A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy
Whether or not you are joined to a husband or wife here on earth, you have been joined to Christ in the waters of your Holy Baptism, and you are knit together with Him as one flesh in the Holy Communion of His Body and His Blood. Thus are your body and life redeemed and sanctified in His Body. You live and die with Him who is your Savior and your Head. And you confess Him with all of your words and actions as you go about your days and fulfill your duties here on earth.
Read MoreIt is by the Sacrifice of His Cross that Jesus the Christ, the Lamb of God, bears in His body and takes away the sins of the whole world, as St. John preaches, and as St. John inaugurates by means of his Baptism of repentance. So is the Lamb first offered up in the waters of the Jordan, unto His innocent suffering and death on Good Friday. So does He make full Atonement for all your sins. And it is by virtue of His Sacrifice that you are able to draw near and enter into the Holy Place, and that your prayers are heard and answered by God the Father in heaven. Indeed, your prayers rise before Him as a sweet-smelling incense, because He delights in you in Christ Jesus.
Read MoreNow when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept (St. Mark 16:9-10).
Read MoreWhen it seems impossible to believe that you are His child, that He loves you, that He has forgiven you, and that He will never leave you nor forsake you, “Let it be according to His Word!” When it feels like the entire world is against you — and even when the whole wide world really is against you: “Let it be according to His Word!” When you are painfully aware of how small and frail and helpless you are: “Let it be according to His Word!” When the Cross lies heavy upon you, when you are able to see and feel nothing else but pain and heartache and sadness, and when you are reduced to lowliness and nothingness: “Let it be according to His Word!”
Read MoreText: Matt 24:15-28 (Ex 32:1-20, 1 Thess 4:13-18)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
A hundred years ago today, the most horrific war up to that time came to an end. November 11, 1918. Every year, this date is celebrated around the world as “Armistice Day.” “Armistice” means “to stop fighting.” It usually precedes a treaty that formally ends the war.
Read More
