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Dear Catholic Bishops of Minnesota, I am writing in response to an open letter addressed to you by Bishop Herbert Chilstrom, a former bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), in which he expressed his support for the homosexual lifestyle and for same-sex marriage, and in which he challenged your stand against the same. As a Lutheran pastor I want to make clear Bishop Chilstrom’s opinions regarding these matters do not reflect the beliefs of Bible-believing Lutherans, nor does the counsel he gave you reflect the clear teachings of God’s Word. Most of all, I express my profound...

SANTA ANA – An appeals court has upheld the decision of a Tustin church to fire its preschool director for continuing to live while unmarried with her boyfriend with whom she had a child. Sara Henry, who also taught preschoolers at the Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the church following her dismissal in May 2009 for her living arrangements contrary to the religious beliefs of the church and its school.

“The Messiah’s Job Description” (Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11)As we just heard in the Gospel reading and sang in the hymn, St. John the Baptist came, proclaiming the arrival of the Savior and preparing the way before him. In doing this, John fulfilled the job description set forth for him in the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40, as John himself says, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” John came to proclaim the coming of the one coming after him. But what about that one coming after...

Lutheranism is dead, or at least soon will be and it wants to take the Catholic Church with it. Herbert W. Chilstrom is former presiding bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Chilstrom has written an open letter to the Bishops of Minnesota asking them to accept gay 'marriage' becuase gays are like blacks or something. May I share a word with all of you who now lead the Roman Catholic community of faith in Minnesota?First, I would go to the wall to defend your right to work for the adoption of the so-called marriage protection amendment. Having said that,...

“Waiting for the Coming of Our Lord” (2 Peter 3:8-14)Today we continue our three-part series, “Awake until, Waiting for, and Blameless at the Coming of Our Lord.” Last week we spoke of the need to stay awake until his coming again. Our focus now is on “Waiting for the Coming of Our Lord,” based on the text from 2 Peter 3. In this section of his epistle, Peter is talking about the Second Coming of Christ. At the time that Peter is writing this, it’s been several decades since Christ ascended into heaven, and Peter himself had heard the promise...

“A Trip out to the Wilderness” (Mark 1:1-8; Isaiah 40:1-11)Today and throughout the season of Advent, the church takes “A Trip out to the Wilderness.” We go out there and we meet John the Baptist, our wilderness guide. What John is doing out there is leading God’s people in two things, penitential preparation and hopeful expectation, as we await the coming of the Lord. Penitential preparation, hopeful expectation--these are the distinctive accents of Advent that we will hear in our trip out to the wilderness today. God does some of his best work out in the wilderness. In that desolate...

“Awake until the Coming of Our Lord” (Mark 13:24-37)It is customary for midweek services in Advent or Lent for the preacher to come up with a theme, some connecting thread that ties together the services and sermons for that season. Last year, for instance, our Advent series, for both the Sundays and Wednesdays, was on the seven “O Antiphons” of the hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” It made for a nifty, handy-dandy series theme. But this year for Advent, I wasn’t sure what to do with these midweek services, what sort of a theme to come up with. Then...

On Private Confession and Absolution Confession has not been abolished in our churches. For it is not customary to administer the body of Christ except to those who have been previously examined and absolved. The people are also most diligently taught concerning faith in the word of absolution, about which there was a great silence before now….Nevertheless, confession is retained among us both because of the great benefits of absolution and because of other advantages for consciences. (Augsburg Confession XXV [Kolb/Wengert 73:1-2; 75:13]) As a consequence of the vows I took to uphold the Scriptures and the proper interpretation of...

“Advent Is Worth the Wait” (Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 11:1-10)We don’t like to wait, do we? I mean, we Americans. And especially when it comes to Christmas. Wait till the night of December 24 to start celebrating Christmas? No way! So the Christmas catalogues started coming--when, the day after Labor Day? Then came the Christmas movies: “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” came out November 4. The Christmas radio stations: “Santa Baby” was “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” already a couple of weeks ago. And the TV specials: “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” is this Tuesday. Apparently, Rockefeller...

“Unexpected Thanksgiving” (Luke 17:11-19)It was an unexpected thanksgiving. I mean the thanksgiving recorded in today’s reading from Luke 17, the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. The thanksgiving that we find there was quite unexpected. And that may give us some guidance and inspiration for the rest of our day today, that we too may do some “Unexpected Thanksgiving.” Oh, now you would expect people to give thanks to the person who healed them, when they had just been healed of a dreaded disease like leprosy. It was a kind of a walking death, in a way. It ostracized...

Useful idiot is a derogatory adage, describing a person either too naïve or ignorant to understand that their advocacy of malevolent organizations only allows those organizations to conduct their business with impunity. Confused and misguided, the “occupy” movement is used by the labor unions and left wing radicals to conduct their bidding, disrupting the very business activity they need to support them. Gay rights advocates lobby to legitimize behavior that is contrary to God’s will, rather than loving their neighbor enough to lead them back to the Lord. Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, soviet sympathizers used their...

“Then Comes the End” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Matthew 25:31-46)Today is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. The church year mirrors the life of Christ and the course of history, and so, naturally enough, as we come to the end of the church year, the lessons and themes of the last few Sundays concern the last things, the end times, and the return of Christ the King. So it is today. The Propers of the Day, the Introit, Collect, and Gradual; the Readings, the Old Testament, Epistle, and Holy Gospel; the hymns, “The Clouds of Judgment Gather” and the rest--all...

It is a reckless analyst who risks reopening sixteenth-century disputes between Roman Catholics and the Protestant Reformers. I do so in the interest of a greater good, but my purpose is not to say who was right or who was wrong. I would simply like to explore why the Protestant churches maintained unity with the Catholic Church on the contraception question for four centuries, only to abandon this unity during the first half of the twentieth century. I write as a historian, not an advocate. (I am a “cradle Lutheran.”) Orders & Disorders To understand the change in Protestant thought...

“But What Kind of Day Will It Be?” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)Perhaps you’ve heard of a radio preacher named Harold Camping. He was in the news, this Harold Camping was, earlier this year, when he made a prediction of when Christ would return. He even got it down to the day. After doing all his calculations, Harold Camping predicted that May 21 would be the day of Jesus’ return. Well, May 21 came and went, and Harold and his followers were not all beamed up in the Rapture. So then he revised his prediction. May 21, you see, was the spiritual...

The Apocrypha and Change within the Lutheran and Roman Churches Lesson 4 By Pr. Rich Futrell Jan 23, 2011 Recap Last week, we learned how the early Church responded to three traditions on the Apocrypha and affirmed the Anagignoskomena and Deuterocanonical views as legitimate. The Church rejected the view that allowed someone to reject the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha in the Lutheran Confessions Our Lutheran Confessions do not affirm or deny the Apocrypha, nor do our Confessions even list the books of the Bible! This shows that what constituted the Bible for Lutherans during the Reformation was not in dispute. This...

“Blessed Are the Hungry and Thirsty” (Matthew 5:1-12)Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Yes? Good. That’s a good place to be. Blessed, in fact. That’s what Jesus says in our Gospel for today: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” And so our theme this morning: “Blessed Are the Hungry and Thirsty.” Now it may sound strange to hear Jesus say that the hungry and thirsty are actually “blessed.” It doesn’t sound like any kind of a blessing to be suffering from hunger or thirst. But strangely enough it is. Because Jesus says...

Sola Scriptura or Prima Luther? What Did Martin Luther Really Believe About the Bible? By COGwriter Most people realize that the Living Church of God (or any of the true Churches of God) cannot be part of the Roman Catholic Church. However, some do not realize that the Living Church of God is not part of the Protestant reformation movement led by Martin Luther (our history predates Luther, and the actual Roman Catholic Church for that matter, please see the History of Early Christianity). Regarding the Bible, the Living Church of God believes that "All Scripture is given by inspiration...

When I was ein younger man I studied canon law; though Erfurt was a challenge it was just to please my pa. Then came the storm, the lightning struck; I called upon Saint Anne: I shaved my head, I took my vows – an Augustinian. Refrain: Papal bulls, indulgences and transubstantiation: speak your mind against them and face excommunication. Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a reformation, papal bulls, indulgences and transubstantiation. When Tetzel came near Wittenberg, St Peter’s profits soared, so I wrote a little message for the All Saints’ bulletin board; ‘you cannot purchase merit for...

“Fear God and Give Him the Glory!”: The Slogan of the Lutheran Church ReformationReformation Festival Sermon on Revelation 14:6-7 by C. F. W. Walther (1881) Translated by Joel Baseley. Abridged by Charles Henrickson.“Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth, all the earth is full of your glory.” This we cry out today, O Lord our God, along with the cherubim and seraphim. For today we remember the glorious work of the Reformation of the church, which you began and gloriously brought to completion in the sixteenth century. Your glory had been taken from the very midst of your church, the glory...

Almost 100 ELCA pastors and leaders have endorsed a declaration entitled, “Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing.” In this document, the ELCA leaders call for marriage equality for homosexuals, and they voice their commitment to abortion, among other things. Concerning marriage equality and abortion, the declaration says, “We call for:” - “Full inclusion of women and LGBT persons in congregational life, including their ordination and marriage equality.” - “A faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STI prevention and treatment.” (read here) Here is the list of ELCA pastors and leaders...