As often happens in the solemn Lenten season, we are given brief respites of joy. Each Sunday is still a “little Easter” even absent the Alleluias. And on this day, March 25, we observe the Feast of the Annunciation, the day that the angel spoke to Mary announcing she would bear the Messiah. This child is also promised to Joseph and told that his name would be called Immanuel, which means “God with us (Matthew 1:23).” The disciples had the privilege of being with Jesus during

There was a time when you would hear a song somewhere and wonder what it was called. I remember once hearing a tune I could not quite place, so I actually called the radio station to ask about it. The DJ told me the exact name of the artist. Now you can hum a few lines, and an app will tell you everything. The artist. The lyrics. The key. The tempo. But what if the song you are hearing is about you? Written for you. Sung over you. Lived out in flesh and blood for you. Prayed

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 Jesus did not merely speak about love; He lived it. Every step of His ministry was directed toward sinners. He prayed, taught, healed, and served — always seeking not Himself but us. He walked the walk we could not walk, remaining faithful all the way to the cross. As I write this, students from Martin Luther School are trave

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God ( John 10-13).   Why would a King leave His heavenly throne to come to a place drowning in sin? Why would God become a lowly human embar

The ashes are long gone.  Our foreheads are clean, and no one at the grocery store will know whether we’ve been to church today or not.  Nonetheless, it remains true that “we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ… forever .”    As the one who “created all things, visible and invisible,” he has created the faith we have received.  That faith is ours on the days when it is visible for all to see, like Ash Wednesday.  It is also the faith tha

On this Ash Wednesday, as we begin the Lenten season, we remember the familiar words of Genesis 3:19, “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  Many will have the imposition of Ashes and leave their place of worship with the cross of ashes on their forehead.  The cross, the words -- they are a humbling reminder of our mortality.  The reality is that none of us can live forever on our own, no matter how we try or by the help of medicine or science.  This can be humbli