1Psalm 67:1-2— The hymn of the Day is May God Bestow on Us His Grace {LSB 823}. These verses introduce a prayer. The heart of the prayer is found in verse one, echoing the priestly benediction that God’s people have received for thousands of years. The Lord blesses us as He comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ our Savior.
In a sermon delivered on Christmas morning in the year 1522 Luther writes:
Now, if you steadfastly believe, if you rejoice in God your Lord, if you are alive and his grace satisfies, if your wants are all supplied, how will you employ yourself in this earthly life? Inactive you cannot be. Such a disposition of love toward God cannot rest. Your zeal will be warm to do everything you know will be to the praise and glory of a kind and gracious God. At this point there is no longer distinction of works. Here all commands terminate. There is neither restraint-nor compulsion, but a joyful willingness and delight in doing good, whether the intended achievement be insignificant or difficult, small or great, requiring short service or long. 2
Collect for Psalm 67: Father, through your power the earth has brought forth its noblest fruit, the tree of the cross. Unite all people in its embrace and feed them with its fruit, everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 3
Sources:
1. Illustration of The Crucifixion is from a woodcut by Baron Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872, a distinguished German artist known especially for his book, The Book of Books in Pictures. Copyright © WLS permission granted for personal and congregational use
2.https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/luther_martin/Incarnation/Gods_Grace_Received_Must_Be_Bestowed.cfm
3. Collect for Psalm 67, For All the Saints a Prayer book for and by the Church © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi NY
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