How December 25 Became Christmas

If you haven't read this, you should, especially if you think you know the answer!

Here the link http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp

Here's a quote.

The December 25 feast seems to have existed before 312—before Constantine and his conversion, at least. As we have seen, the Donatist Christians in North Africa seem to have know it from before that time. Furthermore, in the mid- to late fourth century, church leaders in the eastern Empire concerned themselves not with introducing a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, but with the addition of the December date to their traditional celebration on January 6.

A Reformation Story from Paul McCain

Fifteen Minutes That Changed the World Forever: Reflections on the Reformation

by Paul T. McCain

I'm asked for a copy of this article every year, and so am happy again to provide it. Please feel free to copy and share it, but I would ask that it not be changed. Thanks.Fifteen Minutes that Changed the World ForeverBy Rev. Paul T. McCain

Several years ago, I attended a conference on the doctrine of justification in Wittenberg, Germany. There were pastors, presidents and bishops from Lutheran churches throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the Baltics, Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, and various countries in the land of the former Soviet Union. These servants of Christ know what it means to be distinctly Lutheran, often under extremely difficult and challenging circumstances. In many cases, they are walking through fiery trials suffering various forms of persecution for their commitment to Christ and His Word. It was humbling to be with them and discuss the chief article of the faith.

It was also quite a thrill to spend four days in Wittenberg and walk where Luther walked. On the last day of the conference I decided to time how long it would have taken Martin Luther to walk from the door of his Augustinian monastery to the Castle Church to post the ninety-five theses. Another LCMS pastor attending the conference, Bob Zagore, came with me and he counted the steps. Bob counted 2,000 steps. I counted fifteen minutes.

As Luther left his monastery on October 31, 1517, turned left, and walked to the Castle Church on the west side of town, I doubt he had any idea just what he was setting motion. Four years later, Pope Leo’s representative, Aleander reported, “All of Germany is an uproar! Ninety-percent of the people are shouting, “Luther!” and the other ten percent—if they don’t care about Luther—at least have “Death to the Roman court!” as their slogan.” (Martin Brecht, Martin Luther The Road to Reformation, Fortress Press: 1:439).

Father Martin, parish pastor, was outraged by the Roman system of indulgences and what it was doing to the precious souls he cared for at the city church of St. Mary as confessor and preacher. He was deeply angered when one after another member of his congregation told him about the indulgence that they had walked all day to buy from John Tetzel in the little town of Jütebog, just over the border of Electoral Saxony. They thought they had assurance of grace and comfort, for themselves, or for loved ones who had died. They clung to their indulgence receipt, instead of the crucified Lord. They believed that with their act of penance and contribution to the construction of St. Peter’s in Rome, God would smile on them and make things easier for them after their death.

Luther could not remain silent. And so he spoke, and wrote, and preached, and taught, and debated. He posted his theses and he mailed a copy of them on the same day to the Archbishop of Mainz, protesting the indulgences that were being sold within his diocese. In so doing, Luther set an axe at the root of the Papal tree. Enormous sources of revenue were at stake. Papal and imperial politics were involved beyond what Luther fully realized. Luther said after the controversy was under way:

America’s Four Gods

From Cranach: The Blog of Veith

By Gene Edward Veith.

Veith is the Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.

Baylor sociologists Paul Froese and Christopher Bader have conducted research into people’s conception of God. They published their findings in a new book America’s Four Gods: What We Say About God — And What That Says About Us. They found that Americans have four different assumptions about what God is like. They also found correlations between the kind of God someone believes in and their political and moral beliefs. Here are America’s four Gods:

•The Authoritative God. When conservatives Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck proclaim that America will lose God’s favor unless we get right with him, they’re rallying believers in what Froese and Bader call an Authoritative God, one engaged in history and meting out harsh punishment to those who do not follow him. About 28% of the nation shares this view, according to Baylor’s 2008 findings.

“They divide the world by good and evil and appeal to people who are worried, concerned and scared,” Froese says. “They respond to a powerful God guiding this country, and if we don’t explicitly talk about (that) God, then we have the wrong God or no God at all.”

•The Benevolent God. When President Obama says he is driven to live out his Christian faith in public service, or political satirist Stephen Colbert mentions God while testifying to Congress in favor of changing immigration laws, they’re speaking of what the Baylor researchers call a Benevolent God. This God is engaged in our world and loves and supports us in caring for others, a vision shared by 22% of Americans, according to Baylor’s findings.

“Rhetoric that talks about the righteous vs. the heathen doesn’t appeal to them,” Froese says. “Their God is a force for good who cares for all people, weeps at all conflicts and will comfort all.”

Asked about the Baylor findings, Philip Yancey, author of What Good Is God?, says he moved from the Authoritative God of his youth — “a scowling, super-policeman in the sky, waiting to smash someone having a good time” — to a “God like a doctor who has my best interest at heart, even if sometimes I don’t like his diagnosis or prescriptions.”

•The Critical God. The poor, the suffering and the exploited in this world often believe in a Critical God who keeps an eye on this world but delivers justice in the next, Bader says.

Bader says this view of God — held by 21% of Americans — was reflected in a sermon at a working-class neighborhood church the researchers visited in Rifle, Colo., in 2008. Pastor Del Whittington’s theme at Open Door Church was ” ‘Wait until heaven, and accounts will be settled.’ “

Bader says Whittington described how ” ‘our cars that are breaking down here will be chariots in heaven. Our empty bank accounts will be storehouses with the Lord.’ “

•The Distant God. Though about 5% of Americans are atheists or agnostics, Baylor found that nearly one in four (24%) see a Distant God that booted up the universe, then left humanity alone.

via Americans’ views of God shape attitudes on key issues – USATODAY.com.

Isn’t it true that none of these, in isolation, is anything like the Christian God? Surely Christians believe that God has ALL of these qualities. Christians believe that God is a Trinity, that He is complex and a mystery. (And if natural laws, such as we are seeing with quantum physics are complex and mysterious, shouldn’t God be far more so? And yet people insist on these simplistic, anthropomorphic, unitarian deities.) While each of these deities can be adapted into an ecumenical paradigm in which all religions “have the same God,” the Christian God is completely different from these four, each of which is some variation of a transcendent deity looking down on the creation. Notice that there is no category for God Incarnate.

No wonder churches are so weak and Christians’ faith is so anemic, if they don’t have the right God.

Every Attempt to Create an Ideal Church Results in a Church of Pharisees

Just read this post of Hermann Sasse by Paul McCain on Facebook. It bears repeating:

"Ubi Christus, ibi ecclesia, "Where Christ is, there is the church". With this saying one of the oldest church fathers spoke of the mystery of the church. The saying also sums up Luther's faith* in the church. It is not the power of our faith, nor the holiness of our life that constitutes the church, but rather that "Where Christ is, there is the church". When the church is called a holy people, a communion of saints, it is not to be understood in the way it has often been understood in the history of the church: "the church should be a holy people, therefore only the holy shall belong to her. Away with all the unholy! The honour of Christ demands it!" When the worst of sinners must be excluded from the fellowship, one must then begin to classify sins in order to determine which ones lead to exclusion. How often has not that been attempted, both in the past and more recently. How imposing was the strictness of the ancient church, when people sought to create a holy and pure church (as also happens now). Or consider the Donatists, who demanded that at least the clergy should be free of mortal sin. Whenever the attempt has been made to create an ideal church, the end result has always been bitter disappointment. The community of saints turns into a community of Pharisees."

— Hermann Sasse

*"Faith" in the sense that the church is an article of faith; see the Augsburg Confession, Articles VII & VIII - M.H.

Thought for the Day.

Martin Luther

"It is impossible for law and grace to exist together. Either we must be justified by faith and lose the righteousness of the law, or we must be justified by the law and lose grace and the righteousness of faith. It is a bitter and tragic loss when we retain the law while losing grace. On the other hand, it is a blessed and saving loss when we keep grace while losing the law.

"Seeing that Paul set this forth with the greatest care, we must unremittingly labor to show clearly the difference between law and gospel. This is very easy so far as the words themselves are concerned. For who does not see that Hagar is not Sarah and that Sarah is not Hagar (Gal 4:21-31)? Or that Ishmael neither is nor has what Isaac is and has? That is easily determined. But in profound terrors and in the agony of death, when the conscience struggles with the judgment of God, then to be able to say with firm confidence: 'I am not a son of Hagar, but of Sarah, that is, the law does not apply to me at all, because Sarah is my mother, who gives birth, not to slaves but to free children and heirs'--this is the most difficult thing of all."

Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

From Scott Murray's Memorial Moments for today.

Sad News from Finland

Let first say I'm sorry that I've been slow with posting. There are only so many hours in the day and the challenge of pastoral ministry in a large congregation with a school has been significant.

So what makes me break my silence? A post on Paul McCain's blog on the sad state of affairs in world Lutheranism. Sometimes it makes it difficult to say that I'm Lutheran. So here it is:

Sad News from Finland: First Woman Bishop Elected Who Can’t Even Recite, or Affirm, the Nicene Creed!

It was depressing watching her, during the ‘campaign’, squirm and prevaricate when asked about the Virgin Birth: “Well, it’s in the Creed and I happily say the Creed in church, but it’s not a doctrine that’s central to me. I’m not really sure what it means.” (My paraphrase) Then again, none of the candidates (2 women and 5 men) was able to recite the Nicene Creed from memory when cold-called by a journalist. Dark times!

http://cyberbrethren.com/2010/06/04/sad-news-from-finland-first-woman-bishop-elected-who-cant-even-recite-or-affirm-the-nicene-creed/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Cyberbrethren+(Cyberbrethren)

Nominations for president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

I ran across this article today at StLToday.com.

It's a report on the nominations for President of Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. It's always interesting to note what the secular press has to say about things.

Nominations for President of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

God's Good Choices--Dr. Scott Murray

A miner panning for gold is excited to find a few flecks of shining metal in his pan. It is even more exciting to find the mother lode and a rich vein of ore. If you are not regularly reading Scott Murray, you are missing out on one of the richest resources available.

Today's devotion titled God's Good Choices includes this paragraph:

I am shocked by how many clergy do not know this thirst for the gospel. Paul's doctrine of justification is incomprehensible to them. They can speak of "Christianity" only in the terms dictated by the culture. For example, they can only speak of good choices, "We can make good choices with Jesus." One of the problems here is that the doers of the action remain those who are being addressed. Jesus is merely a helper or an incidental add on. You could substitute almost anything for Jesus in this statement, such as wisdom, good instruction, or parental involvement. This is not really the biblical gospel, but the world's order (as valid as it might be), with a little Jesus thrown in to sound religious. It is also a confusion of the two kingdoms. We would be better to speak to young people about their choices with the help of human wisdom, good instruction, or parental involvement. This is exactly where they need to get their ability to make "good choices."

Read the entire devotion here and especially the quotation from Luther at the bottom.

Lutheran National Championship

Christ Lutheran Boys and Girls Basketball teams have both qualified for the National Championship Tournament tomorrow at Valparaiso University. Both teams play opening games at 7:30 a.m. central time.

See the brackets here

Do you "get it"?

When I was a young pastor, I thought that patience and persistence would pay off. And in some ways it has. However, now as I approach the late afternoon of my ministry, I have become more and more frustrated with Christian people who just don't "get it." Get what? Who Jesus is and what He came to do for us. Law and Gospel. Sin and Grace. Death and Resurrection. Repentance and forgiveness.

It doesn't bother me so much that unbelievers don't get it. It bothers me when Christians in other denominations don't get it. But what really bothers me is when Lutherans don't get it. This affliction is not only found among the lay but more and more among the clergy.

Somebody who seems to "get it" is Chris Rosebrough. At least he has posted an insight filled article on his blog.

In part it reads: "Tragically, the "Jesus" that is presented in the sermons that promote this definition of being a Christ Follower isn't the savior of the world who died on the cross for the sins of the world and calls all nations to repentance of their sins and the forgiveness of sins won by Christ on the Cross. Instead, the "Jesus" that is presented in these sermons is a "life coach", a training buddy and the supreme example of an emotionally well adjusted risk taking leader who lived the ultimate life of significance and purpose. This purpose-driven "Jesus" is there to help you achieve what he achieved and invites you to follow his examples and methods so that you can be Christlike too."

So do not lose heart!

Read the entire post here

Two of My Favorite Things

Two of my favorite things came together this month. Old Time Radio and Pat McManus. If you have never read Pat or listened to OTR then this might just wet your appetite.

Pat Online ~ March 2010

I don't think that I'll give it all away if I quote his last paragraph:

"The reason radio comedy worked so well is that the audience was a participant in it, running the visuals on the screens of its minds. It’s entirely possible that the imaginations of television audiences has atrophied so much that radio drama and comedy are no longer possible. Pity."

Truer words were never spoken!

Doctrine

A number of months ago I received a letter from an individual who chose to leave the Lutheran Church for a denomination that denies infant baptism and the sacramental presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper. (I'm sure you know the rest of the story since it is repeated many times over across our land.)

Apparently social contacts, etc. trump the word of God. It saddens my heart that people are so easily deceived by emotionalism and so called status. Of course this is nothing new. Satan will use whatever means at his disposal to cause faithful Christian people to abandon the pure teachings of Scripture. Thankfully there are faithful people who by the power of the Spirit resist such pressure.

Paul McCain shared again today a translation provided by Rev. Joel Baseley that help put this issue in its proper light.

Doctrine is the chief matter in which I am defiant, not only against princes and kings, but also against every devil, and indeed, apart from that there is nothing else that preserves, strengthens, cheers, and can make my heart even more defiant. The second matter, my personal life, I myself know to be sinful to such a degree it is not worth defending. I am a poor sinner and its fine with me if my opponents are pure saints and angels. Good for them, if they can maintain it. Not that I want to be that kind of person before the world and those who are not Christians, but before God and his dear Christians. I also want to be good before the world, and I am, so much so that they are not worthy to untie my shoelaces. They shall also never be able to prove by the truth that I have lived or acted towards anyone before the world such that I was not teaching them what is good. In short, I am not someone who is too humble, nor too proud, just as St. Paul says: “I can be exalted and I can be humbled, I can suffer poverty or have enough.” Phil. 2.3. For the sake of my doctrine I am very much too stalwart, unbending and proud to the devil, emperor, king, princes and all the world, but for the sake of my life I am also humble and submissive even to every child. Whoever doesn’t know that should hear it now.

— Martin Luther, Reply to the King of England’s Blasphemous Letter. L. W. Halle. XIX. 510-11.

Printed by C.F.W. Walther in Der Lutheraner, Volume I, Number 20 (May 1845), p. 80; Translated by Rev. Joel Baseley. Register to receive copies of Pastor Baseley’s translations of Der Lutheraner, for free.

Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog by Paul McCain

Defiant in Doctrine, Repentant in Life

On Being a Pastor

In some ways the pastor is like the prow of a ship cutting the waters of the churning sea. One never knows what he will encounter when the next wave crashes.

One of the waves that this pastor encounters is a multiplicity of false notions about the Christian faith. These notions seem to come from Lutherans immersed in the "evangelical" media (I use the term "evangelical" in the sense of the popular media and not its proper meaning.) or enamored with the commercial church. This is one of the reasons that I tackled the project of introducing the Lutheran Confessions to Christ Lutheran Church. It is my belief that when people read the the Book of Concord (devotionally for edification) that they will be purged of this self-help, self-righteous, Gospel of Success theology.

Of course "the road is long with many a winding turn" but one key trait of a pastor (and Christians in general) is perseverance. Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, and Jesus all confronted the same mode of self-centeredness.

Today I came across a post on Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog by Paul McCain in which he quotes Nicolaus Selnecker on faith. If anyone would like to understand my ideas concerning the work of a pastor, he would do well to read these six points. Rather than only link to the blog, I am posting it here in its entirety:

---------------
One of the authors of the Formula of Concord, Nicolaus Selnecker, penned these thoughts to help those who were suffering particular trials and temptations because of their weak faith. It was reprinted in Der Lutheraner. Thanks to Pastor Joel Basely for his translation.

When our faith is experienced very weakly in our hearts, we should, as God’s Word itself teaches us, do the following things:

1. Recognize that faith is God’s work and his gift, 1 Thess. 3.; John 6.

2. Inquire and examine ourselves if we gladly want to believe, and if we wish that our faith would be stronger and better. If this desire is present, then God’s work and his power is present, as St. Paul bears witness, that God also works this desire in us. Therefore even a weak, poor desire is God’s work.

3. Pay attention to the foundation and the bedrock of our faith, which is not our feelings, our nature, our strength, worthiness, word and service, but rather solely the service, innocence, satisfaction, obedience, suffering, bleeding and death and the blood of JESUS Christ, which we grasp, hold and appropriate to ourselves by faith, as through an instrument, a means, a hand. Obviously, a little weak toddler grasps an expensive ring with his weak little fingers just as surely as a big, strong Sampson can grasp that ring with his big fist. Yet it is one and the same ring that is not made less through the child’s weakness nor made greater by the strength of mighty Sampson. It is and remains one ring, that is, the ring of the service, of the satisfaction of Christ for the weak and for the strong, yes, even more for the weak than for those who let themselves imagine they’re strong.

4. Realize that the dear prayer from out of a humble heart is heard above all after the example of that afflicted man who had a poor child who was possessed and to whom the LORD said: “If you could believe then you would be helped. For all things are possible for those who believe.” “Oh LORD, (said the beleaguered father, weeping fervent tears), I believe, help my unbelief.”

5. Know that the Holy Ghost himself works and supports, heats up and gives courage to our prayer, sighing and tears, that it proceeds effectively and presses through the clouds and fills God’s ears. As Paul bears witness in Romans 8 that the Holy Ghost aids us in our weakness and advocates for us with unutterable groans and we cry out through him, “Abba, Father.” Therefore he is called the Spirit of prayer and of grace, Prov. 12, who bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children.

6. Receive the comforting promise that God the LORD will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoldering flax. Mt. 12.

If we would take to our hearts these six little points, we will be able to endure and overcome by God’s grace the trial that comes to us by our weakness of faith or, at last, after all, we will arrive at our salvation through the greater adversities yet to come. For as we live, so shall we die and so shall we be saved.

Source:

Instruction for Those Who are Afflicted because of their Weakness in Faith. (Taken from Nicol. Selnecker’s Conc. Funeb. I. P. 130.) Reprinted in Der Lutheraner, April 1845.

What to Do When Your Faith Feels Weak

Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog by Paul McCain

ne'er the twain shall meet

I recently ran across a great description of the difference between popular evangelical Christian thought and authentic Christian thought in a post by Gene Veith on his blog Cranach: The Blog of Veith titled: The emergent church meets the “Spirituality of the Cross”

In this blog Veith posts a long comment by an individual named Dan. It is well worth the read. But if you've ever wondered why there seems to be such a deep divide between people who want to change the Lutheran Church to be in step with the fad Christianity and those who want to preserve Law and Gospel proclamation here as a wonderful paragraph.

"All in all, Veith challenged me to think critically about my presuppositions. He showed me that I was simply chasing after another fad, setting myself up for another disappointment and further disillusionment. All the while I was seeking authenticity, truth, community, experiences with God, and to be used by God. Veith made it clear that I have been misdiagnosing the issue altogether. The problem isn’t a lack of these things, the problem is sin. The answer is the cross. This is the only true spirituality. This is the only true contentment. I must seek Christ, all these other things flow only from that. When we put the cart before the horse we end up with another man-made institution, even if it meets in homes."

Avatar

I cannot think of the "Avatar" without thinking of its Hindu origin. I suspect that most don't make the association and I need to get over it.

Christianity Today's Leadership Journal has an interesting article titled:

Avatar and Becoming Mature in Christ

What a not-so-Christian movie says about the goal of the Christian life.

The author, John Ortberg, writes:

Sometimes we get so immersed in the X's and O's of church work that we forget to step back and ask what 's the real reason we're doing all this. Paul has great clarity on it, and is more concise than usual: "so that we may present everyone mature in Christ."

If your church is looking for a big hairy audacious goal, this will do for starters.

The scale: everyone.

The outcome: mature in Christ.

That's not common language in our day. So recently I have asked church leaders in a number of settings to take a few moments to describe what someone who is "mature in Christ" looks like. Certain words always make the list: loving, joyful, peaceful, forgiving, serving, courageous, loyal, humble, generous.

His thesis is that the heroes in Avatar (the movie) display these characteristics.

I may have to watch it when it comes out on DVD.

More Baby Q

Got our baby time yesterday.

Baby Quardokus

Find more photos like this on Christ Lutheran Church and School Net

Thrivent Financial to supplement Lutheran gifts for Haiti

President Gerald B. Kieschnick of the LCMS has announced that Thrivent Financial will supplement Lutheran gifts for Haiti. Our door offering will be matched $1 for every $2 contributed. Thrivent Financial has pledged to contribute as much as $1 million to this effort.

Here is a portion of President Kieschnick's letter to congregations.

To: The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod From: President Gerald B. Kieschnick Subject: Special Announcement, Thrivent Financial to supplement Lutheran gifts for Haiti Date: January 15, 2010 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, It is with a grateful heart that I write this update regarding support for Haiti earthquake response. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans announced today a 50-percent matching gift - $1 for every $2 its members contribute - to Lutheran disaster relief agencies including LCMS World Relief and Human Care in St. Louis and Lutheran World Relief in Baltimore. Thrivent Financial has pledged to contribute as much as $1 million to this effort, which they are calling "Helping Haiti." This campaign may generate $3 million for desperately needed earthquake relief efforts in Haiti - $1 million from Thrivent Financial added to $2 million or more from its members. Here are ways to give to Haiti earthquake relief that will qualify for the matching gift: LCMS World Relief and Human Care in St. Louis: Online: https://catalog.lcms.org/givenow/Gift_input.asp?ID=800 Phone: 888-930-4438 (toll-free) Mail: LCMS World Relief and Human Care, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861 (Mark checks "Haiti Earthquake Relief")

use the following link for the entire letter.

http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/enews/forward.asp?m=8379

Latest News on Haiti from LCMS World Relief

Here is a link to the latest news on the work of the LCMS World Relief in Haiti.

Check there often. It will be updated continually.

The Earthquake in Haiti: Again, the ‘Why’ Question

Here's a great article by John T. Pless titled "The Earthquake in Haiti: Again, the ‘Why’ Question" from the Lutheran Witness online.

As I write these lines, the world reels with the news of a devastating earthquake in Haiti that has left a death toll numbering in the thousands. In this impoverished nation, the magnitude of suffering cannot be measured.

Closer to home, senseless workplace murders, seemingly random violence, and cases of child abduction and sexual assault culminating in murder have become an all too common feature of the daily news. Recent memories of 9/11, the tsunami in Asia, and Hurricane Katrina are compounded with countless personal tragedies that press people to ask the ancient question, “Why is there suffering?” More existentially put, “What did I do to deserve this?”

Finish the article here.

LCMS response to the earthquake in Haiti

As I receive word about the LCMS work in Haiti, I'll try to pass it along.

January 14, 2010 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 4

LCMS World Relief to assist Haitians; mission teams, missionary OK

By Linda C. Hoops

As estimates of the loss of life and destruction in Haiti emerged following Tuesday's magnitude 7.0 earthquake, LCMS World Relief and Human Care (WR-HC) began responding, while members of LCMS congregations prayed for the safety of their mission teams who were in the Caribbean nation at the time of the quake.

"The unfolding drama in Haiti calls for unlimited mercy on the part of the people of the LCMS. The needs are urgent and overwhelming right now," said Rev. Glenn F. Merritt, WR-HC director of disaster response. "I appeal to God's people to respond as generously as possible during this most difficult time."

Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital, Port-au-Prince, on Wednesday after the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. An untold number of people were still trapped.

Haitian President Rene Preval said the devastation was so complete that he estimated the death toll would run into the thousands. International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said an estimated 3 million people may have been affected by the quake and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge..

Safe after the quake is a missionary family, Alyssa Stone and her two daughters, who live west of the capital where the shaking wasn't as strong. Stone is a deaconess intern from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne.

Also reported as safe are at least three short-term mission teams in Haiti from LCMS congregations and mission organizations in Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, and Wisconsin.

The article continues here.

Book of Concord Reading for The Second Sunday after Epiphany

The Gospel for this coming week is the Wedding at Cana and Jesus changing water into wine. However, the Epistle is 1 Corinthians 12:1–11 which includes: no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. This is a perfect opportunity to read:

Luther’s Small Catechism, The Apostles’ Creed, Explanation of the Third Article.

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise up me and all the dead and will give eternal life to me and to all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

Book of Concord Reading for The Baptism of our Lord

The Large Catechism, Part IV: Baptism 77-79; 84-86


Our Baptism abides forever. Even though someone should fall from Baptism and sin, still we always have access to it. So we may subdue the old man again. But we do not need to be sprinkled with water again [Ezekiel 36:25-26; Hebrews 10:22]. Even if we were put under the water a hundred times, it would still be only one Baptism, even though the work and sign continue and remain. Repentance, therefore, is nothing other than a return and approach to Baptism…

For this reason let everyone value his Baptism as a daily dress [Galatians 3:27] in which he is to walk constantly. Then he may ever be found in the faith and its fruit, so that he may suppress the old man and grow up in the new. For if we would be Christians, we must do the work by which we are Christians. But if anyone falls away from the Christian Life, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy Seat [Romans 3:25], does not draw back from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. Therefore, if we have received forgiveness of sin once in Baptism, it will remain every day, as long as we live. Baptism will remain as long as we carry the old man about our neck..

Where's Walther

By popular request, here is the latest "Where's Walther" photo.

Book of Concord Reading for Epiphany

If you are looking for a Book of Concord reading for Epiphany, you could do worse than

The Formula of Concord (SD), Article VIII, The Person of Christ, 6

We believe, teach, and confess that God’s Son from eternity has been a particular, distinct, entire, divine person. Yet He is true, essential, perfect God with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In the fullness of time He received also the human nature into the unity of His person. He did not do this in such a way that there are now two persons or two Christs. Christ Jesus is now in one person at the same time true, eternal God, born of the Father from eternity, and a true man, born of the most blessed Virgin Mary. This is written in Romans 9:5, “from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever.”