Category: General

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST—PROPER 10

July 10, 2022

AS WE GATHER
A Good Samaritan. This phrase has become a cliché in our culture today that some use without much thought, but how many know the account from which this phrase comes? Today, we hear Jesus tell a parable involving the Good Samaritan in the Holy Gospel. Consider just who this “Good Samaritan” is. Perhaps the One who embodies this Good Samaritan best is our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Jesus comes to us, beaten up by sin and the devil, as good as dead. Yet Jesus touches us with His Word and shelters us in His Church. Taking His love and service even further, Jesus lays down His life for us in His sacrificial death. Having been loved this way, we now “go and do likewise.”

Bible Readings

FIRST READING: Leviticus 19:9–18
(“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”)

EPISTLE READING: Colossians 1:1–14 (Christ has delivered us from darkness.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 10:25–37 (The Good Samaritan)

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST—PROPER 8

June 26, 2022

AS WE GATHER
While we have received great freedom in Christ, we must not use such freedom for our own selfish desires. We use our freedom to follow Jesus. We follow Jesus by living and walking in the Spirit of God, seeking to produce His fruit for the benefit of our neighbors. We cannot have caveats and conditions to following Jesus, as some people did in today’s Gospel. Such people have become conceited and arrogant, thinking they can make demands of God. Thanks be to God that Jesus knows better than we do. Where He is leading is infinitely better than where we choose to go with all of our caveats and conditions.

Bible Readings

FIRST READING: 1 Kings 19:9b–21
(God reassures Elijah and sends him back to his people.)

EPISTLE READING: Galatians 5:1, 13–25
(Our freedom in Christ is not permission to sin even more.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 9:51-62 (Following Jesus is costly.)

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST—PROPER 7

June 19, 2022

AS WE GATHER
In the Readings for today, we see God’s desire to extend His kingdom to all people. In the Old Testament Reading, God says, “Here am I” to a nation that was not Israel. In the Epistle, we see that race, economic status, and gender do not disqualify anyone from being saved by Christ. God’s kingdom is for all people. In the Gospel, Jesus embarks to the country of the Gerasenes and casts out a legion of demons from a man. Jesus frees this demon-possessed man and brings him into His kingdom. As we seek to extend God’s kingdom, we share the Gospel with people from every tribe, nation, and language group. Like Jesus, show no partiality.

BIBLE READINGS

FIRST READING: Isaiah 65:1–9
(Though God seeks all people, many reject Him.)

EPISTLE READING: Galatians 3:23–4:7
(In Christ we are liberated from the Law and adopted as heirs.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 8:26-39
(Jesus liberates a man possessed by many demons.)

THE HOLY TRINITY

June 12, 2022

AS WE GATHER
Trinity Sunday is set aside for us to assent to the witness of Scripture about the nature of God. We mere creatures cannot say that we understand the divine nature, but we can at least use the human words to which God limited Himself as He revealed what we need to know. All three persons of the Trinity work as one, although we recognize the Father as Creator, the Son as Savior, and the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier. We join the rest of creation in praising His great name, as we speak of our being made, saved from our sins, and given faith to trust our incredible God.

BIBLE READINGS

FIRST READING: Proverbs 8:1–4, 22–31
(Wisdom personified recalls creation and God’s delighting in humanity.)

SECOND READING: Acts 2:14a, 22–36 (Peter continues his Pentecost sermon,
proclaiming that Jesus is both Christ and Lord.)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 8:48–59 (Using the words “I am,” Jesus proclaims His divinity.)

THE DAY OF PENTECOST

June 5, 2022

AS WE GATHER
Earth, water, wind, and fire—the primordial elements of creation—provide a finite structure for our access to the infinite God descending for us through Word and Sacrament. From dust of earth our bodies have been created, and to dust we shall return. Nevertheless, we are the bearers of God’s presence in the world. In the waters of Holy Baptism, we are washed and sealed as divine sons and daughters. The breath of God hovering over the waters at creation hovers also over baptismal waters, where new life in Christ begins. That Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire was foretold by John the Baptist. This fire is the consuming love of God, a crucible through which the dross of sin and death is removed and the gold of faith and life is refined. Come, Holy Spirit!

Bible Readings

FIRST READING: Genesis 11:1–9
(The tower of Babel: one language confused and many people scattered)

EPISTLE READING: Acts 2:1–21
(The Holy Spirit fills Jesus’ gathered followers, energizing them to tell of God’s mighty works.)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 14:23-31
(Jesus promises that the Father will send the Holy Spirit as the Counselor.)

SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 29, 2022

AS WE GATHER
During this season of Easter, an odd thing happens with the Lectionary. Instead of just reading what happened after Jesus rose and ascended, we are sometimes taken back to things Jesus said and did previously. Such is the case with today’s Gospel, part of what is known as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. It is a prayer that Jesus prayed just before going to the cross. Here Jesus prays that all who believe in Him—past, present, and future—may be one. Why review something that happened before the first Easter? Because Jesus’ prayer is not bound by time or place; Jesus, who has ascended to the right hand of the Father, is even now praying such a prayer. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word” (John 17:20). This was Jesus’ prayer for the Twelve. This is also Jesus’ prayer for us. The model for our oneness in Christ is the Holy Trinity: “Just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us” (John 17:21). Jesus’ prayer for the Church today is that we may all be one, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, so that the world may believe.

BIBLE READINGS

FIRST READING: Acts 1:12–26 (The disciples gather in Jerusalem, devoting
themselves to prayer.)

EPISTLE READING: Revelation 22:1–6, 12–20 (Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, is coming soon.)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 17:20–26 (That all believers may be one)

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 22, 2022

AS WE GATHER
The troubles of the world confront us every day—troubles in the news, troubles in our families, troubles within ourselves, troubles at work or at school. Jesus knows the world. So He said to His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Yet the final word of this Easter season is not trouble. It is hope through the resurrection of Jesus in defeat of all of this world’s troubles. “Take heart; I have overcome the world,” Jesus said. Being a follower of Jesus never protects us from experiencing the world’s troubles. It does give us hope. It does fill us with courage. It does strengthen our hearts. As an ancient Easter hymn declares, “Were Christ not arisen, Then death were still our prison. Now, with Him to life restored, We praise the Father of our Lord. Alleluia!” (LSB 459:2). We catch a glimpse of our future world in Christ in Revelation, where the city of God shines with the light of the resurrection—a city alight with God and the Lamb, a city with no night. Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world!

BIBLE READINGS

FIRST READING: Acts 16:9–15 (Lydia is baptized.)

EPISTLE READING: Revelation 21:9–14, 21–27
(A transformed city of God, with the Lamb at the center)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 16:23–33 (Peace in times of trouble)

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 15, 2022

AS WE GATHER
“A little while” says Jesus, and He will not be seen and then seen again—because He is going to the Father. Jesus is nothing but blunt with His disciples, telling them what will happen. But they do not want to hear it. They did not want to hear His words of suffering and death to come on the cross, and they missed His promise to rise again. Jesus knew their aching hearts were full and promised the Spirit to lead them into all truth. A little while and death will give way to life—for Jesus and also for His disciples. Because He goes to the Father, preparing the way, we also look forward to going to the Father. This hope sustains the weary through their trials in this mortal life. We belong forever to the Lord.

BIBLE READINGS

FIRST READING: Acts 11:1–18
(What God has made clean do not call common.)

EPISTLE READING: Revelation 21:1–7
(The vision of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, is described.)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 16:12–22 (I am going to the Father.)