Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: May 2018

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Ephesians 1,3-14. Holy Trinity Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Ephesians 1,3-14 3018

Trinitatis 045

The Venerable Bede, Pastor, 26. May 735

27. Mai 2018

1. О Holy Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with Your Glory, strengthen our faith in You and let us cling so firmly to Your Word so that even the gates of hades shall not be able to prevail against our faith in You (Starck 107.108). Amen.

2. »Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His Glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His Glory.«

3. Each Sunday, we confess the Triune God; this confession is particularly done when we confess one of the 3 Great Western Creeds. Just as every Sunday is a little Easter celebration, so too is every Sunday a little Trinity celebration through the Creeds we affirm, the hymns we sing and the prayers we speak. There are even Scripture pericopes that speak of the Trinity, such as the baptism of Jesus where the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all present and revealed. The Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is another Biblical text that teaches the Triune God: »Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … in Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.« The confession that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are 3 Persons in 1 God is traced back to the very apostles. Numerous creeds that span 2000 years affirm the apostolic teaching of the Triune God. The Western Church traditionally and historically uses 3 of these creeds in the liturgy: the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed and the Athanasian Creed. The Nicene Creed was written in 325 and amended in 381 with a full article on the Holy Spirit rather than the simple and original „We believe in the Holy Spirit.“, The Apostles’ Creed was written in 390 and the Athanasian Creed 100 years later in 490.

4. The Christian faith confesses that there is 1 God who is comprised of 3 Persons, namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are 3 Distinct Persons who together are 1 God. This confession separates Christianity from every religion in the world, where there are religions that have a pantheon of gods and goddesses, such as the ancient Greeks and Romans are well-known for, and there are religions that have only 1 god comprised of 1 person, the father, such as modern Judaism and Islam are well-known for.

5. It may be difficult to grasp the concept of the Trinity, but throughout the millennia the Church has offered up simple examples, such as the triangle and the three-leaf clover, to help us visualize what we confess about the Trinity; another example is found in the writings of the Apostle Paul: »Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ« (1. Thessalonians 5,23). »For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit« (Hebrews 4,12). The Holy Scriptures teach that just as God is Triune, so too is the human being, for we are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1,26).

6. The Triune God created men and women to share a strong bond between the Creator and the creature. So it should be no surprise that the Triune God manifested this fellowship through the 2. Person of the Deity, who is Jesus Christ the Son of God. In Christ, God took up human nature with a real flesh and a physical body. The Book of Genesis tells us that God took walks in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day as He conversed with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3,8). Adam’s fall into sin ended that daily fellowship between God and man, but God would still appear and converse with particular people throughout the Holy Scriptures. In Christ, God entered our time and space as both God and man; He did so to reestablish a more consistent fellowship with men and women and to free them from sin and the curse. If you would see God, behold His glory and know His will, then look to Jesus who is the Word and Wisdom of the Triune God. Christ brings us God’s mercy, forgiveness and eternal life. It is the will of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to redeem fallen men and women, for in Christ Jesus the Triune God has indeed redeemed us and the entire world. The Athanasian Creed states this very beautifully: „It is necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He will return to judge the living and the dead“ (Athanasian Creed LSB 320,27.36-37). »The promised Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.«. Amen.

7. Let us pray. O Triune God, Your deeds are mighty and Your Glory great; keep us steadfast in our confession of You so that we may glorify Your Holy Name. 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.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Summer schedule

Our Summer Service Schedule

On Sunday May 27

we will begin our

9:30 a.m. Sunday Divine Services

1. Corinthians 2,12-16. Pentecost

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

1. Corinthians 2,12-16 2918

Pfingstsonntag 043

Ivo, Bishop of Chartres, France ✠ 1115

20. Mai 2018

1. О Spirit of Grace, who from eternity proceeds from the Father and the Son, You were visibly poured out on the apostles after the triumph and ascension of Jesus, we pray that You would also enter into our souls, so that we may become a temple of the Living God, prepared by You and fit to obtain that eternal life for which we were created and purchased by our redeemer, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Starck 100)

2. »Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. The unspiritual/natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know them because they are spiritually evaluated. The spiritual person examines all things, but is himself to be examined by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to advise Him? [Isaiah 40,13] But we have the mind of Christ.«

3. On Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and Son; He gave the apostles the gift of languages so they could preach the gospel of Christ crucified and risen to those who gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. In his 1. Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells us there is another spirit: the spirit of the world. Only by the Holy Spirit may we understand the things freely given us by God. Those who have the spirit of the world may not understand those God-given things. The spirit of the world is bound together with the wisdom of the world (1. Corinthians 1,20-21). In Paul’s day, the wisdom of the world was dominated by Greek philosophy and Roman lawyers. As useful as this wisdom is for education and civic responsibility, such worldly wisdom cannot know God through its wisdom.

4. The Godly wisdom preached by the apostles on Pentecost and thereafter across the Roman Empire is the wisdom of Christ crucified and risen (1. Corinthians 1,23; 15,3-4). Human philosophies, wisdom and reason cannot perceive nor understand the gospel of Christ. The Apostle Peter preached: »Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works, wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, you delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified, and of that we are all witnesses« (Acts 2,22-24.32-33.36). The result: 3000 people were baptized into the Christian faith that day. No Greek philosopher could accomplish such a feat, but the Holy Spirit can and does.

5. The apostles preached the gospel on Pentecost, that is, they preached forgiveness for the gospel proclaims forgiveness. The Jews asked what must be done for them to be saved. The apostles point them to Christ and the Sacrament of Baptism: repent, believe the gospel and be baptized. It is no different today, 2000 years later. Whoever calls upon Christ will be saved. God does not require any works from us, for the Holy Spirit creates faith when and where the gospel of forgiveness is preached.

6. Faith in Jesus makes us spiritual people, and only Christians truly and rightly understand the mind of Christ. »God shows what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God shows what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God shows what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved the word of the cross is the power of God« (1. Corinthians 1,27-28.18). »O the depth of the riches, wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!« (Romans 11,33). Jesus told Nicodemus the Pharisees: »As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned« (John 3,14-17). This is the message and the gift of Pentecost. Hear it, believe it and be certain that your sins are forgiven; rejoice that you are saved on account of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

7. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, Creator of faith, fill the hearts of Your faithful and ignite in us the fire of Your Divine love so that we trust on Christ for our salvation. 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.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Revelation 1,4-8. Exaudi

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Revelation 1,4-8 2818

Exaudi 032

Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren, Belgium ✠ 384

13. Mai 2018

1. О Glorified Jesus, Thou Eternal High Priest, keep us from coveting earthly things that bind our minds and lead us by Your counsel, so that You preserve us to remain constant in the blessed state of grace (Starck 93.94). Amen.

2. »John to the 7 churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to return, and from the 7 spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of kings on earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is arriving with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen. „I am the Alpha and the Omega,“ says the Lord God: „who is and who was and who is to return, the Almighty.“

3. „We have followed the life of Jesus this first half of the Church Year from the ... infant on the straw in the stable to the baby receiving the homage of the Wise Men. We have followed Him from the boy in the temple to the man to whom John the Baptizer pointed: „Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!“ (John 1,29). Then, baptized of John in the Jordan, the Spirit came down on Jesus and we heard the Father’s voice: „This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him“ (Matthew 17,5). Tempted in the wilderness, Jesus held to God’s high-saving purpose: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. All this so that He might bless us“ (Nagel 143-44).

4. Today we commemorate the anniversary of Christ’s ascension this past Thursday. This event occurred 2000 years ago, 40 days after Easter, at Bethany, near Jerusalem. Decades later, the Apostle John described the ascended Jesus as one who has »glory and dominion forever and ever.« In the Creeds, we confess that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of His Father. Like the 1. and 2. century Christians before us, confession of Jesus’ ascension is an affirmation that Christ our Lord has beaten down the hostile powers opposed to Him and his church (Kelly 151).

5. As we begin to transition from the 1. half of the Church Year that focuses on Jesus’ life and ministry into the 2. half of the Church Year that focuses on the Holy Spirit’s ministry in and through the Church, the Apostle John reminds us that just as Jesus ascended into heaven He will one day return to the earth with the clouds. Everyone will see Him: believers will worship Him but the unbelievers will wail in distress. For with His ascension, Jesus takes up again the full exercise of His omnipotence (Allmacht) now as both God and man, for the property of the Divine and human nature is preserved in 1 Person (The Chalcedonian Creed of 451).

6. In his revelation, John heard Jesus say: »I am the Alpha and the Omega.« Those are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet; in English it would be »I am the A and the Z.« or »I am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.« This theology permeates the Gospel according to St. John. Jesus is the Eternal Word of God who was present and active when the Triune God created our world and the universe. He is deeply invested in His creation and we human beings who were created in His Image and Likeness. So it should be no surprise that He will be the Cornerstone of our redemption and salvation. Since men and women must endure the curse of sin by suffering and dying, so Jesus would suffer and die for us in our place to save us from sin, death and hades. Thus John describes Jesus as »the Faithful Witness and the Firstborn from the dead who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.« Being the first implies that there will be others, and indeed Jesus is the first to rise from His grave and that He will raise up each of us from our grave.

7. Jesus is with us right now. Christ our Lord told John: »I am the one who is and who was and who will return.« This is a Trinitarian statement that teaches that Jesus is the Eternal and Immortal God; He is the Ever-present God in our midst, for He promised us right before He ascended: »Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age« (Matthew 28,20). Jesus’ dominion has specific benefits for us. Jesus ascended to prepare our eternal dwelling place (John 14,2-3). Jesus ascended to send the Holy Spirit to His Church and to send apostles, pastors and others to proclaim the gospel (John 16,6-8; Ephesians 4,10-12). Jesus now intercedes for us before His Father (Romans 8,34-35). Jesus now rules over His Church and all creation (Ephesians 1,20-23), which means that sin, death and the Devil must be subject to Christ. All this says that the ascended Jesus is a Jesus who blesses. When last we saw Christ Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke, He was ascending to heaven with His hands raised in blessing (Luke 24,50-51). These are the hands that lovingly held Mary’s hand. „These are the hands that ... learned to write the words of Scripture that Jesus knew so well by the time He was twelve years old. These hands worked with hammer and saw, sharing and blessing our work with us. These are the hands that touched the eyes of the blind and the tongue of the dumb, the hands that had taken hold of the pale cold hand of the little girl and given her back alive to her wondering father and mother. We read so often of these hands that Jesus stretched them out, touched or grasped with that personal, individual love and help that marks the healings of Jesus. He did not heal people by the dozens lumped together, but was there for each one that needed Him as His hands took hold of each one“ (Nagel 144). He is present were 2 or 3 Christians gather in His Name; He is present when His Word is preached, someone is baptized and when we receive His Supper. Jesus is present with us right now. Today we believe He is present by faith but when He returns in glory we will see Him with our physical eyes.

8. Jesus is the Eternal Word of God who will return on the last day, and at His 2. advent our soul will be rejoined with our resurrected body. John describes this returning Jesus: »Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one seated on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords« (Revelation 19,11-16). Christ is risen; Christ is ascended; Christ is returning for us! Let us worship Him with great joy and await His return with a grateful hearts. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your right hand exalts and does valiantly; pour out upon us the Holy Spirit so that in the days ahead when we struggle as Your Church militant we may be comforted with Your promise that we will inherit Your heavenly reign on account of Your righteous merit. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Colossians 4,2-4. Rogate

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Colossians 4,2-4 2718

Rogate 040

John miraculously survives boiling oil before the Latin Gate at Rome, 95

6. Mai 2018

1. О Risen Christ, the Conqueror of Death, deliver us from the accusations of Satan, so that we rest securely in Your victory and righteousness. Amen. (Starck 89)

2. »Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, so that God may open to us a door for the Word (λόγου), to speak the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison﹣so that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.«

3. Rogate Sunday encourages us to pray, and the Apostle Paul exhorts us to be steadfast in our prayers and thanksgivings to God. There are different types of prayers in the Bible: some are tumultuous in the face of an anguishing tribulation, others are joyous thanksgivings and still others intercessions on behalf of our neighbor (ELKB). The apostle asks the Colossian Church to pray for opportunities to proclaim the Word of God.

4. The Apostle Paul uses an important noun in his exhortation: the word, λόγος, in verse 3. In Greek philosophy popular in Paul’s era, the λόγος referred to the Divine reason that orders the cosmos by giving it both form and meaning. Heraclitus, a 6. century bc philosopher, said the λόγος and human reason perform a similar function. By the 3. century bc, the Stoic philosophers defined the λόγος as an active rational and spiritual principle that permeates the cosmos; in 21. century popular culture the λόγος is similar to George Lucas’ „the force“ in his Star Wars movies. Obi-Wan Kenobi famously tells Luke Skywalker: „The force surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together.“ This is similar to how the Greek Stoics understood the λόγος.

5. The Apostles quickly began to see similarities between the λόγος and the Lord. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament completed by the 2. century bc, translated the Hebrew noun for „word/order“, דבר, davar, with the Greek word λόγος. The Prophets speak over and over about the λόγος of the Lord. The Prophet Zachariah mentions four times when the λόγος of the Lord appeared to him and spoke to him. It is very easy to envision here that Zachariah is referring to a Divine Person speaking to him words of the Lord. Thus, the Apostle John writes at the beginning of his Gospel: »In the beginning was the λόγος, and the λόγος was with God, and the λόγος was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The True Light, which gives light to everyone, was entering the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. And the λόγος became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His Glory, Glory as of the Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth« (John 1,1-5.9-10.14).

6. The apostles tell us that the True λόγος is Jesus; He gives the cosmos form and meaning, for through Him the cosmos was created. The Apostle John also tells us Jesus called Himself the φως, light, of the world (8,12). The λόγος is with God, the λόγος is God and the λόγος is the Divine Light. Life springs from the light, both biologically (βίος), physically, cosmologically and spiritually. Without the Light of Jesus there is no cosmos and no life. Thus Jesus is the λόγος, the φως and the ζωή (John 6,33), physical and spiritual life.

7. So when Paul asks for prayers that God may open to us a door for the λόγος, to speak the mystery of Christ, He is simply praying that opportunities arise for the preaching of Jesus who is the λόγος. The apostles proclaim and teach that Jesus is the True λόγος and that He is superior to all that the Greek philosophers pondered about. They even make the connection that just as the Torah and the Sinai covenant prepare the Jews for the arrival of the Messiah, so to the Greco-Roman philosophies prepared the Gentiles for the advent of the Christ. The Church Fathers who succeeded the apostles built upon this foundation, and wrote that Jesus Christ is the λόγος who reveals God the Father to all people and as such He is the Subject of the entire Old Testament, He is the Divine Reason which the whole world shares in part through their reason and conscience as men and women are created in the image and likeness of the λόγος and He is the Divine λόγος which created and sustains the cosmic universe.

8. The task of preaching in the 21. century is the same as it was in the 1. century: understand someone’s framework and find ways to show them how Christ fulfills what they are seeking. What is unique in Western culture is that all our philosophies stem from 2 millennia of Christian thought and theology. So in many cases it is simply reconnecting Christ to the aspects of our culture and philosophies that cast off Christ in the pursuit of a secular philosophy missing its key theological underpinnings. The challenge today is that people have instant access to religions and philosophies via the Internet that allows them to mash together their own unique religious ideology suited just for themselves. Plus there is all the false or heretical Christian theology that must be sifted through. Not an easy task, to be sure, but the gospel of Christ and the Holy Spirit are more than up for the challenge.

9. Jesus promises His apostles: »In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world« (John 16,33). Jesus opens doors closed to the gospel. He liberates those in bondage to sin and other human atrocities. He strengthens faith. Our Victorious Savior has overcome sin, death and the devil. »The Triune God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is One God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people« (1. Timothy 2,4-6). Our Lord Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit to create faith in hardened hearts, to soothe the wrath of oppressive rulers and to uplift those downtrodden by their culture or neighbors.

10. Saint Paul exhorts us: »Let your speech always be gracious and seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you are answer each person.« The Holy Spirit will create the opportunity to speak and inspire us with the words to say. Jesus’ triumph over the world is not some distant, future reality that always seems on the edge of the horizon but never quite materializes. Jesus’ victory, rather, is a real, present victory over the world and those who seek to hinder the proclamation of the gospel. The decisive victory in this millennia-long war fought by Jesus against the devil occurred on the cross. There Jesus paid for all sin and bore mankind’s curse. On the 3. day Jesus rose from His tomb, and Death was powerless to detain Him. Eternal life had triumphed over Death (triomphe la vie éternelle!). This victory is yours. Now. Wherever and whenever the gospel of Christ crucified and risen is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit is saving and liberating those oppressed by sin and the world. Many times this salvation and liberation is only grasped by faith as it has not fully been manifested in its fullness. This is the paradoxical now and not yet. The gospel promises us that Jesus is aware of our circumstances, He is proceeding to liberate is, but this may not be fully implemented until His return on the last day when He gathers all His people into the heavenly realm of glory. Until that day, we remain fervent in prayer for ourselves, and our brothers and sisters in the faith around the world, for the manifestation of God’s mercy in our lives. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, our Divine Mediator; hear our prayers and answer our petitions, so that we may live a peaceful life grounded firmly upon Your glorious resurrection from death and the grave. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Ephesians 1,3-14. Holy Trinity Sunday

Monday, May 21, 2018

Summer schedule

1. Corinthians 2,12-16. Pentecost

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Revelation 1,4-8. Exaudi

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Colossians 4,2-4. Rogate