A four year-old boy climbed the steps to see his sick grandmother. She was in great pain, and soon to die. The little boy said, “Don’t worry, Grandma. You are going to be with Jesus.”
That little boy was James Edwin Shaw, who would not want this sermon to be about him. But we have to say a little….
Read More“And … Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are out of your mind.’”
Isn’t that what this world keeps on saying to you? And perhaps it’s crept into your own thoughts, as well: On Sunday afternoon, when you wonder if it’s all worth it. Or when you’re sitting in a meeting at church and once again, they’re arguing and vying for control. Or when you pick up that piece of bread at the altar and the blasphemous words enter your mind: “How can this be the body of Christ…
Read MoreChristians are now a minority in America. When I mentioned this somewhere else I was speaking, someone asked me afterwards, “Does this mean we’ve failed?”
What do you think? If you look at our statistics, the Missouri Synod is in decline, and doesn’t seem to be turning around. How’s the Ohio District doing? What about your own congregation? If the answer is, “Not great,” then does that mean you failed? Have we failed? …
Read MoreThe March for Life, however others view it, is a march behind the cross. The liturgical statement of the crucifix leading us both towards the altar and later out of the church is the statement that this alone is the good that overcomes the world’s evil….
“Repent!” That’s the first word John the Baptist preaches. It is also the first word when our Lord Jesus begins to preach. So it is to be with our own preaching.
But before we can preach, we must hear that word spoken to us. Repent!
Read MoreA storm is coming. It threatens to sweep them away. Death will soon visit this house. And Death comes with his companions, Doubt and Despair.
Knowing death was coming for Lazarus, Life came. Life spoke. And Mary listened. She does not know it yet, but she will soon need the Word of Life. A storm is coming.
Another storm rages within Martha. She is busy. Doing what? Doing diakonia – service, ministry. Is that not good? To prepare a meal for Jesus? But over the fire of the hearth, a fire burns in Martha’s heart.
Read MoreEverything that lives has life from God. St. Paul told the pagan philosophers on Mars Hill, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
That doctrine undergirds our confession at the nation’s high court today. All human beings are created equal – because all human beings are created. The limbs that God has joined together, let no abortion tear asunder. That baby is living, no matter how small. To be pro-life is also then to embrace that life. Thus we also confess, “That baby, no matter his color, no matter what drugs or alcohol have done to his brain, that baby is loved by God and so by the people of God. He is welcome in our churches, and in our homes. And the teenager who is pregnant, and scared: she is welcome in our churches, and in our homes.”
We are not here to protest. We are here to confess. And we leave here ready to live in, with, and under that confession.
Read MoreAll we have to offer the world is the cross of Jesus. The greatness of Luther is in his pointing to Jesus and His cross. There is the One who lays down His life for friends and enemies alike. You are by God’s grace called to be His disciples; by God’s grace you will become His disciples; and by God’s grace He will prune us to bring forth fruit – confessing His name to the world, and bearing evil with patience.
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