When Jesus preaches, you hear Perfection describing perfection. Today’s section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount casts Jesus as the New Moses. That is, Moses, the Law-giver of the Old Testament, who delivered to Israel God’s covenant and God’s Law, delivered only a shadow of what would come. Under the Old Covenant, perfection was demanded of God’s people. Well, perfection in so far as the Law described perfection. Murder was murder, under the Law. Murder must be committed for one to be guilty of murder. …For more, click on the title above.
Tag: Vicar Spangler
Joy: The fruit of faith
Today we celebrate the Visitation of Mary. From this text we get the canticle called Magnificat which is sung in many of our evening prayer services. There are some striking things to be learned in this text about the nature of belief and the greatness of our God….For more, click on the title above.
Hearing the Word of God’s forgiveness in His Service
Today’s sermon has been divided into four parts to remind us of God’s work in serving us His gifts in His Divine Service. We pray that these “sermonettes” will help us to better treasure, understand, and communicate God’s faithful Service to us, and that our response is then given back to Him in the Faith. It is our hope that you will gain a greater understanding and feeling for the proclamation of Christ-crucified for the forgiveness of sins which He works through His “liturgy,” which means, “public services,” in the Church. …For more, click on the title above
Pennies on the dollar
Of St. Barnabas we now only what is recorded in the New Testament. He was a man of great honor, apparently, because he was regarded, in the early church with as much esteem as the apostles of Christ. …Click on the above title for more.
The ascended Christ and the earthbound church
We have this attitude about us sometimes, don’t we, when we’re approaching the apostles within the Scriptural narrative, that we are supposed to find a way to fold ourselves into them. That is, we’re supposed to identify with the apostles in some kind of Christological way. I can say that our lives are supposed to be cruciform, that is, grafted into Christ’s pattern of suffering and exemplifying His love. But that’s done through the power of the Holy Spirit and was a clear promise from the Father echoing throughout both the Old and the New Testaments. We have no such promise regarding the apostolic life. …For more, click on the title above.
St. Mark, Evangelist
Today we give thanks for the faith and ministry of Saint Mark the Evangelist. Saint Mark was presumably a world-traveling evangelist in addition to the author of the second and shortest Gospel. It is well attested that he served as the Bishop of Alexandria for some time and spread the Gospel to Egypt. It is also well attested that he suffered martyrdom in the eighth year of Emperor Nero’s reign. Commonly depicted as a lion, Mark is mentioned in two verses of the Bible, both of them found in the book of Acts. He is called “Mark surnamed John” and his mother’s house in Jerusalem was a place where the disciples would frequently gather for prayer. ..For more, click on the title above.
Real historical resurrection
This is the day that those who sat in darkness had waited for. This is the day that we have been waiting for. This is the day that the Lord was waiting for.
Finally, the Light has shown Itself to us. In His incarnation, Christ revealed God’s Light to mankind, as we recently celebrated, yet the fullness of that Light was held back. …For more, click on the title above.
The Lover and Servant of mankind
We will walk through three meditations, each dealing with a different portion of the narrative, leading to and flowing from the passion of Christ….For more, click on the title above.
When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried
We, here, gather every week to hear our God speak to us through the Scriptures and the Pastor, to receive the blessings that really do come from the word of God, and to eat the very Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Despite what the World might think, we do not grow weary of this repetition. You and I have heard countless sermons about these three things and many sermons about all three things. So much so, that you may grow to expect at least one of these three things to appear in a sermon. It may be that you are surprised when a sermon does not contain one of these standbys that Lutheran teachers so often emphasis. …For more, click on the title above.
The Perfect Life
Sin lays at our door, always. Sin desires to rule over us, always. We are called by Christ to set a watch, always.
Nevertheless, knowing this, as we do, we leave the door unattended and sin walks in freely.