In 1532 Luther concluded his Annunciation sermon this way. It’s as though he spoke these words this morning. “It almost seems as though God is at enmity with the world. Present conditions are so shameful all around us in the world, as God allows murderous mobs and rabble, so much violence and so much misfortune […]
I wrote the following hymn stanzas as a way of teaching children about Holy Communion. It is to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me,” and these two stanzas could follow stanzas 1 and 2 in Lutheran Service Book, hymn 588. Jesus loves me when He says, Take and eat this piece of bread. It’s My body, […]
“And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men” (Mark 2:3). The healing of the paralytic in Mark 2 is recorded also in Matthew 9 and Luke 5. But only Mark, a Gospel known for its details, mentions the fact that the litter on which the paralytic lay was “carried by four […]
“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). In Mark 1 Jesus gets up in the (very early) morning and prays, teaching and inviting us to do the same. He makes time for prayer. He had […]
Richard Bowry, who has been 11 weeks now at Elmhurst Extended Care in Providence, gave me a yellow card with words of St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622). I, in turn, want to give it to you. Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life; rather look to them with full hope that […]
As is well known, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the Wittenberg Castle Church door. Five years ago, in the spirit of the Reformation, I wrote and shared with my congregation the following “9.5 Theses” for today. The last of them is truly only half given. You, the reader, must […]