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Alleluia! IHS Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
᛭ INI ᛭
“Lehre mich tun nach deinem Wohlgefallen, denn du bist mein Gott; dein guter Geist führe mich auf ebener Bahn.” That’s Psalm 143:10, which is what Pastor Traugott said over Ray March 29, 1942. For those of us not confirmed in German like Ray was—he was in the last class to be confirmed in German—Psalm 143:10 in English is “Teach me to do according to Your good pleasure, for You are my God. Your good Spirit lead me on a level path.”
Psalm 143:10 is a great promise that was given to Ray, but it’s a great promise from the LORD for each of you to have today as well. It’s a promise Christ intends to keep because it’s a prayer that He’s given to us to pray. The Psalms are His own words to pray! How could He not answer the prayers that He gives us to pray? He must answer the prayers He gives us to pray!
Christ our God promises to teach us to do according to His good pleasure. He promises that His good Spirit will lead you on a level path. Over that past few days it probably hasn’t felt that level for you Virginia, Beverly, Robin, and Connie, or for you Darlene and Janice, or the rest of Ray’s family and friends. But the truth is, the Holy Spirit has been leading you on a level path the whole time. The Spirit has been leading Ray on the same level path the whole time. In fact it’s not just a level path. It’s the levelest of paths.
THE SPIRIT ALWAYS LEADS ON THE LEVELEST OF PATHS—IHS CHRIST.
The Spirit started leading on that path, at least as far as Ray is concerned, on August 19, 1928, when he was baptized. Holy Baptism gives the Gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), it is “the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Tit 3) And because Holy Baptism also unites with Christ’s death and resurrection, that means that in reality, the path of Ray’s life in Christ is a straight line not only from the August 19, 1928 to October 17, 2024, but from the moment Ray was baptized to the moment Ray will be resurrected to everlasting life on the Last Day. (That’s the same promise also for each us in Baptism.)
Christ is the levelest of paths because of what He’s done for you. He truly is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.” He’s the Gate to the sheep pen of eternal life. He’s the Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. Only His blood cleanses us from all sins, only His death ends death for us, only His resurrection gives us resurrection, and by faith in Christ, trusting in Him, the benefits of His blood and death and resurrection are yours, and this is what “coming to the Father through Him” means—faith in Christ.
This life of faith in Christ is also part of Psalm 143:10. “Teach me to do according to Your good pleasure, for You are my God. Your good Spirit lead me on a level path.” The Lord IHS teaching us to do according to His will, or His “good pleasure,” is the entire Christian life. We only live and do by “faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.” (Gal 2) By His Spirit Christ “cause[s you] to know the way wherein [you] should walk.” We wouldn’t know, unless Christ taught us in His Word, we wouldn’t go the right way unless Christ’s good Spirit leads us to Christ through the Word.
That was Ray’s life of faith. Living only from the Lord’s hand, doing whatever the Lord gave him to do as long as the Lord gave him life and strength to do it. It’s the simple life of faith, unassuming, humble, kind. It’s a life lived from and according to the Word of God—whether taught in English or auf Deutsch. Not just loving you, caring for you, but for everyone he met. But not only that, for the levelest of paths, the straight shot into salvation, wasn’t all the nice and good and even God-pleasing things God used Ray to accomplish. Ray learned well from His Lord, that Ray’s own works were the shakiest of paths. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will resurrect him on the Last Day.” (Jn 6) A Promise the Lord made again to Ray when he last received the Medicine of Immortality: “Whoever eats My flesh and drink My blood has eternal life, and I will resurrect him on the Last Day.” (Jn 6)
“Teach me to do according to Your good pleasure, for You are my God. Your good Spirit lead me on a level path.” Ray first received that blessing, auf Deutsch, March 29, 1942. That verse is also your blessing, today and always. The Lord kept that prayer and promise for Ray. He wasn’t tarrying on keeping it the past few years. All the while Ray was being taught to live within the Lord’s good pleasure, to live by faith in Christ. All the while the Spirit was leading Ray not on the Level Path but Levelest Path, because
THE SPIRIT ALWAYS LEADS ON THE LEVELEST OF PATHS—IHS CHRIST.
It seems like a winding way to go, but it’s not. It’s straight shot traveling on Christ by faith. It’s a straight shot from the font, passing in front of the altar, and unto the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. It’s the blessing and promise of Psalm 143:10, not only for Ray but you, too. It’s a path that doesn’t end today, for traveling on Christ means you go the way He went. He went through death and grave and resurrection—you will, too. He promises it at His Font, His table, and in His Word. “Teach me to do according to Your good pleasure, for You are my God. Your good Spirit lead me on a level path.” Christ our Lord certainly does.
“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord IHS from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through IHS Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13) “He who calls you is faithful He will surely do it.” (1Thess 5)
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