κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

The Word for our meditation today comes to us from our Gospel reading in Luke 2 ... And when the days of their purification were to be fulfilled according to the Law of Moses, they brought him into Jerusalem to stand him before the Lord ... and to give a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”  If I didn’t know better, I might gloss right over this. So Let me paint a picture for you. There is no small detail here ... Jerusalem is huge. ... 2,000 years ago, it was a hustling-and-bustling city with nearly 80,000 people. The Jewish historian Josephus estimated there were 6,000 Pharisees. The temple complex Herod built was about the size of nine city blocks. Thousands are coming to offer their sacrifices. Merchants lined up selling their animals for the sacrifices. Priests are going to and fro performing their religious duties. Members of the Sanhedrin are gathering along Solomon’s portico to discuss politics. Rabbis...

The word for our meditation this morning comes to us from our Gospel reading in John chapter 1, where we read the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This word that became flesh is the bread of life who was born in the house of bread.  The goal, therefore, of our meditation is to feast on the Bread Himself.  The opening of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn “ O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is my paradise at which my soul reclineth ” (LSB 372:1) says exactly what our meditation is about. The word reclineth in that line, “ O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is my paradise at which my soul reclineth, ” gives us a picture of the feast in the first century. Guests did not sit at the table for the feast. They were stretched out on couches ... reclining on one elbow ... their feet extended away from the table ... their heads toward the table ... there they contentedly ate and talked.  Hence the theme of this sermon is ... O JESUS CHRIST, THY MANGER IS MY PARADISE AT WHICH MY SOUL FEASTS I. How fittin...

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light (v 2). Light isn’t supposed to shine in darkness. Except that it did in the genesis. In the beginning there was darkness. And God said, Let there be light. And there was Light. And God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness, and the light he called day, and the darkness he called night (Gen 1:3-5).   So God gave us time. And it was good. ... Until it wasn’t. It was in the light that Adam and Eve wanted to know the darkness. They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and suddenly, they no longer liked what they saw. They knew the darkness of their sin. They used leaves to conceal the darkness of their shame. And when their walk of shame couldn’t get them far enough away, they hid in the shadows of the trees ... until they saw a great light. God came calling, gathering, enlightening. He brought light to the shadows. He put off the old ... what leaves poorly hid and concealed. To th...

We’ve all had dreams. Good dreams. Bad dreams. Weird dreams. We seldom understand them. Sometimes they freak us out. But dreams have been shaping our lives since the dawn of time. Scripture is filled with dozens of dreams. God used dreams to communicate his will to his people. Sarah was restored to Abraham. ... Jacob was given prosperity. ... Joseph became a redeemer. Both Gideon and Solomon were given wisdom and insight. Daniel interprets dreams and writes about dreams. The overarching theme of these is that God uses these dreams to show that he is still with his people even when he seems far away ... that He alone will save his people.  That happened again in our Gospel text today. As Joseph reflected on the idea of divorcing his betrothed wife because she had become pregnant with a child that wasn’t his, Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to receive Mary as your wife, for [the child] in her which has been begotten ...

Now faith, hope, and love remain, the three of these. But the greatest of these is love . What is love? Why is it that all we need is love? What does love have to do with it? Our world throws this word around in all directions. Merriam-Webster online provides 14 different meanings for this word love. It is a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties ... It is an attraction based on sexual desire ... an affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests ... a warm attachment ... and unselfishly loyal and benevolent concern. ... It is a god (the dictionary says with a lowercase g). It is an amorous episode. ... a sexual embrace ... and a score of zero in tennis.  As a transitive verb, it means to hold dear ... to feel a love’s passion, devotion, or tenderness for. ... It is to like or desire actively. And to thrive in.  In other words, we don’t have the foggiest idea of what love really is.  The Greek world in which Saint Paul lived w...