Jonathan Ekong Memorial Lutheran Seminary

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HOLY WEEK

The week before Easter is called HOLY WEEK. Our Lenten preparation and repentance deepens as we focus on the events of Jesus’ life from His entrance into Jerusalem until His death on the cross and burial in the garden tomb.
In many confessional churches, the color for Holy Week continues to be violet. In others, the color is scarlet, a deep blood red. Scarlet reminds us of Jesus’ blood shed as He suffered and died for our sins.
Many confessional congregations read the Passion narrative during special midweek services of Lent. But on each day of Holy Week, the whole story of the events leading to Jesus’ death and burial is read from a single Gospel.
While in Lent, we forgo using the joyous Alleluia response, and we do not sing the Gloria in Excelsis. In Holy Week, we go a step further as we give up singing the Gloria Patri - our joyous praise to the Trinity at the end of all the Psalms we use in worship. Omitting these joyous words makes our worship even more reserved and somber.
Many confessional congregations observe Holy Week by gathering for special services throughout the week.

PALM and PASSION SUNDAY (beginning of Holy Week), the first day of Holy Week, commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11). Jesus enters Jerusalem on a road that is strewn with palms, a reception fit for a king. Jesus is also lauded by the crowds with glory and honour due to the Son of David. Thus on Palm Sunday Confessional Christians join the true church to procession with Palms in their hands on this occasion on the streets of the city, town, village, etc and laud Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He, Blessed is He, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!

Palm Sunday also begins Holy Week with the first reading from the Passion account of the Gospels. Because the complete account of the Lord’s Passion from Matthew, Mark, or Luke is often read, this Sunday is also called the Sunday of Passion.

PASCHA: MAUNDY THURSDAY, GOOD FRIDAY, and EASTER VIGIL and DAY.

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Eve/Day are taken as a single service occurring over three days. The readings for these days record the institution of the Lord’s Supper (Thursday). The church gives thanks to Jesus for the institution of His Supper. This is a feast day, and the color used to decorate the church in a confessional church body is white. The Holy Thursday service opens with the washing of feet, how our Lord Jesus Christ in Love and Humility washed the feet of His Disciples. The service then closes with the stripping of the altar. This reminds us of how our Lord stripped and beaten before His crucifixion.
The betrayal, suffering, and death (Good Friday). It is the most solemn of all days in the Christian Church; yet a note of joy remains, as the title of the day indicates. On Good Friday, as we remember that on account of our sin the Lord was crucified and died, we give joyful thanks to God that all sin and God’s wrath over sin falls on Jesus and not on us, and that by His grace we receive the benefit of this most sacrificial act.

And our Lord’s resurrection from the grave (Easter Vigil and Day). The first celebration of Easter is the Easter Vigil, the evening of Holy Saturday. The Vigil includes a service of light, in which fire symbolizes Jesus as the light of the world. The service is designed to take the Christian from the solemnity of Good Friday to the predawn joy of Easter. Easter is the richest and most lavishly celebrated festival of the Church Year. Congregations may hold a sunrise service, and in some cases in procession singing and saying Christ is risen, He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! commemorating the surprise of the women visiting the empty tomb of Christ, as well as services that celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, the confessional church in the twenty-first century rejoice on the streets of their communities on sunrise of Easter Sunday to announce the victory Christ has won over sin, death and the devil as they enact the experience of the women of old on that first Easter morning. The colors of Easter are white and gold. White, the color of our Lord’s holiness, is everywhere on Easter, from paraments and vestments to the traditional Easter lilies. Gold decorations remind us that our resurrection life in Christ is precious and eternal.

HAVE A GLORIOUS HOLY WEEK and OUR LORD’S RESURRECTION CELEBRATION!

03/17: REMEMBERING ST. PATRICK - Missionary to Ireland!

St. Patrick was born toward the close of the fourth century, about AD 389, in a village called Bonaven Taberniae, which seems to be the town of Kilpatrick, at the mouth of the River Clyde in Scotland, between Dumbarton and Glasgow. He calls himself both a Briton and a Roman, or of mixed extraction, and says his father was of a good family named Calphurnius, a denizen of a neighboring Roman city, which was abandoned not long after in 409. Some writers call his mother Conchessa and say she was a niece of St. Martin of Tours.

In his sixteenth year, he was carried into captivity by certain barbarians as a slave into Ireland, where he was obliged to keep cattle on the mountains and in the forests, in hunger and nakedness, amidst snow, rain, and ice. Some modern scholarship tends to differ from this specific job description, arguing that he was sent to herd pigs, where he served for six years and pondered his fate and his faith. Led by a dream, he escaped his captivity and headed toward the sea. Since he had no money to pay for a voyage and would not submit to the sailors’ lewd suggestions, he almost despaired. The sailors relented and let the young man cross back with them.

He finally made his way to France, where he became a monk and a priest. Elevated to be a bishop, he returned to the land of his captivity about 433 to set his captors free from their slavery to idolatry. In this labor he spent the rest of his days. He preached the Gospel throughout the land, where the worship of idols still generally reigned. He devoted himself entirely to the salvation of these barbarians. He traveled over the whole island, penetrating into the remotest corners, and such was the fruit of his preaching and sufferings that he baptized an infinite number of people. He took nothing from the many thousands whom he baptized and gave back the little presents which some laid on the altar, choosing rather to mortify the fervent than to scandalize the weak or the unbelievers. He gave freely of his own, however, both to pagans and Christians, distributed large alms to the poor in the provinces where he passed, made presents to kings, judging that necessary for the progress of the Gospel, and maintained and educated many children whom he trained up to serve at the altar. In his great CONFESSION, he wrote, “This is how we can repay such blessings: when our lives change and we come to know God, to praise and bear witness to His great wonders before every nation under heaven.” The happy success of his labors cost him many persecutions.

A true confessor of the orthodox faith, particularly of the Holy Trinity, “Three in One and One in Three,” throughout his missionary years. His favorite hymn which he wrote was on the Holy Trinity. Some might ask, did he die singing his hymn? A hymn which we confessional Lutherans cherish so much:

1 “I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

2 I bind this day to me forever,
By pow'r of faith, Christ's incarnation,
His Baptism in the Jordan River,
His cross of death for my salvation,
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom,
I bind unto myself today.

3 I bind unto myself today
The pow'r of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to harken to my need,
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The Word of God to give me speech,
His heav'nly host to be my guard.

4 Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile foes that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In ev'ry place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me those holy pow'rs.

5 I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three,
Of whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
Salvation is of Christ the Lord!”
(LSB 604).

His episcopal seat was said to be at Armagh.

March 17, is generally regarded as the day of his death, hence we remember him on this day.

POINTS TO PONDER

• Are missionaries truly proclaiming the Crucifixion of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, or merely contextualizing the idolatrous state in the communities we serve?

• Are missionaries and ministers actually interested in the lost souls of Africa or in our enlightened self-interest?

• By the instrumentality of St. Patrick, is the Faith as fresh and unadulterated in Ireland, even in the cold twenty-first century, as when it was first planted? What about in your own neck of the woods, is it still fresh and unadulterated as when it was first planted?

• Aha! Lent, a period of fasting, prayer and “Almsgiving:” what a fitting period to commemorate St. Patrick, who, rather than taking from the poor, gave to the poor. “Jesus gives us what will enable us to give; the devil gives us what will enable us to take.”

• Pray that the Lord grant us the strength and courage to prefer the loss of every earthly good to the least compromise in matters of faith.

COLLECT OF THE DAY

Faithful God, You never cease to give to Your Church those who delight in carrying the Gospel to foreign lands. Receive our thanks this day for Your servant Patrick, who carried the saving name of Jesus to Ireland and summoned its people to abandon idolatry and worship You, the only true God, the blessed Trinity. Strengthen today all missionaries, that they may fearlessly bear Your name and summon all sinners into the joy of forgiveness and the promise of resurrection; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

02/18: ASH WEDNESDAY

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with midday prayer on Holy Saturday. This most sacred season is when the Church denies herself her songs of joy, such as saying and/or singing “Alleluia,” which is the Hebrew word for “Praise the Lord.” During Lent we forgo using this joyous expression of faith/response. The Church does this in order the more forcibly to remind us, her children, that we are living in a Babylon of spiritual decadence and to return to the Lord our God who is gracious and merciful.

So how is the first day of Lent observed? You might ask!

Ash Wednesday begins the observance of Lent. Ashes on the forehead are a sign of penitence and a reminder that we, too, shall die… Man, drawn from the dust, must return to it, and all that he does… is but dust and vanity. And therefore we need forgiveness from Jesus… Such are the truths which the Church wishes to engrave in the memory, but still more in the hearts, of her children, by the sprinkling of ashes on this first day of Lent. This custom dates from the first centuries of the Church, and was then observed not toward all the faithful without distinction, but toward public sinners who had submitted themselves to penance, to obtain thereby reconciliation with the Church and admission to a share in the Sacrament of the Altar. The custom of putting ashes on the head in token of penitence is even more ancient than Christianity; the Jews practiced it, and the holy King David tells us that he had submitted to the observance. It may be said rather to date from the first ages of the world; for holy man Job, long before even the time of Moses, followed the custom. Nothing is, in fact, more calculated to lead the sinner to enter into himself than the remembrance of his last end. Nothing is better fitted to beat down pride and put a check on futile projects and guilty purposes than the terrible and sad memento, “Remember that thou art but dust!” Empires, Amayanapu, Alapu, Obongs, Obongawans, riches, honors, and dignities, resplendent palaces, triumphal cars, fair adornments, beauty, strength, and power—all crumble away, and their very possessor is but a ruin and, ere a few days have sped, will have dwindled into dust.

So, let this whole season of Lent be for you a time of returning to Him, each and every day coming to Him who delights to welcome you home.
Return to Him who eagerly waits for you to come to Him. Him who never says, “What? You here again for forgiveness?” Rather, Him whose steadfast love always throws His arms around you and welcomes you home.

Note:

- As in Advent, so in Lent, we do NOT sing the Gloria in Excelsis in the Divine Service. We do this to focus our worship on repentance.

- Black may be used to decorate the church on Ash Wednesday. The color of Lent for a Confessional church is VIOLET. The church is decorated in violet, the color of royalty and repentance. This period of repentance is marked by a purposeful turning away from our sin and turning toward Christ for His mercy and forgiveness.

COLLECT - 1

God the Father Almighty, have mercy on us. We confess our sins to You, especially on this Ash Wednesday. We come before You in sackcloth and ashes, acknowledging that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed. We repent anew on this Ash Wednesday, remembering that the Christian life is worn through daily contrition and repentance. Without Your forgiveness, we would be dust. In the name of Jesus.

COLLECT - 2

O God, our refuge and our strength, You raised up Your servant Martin Luther to reform and renew Your church in the light of Your living Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Defend and purify the Church in our own day, and grant that we may boldly proclaim Christ’s faithfulness unto death and His vindicating resurrection, which You made known to Your servant Martin through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

COLLECT OF THE DAY

Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that, lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD!

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, celebrated today, is the last Sunday in the Epiphany Season in the Church's three-year Lectionary and the last Sunday before Lent. It commemorates the moment on the mountain when three of Jesus' disciples—Peter, James, and John—glimpsed their Lord in divine splendor, seeing Him as the center of the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah).

The three disciples who saw Jesus shone on the mountain were given specific instructions not to mention what they had experienced to anyone until after the resurrection. Jesus said to them, "Don't tell anyone." He added, "Don't tell anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Confessional Lutheran theologians explain this as "Jesus coming down from one mountain and walking toward another," from Mount Tabor to Mount Golgotha, from "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" to "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

The mountain experience was meant to prepare these three disciples for the events of Golgotha. Hence, when He said, "Because I live, you too shall live!" they understood. That's what He is still saying to us. And because He lives, we too shall live, regardless of what we've been through in this world.

COLLECT - 1
O God, our Heavenly Father, whose radiance is revealed in the transfiguration of Your Son, we pray that the light of the Gospel would continue to shine upon us, particularly Confessional Lutherans. The prophet Elijah never tested physical death; we pray that our faith would be sustained and anchored in the certainty of the resurrection of Your Son, regardless of internal and external persecution. We rejoice that Jesus, like Moses the great lawgiver, kept the Law perfectly for us. In His name.

COLLECT OF THE DAY
O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your beloved Son, You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud, You wonderfully foreshadowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us coheirs with our King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

02/02 - Forty Days After Christmas: THE PURIFICATION OF MARY AND THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD!

The Law of God, given by Moses to the Jews, ordained that a woman, after childbirth, should continue for a certain time in a state which that law calls unclean, during which she was not to appear in public, nor presume to touch anything consecrated to God. This term was of forty days upon the birth of a son, and double that time for a daughter. On the expiration of the term, the mother was to bring to the door of the tabernacle, or Temple, a lamb and a young pigeon, or turtle-dove, as an offering to God. Those being sacrificed to Almighty God by the priest, the woman was cleansed of the legal impurity and reinstated in her former privileges. A young pigeon, or turtle-dove, by way of sin-offering, was required of all, whether rich or poor; but as the expense of a lamb might be too great for persons in poor circumstances, they were allowed to substitute for it a second dove.

In the case of Mary and Joseph, they could only afford the turtledoves. As it’s commanded in the Law - for the life of every firstborn Israelite belonged to Yahweh and had to be redeemed, ever since the firstborn of Egypt died in the exodus. Yet, even as they purchased the offering and entered the temple precincts, they knew that the real offering was not the birds, but the Babe. He would be the Offering to end all offerings. In Him, the Law would be fulfilled. They thought that they and a handful of others were the only ones in the know. They were wrong.

The ceremony was captioned with this mystery. Simeon, the priest, on that occasion, holds the child, looks into His infant face, and he begins to pray. Not to any other, but to Him, to the child in his arms: “Now, Lord! Now You can let Your servant go in peace. I’ve seen Your Salvation. A light for the Gentles. Glory for Your people Israel.” Which is all to say, “I can just die now.” Now that I know that the Death of death lives and breathes on earth, I have no fear. How could I fear the displeasure of God when I see the irrefutable testimony of His love right here in my arms? … Simeon, the priest, foretold to Mary her martyrdom of sorrow, and that Jesus brought redemption to those who would accept it on the terms it was offered them not on their own terms or their own accord/decision; but heavy judgment on all infidels who should obstinately reject it.

Interestingly, Anne, also, the prophetess, who in her widowhood served God with great fervor, had the happiness to acknowledge and adore in this great mystery the Redeemer of the world.

God so loved world that He gave His only-begotten Son. Gave Him into the flesh. And as Confessional Lutherans, having received the Body and Blood of Him whom Simeon, the priest, held all those centuries ago, we pray with him, after the Eucharistic service, “It’s okay, Lord. I can just die now. Take me home! I’ve seen Your Salvation. I’ve tasted Your life. My sins are forgiven. My death is destroyed. I have nothing to fear because You have given Yourself to me entirely. I can go home right now.”

COLLECT OF THE DAY

Almighty and ever-living God, as Your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh, grant that we may be presented to You with pure and clean hearts even as Jonathan Ekong Memorial Lutheran Seminary resumes today for the Second Semester, 2025/26 Session; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Welcome back to school!

11/30, AD 2025

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Church year begins with ADVENT (from the Latin “adventus,” which means “coming into”). The time of Advent cannot exactly be considered festal, nor can it be classed among movable feasts; and yet the first day of Advent is, in another sense, movable, inasmuch as it happens always on the fourth Sunday before Christmas - which festival itself falls on different days of the week. The four weeks whereof it consists represent the four thousand years which preceded the coming of the Son of God into the world. Formerly, Advent-time was observed as similar to Lent by fasting, abstinence, and mortification, but not in a manner so rigorous as that of Lent. In any event, like Lent, Advent is season of penitence.

The beauty of the Church-year is its great continuity. As one year is drawing to a close by focusing our hearts and minds on the coming of our Lord in glory, the next begins by pondering the very same. Advent is less about the preparation for a Savior to be born than about the preparation for the Word-made-Flesh returning. The birth-pains of the Blessed Virgin have given over to the birth-pains of the new heaven and earth. As St. Peter writes, “in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth; the home of righteousness.

Advent begins always the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day (November 30), and ends with a midday prayer on December 24. Ironically, this year the first Sunday in Advent is also St. Andrew’s Day - November 30. So, why Advent and ultimately the Nativity of Our Lord? Some may ask. Answer: Simple! To reconcile the Father with us including St. Andrew. And today, the Holy Church rejoices in the Festival of St. Andrew, also.

St. Andrew was one of the fishermen of Bethsaida, and brother, perhaps elder brother, of St. Peter, and became a disciple of St. John, the Baptist. He seemed always eager to bring others into notice; a modern day “Missionary” in all ramifications. When called himself by Christ on the banks of the Jordan, his first thought was to go in search of his brother, and he said, “We have found the Messiah,” and he brought him to Jesus. Arguably becoming the first “Domestic Missionary.” It was he again this time with Philip who, when some Greeks desired to see Jesus brought word to Christ in John’s Gospel. Thus, Andrew also became the first foreign missionary, recognizing the need for introducing those who come from distant lands to Jesus. Then again, it was Andrew who, when Christ wished to feed the five thousand in the desert, pointed out the little lid with the five loaves and fishes - teaching us “Holistic Ministry: on how to take care of both the soul and the body.” St. Andrew went forth upon his mission to plant the Faith in Scythia, and Greece, and at the end of years of toil to win a martyr’s crown. After suffering a cruel scourging at Patras in Achaea, he was left, bound by cords, to die upon a cross.

According to one tradition, when St. Andrew first caught sight of the gibbet on which he was to die, he greeted the precious wood with joy. “O good cross!” he cried, “made beautiful by the limbs of Christ, so long desired, now so happily found! Receive me into thy arms and present me to my Master, that He Who redeemed me through thee may now accept me from thee.” Two whole days the martyr/missionary remained hanging on this cross alive, proclaiming/preaching with outstretched arms from this chair of truth, to all who came near, and entreating them not to hinder his passion - “Missionary par excellence.”

Now then, notwithstanding the alleviations which the true Church has thought well to introduce in the course of time, Advent has still remained a period of recollection and prayer. A Confessional Lutheran ought to take thereof, and by pious yearnings entreat for the coming of the Son of God to make His undefiled bed in his heart, and into the world at-large by the spreading of the Gospel as St. Andrew, Apostle, hath done.

DIGGING DEEPER:

The Color for Advent - Violent, a symbol of our repentance in preparation for our coming King.

We do not sing the Gloria in Excelsis in the Divine Service during Advent. This is the angels’ song at Christmas, so during Advent, we pass over this traditional Hymn of Praise in silent anticipation.

POINT(S) TO PONDER:

If we would do good to others, we must, like St. Andrew, keep close to the cross.

The fact that the church’s calendar is not in sync with the world’s calendar is a reminder that the people of God mark time differently than those who don’t know the Lord.

Yet again, Happy New Year!

COLLECT - 1

Almighty God, by Your grace the apostle Andrew obeyed the call of Your Son to be a disciple. Grant us also to follow the same Lord Jesus Christ in heart and life, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

COLLECT OF THE DAY

Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

🎓 You’re Invited! Matriculation Ceremony 2025 🎓

Join us at Jonathan Ekong Memorial Lutheran Seminary, affiliated with the University of Calabar, as we celebrate the official matriculation of:

✨ Evangelist Intake 2025
✨ Pastoral Intake 2025
✨ Maiden B.A. in Christian Religious Studies Program – Year 1

📅 Date: Saturday, November 8, 2025
📍 Venue: Seminary Chapel, Obot Idim Ibesikpo, Ibesikpo Asutan L.G.A., Akwa Ibom State
🕘 Time: 10:00am (Guests are kindly requested to be seated by 9:30am)

Come witness this milestone as we welcome our new students into a journey of faith, scholarship, and service.

For inquiries, contact:
The Rev’d Ibok E. Luke, STM
📞 080609494249

Sola Gratia! Sola Scriptura! Soli Deo Gloria! 🙏

Reformation @508!