Starting this Saturday, thousands of LCMS pastors and laypeople will be voting for President of the Synod. The election of the LCMS President is being done in a much different way this time around: online, ahead of the convention, and with a different set of electors. Due to a restructuring change adopted at the 2010 convention, this time it will not be the delegates to the 2013 national convention who will do the voting. Rather, it will be the pastoral and lay delegates from each congregation who attended their 2012 district convention. Everyone who fits that description should have received   More…

“Justified by Faith, Crucified with Christ, Redeemed from the Curse” (Galatians 2:15-21; 3:10-14) Today we continue with the third in our six-part sermon series on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. We began by looking at Paul’s opening assertion that there is “No Other Gospel” than the one he preached to them, yet the Galatians lately have been falling for a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Then last week we found out more about “The Gospel Paul Preached,” that it comes from God, not from man, that it is a gospel of grace, and that this   More…

In recent days we have seen reports of district presidents using the power and resources of their office to campaign for one candidate over another for synod president in the upcoming election. President Paul Linnemann wrote to the delegate-electors of his Northwest District, and President Robert Newton wrote to the delegate-electors of his California-Nevada-Hawaii District, both of them campaigning for David Maier against Synod President Matthew Harrison. Linnemann wrote on the official letterhead of the NOW District, and Newton wrote on the official letterhead of the CNH District. Now comes a report of another district president using his office to   More…

“The Gospel Paul Preached” (Galatians 1:11-24) Today is the second of six straight weeks in which the Epistle reading comes from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. And we’re doing a six-part sermon series on Galatians to go along with that. By the way, last Sunday I encouraged you to read through Galatians at least once a week over the course of this series. If you haven’t done that yet, I hope you will. I think you’ll get a lot out of it. Last week, to start our series, we began under the heading, “No Other Gospel.” Paul opens his   More…

“No Other Gospel” (Galatians 1:1-12) Today is the first of six straight weeks in which the Epistle reading comes from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. And so that is what I intend to use as the basis for a sermon series over these weeks, namely, Galatians. I think you will find this series helpful, because as we make our way through Galatians, we will gain great insight into some very important topics, for example: the exclusive nature of the gospel of Christ, that it alone saves; the proper distinction of Law and Gospel; the central doctrine of the Christian   More…

“Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled” (John 14:1-6, 27) Let not your hearts be troubled. That is my message to you today–to you, the friends and family members; to you, the fellow members of Redeemer; and especially to you, Robert–to all of you who mourn the death of our dear sister, Edith. Let not your hearts be troubled. What? How can you say that, Pastor? A death has occurred! Edith has been taken from us! We’ll miss her. We’ll miss her pleasant company and conversation. We already miss her. And you’re telling us, “Let not your hearts be troubled”? And   More…

“We Are Baptized for This Moment” (Acts 2:14a, 22-47) Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, the day in the church year when we most give attention to the great biblical doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the truth that the one true God is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For example, on this day we confess the Athanasian Creed–like the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene, a trinitarian creed and one we believe, teach, and confess all year round, but we speak the Athanasian Creed aloud on this day, since it goes into the most depth and detail on the   More…

 St. Louis, July 20-25, 2013 The first issue of Today’s Business is now online. This is about a week earlier than I, for one, was expecting. The print edition will follow, being sent to convention attendees sometime within the next couple of weeks. Today’s Business contains Part 2 of the President’s Report, i.e., President Harrison’s specific recommendations to the convention floor committees when they assembled on May 17. The main part of Today’s Business consists of the Proposed Resolutions that those floor committees then prepared, based on the overtures and reports that had been submitted for the Convention Workbook. Delegates   More…

“Parthians and Medes at Pentecost” (Acts 2:1-21) One of the ironic things about the readings for the Day of Pentecost is when the lector–that is, the person reading the lessons–when the lector comes to Acts 2, verse 9, and has to read the following list of persons and places: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.” Now that is a mouthful! It is like the tower of Babel come   More…

To go with this summer’s LCMS Convention theme, Baptized for This Moment: A Bible Study, is being made available for free through the synod’s website, where you can download a pdf file of the study. The study’s five lessons are: 1. Baptized 2. Repent and Be Baptized 3. Baptized for Witness 4. Baptized for Mercy 5. Baptized for Life Together I’m planning to use this Bible study with my own parish, starting later this month, and in our service on May 26 I’m planning to preach on the passages from Acts 2 that form the basis for the theme and   More…

“Jesus Prays for Us” (John 17:20-26) Did you know you are mentioned in the Gospel reading for today? You are. Jesus is talking about you–in fact, he is praying for you–in the passage known as his “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17. In the first part of that chapter, Jesus has been praying for his disciples, the ones he would be sending out soon as his apostles. You know, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Matthew–those guys. But then at verse 20 of John 17, Jesus shifts his prayer to include others, as well. He says: “I do not ask for these   More…

“Hands of Blessing” (Luke 24:44-53) “Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” This is our text. “Lifting up his hands he blessed them.” On this Ascension Day, I invite you to consider with me those hands of Jesus. The hands with which he blesses us, as he ascends into heaven. For these hands of Jesus are “Hands of Blessing.” As I was thinking about the lessons for tonight’s Ascension service, it was those hands that caught   More…

“In Jesus, Peace; In the World, Tribulation” (John 16:23-33) Hear again the words of Jesus at the end of John 16, verse 33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” This is our text. “In Jesus, Peace; In the World, Tribulation.” This is what our Lord says his followers can expect. It was that way for his disciples back then. It is that way for his disciples still now. On the one hand, peace; on the other hand,   More…

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, religion journalist, media critic, and Steadfast blogger, is being featured in the news for her role in calling attention to the lack of media coverage of the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Hemingway was interviewed recently on Fox News, and now there is a story about her in the LCMS’s Reporter (by Kim Plummer Krull), “LCMS media critic helps spotlight lack of abortion trial coverage,” which I am excerpting below: If you know the name Kermit Gosnell, you might credit Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, a media critic who helped spotlight mainstream reporters’ lack of coverage of the murder   More…

“A Little While” (John 16:12-22) “We do not know what he is talking about.” Maybe you say that sometimes towards the end of my sermons. “We don’t know what he’s talking about!” Well, if so, then I’m in good company, because that’s what the disciples said about a sermon Jesus was preaching. We heard it in today’s Gospel from John 16. “We do not know what he is talking about,” the disciples said. What was it they were puzzled about? It was this. Jesus had just told them: “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again   More…