TLH = The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941; WS = Worship Supplement 2000; LSB = Lutheran Service Book, 2006
| Date | Hymn | Scripture | Comments |
| May-01 | TLH 628 /LSB 864 | Ezekiel 34:1-16 | The Lord calls Ezekiel to prophesy against the unfaithful shepherds of Israel. The Lord Himself will seek out and restore His scattered sheep. |
| May-02 | TLH 431 /LSB 709 | Ezekiel 34:17-31 | The Lord will judge His sheep and will send the Messiah to be their shepherd. The Lord promises to establish a covenant of peace with His people. |
| May-03 | TLH 2 | Jeremiah 23:1-32 | The Lord confronts unfaithful shepherds, the false prophets who have led His people astray. In yet another promise to send the Messiah, the Lord names Him “the Lord our righteousness,” (23:6 ESV) a fitting name for our Savior Who is the Lord and Who has accomplished our righteousness with His holy life. |
| May-04 | TLH 261 /LSB 655 | Jeremiah 26 | The unfaithful priests and prophets plot to kill Jeremiah for his faithful proclamation of the word of the Lord. Jeremiah realizes that the threat to his life is real; other faithful prophets had been murdered in Judah. Nonetheless, Jeremiah continues preaching, boldly calling the people of Judah to repentance. The Lord moves the people to believe the preaching of Jeremiah and spares his life. |
| May-05 | TLH 467 /LSB 645 | 1 Peter 2 | Through His Word the Lord builds His faithful people into a spiritual temple to His glory. Peter calls the faithful to grow in the Word, demonstrating their faith through their actions. In particular, believers are to submit to those in positions of authority. |
| May-06 | TLH 355 /LSB 526 | John 14:1-14 | Before His betrayal and arrest on Maundy Thursday, Jesus instructs His disciples, to prepare them not only for His death on the cross, but also for His ascension into heaven. God the Father has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ, His Son. |
| May-08 | TLH 54 /LSB 918 | Exodus 13 | At the Passover, the Lord spared the firstborn of the Israelites. Now the Lord commands that every firstborn, man or animal, be consecrated to Him as a reminder of His gracious deliverance. The Lord leads His people out of Egypt in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. |
| May-09 | TLH 446 /LSB 663 | John 8:31-47 | By nature we were enslaved to sin, but Jesus, the Truth, has set us free. Jesus pronounces harsh words against His enemies, who have not believed His preaching and who are plotting to kill Him. |
| May-10 | TLH 40 /LSB 798 | John 8:48-59 | Jesus enemies accuse Him of being possessed by a demon. Jesus continues proclaiming the truth. From the burning bush, God revealed His holy name to Moses, “I am who i am.” (Exodus 3:14) Now Jesus claims to be God when He says, “before Abraham was, I am.” (8:58) The enemies attempt to stone Jesus, but His hour has not yet come. |
| May-11 | TLH 43 | Acts 17:16-34 | Vexed by the rampant open idolatry in Athens, Paul encounters Greeks who crave new ideas. Paul uses the altar “To the unknown god,” (17:23) as a segue into a sermon on the true God. |
| May-12 | TLH 621 /LSB 858 | 1 Peter 3 | Peter continues exhorting the faithful to live godly lives. Wives are to submit to their husbands. Husbands are to love and to honor their wives. All believers are to live together in unity, in love, and in peace. All believers are to be prepared to defend the faith and to suffer for the sake of righteousness. The flood was a type (that is, a prefiguring) of baptism, which saves us. |
| May-13 | TLH 233 /LSB 498 | John 14:15-31 | Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Jesus gives to His disciples true and lasting peace. Faithfulness to the Lord consists in keeping His Word. |
| May-15 | LSB 894 | Genesis 9:1-17 | The world is a different place after the flood. Now the Lord permits man to eat meat in addition to green plants. As He commanded Adam and Eve, so God now commands Noah and his sons to reproduce and to populate the earth. The Lord promises never to flood the whole earth again, and He gives the rainbow as a sign of this covenant. |
| May-16 | TLH 649 /LSB 715 | Psalm 93 | Few events in the natural world are more terrifying than a storm at sea, but our God is more powerful than even the fiercest of hurricanes. Jesus Christ, Who is the Lord, commands the storms, and they must obey. |
| May-17 | TLH 216 /LSB 492 | John 16:16-33 | It is to our benefit that Jesus has removed His visible presence from the earth. He has gone to take His rightful position of honor and glory at the right hand of the Father, ruling all things for the wellbeing of His faithful people. Furthermore, He will return once more to take us home. |
| May-18 | TLH 212 /LSB 493 | Acts 1 | Jesus ascends into heaven. We will see Him return in the same way when He comes again to judge the living and the dead. The disciples of Jesus choose Matthias to serve as an apostle in place of Judas Iscariot. |
| May-19 | TLH 367 /LSB 531 | Ephesians 1:15-23 | Paul thanks the Lord for the saints of Ephesus and prays for them. Our ascended Lord rules over all things. Since we are His body and He is our head, we are secure under His gracious care and protection. |
| May-20 | TLH 218 /LSB 494 | Luke 24:36-53 | Having walked with two disciples to Emmaus, Jesus appears to the disciples gathered in Jerusalem on Easter evening. Luke concludes his Gospel with a brief account of Jesus’ ascension. |
| May-22 | TLH 550 /LSB 874 | John 8:12-30 | Jesus teaches in the temple, proclaiming Himself to be “the light of the world.” (8:12) Jesus predicts His death, to the confusion of the religious leaders. Many of the people believe in Him. |
| May-23 | TLH 335 | 1 Peter 4:5-5:11 | Christians are not to live as unbelievers. Our desire is to live as though Christ could return in judgment at any moment and to use our gifts to the benefit of one another and to the glory of God. Expecting to suffer trials and insults as a result of our faith, we entrust ourselves to the Lord. |
| May-24 | TLH 286 | John 17 | In his “high priestly prayer,” Jesus prays that the Father glorify Him. Jesus prays for His immediate disciples. Jesus prays for all who will become His disciples. |
| May-25 | TLH 527 /LSB 757 | Numbers 11:16-35 | The Lord appoints seventy elders to assist Moses in leading the children of Israel. In His mercy the Lord provides His people with quail for meat. In His wrath the Lord punishes His people for their complaining and for their greed. |
| May-26 | TLH 224 /LSB 497 | Acts 2:1-41 | The Lord fulfills His promise to pour out the Holy Spirit on His Church. Tongues of fire rest on the disciples of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit enables them to speak in tongues so that the Jews who have gathered from various nations may hear and understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter preaches a sermon and three thousand new converts are baptized. |
| May-27 | TLH 235 /LSB 913 | John 7:1-39 | Jesus travels to Jerusalem secretly for the Feast of Booths. During the feast Jesus begins teaching publicly in the Temple to the amazement of many of the Jews. The chief priests and the Pharisees attempt to have Jesus arrested. |
| May-29 | TLH 30 /LSB 811 | Joel 2:18-32 | Through the prophet Joel the Lord calls His people to repentance. Among other prophecies, the Lord promises to pour out His Spirit. |
| May-30 | TLH 452 /LSB 661 | Ezekiel 39 | All who oppose the people of the Lord will suffer a humiliating defeat when they face the Lord in the fury of His wrath. It is not a pretty picture that Ezekiel paints for us, but it is a stark reminder of the perfect justice of our righteous God. At the same time, Ezekiel paints for us a beautiful and comforting picture of the abounding grace of our Lord as He restores His chosen people. |
| May-31 | TLH 17 /LSB 804 | Psalm 104 | We join the psalmist in praising the Lord for the wisdom and the love that He has displayed in the six days of the creation of the universe. |