If you go to NJSynod.org and search for Core Values, you’ll find 6 core values listed there. They are: Faithfulness Respect Diversity Generosity Change And interdependence As I thought about today’s Gospel reading – about Jesus saying he’s come to bring, not peace, but division to the earth, I found myself questioning, as I’m pretty […]

There are folks in the world who struggle with the image of God as Father, in part because their own earthly father was not of a type that would be easily transferrable to the image of our loving God. Martin Luther himself had exactly this issue, in fact. Luther’s father, it is said, was so […]

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”   I’m willing to bet that this isn’t the first time anyone here has heard this story. And that’s both good and bad. Good, because it’s part of our shared ethos as a congregation, as God’s people, but bad, perhaps, because we […]

Who do you think the world would be better off without? It’s a tough question, isn’t it, if we’re really going to be honest? Though, it doesn’t seem too tough of a question for James and John.   Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem – a strange phrase that Luke uses here that seems […]

At the time we gathered last week, many of us had heard that there had been a shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, but the details about who the shooter was, and why he was there, and who he targeted were, for the most part, unknown.   But we know now.   We’ve spent another […]

[click here for video] I’m going to start again today with something you’ve heard me say before, and that I’m pretty sure you’ll hear me say often in the future: I’m always glad that the Bible is honest in how it portrays the lives of God’s people. And today we have some real doozies to […]

[Click here for video] There’s a literary technique that can be helpful in interpreting Biblical texts, namely, that one can come to understand a character through the first thing that character says. In the case of the Gospel of Luke, the first thing we hear from Jesus is when he’s 12 years old and he […]

[Click here for video] Growing up in the Roman Church, each week, after we sang or said the Lamb of God, the priest spoke an invitation to communion using the words: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper. And the […]

[Click here for video] The Church has long witnessed and confessed to the truth of the Trinity, and has done so in various ways, some more relatable, more accessible, than others. The Church has also struggled with the concept of a triune Godhead, and various heretical understandings have had to be put aside – The […]

[Click here for video] What does this mean? It’s a question we in Lutheran circles ought to recognize It’s the question at the heart of Luther’s Small Catechism It’s the question children ask repeatedly as they begin to explore the world – As they begin to realize that there’s a world beyond their own self […]