This closing prayer office is built around Psalm 4 and a brief meditation on the created goodness of the body. Praying David’s cry, “how long will you turn my glory into shame,” the preacher borrows Bruce Wolfmiller’s image of Satan’s “snicker strategy,” recalling a chapel demonstration in which a student is mocked for correctly answering that one plus one is two. The point is that the world does not so much argue against the truth that God made humanity male and female as it simply laughs at it, and the Christian answer is to pray the psalm and rest in the joy the Lord gives, a gladness greater than abundant grain and wine that cannot be taken away. The office includes prayers for travelers, the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, and Psalm 51, commending travelers to God’s protection and closing in the confidence that our Lord who took on flesh, died, and rose keeps his people even when they are mocked.
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Transcript (edited for readability).
A prayer for travelers. Let us stand.
O Lord, open my lips. Make haste, O God, to deliver me. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress. Be merciful to me and hear my prayer. How long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call to him. Be angry and do not sin. Search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord. Many are asking, who can show us any good? Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
In the name of Jesus. How long, amen, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? This is the cry of David. The cry of David at the evening, as he tries to go to sleep in peace, wanting the Lord to watch and protect him and let him rest in the Lord's abiding care, but what he sees in the world troubles him. He sees men turning his glory, God's glory, into shame, loving delusions and false gods.
One of our dear friends, Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller, has noted that Satan's strategy so often with us is the snicker strategy — not the candy bar, mind you, but the same one I used in chapel years ago. It was an awful thing I did, but I brought one of the seventh graders forward and said, "What is one plus one?" And the student responded immediately and boldly, "Two." And I laughed. "He thinks it's two. Can you believe that? He thinks it's two." I asked again, "What is one plus one?" And he said, "Two." And I laughed again. "Oh, he thinks it's two. Can you believe it?" And the other students started to laugh with me. I asked him a third time, "What's one plus one?" He whispered, "Two." I laughed again.
Friends, you know the truth. You know we're male and female. You know the God who created us. You know the order and life he designed for us, the beauty of a joyful marriage, of children and grandchildren. You know the delight of laughing with little ones as they learn — oh, they eat and walk and do all sorts of things. You know the joy of the awkward questions as they're getting older. You know the joy of the truth of our God and the beauty he gave us. And most especially, you know without a doubt that Almighty God took on our flesh and died for you and for the whole world and rose from the dead, to guarantee that our work in his church and his kingdom is not now, nor ever will be, in vain.
But oh, how the world laughs. And how you're mocked. And it's not really an argument — it's just snickering. "You think that there's only two genders? You think that a man is a man and a woman is a woman? How unsophisticated." And the world just laughs.
How do we answer this? We pray Psalm 4. "How long, O Lord — how long, O man — will you turn God's glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?" And we'll pray the rest of the psalm. "Know that the Lord has set apart the godly" — not the perfect, not those who trust in the Lord — he set the godly apart for himself. "The Lord will hear when I call to him." For my son, my neighbor, my friend — and what else does he say? "You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound." They may snicker and laugh, but we have a joy that cannot be taken away.
Let us live in that joy, and that confidence, even in the face of a silly pastor at chapel who laughs at us for saying that one plus one equals two. Let us live in that joy, in the face of a world that seeks delusions and loves lies. For we have the truth, our Lord Jesus, and better yet, he has us. Thanks be to God, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let us stand.
Holy, strong, ever-living, for Christ's sake, ever-living Lord, ever-living.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Hear my prayer, O Lord. In the day of my trouble I call upon you. I lift my face for my sins. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. I will give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart. Let those who fear you rejoice and be glad. It shall be well with the righteous. O God, save your people and bless your heritage. Give ear to my prayer.
Let us pray. O God, our Father, who kept Abraham and Sarah safe throughout the days of their pilgrimage, who led the children of Israel through the midst of the sea, and who by a star led the wise men to the infant Jesus: protect us now as, in the silence of the night, we set out to travel. Make our ways safe and our homecomings joyful, and bring us at last to our heavenly home, where you dwell in glory with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The Lord bless us, and defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.