Letters On The Page

       Vespers First Sunday in Advent   Advent 1 Wednesday – Genesis 38:1-26 – Matthew 1:1-6 O Lord, your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.  We have two genealogies of Jesus. Luke 3 and Matthew 1. They are not exact replicas of one another. For example, Luke lists only the fathers, starts with Jesus and then goes backwards to Adam. Matthew starts with Abraham ends with Jesus. What I want to focus on tonight and the next two Wednesday Vesper services is the five women that Matthew includes in his genealogy.  The Gospels are written so that people may hear the Good News of Jesus. The Gospel writers not only present the content of Jesus’ life, but they present it in a way in which people will hear what is being said. For example, when reading through the genealogies, a predictable pattern is given by which names are read. For e...

 

Fareed Zakaria. In Defense of a Liberal Education . W. W. Norton & Company, NY. 2015.  At a time when many question the value of education beyond high school. Zakaria offers an inspiring and informative defense of college or university education that is broad based. The true value of Liberal Education is that it teaches you to write more clearly, speak well in the sense of giving more precise verbal explanations and presentations, and teaches you how to learn.  Liberal education teaches the curious how to use that curiosity productively. Zakaria's background helps the reader understand the value of western liberal education. He was born and raised in India. He completed High School in India before entering Yale for College. In India as well as many other parts of the world, education focuses on memorization and test taking. Innovative thinking is discouraged. When he Zakaria entered Yale, he experienced first hand the benefit of learning to think for himself and to develop...

Due to the weather event, we only had church at St. Luke, Rensselaer. The Internet was down so we were not able to record the Divine Service. Here is the sermon for Sunday.  First Sunday of Adven t  Isaiah 2:1-5        Romans 3:8-14          Matthew 24:36-44 O Lord, your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.  Some years ago while Marie and I hosted the Pastor and spouse Christmas get together for our little cluster of clergy in Southeast Indiana, it started to snow. By the time the party concluded a couple of inches had fallen on the ground. Not much more was expected.    One of the pastors told a story when he looked at the snow as he was putting on his coat. A few years back, he and his wife had been at a party where it started to snow. Everyone knew th...

I regularly use the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.  I just looked up Congeries which means aggregation, collection. Accompanying the definition is this interesting nugget of linguistic trivia.  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/congeries   What do "epitome," "circus," "tribunal," and "congeries" have in common? All are part of a relatively small collection of English nouns that made the transition from Latin to English unaltered in both spelling and meaning. "Congeries" joined this group in our language in the early 1600s. Latin  congeries  comes from the Latin verb  congerere,  which means "to carry or bring together" and which is also the source of our word  congest.  In English, "congeries" stands out because it is a singular word with a plural appearance - and its plural is also spelled "congeries."

Thank you for sharing Christ’s light Dear friends in Christ, You may have recently received a brochure in the mail that outlines the myriad ways your church is sharing the light of Christ with a dark world. As we wait with Advent expectation for the light of the world to come, I want to thank you for your fervent prayers and faithful support for the work of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod (LCMS) over the past year, which have helped us shine the light of Christ both here in the United States and around the world. That support has helped bring Christ’s light to those who suffer after natural disasters; to places around the world that desperately need to hear the Reformation message of salvation by grace through faith; and to many corners of our own country where new churches are being planted, young people are being brought up in the true faith and Lutherans are standing up for the sanctity of life. Your prayerful support  will mean that the LCMS can continue to share the mercy ...