Pious Lutheran

Stanzas 1-4 1 Salvation unto us has come By God's free grace and favor; Good works cannot avert our doom, They help and save us never. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, Who did for all the world atone; He is our one Redeemer. 2 What God did in His Law demand And none to Him could render Caused wrath and woe on ev'ry hand For man, the vile offender. Our flesh has not those pure desires The spirit of the Law requires, And lost is our condition. 3 It was a false, misleading dream That God His Law had given That sinners could themselves redeem And by their works gain heaven. The Law is but a mirror bright To bring the inbred sin to light That lurks within our nature. 4 From sin our flesh could not abstain, Sin held its sway unceasing; The task was useless and in vain, Our guilt was e'er increasing. None can remove sin's poisoned dart Or purify our guileful heart-- So deep is our corruption. Homily 1: The central message of the Lutheran Reformation, both 503 years ago and t...

  My baby is with God and God is with me. When an elderly person dies, we try to comfort ourselves with words like “At least they lived a long life,” or “At least I got to spend many years with them.” Or even when a younger person dies, we can say things like “At least I got to know them,” “At least I got to meet them and spend some time with them, even if it was too short.”  But when your baby dies, you can’t even say those useless platitudes, because you never got to know your baby. All you have is maybe a positive pregnancy test or an ultrasound picture or heard a heartbeat or felt a kick or maybe even saw their tiny body, but you never got to know them. All of your hopes and dreams for your baby were extinguished while they were still being knit together; they had only just begun to live.  All you’re left with is that gnawing grief and question: Why? Why is my baby gone? Well intentioned people try to give an answer, doling out comfortless platitudes: “At least they w...

  Our Epistle today is part of St. Paul’s final letter before his death. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, a younger pastor in Ephesus, while Paul was imprisoned in Rome. The previous year Paul had been released from prison, but then famously Rome burned while Nero played the lyre, and the Christians were blamed for the flames and thus Paul was rearrested. Paul then writes these words to Timothy while awaiting his execution. “ For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. ” Paul, knowing that he would soon be beheaded, is still filled with great hope. It’s incredible, even though his head is going to be cut off, he talks about God giving him a crown of righteousnes...

  Dear family and friends of Dennis, the psalmist writes: “ I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. ” In the wake of the death of a son, brother, father, grandfather, and friend, it can seem as though there is no hope for a brighter future with your loved one and that all you have left are memories to celebrate. But there is hope and there is One who supplies us with hope: God. I didn’t know Dennis well, so I won’t even try to tell you the stories which you know better than I ever will. But one thing I do want to mention about Dennis, is that in one of my conversations with him, it became evident to me that he was a skilled hard-working man and loved to have a good time. Based on that I’m sure you’ve been sharing lots of fun memories with each other for the past few weeks especially, and I encourage you to continue doing so in the days and months to come. But there’s more to this life than working hard an...

  A few weeks ago we heard a lawyer ask Jesus “ What shall I do to inherit eternal life. ” Jesus asked the man what was written in the law and how he reads it. The lawyer answered with nearly the same words that Jesus says today: “ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. ” The lawyer’s answer then, and Jesus’ answer today, are both correct. Frankly, that answer is not controversial in the least. When Jesus says: “ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, ” Jesus is just quoting verbatim the Shema , the greatest commandment in the Old Testament from Deuteronomy 6:5. When Jesus says “ You shall love your neighbor as yourself, ” He’s just quoting Leviticus. These are Sunday school answers any Israelite child could have given! The interesting thing here isn’t the answer, but the question. They were asking the wr...

A recent addition to my office wall is a small reprint of the closed view of the Isenheim Altarpiece, known as a polyptych, as shown in the image here. Painted in 1512 by Matthias Grünewald, for the Monastery of St. Anthony in Isenheim. The monks of this monastery took upon themselves the care of those suffering from skin diseases such as the plague and ergotism (known as St. Anthony's Fire). Before we consider the central image, let's look at the two side panels. On the left, we see St. Sebastian.According to tradition, he was martyred during the 3rd Century, during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. He was tied to a post and then shot with arrows. The arrows however didn't end up killing him, so upon recovering he went to the emperor and called him to repentance for his sins. At which time, the emperor had him beat to death. St. Sebastian, during the time of the plague in later centuries, became more popular among plague sufferers because arrows...

Our Learn by Heart Hymn at church for the month of October is A Mighty Fortress by Martin Luther. The hymn is based upon Psalm 46, which begins with: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." It's been commonly referred to as the battle hymn of the reformation, but it's not only that, it's also a battle hymn of this Christian life. Life in this sinful world is a battle against Satan. Our evil foe is constantly attacking us with his holy sounding lies. If at anytime we feel as though we're not in a battle, then the foe has indeed taken the upper hand in our lives, since he's managed to convince us to stop fighting against him. Dear Christian, wake up from your slumber! Take up the shield of faith and sword of the Word, and return to the Fortress!  From the fortress you can see the valiant One, Jesus Christ, fighting for you upon the plain! The world is filled with devils, eager to devour you, but the little Word incarnate crushes the...

Jesus said, “ Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. ” St. Paul teaches us something similar: “ I … urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness. ” Humility, you might say, is somewhat of a Christian virtue. Let us, therefore, humble ourselves beneath the cross of Christ, so that God may raise us from the pit of the grave to the glory of heaven. Jesus, while having supper with the pharisees, taught them (as He teaches us) about humility by telling a parable: “ When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, mo...