J.P. Meyer, 1873-1964
The white-haired man was easily recognized by all as he took his regular walk to the post office in his dark suit and tie, for he seldom wore an overcoat or hat even in the…
Keith Olmanson 1929-2016
Keith Nolan Olmanson, longtime pastor of the CLC, was taken to be with the Lord on May 26, 2016. A victory service was held on June 2, 2016 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota.…
Waiting to Come Home Milimani, Kenya
“Patience is a virtue.” This expression has reportedly been in use since the fourteenth century. It seems that the only time a person is reminded of this is in one of his least virtuous moments.…
From our Foreign Fields, An Update on the CLCI
Our brethren in the Church of the Lutheran Confession in India (CLCI) have approximately five hundred congregations and preaching stations, with fifteen thousand members, served by over three hundred ordained pastors. Here is a brief…
“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS July 2016
Date Verse Reading Comments
Jul 1 TLH 322 Psalm 143 Confessing our failure to do God’s will, we trust both in His mercy and in His future guidance.
Jul 2 TLH 526 Psalm 3 Protection and deliverance come from the Lord.
Jul 4 TLH 577 2 Samuel 18:28-19:4 David’s love would have given his life for sinful Absalom. Jesus’ love gave His life for all poor sinners.
Jul 5 TLH 234 1 Corinthians 2:6-14 God’s “secret wisdom” is the Gospel, revealed by the Spirit, which no human mind could have
figured out for itself.
God’s Institution of Marriage
It’s the “Same Old Same Old”
“Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”
(Genesis 2:22-24 NIV 84).
“Same old same old.”
This is the answer I received from a friend when I asked how things were going for him at work. He went on to share that he was feeling a bit burned out and yearning for something new and different from his daily work routine.
People generally use the phrase same old same old in a negative sense to describe situations that are boring or annoying (and which they might like to have changed). Yet there’s a sense in which it may be understood positively. Take God’s institution of marriage, for example. Though large segments of our society are attempting to morph it into something new (the thinking goes something like “Why should we stay mired in the same old tired ideas of yesteryear? We need to change marriage’s definition so that it includes couples of the same sex”), yet for us Christians, marriage remains the “same old” lovely institution God ordained at the dawn of time when He created Eve for Adam (Genesis 2:19-22). We hold fast to what God teaches about marriage and His “same old” definition: marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman living together as husband and wife.
“Lord, Who at Cana’s Wedding-Feast”
Hymn 620 is actually a prayer to Christ, offered in the context of a wedding ceremony. When at that wedding we sing “Thou dearer far than earthly guest,/ Vouchsafe Thy presence here” (verse 1), we are actually praying that Christ will be present at this wedding, even as He was present at the wedding in Cana, where He performed the first miracle in His public ministry.
“What a Contrast!”
“Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:6-10).
A Glory-Winning Performance
Many people follow the Academy Awards show to see which nominees did the best at playing their respective roles. The winners are much applauded for their craft and professionalism. But at the end of the…
Does the Bible Contain Mistakes?
No, the Bible doesn’t contain any mistakes. Everything it says is reliable and true, since it is given by inspiration of God. This is what makes it “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and…