Acts 2:1-21 We have now passed through the first half of the church year, punctuated especially by the four chief festivals of Christ: Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, and Ascension. These festivals mark vitally important events in the earthly life of our Savior. Today – the Day of Pentecost – is the chief festival of the church…
John 15 A few minutes ago, we sang a well-known Lutheran hymn about the ascension of our Lord that begins with a prayer of thanksgiving that might – at first thought – seem to be expressing an odd and unexpected sentiment: “We thank Thee, Jesus, dearest Friend, That Thou didst into heaven ascend.” If a…
James 1:16-21 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a…
Sermon Text: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Please hear with me a reading from the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, beginning at the 24th verse. Another parable [Jesus] put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his…
John 10:11-18 Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling…
Easter 2 – John 20:19-31 St. John tells us in his Gospel that on the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were locked where the disciples were, “for fear of the Jews.” The disciples of Christ, as they huddled together on the evening of that first Easter, were afraid. They were…
Easter Day – Matthew 27:62 – 28:15 Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Today is the high festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord. To be sure, Easter is but one day in the church year. But it is the day that gives meaning to every other day. If the resurrection of Jesus had…
Easter Dawn – 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8 Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! For the nation of Israel, their ancestors’ miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt – crystalized especially in the events surrounding the first Passover – was a fundamental component of their identity as a people. If anyone would ever wonder if the ten…
The Old Testament priesthood – comprised of the descendants of Aaron the Levite, the brother of Moses – offered regular and special annual sacrifices, to atone for the sins of the people of Israel, according to the ritual requirements of the Mosaic Law. But, as the Apology of the Augsburg Confession explains, “The law called…