Pious Lutheran

“ For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ” Could you imagine being a day-laborer? Never knowing if you will have a job each day and if you’ll make any money to provide for your family. If you’ve ever been unemployed you’ve probably experienced a similar feeling. So could you imagine suddenly being hired by someone who doesn’t need your labor?  That’s what has taken place in today’s Gospel reading: a master of a house who already has servants to do His labor, goes out and hires more laborers.  None of this is done for His benefit, but it’s all for the benefit of those whom He hires. Likewise, we who have nothing have been called by our Lord and Master, Jesus. He has called us into His vineyard and He has promised us a great reward at the end. We are like the unemployed day-laborers, we don’t have any mark...

What is it that you believe about God and how is it that you’ve come to that belief? Epistemology is the study of knowing and believing. Based upon the study of epistomology, we’ve come to recognize that there are many different sources by which we come to know and believe the things that we think. We learn how to read, write, and do arithmetic from differents sources like textbooks,  teachers, and basic experience.  I learned how to cook mostly from watching my mother, my mom is the source I have for learning about how to prepare food. I learned how to grow a garden from my father, thus my dad is the source of my knowledge about plants. In fact everything that we observe, watch, listen to, experience, is a source of knowledge for us.  If you like to listen to pop music on the radio, then Justin Beiber is a source of your knowledge. If you like to watch CNN or Fox News, then those stations are a source of your knowledge. If you like to watch sitcoms like I Love Lucy ...

“ On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ” It really is quite remarkable that the first miracle that Jesus performs during His earthly ministry is at a wedding. This says quite a lot about who Jesus is and who Jesus came to serve. Jesus’s first miracle could have been in front of kings and rulers, but it wasn’t. He could have performed His first miracle in front of the the theological elite, the priests and pharisees, but He didn’t. Instead He performed His first miracle at an ordinary wedding, in service of ordinary people. Jesus is the beloved Son of God who has come to serve everyone, even the most lowly and ordinary people. What’s more, Jesus came to serve us in our ordinary lives.  God isn’t just the God of unusual and extraordinary circumstances. But He is our God who desires to serve us even in the most basic, fundamental, boring at times facets of life. While ...

“ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ” Paul originally spoke those words to the Christians in Corinth, and those same words could easily be spoken about us American Christians, us Iowa Christians, today. Now I highly suspect that the church at Corinth didn’t take too kindly to these words of admonition.  Afterall, Paul just called them unwise, unpowerful, and of ignoble birth. Then I just said the same thing to you. Those words are kind of offensive, aren’t they. Who says we’re not wise according to worldly standards? Statistically speaking, American Christians are mostly middle to upper middle-class, which means we’re better educated and make wiser financial decisions than the average person. Who says we’re not powerful? We have influence and power over our local governments! Who says we are of ignoble birth? We’re Americans! We the people are noble simply by that f...