Pious Lutheran

Moses Before the Burning Bush , Domenico Fetti, 1613 Jesus’ Glory Is Encouragement on the Way The christian way is burdened with many crosses Jesus reveals His glory in order to strengthen us Out of the pot and into the frying pan would be an apt description of Moses’ early years in Egypt. You might remember when Moses was born Pharaoh had made an executive order that “ Every son born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile. ” So after Moses’ mother could no longer hide him, he was placed in a floating basket into the Nile to be found by one of Pharaoh's daughters. She had compassion on him and in a fantastic turn of events Moses’ own mother was paid to nurse him until he was weaned. And then, Moses became Pharaoh’s daughter’s son and was raised in the palace. Years later, when Moses had grown up, he became angry when he saw how his people were treated by the Egyptians, and he killed an Egyptian. It became known to Pharaoh so Moses had to flee for his life and he lived in a for

The Transfiguration of Christ,  Peter Paul Rubens, 1605 “Listening to Jesus.” God speaks from Mt. Sinai and Mt. Calvary God speaks from the scriptures We listen to Jesus only Why are you a Christian? More specifically, why are you a Lutheran? More specifically yet, why do you belong to this congregation of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod? Membership in a congregation assumes that you share the beliefs of that congregation and the larger church body to which that congregation belongs. So when we belong to a church we should be sure that we believe what that church teaches, and we should be sure that we believe what the pastor teaches. But this raises some questions: How do we know what we should believe? How do we evaluate whether a church or a pastor is right or wrong? Different church bodies believe different things, so who is correct? God the Father answers this question for us: “ behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son,

Transfiguration of Jesus , Carl Block, 1872 The liturgical Christian year reflects the life of Christ. Because the Christian life is bound up in Christ, the liturgical year also reflects the life of a Christian. During a lifetime there are highs and there are lows, just as during the ministry of Christ there were highs and lows. In the church year we have great high feasts and low penitential seasons. Transfiguration comes as a high point at the end of Epiphany, which came right at the end of Christmas. Transfiguration comes right before the season of lenten preparation, then we reach lent itself, and holy week, and finally Good Friday before we can ultimately reach that joyous high feast of Easter. In order to endure this long penitential season of Lent we first go to the mount of Transfiguration. Similarly, the Transfiguration took place historically at the end of Jesus’ ministry; as He came down the mountain He turned His face to Jerusalem and the hill He must die on. In order for P

“ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ” “ The disciples fell on their faces and were terrified. ” Upon hearing the voice of God their heavenly Father, these people fell down and hid their faces, cowering in terror. That probably seems like an unusual reaction to you, doesn’t it? Why would anyone want to hide from God? Shouldn’t they have been overjoyed that God spoke to them directly? Shouldn’t they have begun dancing with delight and singing God’s praises? Why were they sore afraid when they heard God?  Well, their reaction to the sound of God’s presence is nothing unusual in the Bible, these aren’t isolated instances. After Adam and Eve fell into sin, they hid from God because they were afraid of Him when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. When God spoke to Abraham, the first words God had to say to him were “Fear not!” When the angels appeared to the shepherds after the birth of Christ, the shepherds were filled with great fear.  I

What is it that you believe about God and how is it that you’ve come to that belief? Epistemology is the study of knowing and believing. Based upon the study of epistomology, we’ve come to recognize that there are many different sources by which we come to know and believe the things that we think. We learn how to read, write, and do arithmetic from differents sources like textbooks,  teachers, and basic experience.  I learned how to cook mostly from watching my mother, my mom is the source I have for learning about how to prepare food. I learned how to grow a garden from my father, thus my dad is the source of my knowledge about plants. In fact everything that we observe, watch, listen to, experience, is a source of knowledge for us.  If you like to listen to pop music on the radio, then Justin Beiber is a source of your knowledge. If you like to watch CNN or Fox News, then those stations are a source of your knowledge. If you like to watch sitcoms like I Love Lucy or the Big Ban