Dear Friends in Christ, This year, Ascension Day is on May 10th. It’s a Thursday. Ascension always falls on a Thursday, because it falls 40 days after Easter Sunday. 40 days after Christ’s resurrection, He ascended to the right hand of the Father. In this case, the timing of the liturgical year is simply following…

Dear Saints, When it comes how we receive the Lord’s Supper together, we must always rely on the words of our Lord. Christ’s word is truth, and it is the norming norm – that is, the Word of God is the thing which helps us understand everything else. We don’t ask ourselves, “How might Christ…

Dear Beloved, We prepare to do all sorts of things. Getting ready for a night out on the town involves dressing up, making dinner reservations, and perhaps arranging for babysitting. Getting ready for golf season involves cleaning the clubs, paying your dues, and making a few trips to the driving range to straighten out your…

Dear Saints, It’s probably almost routine at this point: we sing “O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us…” You await an usher to come by your pew, you stand and process to the rail, you kneel (or stand), the pastor comes by saying “Take,…

Dear Beloved, Do you take the time to read your Bible at home? By yourself, and especially with the rest of your household (spouse, children, if the Lord has granted them to you)? If this is an area in need of improvement, please heed my advice: now is the time to start. But don’t overdo…

Dear Friends in Christ, “How can I help?” Don’t we love to hear this question asked? This question gets at the heart of what it is to be a Christian. We teach and confess, from Scripture, that the Christian life is made up of faith toward God and love towards our neighbor. What we call…

Dear Fellow Beloved, 500 years ago, Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, challenging the medieval Roman Catholic system of indulgences and the authority of the Pope to control Christ’s treasury of merit. Over the next several years, Luther’s think and writing would reflect a deeper realization of the extensive corruption of the Christian Church in…

Dear Friends in Christ, I thought I knew how to pray. I thought I was good at bringing my needs and the needs of my neighbor to the Lord in prayer. How does the saying go? “Pride goeth before a fall”? Or, as St. Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians, “Therefore let anyone who thinks…

Dear Saints, I was thinking the other day that in October it will be 5 years since our Lord called me here to serve you with His Word and Sacraments. What a blessing it is to be here. It was a big change when I went to the seminary, a big change when I was…

Dear Friends in Christ, It’s summer (or just about), and that’s a time where we often enjoy vacations and time off. Organized youth sports are in full swing, even though it sure seems like that’s a year-round proposition nowadays. We have many wonderful summer activities planned here at Good Shepherd. The Families First Weekends are…