Category: General

EASTER DAY

April 9, 2023

AS WE GATHER
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Thus, the whole Church proclaims on this, the Queen of Feasts, the Resurrection of Our Lord. This is the day of days; the day when light overcame the darkness; the day when our ancient foe was defeated; the day when sin was destroyed; and Christ our Lord burst the bonds of death asunder. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

BIBLE READINGS

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Acts 10:34–43
(The disciples are witnesses to the risen Lord.)

EPISTLE READING: Colossians 3:1–4
(Our lives are hidden with Christ in God.)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 20:10-18
(Jesus Appears to Mary at the tomb.)

PALM SUNDAY / SUNDAY OF THE PASSION

April 2, 2023

AS WE GATHER
Both palms and passion are integral themes this day. Jesus comes into Jerusalem not for the crowds, but for the cross. He comes to suffer in our place and die our death that we might have life in Him. You cannot have the palms without the passion. We therefore join our voices in welcome to our King who comes humble and mounted on a donkey. However, before we leave, we will hear the first voice of the Passion that will be echoed all week long. Palms and hosannas become suffering and death on the cross, where hope is born. Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

BIBLE READINGS

OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 50:4–9a
(Who is my adversary?)

EPISTLE READING: Philippians 2:5–11
(Even death on a cross)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 12:12-19
(Procession)

Death Stinks?

March 26, 2023

AS WE GATHER
Death stinks. We are reminded that death literally stinks in today’s Gospel when Martha objects to opening her brother Lazarus’s tomb because there would be an odor. Death also “stinks,” however, in another very real way. Death “stinks” because our Lord did not intend for us, His creation, to die. Yet, since the time of Adam and Eve’s first sin, death is a rotten part of living in this fallen world. That is why Jesus’ proclamation of Himself as “the resurrection and the life” is so important. Death could not hold Lazarus. Death could not hold Jesus. Death cannot hold you. On the Last Day, Jesus will call you out from the nasty grave to enter eternal life. We sing of that great release from our tomb saying,
Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appall me; Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done!
From the grave will Christ recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence. LSB 490:1

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Ezekiel 37:1–14

EPISTLE READING
Romans 8:1–11

HOLY GOSPEL
John 11:17–27, 38–53

Refuge

March 19, 2023

AS WE GATHER
Picture what David must have felt as he wrote the words of today’s psalm. David was relentlessly chased by King Saul and members of his army. Fearing for his life, and outnumbered by his pursuers, David hides in caves. Feeling imprisoned, David knows that all he can do in the face of seemingly hopeless danger is depend on His Lord and God. So David writes, “I cry to You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living’” (Psalm 142:5). When you feel like David, encircled by the worries, cares, and sin of this world, know that you are not helpless. Your help is in the Lord. In Christ, your refuge, you have comfort, peace, and forgiveness.
Jesus, refuge of the weary,
Blest Redeemer, whom we love,
Fountain in life’s desert dreary,
Savior from the world above:
Often have Your eyes, offended,
Gazed upon the sinner’s fall;
Yet upon the cross extended,
You have borne the pain of all. LSB 423:1

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 42:14-21

EPISTLE READING: Ephesians 5:8-14

HOLY GOSPEL: John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39

Stricken for You

March 12, 2023

AS WE GATHER
In the first weeks of Lent we focused on repentance and forgiveness. On this the Third Sunday in Lent, midway through our journey to the cross, we now recall how God has fully satisfied His people with His grace in days gone by. Sin’s grumbling can only be satisfied with what God alone provides. Our hunger and thirst for God and His salvation are met in Jesus Christ, the promised One, whose life, death, and resurrection bring us what we cannot provide for ourselves.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Exodus 17:1-7
(A stubborn and contentious people are confronted with God’s abundant grace.)

EPISTLE READING: Romans 5:1-8
(We have peace with God through Jesus Christ.)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 4:5-26
(Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and shows her the fulfillment of the promise of God.)

Born From Above

March 5, 2023

AS WE GATHER
This is the Second Sunday in Lent, early in our six-week journey with Jesus to the Cross. Each week we focus on the penitential themes appropriate to this season. Today we listen in on a conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus about the new birth from above that gives life to those born in sin. We are reminded of our own baptismal birth to new life in Christ and of the call of God to die daily to sin and rise in Christ to newness of life.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Genesis 12:1-9
(The story of how God called Abraham and His promise that Abraham would become the father of a great nation.)

EPISTLE READING: Romans 4:1-8, 13-17
(St. Paul describes how the righteousness of Abraham was given to him by grace through faith.)

HOLY GOSPEL: John 3:1-17
(Jesus goes to Nicodemus and tells him how to be born anew through water and the Spirit.)

Looking for a Scapegoat

February 26, 2023

AS WE GATHER
We begin our annual journey to the cross on this first Sunday in Lent. Though not part of Lent, Sundays in Lent carry the same penitential theme that characterizes our forty days of prayerful devotion and repentance. Today we consider the role of Jesus as our scapegoat—not the one whom we blame but the One whom God has sent to us to take the blame for our sin upon Himself. This gift of a Savior who has borne the full weight of our sin is the reason that we stand amid test, trial, and temptation. We have more than someone to blame for the wrongs of thought, word, and deed that we do—we have a willing Savior who has become our sin offering to set us free through forgiveness

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Genesis 3:1-21 (The story of how the sin of our first parents stole us from God and made us captive to death.)

EPISTLE READING: Romans 5:12-19
(St. Paul describes the consequences of the fall and the hope created by the obedience, suffering, and death of our Lord Jesus.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 4:1-11
(Our Lord is tempted in the wilderness by Satan.)

Climbing the Wrong Mountain

February 19, 2023

AS WE GATHER
We are told that Jesus’ face shone like the sun. We can only look at the sun indirectly because the brightness causes us to close our eyes or turn away. As Jesus’ divinity shone through His humanity, the brightness was such that it forced Peter, James, and John to fall on their faces and avert their gaze in terror. Though we might be able to view the sun by looking askance at it or peering through darkened glass, the only way to view the Son of God is through the prophetic Word and the eyes of faith.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMEMT READING: Exodus 24:8-18 (Moses explains what it was like for him and the elders of Israel to stand in the presence of God and receive His instruction.)

EPISTLE READING: 2 Peter 1:16-21
(Peter explains what it was like to be in the presence of the divine majesty and what it was like to hear the Word directly from God.)

HOLY GOSPEL READING: Matthew 17:1-9
(Matthew explains what it was like for Peter, James, and John to stand in the presence of God with Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.)

Of the Heart

February 12, 2023

AS WE GATHER
We are sinful from birth, and our hearts are not pure. Although evil thoughts and desires come from them, we know that God creates in us pure hearts by the blood of Jesus, whose death for our sins brings forgiveness and new life.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
(Moses offers a choice of life and good, or death and evil.)

EPISTLE READING: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
(Paul speaks of divisions in the church.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 5:21-37
(Jesus tells us that sin is not just outward actions, but originates in the heart.)

Light of the World

February 5, 2023

AS WE GATHER
As if the lights are being raised ever-so-gradually in a dark room, the Gospel readings for each Sunday in Epiphany shed a little more light on Jesus and on us. Today, and for the next several Sundays, we hear Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, and His words reveal Him to us, as well as teach us about ourselves. Today, Jesus tells us that we are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” Salt seasons and preserves; as followers of Jesus we are called to season the world with the gifts of the Spirit and to preserve the ways of God in an often hostile world. Light shines; as followers of Jesus we are called to let the light of our good works shine to the glory of God. In a time when we are tempted to think that Jesus came to abolish all rules and laws, Jesus reminds us that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 58:3–9a (True and false fasting)

EPISTLE READING: 1 Corinthians 2:1–12
(Wisdom)

HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 5:13–20
(Salt and light)