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“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS January 2017

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

Date Verse Reading Comments

Jan 2 TLH 123:1-4 Psalm 90:1-6 We have to admit that we are nothing next to God. What grace that He takes notice
of us at all!

Jan 3 TLH 123:5-6 Psalm 90:7-10 Even those sins we are not aware of are seen by the eyes of our God.

Jan 4 TLH 123:7-8 Psalm 90:11-17 The Lord’s forgiveness, compassion, and unfailing love shall bless us all our days.

Jan 5 TLH 134 John 3:1-4 Jesus revealed Himself as the One sent from God, and the miraculous signs confirmed it.

Jan 6 TLH 127; John 3:5-15 Salvation comes through Spirit-worked faith in Jesus.
LSB 401Read More »“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS January 2017

Waiting for More than Christmas

The outcome is always the same. Christ and His Church
always come out victorious and all His enemies will be judged. 

“‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
(Revelation 22:20).

John was in exile, banished to the island of Patmos where he was isolated from the people he loved and prevented from preaching the Word of God to them.
Many of those whom he calls “my little children” were suffering terrible persecution. Some were fed to wild animals or slaughtered by gladiators, others were burned as human torches or crucified. Still others lost homes and businesses and wandered as fugitives, despised by all.

In such terrible times, one longs for and prays for deliverance. As the Children of Israel prayed for God’s deliverance from their cruel slavery in Egypt, so also John pleads with Christ, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Read More »Waiting for More than Christmas

Hymn 64 “Jesus, Thy Church with Longing Eyes”

Advent

Hymn 64 is an Advent hymn. Advent is a “three tense” season: the past and the future unite in our present worship.

In the American Heritage Dictionary, the first part of the definition for the word advent is “The coming or arrival of something or someone that is important or worthy of note.” In the Advent part of the church calendar, we look back to the first Advent (coming) of Christ, His birth in Bethlehem, when God came to mankind as a man in order to redeem the world to Himself. Read More »Hymn 64 “Jesus, Thy Church with Longing Eyes”

At the End of the Day . . .

How did it go today?

Some days are a challenge from start to finish. Others seem monotonous. Yet always, it is the Lord Who brings us safely to the close of each day. It’s easy to forget the Lord’s role, to feel that each day just grinds along on its own, somehow dragging us with it; or that by our own powers we have seized the day and bent it to our will.

In his evening prayer, Martin Luther (I mean, the first Martin Luther, 1483-1546, Bible-based reformer of the church in Germany) wrote, “I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me today.” YOU HAVE GRACIOUSLY KEPT ME TODAY! The Father has compassionately gotten you past the humps and bumps of today. He has helped you deal with the problems of your own making, and also with those of others’ making. He has given you strength to expend all, if need be. He has given you wisdom to solve the difficult issues. He has given you courage to deal with matters into which you had to be dragged. And so on, and on. “Father, thank You for bringing me safely to the end of this day.”Read More »At the End of the Day . . .

The Lord of Hosts Is with Us

The hymn “A Mighty Fortress” (TLH 262), is Martin Luther’s most famous hymn, and one of the most well-known of all Christian hymns. I was reminded of this recently when I heard a character refer to it in an episode from an old TV series. Not many hymn titles make it into popular culture.

“A Mighty Fortress” has long had a place in nearly every Protestant hymnal, and more recently even in some Roman Catholic hymnals. It has been translated into more languages than any other hymn, and there are more than seventy English translations of it.

To say that it is widely known and sung is not to say that it is widely understood or truly appreciated for its message. No doubt many who like it for its majestic tune may not pay much attention to what it says beyond its opening line.Read More »The Lord of Hosts Is with Us

What God Has Joined…

While I write this, I am pondering the upcoming marriage of our daughter, a new experience for my wife and me. Perhaps a brief refresher on the estate of marriage would benefit all of us. First and foremost, marriage is not an invention of humans. God ordained it, and the Bible is the instruction manual. We must then turn to Scripture for guidance.

God’s Institution

Woman was fashioned out of man to be a helper comparable to him, because it was Read More »What God Has Joined…

The One Thing Needed

This year it is especially heartening to note that there are three schools in the Church of the Lutheran Confession that are either starting up fresh, or have plans to reopen.

“And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her’” Luke 10:41-42

Parents find plenty to worry about. We worry about what our kids are eating, who they are playing with, where they are, and where they have been. Having seen so many changes in society in our lifetime, we worry what the future of our community, our nation, and our world will look like for our children and grandchildren.Buildingblocks_small

In Luke 10, Martha was also worried and troubled. She was trying to be a good hostess for Jesus, while her sister Mary just sat at His feet listening to Him. But Jesus commends Mary’s choice: “One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” While Martha was busying herself with things that would come and go with time, Mary had eternity on her mind. She chose to sit at the feet of Jesus, and hear the words of eternal life from the Lord of Life. Nothing, not even death itself, could rob her of this “good part” which she had chosenRead More »The One Thing Needed