God's Surprising Sustenance, August 6th Worship

During the summer months we can all relate to a group of people who had gotten thirsty and hungry. Jesus suddenly produces a reviving lunch. This miraculous feeding affirms God's generous and daily provision for all our needs.  Daily, He sustains His whole creation and feeds us with what we need for body, soul, and mind. On the day Jesus fed the crowd He showed us that He understands who we are as complex creatures with a variety of needs. Today we celebrate with wonder the surprising ways in which our God cares for us in the complex circumstances and needs we face. 

The Treasure of God's Love, July 30th Worship

God’s Word gives us an amazing array of statements about the love of God. “Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.”  God is “keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations.” Jesus tells us several parables trying to convey that this love is the greatest of treasures in all the world. He wants us to embrace the idea that knowing God’s love is the most vital thing for each of us. It makes an eternal and infinite difference in every way and in everything.

God of the Wheat and Weeds, July 23rd Worship

Jesus saw the farm fields around him as a place of drama. In many of his parables Jesus would point to those fields to illustrate the essence of God’s relationship to His Creation. Today as we consider the Parable of the Weeds we hear from Jesus that God plans a day of reckoning or judgment in which all things will be made accountable to Him. At this harvest of sorts God alone gets to decide what will be saved and what will be discarded. This means that all of our ideas about who deserves what must be subject to God’s standard of what is fair and just. Perhaps today we should ask, if God should send His angels out to cut the harvest tomorrow what would they find in our homes or hearts: wheat or weeds? Thankfully in his great love and compassion Jesus guides us to the harvest in the triumph he has won for us.

Growing in the Father's Care, July 16th Worship

What does it take to keep something growing in your backyard? This time of year we battle the heat, insects, hungry animals, and weeds, to keep things growing. So too in our hearts the things of the Spirit must be carefully tended if we want them to grow and thrive. The ground of our hearts might be hard-packed, rock-infested, and thorn-choked. But God’s merciful Spirit creates fertile, receptive soil in which small, new life finds purchase, takes root, and bears much fruit. Today we confidently celebrate God’s attentive care as beloved sons and daughters we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Jesus, Refuge of the Weary, July 9th Worship

Summer is a busy time. Especially in Minnesota, our motto for summer is “go for it, you can rest in winter!” But sooner rather than later we all need to address the question of what it is that truly gives us rest. Jesus invites us to find our real rest in Him. In His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the grave Jesus covers us in infinite and eternal rest. Even in the busyness of summer Jesus is our real rest. That is worth celebrating.

Our God is Strong to Save, July 2nd Worship

As we mark this 4th of July celebration we remember the many ways in which our lives have been made great by the efforts of others. As Christians we savor this all the more as we hold fast to the wonderful news that the battle has been fought and the price has been paid by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we may have freedom from sin, eternal death, and the devil. Today we hear Jesus speak about the reality of what will bring us peace and freedom forever

Set Free by Faith, June 25th Worship

Jeremiah has been called the weeping or reluctant prophet. He felt like God had thrown too much at him. But again and again God inspired Jeremiah to be a man of integrity and conviction. “The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior,” he wrote. Jeremiah longed to see God bring justice. Along with the prophet each of us longs for these ultimate things that only God can provide. Our faith is that in Christ Jesus we have seen the person of God: goodness, and justice, grace and love, triumphs in His name.

The Father's Treasure, June 18th Worship

On Father’s Day we give thanks for our earthly dads, grandfathers, and other men who are special to us. This reminds us that every time we gather in the Lord’s house for worship, our time together can also be seen as a Father’s Day. As we are reminded in our Readings, God, our heavenly Father, has reconciled us to Himself through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. By our Father’s grace, we are made His “treasured possession.” We live in our Father’s house and we can approach Him directly and confidently as children do their loving Father. May your time in our Father’s house be eternally blessed this day.

The Perfect Three and One, Trinity Sunday Worship, June 11

Trinity Sunday is a day to bask in the wonder of knowing the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who has been revealed to us in the Scriptures. We wonder at the mystery and majesty of the Trinity. We can start with the basics: the Father creates, the Son redeems, the Spirit sanctifies. God’s Word gives us the endless implications of this doctrine. Today, in the Old Testament Reading from Genesis, we see all three persons are present and active in the creation of the world. In our Reading from Acts, we see all three persons active in the salvation of the world. And in the Holy Gospel from Matthew, we see that all three persons are active in the new life we have as baptized children of God.

The Spirit of the Living God, Pentecost Worship, June 4th

“What does this mean?” This question might sound familiar to anyone who has spent time studying Luther’s Small Catechism. In it the question is asked again and again: “What does this mean?” This same question was asked by many in the crowd on the Day of Pentecost. As the people hear and see these miraculous events, they are amazed and perplexed, asking one another, “What does this mean?” In the verses that follow, Peter explains that God has fulfilled his ancient promise to “pour out His Spirit on all people.” The gift of the Holy Spirit has been given for all nations. As we celebrate the Day of Pentecost today, it’s time for each of us to ask, “What does this mean—for me?” The Spirit of the Living God is among us.