A Proper Response
A recent discussion has come up regarding praise songs in worship. Though the Missouri Synod continues to stew on this topic, I felt it worth digging into in a little more detail. The question was whether praise songs are acceptable within the divine service. In the Missouri Synod, there are many proponents of what we…
Hearing His Words
The book I’m reading currently reflected a bit on the oddity of Jesus as a boy being in the temple and studying Scripture with the priests and scribes. The strange connection between Jesus’ divinity and humanity makes us scratch our heads a bit here. Why does Jesus, the Son of God, the Incarnate Word, need…
The Sacred Mysteries in Holy Week
During the Reformation, one of the things Luther fought against the Catholic Church’s desire to know everything. I don’t quite mean that literally, but there’s a lot the Catholic Church wanted to figure out that wasn’t really defined in Scripture. As an example, the Catholic Church decided for itself the precise point at which the…
Founded on the Word
Just about every aspect of Christian life, whether you’re talking about worship, the sacraments, evangelism, or anything else, is ultimately a discussion about God’s Word. What does God promise? How has He told us things will work? If He hasn’t made a clear promise or given a clear command, then anything you might do is…
The Timing of Lent
The season of Lent is somewhat different than the other seasons of the church year. Both Advent and Lent are intended to be penitential seasons, but in practice Advent rarely takes on that quality. Advent is a reflective time, an anticipatory time, but it doesn’t often drive us to consider the nature and consequences of…
The Nature of Faith
The relationship between faith and baptism is a debate that comes up periodically. Usually, the question is, “which came first?” We know faith and salvation go hand in hand, so the question becomes a vital one if we are also trying to determine if someone is saved. Looking at some of the big baptismal events…
Seeing the Promised Future
In Exodus 24, we find the Israelites at Mt. Sinai as Moses receives the Law. Though the Israelites recognize that the mountain is holy is no place for them, God still invites a number of them up the mountain. Of course, this is only after the people are covered by the sacrificial blood of the…
The Season of Epiphany
The season of Epiphany is soon upon us. We, as the Church, have been celebrating the birth of the promised Savior for the past several days through the Christmas season. Now the season changes. There’s still a bit of the earlier celebration, but the feel and tenor are distinct from Christmas. We take the day…
In-Carnation
Incarnation is one of those words used in church that we rarely spend time carefully considering. Most Christians can probably tell you it means Jesus is born as a human being, which is true. But the word gives us much more to consider as we approach Christmas. Coming from Latin, the word more literally means…
Now and Not Yet
As the liturgical year winds down and the new one begins, we start to consider that overlap of the old and the new, the First Advent and the Second Advent. We see how the message isn’t really any different. In both cases we are waiting. The only real distinction is that we who live after…
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Sacramental Streams 