the liturgy: the perfect vehicle to teach the very young. Especially for infants and children, learning is experiential and multi-sensory, embedding sights, sounds, and smells into the minds of the faithful from the start.  In the church, we have songs and gestures and brightly colored things to see.  Movement, music, and repetition grab and hold the attention of the little ones - even when we may not think they are really learning at all.  When they are brought to the communion rail, their eyes grow large as they see grownups kneel and reverently receive Jesus, and the pastor traces a cross upon their foreheads and blesses them as they look around and see majestic crosses and crucifixes and exotic Greek letters and captivating art depicting our Lord and flickering candles. They drink it all in, Sunday after Sunday, and grow into the liturgy as they hear the Scriptures and sermons and are taught to pray by their parents.  The church's liturgy is the children's teacher.

We confess that "ceremonies are needed for this reason alone, that the uneducated be taught what they need to know about Christ" (AC 24:3).

Along with illustrator Ryan Porter, Father Mize has authored an elegant and welcoming book for the littlest catechumens in our midst: My Little ABC Liturgy Book.

Using the alphabet as a foil (which itself reminds us that our Lord is the Word), Mize gives the children a tour of the Divine Service, beginning with "A is for Altar" - not only teaching liturgical vocabulary to the children, but showing them what these words mean in their context within the church's culture and worship.

The illustrations are bright and colorful without being garish or cartoonish.  Here we see vestments proclaiming Christ instead of veggies telling a tale.  The children are shown ecclesiastical architecture and furnishings, books and candles and fonts and censors and symbols of our Lord that their young eyes will be trained to joyfully recognize in person on Sunday morning.  The pages show a pastor and his assistants carrying out their work to bring Jesus to the people, as well as families reverently worshiping together in the pews.

There are a few explanatory notes for the parents who themselves may not know why chasubles are worn or what the significance of frankincense is.  There are also a few "Easter eggs" in the illustrations - such as the halo of Jesus that has the word "Logos" written in Greek.  The words chosen and depicted are from the very best of our liturgical tradition and the book makes no apologies for doing so.

Pastor Mize and Mr. Porter have given the Lord's dear children a gift - which is in turn a vehicle to the gift of the liturgy, in which we receive Word and Sacrament, communion with the Most Holy Trinity, forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My Little ABC Liturgy Book is set to be released some time before Easter and is being published and sold by Grail Quest Books.  It will also be available on Amazon.

The Word Remains: A Review

by Larry Beane

Emmanuel Press has released another boon to pastors and laity alike in The Word Remains: Wilhelm Löhe: Selected Writings on the Church Year and the Christian Life.

In spite of this book's lengthy title, it is not an intimidating tome.  And this is one of the book's strengths.  It's a paperback pocket book, 140 pages.  This is not an intimidating theological treatise, but rather a delightfully relevant and portable devotional introduction to the works of the Rev. Wilhelm Löhe (1808-1872), an immensely important Lutheran theologian who was first and foremost a pastor: a preacher, and giver of soul-care in a rural German village parish (Neuendettelsau), where he served for 37 years.

Pastor Löhe displayed a blessed combination of theological brilliance and intensity and a pastor's heart and tireless devotion to the Gospel - both in his village and around the world.

The Word Remains is actually a translation from the 2008 German work Sein Zeugnis, Sein Leben - Ein Löhe-Brevier rendered into English by translators Matthew Carver, Janet Frese, Michael Frese, William Staab, and Philip Stewart - no mean feat given Löhe's brilliance with his own mother tongue.

The book begins with a preface to the English edition, followed by a helpful essay by Manfred Seitz entitled "Reading Wilhelm Löhe: A Portal."  This is followed by the bulk of the work: a devotional of excerpts of Löhe's thoughts arranged first by the Church Year, and second by general topics, followed by another topical section of very brief maxims.  The book concludes with helpful background information about Pastor Löhe: a concise biography by Hans Kressel, a chronology, a list of sources, and finishing with an essay "Löhe as Pastoral Theologian: the Discipline of a Shepherd" by John Pless.

The Word Remains is the kind of book that can be read quickly from cover to cover in one sitting, or opened to any random page and enjoyed.  But in fact, the book is best sipped like a fine glass of wine, taken in unhurriedly, and meditated upon.  This book is neither stuffy nor frivolous - but rather profound and yet accessible to the thinking Christian of any vocation.

Manfred Seitz describes the book as a "portal" to the writings of Wilhelm Löhe.  I prefer to think of it as a sample plate, a tapas repast of high delight that is neither filling nor unsatisfying.  Like an appetizer, it leaves the palate eager for more.  Seitz recommends reading the book in a "contemplative" way, "lingering" over the text in the way of the ancients (p. 3).  He elaborates on this kind of reading by appealing to St. Benedict, making a case for renewing this kind of meditation among modern Christians.  Blessed Wilhelm, who saw modern Lutherans in continuity with the ancient church, would most certainly approve.

My impression of Wilhelm Löhe is that he was a man ahead of his time.  He was fiercely devoted to the sacrament of the altar, private confession, the Book of Concord, and the richness of the church's traditional liturgy.  He understood the centrality of mission, and though he never set foot in America, his influence upon American Lutheranism is extraordinary.  He also suffered for the sake of his confession, opposing rationalism and enforcing church discipline, and for his steadfastness was rewarded by being temporarily suspended from office.  He also established and oversaw a deaconess institution, to which the modern LCMS deaconess program owes a debt and bears some similarity.  Löhe saw theology not as a theoretical academic subject, but rather as the living, breathing Gospel of Jesus Christ lived out in the community of flesh-and-blood people.

The Word Remains is inspiring and encouraging, bringing the writings of Wilhelm Löhe to life in our day and age, in our likewise controverted context, in which confessional Lutheranism is, in the words of another confessor, Herman Sasse, a "lonely way."  And yet it is a path of joy, concerning which Löhe writes, "should awaken from suffering, and joy should bloom and flourish despite suffering" (p. 90).

Without sharing too much, I offer a shining excerpt in a beautiful English rendering of Löhe's lyrical reflection on the Lord's glorious resurrection on the day of Easter:

"No other act done by God for the world is as praised and commended as the resurrection of our Lord.  The earth quaked, angels came down, saintly bodies arose, guards fled.  Pharisees and scribes could not conceal what happened with a lie; no veil of darkness could have hidden the splendor of Easter morning.  Where is your denial, O world?  He is risen!" (p. 22).

The Word Remains is a little treasure, a breviary, a portal, an introduction to Wilhelm Löhe's life and work, and an invitation, in the words of Manfred Seitz, "to linger, immerse, yourself in these words, and read with a listening heart" (p. 5).

A Book You Need—A Review of "LadyLike: Living Biblically," by Rebekah Curtis and Rose Adle

As a pastor of your standard, midwest, rural congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, I am always looking for resources that are doctrinally sound, well written, and easily accessible for the laity. Resources that your standard, midwest, rural layman of The LutheranChurch—Missouri Synod can pick up and mine the riches of biblical and Lutheran truth and apply to their lives on their own. This is all the more the case, when those resources cover topics that are not always covered so easily in sermons and Bible classes. I suspect that I am not alone.

But more than simply a resource that I can hand out to the people I serve, I also look for resources that help me learn, not what to say, but rather how to say it, and say it better. I want resources to help me communicate biblical truths in an understandable way with grace and empathy. I know what is right. I know what needs to be said, but I don’t always know how to communicate that in a way that engages the hearer to listen and learn, instead of being offensive and off-putting. I suspect here, too, that I am not alone. We LCMS types are good at being right, at knowing what is doctrinally and biblically correct, but we don’t always have the words to communicate it, and thus our voice and the truth carried by it can sometimes fall on deaf ears. 

Rose Adle & Rebekah Curtis

LadyLike: Living Biblically, by sisters Rebekah Curtis and Rose Adle, is one of those rare resources that does both. The book is a series of essays, which reads more like short blog posts, divided into four topical sections: World Viewing, Vocation Station, Some Theology Stuff, and Piety. The essays engage the problems of feminism and how that ideology has infected even people who reject it. They look at vocation—what it is and what it isn’t. They explain difficult Bible passages and biblical terms like submission and order of creation as they were meant to be and as God instituted them. They write about the pains and joys of marriage and children, barrenness and miscarriage as God wills it. They even discuss stewardship, prudence, propriety, modesty, and humility as it relates to those who are called to be women—wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters. They are often funny, sometimes cutting and even sad, but they are always engaging and filled with truth, truth we so desperately need to hear and speak. 

So, if you’re like me, looking for stand-alone resources you can put into the hands of your members, or you’re just looking for a way to speak the truth in love, LadyLike offers you both.

To preorder your copy of LadyLike: Living Biblically, click this link: https://www.cph.org/p-28440-ladylike-living-biblically.aspx. You won’t regret it. 

Books You Need to Add to Your Library: Valerius Herberger, "The Great Works of God" and they're on SALE

Poets read good poetry. This gives them inspiration for their own, but also teaches them something about the craft. Preachers read good sermons. This gives them inspiration in how to handle homiletically certain texts that have become familiar, but like the poet, instructs them in the homiletic craft. 

These two volumes by Valerius Herberger, The Great Works of God or Jesus, the Heart and Center of Scripture, do just that. Masterfully translated by Matthew Carver, these volumes use the best of English prose to translate faithfully the original without being wooden, archaic, or overly simple. While not full sermons, they are meditations on the text of Genesis that preach Christ, easily serving to bolster your own preaching on both the Old and the New Testaments. The text is laden with Scripture and scriptural allusions. And it is well referenced and footnoted, though the volumes do not have an index of Scripture, which is really their only drawback. But this is a minor flaw, overshadowed by their other benefits. 

From the Translator's Preface, 

"Throughout eastern Germany, Silesia, and the German-speaking areas of Poland, Herberger was widely know for his homiletic skill, and that mainly thourgh his written sermons which were printed often during his lifetime. . . . The Great Works of God, which is an ambitious edifice of devout meditations on the Scriptures as 'those that bear witness about Christ.' These he regarded rather like the linen cloths that wrapped the infant jesus in the manger, and traced his Lord in every little wrinkle."

These two volumes are only a quarter of the work the Herberger did on the Old Testament. I pray that more translations of Herberger's The Great Works of God are forthcoming.

So get these books for your library. They're great for Bible Class preparation, sermon preparation, devotional use, or straight reading. And now until October 1st, the two volume set is 40% off. ORDER YOUR COPIES TODAY.