The 138th Psalm, assigned for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost in Series A, makes a perfect prayer for today. The fear of coronavirus has invaded the world, as surely as if space aliens had landed. Never before, except at the Flood and Tower of Babel, was there world-wide dismay and distress. Never before has such panic been induced by those whose vocation it is to make peo...

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 ...

The gospel for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost fills us with great courage! And that is something we can all use right now. Read it, and meditate on it, and be consoled and calmed by it. (Matthew 14:22-33) 22 And immediately he ordered the disciples to get into the boat and to go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd; 23 and when he had dismissed t...

When I heard the snap of the trap under the kitchen sink, this is what I found.Naturally, being a pastor, I instantly saw the theological lesson herein. It may be a bit vivid (nothing worse than you see on TV), but a picture is worth a thousand words. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:11, " ... so that we might not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not unaware of his d...

The church's "tradition" is anamnesis, that is to say the celebration of the kerygma of the gospel of salvation by Eucharistic remembrance. What Christians call "the" liturgy is the blessed "format" which is, if you like, the delivery system. But it is not only that. To use another picture, think of soup served inside of a bread bowl. Both the "dish" and meal are edible. ...

Beloved in Christ may God open our eyes to see what is before them! May we understand what it means to gather as "the Great Congregation" (Ps. 22:25). May we apprehend the utter, unique and overwhelming power of Divine Goodness that is unleashed in all the earth as we commune with our Lord Christ, on his Holy Day, in his Father's Holy House. Christ is "all in all". He...

Few Christians today are aware of C.S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis). He was born on November 29, 1898, but his death on 11/22/63 was overshadowed by the JFK assassination. Lewis was an Irish born scholar, novelist, theologian and Christian apologist, who had a gift of making complicated things simple. Of cutting through all the string, and getting to the prize. Below yo...

Solomon, inspired by the Spirit of God, said 3,000 years ago that there is, "Atime to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." (Eccl. 3:7) The last several months have proved themselves "a time to tear". Some have torn, and we have all been torn. But we will not engage in either the politics or the science of viruses. Only in the Christian re...

This lection from Isaiah is the Old Testament reading for Pentecost 6 (Series A)....

The epistle for Pentecost 4 (Series A) is Romans 7:1-13 which I see in a new light. I translate it thus: "You likewise, my brothers, have died to the Law through the body of Christ so that you might belong to Another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God!" Lutherans almost always think of the word nomos / law in terms of the Deca...