In the liturgy of the Divine Service, people receive living water through the Gospel, in Absolution, the reading of Scripture, hearing the preaching, and Holy Communion. As they are refreshed and renewed by this living water, out of their hearts the Holy Spirit will cause to “flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38). Worshipers are then sent forth with God’s benediction as…

On this Confirmation Sunday may we be filled with the Spirit of God as we see Ben Andrews, Molly Harman, and Izzy Wildauer confirm what happened at their Baptism and confess their faith in our God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May we as a congregation remember our confirmation vows, be renewed in the Word, and work together to grow in our…

As surely as we “live and move and have our being” in “the God who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:28, 24), the apostles and the early church were surely moved by the resurrection of that God. Again, this Sixth Sunday of Easter we see the propers, especially the First Reading from Acts, keyed by the fact that Christ…

First Peter (in general) and our text (in particular) speak to our baptismal identity as “newborn infants” (2:2). After addressing his hearers as “elect exiles” (1:1), Peter opens with a high doxology: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the…

The joy of Christ’s resurrection and the gifts He won for all by it are brought home as certainties in the lessons for this second celebration of Easter. Why are they certain? Because it’s God who has won them! The Epistle from Peter’s first letter assures the believer that hope, the gift of eternal life in Christ, is just as “living” for…

Throughout the Lenten season we looked at the kings of the Old Testament and found the truth of Psalm 146: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish” (vs 3–4). The plans of God are eternal, gracious…

Palm Sunday is that pivotal Sunday in the season of Lent. Through the preceding five Sundays, we have lamented our sins in contrite hearts, pleading the Lord’s mercy as we joyfully look toward His coming. And Jesus does come to us—descending from heaven above (to earth I come!). But now He ascends, up to Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice. We follow our…

All what Paul talks about in this chapter is the Christian’s union with Christ through Baptism and faith. This is all part of what Christ won for us by dying on the cross and providing unity with the Holy Spirit by Baptism and faith. It is here that Paul rejoices in Christ as the fulfillment of the Law. Using the “in Christ”…

The season of Lent, as the name reminds, is the season of lengthening days, when light overrides darkness. The obvious evidence, which nature provides, foretells the final triumph when the darkness of Good Friday will yield to the glorious sun of Easter morning. Already this Fourth Sunday in Lent, though, exhorts us to “walk as children of light” by seeking what is…

The Lenten battle against sin is intensifying. Last Sunday Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John 3 about God loving the world. Here in chapter 4, that declaration is made more concrete with the people of Samaria, who were traditionally rejected by the Jews. The readings for this Sunday contrast the grumbling and unbelief of the people of Israel when they need water…