Pious Lutheran

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...

“ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! ” “ Behold, your King is coming to you. ” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: we are just three short weeks away from Christmas beginning. Stores may have had their Christmas items out since before halloween, but now it’s December, Christmas is definitely coming. Thus with Christmas on the mind of our nation, what’s personally on your mind? Do visions of sugar-plums dance in your head? Or like many, is your mind preoccupied with matters you’d rather it not be? Instead of excitement, you feel only anxiety over the long to-do list. Instead of joy, you feel only loneliness. Instead of jubilation, you feel only sorrow about those who you can’t spend Christmas with. The only thing on your mind is that long illness, the winter blues, old memories you wish could be made new again. My dear friends, today marks ...