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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Mothers are a blessing. They are a blessing simply by the fact of how God makes them to be mothers, for by the love of a husband and by the long months of nurturing life within their very own bodies, mothers are made. They are made as those through whom life comes. Apart from Adam and Eve, there is no person ever to have lived who did not have life because of a mother. And as expected, mothers grow quite attached to the lives that they berth. TheyRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We call this second Sunday in Lent Reminiscere, because we pray Remember, O LORD, Thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; For they have been ever of old. He must, for our sake, He must, for Christ’s sake, remember His tender mercies for we are always in great need of them. We need Him to remember them, for we go about this life of faith remembering things ourselves. We remember how we have sinned, how we like sheep have gone astray in our hearts, in our minds, in ourRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 25:6, 2b, 22; 1–2a; Psalm 25:17-18; Psalm 25:17b–18, 1–3; Psalm 119:47–48a; Psalm 5:1b–2 ✠ Lection: Exodus 24:12-18; 1 Kings 19:3b-8 ; Matthew 12:38-50 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. On this cold February evening, let us head south, south with the prophet Elijah. In 1 Kings 19, we hear that he went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah. He was coming from the northern kingdom of Israel, southward to Beersheba, which lay on the edge of the desert wilderness. Beersheba has much biblical significance in itself, but we shall first consider the frigid,Read More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Brethren, we plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain, for His grace is sufficient for you. It is helpful at all times and in all places, in everything that comes upon you in this life. Yes, the cliché Jesus is the answer is true, yet do not leave your understanding and trust to shallow passing thoughts as when seeing those words on an interstate billboard. Rather ponder more that He is your Refuge and your Fortress: your God; in Him will you trust,Read More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?” These words immediately precede what we heard from the prophet Joel, and if you go all the way back to the beginning of chapter two in his prophecy, you will encounter more strong language that portrays how sin and sinners shall shake as an earthquake at encountering the terrible Day ofRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Having heard that it is by God’s grace alone coming to you in His Word alone that you are saved, what is the means by which you know that such great things are being applied to you unto salvation? How do you know that you have received God’s grace and word with a noble and good heart and are thus counted as righteous before God? It is by faith alone in Christ alone. Faith is never alone. Yes, good works flow from it, as we remember that thereRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. How we worship God reveals what we believe about Him and His Holy Word. It reveals what we believe about His seed that He faithfully and graciously scatters among us. If we gather around Him and His holy things with performance-focused gesture indecipherable from rock concerts, then we are revealing that we worship entertainment more than God; that in order to grab our attention and keep it, something, even God, must entertain us. Flipping TV channels and scrolling social media has only further turned us in on ourselvesRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the Divine Service, we make use of ordinaries and propers, words given to describe the parts of the liturgy by which we are blessed every time we gather. Ordinaries are all the parts that ordinarily show up in their exact same form, week-in and week-out. The Preparation, The Kyrie, The Gloria in Excelsis, The Nicene Creed, The Offertory, The Lord’s Prayer, andThe Words of Institution are all examples of ordinaries. They occur in every Divine Service in the exact same form. The propers, on the other hand,Read More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. ‘Tis good, Lord, to be here. ‘Tis good to be in His house on the Lord’s Day, this Transfiguration Sunday, for our fathers in the faith have given us great blessing in making today what it is in our annual cycle. The Transfiguration wasn’t always celebrated on the final Sunday of Epiphany. As a matter of fact, there are still some liturgical-year-observing church bodies, like that of Rome, that do not celebrate it in such a way. A large reason they have avoided doing so may be thatRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. At the Epiphany, it was revealed to us Gentiles the wide-reaching love of God in Christ Jesus, born King of the Jews, born King of heaven and earth and all who dwell therein. Last week, it was revealed to us that the divine Boy was to be the culmination and fulfillment of all His Father’s holy things that had been instituted for our reconciliation and salvation. Today, Jesus’ words and actions at the wedding in Cana of Galilee reveal to us the very sympathy that He, the LordRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD He is God. To know that the LORD is God and that Jesus is manifested, revealed to be the LORD our God, is a central theme in the Epiphany season, the third of the Church Year into which we have already been propelled. If time seems to pass by quickly, give thanks to God that in it doing so, the saying isRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Epiphany, the showing forth or the appearing of Jesus the Christ, the One born King of the Jews, wasn’t something the Lord would keep contained in the days of Herod the king or any other day. There would be no denial of Who He was for it was impossible for Him to do so. For the magi, He gave a bright shining light that drew them close who were far off. They were drawn to the Light that cometh into the world. They were drawn to theRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. St. Lawrence was a Christian martyr who lived, and died, in the third century under great persecution of the Church by the Roman Emperor Valerian. In the period leading up to his death by being burned alive atop a grill like a steak, many other Christians had been rounded up and put to death, including the pope and multiple priests. The emperor, being greedy for the Church’s money, hoped to gain its treasures for himself. Thus, prior to his martyrdom, St. Lawrence… was summoned before a magistrate andRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our Christmas Day text from Isaiah begins similarly to how the pericope from chapter seven did last Wednesday; a somewhat midstride proclamation set in developments of prophetic detail within a book resplendent with messianic language. If we back up to the beginning of tonight’s fifty-second chapter, Isaiah’s words begin their work of wrangling into our minds images of themes and aspects about the coming Christ encountered in the Church’s yearly cycle. The chapter begins, “Awake, awake!” likely conjuring up fresh memories of singing the stellar hymn “Wake, AwakeRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Holy Christian Church has long held a daily divine office called vespers, a name derived from the Latin meaning evening, for that is when it is held. In the week leading up to Christmas, beginning on December 17, specific verses for each of those seven days would be chanted during vespers right before the singing of the Magnificat, the blessed song of Mary. Those verses, to which we now refer as the O Antiphons, all sourced from the prophet Isaiah, draw attention to specific aspects and propheciesRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The first words of the Divine Service proper for this Gaudete Sunday aren’t sourced from the Old Testament as usual. No, on this day the Holy Church takes words that were written after our dear Lord’s first Advent, from an epistle of St. Paul, through whom Christ’s Holy Spirit tells us to Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. We are to rejoice, for we, unlike the unbelieving world, have unfailing eternal riches in Christ that indeedRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Isaiah 30:30a, 29a, c;Psalm 80:1a;50:2-3a, 5;85:6-7; Baruch 5:5a;4:36b ✠ Lection: Malachi 3:1-5;4:1-6a;St. Matthew 11:11-15 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you hear what Scripture, what Jesus Himself, says about John the Baptist and believe it, then you have ears to hear Christ and the salvation that He brings, for it is in John’s voice in the wilderness that every valley is exalted and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain. We hear Jesus’ assured words telling us that among those born of women there has notRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. People of Zion, behold the Lord is nigh. He, the kingdom of heaven, is at hand. He came into Jerusalem lowly, mounted on a donkey, bringing salvation unto us who sat in darkness. But we have seen a great Light. We see each and every time that we come into this glorious abode of Light, that this same glorious, saving King comes lowly again and again unto us. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? The bread whichRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 25:1-3a;25:4;25:3a, 4;85:7;25:1-3a;85:12 ✠ Lection: James 5:7–10; Romans 13:11-14;St. Matthew 3:1–6 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew begins on familiar ground. There’s the genealogy of the Christ, His birth in Bethlehem, the visit of the Magi from the East, the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt, Herod’s slaughter of the Holy Innocents, and Jesus’ return to Nazareth to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor of God. All that is in the first two chapters, out of which St. Matthew takes us right into chapter three with the wordsRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Except for the young among us, we all have memories to some degree and in some ways of “good ol’ days”. Considering what we face day in and day out in our present world, even the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ tends to look back longingly at such times as what we read about in the book of Acts, in historical records about how our great fathers battled heresies and the Gospel made great headway, and even back to when Church pews were regularly full in ourRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The faithful, watchful Christian eye is set upon the Last Day, for in it we know that the King will come and call all His servants to settle accounts. The Christian eye fears this not, because it has been restored to eternal sight through faith in the long-awaited Bridegroom Who, at His own all-exacting expense, has paid the debt we owe. He has given faith to His Church, washed us by His Spirit and His Word, and donned upon us pure white robes of righteousness; a righteousness whichRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. An unforgiving heart is unfit to receive forgiveness itself although it is likely to demand it when roles are reversed. The Lord Jesus gives a stern warning to all benefactors of God’s inestimable grace: forgive as you have been forgiven, lest forgiveness be taken from you. His parable teaches this clearly, sufficiently for this to end here as the shortest sermon you’ve heard. Yet, we shall not rush through our dear Lord’s words, but will reflect upon them for at least a few more minutes. May God’s willRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen. A Mighty Fortress is our God, a Trusty Shield and Weapon. He is a Refuge in Whom faithful men before us trusted even under threat of death so that they themselves might keep hold of the Gospel of Life, and preserve it in truth and purity for the generations who followed. We give thanks to God as we commemorate the Reformation and the sweet, undefiled Gospel of Christ that was restored to His people then and unto this very day. For, it is in God, byRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The LORD our God is almighty, all-knowing, all-holy, and altogether perfect. He created all things out of nothing by the power of His Word and on the sixth day God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thingRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 119:137, 124a; 1; Psalm 33:12, 6; Psalm 115:11; Daniel 9:4, 17a, 19b; Psalm 76:11–12 ✠ Lection: Proverbs 25:6–14; Ephesians 4:1–6; Luke 14:1–11 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We all want the world to be a better place, or at least a good place, which would mean a betterment of it if we see we’re not there yet. Unfortunately, though, many an idea of better originates in the sinful heart of fallen man and are focused on what each individual person deems and wants his better world to be like. Hence, we returnRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 86:3, 5; 1; Psalm 102:15-16; Psalm 114:1-2; Psalm 40:13b–14a; Psalm 71:16b–17, 18b ✠ Lection: 1 Kings 17:17–24; Ephesians 3:13–21; Luke 7:11–16 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more. We get into long stretches of life,Read More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 86:1a, 2b–3; 4; Psalm 92:1-2; Psalm 108:1; Psalm 40:1, 3a; John 6:56 ✠ Lection: 1 Kings 17:8–16; Galatians 5:25—6:10; Matthew 6:24–34 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray Thy kingdom come. The lust of the flesh desires to keep this truth at a distance; to keep the kingdom of God as some abstract truth confined to motions of habit constrained to Sunday morning, or else a far-off reality about which only the true religious nuts among us really take seriously. But to be ChristianRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 84:9–10ab; 1-2a; Psalm 118:8-9; Psalm 95:3a, 4b; Psalm 34:7–8a; John 6:51b ✠ Lection: Proverbs 4:10–23; Galatians 5:16–24; Luke 17:11–19 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As Jesus went to Jerusalem He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. On the way to the place where all the Lord’s work would come to a glorious climax on the cross, on the way to the great city of God that would reject Yahweh in the flesh Himself, the Savior was passing along between two divided areas: Samaria, the land the true Jews saw asRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 74:20a, 19b, 22a, 23a; 1; Psalm 74:20a, 19b, 22a; 89:50; Psalm 95:1-2; Psalm 31:14–15a; Wisdom 16:20 ✠ Lection: Leviticus 19:9–18; Galatians 3:16–22; Luke 10:23–37 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Dear saints in the Lord, blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, if you truly see them. Consider what Jesus is saying to His disciples, both then and now. There are many sets of eyes among us this morning, all functioning, all doing their duty as we look upon one another, upon our bulletins and hymnals, upon the holy thingsRead More →

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Transcription from audio file: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Gracing our ears this morning are multiple accounts of two men presenting themselves before God, presenting sacrifices before God. First is that of Cain and Abel, brothers, sons of our first parents, one a keeper of sheep, and the other a tiller of the ground. Both brought an offering to the Lord, and he respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering. It is challenging to conclude just from that text why this was so. Some inferences may be assumed,Read More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 55:17b, 18b, 19b, 22a; 1; Psalm 17:8, 2; Psalm 88:1-2; Psalm 25:1–3a; Psalm 51:19 ✠ Lection: Jeremiah 7:1–11; 1 Corinthians 12:2–11; Luke 19:41–48 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes… because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Jesus weeps over those who did not, who do not know the time ofRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 54:4-5; 1; Psalm 8:1a, 1b; Psalm 78:1a; Psalm 19:8a, 10b–11a; Matthew 6:33 ✠ Lection: Proverbs 16:1–9; 1 Corinthians 10:6b–13;Luke 16:1–9 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The parables of our Lord Jesus Christ are spoken masterpieces woven, painted, sculpted by the One Whose Word brought into creation all the beauty that we behold when we take time to look down, around, and up. The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Similarly, the priceless pieces created by man that stand and hang at places like the Cleveland MuseumRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 48:9-10; 1; Psalm 31:2b, 1a; Psalm 65:1, 4b; Psalm 18:27, 31a; Psalm 34:8 ✠ Lection: Jeremiah 23:16–29; Romans 8:12–17; Matthew 7:15–23 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God the Father tested Abraham. He said to him, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him,Read More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 28:8-9; 1a; Psalm 90:13, 1; Psalm 47:1; Psalm 17:5, 6b–7a; Psalm 27:6b ✠ Lection: Exodus 20:1–17; Romans 6:3-11; Matthew 5:20-26 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Lord Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” He spoke these blessed words to His disciples as they had pressed upon Him when He gave the Sermon on the Mount. This is early in His ministry, showing that He still had much to teach,Read More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 27:7a, 9b; 1a; Psalm 84:9a, 8a; Psalm 31:1–2a; Psalm 16:7a, 8; Psalm 27:4ab ✠ Lection: 1 Kings 19:11–21; 1 Peter 3:8–15a; Luke 5:1–11 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, oh blessed multitude, and press about Jesus to hear the word of God. Alleluia! His strong word cleaves the darkness of the chaotic world in which we swim as well as that of the shroud of sin, doubt, and shame that so heavily and relentlessly try to cloak our living minds and hearts. Our dear Jesus delights in giving to us that whichRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 25:16, 18; 1-2a; Psalm 55:22a, 17b, 18b; Psalm 18:1-2a; Psalm 9:10–11a, 12b; Psalm 17:6 ✠ Lection: Micah 7:18–20; 1 Peter 5:6–11; Luke 15:1–10 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. How much of a part do lost sheep and lost coins have in being restored to those to whom they belonged? None. Bearing the sinful flesh means that we can only claim credit for rejecting a call to repent, to turn and seek, which means we have zero role in coming to salvation and to the forgiveness of sins. God brings those to us.Read More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 18:18b-19; 1-2a; Psalm 120:1-2; Psalm 7:11; Psalm 6:4; Psalm 13:6; 7:17b ✠ Lection: Proverbs 9:1–10; 1 John 3:13–18; Luke 14:16–24 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Beloved, the time to take the Lord seriously is now. It’s always now; for every one of us, for we all live in the midst of earthly life. Whether we’re still early in our life, trying not to be stepped on by bigger siblings while trying also not to step on the elderly in our vigor; or whether we’re middle age wondering how so much has alreadyRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Liturgical Text; Tobit 12:6b, d; Prayer of Azariah 1:32a, 33; Prayer of Azariah 1:3a, 32b;Tobit 12:6d; Tobit 12:6b–d ✠ Lection: Isaiah 6:1–7; Romans 11:33–36; John 3:1–17 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We need not have an extended addition such as the Athanasian Creed in order to be reminded of the content of the catholic faith, of the universal faith that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bestow upon all believers. On all the other Sundays and feast days without our grand, lengthy creed, in every single Divine Service, comes bountiful opportunity for you toRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Wisdom 1:7; Psalm 68:28b–29a; Liturgical Text; Psalm 33:6; Psalm 68:28b–29; Acts 2:2, 4a, 11b ✠ Lection: Genesis 11:1–9; Acts 2:1–11; John 14:23–31a In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. A lot can happen over the course of 100 years. There are some among us who can personally recount most of the changes that have come about in the world over the past century, having, by God’s grace, lived the majority of it. Many, many in our day consider it all to be progress, to be advancement, to be the betterment of mankind as we haveRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 27:7a, 8–9a; 1a; Psalm 47:5; Psalm 68:17b–18a; Acts 1:11; John 17:12a, 13a, 15 ✠ Lection: Ezekiel 36:23a, 23c–28; 1 Pet. 4:7b–11; John 15:26—16:4a In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Through the gift of the Gospel, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins, was raised on the third day, and ascended into heaven, we have been given the great gift and treasure of faith. It isn’t a generic faith that can be confused with just being optimistic. We don’t skip about through life as the blind fools that unbelievers viewRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Acts 1:11a, c; Psalm 47:1; Psalm 47:5; Psalm 68:17b–18a; Psalm 47:5; Psalm 68:32b–33a✠ Lection: 2 Kings 2:8–15; Acts 1:1–11; Mark 16:14–20 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.Nestled in the less-ventured, weekday shadow of the annual favorites of Easter 40 days prior, and of Pentecost and Holy Trinity in the weeks that follow is this Feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike other high holy days, especially Easter and Christmas, the biggies, the Ascension has no pageantry, no vigils, no aspirations of chorale delight, no special breakfasts, nor long-awaited fastingRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 98:1a, 2b; 1b; Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 5:7b, 5:8a, c; Psalm 66:1–2a, 16; John 16:8 ✠ Lection: Isaiah 12:1–6; James 1:17–21; John 16:5–15 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In this queen of seasons bright celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we continue to glean from the fruit of the Tree of Life great treasures that not only provide for our needs in this life, but bring with them the great joy from God Himself. The Christian Church is a singing Church, which, just by saying this alone, may make someRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 66:1–2; 3a; Liturgical Text; 1 Corinthians 5:7b, 5:8a, c; Psalm 146:1–2; John 16:16 ✠ Lection: Isaiah 40:25–31; 1 Peter 2:11–20; John 16:16–22 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We are now three weeks beyond the end of our fasting and the return to chanting, glorias, and joyous alleluias. We do well to humble ourselves and learn from each annual cycle of the Holy Church’s observances of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our blessed Savior, preparing us for the eternal day to come. Who are you who walk in sorrow away fromRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 33:5b–6a; 1; Liturgical Text; 1 Corinthians 5:7b, 5:8a, c; Psalm 63:1a, 4b; John 10:14 ✠ Lection: Ezekiel 34:11–16; 1 Peter 2:21b–25; John 10:11–16 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. For thousands of years, since very near the beginning of all human history, man has shepherded flocks of animals, an image that the Lord Himself has used in how He desires the sheep of His hand to be tended to, as well as how from among the flock comes reconciling sacrifice through the shedding of blood, through the laying down of life. Shepherd andRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: 1 Peter 2:2a; Psalm 81:1; Matthew 26:32; 1 Cor. 5:7b, 5:8a, c; Matthew 28:2b, 5a, 6a; John 20:27b ✠ Lection: Ezekiel 37:1–14; 1 John 5:4–10a; John 20:19–31 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Through St. John’s first epistle, the Spirit of the Lord teaches that whatever is born of God overcomes the world, that our faith is the victory that has overcome the world, and that he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world. It’s an overcoming expressed in three-fold measure that describes the truth that there is something,Read More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 139:18b, 5b–6a; 1–2ab; Psalm 118:24, 1; 1 Corinthians 5:7b, 5:8a, c; Psalm 76:8b–9a ✠ Lection: Job 19:23–27; 1 Corinthians 5:7–8; Mark 16:1–8 Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come quickly to peer into the tomb of Christ on this glorious Easter morn to behold what awaits you. Human tracks lead to a grave, a place of death, as ours are already determined and as we have those of others all around us as we walk in this place of relentless reminder that “thou artRead More →

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The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John: The Sermon: ✠ Psalmody: Psalm 140:1–9, 13 ✠ Lection: Hosea 5:15b—6:6; Exodus 12:1–11; John 18:1—19:42 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John begins and ends in a garden. So does man’s redemption story. So, this evening, we meditate upon the bookends of this Passion and upon the one that takes us back to the first garden, seeking to grasp how all three present to those who need to hear it the Good News of God’sRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Galatians 6:14b; Psalm 67:1–3, 6b–7;Philippians 2:8b-9;Psalm 111:4–5; John 6:55–56 ✠ Lection: Exodus 24:3–11;1 Corinthians 11:20–32;John 13:1–15 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Blessed be the Name of the Lord our God, Who has not left us in our sin, but has come into our midst of His own volition, of His own love, of His own sacrifice so that we may be rescued from every evil of body and soul. The beautiful feet that bring this Good News walked in the Garden in the coolness of day as He Himself sought out the firstRead More →

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The reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew: The sermon: ✠ Psalmody: Psalm 22:19, 21; 1a; Psalm 73:23b–24, 1–3; Psalm 22:1–8, 17b–18, 21, 23a, 31; Psalm 69:20–21; Matthew 26:42b ✠ Lection: Zechariah 9:9–12; Philippians 2:5–11; Matthew 26:1—27:66 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. By the blessed Gospel according to St. Matthew, we heard much this morning. We said much. We numbered ourselves among many a great sinner, confessing their words as ours, bundled with them like chaff prepared for the eternal fire if there were no One to save us,Read More →