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These are the online postings of Pastor’s monthly newsletter articles.
The Easter Vigil is intended to be celebrated on the evening of Holy Saturday, the evening before the joys of Easter burst forth in full bloom. As far as the “Easter” part goes, this draws us back to the great Hebrew pesach (in Greek, pascha); that is, the Passover. Celebrating the Old Testament Passover was…
This year we will do something new here at Good Shepherd: we will celebrate the Easter Vigil on Saturday, April 15th at 7:15 p.m. While the Easter Vigil may be new to us here at Good Shepherd, it is actually quite old in the history of the Church. In fact, the Easter Vigil has been…
Waiting and watching do not come easy for us impatient, busy, on-the-go Americans. But for our Christian faith and life, waiting and watching are good spiritual discipline and restore peace and order to our restless, chaotic lives. So I ask you: Can you “do the Vigil”? Now, I don’t mean some kind of new dance…
You’re going to hear it in the Lutheran church: “We don’t do such-and-such because it’s Roman Catholic.” Be it chanting, certain vestments, processions, bowing, genuflecting, crucifixes, sometimes even the Sacrament every Lord’s Day – these have all been met with the charge that they are Roman Catholic, and that the point of the Lutheran Reformation…
What is Stewardship? Christian stewardship is the faithful management of our financial resources and all we have. It begins with the understanding that all we have is God’s (Ps. 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein”) and that “we brought nothing into the world, and…
Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, “And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (3:15b-16) At the heart of the worship of God is the communication of…
Dear Friends, This month I have just a little bit to share with you, and then I want to share a passage that Martin Luther wrote about repentance. It’s well worth reading a couple times and thinking about. Especially note in Luther’s words the emphasis on the gift of repentance as nothing other than an…
Last month I highlighted the three chief books that every Christian should have and treasure: the Bible, the Small Catechism, and the hymnal. This month, I want to focus especially on the Small Catechism, and encourage you to take up and keep doing the practice of reading and memorizing the catechism for you and your…
Christ calls men into the Office of the Holy Ministry in His Church. He does this for the sake of the Gospel: Christ’s death for Sin and resurrection for the justification of all mankind is accomplished (“It is finished.”), and it is given out by the Word proclaimed in Absolution and Sermon, Baptism, and the…
Last month, we began to review and consider the Lord’s institution of the Office of the Holy Ministry in Scripture. We learned that the Pastoral Office is established by Jesus Christ with very specific tasks to be done: making disciples by baptizing and teaching, and forgiving or retaining sins (this is often referred to as…