The way Lutherans worship is traditional; the orders of service in our worship book preserve the best of our worship tradition.

My Bibles are a mess; but not all of them.

As you can imagine a Lutheran pastor has a number of Bibles, in various translations.

The ones that are well used, written in, highlighted, and whose spines are falling off are the ones I’m writing about. The last one whose spine is about to give way is itself a replacement.

Repeatedly the Children of Israel disregarded the words of the Lord
God and the instructions handed down to them through his servant,
Moses. “Repeatedly” might be an understatement.

By the time you read this you will notice that the altar is decked in green, as it will be through-out the summer, unless a festival falls on a Sunday. This year September 29th falls on a Sunday; that’s the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. The assigned color is white.

The hymns in Lutheran Service Book are not about us, and very seldom about our feelings and wants. Our hymns lift up the Gospel of Jesus Christ and set our sights on heaven. That’s as it should be.

Christ Is Risen I was once a naïve freshman at Concordia College, New

York. Back from Easter break everyone was shouting, “Christ is

risen.” It was as if a verbal case of measles gone rogue. Someone kindly

explained it to me.

On Easter, we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Easter is our victory festival. Sin, death and Satan could not keep Jesus in the grave.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, and
yes, we all know it’s also Valentines Day. We’ll assume you all know
how to tell that certain someone that you love them.

Here, today in 2024, we are still faithfully reading the scriptures and sift-
ing through the teachings which give us our identity as the children of

God. In 2024 we are still devoted to the faithful preaching Gospel of
Jesus Christ and praying for his return in glory.

It’s Christmas time. No doubt you’ll get a few Christmas cards with
traditional depictions of the Child Jesus, Joseph and his Mother Mary—
the history of our Savior according to Matthew and Luke, as illustrated
by St. Francis. But John from the very beginning took a different
approach. He bears witness to the meaning of Jesus’ entrance into our
world.