Letters On The Page

Click here for the Divine Service at St. Luke Rensselaer   2024 Trinity Sunday – Isaiah 6:1-8       Romans 8:12-17      John 3:1-17 O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.  Concordia Publishing House published an updated set of questions and explanations for the Small Catechism in 2017. As it leads the reader through the Apostles Creed, a number of preliminary questions are asked with an answer provided along with supporting Scripture texts. We Lutherans believe that our teaching of the faith is founded on the Bible.  The questions begin with question 103  Why does the Creed follow the Ten Commandments ?    Most of us probably give no thought to why the Small Catechism is organized the way that it is. The catechism just simply is. I can assure you that there is a deliberate pattern here. By beginning our instruction in the Christian faith with the commandments, we immediately must address our shortcomings, li

Click here for the Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer 2024 Day of Pentecost              From Death to Life Ezekiel 37:1-14   Acts 2:1-21            John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 Alleluia! Christ is risen! O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.  From time to time I am in a cemetery officiating at the last portion of a Funeral Service.  Everywhere I look, I see memories. Every grave and tombstone is a story, whether the life was long or short. For each person, there was love, parents, probably siblings and cousins. I do appreciate when folks start telling stories about those in the graves.  These kinds of memories are meant to be shared.  This experience of a cemetery is a far cry from the experience that Ezekiel 37 describes. The Lord brought Ezekiel to the Valley of the Dry Bones. We do not know where this is, but wherever it is, it is not a well-cared for resting place of the beloved who have been carefully and res

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit As we look forward to the Feast of Pentecost Day this coming Sunday – the great Fiftieth Day of Easter – we remember and give thanks for the Lord’s generous outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His Church. So do we also pray that Christ Jesus would continue to do as He has promised in sending the Spirit from His Father to testify of Him and bestow His righteousness upon us. The special work of the Holy Spirit, as Luther explains in the Large Catechism, is to make the Church holy in Christ Jesus – and likewise to make us holy within the fellowship of His Church. This the Spirit does and accomplishes by the means of grace and the Ministry of the Gospel, the Word and work of Christ Jesus, whereby “He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth” through the free and full forgiveness of sins. He lays Christ upon our hearts through the Gospel, and He lays us upon Christ through faith in the Gospel, that we should live and abide in

  Click here for service at St. Luke, Rensselaer 2024 Easter 7            Acts 1:1-11                1 John 5:9-15                      John 17:11b-19 Alleluia! Christ is risen! O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen .  When I was in a classroom in my youth, I remember our class was shown a film about the behavior of bears. What stands out in my memory is the way in which Mama bear separated herself from her young. The younger bears were about 16 – 17 months old, Mama bear did what she often did with her cubs to protect them from harm while she went afield in search of food; she made them climb high up into a tree and told them in stern bear language not to come down. Then, without any warning, she went afield and kept on going never to return. The young bears, moved by their empty stomachs, eventually come down. When they do not find Mama, they begin their new life as bears without a parent around to show th

Before Covid, Marie and I drove up to Mecosta, MI to meet Mrs. Kirk and to briefly tour Kirk's library. Annette is a gracious host and the energy and brains behind the Kirk Center . While in Mecosta, we visited the Mecosta Book Gallery . A delightful place of discovery.  Russell Kirk became a surprise sensation in 1953 when his book The Conservative Mind was published and received to critical applause.  Russell Kirk was named Man of the Year for Time Magazine.  After a distinguished writing and lecturing career, Russell Kirk died 30 years ago on April 29.   Here are a few thoughtful remembrances of Dr. Kirk Daniel McCarthy - Ghosts of Russell Kirk Daniel Brand in New Guard Press   Michael Lucchese - contributing editor of Providence   Amy Fahey - Teaching Fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts   The Kirk Center has kindly released one of Kirk's last essays:  Is Life Worth Living?   

Click Here for the Link   A Place of Peace and Rest in the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ The promises of God throughout the Old Testament centered especially in that peace and rest which He would grant to His people. He bequeathed the good land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. He promised, then, to bring the sons of Israel out of Egyptian slavery into that very land again. And in that Promised Land, He would cause His Name and His glory to dwell among His people, that they might find their dwelling place of peace and rest in Him. It was Joshua the son of Nun (the Old Testament  Jesus ) who led the Israelites into Canaan. It is the new and better Jesus of Nazareth who leads us into the promised land of heaven. There He is our God, and we are His people. His own Body is the Temple and Glory of God, whereby He abides with us, and we in Him forever. By His atoning sacrifice He has reconciled us to God the Father in Himself, and He has thus become our perfect Peace and our ete

Click here for a link to the service at St. Luke   2024 Ascension of our Lord  Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53 In the Bible, there are three men who depart from this world differently than the rest of us: Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus. We meet Enoch in Genesis 5. All we know of him is this: 18  When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered   Enoch.   19  Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.   20  Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. 21  When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.   22  Enoch   walked with God [ b ]   after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.   23  Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24  Enoch   walked with God, and he was not, [ c ]   for God took him. In Genesis 5, the text says explicitly of everyone else, “and he died.” Not so for Enoch. All we know is that Enoch is a holy and righteous man and that for God’s purposes, God chose to not allow him to d