Blog Archives

The preposition

6/16/2018

Today I posted the following for the verse of the day which I post on my personal Facebook page, the Agnus Dei Ministries Facebook page and the Lutheran Orthodox Church Facebook page:

Should we not have compassion on others the way the Lord has compassion on us?
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
—Psalm 103:13

Within minutes I got a call from my oldest (daughter Lisa, trained as an English teacher) who asked me, "Shouldn't the preposition be have compassion for others?" My response was that when we have compassion "for" someone it's an internal felling we have. When we have compassion ON someone, it's a tangible action.

God had compassion ON us when he sent His Son to live with us and for us and then die for our sins. All too often we, as Christians, feel compassion FOR a situation or a person, but we fail to take action and have compassion ON them.

The next time you find yourself having pity and feeling compassion FOR someone, take action and have compassion ON them.

Peace and blessings.

++Richard

Orthodoxy for Protestants

0 Comments

Praise the Lord

6/5/2018

0 Comments

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
--1 Chronicles 29:11

Often we use the word ACTS as an acronym for the way in which we should pray. It goes like this:

Adoration: Give God praise and honor for who he is as Lord over all.
Confession: Honestly deal with the sin in your prayer life.
Thanksgiving: Verbalize what you’re grateful for in your life and in the world around you.
Supplication: Pray for the needs of others and yourself.

But in practice, we often skip the first word. Learning to "Praise the Lord" if often difficult for those of us in liturgical churches. Our evangelical brothers and sisters don't have a monopoly on praising the Lord, but they do have a head start.

There are hundreds of passages of scripture verses which praise the Lord. Psalms is a wonderful place to start if you want to learn praising the Lord. Look at Psalms 8, 65, 76, 100,111,146 and 150. Think about the Sunday liturgy and remember the many songs and hymns of praise we sing as part of the Eucharistic service.

God loves it when we give Him praise. He is our creator, our redeemer and our sanctifier. Why shouldn't we take time out of our every day to praise Him for all He has done for us?
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above the heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Praise the Lord!

++Richard

Orthodoxy for Protestants

0 Comments

Right Reverend Richard Wagner

Rt. Rev. Richard Wagner is Archbishop for the Lutheran Orthodox Church Diocese of Eastern North Carolina based in Fayetteville, NC. He is a member of the LOC Council of Bishops and sits on the LOC corporate board as Vice President and Director of New Members Services and Applicants. Bishop Wagner is currently in residence at Agnus Dei Lutheran Orthodox Church in Fayetteville.

The preposition

Praise the Lord

Right Reverend Richard Wagner

Archives

Categories

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!

Telephone

Email