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Sermon - Trinity XIII, 2026 - 2 Chronicles 28:8-15

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The Good Samaritan, Joseph Highmore, 1744   God’s People are Those Who Have Faith in Him We typically think my people are those who are like me externally History of the two kingdoms The Faithful Remnant of Samaria was more faithful than Judah We are God’s people through faith The lawyer asked Jesus: “ Who is my neighbor? ” That’s another way of asking: “Who are my people?” We ask this question because like prefers like and we want to love those people who are like us more than we love those who are not like us. This is a generally true principle in many facets of life. We do this in mostly playful ways with sports, where we greatly prefer our team which we identify with and we do not like the rival teams. This happens more seriously between countries, sometimes even to the point of war. This happens with some seriousness between political parties, sometimes leading to political assassinations. This happens in families when one family member defends another even through criminal be...
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Isenheim Altarpiece: Christ Who Knows My Pain

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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...
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A Mighty Fortress!

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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...
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Tradition: Passing Down the Treasures

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(The following is a newspaper article published in Emmetsburg and Algona, IA on differing dates.) “Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you” (1 Cor. 11:2). “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter”( 2 Thess. 2:15).  American culture has long been skeptical of tradition, believing that we humans are progressively improving from one generation to the next. So we discard the old simply because it’s old while we believe that the new must be better. Perhaps this is in part due to the industrial revolution and many recent technological advances: Eg, a car is better than a horse-drawn buggy.  But too often we apply this “newer is better” principle also to other facets of our civilization. We’ve come to believe that Google is better than memorization, colored lights are better than stained glass, listening to music is b...
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"Help! My loved one is dying and my pastor can't come!"

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"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...
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