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But I, the truth I tell to you. It is to your advantage that I, I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And having come, he, he will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. We don’t like to ask for help. We think it’s demeaning. That’s why children insist on tying their own shoes and picking out their own clothes. What’s wrong with pairing green and orange, and plaids and stripes, they say. I don’t need help being myself.  We don’t like to ask for help. We think it’s demeaning. That’s why it’s so difficult to be forced into a nursing home or a hospital bed. We don’t want someone to take care of us. It goes against our entire lives as caregivers. We pride ourselves in being able to feed ourselves. We don’t want someone to wash our back, let alone to watch it. I can do it myself, we say.  We don’t like to ask for help. We think it’s demeaning. That’s why we don’t l...

  Preached to the saints at Mount Olive Lutheran and Grace English Lutheran Churches in Bovey and Marble, Minnesota on Jubilate Sunday, April 25, 2021: Jesus knew they desired to ask him, so he said to them, “Is it concerning these things you are seeking with one another, that I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me? Amen, amen I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your grief will become joy. Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! Four weeks after Easter and we are still celebrating the victory of the one who died in our place, for our sins, upon the cross and then rose from the grave. He has taken away the reproach for our rebellion. He has granted us full forgiveness in His Word and Sacraments. His living promises carry us through each day until our own resurrection on the Last Day. Why, then, does it feel as if we are going backwards? Must we continue hearing about...

Riddle me this: What occurs once every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years? The answer: the letter m.  How about: You can touch me, but I can’t touch you. You can turn away from me, but I can never reject you. What am I? The answer: a mirror. I’ve never been much of a jokester, but riddles are fun. Riddles tease you, test you, perplex you, and make you think. And I like that. We can find riddles throughout the Bible. The first one was spoken by God in the Garden when he told the serpent that [the seed of the woman] would crush his head and he would bruise his heel (Gen 3:15). One of the more famous riddles comes to us in Judges chapter 14. There, the strong man Samson bets his opponents that they couldn’t figure out this one:  From the eater came [something to] eat.  From the strong came [something] sweet (14:14). Today’s riddle from the Gospel of John was just as puzzling, especially when you read it in English. Jesus told the disciples: A littl...

  For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I myself will search diligently for my sheep and I will seek them. As a shepherd seeks out to care for His flock in the day he is among His scattered sheep, so I will seek out to care for my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on the day of cloud and thick darkness. 500 years ago today, Martin Luther answered the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Emperor who questioned his teachings. If he were to recant and take it all back, the Diet of Worms would barely be a blip in history. If he did not recant, he would be putting his own life in absolute, mortal danger. Being held captive by the clear Word of God as found in Holy Scripture, Luther stood up before the authorities of the church and the of world and gave his famous “Here I Stand” confession. He rested his case on Jesus as his only Shepherd - not the leaders of the Church or the Government. He relied solely on the Good Shepherd who promised neve...

It’s amazing to think he actually took a stand. Thank God he didn’t bow out.  On this day, 500 years ago, April 18, 1521, Martin Luther’s life was on the line. The Truth was on the line. The Gospel was on the line. Our good confession was on the line. Martin, they demanded, answer clearly and without doubletalk: Do you or do you not recant your books and the errors in them?   Martin Luther took his stand and let the light of the Gospel pierce the darkness of the powers that be. Luther took a stand for the Gospel he had been preaching and teaching, the Gospel you believe. Luther took his stand and did not turn away from the Gospel that brought comfort and certainty to the faithful in Christ (1 Pt 2:25). He stood up to the emperor and other false shepherds of the church, declaring:  Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason ... for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and...