Pious Lutheran

In recent days there has been a lot of talk in the news and throughout our society about repentance. Everywhere you turn people are kneeling and calling others to repentance. Repentance is a good thing! A common refrain in the Bible is the call to repentance! Recognizing that you’re a sinner who has done bad things is a fundamental part of being Christian.  Still, as good as a thing repentance is, our society doesn’t have it quite right and is missing a few things. Without going into all of the controversial details about our current societal strife that we’re all tired of listening to, the biggest thing that our society has wrong about repentance is the lack of forgiveness. That’s a big deal, because repentance without forgiveness is worthless and in fact repenting without being forgiven is nothing more than self-righteousness!  Remember what the catechism says about Confession: “Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution...

 I like to eat. I like banquets and feasts and dinner parties. I suspect I’m not alone in my proclivities towards supper. It’s something of a human characteristic to take great joy in food and having suppers. Whenever we have big parties, be it a holiday gathering, a wedding, a birthday, or a reunion, the central event is a meal of some sort.  A meal, the large Sabbath day supper, is the context for today’s Gospel. “One Sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees...When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” ” From this earthly banquet, which the man is enjoying with Jesus, they turn to the heavenly banquet which takes place in the kingdom of God. Indeed, the scriptures themselves are filled with suppers, but not suppers which fill only our bellies, rather, the scriptures point us to the greater suppers beyond this life.  So for a few minutes t...

Christ says a lot about money and wealth. He says “ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? ” Again He says, “ How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God .” Or in the parable of the rich fool, God says to the rich man who relaxed and found pleasure in his worldly riches: “ ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. ” Right before our Gospel lesson today, Jesus said to the Pharisees: “ No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”   Christ uses this parable today of the rich man and Lazarus to teach us of the dangers of having more worldly ...

Marlon and Tammy, children and grandchildren, relatives and friends, may the God of peace and joy rule your hearts with the Gospel of Jesus Christ who died so that you may live in Him. Forty years ago today, on a Friday the 13th, Marlon and Tammy were united in holy matrimony by a justice of the peace, as Marlon related to me. If you’re a superstitious fellow, that might have seemed like a foolish thing to do, as though from such a marriage no good could come. But as we’ve witnessed these past forty years, much good has come from the fruit of their union together. That’s because marriage doesn’t belong to superstitious Satan, but marriage belongs to God wherever it happens and on whichever day it begins.  The same words that describe Adam and Eve’s marriage, describe this marriage which we’re celebrating today. “ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ” And as Jesus explained: “ So they are no longer two but...

"My loved one is dying, and the pastor can't come, what do I do?" Over the past few months, nursing homes and hospitals have been closed to visitors, and at times they won't let the pastor come in even when someone is nearing death. What can you do, even when pastor can't come? Read the Bible While it may seem that your loved one is unconscious or asleep, especially since they aren't talking with you and their eyes are closed, however, from my experiences, I've seen hearing improve as death looms closer. Even if they appear to be asleep, it's highly probable they can hear you. So open your Bible and read to them. It will comfort you and them. Some suggested readings: Psalms 6, 22, 23, 32, 38, 51, 102, 118, 130, 143 The passion and resurrection accounts: Matthew 26-28, Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24, John 18-21 Psalm 4:8 Psalm 27:1 Psalm 31:1 Psalm 73:26 Luke 2:25-32 John 3:16-17 John 10:14-28 Isaiah 53:4-5 Luke 23:39-43 John 11:21-27 Romans 14:7-9 2 Corinthian...

Today on Trinity Sunday we got to hear two of the most beautiful things in church! Firstly, we all confessed together in unison with our own tongues the “long creed,” the Athanasian Creed. With those words we very concisely summarize the Christian faith that God is Triune. Secondly today, we all heard that Gospel in a nutshell, many people’s favorite Bible verse, John 3:16. “ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ” With those words we heard what God’s will is for us, namely that we would be saved through the atoning death of Christ. Today we heard who God is and what His will is for us, because those two things are intrinsically united and two sides of the same coin. You cannot know who God is apart from His will for you to save you, neither can you know God’s will of your salvation apart from knowing God’s identity. The two only make sense if you know both of them, because if you only know one side ...