Sermon Tidbit

Since I haven't posted in a little while, I thought I better put something up to let you know that I am still alive!

So here it is . . .

Yesterday in the Divine Service we heard from Jesus that "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." (Mark 9:42) In my sermon on this text, I made the observation of how fortunate we are that instead of being cast into the sea because of our sin, we are cast into the waters of Holy Baptism - waters of salvation and forgiveness instead of death and condemnation! These are the same waters into which "our Jonah" was cast, that the millstones hung around our necks might be hung around His instead, and His resurrection to a new life now be ours.

What is Prayer?

I received a request to write an explanation of "What is Prayer?" in 50 words. Well, I used a few more words than that, but here is what I wrote:

What is prayer?

Prayer is the voice of faith.

Faith that is created and fed by the Word, cries out to its source - that same Word now made flesh. For faith speaks what it hears. Prayer comes not from ourselves, but from the faith given to us.

And so faith cries out for all that is needed, for all that is needed has been promised by God.
Faith cries out in thanksgiving, for all that is given is given by God.
Faith cries out in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, in good times and in bad, for ourselves and for others, for all things are in His hands.

If our faith falters, so too do our prayers falter.
Then the Word comes with forgiveness to raise our faltering faith and give us life and hope again.
And the voice of faith cries out again.
Never perfect,
until faith is needed no more, when our voices are joined to the choir of angels in the hymn of praise that has no end.

Until then, we live by faith.
And faith speaks in prayer.

Busy Days

Lots going on! Two weeks of school under my belt - good learning, some challenges, but so far managing to keep up. Kids back in school - I'll post a picture of my little one's first day soon.

Found this blog and this entry this morning. I appreciated it, and believe you will too. Take a few minutes to go read it.

Labor Day

It was a good Labor Day today. My family and I went to the National Zoo and not only saw lots of animals, but lots of active animals, doing all kinds of fun things. We saw an elephant getting a bath, another one rolling around in the swimming pool, some gorillas wrestling, a cheetah and a zebra running next to each other on opposite sides of a fence, and the orangutans climbing above us on their ropes that stretch across part of the zoo. Pretty tired when we got home, but a nice day together before the start of school tomorrow for the kids. So its up early and back into the routine . . . and then off to school for me too! (Though I started last week.)

Always Learning

Don't preach faith, preach Christ.

Don't tell people to cling to Christ (Law), give them the reason to (Gospel).

How often I need to remember this! It is so easy to fall into this Law-trap.