κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

Today is Cantata Sunday. Therefore, the theme of this day and of this sermon is, sing ... SING IN PRAISE TO GOD FOR COMPLETING HIS REDEEMING WORK: HE IS RISEN! I. Sing a Psalm! Sing! ... Like the people of Israel, after crossing the Red Sea, saying, The LORD [God] is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation (Ex 15:2a). Sing ... Like Mary, when she learned she would become the mother of God, saying, My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices [in] God, my Savior (Lk 1:46-47).   Sing ... Like Zechariah, that our Lord [has given] knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins (Lk 1:77). Sing a Gerhardt or Starke hymn. Yes, make a joyful shout to YHWH that the marriage of the Lamb has come (Rv 19:7). Join all the saints, angels, and the company of heaven who are singing, Great and marvelous are all your works, Lord God, the Almighty (Rv 15:3)!  This is what the Holy Spirit is teaching us today with our Introit from Psalm 98. Our e...

Hallelujah! He is risen! ...  In this recognition, you have grace and peace from God in Christ, and a [reason to make a joyful] shout to God, all the earth! (v 1)  For the past couple of Sundays, we have been meditating on the Introits of the Divine Service. This week we take up our versicles from Psalm 66. Introits, you should remember, are entrance hymns, songs we sing in response to God’s call to enter into his presence, where we receive his Divine Service. We sing in recognition that he serves us. He remembers us. Introits are wonderful responses to his call. Consider today’s on this Fourth Sunday of Easter.  6. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!  Sing the glory of his name.  Lay upon him the glory of his praise! Say to God, ‘How awesome are your works!  With your strength, your enemies will be found liars. Come and see the deeds of God. Awesome are his deeds toward the sons of Adam. Bless, O Peoples, our God.  Be caused to hear the ...

Shout for joy, O Righteous Ones in YHWH (v 1). He is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!) Grace to you and peace are yours in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 5. It doesn’t matter which service we use in our service book to recognize this truth. Every part of the historic and new liturgies in Lutheran Service Book are drawn directly from the Sacred Scriptures. ... Like the earth, our liturgies are full of חֶסֶד ... that is, the steadfast and covenantal love and faithfulness of YHWH (v 5b). That’s one way to describe חֶסֶד ... the steadfast and covenantal love and faithfulness of YHWH . God has given us these formulas of worship to sing back to him. That’s the reason God gave us these. These are NOT something of our making. Instead, they are something God does in us, through us, with us, and for us.  As our Introit again reminds us ... By the Word of Yahweh, the heavens were made, and by the breath of their mouth, all the host (v 6a).  Even though we are the ones who s...

Hallelujah! He is risen! ... (He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!) Brothers and sisters in Christ, your acknowledgement of this means that you are like (the) newborns of our Introit. In the new birth of life, (you are being) caused to sing aloud to God our strength (Ps 81:1a). You ... the Baptized of Christ ... have been baptized into the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, and now you walk in the newness of life (Rm 6:3-4).  It’s hard to wrap your head around this idea, isn’t it? ... This pure milk of God’s pure Word for you? The idea that you died and now live? The idea that you who feel old, or maybe just older, that you are in fact a newborn, wholly and utterly dependent upon the pure milk of the pure Word of God ? ... You may think you are 90 or 80 or 70 or 60 or 50 or 40 or 10. You may think you are a meat-and-potatoes kind of man with no time for Bible study, let alone fun and games. But you have new life NOW! In distress, [you call] and he delivers (Ps 81:7). You may...