In his treatise, Against the Heavenly Prophets, Luther asserted that it is essential to know that God comes to us both outwardly and inwardly. Outwardly God comes to us in the proclaimed Gospel and the blessed sacrament. Inwardly He comes to us through the Holy Spirit and faith. Both are given...
We are going to start a new series today based on the Catechism. Both the Small and the Large Catechisms of Dr. Martin Luther, of blessed and holy memory, are not to be read once and then tossed to the side, but rather should be [art of our daily diet when it comes to the Word of God and...
One of the greatest things that brings me joy, and I pray it brings you joy as well, are the words of Holy Absolution. Luther speaks about this in the Small Catechism concerning the Office of the Keys saying, "What do you believe according to these words? I believe that when the called ministers...
For the last few Wednesdays we have looked at Sanctification. This is the end of posting about sanctification, just taking a different approach today and going forward one Wednesdays. For the foreseeable future, Wednesday will be known as Joyous Wednesday. The blog will be about something joyous...
Luther wrote in the Large Catechism saying, "Meanwhile, since holiness has begun and is growing daily, we await the time when our flesh will be put to death, will be buried with all its uncleanness, and will come fourth gloriously and will arise to complete and perfect holiness in a new, eternal...
Jesus says in Luke, "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13 NKJV). This is the constant struggle for we the baptized. What does it mean to serve...
There is a scene in the movie, The Predator, staring Arnold Schwarzenegger, in which Arnold is running away from the alien predator. The alien does see like we do, but sees body heat and therefore it is almost impossible to hide from him. But in one scene Arnold covers himself completely...
Today we meditate on the next step in the liturgy, The Gloria In Excelsis. This is an ancient song that paraphrases the song the angels sang at the birth of Jesus from Luke that says, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased" (Luke 2:14). ...
In the Gospel according to St. Luke, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. When we read this text, we come to the conclusion that Jesus is our Good Samaritan that does all things for us. In the text as well, we see an image of how we should live the baptismal life. We should show mercy...
The reading from the Treasury this morning for the New Testament is the parable of the sower. Jesus says, "And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the...