A Voice from the Sacristy (4 Lent, 10 March 2024)

Vision: a 5 minute podcast released near the beginning of sabbath for pastors to listen to before weekend services.

6 rotating themes:
1. Interior adornment—inner vesting
2. Freedom of being a messenger
3. Battling discouragement and bitterness
4. Preaching apocalyptically to oneself before others
5. Urgency of the message for the preacher and the hearer
6. The preacher’s telos.
The rotating themes are based on the sacristy prayer from Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm, Sweden.

Thou Servant of the Lord

Adorn thyself inwardly, 
for thou art in the service of the Omniscient
who looketh at the heart;
Pray for power from on high, 
for thine office is of God, 
and thou art but a vessel of clay;

Truth be on thy lips, 
for they are to keep the doctrine pure:
Love rule thy heart, 
for thou art a messenger of grace;
Fortitude arm thy soul, 
for thou bearest orders of the Great King

Let not bitterness quench thy zeal, 
for thou art a shepherd and not a lord;
Selfishness be from thy office, 
for the care of souls must not be made
the means of getting sordid gain;
Be not dismayed in sowing the seed, 
for the Lord giveth the increase;

Preach the Word rightly;
Open the eyes of the ignorant;
Arouse sinners from beds of ease;
Tear the cloak from the hypocrite;
Lift the burden from the heavy laden, 
for God hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner;

Let every sermon be preached as if it were to be the last, 
both for thee and thy hearers;
Before every confessional service, 
shrive thine own heart;
Thus shalt thou be established in grace;
The shepherd heart of the Saviour be thy model in the office of pastor, 
thy joy under the burden, 
and thy defense in the last accounting;

May the words of my mouth be the seed of salvation, 
thy walk show others the way;
thy prayers give Satan a rebuff;
and may thy death be the entry of a good and faithful servant
into the joy of thy Lord and Saviour.