Pious Lutheran

The Entry into Jerusalem , Hans Holbein the Elder, 1501 The Goal of Our Righteous King The goal of Christmas isn’t a baby Jesus The goal of Christmas is the cross Jesus’ goal is to be our King and to deliver us His righteousness This time of year always leads to a strange contrast between the church and the world. The world is celebrating, wishing one another happy holidays, throwing Christmas parties, eating lots of good food, exchanging gifts, having family reunions, and imbibing in this materialistic culture of buying gobs of stuff. The Christmas decorations have been up since Halloween, and really ramped up after Thanksgiving. Then, on December 26th, all of the decorations come down and Christmas is over in the eyes of the world. Then After New Years’ Eve, the parties end and people try to diet since they ate too much in November and December. But it’s just the opposite in the church. Advent is a penitential season of fasting before the feast of Christmas on December 25th, and Chri...

Jesus Christ the King of Kings and Great Bishop, circa 1600 Jesus is our King He rules over us with gentleness He has come to save us. Happy new year dear christians! This world orders the days, seasons, and years by the movement of the sun and the moon in the sky. We christians however order our days not by this creation, but according to the Creator. The Christian year of grace doesn’t follow the sun in the sky, but follows the Son of God, Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior, our King who comes to save us. So the Christian year begins with Advent, four Sundays with which to prepare our hearts for our coming King. Today we reflect upon the profound reality that Jesus is our King. As our King He rules over us with gentleness and He has come to save us. In recent years the idea of a monarchy and having a king has been becoming increasingly popular. Part of the appeal is, I would guess, the result of romanticized kings in books and movies. Like the ancient Israelites who demanded earthly king...

Entry Into Jerusalem , Giotto, 1266-1337 Happy new year! The world celebrates the new year on December 31st and January 1st by eating junk food and getting drunk, but the Chrsitian church celebrates the new year at the beginning of Advent by preparing for the second coming of Christ. The world hopes to make the next year better by making resolutions. The church looks ahead to the next year and hopes in the Lord; during this new year of grace we prepare to meet the King who comes to save us. Whenever we look ahead and come to something new, there’s bound to be fear in the unknown. None of us know what the next year will bring, let alone what this very day will bring! Many European countries have been reimplementing their strict covid restrictions about where people can go and who they can gather with. Will those restrictions come back here in Iowa? I don’t know. On December 1st the Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and...

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,...

Today is the first day of the new church year, so happy new year! With every new year we are again given the opportunity to start anew, give it a fresh beginning! Today I’d like to do that as Christians. You’ve confessed your sins and have received God’s forgiveness, you’re a new creation being made again in the light of Christ Jesus. Put the past behind and let’s go forward in the new year with joy!  For married couples, when they want a fresh start they have a renewal of their wedding vows. For us Christians, it would be wise for us to have a renewal of our vows, namely our confirmation vows. So before we begin the sermon in earnest today, let’s start this new year afresh by renewing our confirmation vows. Open up your hymnals to page 272. I’ll read the parts marked with a P, and you’ll read the parts marked with an R or C. ... Having just renewed your confirmation vows, if you were to look back on your life since your confirmation or your baptism, how would you say that y...

A blessed New Year to you all! Today marks the beginning not of Christmas, but Advent. I know the decorations, and ads, and stores, and radio stations and tv shows all trick us into thinking it’s Christmas already, but it’s not. Today is the first day in Advent. Advent is a penitential season, a season of repentance and preparation, a time to reflect upon our sinfulness and need of the Savior who is coming. As such our midweek Advent services are just a bit subdued in order to aid us in quiet reflection and devotion to the Word of God.  During Advent we focus on the coming of Christ. We remember not only His coming 2000 years ago, which we do; we not only anticipate His coming again on the last, which we also do; but we reflect upon His coming today in the present. As the crowds shouted, “ Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! ” Jesus is coming today, present tense. The Advent of our Christ continues today when He p...