Wilhelm Löhe's Collect for Christmastide
Today the Church commemorates St. Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe (often stylized Loehe), a Lutheran missionary to North America who never stepped foot on North American lands. From the small town Neuendettelsau in Bavaria, Löhe sent pastors to North America, Australia, New Guinea, and Ukraine. One of the pastors he sent, F.C.D. Wyneken, became the second president of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), and served for fourteen years. Löhe’s remote missionary work led to the establishment of two Lutheran seminaries in North America, one of which became Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Löhe’s repeated insistent that the Lutheran Church remain faithful to the Scriptures and her confession as contained in the Book of Concord is a necessary reminder to an impoverished American Lutheran church. We find in the Lutheran Confessions a faithful exposition of Scripture and a purified confession of faith, for which many have fought to defend and preserve.
Appropriately, Löhe’s Seed Grains of Prayer is among the most valuable of his translated works for a Church whose theology of prayer is in many respects lacking. It is a collection of beautifully-written and theologically faithful collects that elevate the Church’s understanding of prayer. Though the collect below is quite lengthy, it is nevertheless a felicitous prayer for Christmastide and wonderfully demonstrates the unsurpassable joy and alluring mystery of the Incarnation.
The collect is taken from the 1914 Wartburg Publishing House edition of Löhe's Seed Grains of Prayer, translated from the original German text by H.A. Weller. Similar editions have been published by Just and Sinner Publications and Emmanuel Press.
Well-Beloved Emmanuel, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Highest, and Son of the Virgin, we give thanks unto Thee that, having so heartily compassioned our sinful birth, Thou hast come to us from the Father's throne into this misery below, taking upon Thyself our flesh and blood, that so we might be made partakers of Thine own divine nature. Now, indeed, has the Heavenly Father shared His loving heart with us. Now is come great joy without ceasing; and in Thee is His wrath assuaged. By Thy holy birth, we are born again unto heaven, and Thou art become the veritable gateway of heaven for us; and by Thee have we access unto the Father, and abundant entrance into Thy king-dom. O then help, dear Lord, gracious Emmanuel, that we may rightly realize the mystery of Thy revelation in our flesh; ever remembering Thy condescension unto us, Thy poverty and distress, and rejoice heartily in Thy gracious birth, unto a realization of all its mighty power. Lift up our hearts. Open our lips. Unloose our tongues, that with all the angels, unto whose friendship we are now restored, we may worship, praise, and magnify Thee, and in Thee, the Beloved be acceptable unto the Father; and finally, be and abide with Thee in the everlasting joys of heaven. Amen. Blessed be the Lord God of Isreal. Blessed be His Holy Name. All the earth is full of His glory. Amen. Amen. Amen, Hallelujah!