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1 Corinthians 1:26-31

God didn’t call us because of who we are. God called us. God didn’t choose us because of who we are. God chose us. We aren’t righteousness, sanctified, redeemed, because of who we were, but that is now who we are, because of Him. We are in Christ Jesus. He is our wisdom from God. He is our boasting. He is the basis of our election. We are called through His death and resurrection to new life, the foolish to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong. Continue reading “Free for Our Neighbor and the World”

Psalm 72:8-9

And He does have dominion from sea to see, our Epiphany King. He came not only to save His own, even though they did not recognize Him, John tells us, but to save all. He is Savior of the Nations. This is the great epiphany, God made man, not for some, but for all, not for a people, but for the peoples—God made man for me, for you. Continue reading “He Rules from Sea to Sea”

Psalm 72:1-2

Long live the King! And He does live. He is risen, He is risen indeed! And He is endowed with justice, with righteousness. He is the Righteous One. He will judge the living and the dead. Continue reading “Long Live the King!”

Ephesians 4:17-24

That’s not who you are. That’s who you were. That is essentially what Paul is saying here. Something has changed. You have changed. God has changed you. Continue reading “That’s Not Who You Are”

Matthew 2:1-12

Most of us were not invited to the first Christmas. It was a Jewish event. Jewish parents, a Jewish child, and Jewish shepherds witnessing the incarnation. If you are not Jewish, it was not for you…not yet anyway. Then there came wise men from the East. Gentiles. And they made quite a stir when they arrived. All of Jerusalem was restless when this entourage got there. Who were these foreign dignitaries? What did they want? Continue reading “Epiphany”

John 1:10-13

Jesus is God. John is saying it as clear as day. There was nothing created that wasn’t created through Him. There is still nothing created that isn’t created through Him. You are God’s creature. Any children you might have, they are, too, even if you spent the time in labor. God created and God creates and for anything not yet that yet will be, well, God will be creating. Continue reading “Born of God”

Isaiah 6:1-8 (John 3:1-15)

You hear a lot about God’s presence. Sometimes people will talk about feeling God’s presence in some event or service. In some sense, that can be understood correctly. For instance, if someone almost dies in a car crash, surely that person, if he or she is a Christian, will recognize God’s mercy in sparing him or her. The fact is, though, that outside of God’s Word and Sacraments (and the Christian and his or her experience shaped by and through them), God is present with sinners in only a way that terrifies. Isaiah experienced that in our first lesson. Continue reading “Holy, Holy, Holy!”

Luke 8:16-18

The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12-13). Isaiah makes clear, “…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Continue reading “Lamps Uncovered”