QUINQUAGESIMA This is the last of the three pre-Lenten Sundays, exactly the fiftieth day before Easter. It is also called Esto mihi, from the opening words of the Latin Introit: Esto mihi in Deum protectorem, etc. The teaching of the day is love, love in all its glory and wonder, the love of God to […]

Apologies for posting this a week late. My little computer people went on strike. SEXAGESIMA Last Sunday’s Propers invited us to battle and labor. This Sunday’s emphasize the warning against “trusting in anything that we do.” The intrusion of self in any form will spoil our Lenten discipline. The spirit of self-seeking, or of self-trust, […]

Do you see how this vineyard owner operates? It’s not a merit-based system, but a grace-based mentality. He is the owner and he is allowed to do as he pleases with what belongs to him. This is not a lesson no how to run a business. Jesus was not a CEO or an example-setter, so we should not rush back to work tomorrow morning and insist that everyone be paid the same thing regardless of education, experience, or job performance. This parable does not teach us how to run a business. Rather, here we see two dynamics of God’s character at work in our lives: righteous judgment and outrageous grace.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit We continue our Gesimatide series on the threefold focus of our Synod: WITNESS, MERCY, and LIFE TOGETHER. Last week we heard about the Father’s MERCY in choosing us to labor in His vineyard until we ascend with Him to […]

A church in which human fancy and cleverness is preached instead of God’s Word is nothing else than an open door to hell, a shambles of Satan. It were better for one to go into a den of robbers and murderers than into such a church of unbelievers. Thieves would kill only his body, but […]