‘For You To Dwell Within My Heart’

Editor’s Note: Articles from Set Apart to Serve, the LCMS’ church work recruitment initiative, are hosted here on The Lutheran Witness site. Visit the “Ministry Features” page for regular content on church work recruitment and formation.

By James Baneck

Let me tell you a Christmas Eve story about a Lutheran mom and dad and their six children. Their oldest was an 8-year-old boy. The next child was a daughter. She had died six years ago as a 1-year-old. The next was a five-year-old daughter. She would die as a teenager eight years later — an especially devastating death for her mom and dad. The next two children were sons, 3 and 2 years old. The baby of the family was a 1-year-old daughter.

These parents were not so different than any other faithful Lutheran parents. They strove to be good and loving parents. They wanted the best for their children. They worked hard to feed and clothe them and to give them a good and loving home.

Most of all, they wanted their children to be Christian. They taught them the Christian faith: that Jesus was their Savior, died for their sins, and gives them the full, free gift of eternal life through His birth, death and resurrection. Saving faith was so important to these parents that they taught the Small Catechism to their children every day. They taught them their morning and evening prayers. They took them to church every Sunday to be immersed in God’s Word through the preaching of Christ.

The father of this family was known to write a Christmas hymn for his children each Christmas Eve. He wanted to give his family a happy Christmas with entertainment and festivities. One Christmas Eve, he wrote a rather long hymn. The first several stanzas were to be sung by a man dressed as an angel announcing the birth of Jesus. The remaining verses were then to be sung by the children as they responded to the angel’s message of our Savior’s birth.

The year was 1534. The parents were Martin and Katie Luther. Their children were Hans, Elizabeth, Magdalene, Martin, Paul and Margaret. Other family and friends likely would have gathered with the Luther family to celebrate the miracle of God coming in the flesh to save us. It wasn’t just that Martin loved music and celebrating with his wife and family. It wasn’t just that he liked celebrating Christmas with all its festivities. Martin loved his children so much that he wanted the most precious gift of all for them: to know Jesus Christ, to believe in Him, to hear His Word throughout life for sustaining faith in a sinful and dying world, and to have eternal life with all believers in heaven.

Martin and Katie Luther were not so different from any other faithful Lutheran parents. It’s not always easy keeping our children’s faith in Christ a priority day after day, is it? It wasn’t easy for Martin and Katie either. Martin had just finished translating the German Bible that year. He was still the enemy of the Roman church. He was consumed with writing and lecturing and traveling. Katie was gardening, canning food, preparing meals and keeping up with the laundry. She often prepared meals for several guests at a time, even with a very limited budget, which she also maintained. In addition, the children needed schooling, disciplining and playtime.

Like the Luthers, you also know the grind of daily work, the distractions of the world and the flesh, and the exhaustion and suffering of this world. Being a Christian parent is tough work, and Satan is always lurking to crush us and pull us away from faith in Jesus Christ. The Christian faith is a daily struggle between the sinful flesh and the new life in Christ.

Furthermore, the Christian faith was and always will be ridiculed and persecuted in this fallen world. Parents are often deceived to think it best not to teach their children the Christian faith or to have them decide on their own whether they will be Christian.

But here’s what is so beautiful about Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. Even though there is no avoiding sin and Satan and death in this life, the birth of Jesus means the one true God has come in the flesh to forgive our sin, crush Satan the deceiver, and turn our eternal death into eternal life and joy.

Take these words to heart: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] likewise partook of the same things, that through death [His crucifixion] He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).

I write these words on behalf of Set Apart to Serve, the LCMS church work formation and recruitment initiative. Just as Christian parents have a vital role in teaching the Christian faith in the home, they also have a vital role in forming potential future church workers.

Dear parents: To serve the newborn King, the Savior of the world — as a pastor, Lutheran school teacher, deaconess, director of Christian education, or another full-time church worker — is a sacred and honorable calling. Our children may not get rich with earthly wealth, and they may even forfeit the luxuries and trappings of this world, but they will preach and teach Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of our lives and souls — and that is a very good thing.

You may not write an annual Christmas Eve hymn for your children. You may not be a translator of the Bible. You may not be the world’s most famous reformer or his beloved and faithful wife. But like Martin and Katie, you are Lutheran Christian parents, giving your children the most precious, eternal gift of all: Jesus Christ. If they grow up to be faithful Christians in any godly vocation, that’s a very good thing. If they grow up to be a full-time church worker, even from your nurture and encouragement, that too is a very good thing.

On that 1534 Christmas Eve, Luther likely dressed as an angel and sang to his children a hymn we now know as “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” (LSB 358:2–3, 13, 8):

To you this night is born a child
Of Mary, chosen virgin mild;
This little child of lowly birth
Shall be the joy of all the earth.

This is the Christ, our God Most High,
Who bears your sad and bitter cry;
He will Himself your Savior be
From all sins to set you free.

And how wonderful is the response of all who hear this Good News:

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Prepare a bed, soft, undefiled,
A quiet chamber set apart
For You to dwell within my heart.

Please pray with me that all our children know Jesus Christ as their eternal Savior. Pray with me that all our children be invited to contemplate serving this Christ child in a full-time church work vocation, to tell the next generation of parents, and children, and grandchildren about Jesus Christ. In whatever godly vocation you serve, pray with me those words Luther’s dear children sang on that 1534 Christmas Eve:

Welcome to earth, O noble Guest,
Through whom the sinful world is blest!
You came to share my misery
That You might share Your joy with me.

For ways to talk to your children about a full-time church work vocation, visit resources.lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve.

You can learn more about Set Apart to Serve here.

Set Apart to Serve posters, bookmarks and more can be downloaded here.