Today is the feast of Festivus, that lovely secular holiday made popular by the sitcom Seinfeld. George Costanza's dad is the main character that educates the world on the joys and celebrations of 'A festivus for the rest of us." From the festivus pole, because, you know, tensile can be a little...
1st John 4 says, "7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us...
Today is the feast day of St. Thomas, Apostles and martyr for The Faith. Thomas asked Jesus the question, "Lord, how will we know the way?" and Jesus replied, "I AM the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me." More well known is the nickname of...
Friends, Just a quick little quote from Luther to get your work week started, not in the stress of your merit, but in the comfort of Jesus' grace and mercy. Concerning the 5th petition, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," Luther says, "Thus this petition is really an...
On December 6th, alot of the Christian world celebrates the feast of St. Nicholas. At our house, one of the ways we celebrate it is by filling the boys shoes with oranges, chocolates, and other candies. However, the real celebration isn't about candy or filling your shoe with other goodies, but...
Yesterday, I posted a quote from the Pastoral Prayer Companion on Facebook. It was about how pastoral care always flows from and leads back to the Divine Service. The Companion speaks of the Divine Service saying, "The liturgy itself is the primary place of ongoing pastoral care as week after...
Dear Saints, It is amazing how small Luther's Small Catechism is. There are six chief parts, along with the Table of Duties, prayers, and some questions in order to prepare yourself for the Lord's Supper. However greatly I desire to memorize this little book in order to...
This morning in the Treasury of Daily Prayer, we were blessed with a writing from Walther that says, "Today, the cross is still a terror-but only to hell. It shines upon its ruins as a sign of victory over sin, death, and Satan. With a crushed head, the serpent of temptation lies at the foot of...
Today is the festival of the Lutheran Reformation. The central article upon which the church stands or falls, the article that got Luther into a whole mess of trouble, is the doctrine that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. We are saved and forgiven, not by what we do, but...
The New Testament reading from the Treasury of Daily Prayer today is Matthew 20:1-16, the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. The story goes saying, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After...