This is 8th Grade Confirmation Sunday here at St. Paul’s, a very special day for our six 8th graders who have been examined by the Elders of the congregation. They now will have an opportunity in the service to confess their faith in God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They will make promises to be faithful to God and His Word, even…

For this Sunday in the season of Easter, the Church confesses the triumphal procession unto life: He is the Shepherd and we are the flock. Hearing His voice, being fed by His Word, and being led on His path of righteousness through death into His house, we shall dwell there forever. We welcome all to God’s House today! Link to Service video…

In the Second Reading, from Revelation 5, Jesus reveals Himself as the Lamb who is worthy to open the mysterious two-sided scroll, and by His appearance heaven and all creation rejoice. All these readings together highlight an important aspect of the Easter season. They show that Jesus reveals Himself as the defeater of sin and death, and that by the Word of…

One week after Christ’s resurrection, Thomas comes to confident faith. He confesses, “My Lord and my God” (Gospel, Jn 20:28). The risen Lord had stood before him and invited the disciple to touch the nail marks. One look at Jesus’ glorified body led to that joyous moment of recognition and acclamation. We welcome everyone to God’s house today. Link to Service video…

The church year climaxes in Easter Sunday. “He is risen!” shouts out our true hope. “He is risen indeed!” reverberates with our confident belief. Luke shows the women’s dramatic transformation from confusion and fear to confident belief. Then the women bring that vibrant hope to the disciples—and to us. Link to Service video on Vimeo Link to service bulletin  

On this Palm Sunday we see the word “Rock,” which functions as the primary proper name for the God of Israel in this chapter (32:4). It is a poignant image, certainly for Moses. On two fragile occasions, the Lord provided water for the people by Moses striking a rock. On the second occasion, Moses was not supposed to strike the rock, but…

The Epistle, our preaching text, is one of St. Paul’s clearest explications of reconciliation, including what is surely one of the richest summaries of the Gospel and the sanctified life which results: “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). Link to Service video…

The Gospel, our text this week, actually precedes last week’s Gospel, Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem (Lk 13:31–35). In that lesson, Jesus faced confrontations over the message about repentance and perishing that He preached at the beginning of chapter 13, this week’s Gospel. This week’s hard words will often bring opposition, but their purpose is that sinners repent, be forgiven, and thus be…

On this day, Christians continue their annual journey into the depths of Lent. On this Second Sunday in Lent, we descend deeper in our journey into a world of spiritual poverty and desolation. In particular, we see the desolation wreaked by rejecting God’s Word—preached and incarnate: “This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant” (Jeremiah 26:9,…

During the season of Lent, the Christian returns to the wilderness and meditates upon his journey to the cross and open tomb of Jesus Christ. Since he is united to Christ through the waters of Holy Baptism, this journey involves the Christian’s own death and resurrection, dying and rising with Christ in the Sacrament (Rom 6:3–4). This faith and life therefore also…