Month: September 2016

Text: Amos 6:1-7
Date: Pentecost XIX + Proper 21 + 9/25/16

We’re surrounded by angels today.

“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side” (Lk 16:22). Therefore we sing and pray for ourselves in the hymn:

Lord, let at last Thine angels come,
To Abr’ham’s bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing. (LSB 708:3)

This week we celebrate St. Michael and All Angels Day.

Today’s Gospel gives us some amazing, impressive and comforting details about the afterlife, what happens when we die, as the promise of the ministry of angels at our death. It also lays out a serious warning. No, the story Jesus tells of the Rich Man and Lazarus doesn’t mean that all poor people go to heaven and all rich people go to hell. And it doesn’t mean either that the way to heaven is the way of caring for the poor and our other good works, except insofar as our love and works or lack of them are indicators of our relationship with God if it exists at all. What is your relationship with God? A Christian priest got a laugh when he was questioned by a seven-year-old child after watching him serve the sacrament at Mass, innocently asking, “Do you know Jesus or does He just work with you?” Christian faith is never a part time thing, or shouldn’t be. Continue reading “At Ease?”

Text: Amos 8:4-7
Date: Pentecost XVIII + Proper 20 + 9/18/16

“Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).

There is nothing wrong with money. It is the love of money that’s the problem. There is nothing wrong with money. At the same time we ought to say that there is also nothing right about money, money itself, for it will eventually fail. The question is not about money but about how and for what you use it (or it uses you) and the true riches of the gracious God of our life and salvation. Continue reading “Upsetting the Fruit Basket”

Text: Ezekiel 34:11-24
Date: Pentecost XVII + Proper 19 + 9/11/16

“Just who does this guy, this teacher, ‘this man’ think he is?” So the Pharisees and scribes grumbled and asked themselves. They didn’t know at the time that they were actually pondering and asking the most important, the number one question of saving faith – Who is Jesus? “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” No orthodox, upstanding Jew would dare do such a thing! Just who does he think he is? Continue reading “Let God Take Over”

Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Date: Pentecost XVI + Proper 18 + 9/4/16

God sent His Son to bring salvation to the whole world. When Jesus said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16), He meant “whoever,” that is the invitation is open to all, to every human being. When He said, “whoever believes and is baptized” He meant that God Himself comes and works faith in your heart through His spoken Word and Sacraments and makes you his own. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Salvation is totally God’s work and gift. By the gift of faith God makes you to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple is a follower, literally a learner. Continue reading “Choose Life”