Life After Confirmation

Tonight at our congregation was the questioning and examination of catechumens before they are confirmed. Now, many a time and effort has been spent by many Pastors and committees and probably somewhere along the line there was even a task force trying to “figure out” what to do to keep ongoing instruction and study in life after confirmation.

Vigil of Easter

Dear saints in the light of Christ at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

On the very first Friday — the sixth day of creation — God completed His work of creation. It was finished. “God saw everything He had made and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

And man turned away, falling into Satan’s temptation and disobeying God’s command. How then does God respond?

Good Friday – the tomb

Joseph bought a linen shroud, and with the help of Nicodemus prepared the body of our Lord. They were powerful, wealthy, and well educated men, they were members of the Sanheidrin, the very group that condemned Christ to death. They were hurriedly working for the evening beginning the Sabbath was at hand.

The working men and the women watching had gone home. Their sounds and movement in the garden and around the tomb also gone. Now the burial shroud binds the body of our Lord and a small piece of grave cloth enwraps His head.

And now a stone is rolled against the entrance of the tomb.

Maundy Thursday

Text: Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; John 13:1-17, 31-35

Maundy Thursday. If you follow the Biblical timeline that has been given, a lot has happened since Palm Sunday and the shouts of “hosanna!” On the day after that entry into Jerusalem our Lord entered into the temple and turned the tables over on the money changers.

Later on returning to Bethany he tells a fig tree that is not bearing fruit that it will be no longer, and the next morning (Tuesday) they see that it is completely withered. Jesus and the disciples enter into the temple and there gives some more teaching, about money and its use, about giving taxes to Caesar. As the chief priests are getting more and more anxious on what to do with this man Jesus, they challenge Him and question His authority and He preaches to them who the Son of Man is and about the resurrection. And then, we see Judas leave the group and strike a deal with these men to hand Jesus over.

And now we get to Thursday.

Holy Week – What’s Going On?

Holy Week is upon us. This week began yesterday with Palm Sunday with the proclamation and reading of the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. With shouts of “Hosanna!” the people were looking for the coming Messiah. (Sermon on Palm Sunday here)

Throughout the week many events happen. Many think of Holy Week as only those events beginning with Maundy Thursday and the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Yet many things happened in these few short days in between…

Midweek Lent on Baptism

During our midweek Lenten services we have been going through the chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism, here is the sermon from last week on Baptism:

Tonight, as we get to Holy Baptism it is important to take a look at this teaching. If you have ever wanted to know the differences between Lutherans and most other American Evangelical (Baptist, Pentecostal, and non- denominational) it starts with this discussion, on baptism.

So tonight we will have a little different approach. Tonight we will be going through some common questions that arise about baptism, what it is and its practice. These questions are admittedly not directly answered by Luther in His Catechism, primarily because these things are new in the history of the Christian Church.

Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns?

My brother-in-law sent me a book last year entitled “Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns.” It has quite a few interesting thoughts, many of which I think are spot on. These thoughts as well as things we had desired to do lead my wife and I to really teach our children the joys of the liturgy and the proclamation of faith in Christ in hymnody.

Further thoughts and observations. At our congregation we have been offering catechesis at a younger age than the previous 7th and 8th grade model, gradually lowering the available age by one year at a time. There has been expressed by some outside of the church that children this young cannot understand the truths of the faith leading to the faithful reception of the Lord’s Supper.