Redeemer Lutheran Church Blog

Sunday after Christmas, December 31, 2017 - St. Luke 2:33-40

Posted: Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018 (0 comments)

The Church takes us through our Lord’s life over about 6 months. But the events don’t always come in order. This Saturday we celebrate Epiphany, the coming of the wise men. Yet a few days ago, on the 28th, she remembered Herod killing Bethlehem’s baby boys, which only happened after the wise men went home. As it is, Saturday can’t be the day the wise men came, because they came after the events of today’s Gospel, which took place on February 2; the Church reads the previous verses in Luke 2 on that day. So today we’ve fast-forwarded 40 days, even though Christmas was only 6 days ago. We’ll read about our Lord’s Circumcision and Naming tomorrow, which happened 33 days before what we just read. . . .

Read more...


New Year's Eve, December 31, 2017 - I Peter 1:22-25

Posted: Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018 (0 comments)

Nothing lasts long. Flowers sure don’t. Our poinsettias may last a month, but they can’t stay here forever. Flowers that have been in church often last no more than a week. We wish they’d last longer, but they just don’t. Flowers fade and then they fall off. They don’t last. Grass dies and goes brown. Corn stalks go yellow. We die. And years come to an end. . . .

Read more...


New Year's Day, January 1, 2018 - St. Luke 2:21

Posted: Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018 (0 comments)

Happy New Year! Your gift is the shortest Gospel in the entire Church Year: just 1 verse. But hardly any other verse of Scripture is filled with so much. It is so much that The Church has sometimes split this reading up over 2 days, for in it we hear 2 distinct things. The Child was circumcised. The Child was named Jesus. . . .

Read more...


Epiphany, January 6, 2018 - St. Matthew 2:1-12

Posted: Saturday, January 6th, 2018 (0 comments)

“Behold, the Lord, the Ruler, hath come: and the kingdom and the power and the glory are in His hand.” These words, our Introit Antiphon, were composed by the Church long ago to hymn our Lord’s Epiphany. They are inspired by the Psalms and Revelation. They confess that this Child Mary bore is no mere mortal, but God in our flesh. . . .

Read more...


Epiphany I, January 7, 2018 - St. Luke 2:41-52

Posted: Sunday, January 7th, 2018 (0 comments)

Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. His Mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Do these words jump out at you whenever you hear Luke 2? We’ve been hearing this chapter for 2 weeks now. We heard the story of Jesus’ Birth on Christmas, and of His Circumcision on New Year’s Day. We heard what Simeon had to say to Mary about Him last Sunday, and today we hear all we know about Him as a youth. Mary kept all these sayings in her heart. She pondered them and handed them down to us. Luke says at the beginning of His Gospel that he interviewed the eyewitnesses to get the stories, so many people think his source is Mary herself. . . .

Read more...


Epiphany Last, January 21, 2018 - St. Matthew 17:1-9

Posted: Sunday, January 21st, 2018 (0 comments)

Who is this Baby born of Mary? The shepherds knew. Mary and Joseph knew. The Magi knew. Simeon knew. The Baptist knew. But they did not know just by looking at Him. There was nothing special about Him that would attract us to Him. He looked like just another normal Judean man. They knew Who He is not by sight, but by faith. The Word of God told them Who He is. . . .

Read more...


Epiphany II, January 14, 2018 - St. John 2:1-11

Posted: Sunday, January 21st, 2018 (0 comments)

Merry Christmas! People said those words to us many times throughout December, and we said it just as much. Perhaps we truly meant it, perhaps we just said it automatically and thought nothing of it a second later or didn’t even mean it. But if we meant it, we were telling people we hoped they’d have a joyful Christmas, a glad Christmas, a Christmas blessed by the gifts of The Savior, Christ The Lord. . . .

Read more...


Septuagesima, January 28, 2018 - St. Matthew 20:1-16

Posted: Sunday, January 28th, 2018 (0 comments)

It’s been 3 months. 3 months ago we celebrated the 500th Anniversary of The Reformation. It’s been 500 years since Dr. Luther posted his 95 Theses to protest the Roman Church’s practice of indulgences. He recognized that system could not deal properly with sin, with the guilt we incur because of our sin, and with how God remits that guilt. So he posted his Theses. He didn’t realize what would happen, but here we are, 500 years later, a congregation of the English District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. . . .

Read more...