Festival of David Henkel
Posted on June 15, 2024 by
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Scripture: Isaiah 40:27-31 (NKJV)
40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall,
31 but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Devotion
There are those who build “with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw” (1 Cor. 3:11-13) upon the only foundation for the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ. On the Last Day, their work shall be absolutely clear. Until then, we must evaluate such workmanship—not so much to condemn bad builders and to praise the good, but to see where we may safely dwell and build ourselves. This requires always returning to the words of the prophets and apostles, measuring all things by how they fit with Him who is the Chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:19-22).
When the work of shepherds who build with hay and straw is challenged, they often reveal the fangs of wolves, those profiting from the slaughter of Christ’s lambs and sheep. So it was in the 1810s and ’20s, when the North Carolina Synod was in such disarray through false and compromising teaching that the Rev. David Henkel was accused of false teaching precisely because he taught the true doctrine of Holy Scripture as placed on exhibit for all by the Lutheran Confessions! Proving his doctrine was sound by acquiring and appealing to the German Book of Concord, those who would receive it found their strength renewed by God’s Word. Such men formed the Tennessee Synod, and witnessed what teaching and missionary activity is possible for those who, by that Word, run without being wearied, mounting up as on eagle’s wings.
Collect: O Lord, hear our prayers to Thee on this day of David Henkel, Thy Confessor and Pastor, that as Thou didst lead him to render faithful service to Thee, Thou wouldst lead us to faithfully confess our hope in Thy salvation, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end Amen.
Collect for the Second Sunday after Trinity Sunday
O Lord, Who never failest to help and govern those whom Thou dost bring up in Thy steadfast fear and love: Make us to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.