Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: February 2018

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Isaiah 5,1-7. Reminisere

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Isaiah 5,1-7 1418

Reminiszere 025

Victorin and his companions, Martyrs 284

Walter E. Keller, ✠ 2011

25. Februar 2018

1. О Christ Jesus, Thou Precious Son sent to Thy Father’s vineyard, help us contemplate how much our redemption had cost You, so that we give thanks for Your service and sacrifice to free us from all our sins. Amen. (Starck 76)

2. Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning His vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; He built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it will be devoured;I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it will not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds so that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant planting; and He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

3. The Prophet Isaiah was uses the image of a vineyard for Israel. In the parable, the Lord planted a vineyard, cared for it and expected it to yield grapes. This parable describes Israel: the Lord had chosen Abraham, promised him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and said the land where Abraham dwelt as a sojourner would be given to his offspring in perpetuity. The Lord fulfilled this promise through Moses by leading Israel out from Egypt and into the promised land of Canaan under Joshua.

4. Moses told Israel just before they were to enter Canaan: »See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, so that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, so that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give them« (Deuteronomy 30,15-20).

5. A millennia later, Isaiah had the difficult task of telling Israel: you have forsaken the Lord, broken His covenant and He is now enacting the clause with the curse. Israel had produced the fruit of their beliefs, but they were wild grapes because Israel was content to worship other gods alongside the Lord. »For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant planting; and He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!«

6. The Lord’s curse was short-lived, and after 70 years of exile in Babylon, the Lord through Cyrus II of Persia [1] (Cyrus the Great) returned Israel to the land. They rebuilt and by Jesus’ day were in the final phase of a massive building project that would make the temple in Jerusalem an impressive structure throughout the Roman province of Palestine.

7. But all was not well. Jesus told His generation a parable similar to the one Isaiah had 700 years prior. The tenants of this vineyard refused to give the owner some of the fruit of the harvest. They beat or killed those sent from the owner to collect the tithe. Finally, they killed the owner’s son and attempted to usurp ownership of the vineyard. The wicked tenants were the chief priests, scribes and elders who often opposed Jesus’ teachings. These men were the spiritual leaders of Israel and they sought to silence Jesus. In response, Jesus promised to run out these wicked tenants and give the vineyard to others (Mark 12,1-9).

8. Many of the average Jewish people received Jesus’ teaching with joy, but the chief priests, scribes and elders rejected their Messiah. They also knew Jesus had spoken this parable against them. They were angry that Jesus would threaten to punish the Jews but bless the Gentiles. The chief priests were more concerned with keeping the Romans appeased so the temple remained under their control rather than receive the Lamb of God who would fulfill the temple sacrifices. The scribes an elders were more concerned with their traditions rather than the one in their midst who had given them the covenant at Sinai.

9. Jesus brought in new tenets, the Gentiles, us, and they have received Him as the Light of salvation. But Gentile tenants are as fickle as the former Jewish tenets. Christians are also tempted to tell God how He should do His business; we are tempted to imagine that God is merely here to supply what we want and claim what we deserve (Nagel 90). God wants sons, not slaves; He wants daughters, not drudges. God wants Christians to freely rejoice in the confidence of His testament and His gospel manifested in the flesh by His Son, Jesus the Christ (Nagel 90).

10. The Prophet Isaiah describes how the Lord gave His people every rich blessing, but Judah stubbornly did their own thing to God’s consternation. What Jesus speaks about in today’s Gospel parable is the refusal of God’s gifts, taking them over as if they were ours by right or by our measures and not as gifts (Nagel 91). Gifts cease to be gifts when we think in terms of „the inheritance will then be ours“ (Nagel 91). Lent reminds us that it is not about demanding our inheritance right now like the prodigal son. Lent reminds us that it is not about fasting or other pious activities done in order to please God. Lent is about looking to Jesus and following Him. Jesus teaches in the Gospels that His way is the way that ends at the cross with Him hanging lifeless on a Friday afternoon. This crucified Christ is God the Father’s most precious gift to us. The Prophet Isaiah calls Jesus the Suffering Servant and the one who bears all sins. Many rejected this gracious gift in Jesus’ day, and many still reject this gift today. Jesus, however, is not deterred. He is the heir of His Father’s vineyard, and He will not give up His vineyard (Nagel 91). Jesus will not give up on you. Jesus says: I am yours, and you are Mine. Jesus is your sacrifice. Receive His gifts, His forgiveness and His inheritance. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, You show Your love for us in that Jesus Christ died for us while we were still sinners; may we never stumble over this proclamation nor reject this great gift of grace so that we may remain in the Christian faith unto eternal life. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

[1] Isaiah calls Cyrus II messiah and christ (Isaiah 45,1).

Friday, February 23, 2018

2. Corinthians 6,1-10. Invocavit

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

2. Corinthians 6,1-10 1318

Invokavit 024

Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, relative of the Lord, Martyr 107
Martin Luther, ecclesiae Doctor, Confessor, ✠ 1546

18. Februar 2018

1. О Christ our Savior, You suffered shame, scorn disgrace and manifold afflictions to gain happiness for us, help us to laud and magnify Your Name, so that all praise and glory is given to You (Starck 75-76). Amen.

2. Working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: »In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.« [Isaiah 49,8] Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

3. The Apostle Paul quotes the Prophet Isaiah, saying: »In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you« (Isaiah 49,8). Paul then proclaims: Now, is that time! Now is the favorable time; now is the day of salvation! Jesus Christ has been revealed as the gospel of salvation.

4. But with the gospel, persecution follows. Paul lists some of the persecutions he suffered as an apostle of the gospel: afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights and hunger. Great endurance was needed to withstand such persecution, and the Holy Spirit provides that endurance. Such endurance resulted from: purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, genuine love, truthful speech and the power of God.

5. Paul then uses a military example: a dual-wielding soldier. In Paul’s day, it was the norm for a Roman legionnaire to wield a gladius (24-33”) and a pila (5-7’ javelin). Another dual-wielding legionnaire that became more popular among gladiators was a soldier wielding either 2 siccae (12-18” curved scimitars) or 2 gladii. Paul says, like a dual-wielding legionnaire, we wield weapons of righteousness in our hands. The apostle uses similar language in his Epistle to the Ephesians, where he writes: »Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. And take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God« (Ephesians 6,10-13.17). Paul says, as Christians we are well-armed with the Holy Scriptures to meet any trial or tribulation that we may face in this world.

6. We see this exemplified in our Gospel pericope this morning. Three times Satan tempted Jesus and three times Jesus fought back with the words of Holy Scripture. The Scriptures are not magical words or runes that if recited properly then we will have some mystical gnosis (knowledge) and power. The Scriptures often tell us stories of men and women who faced spiritual challenges, they relied on God to deliver them and thus we are exhorted to seek God and trust Him for salvation. Other Scriptures, particularly the Psalms, are prayers to God petitioning for strength, endurance and intervention on our behalf. Then there are the Scriptures that prophesy something specific about the Christ and encourage us to put our trust in that Christ.

7. Jesus’ temptation shows us that we can trust in Him to be our Redeemer and Deliverer. No trial or temptation can thwart Him. Not even the Devil can overpower Him. Jesus is the Christ and He has triumphed over the Devil. Jesus’ victory is our victory; Jesus’ righteousness is our righteousness. The gospel proclaims: Jesus has triumphed over sin and Satan for you. This gospel bears fruit: »We are treated as impostors, and yet we are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything«. You have this gift in Christ. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, You appeared to destroy the works of the devil; send us the Holy Spirit to guide us along Your holy path during Lent so that by traveling with You to the cross we see the joy of eternal life that is Your pure gift to us . Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Amos 5,21-24. Quinquagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Amos 5,21-24 1218

Quinquageima 022

Euphrosyne, Virgin, 470

11. Februar 2018

1. О Christ, You loved us before we knew You, enlighten our understanding that in Your Light we may behold the greatness of Your love and compassion, so that we may be prompted to render You due thanks. Amen. (Starck 75)

2. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: „I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. ²²Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. ²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. ²⁴But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.“

3. Why would the Lord hate and despise Israel’s feasts and solemn assemblies? We must recall Israel history. After Solomon died, his son, Rehoboam was a harsh and unwise king; as a result the 10 tribes in the north rebelled and formed a separate nation, called Israel, leaving the remaining 2 tribes in the south to become Judah. Israel established a capital and a temple in Samaria. One of the first acts by King Jeroboam of Israel was to establish a religion contrary to what Moses had delivered them at Mount Sinai. »So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people: You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings« (1. Kings 12,28-33). 150 years later another King Jeroboam ruled Israel; like the kings before him, he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the idolatry that the kings encouraged in Israel, and thus Amos was sent to prophesy against him.

4. Therefore, the feasts and assemblies the Lord hates are feasts and assemblies that Israel had established contrary to those set forth by the Lord through Moses on Sinai. Their feasts honored idols and their assemblies celebrated false gods. The Lord refuses to accept their religious offerings because they are not the offerings He is looking for. Even the praise of their worship was offensive to His ears. The Lord promised to punish Israel for their generations of idolatry and in punishing them He would also end their worship of false gods (Amos 3,14). His justice will roll down upon Israel like waters and His righteousness will cascade like an ever flowing stream.

5. Israel’s idolatry at the time of the Prophet Amos were Moloch and Kiyyun; these were Canaanite and Babylonian gods. Amos laments: »But you, O Israel, have carried/lifted up the tabernacle of your Moloch and Kiyyun your star-god your images that you made for yourselves« (Amos 5,26). Moloch was invoked for financial prosperity; he was associated with child sacrifice and his Canaanite idol was a statue with the head of a bull, the torso of a man and his base was a furnace. Sacrifices to him involved burning the firstborn child to death in the statue’s outstretched hands that were heated up by the furnace. Kiyyun was a Babylonian god associated with the planet Saturn; the Babylonians referred to the planets as stars, and Kiyyun was invoked for justice. The Lord’s punishment was to hand Israel over to Assyrian exile. Their devotion to Moloch and his financial prosperity would result in Israel’s poverty and their devotion to Kiyyun’s justice would result in Israel’s injustice. For the Lord’s justice would reign supreme as He cast out idolatrous Israel from His covenant land.

6. But God also promised righteousness to Israel. The Lord promised: »Behold, the days are arriving when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them« (Amos 9,13-15). Israel’s restoration occurred when Jesus faithfully fulfilled Israel’s history. Jesus stood in Israel’s place because Israel had failed to remain faithful to the Lord and His covenant with them. The Lord refused to accept Israel’s sacrificial offerings because they also sacrificed to idols and the Lord’s justice rained down upon Israel. The Lord accepted His Son’s sacrificial offering on the cross, and the Lord’s justice and judgment was poured out upon Jesus as our vicarious sacrifice. Jesus’ Passion and death rolls down His righteousness upon us like the waters of an ever-flowing stream. By standing in Israel’s place, Jesus also stands in our place. The Lord promised to bless all the nations of the world through Abraham and his offspring (Genesis 22,18). The Lord has had mercy on everyone through Christ to the Jews first, then also to the Gentiles. Jesus has fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Amos.

7. Christ brings the righteousness and justification of the reign of God into our midst. At Calvary the gospel is poured out with Jesus’ suffering and death. The gospel is „like an ever-flowing stream. Amos is signifying the power and efficacy of the Word. You see, the Word bursts forth and runs even when the madness of Satan and its foes stand in the gospel’s way. Whether the princes are willing or not, the Word breaks through like a stream. They are unable to hold it back“ (Luther 166).

8. In Christ, all of our sins are forgiven. We are now righteous and justified in our Heavenly Father’s sight. We cannot break this covenant, and our sinfulness cannot annul this testament, because it is grounded upon Christ and forged upon His death and resurrection.

9. Christ crucified is the manifestation of God’s love in the flesh. Christ loves you, therefore He suffered to save you. Through the Word and the Sacraments the Holy Spirit now redeems us into the image of the Triune God. The Apostle Paul describes this holy likeness, writing: »Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends« (1. Corinthians 13,4-8). Each day the Holy Spirit uses the gospel to remake us into a man or woman of faith, a person who fears, loves and trusts in Christ Jesus just as He originally created us. Jesus has promised it, and He will see it through to completion. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, who accomplished everything written about You by the Prophets, help us to follow You to the cross and the empty tomb so that we behold our everlasting salvation. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

2. Corinthians 12,1-10. Sexagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

2. Corinthians 12,1-10 1118

Sexageima 021

Rhabaus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz, ✠ 856

4. Februar 2018

1. О Christ, Thou Son of God, direct our meditation upon the ransom You paid on the cross, so that we are comforted in the peace You have secured for us (Starck 75). Amen.

2. I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me: My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. In his epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul describes a revelation he had received where he was caught up to the third heaven and heard things that are not to be told. Paul describes that he was passive in this and that God is actively speaking to him through this revelation. Paul is uncertain if this revelation was merely a vision or that he had been physically taken into this third heaven. The Jews in Paul’s day divided the heavens into 3 levels: the atmosphere, the realm of God and the third heaven. This third heaven Paul calls Paradise which is the dwelling place of believing souls after they die and now await the resurrection of their body. This is the place Jesus told the insurrectionist crucified next to Him he would be: »Today, you will be with Me in Paradise« (Luke 23,43). Jesus dwells in this Paradise with the souls of all Christians. This belief traces back to the very beginning of the Bible where the Garden of Eden is referred to as Paradise [1] and God dwells among Adam and Eve (Genesis 3,8).

4. Paul’s statement that he heard things in the third heaven that cannot be told is similar to statements made by John the Apostle (Revelation 10,4) and the Prophet Daniel (Daniel 8,26; 12,4.9). Other Prophets, such as Isaiah and Ezekiel, saw things in their visions that they found human words and images did not fully do justice to what they had seen but they describe it as best they can. We could speculate on what Paul heard in Paradise but suffice it to say that whatever he had seen was certainly glorious and astounding. Paul says: if I wish to boast of what I heard I could, but I will not because I do not desire to exalt myself.

5. Paul, however, paid a price for his revelation of Paradise: God put a thorn in his flesh. Paul says that God did this to keep him humble about his revelation. Paul calls this thorn a messenger from Satan. Again, Paul is vague as to what exactly this thorn is, but one interpretation is that this thorn is some sort of physical ailment. Paul does mention a couple of times in his Galatian epistle a problem with his eyes, but exactly what this eye problem was is unknown.

6. Another interpretation is that Paul’s thorn was not an ailment, but a person. Paul says this thorn tormented him, and he uses a verb (καλαφιζη) that implies it beats or strikes him like a boxer punching someone. He also refers to this thorn as a messenger of Satan. In the previous chapter of his epistle, Paul talks about false apostles and calls them servants of Satan: »And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds« (2. Corinthians 11,12-15). Paul then lists all the times he has suffered for preaching Christ crucified: I was imprisoned, beaten within an inch of my life, fives times I was whipped with 39 lashes, 3 times I was beaten with rods, I was stoned with rocks, 3 times I was shipwrecked and a host of other persecutions were inflicted upon me (2. Corinthians 11,23-28). Paul’s thorn could have been a person who was obsessed with discrediting him and his gospel ministry. Paul tells the Galatians that some men followed him and sought to discredit the gospel by demanding the Gentile Christians get circumcised and follow the Mosaic dietary laws (Galatians 1-2; 1,7; 5,12).

7. Paul pleaded several times to God and prayed for Him to remove this thorn. God chose to leave this thorn in Paul’s side and told him: »My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.« O that we would all trust in God’s grace and power to be sufficient in our lives!

8. Paul exhorts us to boast in our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. Paul proclaimed that Christ crucified is the foolishness of God and the weakness of God (1. Corinthians 1,254). Paul explains that a suffering, crucified and dying Christ is seen as weakness in the world. Christ’s saving act is much different from the other times He saved His people: there were no miraculous plagues, the parting of a sea or the tumbling down of walls. No majestic angelic host arrayed with drawn swords were sent to sweep through and decimate our spiritual enemies. Just a humbled Jesus, God in the flesh, beaten, condemned and executed like a common criminal. Paul says: in that moment of shame and weakness, when all the world sees a defeated Jesus on the cross, there is God’s power displayed in all its glory; there is God’a wisdom revealed in all its astuteness.

9. The Prophet Isaiah promises: »a bruised reed the Lord will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench; He will faithfully bring forth justice« (Isaiah 42,3). Christ did not break on the cross; He endured the cross to overcome sin and death. Christ poured out His grace upon Paul; he bore his thorn and overcame it by preaching the gospel. Christ pours out His grace on us through His Word and Sacraments: the Word points us to Christ and His mercy; the Lord’s Supper gives us forgiveness and eternal life. We receive these gifts with faith and in trusting in the Christ who gives them we receive His grace to bear all things in His Name. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, today we have heard Christ’s voice; help us to have hearts wide open to receive the comfort You bring, so that whatever we face in this life we know that we face with Christ beside us who will see us through for His glory. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

[1] The Jews began referring to Eden as Paradise circa 500 BC.

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Isaiah 5,1-7. Reminisere

Friday, February 23, 2018

2. Corinthians 6,1-10. Invocavit

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Amos 5,21-24. Quinquagesima

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

2. Corinthians 12,1-10. Sexagesima