A Advent Note from LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison



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 and love of Christ with a world that is ever darkening. And that means the light of God’s Word will continue to pierce the darkness, bringing the Gospel to those who have not yet heard it, until Christ returns.

With Advent hope,

Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison
President
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

P.S. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). In the year to come, may we continue to walk together in the light of Christ, and — by the grace of God — do what is good and right and true.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter from LCMS President Harrison about Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Recognized Service Organizations

  A Letter from LCMS President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs    FEB. 6, 2025 LCMS.ORG A letter from President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs Dear Saints of the LCMS, Grace and peace in Jesus! For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above ev...
Read more

Vigil of Easter

Image
The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour hosted the Vigil of Easter this year. We were joined by the congregations of St. John's, Rensselaer; St. Luke, Rensselaer; Trinity, Goodland; St. James, Reynolds; and St. James, Logansport. I was blessed to serve at the Altar with the pastors of these congregations. May the Lord continue to bless all of our ministries in the coming days and years! Here is my brief homily for the Vigil. Easter Vigil  O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.  Not long ago I read the Odyssey. Book 14 relays how, after many challenges and delays, Odysseus finally lands on his homeland of Ithaca. Aware that he has been gone a long time and that he is walking into circumstances that are not as he left Ithaca to fight the Trojans, he comes disguised. His first human encounter is with his loyal swineherd Eumaeus. Eumaeus does not recognize him. He says to Odysseus.  Come, old soldier, t...
Read more

John Donne on Christmas

Image
As we are now happily within the Twelve Days of Christmas, I am pleased to share this snippet by John Donne that I have borrowed from Alan Jacobs blog:  https://buttondown.email/ayjay/archive/christmas-epiphany/ John Donne, from a sermon preached at St. Paul’s Cathedral on  Christmas Day 1626 : The life of Christ was a continual Passion; others die Martyrs, but Christ was born a Martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem, where he was born; For, to his tenderness then, the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after; and the Manger as uneasy at first, as his Cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas-day and his Good Friday, are but the evening and morning of one and the same day. And as even his birth, is his death, so every action and passage that manifests Christ to us, is his birth; for,  Epiphany  is manifestation; And therefore, though the Church doe now call Twelfth-day Epiphany, because...
Read more