New Apostolic Church Special Edition Divine Service Guide

20 Pages·2016·0.24 MB·English

New Apostolic
Church
Special Edition Divine Service
Guide
Page
Divine services for
special occasions
2 Confirmation
6 Thanksgiving Day
7 Day of Prayer and
Repentance
9 Divine service for children
11 Divine service for seniors
13 Wedding ceremony
15 Funeral for a sister
17 Funeral for a suicide victim
Acts of blessing
4 The meaning of the
confirmation vow
Information for the
ministers of the
New Apostolic Church 1
January 2016
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Jesus welcomes the
Divine services for
confirmands …
special occasions
Jesus welcomes all our con-
Confirmation firmands—without exception.

The blessing that He is going
Confirmation to bestow upon them today is
not contingent on their origin
2016
or on their appearance, their
skills and abilities, or even their
And the Apostles, when they failures. Only one thing is deci-
had returned, told Him all sive: their decision to follow
that they had done. Then Him.
He took them and went
aside privately into a des­ … who decide to follow Him
erted place belonging to the
city called Bethsaida. But Our confirmands have been
when the multitudes knew it, made familiar with the gos-
they followed Him; and He pel. They know that Jesus is
received them and spoke to active in His church through
them about the kingdom of His Apostles. Today the con-
God, and healed those who firmands declare their will to
had need of healing. follow Jesus Christ and pro-
Luke 9: 10–11 fess their belief in the New
Apostolic faith.

Message By vowing to follow Jesus,
they express their determina-
Jesus looks after those who tion to
follow Him.
■■ obey His law.
Elaboration
■■ take Him as a role model.
Luke reports that the Apostles
preached the gospel and did ■■ enter into His king-
miracles in the name of Jesus dom and be with Him
and with His authority (Luke forever.
9: 1–6).
In addition to this, they con-
When the people realized firm their trust in the Apostle
that Jesus took His Apostles ministry, which was given by
along, thousands followed the Lord. Through the ser-
Him. Jesus welcomed them all. mon and the dispensing of the
He told them about the king- sacraments, God gives them
dom of God, healed the sick, access to the fullness of His
and also fed those who were salvation.
hungry (verse 12 et seq.).

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He speaks to them about But God also provides for our
the kingdom of God … earthly lives. He gives us our
daily bread and watches out
The confirmation blessing for us. Jesus blesses those
includes a divine promise. who follow Him. He fills their
Jesus Christ gives the con- hearts with His peace and
firmands the assurance that, joy. As long as they are firmly
through the Apostles, He will resolved to keep the vow they
proclaim to them what they make today, God will shower
need in order to be prepared them with an abundance of
for the return of Christ. grace. In fact, they will even
be in a position to do good
… and heals them … works in their surroundings
(2 Corinth ians 9: 8).
The Lord healed those who
had need of healing. Even Jean-Luc Schneider
though the confirmands will
have decided to renounce
Satan, they cannot remain Summary
without sin, since no human
being is perfect. We must Jesus blesses those who follow Him by
tell them that Jesus does
not look at how much we ■■ teaching them all they need to
sin, but that He looks at our know.
hearts’ attitude. He is always
ready to forgive those who ■■ giving them His grace.
■■ are humble and know that ■■ nourishing their souls.
they need God’s grace.
■■ filling their hearts with His peace
■■ as a sign of their longing and joy.
for forgiveness sincerely
repent. ■■ equipping them so that they can
do good works.
… and gives them food
After He had taught the peo- Notes
ple He gave them food. They
all ate and were satisfied, and
there was plenty of food left
over. The reports describing
the miraculous feedings of
the multitudes are also a ref-
erence to Holy Communion.
Holy Communion gives us the
strength to keep our vow and
to reach the goal.

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Apostolic Tradition among the
Acts of blessing specifications for baptism. It
was thus originally a baptismal
vow that was, as a rule, given
Confirmation by adults who had convert-
ed to the Christian faith and
The meaning had completed their course of
baptismal instruction. When
of the confirma- children were baptized, their
parents or another family
tion vow
member would give the vow
on their behalf.
“I renounce Satan and all his In the New Apostolic Church,
work and ways, and surren- this ancient baptismal vow is
der myself to You, O triune used as a confirmation vow.
God, Father, Son, and Holy When they give this vow, the
Spirit, in belief, obedience, confirmands confirm the vow
and the earnest resolution to which their parents gave on
remain faithful to You until my their behalf at their baptism
end. Amen.” and sealing.
The term “confirmation”
Concerning the history of derives from the Latin confir-
the confirmation vow matio, which can be taken to
mean “reinforcement” or “con-
Our present confirmation vow solidation”. At confirmation,
is contained in a text that was the confirmands reinforce the
drafted at the start of the third yes given on their behalf when
century ad. This text is known they received the sacraments,
as the Traditio Apostolica, and thereby promise to live a
which, when translated from life of following Christ.
Latin, means “Apostolic Tra-
dition”. This Apostolic Tradi- The text of the confir mation
tion is ascribed to the scholar vow
Hippolytus of Rome. Next to
the Didache, the “doctrine of The confirmation vow consists
the twelve Apostles”, which of two formulas, one of them
dates back to the second cen- a formula of renunciation and
tury, the Traditio Apostolica is the other a confessional for-
the most important source of mula, which bring to expres-
information concerning con- sion some fundamental deci-
gregational life and divine ser- sions that are part of being
vice order in the early Christian a Christian: the no to evil is a
congregations. renunciation of Satan, while
the yes to the triune God sig-
The text of our confirma- nifies surrender to God as the
tion vow is contained in the Lord of our lives.
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The renunciation formula reads: Following the renunciation
“I renounce Satan and all his formula is the confessional
work and ways.” (In the original formula, which declares: “I …
it says: “I renounce, you, Satan, surrender myself to You, O
all your pomps and all your triune God, Father, Son, and
works.”) Holy Spirit, in belief, obedi-
ence, and the earnest resolu-
Behind this formula is the tion to remain faithful to You
idea that the confirmands until my end.”
have decided to deliberate-
ly turn away from evil, which First of all, those who speak
has become personified in this formula thereby make
Satan. From then on it is their it clear that they accept the
own responsibility to do so! triune God as their Lord, and
Examples of the works of the that He is to define their lives.
evil one include the temptation Belief and obedience are the
to turn away from God or even essential aspects of a life with
to rise up in rebellion against God. To believe in God is to
Him, as well as idol worship, have trust in Him. Obedience
contempt for the sacrifice to the divine will is an essential
of Christ, disregard for the result of faith.
will of God, lovelessness, or
unbridled thirst for power. At the end of this vow, the
Those who utter these words confirmands speak of an
in faith thereby express the earnest resolution. This brings
desire to distance themselves to expression that the con-
from all of this. This renunci- fessional formula is not lightly
ation formula does not mean, spoken, but rather that those
however, that those who have who speak it are serious about
spoken it are suddenly with- fulfilling it. They thus profess
out sin or that they will always the will to live their lives with
succeed at resisting the influ- God in a manner consist-
ences of the evil one. Rather, ent with their faith—in other
it brings to expression that the words, the will to remain faith-
confirmands are aware of their ful to Him until their end. Here
sinfulness and do not want the faithfulness which the con-
to lead a life in the domain of firmands promise is nothing
that which is evil and opposed other than their response to
to God. That is why the sup- the faithfulness of God, which
port and help of the Holy Spirit comes to expression in the gift
are necessary, and the con- of the sacraments and in His
firmands have already received protection and support.
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Using
only their own strength, human Notes
beings are incapable of keep-
ing this vow.
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ation by God. The creation is
Divine services for well structured and worthy of
special occasions admiration.

Dealing responsibly with
Thanksgiving Day
God’s creation
Creator,
Today we most often focus on
Sustainer, and the things that are not perfect,
namely the troubles within the
Maker
creation: natural disasters,
droughts, and diseases seem
to call the order of creation
For He looks to the ends of into question. But the creation
the earth, and sees under the in which we live today is one
whole heavens. that has been afflicted by the
Job 28: 24 fall into sin. It is for this reason
that we also read as follows
in Romans: “For we know that
Message the whole creation groans
and labours with birth pangs
We believe in God, the Father, together until now” (Romans
the Almighty, the Creator of 8: 22). This seems to impart a
heaven and earth. negative image of the creation.
Elaboration And yet our Bible text tells us
that God looks upon all things,
Both the Old and New Testa- that all things are in His view,
ments attest that God is and that He does not abandon
the Creator of heaven and the creation or leave it to its
earth. When we read the first own devices, but rather pre-
account of creation, we cannot serves it. And we experience
help notice that in addition to this too, because the earth
creating human beings, God continues to provide susten-
also created light, all the stars ance for us, the seasons con-
and planets, all the plants, tinue to pass, the law of seed
and all the animals. All of real- and harvest continues to
ity has been created by God. apply—and thus we are able to
Everything we encounter has live off the earth. What is more,
its source in God in one way the souls of all new human
or another. beings are still being created
by God. God is thus still the
Genesis 1: 31 brings to Creator today. For this reason
expression the positive rela- our gratitude for the good-
tionship God has with His cre- ness in the creation is still very
ation, and that it was originally necessary. One implication of
created in perfection. Here we this gratitude is our careful and
also see that nothing evil was responsible stewardship of the
ever incorporated into the cre- creation. Thus each one of us
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can help along to ensure that
the goodness in the creation is Divine services for
preserved and brought to even special occasions
greater awareness.
Day of Prayer and
Thanksgiving Day gives us
Repentance
occasion to look back and
give thanks to God for all
Repentance
the natural gifts we receive.
Although this gratitude will leads to life
take different forms around
the world, we are neverthe-
less reminded of the fact that When they heard these
the earth will always produce things they became silent;
enough to sustain the lives of and they glorified God,
all people. saying, “Then God has also
granted to the Gentiles
New creation repentance to life.”
Acts 11: 18
The creation we know is not
God’s last act of creation. The
Bible also tells us that there Message
will be a new heaven and a
new earth—a place for all of The grace of God opens the
the creation to have fellowship way to life for all those who are
with God, a place which no repentant.
evil will ever be able to blemish
ever again. Isaiah 11: 6 refers Elaboration
to this place in figurative terms:
“The wolf also shall dwell with “Repent, for the kingdom of
the lamb, the leopard shall lie heaven is at hand” (Matthew
down with the young goat, the 4: 17). It is with these words
calf and the young lion and that Jesus begins to preach the
the fatling together; and a little gospel, the glad tidings. This
child shall lead them.” message contains nothing of
a depressing nature, only joy:
In view of this hope, let us pre- the kingdom of heaven is at
serve the present creation until hand! There is a way that leads
God establishes a new one there—a way that leads to God!
(Revelation 21: 21). The call to repentance invites all
who hear it to follow this path
Notes and act in accordance with the
doctrine of Jesus.
That was precisely the course
of action taken by the first peo-
ple who came to believe, name-
ly the Apostles and the Jewish
Christians in Jerusalem. But
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when they heard that Peter had It is in this context that Peter
also brought the gospel to the describes the beginning of the
Gentiles they were annoyed, path of grace. The Gentiles
and complained that the path
of salvation had been intend- ■■ believed the sermon,
ed exclusively for the Jewish
people (Acts 11: 1–3). How- ■■ accepted the ambas-
ever, God had opened up a new sadors of Jesus, and
understanding to the one who
wielded the authority of the ■■ received the rebirth out of
keys (Acts 11: 4–7; CNAC water and Spirit.
7.6.6; CNAC-QA 457–459):
salvation is accessible to all In this exceptional case, the
mankind! believers were equipped with
the gift of the Holy Spirit direct-
Those to whom Peter spoke ly by God. By way of the vision
in Jerusalem repented: they of the sheet bound at the four
changed their way of thinking. corners (Acts 10: 9–16), God
This did not depress them, but opened Peter’s understanding
rather created joy within them: for the broad scope of His plan
they praised God, whose of salvation.
grace had extended much
further than they had ever There is a way back!
thought possible beforehand.
How terrible it would be for
These events show us that us sinners if there were no
such a reversal not only implies way back from eternal death!
moving in the direction of God, When an aircraft takes off, for
but rather also turning to our example, there is a point of no
neighbour. return. After that point the pilot
can no longer abort the take-
A change of course off—even if he sees an acci-
dent coming. It is completely
Why should we as human different with God: the point
beings change our course? where there is no possibility of
Because we have all been sin- return does not exist for Him.
ners since the fall into sin. There Again and again He permits us
is only one exception: Jesus to come to Him with our guilt.
Christ. When He calls upon us When we turn to Him in repent-
to follow Him, He demands that ance, He grants us grace.
we change course: away from
sin and toward God. Thus we can see that repent-
ance is the gracious oppor-
Sin is the wrong path. It only tunity granted us by God to
leads to death. Grasping grace turn away from the path of sin
is the right way. It leads to life. In and start moving in the right
order to attain grace, we must direction, namely to our goal,
be happy for our neighbour to God, and to life!
when God grants him grace.
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Jesus Christ is a very
Divine services for special friend
special occasions
No doubt the children will have
made the experience of a
Divine service for children
broken friendship or a friend-
ship that is beginning to fade.
Jesus is our
This is not unusual, and is only
friend human. Jesus Christ is a very
special friend to us all, how-
ever.
And He took them up in
His arms, laid His hands Our Bible text shows us that
on them, and blessed them. Jesus is a very special friend
Mark 10: 16 to children. The story can be
quickly related: the people
brought their children to Jesus.
Message He was to touch them and
thereby bless them. The dis-
Jesus Christ is a big friend of ciples of Jesus (His followers
children and loves them espe- and friends at that time) were
cially. He wants to have fel- annoyed by this and began to
lowship with them and bless rebuke the children and even
them. their parents, saying, “Get out
of here! You are only disturb-
Elaboration ing our Rabbi, our Master!”
But Jesus heard about what
What makes a good friend? was going on and did not go
along with it. He did not like the
■■ You can tell a friend any- way the children were being
thing at all. treated. This was the reason
He said, “Let the little children
■■ You can trust a friend. come to Me, and do not forbid
them [that means, “do not hold
■■ You can always ask a them back”]; for of such is the
friend for help. kingdom of God. Assuredly, I
say to you, whoever does not
■■ A friend will go with you receive the kingdom of God as
through thick and thin. a little child will by no means
enter it” (Mark 10: 14–15).
■■ A friend will stand by you
even if you make a mis- And then Jesus “took them
take from time to time. up in His arms, laid His hands
on them, and blessed them”
(Mark 10: 16).
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This is how Jesus expressed
His love to the children: He
took them into His arms, or
hugged them, laid His hands
upon them, and blessed them!
How does He do this with us
today? After all, He has gone
to be with His Father—but at
the same time He promised to
be with His friends every day!
■■ You can tell Him every-
thing in prayer!
■■ You can always trust Him.
He will never leave you in
the lurch!
■■ You can always ask Him
for help (for example,
when you are sick or
having trouble with
schoolwork, etc.)
■■ Jesus goes with you
through both happy and
sad parts of your life!
■■ If you make a mistake, if
you sin, He forgives you!
Another—and likely the great-
est—sign of the friendship of
Jesus Christ is the fact that He
wants us to be with Him for-
ever.
Notes
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