WALTHER’S LAW AND GOSPEL One of the hallmarks of the Lutheran Church is its proper understanding and application of the Bible’s two main teachings—Law and Gospel. Dr. C.F.W. Walther’s seminal work, The Proper Distinction Between… Two Principles for Correct Preaching
What’s New With YOU? Updates from congregations around the church of the Lutheran Confession 90 Years of Preaching the Gospel Our Savior’s Lutheran Church is approaching its 90th anniversary of preaching the Gospel of forgiveness… Our Savior’s Lutheran Church Jamestown, North Dakota
NOTES FROM THE FIELD In this series, thoseinvolved with CLC foreign missions profile one aspect of our overseas endeavors. [Ed.: the following is a report about current activities in the HCLCN. It is written, in… Story of A Himalayan Seminary Student
ILC NEWSLETTER Every other month we get an update on what’s been happening recently at our Immanuel Lutheran High School, College and Seminary in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. When those outside of the ILC community think… Professor John Reim Retires
IN THE PIPELINE Want to meet the person who may be your next pastor or Christian day school teacher? This series profiles the men and women who are in their final year of preparation for… Kathleen Lynne Naumann
“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS APRIL 2021
TLH = The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941; WS = Worship Supplement 2000; LSB = Lutheran Service Book, 2006
Date Hymns Reading Comments
Apr 1 TLH 164 John 9:34-41 Spiritual blindness is worse than physical blindness, and spiritual sight (faith) is greater
than physical sight.
Apr 2 TLH 178 (LSB 429) John 10:1-21 The Good Shepherd lays down His life but also has the authority to take it up again!
Apr 3TLH 592John 10:22-30The Good Shepherd gives eternal life to us, His sheep!
Apr 5TLH 200 (LSB 461)John 11:1-44Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS APRIL 2021
COVER STORY – EASTER
” . . . the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:18-20)
According to the Vision Council of America, seventy-five percent of American adults wear some kind of corrective lenses for their eyesight. Glasses or contact lenses are an indispensable aid for many to overcome nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism or other vision problems. A statistic that is even more startling is the one that Jesus relates in the Gospel of Luke: fully one hundred percent of the world’s population sees through spiritual “lenses” of one kind or another: “The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.” (Luke 11:34)
There are many millions of people throughout the world whose natural eyes see reasonably well and who consider their minds to be enlightened, but their hearts are actually dark. The worshipers of Allah or Vishnu, the followers of Buddha, and your neighbor who is “spiritual but not religious” all have this in common: they hope to improve themselves enough so that the afterlife will be better than this one. And many of these people of other faiths—or no faith at all—are brilliant in their own ways. Yet they’re wearing the wrong glasses, and they don’t even know it. Paul describes them as those “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)Put on Your Resurrection Glasses!
DEVOTION—RESURRECTION LIVING
The story was told by one of my former teachers of a time when the lower grade classroom of Messiah Lutheran School in Hales Corners was working on an art project. I was in second grade at the time, and my classmate, Gretchen, already having finished her project, walked up to my desk and asked if I wanted help finishing mine. Apparently, my response was, “Let me see yours first.” Isn’t that a typical response? Even from childhood, most of us just don’t like getting ourselves into commitments before we know exactly what we can expect.
That wasn’t the response of another young Samuel, however. When the great prophet was still just a child serving in the tabernacle, the Lord called out to him by night. “Samuel!” Three times he ran to Eli the priest and responded, “Here I am!” (1 Samuel 3:1-10 ESV) Finally, he recognized the Lord’s voice and answered Him, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Notice the readiness in all of Samuel’s replies. “Here I am . . . Speak, for your servant hears.” With the confident trust of a child, it’s as if he’s saying, “I don’t know what is coming or what you will require of me; but whatever it is, I will listen to and follow you.” Following the Risen Lord with Confidence
A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING
Do you remember the last time you felt elated? If you’re an avid Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, it was probably this past February 7th, when “your” team won Superbowl LV. Maybe it was when you caught your largest-ever walleye or bagged a whitetail buck with Boone and Crockett record book antlers. Perhaps you felt elated simply if the Thanksgiving turkey you roasted turned out juicy instead of dry.
How odd it is that we feel exuberant over such relatively unimportant events, and yet may at times fail to feel even greater jubilation in connection with an event which is of infinite importance and eternal consequence for each us—the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter morning! It may be that we simply don’t clearly see and personally apprehend the significance of that Easter event to our own lives.TLH Hymn 188 “Hallelujah! Jesus Lives!”
