1 Corinthians 1:18-25 “For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom.” There is a natural human inclination toward being religious or spiritual. But this natural kind of religiosity or spirituality – among those whose faith and piety have not been shaped by the divinely-revealed Christian gospel – takes more than one form. In…
Genesis 50:15-21 In the movie “The Godfather, Part 2,” the mafia boss Michael Corleone and his brother Fredo had a serious falling out, due to Fredo having taken sides with a competitor crime family, against his brother. After a tense meeting between the two, when Michael might have been expected to order his brother to…
1 Timothy 1:12-17 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” All of us sometimes speak in superlative terms. This means that we sometimes describe something or someone as the very best of all, or as the very…
Presentation of the Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession gave expression to the convictions of the church of the Lutheran Reformation: especially regarding how the Triune God saves humanity from the guilt and power of sin, and from eternal death, through the gospel of our divine-human Savior Jesus Christ. In this, the Augsburg Confession was built…
Acts 2:1-21 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” One particular denomination in Christendom has appropriated the name of today’s festival…
1 Peter 4:7-14 As we heard a few minutes ago, St. Peter, in his First Epistle, writes as follows: “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be…
There are great benefits to using our wonderful Lutheran chorales in worship. They do not entertain us, and are not intended to entertain us. But, they do edify us and build us up spiritually. The classic chorales are of a high devotional quality, in view of their Christ-centered biblical content and their good literary form.…
John 16:23-33 Over the past several years, the phenomenon of Harry Potter has captured the imagination of a large number of America’s children. And I suppose not just children. Harry and his friends are likeable, up-and-coming sorcerers. As such, they always try to come up with the proper magical incantation for any situation, by which…
Psalm 98 The traditional Latin name for this Sunday of the church year is “Cantate.” It means “Sing,” and is taken from Psalm 98, which for many centuries has been associated with this Sunday. We chanted a portion of this Psalm a few minutes ago. But it would be beneficial for us to consider the…
Hebrews 12:1-3 After describing the struggles, the triumphs, and especially the enduring faith of many saints of God from the days of the Old Testament, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, at the beginning of chapter 12 of that epistle, gives us this encouragement: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so…