Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken some time to review my Call Document to be your pastor. The Call Document is a set of papers which were filled out by the congregation’s Voters Assembly (or perhaps a Board tasked by the Voters to do so) when seeking to call me as your pastor. This…

It’s good for us to recognize that there are two Christmases; one true, the other a pale imitation. This “two Christmases” thing sometimes peeks out when we have the inevitable yearly discussion of the war on Christmas: when this store or that store doesn’t say “Merry Christmas” but instead “Happy Holidays” or something like that.…

At the November Voters’ Meeting, as we do every year, we passed a budget for the operation of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in 2015. Again we’ve been blessed with a peaceful meeting without a contentious atmosphere but instead with one of cooperation and agreement. For the sake of the Gospel, we continue to be blessed…

I know that many of you aren’t in the habit of using the Small Catechism on a regular basis. I want to encourage you to take up that habit in your household, along with regular reading of the Scriptures and prayer. The weekly Green Sheet provides opportunity to do this. But even those who are…

Worship: What Does This Mean? is the name of the class that will begin on September 14th, during the Scripture Study hour on Sunday mornings. This is a class that’s for all of the adults and high school youth of the congregation. Similar to our study of the Lord’s Supper last year, I intend this…

So-called “Gay Marriage” is now the law of the land in the State of Illinois. The idea of marriage as a life-long union of one man and one woman is considered, at best, quaint and old-fashioned; at worst, hateful and bigoted. Even amongst those who recognize that marriage is only  possible between one man and…

Nowadays we are obsessed with being healthy. We work hard at doing the right exercises. We want to rid our bodies of toxins, pollutants, and other unnatural things. We seek only to put in those things which are pure, natural, and beneficial. Some of us go to extreme lengths to ensure this. Why? We want…

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! What joyous, wonderful words we Christians have to greet one another with during this Easter season! Thanks be to God: it wasn’t enough that sin should be paid for by Jesus on the cross. No, God the Father also raised Him from the dead, a sure…

In his movie The Passion of the Christ Mel Gibson makes a few alterations to the dialogue of Christ’s last hours, for dramatic effect. I recall one line in particular that Jesus utters to His mother Mary while fallen down in pain and exhaustion: “…I make all things new,” Jesus says. I remember seeing the…