Christ is Risen! (He is risen indeed. Alleluia!)
Imagine standing in the darkness just before dawn. The air is still, the world is quiet, and the horizon is only a faint outline. Then, slowly, the first light breaks through—and everything changes. This is something that happens all over this beautiful world, but somehow, in the grandeur of the shadow of the mountains, this seems especially vibrant.
That’s what Easter morning is like. The darkness of Good Friday gives way to the light of resurrection. The silence of the tomb is shattered by the angel’s announcement: “He is not here, for He has risen.” …For more, click on the title above.
Tag: Pastor von Hindenburg
If only…
Jesus has been tried and wrongly convicted—but convicted none the less—and of the most unacceptable, offensive crime. Not for the murder of a child, not for molestation, or rape, nor for any number of outlandish, despicable crimes that we can only imagine—but for blasphemy—the denial of God Himself or the claim to be God or to be God’s Son, and for that, he must die….For more, click on the title above.
What kind of Jesus do you want?
If nobody has told you or if you missed all the signs: Today is Palm Sunday.
I remember the Palm Sundays of my youth. I used to sing in the little kid’s choir. My brother sang in the older kids’ choir. He wasn’t that much older than me. (I said 2 years; he insisted it was 27 months.) I think, even back then, they knew it would be best to keep us separated. My mom sang in the adult choir. My dad sang in the pew….For more, click on the title above.
Rejoice because Jesus died for you
Jesus has been tried and wrongly convicted—but convicted none the less—and of the most unacceptable, offensive crime. Not for the murder of a child, not for molestation, or rape, nor for any number of outlandish, despicable crimes that we can only imagine—but for blasphemy—the denial of God Himself or the claim to be God or to be God’s Son, and for that, he must die. …For more, click on the title above.
The Way of the Cross
Today/Tonight we begin a journey, a five-week trip that will take us along a street now called Via Dolorosa, Latin for “Sorrowful Way.” It is also called by another Latin name, “Via Crucis” which translates to “Way of (the) Cross.”
Pastor Morehouse, Vicar Decker, and I will be your guides as we journey through the crowds that lined that street almost 2,000 years ago. We will discover the identity of some of those who were there. For more, click on the title above.
The Sower and the seed
Our text for this morning from the Gospel of St. Luke is commonly called the Parable of the Sower. This is actually a parable about four different kinds of dirt, or soil. The emphasis is not on the sower at all—although we will have a thing or two to say about him—but the focus is on the different kinds of soil into which the sower’s seed falls. To put it another way, this is not a parable about the preacher, it’s about the hearers….For more, click on the title above.
God’s Word: Our shield
At every ordination and installation of a pastor within the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod you will hear the following: “Do you believe and confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice?” And you will hear them answer in the affirmative….For more, click on the title above.
The Word made manifest
Today is January 18. This congregation and most of the Christian world celebrated the Epiphany of our Lord officially on January 6. But the Epiphany is not just a one-day event; it has a season of its own.
Sunday of last week we remembered the Baptism of Jesus. That’s the first bookend of the Epiphany season. Next Sunday, the 25th, we will celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord, which is the closing bookend of the Epiphany season.
What does that mean? For more, click on the title above.
Where can we find Jesus?
In our Gospel text Jesus is 12 years old. Why would this, the only time we hear Jesus speak prior to his Baptism, why would this story be included in the season of Epiphany?
Jesus is in the holy city of Jerusalem for a particular reason–to celebrate the Passover. He did this because he was an obedient Jewish boy. He and his parents had traveled with a group from Nazareth to Jerusalem to the Temple, a distance of about 110 miles which would take several days. They had come to offer sacrifices because that was what was commanded of them according to the Law of Moses. …For more, click on the title above.
Who is this babe born in a manger
There hasn’t been, and won’t be, a word heard tonight, in song or text or sermon, that these walls haven’t heard hundreds of times before. No matter how old we are, most of us have sat here or someplace quite like this, on Christmas Eve, and heard these words, these songs, these texts before. …For more, click on the title above.