The Old Testament is a Christian book. Jews claim it as their own, and Muslims make reference to it. But for the church the Old Testament is a Christian book. It constitutes God's Promise to redeem the world in the fullness of time in Christ. (Gal. 4:4). In this respect the New Testament could be considered the last chapter of the Old Testament, for it comprises the fulfil...

The improvement of our church continues. Please see the attached pictures. We are in the process of constructing shadow boxes / frames for our altar statues, pictured is the 1st of 3 (which yet needs to be finished and stained). These are meant to set off the statues and draw attention to them. The statues are of the Lord, his hands raised in blessing. To his right (our ...

In this beautiful little post, Rev. Larry Peters reminds the church that it is not her job to manage the culture, but to proclaim the kingdom....

Standing for the reading / hearing of the holy Gospel is an ancient tradition handed down to us fromThe Didascalia, which is a foundational Christian document composed by an un-named bishop in the 200's. The Didascalia says that according to tradition the apostles themselves had already laid down the rule "that except for the Old Testament and the Prophets and the Gospel ...

This sermon by an Eastern Orthodox priest, on the subject of preaching, fully comports with our Lutheran faith. It's nice to hear the same message from another perspective. Enjoy, and take the good priest's admonition seriously....

Whenever something is simple, straight forward and obvious we like to say, "it's not rocket science." But the subject of this brief post, marriage, is rocket science. Marriage is not easy. Maybe that's why people avoid it for as long as they can. I have known couples that lived together for more than 20 years before making the commitment.But marriage is God's normal plan ...

After 2,000 years people are still asking what exactly are the 4 Gospels? Are they simply biographies of Jesus? Are they general religious information? What are they, and how are they to be used? What the church does with the Gospels is good. She reads portions of them aloud each Lord's Day for all the world to hear. Many people read them at home for devotional purposes, ...

In December 31 and January 7 we prayed the church's liturgy as it is written the the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). There were no obvious hiccups along the way. That's because the flow of the Service is the same as TLH, and because the wording and music are nearly identical. A few Thee's have been replaced by You's, and there is a slight difference in the wording of the Cree...

St. Ignatius of Antioch (115 AD) writes in his first letter to the Magnesians (2:2) "I flee to the Gospel as to the Body of Christ." In other words, he recognized the real presence of Christ in the reading of the Holy Gospel....

Holiness, the worship of the one, true God has always been beautiful, and pleasing to the senses.It was never minimalist, but always maximalist. People throughout the ages took pains, and devoted themselves to what they considered most important. It was true of worship and religious art and architecture in the Old Testament church, and is all the more so the New Testament ...

Today we continue our discussion on the reading of Scripture in the church. We don't do it simply as a matter of form, but because to read aloud, and to hear Holy Scripture constitutes Christian worship. It is an act of worship of our God. Consider: "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me....

The Gradual. From:http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06715a.htm (Latin Graduale, from gradus, a step)The Gradual is the oldest and most important of the four chants that make up the choir's part of the Proper of the Mass. Whereas the three others (Introit, Offertory, and Communion) were introduced later, to fill up the time while something was being done, the Gradual (with ...

This is a question I keep coming back to, what exactly are the four gospels? Why were they written? Or said another way: how were they meant to be utilized? And, how were they actually employed by the church when the ink first dried? Are they simply the "memoirs of the apostles" as Justin Martyr once referred to them? Are they biographies of Jesus? Or a larger story / ac...