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“One Name, One Flock, One Shepherd” (Acts 4:1-12; John 10:11-18)Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the day in the church year every year when the propers--that is, the various parts of the service--revolve around Jesus as our Good Shepherd. The Holy Gospel is always a portion of John 10, in which Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. The Psalm is always the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd.” The Hymn of the Day, which we just sang, is “The King of Love My Shepherd Is.” And so on. This theme of the...

“Faith, Fellowship, and Forgiveness” (John 20:19-31; 1 John 1:1 – 2:2; Acts 4:32-35) Did you get any gifts for Easter? Maybe an Easter basket, filled with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans and Easter eggs that you open up and there’s a coin inside? Well, I can think of some Easter gifts that are even better than that. And today I want to tell you about them. They’re right there in our readings for today, and they are these Easter gifts, three of them: “Faith, Fellowship, and Forgiveness.” Faith, fellowship, and forgiveness: three Easter gifts that we have because of the...

1) Who was St. Luke? St. Luke is mentioned by name in three passages of Scripture: In Colossians 4:14, St. Paul writes: “Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.”In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul writes: “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me.”And in Philemon 23-24, Paul writes: “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.” Since Luke is mentioned in three letters, we can infer that he was a frequent companion of St....

“The Front Porch of Peter’s Pentecost Sermon” (Acts 2:1-21)The purpose of a front porch is to get people into the house. The front porch may be small, the front porch may be large, but it does its job if it gets people into the building. The front porch is not the place where you want people to stay, but it should provide a good entryway into the house. And ideally, it should match, and be suitable for, the rest of the building. That’s the way it is with the front porch of a house. That’s the way it is with...

The Papacy in Scripture – More Than Matthew 16 In an earlier blog post, I made the point that the role of St. Peter and his successors is made remarkably clear in Matthew 16:18-19 and its immediate context:And I tell you, you are Peter (Gr.—petros—‘rock’), and on this rock (Gr.—petra—‘rock’) I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.Jesus...

Mark Levin says he thought long and hard about what the House of Representatives can do, given that they won’t use the power of the purse to reign in this president, and has come up with a solution. He says they should pass a resolution declaring null and void all presidential acts that are unconstitutional. Hey lays it out below: There’s something the House of Representatives actually can do. …Congress is a co-equal branch of the federal government and the House of Representatives is a co-equal branch of the United States Senate. The House of Representatives should pass a resolution....

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There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.And now send...

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.(Acts 9:1-2) Saul of Tarsus hated Jesus. The up and coming Rabbi hated the followers of Jesus also.He was appalled by the rapid growth of the sect of Jews known as the ‘Nazarenes’. The constant preaching of the Nazarenes enraged him. The unlearned and ignorant ‘Apostles’ of the sect insisted that...

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.And the eunuch...

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.(Acts 8:4-5)But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.(Acts 8:12)Phillip, as we have noted earlier was not one of the apostles, nor at this point was he a noted evangelist. Rather, he was a servant of Jesus Christ, in practical matters of the church, involved in the distribution of relief to widows. But when a very zealous Pharisee...

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.And there was great joy in that city.(Acts 8:5-9)Who was Phillip? Not one of the Apostles, nor yet was he an evangelist, Phillip was one of the first Deacons of the church, he served God and the church in practical...

The US Congress, entrenched in a titanic budget battle, managed to come together Thursday to pass legislation that prevents a market shortage of helium. In a rare show of consensus between feuding Democrats and Republicans, the Senate unanimously passed a bill approved earlier by the House of Representatives that cancels closure of the national helium reserve. The closure had been planned for October 7, but manufacturers and the medical industry had expressed concern that the move would hurt them. The Federal Helium Program, operated under the Bureau of Land Management, supplies some 42 percent of the lighter-than-air gas used in...

“We Are Baptized for This Moment” (Acts 2:14a, 22-47)Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, the day in the church year when we most give attention to the great biblical doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the truth that the one true God is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For example, on this day we confess the Athanasian Creed--like the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene, a trinitarian creed and one we believe, teach, and confess all year round, but we speak the Athanasian Creed aloud on this day, since it goes into the most depth and detail on the doctrine...

“Parthians and Medes at Pentecost” (Acts 2:1-21)One of the ironic things about the readings for the Day of Pentecost is when the lector--that is, the person reading the lessons--when the lector comes to Acts 2, verse 9, and has to read the following list of persons and places: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.” Now that is a mouthful! It is like the tower of Babel come to...

“The Good Shepherd Cares for His Sheep” (John 10:14-15, 22-30; Acts 20:17-35; Revelation 7:9-17)Today is what is usually called “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Every year on this Sunday in the Easter season, the theme of all the parts of the service is Jesus as the Good Shepherd of the sheep, his flock, the church. He lays down his life for the sheep and takes it up again--that’s the Easter connection. On Good Shepherd Sunday, the Holy Gospel is always a portion of John 10, in which Jesus identifies himself as that shepherd several times. The other two readings also fit the...

“Words of Life” (John 20:19-31; Acts 5:12-32; Revelation 1:4-18)To those sitting in prison, facing a death sentence, filled with fear at what awaits them, nothing is more welcome than someone coming with a message of pardon and release. Those words come as words of life in a world of fear and death. “Words of Life.” That’s what we hear in our readings today--in all three of them: the First Reading, from Acts; the Epistle, from Revelation; and the Holy Gospel, from John. Words of life, to people sitting in prison, overcoming their fear and giving them the faith and the...

“What to Preach and Where to Reach” (Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11)Today is Ascension Day, that glorious day when our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of the Father and from where he will come again on the last day. Ascension Day, which occurred forty days after Easter and thus on a Thursday, which is why we always have service on this day of the week at this time of the year. The Ascension of Our Lord is a major festival in the church year, because it marks such a momentous event. Forty...

“Acts of Witness, Mercy, Life Together” (Acts 4:32-35)As many of you may know, for the last couple of years our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been organizing its work under the banner of “Witness, Mercy, Life Together.” You can see the symbol that is being used for this emphasis on your bulletin insert, encircled by those three terms. But this is more than a slogan in a marketing campaign. No, “Witness, Mercy, Life Together” really describes what the church does, whether on the national and international levels, as our synod operates, or on the local level, as, for instance, here at...