As part of that which many of you have learned, this Sunday has historically been called, Laetare. That is the first word of the Latin language Introit Psalm. It is one which is usually rendered in English, Rejoice!
Therefore, in the form of a “Little Easter,” we begin another week of rejoicing in the midst of a penitential season. That serves to let us take a breath in our deeper contemplation of our sins and, from that, our need for the Savior. It also points us to the “Big Easter,” that is coming. It is on the journey to that through which the Church Calendar has just passed the half-way point. …For more, click on the title above.
Category: Worship
Lent 4 (Laetare) 2023
Lent 4 (Laetare)
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Don’t be surprised when the Word of God works
There are many significant actions taken by the King of Nineveh in our reading that require a bit of background knowledge to understand. Ultimately, though, in the book of Jonah and indeed also in our reading from Luke, we hear of an abrupt repentance from a very unlikely source.
Going first to Jonah, what is the significance of Nineveh? Nineveh was the great capital city of the Assyrian Empire. In the time of Jonah, about 790 B.C., the Assyrian Empire was one of the most powerful kingdoms in the ancient world. …For more, click on the title above.
Lent 3 Wednesday 2023
Lent 2 Wednesday
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Blessed to be hearers and guardians of the Word
. Jesus, through today’s Gospel reading, reveals that hearing and keeping the Word are the vehicles by which God the Holy Spirit sustains God’s people in the Faith, that is, in the state of blessedness. The Spirit desires to move the hearers of God’s Word, you, from the proclamation of the Word into continuing to want to learn to rightly divide it. The Holy Spirit wills to use your continual hearing of God’s Word to move you to desire to learn more from it. That is what it means to guard the Word for the precious treasure it is….For more, click on the title above.
Lent 3 (Oculi) 2023
Lent 3 (Oculi)
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LSB 743 Jesus Priceless Treasure
We have chosen LSB 743, Jesus, Priceless Treasure, as our AD 2023 Lenten seasonal hymn. The 40-day (not counting Sundays) season of Lent is penitential, as we contemplate our sin and need for a Savior, in the run-up to the Feast of the Resurrection. Long ago, Lent became penitential in tone as those who had… Continue reading LSB 743 Jesus Priceless Treasure
Heathens become Christians, Christians raise Christians
At first, it might not seem particularly impressive that there are so many gentile converts, after all, what difference does it make whether someone was a Jew or Gentile whether God would convert them? A fairly big difference, as a matter of fact. The distinction between Jew and Gentile was not, after all, just a racial distinction. Rather the distinction was between believer and unbeliever. Generally when the Bible refers to gentiles, it refers to not just unbelievers, but unbelievers who descend from a lineage of unbelievers, and live in a society of unbelievers. Think about the term “Gentile” as you might use the term “secular”, or pagans, or heathens….For more, click on the title above.
Lent 2 Wednesday 2023
Lent 2 Wednesday
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Jesus: The Way and the Truth and the Life
Today, in a penitential season of the year, God has gathered us to hear of the One Who bore sin into death, the One Who was raised to everlasting life to grant true hope and peace to all who believe in Him. Now, we remember God’s faithfulness in calling Maxine Wirth to eternal life in Christ. Hear Jesus speak to us again as we remember the Faith God gave and sustained in Maxine throughout her mortal life and into everlasting life:
I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one continues to come to the Father except through Me. …For more, click on the title above.