All the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:1,2 In a recent sermon I shared that Jesus receives sinners. What follows is a summary of my sermon for that day. Jesus receives sinners. This is clear from the text here which says, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” This was the accusation of the Pharisees and scribes who complained abou

Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1 For over 160 years members of our congregation of faith have worshipped together under God’s holy Name. We have done so both outwardly and inwardly. Yet, Christians at times tend to discount the outward expression of worship in favor of the spiritual. And yet we live in a created world. God cares

“And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while he blessed them, that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven.” Luke 24:50,51 In Psalm 110 the Father says to the Son, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool!” This verse is a reference to our Lord’s ascension. The Lord Jesus Christ, once dead is now alive, risen in victory. Forty days after his resurrection the Lord ascended also

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken."-- Psalm 62:5,6. In his article, The Why and How of Silence in Worship, Rev. Paul Borgman shares that we live in a loud and chaotic world. “Life in the world today proves that we need silence,” he says. He shares that there is a human need for this silence. This is something I feel I have been learning myself over the years. I remember

“We commit this body to its resting place, ashes to ashes, dust to dust in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to life for all God’s people.” At the time of a funeral, we reflect on our human weakness before God and our own eventual death. These historic well-known words have been spoken for centuries at Christian committals the world over. For many centuries, a part of the traditional liturgy for Ash Wednesday has been the Imposition of Ashes. In Biblical times ash

Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day…Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! Psalm 96: 1,2,8,9 I have shared in the past that historic Evangelical or Lutheran worship is Divine Service. The term “Divine Service” goes back to the German language at th