Pious Lutheran

G. K. Chesterton wrote the following poem, can you guess the title? When fishes flew and forests walked    And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood    Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry    And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody    On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth,    Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,    I keep my secret still. Fools! For I also had my hour;    One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears,    And palms before my feet. The title of the poem? The Donkey. So it was that Christ rode into Jerusalem, as the King of all the world, with cloaks and branches spread across the road, while the crowds shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Here comes Christ, riding in on a donkey, a beast which bears burdens. Christ comes as our humble King to bring us peace. Looking back on

  As I sat down to put this Thanksgiving service together, I was reading through the usual assigned Bible passages and hymn suggestions. Truly, after reflecting on them, we do have every reason to give thanks to God, even during 2020! He has so richly blessed us in this land. Our nation is among the richest of peoples to have ever lived and prospered. Our land is incredibly productive and fruitful, our houses are strong and warm, and it’s not uncommon to live to 70 or even 80 or 90. We have luxuries and toys available to most people that not even kings and queens of could have dreamt up. Even during a global pandemic, the vast majority of people who contract it survive. Not only has God blessed us with temporal gifts, but even more so with spiritual gifts. Here in our country, up until lately, we’ve had unrivaled freedom throughout the world to live and act as Christians. Here in the Lutheran church, God has blessed us with His pure word and unadulterated sacraments. We have heaven on

  Christ said, “ The Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ” Thus, the church is like the ten virgins, sitting outside of the bride’s house awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom to bring them into the wedding feast. St. Paul wrote: “ Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. ” Thus, the church is also like the military, armed and prepared for battle, ready for anything and everything, at a moment’s notice! As the virgins, which were like bridesmaids, our job is to wait for the bridegroom and when he comes we carry lamps to enlighten the darkness. As soldiers of the cross, our job is to be prepared for an enemy assault, by keeping our gear, minds, bodies, and hearts in tiptop condition. In both cases our job is to be prepared, to be awake and alert. We’re waiting not for our enemies to attack (they’re already doing that), but we’re waiti

  Jesus said: ““ Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” ”  The same point can be made today just by looking at some cash in your wallet. There’s a face on that money, and it’s not yours. In big capital letters your money says UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and it’s got various names and signatures written on it, and none of those names are your name. Thus, when the government demands you to give them money, the money that has their name on it, you hand it over.  I don’t believe this is terribly controversial among us. We should pay our taxes. But that’s not really the point of what Jesus is getting at. Rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s isn’t too complicated. Thus, the greater thing Jesus commands, is that we render “ to God the things that are God’s. ” But what exactly is His? What pr

There’s a lot of talk about debt in our lives. We talk about the $27 trillion US national debt, the student loan debt, credit card debt, mortgages and car loans. Politicians use debt as a means to get you to vote for them, promising to lower your debts. Men like Dave Ramsey are very popular because they give common sense advice to help people get out from under their debt.  But Jesus today talks to us about a different kind of debt, a debt due to our sin. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.” That debtor who owed the master 10,000 talents, that’s us! It’s not an insignificant debt, either. One talent is the equivalent to 20 years’ wages. Thus, a debt of 10,000 talents is the equivalent to owing 200,000 year’s worth of wages. It’s an impossibly huge burden from which you could never hope to escape. No politician could make that kind of

Jesus is called by the prophet Isaiah the Man of Sorrows, the Man of Pain. An aptly applied title for sure. St. Bernard described Christ’s life as an ever incessant suffering. Throughout Christ’s life, He experienced poverty, hunger, thirst, despising, persecution, mockery, shame, slander, scorn, anxiety, sadness, divine judgment, and finally death upon the cursed tree.  Just as the Master endured such sorrows, so are we, His servants, to endure the same. “ If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ” Christians are called to a long night of suffering and persecution, like their Master Christ, so that they may be greatly rewarded with Him in heaven. Thus Jesus prepares His disciples in that great sermon on the mount for this sort of suffering. “ Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against