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January 2021

“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS JANUARY 2021

TLH = The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941; WS = Worship Supplement 2000; LSB = Lutheran Service Book, 2006

Date Hymns Reading Comments
Jan 1 TLH 114 (LSB 900) John 1:1-5 Jesus is described as both life and light. Think about how these descriptions are so fitting.
Jan 3 TLH 76 (LSB 383) John 1:6-13 Jesus enlightens us and makes us His own. We do not enlighten ourselves. Left to ourselves,
we would reject Him.
Jan 4 TLH 85 (LSB 358) John 1:14 In one verse we have the most profound mystery—Jesus is both human and divine in the
same person. On top of that, grace and truth come from Him!
Jan 5 TLH 86 (LSB 381) Matthew 1:1-25 We end the twelve days of Christmas with a recital of Jesus’ ancestry and a review of the birth
of Him who is called “God with us.” Read More »“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS JANUARY 2021

Will Your New Year Be Happy?

COVER STORY – NEW YEAR

“I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
As you read this article it is likely that you will soon be stepping over the threshold of the old year into the new. Questions that may be on your mind at this time are, “Will 2021 be a prosperous one for me? Will it be a year in which I enjoy good health? How will it go for me financially? Will the stock market be a ‘rising bull’ or ‘declining bear?’ ” and other similar questions. Of course, there’s no crystal ball you can gaze into to see the events of the coming year. But what comfort is yours as a Christian, knowing (from the promises God has given you in His Word) that your future will be richly blessed in the year 2021 and beyond!
What promises, you ask? They are too numerous to mention them all in this brief article, but permit me to share a few. Your Savior-God has given you the promise, for example, to keep you from danger and shield you from harm (Psalm 91). He’s given you the assurance that He will make every unpleasant happening that occurs in your life serve for your ultimate good (Romans 8:28). If it should be that He calls you to pass through a painful trial in year 2021, He will supply you with the strength you need to bear it (Isaiah 41:10). As you give top priority to the all-important matters of your soul (things like hearing His Word, reading your Bible, receiving His Supper, training up your children in His Good Shepherd paths), He will amply provide for your bodily needs, too, so that you may lay aside every worry (Matthew 6:25-33).Read More »Will Your New Year Be Happy?

Life Lessons

DEVOTION—PRO-LIFE

Of all the political, social, and moral debates that have gone on for the past forty years, it would be hard to come up with a more sensitive topic than abortion. Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, 60 million children have been ripped from the safety of their mothers’ wombs and brutally murdered. That is not the debate, those are the facts. And many experts believe the true number of abortions has been greatly under reported.
Contrary to many opinions, the debate is not about when life begins. For years people entangled themselves in endless arguments about whether life begins at fertilization, or when the heart starts beating, or when brain waves are detected, or when the first breath is taken, and on and on. Very few would deny that the unborn child is alive. If only our government applied the same standard to humans that it applies to eagles! According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act “provides criminal penalties for persons who ‘take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, at any time or any manner any bald eagle . . . [or any golden eagle], alive, dead, or any part, nest, or egg thereof.’ ” Is an egg alive? Yes, we would agree there is a baby eagle waiting to be hatched. The act provides penalties of up to $200,000 and a year in prison for the first offense.Read More »Life Lessons

TLH 128 “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning”

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’” (Matthew 2:1-2)
The magi, guided by God, did not find the “King of the Jews,” as they supposed; they found the King of all people. Jews of Jesus’ day looked to the Old Testament patriarch Abraham as their religious and ethnic ancestor. God had made a covenant with Abraham that from his descendants would come the Messiah; and for the most part, Jews considered the promise of the Messiah to be exclusive to their ethnicity. Gentiles, in most Jews’ reckoning, were not included in that promise. However, in that regard they overlooked the glorious God-given Messianic prophecy of Isaiah, who wrote, “The Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your [Jesus’] light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isaiah 60:2-3)Read More »TLH 128 “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning”