“That prayer helps keep this November Second’s Commemoration in it is
biblical place. Such prayers help prevent rightly confession congregations from
assenting to, or cooperating in, many types of false worship and practices that accompany All Souls Day. You likely know that many Tucson area residents celebrate the Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos on 1 and 2 November each year. In the face of that, we will continue to celebrate the biblical reality that people who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus, even though they may die, live in Him forever. Baptized and continually believing persons who have not yet fallen asleep in the Lord find their greatest communion with the blessed ones who have died in Christ whenever they
come to Christ’s Altar Tables in rightly confessing and worshipping congregations. It is there where those who are baptized, those who rightly discern Christ’s Body and Blood in, with, and under earthly elements of bread and wine, recline in His Presence. Through those means, the faithful are granted forgiveness and strengthening to eternal life by Jesus Himself. Further, we recall that where Jesus is, there are the heavenly hosts.”
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Author: catlutheran
A Beautiful Feast of and for Living People.
“This is a day wherein, at this Festival Service, we will take time to remember the members of this congregation who fell asleep in Christ in the past year. As we do that, we are called to remember that the All Saints’ Feast has been handed on to our generation of the Faith. Further, as we
have received it rightly, we recall that this Feast Day has been accompanied by an ongoing prayer that it will be celebrated as a beautiful feast of and for living people.
Therefore, we declare that All Saints’ Day has been given to us to bring forth a remembrance of God’s grace and mercy for all the saints in heaven and on earth. That emphasis for this day has been in the Church for over 1,600 years. It was added to the Church calendar in the land of Syria.
From that, the joining of the primary readings for today was done, long ago, to bring clarity to the beatitudes that we heard from St. Matthew’s Gospel. Those are the “blessed be” proclamations of our Lord. Those may be heard in the Lord’s Services each year especially during this Feast Day.”
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He Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear.
Over time, the Church has heard a number of things. In its first days, the Church heard
the public preaching of Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles, as well as the cries of glee and horror as they were martyred. It heard Constantine end it’s persecution. It listened closely as the Church Fathers fought over confessing rightly the Trinity and the divinity of the Son of God. The Church
listened as Islam threatened to wipe the Truth and Word of God away, all the while seeking to replace it with lies, hatred, and the worship of an idol. The Church heard the ground rumble from the marching of boots and hooves as armies advanced under the banner of the Faith as they
waged wars across the land in the crusades. ”
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The Feast Day of Saint’s Simon & Jude
It is written in the Augsburg Confession, Article 21, our churches “teach that the memory of saints may be set before us, that we may follow their faith and good works, according to our calling,….” So then, this appropriate question is put forth: “Who follows the example of obscure apostles?” Obscure preachers like me – like Pastor Morehouse, like many other pastors I have known in my lifetime. Let’s face it, none of us are going to be another Martin Luther. Some may preach as well as Luther,
but none of them will very likely be a world-changing figure like Martin Luther.
Yet, we all are preachers like Simon and Jude. Unlike them we were not blessed to see Jesus’ earthly ministry, His passion, His death, and His burial. We weren’t present for His ascension or the coming of the Holy Spirit.”
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Feast Day of Saint’s Simon and Jude
“It is written in the Augsburg Confession, Article 21, our churches “teach that the memory of saints may be set before us, that we may follow their faith and good works, according to our calling,….” So then, this appropriate question is put forth: “Who follows the example of obscure apostles?” Obscure preachers like me – like Pastor Morehouse, like many other pastors I have known in my lifetime. Let’s face it, none of us are going to be another Martin Luther. Some may preach as well as Luther,
but none of them will very likely be a world-changing figure like Martin Luther.
Yet, we all are preachers like Simon and Jude. Unlike them we were not blessed to see Jesus’ earthly ministry, His passion, His death, and His burial. We weren’t present for His ascension or the coming of the Holy Spirit.”
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A little Jacob, A little Paul,A lot of Jesus.
“And yet….and yet, in faith, in spite of how at times we all may grumble and whine about the condition of this building or the landscaping, we still join Jacob in proclaiming: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
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Wednesday following The 18th Sunday After Trinity
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
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GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY IN ELECTING HIS PEOPLE
This is, as most of you know, the time of year which emphasizes endurance in the Faith. Behind that theme lies this Sunday’s Old Testament reading. It reveals the way God grants the Faith to people, and how He sustains them in the Faith. The Word for the day truly reveals that God shows no partiality in electing His people. Our short Old Testament reading is so divinely important that it, in the Greek language of the Scriptures, it is quoted directly, or strongly alluded to, fourteen times in the New Testament. The same Holy Spirit who inspired Moses to record our words from Deuteronomy moved Saints John, Luke, Mark, and Paul to quote it often.
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HOLDING TO THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE
As some of us heard this past Sunday, Jesus Himself was ringed about by the Pharisees and Scribes who continued to try to trap Him in His Word. As they continued to do that, they were simply doing the will of their father. That is because the Father of Lies still wages battles against God’s people. Satan continues to do that even as he knows that Christ Jesus has won the war! On account of that, such clashes take place in each of us, in the Lord’s congregations, and in the Church at large. For those reasons, Jesus faced the full brunt of the forces of evil.
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Dining With the Pharisees
Our Savior took the plans of the prideful who attempted to honor themselves and brought them down, putting them to shame. At the same time, Christ took a man who was low and suffering and raised him up.
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