Pious Lutheran

Saint Michael the Archangel Vanquishing Satan,  Rafal Hadziewicz, 1830 The Comfort of the Angels The angels were created for the sake of Christians Angels are always beholding the face of God and therefore always do His will Angels guard the children of God A blessed Michaelmas dear brothers and sisters in Christ! I know you’ve heard of Christmas, a church service celebrating the birth of Christ Jesus. But Michaelmas may sound a bit strange to your ears. In centuries past, however, Michaelmas was as well-known as any other holiday, marking the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Michaelmas is a church service celebrating St. Michael the Archangel, and in general all of the good angels. It’s unfortunate that this feast day has gone out of vogue, but it’s worth remembering yearly, because on this day God reveals His comfort for us through the holy angels. I think it’s a safe guess to make that the majority of people believe in angels. Perhaps there are more people who believe ...

Taken From:  The life of Luther in forty-eight historical engravings.   König, Gustav Ferdinand Leopold. 1900.  The ministry of heavenly wisdom draws us near to God The ministry of the pastor delivers heavenly wisdom and gifts The pastor’s goals are to lead the congregation to: Resist the devil Draw near to God Live forever in unceasing joy before the throne of God Let us pray:“ O Lord God, dear Father in heaven, I am indeed unworthy of the office and ministry in which I am to make known Your glory and to nurture and to serve this congregation. But since You have appointed me to be a pastor and teacher, and the people are in need of the teaching and the instruction, be my helper and let Your holy angels attend to me. Then if You are pleased to accomplish anything through me, to Your glory and not to mine or to the praise of men, grant me, out of Your pure grace and mercy, a right understanding of Your Word and that I may also diligently perform it. O Lord Jesus Christ, So...

Jesus gives us confidence in God’s providence Redirect our anxious energy about this life Into confident living as God’s children in His kingdom Jesus said: “ Do not be anxious about your life. ” Why do you suppose He said that? Could it be that we are in fact, often, very anxious about our lives. If you had to list some stressors in life, I’m sure you could do it without much difficulty, the harder thing may be finding enough time to list them all. You would think we wouldn’t have much stress in life, especially considering all of the technological progress we’ve made and how easy our lives can be.  You can pick up the handheld computer and order anything you want, with the press of a button you can be entertained in an instant, all without leaving your soft leather couch. You can make a meal just by opening a container or two, and heating it up for three minutes and thirty seconds in the microwave. The floor vacuums itself with a robot, the dishes and clothes need only be placed ...

The Broad and the Narrow Path,  Charlotte Reihlen & Paul Beckmann, 1886 The Word is Life and Light The Word has given much life and light to our christian forefathers The incarnate Word is Jesus He gives life and zeal through His Word He gives light and a direction in life through His Word How did our congregation get here? We are at an interesting stage of congregational life here in the midwest. Most congregations in the midwest have now been around for over a hundred years, including this congregation. This means that none of us founded this congregation, and those original founders died decades ago, so our personal knowledge of this congregation’s founding is quite distant; we can read about it, if we can speak German, but we didn’t experience it. It is fascinating to consider everything which went into founding these midwest Lutheran congregations, and the incredible sacrifices which were made by the individual members. It was common that congregations didn’t collectively ...

  Loving the Unlovable Though our sins put us at enmity with God, He loves us. We are likewise to love others, even if we’re at enmity. In the course of life it’s a common occurrence that we meet people who are very difficult to love. Because we want to think of ourselves as good people who will go to heaven, we try very hard to justify ourselves and our unloving words and actions towards those people. Sometimes we sound a bit like the lawyer, who, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor? ” Because, if he could have a few people excluded from the list of those he has to love, he wouldn’t seem like such a terrible person. Nevertheless, Jesus teaches us a lesson in loving the unlovable. I’m sure you’re all well enough acquainted with the dynamics between Israelites and Samaritans. To put it simply, they hated each other. That enmity between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel went back centuries! So in the parable when the priest and Levite walked...

Martin Luther Preaching , from the altarpiece of the Church of Torslunde, 1561 The bold, confident ministry of a pastor The insufficiency of a pastor A pastor’s confidence in Christ Since I recently accepted the call to Our Savior’s, and my ministry among you is very swiftly drawing to a close, this sets me in mostly an awkward position of being a lame duck for the time being. On the other hand, however, since I have four final sermons to preach to you, this also sets me in a unique position to prepare you for your next resident pastor. In a way I can now preach to you in such a way that was more complicated previously. For example, it’s awkward for a pastor to preach about the office of the holy ministry, and what a pastor is, while he is the local pastor, because it requires him to talk about himself in a way that is uncomfortable. But since I’m departing soon, lot’s of things are already a bit awkward, so let’s lean into the awkwardness and address this very important subject. Parti...