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This year our special services (Lent midweek, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunrise) built on the theme of the hymn of the day. Congregational singing is part of the rich heritage of the Lutheran Church. Not only are our teaching built strictly on the Bible, but we do not seek to hide any point of doctrine or practice.

With this in mind, Luther and the other reformers began writing hymns to explain salvation by grace through faith for the sake of Christ. These hymns clearly spoke of the grace of God, the history of salvation, and the chief parts of Christian doctrine. Such hymns as Salvation Unto Us Has Come and Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice joined Luther’s catechetical hymns.

One hundred years later, in 1618, began the Thirty Years War, which was devastating to the German people. Millions of people died as a result of the war, famine, and plague. Yet from this period in history came some of the greatest hymns of comfort. Several of the hymns we studied this year were composed during his dark period of human history.

We chose the hymns to study based on the LCMS “Hymn of the Day” suggestions for the Lutheran Service Book. Although we could have used popularity or personal preference or some other criteria, we knew that this list of suggested hymns gave a good cross-section of Lutheran hymnody.

You can find the videos of the sermons on these hymns in the Lent Midweek — 2023 page of this website. I recorded some of the sermons in my office, others were recorded during the church service.

Throughout the Easter season we will continue to use the hymn of the day as the basis for the sermon. After all, these hymns are chosen because they help explain the Gospel reading or other readings of a given Sunday. By taking the time to explore what the hymn teaches about Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, we help reinforce the theme of the day.

Thank you for viewing these sermons. I look forward to your feedback.

The topic of the Lord’s Supper and Closed Communion came up today in several different contexts. With several people asking the same question, maybe it is time to revisit the topic and our practice.

Our bulletin announcement says:

“Holy Communion is celebrated this Sunday at Trinity Lutheran Church in the glad confidence that our Lord, as His Words say, gives not only bread and wine, but also His true Body and Blood for us to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins. Our Lord invites to His table those who believe He is truly present, repent of all sin, and set aside any refusal to forgive as He forgives us. Because Saint Paul reminds us that we can receive the Lord’s Supper to our judgment, we are very careful to administer the Sacrament only to those who are properly prepared. When we receive Holy Communion, we publicly declare our agreement with the teachings of the church from which we receive it. Therefore, if you are not yet a member of this congregation, a sister congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and if you have not previously spoken to the Pastor about Holy Communion, please refrain from coming forward to receive Communion until you have first spoken with the Pastor.
If you cannot receive the Lord’s Supper but desire a blessing, please join us at the Communion rail and cross your arms over your chest to tell the pastor of your intent.”

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With this being said, we certainly practice closed Communion. Yes, the most important part of the Lord’s Supper is that which we receive from Christ Jesus. We receive His true body and true blood (doctrine of the Real Presence) for the strengthening of our faith and for the forgiveness of our sins. At the same time we are confessing a common faith, not only in Christ Jesus, but in all aspects of doctrine. Thus we are confessing that we are saved by grace alone, not by works. Thus we are confessing that the Bible is the Word of God, inspired and inerrant, and that the Law condemns certain actions such as abortion, homosexuality, and same gender marriage which are legal but immoral.

We believe, teach, and confess that Christ Jesus is sacramentaly present in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. When Jesus said, “This IS my body,” He meant exactly what He said. This sacramental presence mirrors the incarnation of Jesus as true God and true man.

We also take very seriously Saint Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:27 and following where we are warned that it is possible to take the Lord’s Supper to our judgment. Not all Christian congregations confess the Real Presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Supper, therefore we are careful not to give to those who doubt Jesus’ words the opportunity for their harm.

What about those who had been confirmed in the LCMS, and at one time made the good confession of faith? However, based on their spouse’s desires, or their own doubt, they left the LCMS and joined another church body. Their confession of faith is not what they said at confirmation, but they repudiated that when joining in a church body that teaches other than the Real Presence. They repudiated their confirmation when they joined a church body that dismisses some or all of the Bible. The confession of your church is your public confession. If your public confession is not in agreement with the LCMS, we would be helping you to bear a false witness of your faith. If you do privately agree with the Lutheran teachings, then you are lying about your confession when you commune at your home congregation. Either way, this is not a good thing.

In 1983, and again in 1999, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod published documents about the Lord’s Supper. These were prepared by the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) to answer questions about our doctrine and practice. You can find both documents here: (https://www.lcms.org/about/leadership/commission-on-theology-and-church-relations/documents/lutheran-doctrine-and-practice).

All CTCR documents, as well as all Lutheran doctrines and writings, must stand under the clear Word of God. These statements explain our position concerning both the theology and practice of the Lord’s Supper in light of the Bible.

As a brief summary: We believe, teach, and confess that Jesus’ body and blood are truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. He gives us this gift for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. If someone who disagrees publicly with the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, or the Christian faith in general (salvation by grace through faith for the sake of Christ), we cannot commune them until they repent of their false doctrine.

There is additional criteria for determining who I may commune, but that is outside the scope of this article.

If you desire to talk about our doctrine and practice, please feel free to contact me.

Advent begins on the Sunday closest to the Feast of Saint Andrew. This year the First Sunday of Advent is on November 27. Our first Advent Midweek Service will be at 7:00 pm on November 30, which is Andrew’s feast day.

Our evening services begin at 7:00 p.m. On Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper, otherwise we will be using the daily office of Vespers. Our sermons will be available both as PDF and video on this website.

The theme is year is `”The Hymns of Advent.” We will begin this series on Thanksgiving Eve when we study Martin Rinckart’s Now Thank We All Our God.

Here is the schedule of special services for the rest of 2022:

Date	Day Name	Title	Text
11/23/22	Thanksgiving Eve	Now Thank We All Our God	1 Timothy 2:1-4
11/30/22	Advent Midweek 1	Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus	Luke 1:67-75
12/07/22	Advent Midweek 2	Once He Came in Blessing	Luke 4:17-19
12/14/22	Advent Midweek 3	Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding	Luke 1:76-79
12/21/22	Advent Midweek 4	Hark the Glad Sound	Isaiah 40:3
12/24/22	Christmas Eve	A Great and Mighty Wonder	Luke 2:1-14
12/25/22	Christmas Day	Of the Father’s Love Begotten	John 1:1-14
12/31/22	New Year’s Eve	The Ancient Law Departs	Luke 2:21
01/06/22	Epiphany	Joint here with St. Paul – Fulda Pastor Ethridge preaching

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod posted this article on their Facebook page:

Today we mark St. Martin of Tours Day – Nov. 11. Traditionally the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod uses this day to announce the St. Martin of Tours Medal awards for the next year. Congratulations to the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod chaplains who will be receiving the St. Martin of Tours award for 2023:

Chaplain Jason Bredeson – U.S. Air Force Reserve

Chaplain Jason Dart – U.S. Navy Reserve

Chaplain Gregory Lutz – Canadian Army

Chaplain Douglas Ochner – U.S. Army

Chaplain Jeffrey Williams – Civil Air Patrol

Here is some Background:

The Bronze St. Martin of Tours Award

An award in the name of St. Martin of Tours is particularly appropriate for Lutheran chaplains. As a young man, Martin of Tours, who was born in 315 AD, served as an officer in the Roman Army. According to tradition, one day he encountered a poor beggar shivering from the cold. Martin drew his sword, cut his military cape in two and covered the beggar with one half. That night, according to the tradition, Christ appeared to Martin in a dream, wearing the half of the cape he had given to the beggar. The vision led to Martin’s conversion and baptism.

Martin eventually became a cleric, founded a monastery and, over the years, his piety and devotion to Christ became so well known that he was installed as the Bishop of Tours, France, by popular demand. Following his death, the remaining half of Martin’s cape became an object of veneration. French kings had the cape carried into battle and prepared a tent-like portable shrine for it. In Latin, the shrine was called a “capella.” The priest who was given responsibility for the “capa” and the “capella” was called the “capellanus.” It is through the derivation of these terms that we now have the English words for “chapel” and “chaplain.” Consequently, since Medieval days, Martin of Tours has been identified with those who serve as military chaplains.

For Lutheran chaplains, however, Martin of Tours has an additional, significant connection. On November 10, 1483, Hans and Margarethe Luther, of Eisleben, Germany, welcomed the birth of a new baby boy. Following the custom of the times, they had their infant baptized the following day. Since November 11 was the date the Christian Church traditionally remembered and honored St. Martin of Tours, the baby was named Martin Luther.

It is most appropriate, therefore, to give tribute to Lutheran pastors who have given so many years of dedicated service to military personnel with an award whose name recalls these two historic defenders of the Christian faith.

This coming Sunday marks the beginning of the three-week pre-Lent season. The liturgical preparation for Easter takes place through three stages.

Stage One: Gesima Sundays

It begins with the ”Gesima” Sundays. These three Sundays before Ash Wednesday provide an opportunity to study the Grace of God in which graceis explained in three different ways.

Septuagesima: This Sunday is about 70 days before Easter, which is the meaning of the Latin name. The focus of this Sunday – Grace is undeserved. The Collect for this Sunday implores God to graciously hear us, who are justly punished for our sin, so that we may be delivered by God’s goodness. The goodness of God is emphasized in the parable (Matthew 20:1-16) where all the laborers receive the reward because of the goodness of the land owner. So we, too, receive the reward of eternal life because
God is good.

Sexagesima: This Sunday is about 60 days before Easter. The focus of this Sunday – Grace is passively received. In the Collect we pray to the God who sees that we put not our trust in anything we do, but mercifully defends us by His power. In the parable of the sower, the seed of God’s Word is passively received in good and noble hearts.

Quinquagesima: This Sunday is about 50 days before Easter. The focus of this Sunday – Grace is not easily understood. In the Gospel Jesus predicts His passion and the disciples ”understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” (Luke 18:34)

The three ”Gesima” Sundays begin the Lenten preparation for Easter. They take on the character of Lent, but mildly. The color remains green, the color of the Epiphany season. No more do we sing the Alleluia. Crosses remain unveiled, and flowers may adorn the chancel. In this pre-Lent season we gradually remove portions of the liturgy as we approach Christ’s passion.

Stage Two: Ash Wednesday through Laetare

The second step of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and ends when the week of Laetare (Fourth Sunday in Lent) is completed. In addition to the liturgical changes that began in the Gesima weeks, flowers no longer adorn the chancel, and the crucifix and crosses are veiled. During these four Sundays the focus is on temptation, faith, and the Christian struggle. The names of the Sundays are drawn from the first word of the Introit.

Invocabit: Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.

Reminiscere: The faith of the Canaanite woman is tested.

Oculi: The people tempt Jesus to show them a sign from heaven.

Laetare: This Sunday has a lighter mood to as we learn how Jesus provides for His people. Traditionally this Sunday uses rose colored paraments, unlike the other Sundays in Lent.

Stage Three: Passiontide

The final stage is Passiontide which begins with Judica Sunday (Passion Sunday or the Fifth Sunday in Lent) and extends through Holy Week and the Triduum or three Holy days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Now the focus is expressly on our Lord’s passion. The liturgy is spoken on Judica Sunday to emphasize the intense passion which our Lord endured. This intensity builds until we finally arrive at the empty tomb.