Time in the Word - Easter 4

The theme for the Fourth Sunday of Easter is the Risen Good Shepherd. How fitting that the young labs of God should be confirmed in the faith on that same day, when the undershepherd of Christ will feed them for the first time with the body and blood of our Savior, for the forgiveness of their sins and the strengthening and nourishing of their faith. Truly, the Lord leads them into green pastures and sets a rich feast before them.

Monday, 27 April 2009—Psalm 23; Antiphon, John 14, 15b—The Fourth Sunday of Easter is also known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday.’ The Introit combines the twenty-third psalm with a portion of Jesus’ words from John 10. One of the key verses of Psalm 23 is verse 3: He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who restores our soul by laying down His life for His sheep. By this sacrificial act, He redeemed us, that we may be righteous in God’s eyes.

Tuesday, 28 April 2009—Psalm 23—Sunday’s psalm is the very familiar twenty-third psalm. Children of God have turned to this psalm for comfort for thousands of years, not just because it uses pretty words and phrases in depicting a tranquil scene, but also because it faces the grim realities of life (Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death; the presence of mine enemies) and gives sure, certain hope to all who are members of the LORD’s flock.

Wednesday, 29 April 2009—Acts 4:1–12—Last week’s first reading told how, after he healed the crippled beggar, Peter proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus to the astonished people in the temple. This week’s reading has Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, proclaiming the very same message to the Jewish leaders: And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Thursday, 30 April 2009—1 John 3:16–24—Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In Sunday’s epistle reading, St John tells us that if we belong to the Truth—the Truth that is Jesus—that the love of Jesus will control our actions and lives. When our consciences plague us, our hearts will be set at rest, because God has placed His love into our hearts.

Friday, 1 May 2009—John 10:11–18— Sunday’s Gospel is the ‘Good Shepherd’ passage from St John’s Gospel. Jesus calls Himself the ‘good,’ or ‘noble,’ Shepherd. He has made us the sheep of His flock by giving His life for us, and He continues to protect us from all who would do us evil or harm. So long as we remain in His fold, nothing, not even the devil, can harm us. Recall the words of A Mighty Fortress: “And take they our life / Goods, fame, child, and wife / Let these all be gone / They yet have nothing won / The Kingdom ours remaineth.”

Saturday, 2 May 2009—The Hymn of the Day is—no surprise—the twenty-third psalm set to a traditional Irish tune called St Columba. The King of Love My Shepherd Is (LSB #709) re-casts the psalm in a metrified form.

Collect for Easter 4—Almighty God, merciful Father, since You have wakened from death the Shepherd of Your sheep, grant us Your Holy Spirit that when we hear the voice of our Shepherd we may know Him who calls us each by name and follow where He leads; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Pr. Jeff Keuning serving Dexter and Casey, IA wrote this week's Time in the Word

Happy Birthday Lydia

Time in the Word - Easter 3

The theme for the Second Sunday of Easter is Resurrection Witnesses. Next Sunday is Examination Sunday. The catechumens will give witness to the faith which was given to them at their Baptism, and nourished by regular hearing of the Word of God in Church, in Sunday School, and in Catechism instruction.

The resurrection of our Lord is not some made-up fairy story, but a real event which was witnessed by many people. In the First Lesson, Peter testifies to the fact that he is an eyewitness of Christ’s resurrection. The Gospel is the account of the resurrection appearance by our Lord to Cleopas and his companion whilst travelling to Emmaus. And, in the epistle, St John, himself an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ, tells us that our lives ought to testify to our faith in our living Lord.

Monday, 20 April 2009—Psalm 30:1-5; Antiphon, Psalm 16:11b— In Psalm 30, David exuberantly worships the Lord, who has drawn him up, healed him, and brought up his soul from Sheol (the grave.) He calls upon all saints—including us—to sing praises to the Lord and give thanks to His holy Name, for we, too have been delivered from sin death, and the power of the devil by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

Tuesday, 21 April 2009—Psalm 4—This psalm of David is a cry for deliverance, with confidence that the Lord hears and answers prayer. Because Christ Jesus has delivered us from our mortal enemy—sin and its consequences—we can confidently say with David, In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Wednesday, 22 April 2009—Acts 3:11–21—The people in the temple were astonished when Peter healed the crippled beggar (Acts 3:1–10). Peter told them that it was God, not he, who had healed the man. He then related the details of Jesus’ death and resurrection—We are witnesses—and proclaimed the Gospel to them, urging them to repent and trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins.

Thursday, 23 April 2009—1 John 3:1–7—St. John contrasts those in the world, who do not know the Father because they have rejected the Son, with believers, who put their trust in Christ, and, thus, have been made the children of God.

Friday, 24 April 2009—Luke 24:36–49—The early Church Fathers had to deal with heretics called Docetists who denied the physical resurrection of Jesus, saying it was only a spiritual resurrection, and that His appearances were that of a phantasm, or else hallucinations by His followers. This heresy persists to this day: the Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the bodily resurrection of Christ. But Jesus dispels any sort of nonsensical ideas in Sunday’s Gospel. He appears in the flesh—Why do doubts rise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have—and eats food. This eyewitness account also gives us the assurance of the physical resurrection of Jesus, and of all believers, as we confess in the Creed.

Saturday, 25 April 2009—With High Delight, Let Us Unite (LSB #483), is a song of jubilation and high praise to our risen Lord, who has vanquished death and the grave by His death: True God, He first From death has burst Forth into life, all subduing. His enemy Doth vanquished lie; His death has been death’s undoing. “And yours shall be Like victory O’er death and grave,” Saith He, who gave His life for us, life renewing.

Collect for Easter 3—O God, through the humiliation of Your Son You raised up the fallen world. Grant to Your faithful people, rescued from the peril of everlasting death, perpetual gladness and eternal joys; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

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Illustration from a woodcut by Baron Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872, a distinguished German artist known especially for his book, Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden (The Book of Books in Pictures)

This week's Time in the Word was written by Pr. Jeffrey Keuning who serves the congregations of St. John, Dexter, IA and Zion in Casey, IA

Tin Caps First Home Game

Hardball Capital the owners of Ft. Wayne’s latest minor league baseball team used Sky Design from Atlanta to consult on the name for Ft. Wayne’s newest sports franchise. “Tin Cap” a name used for LSD is simply a rumor. The opening game to be played at the new downtown ball park Parkview field is scheduled for this evening. We have the Komets, hockey, Mad Ants basketball, and Freedom football. The Tin Caps move to downtown is an attempt to revitalize Ft. Wayne. Will it work? Time will tell.

The Tin Cap logo is the only minor league team with an apple. It is to depict "Johnny Appleseed" an itinerant preacher by the name of John Chapman who apparently wore a pot on his head as he planted apples in the mid-west. Chapman is believe to be buried in Ft. Wayne next to Appleseed park where the Ft. Wayne Wizards use to play baseball.

Night baseball was first tried at Fort Wayne in 1883.

Source: Fort Wayne News. Com and The Journal Gazette

Time in the Word - Easter 2

The theme for the Second Sunday of Easter is The Power of Faith in Christ. By faith, we receive the forgiveness of sins which Christ won for us on the cross at Calvary. Like Thomas, we have not had a face to face encounter with Jesus, but we believe by the gift of faith bestowed upon us at our Baptism, and nurtured and sustained by hearing the Word of God regularly and receiving the true body and blood of our risen and ascended Lord in the Supper which He instituted. We also have the sure and certain testimony of eyewitnesses, such as St. John in the epistle reading, that Christ is risen from the dead.

This same faith causes us to desire to live our lives in Christ-like obedience to our Father in heaven. Like those in the early Church in the reading from Acts, we care for one another in the Church, whether it be those in our own congregation, or victims of natural disasters, or the less fortunate, such as those served by Bethesda Home, and Lutheran School for the Deaf.

Tuesday, 14 April 2009—Psalm 148—In Sunday’s psalm, the psalmist calls upon all of creation—those on the earth, those under the sea, and those in the heavens—to join in a chorus of praise to the Lord. Animate and inanimate, all of creation proclaims the glory of the Lord.

Wednesday, 15 April 2009—Acts 4:32–35—St. Luke gives us a snapshot of the early Church in Jerusalem. Reflecting the love that Christ has for us, they loved each other by taking care of one another. Two thousand years later, we can reflect that same love of Jesus for us by caring for one another.

Thursday, 16 April 2009—1 John 1:1—2:2—St. John, in his epistle, testifies to the fact of Christ’s resurrection by recounting how he has seen the resurrected Savior, how he has heard him, and how he has touched Him. We need have no doubt that Christ is risen from the dead, and therefore, has forgiven all our sins.

Friday, 17 April 2009—John 20:19–31—There are two appearances by the risen Christ in Sunday’s Gospel, each bringing us a great deal of comfort. In the first, Jesus establishes the Office of the Holy Ministry, and assures us that, in the words of the catechism, ‘when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they…absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ, our dear Lord, dealt with us Himself.’ In the second appearance, our Lord appears to Thomas. Thomas wanted the certainty of seeing his risen Lord in the flesh, as the others had. When he beholds the wounds in the One who was crucified on our behalf, his faith is sure, and he confesses, ‘My Lord and My God!’ Thomas’s assurance is ours also. We need never doubt that our Lord is truly risen from the dead, ‘the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ (1 Cor. 15:20)

Saturday, 18 April 2009—The Hymn of the Day, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (LSB #549), is a hymn of praise, similar in content to the psalm, calling upon all people to praise the name of Jesus, God incarnate, who suffered, died, and rose for the salvation of all. Those on earth, those who have passed into glory, and all the angels raise the strain of praise to our Lord forever and ever.

Collect for Easter 2— Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Illustration from a woodcut by Baron Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872, a distinguished German artist known especially for his book, Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden (The Book of Books in Pictures).

Pr. Jeff Keuning from Dexter, IA wrote this week's Time in the Word

Render unto Caesar

Just paid what we owe 2008 State and Federal taxes and the first installment on the 2009 State and Federal tax bill. If everyone had to pay quarterly they might feel a lot like Salem.

Monday, April 13, 2009 – Jesus’ Appearance to His Disciples – John 20:19-31

The risen Christ appears to the disciples and Thomas whose doubt is overcome. On Easter night Jesus comes to His frightened and disheartened disciples. One is absent, Thomas. Jesus discloses Himself as the crucified one, comforts them with His presence, and commissions them to go into the world. Here is John’s Great Commission and Pentecost as Jesus breathes on them giving them His Spirit.

Since Thomas is absent, the risen Lord must still deal with him who demands physical evidence that Jesus has risen. When Jesus shows His wounds, Thomas believes. Jesus uses this situation to teach that real faith does not demand physical evidence. John will conclude his gospel by giving the purpose of writing it –to create faith in Christ.

People do not see the risen Christ but “yet believe” in Him. “Yet” refers to all the reasons for not believing; no evidence, nothing tangible, no sight. True faith is believing in spite of all reasons not to believe. When we cannot see, when the future is unknown, we have faith that the unseen and unknown truly exist.

We are Easter people. May the Savior continue to guide your path and order your days as you journey with Him.