Letters On The Page

Video of Good Friday Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer   Good Friday Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 John 19:17-30 In his 1519 A Meditation on Christ’s Passion, Martin Luther argues that in order for us to constructively reflect upon Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, Christians must not blame others for Christ’s death but blame ourselves.  Jesus dies for us. His death is a direct result of our sin. On this day we cannot redirect our own responsibility for Christ’s suffering and death upon others. We cannot hide behind Adam and Eve’s failure and sin. We cannot hide behind cultural norms. The Holy Spirit teaches us that we are left without excuse. Our sin, our human nature’s open rebellion against God’s care and love for us, is the reason that God becomes incarnate in Jesus Christ and the reason why Jesus dies on a cross for our sakes.  Luther says, “We must give ourselves wholly to this matter, for the main benefit of Christ’s passion that man sees i...

Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer Holy Thursday     Exodus 24:3-11   Hebrews 9:11-22   Matthew 26:17-30 O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.   In the Lenten Wednesday services, we listened to and reflected upon the Good News that God gives us in the Book of Exodus: God hears and answers His people’s pleas for help as they suffer in slavery; God chooses to reveal Himself; God sends Moses to deliver His people from slavery; The Good News that on account of the Lamb’s blood spread upon the door posts, death passes over Israel during the tenth and final plague; The good news that God leads Israel to freedom and sustains them with daily nourishment along the way.  Holy Thursday also has good news to share with us. The first is that God desires to be in an everlasting, binding, covenantal relationship with His people. Using Moses as his amanuensis, God lays o...

 Holy Week Greetings from Rev. Dr. Jon Bruss, President of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN:

Video of Divine Service in Rensselaer, IN Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion John 12:12-19; Isaiah 50:4-9a, Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 27:11-66 O Lord, let the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. As we begin Holy Week, we enter the mystery of just how deeply God cares for us. For our sake, God has humiliated himself. I don’t mean humiliation as in embarrassment. I mean humiliation in the sense that he has become a creature like us in order to save us. The Epistle describes the incarnation in humiliating terms: “though he was in the form of God, … he made himself nothing, being born in the likeness of men.”  Hymn 815 All Praise to Thee renders Philippians 2:5-11into poetic verse. We won’t sing it today because it has an alleluia as the refrain. We will hold off on our Alleluias until Easter. But the first line captures the essence of what the Son of God did for us.  All praise to Thee, for Thou, O King divine, Did...

  Homily for Vespers on Wednesday of the fifth Sunday in Lent – Exodus 16:1-18, 35 O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.  Are you better off? This is a question that a person seeking elected office might ask of constituents if he or she is challenging the incumbent. Are you better off now than you were before my adversary took office? If you do not have an answer, the person asking the question will suggest some answers for you that puts the one currently holding office in the worst possible light. Such is the brutal way of contemporary American politics.  I can hear a similar question being asked by the former slaves. Are we better off since Moses led us into the desert? Their immediate answer is no. A few weeks have passed. They have experienced some discomfort. Their memory is playing tricks on them. They remember eating meat and bread, but do not remember the harsh work, the endless days, ...

Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer   Fifth Sunday in Lent  Ezekiel 37:1-14   Romans 8:1-11   John 11:1-45 O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. As Lutheran Christians we understand that God speaks to us through His holy Word. He speaks to us words of Law that accuse us of our sin. How do we know that what we are thinking, doing, planning to do is not only wrong, but trespasses against God? God’s Word tells us. God’s Word shows us our trespass. It accuses us. God’s Word shapes our morality and ethics. It’s not only about behavior but about thinking too. We can and do sin with our thoughts. The purpose of showing our trespass is to make us uncomfortable enough to be contrite and to repent and to seek the Lord’s forgiveness. In God’s Holy Word, we receive the Gospel. Jesus says to us,  28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take m...