John the Baptizer is arrested, handed over for criticizing Herod’s unlawful marriage to his brother’s estranged wife. The lesser gives way to the greater. The one who prepares the way steps aside for the One who is the Way. The Forerunner precedes Christ into death. Jesus goes to Galilee, the north…
Jesus is born. Jesus is circumcised and named. Today, He is baptized. All for you and for your salvation.
Jesus came to John, from Nazareth in Galilee to the Jordan wilderness. John was blasting sinners, threatening them with the wrath coming judgment, calling them to repentance and to be baptized.…
History is written in the details. The Christmas narrative we heard last week comes to us straight from Luke’s historically precise pen, chock full of details - Joseph and Mary, a tax census of Caesar Augustus when Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Bethlehem and the crowded inn and the stable. An…
Sunday. The Lord’s Day. The day we celebrate the victory of Jesus over sin and death. Every Sunday is a little Easter. And this Sunday happens to be Christmas. Christ’s Mass of His Nativity, the divine service of the Child of Bethlehem born to save the world. A double bonus!…
It’s good to know who you are, and who you are not. John the Baptizer knew who he was, and who he was not.
He wasn’t the Messiah, the Christ. A delegation of priests and Levites from synodical headquarters in Jerusalem went out to John to investigate. They always send a…
Marriage has its roots in the dirt of creation. It isn't some kind of lofty ideal, a religious concept, some romantic illusion. Marriage is grounded in the dust of our origin, our being male and female made in the image of God. Marriage is about sex and food and drink and house…
We’re going to have a guest preacher over these next two Sundays in Advent. His name is John, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah. He was conceived and born when his parents were very old, well beyond child bearing years. A miracle baby, though not exactly unexpected. An angel told his…
We the clay; God the Potter. He is God; we are not God. And that is good, even when it appears not to be good.
The prophet Isaiah foretells the coming day of destruction, when the proud armies of Babylon would breach the walls of Jerusalem, take the people captive, and destroy…
Happy new year! No, I haven’t skipped over December, as much as I’d like to. Nor am I suffering from post-Thanksgiving stress syndrome. Advent is the beginning of the church’s year, so gloriously out of synch with the world’s calendar. The world is counting down to the end, and the church…
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever." "It is truly good, right, and salutary, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
We don’t really need a presidential proclamation, or…