A couple of weeks ago, a group of pastors gathered at a regional conference were confronted with the oft repeated axiom that Lutherans are ‘moral quietists.’ They’re not seen as engaging in the critical works that society needs. Perhaps they’re not demonstrably making a difference in bringing the housing crisis to an end. They’re not…

Dear Saints and Friends of Immanuel Lutheran Church and School, October 30, 2024 St. John the apostle asks, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word and talk, but in…

Going to church is a chore, especially when better things are always presenting themselves to the imagination when you’re sitting, yet again, through another sermon that is stretching dangerously beyond the fifteen-minute threshold of your attention span. At home there’s Netflix. There’s yardwork to be done. You can unplug and not be stressed by being…

Verse 9: Pharaoh demands a מוֹפֵת “wonder, sign, portent” from Moses and Aaron, or as the Hebrew puts it more literally, “set for yourself a sign.” This demand for a sign is perhaps indicative of how the cults of the gods and their sorcerer priests justified their service to pharaoh and all of Egypt. It…

If you’re interested in the church’s history, you might find these ten videos interesting. They provide a rough outline of the events, persons, and movements that have shaped the church which we see today. It also helps to disintguish between the church properly speaking, the congregation of the faithful, and the church as it is…

How Does the Old Testament Proclaim Christ? Perhaps the most important part of Bible Study is the most neglected. We open up the Scriptures and expect profound, life-changing truths leap off the page, as if the Bible is greatest collection of life hacks ever. But the truth is that the Bible doesn’t exist to improve…

A thesis is just that, a thesis. It’s a starting point of discussion and argument. It’s not the definitive statement on a matter, though it might make an important step in that direction. I’m not articulating the side of one group or another as much as I’m trying to sort through my own position. If…

Theses on Mankind I. God created man in his own image, male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27) II. The distinction between male and female is an order of creation through which God increases and blesses mankind. (Gen. 1:28; 2:24; Ex. 20:14; Matt. 19:6) III. Consequently, the honor due parents from their children is…

“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Revelation 14:7). Too often we’ve been told that God doesn’t want respect in worship. We’ve been told to treat him more like a drinking buddy in…

The materialism of our world, which tries to explain everything in terms of energy and atoms, cringes away in horror when a Christian mentions his belief in spiritual beings like angels and demons. Why? Materialism was designed to exclude these creatures from mature and educated conversation. Materialism was engineered to slander all things immaterial and spiritual…

A recent dispute among the churches of the Missouri Synod made me dive back into the wisdom of our Lutheran Fathers as articulated in the Formula of Concord, one of the confessional documents to which we have promised to adhere in this congregation and throughout the Synod. The dispute was over whether the Sacrament of…

Read Genesis 11:1-9. The whole earth had one language and the same words. That means both husbands and wives knew what “I’m fine” meant. Having one language and the same words, they understood. No one needed to be told what a word meant. Imagine that.  Clarity of language is certainly God’s will for us. The…

Our bodies and minds, like the rest of the world around us, are wearing out. Like a garment, we’re getting frayed at the edges and threadbare. Words and phrases don’t come as quickly as they once did. Lugging the old Christmas decorations out of the closet puts a bit more strain on our back muscles…

To be a martyr, in the eyes and understanding of the world, is to die for a cause,’ though there is more to it than that. Soldiers go to war and sometimes die for a cause which they may agree with or not. When they fall, we seldom, if ever, call them martyrs. More often…

How do you get new people into church? In the late twentieth century the temptation was to look at the booming congregations in the suburbs, adopt their mission and vision statements, shell out money for one of their motivational speakers, and expect their success to become yours. The trouble, as many envious, small congregations discovered,…

Stewardship can be confusing which is weird because I grew up hearing about stewardship all the time. The church’s stewardship committee would organize Bible studies. They would hand out ‘spiritual gift inventories’ to give folks an idea of how much of their time, talent, and treasure they had available to give to the church. Spoiler…

Not all governments are the same. Some governments are better at preserving justice and rewarding virtue. Corrupt governments reward vice and punish those who do good. Some governments preserve a greater share of liberty and freedom for its citizens. Other governments are jealous of power and become repressive and restrictive. Governments sometimes come to power…

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend over the past year. The families of the departed have started to insist on no visitations, no funerals, and no memorials. Perhaps it has something to do with anxiety and fear surrounding the COVID virus. Perhaps it has something to do with the modesty of the generation that’s burying the…

e Word with them. In lands where only the incantations to dead images of wood and stone had been heard a new and living God’s voice filled the gentile hearts. Yes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob promised great works and salvation to his people, but he also promised to gather a people who…

chosen authority and putting the whole community at risk through our risky behavior. When our human minds weigh the options, when our hearts weigh the moral hazards, we tend to think in terms of all or nothing. ‘Pastor,’ I’ve been told, ‘you’ve told us the fourth commandment tells us to obey the worldly authorities so…

These striking words introduce a theological theme at direct odds with the emphasis on one’s increasing perfection and holiness. Luther doesn’t speak about partial righteousness nor partial sinfulness. Both complete realities exist at the same time. How is this possible? Can this paradox be reconciled with reason or the Bible? There’s a clue in Luther’s…

“David was an outstanding king, and he really had his wallet and treasury full of money, his barns full of grain, his land full of all kinds of goods and provisions. In spite of all this he had to be a poor beggar spiritually, as he sings of himself (Ps. 39:12): “I am poor, and…

Angels are immaterial and unseen persons who are part of God’s creation which we confess every week in the divine service – “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.” When they appear in the course of our history, they terrify humans with…

John Gerhard’s On Interpreting Sacred Scripture is a master work of theological clarity and comfort that takes no shame in articulating every bit of Christian teaching from the Bible alone. One of the fruits of this endeavor are various theological axioms that Christians should keep in mind as they read and interpret the Bible. The…