Encore Post: At Christmas time, we see them everywhere. The crèches — Nativity scenes — appear on lawns, in malls, under Christmas trees and especially in our churches. They are not only great decorations, but they are ways to tell the Christmas story to those who cannot read. In virtually all of them, there are three figures bearing gifts. They stand next to camels. Often they look like kings from the Middle Ages of Europe.
Yet these figures were not yet there on the night Jesus was born. Nor were they kings. They were scholars from Persia or Babylon, skilled in the study of the stars. No wonder the star got their attention. No one knows what the star was, but it appeared two years before they got to Bethlehem. They are in the stable because the Christian Church in the West celebrates their arrival on the twelfth night after Christmas. It makes it easier to explain what is happening on both holidays. You can read their story in Matthew 2.
The day that follows is called Epiphany — appearance. It is the first day of the Epiphany season, when the Church celebrates how Jesus revealed himself through his ministry in ancient Galilee and Judea. The church cherishes the Wisemen because they were the first Gentiles to worship Jesus.
The child Jesus did not remain small, however. Like every one of us, he grew up, learned his lessons, and worked with his father and brothers as a craftsman. Both God and his community were very pleased. Yet this is but the first way that Jesus earned our salvation. This season, watch for the other ways Jesus and his Heavenly Father reveal the rest of the story.
Encore Post: Epiphany is a season of unwrapping God’s gifts. The word comes from Greek. It means reveal, make known, and, in Old English, make manifest or clear. As creatures and sinners, we cannot fully understand God. Even if we could stand in God’s holy presence, we would die. (Exodus 33:20) Even as Christians, we often find ourselves saying, “I don’t get you, God!”
God knows this well. It is why he reveals himself to us in Jesus. When we want to see God, we can look at Jesus. The Apostle John sums it up nicely: “No one has seen God. The only begotten God, he is from the Father, and he has made him known.” (John 1:18) In the season of Epiphany, we get to know Jesus by what he said and did. We sit at his feet and see with our own eyes that he is the Messiah — and more than that — that he is God himself.
The season begins with a θεοφάνεια (Theophaneia) — God appearing or making himself known to people. At the Baptism of our Lord, we see the Son of God, hear the voice of the Father, and the Holy Spirit settles on the Son in the form of a dove. For the Three-Year Lectionary, the season ends with another θεοφάνεια. The Son glows with his full glory as God; the Father speaks, and God settles on the mountain in the ancient Cloud of Glory.
In between, he calls disciples from their nets, turns water into wine, feeds whole crowds with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He casts out demons, raises the dead, gives sight to the blind, not with shows of great ritual, but with a few words: “I will; be clean!” “Get out!” “be still!” He prays and teaches with authority — unlike the Pharisees and Bible experts. In the following season, Lent, we will see him be the Lamb of God, who takes our sins to the cross, pays the price of our salvation with his own blood, and rises from the dead to break the seal of the grave forever.
So we get to know Jesus, and through him, get to know God. One day, we will see him — and God — face to face — in our own flesh, we will see God.
Encore Post: 154 years ago, Wilhelm Löhe was the pastor of a small, rural parish in Neuendettelsau, Bavaria. He was a leader in Germany’s then-new Confessionalist movement. Because of this role, he always had a strained relationship with the leaders of his church body and so was kept out of the way — or so they thought.
Löhe was a man of boundless energy, persuasive when advocating a cause, and highly skilled at marshaling talent and funds to accomplish a goal. In 1842, he read Friedrich Wyneken‘s appeals for the spiritual need of German Lutherans on the American frontier and his stirring plea for pastors. Löhe published his own appeal. He arranged to meet Wyneken to publish a polished version of the missionary’s appeal, titled Die Noth der deutschen Lutheraner in Nordamerika (The Need of the German Lutherans in North America). These appeals caused donations to flow in, and soon, second-career men volunteered to meet the need.
But Loha was just getting started. With his friend Johann Friedrich Wucherer, he provided a basic education to second-career men who volunteered to go to America. Soon they founded a mission society, raised funds, wrote manuals, instructions, and churchly books. He at first sent these men and donations to the Ohio Synod’s seminary in Columbus, Ohio. When cultural and theological differences made that no longer possible, he worked with Wilhelm Sihler, pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to found a “practical seminary” — an institution focused on providing pastors for the church as quickly as possible. In October 1846, this institution opened in his parsonage. This institution is now known as Concordia Theological Seminary — but that is another story!
Wilhelm Löhe, his friends, and his small parish were just getting started, though. Seeing the suffering of the poor, the ill, the widowed, and the orphaned, he revived the office of deaconess. He also sent men and material to the Wartburg Seminary and its church body, the Iowa Synod (now a part of the ELCA), to Australia, the German colonists of Russia, and other places. To provide a Christian witness to native Americans, he organized and founded Frankenmuth, Michigan, and neighboring communities. His liturgies and worship books became the foundation of the Missouri Synod’s liturgy.
At the age of 63, Wilhelm Löhe died still serving as the pastor of his rural parish on January 2, 1872. He is buried where he served. His institutions still continue to this day, serving God and his church worldwide.
Encore Post: The reign of Anne, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, was a peaceful time for Isaac Watts and his fellow Reformed believers. Her Anglican policy of tolerance made her a very popular monarch. When she died, great anxiety spread. It was possible that the Catholic Stewart family would try to claim the throne, even after Lutheran Elector George of Hanover was crowned King George I. Only the passage of time calmed frayed nerves.
Isaac Watts was intent on improving the worship of Reformed congregations by paraphrasing Psalms so that Christians could sing the Psalms from the perspective of faith in Christ Jesus. He cast Psalm 90 as a collect for times of uncertainty. “Our God our Help in Ages Past” reminds us of what God has done for us in the past, especially by the suffering and death of Christ for our salvation, and what he will do for us in the future, when he returns in glory. The middle stanzas contrast the temporary nature of life in this world with the eternity of God, his promises and his love. The final stanza asks that God would guard us now and be our eternal place of rest.
One of the most beloved hymns in English hymnody, the song is popular for the opening of a school year, Remembrance Day in Canada and New Year’s Day in many churches. The tune most associated with it, St. Anne, imitates the tolling of bells as they mark the passage of time.
The original text is as follows:
1 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2 Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth receiv’d her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4 Thy word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
5 A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
6 The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by thy flood,
And lost in following years.
7 Time like an ever-rolling stream
Bears all its Sons away;
They fly forgotten as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
8 Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleas’d with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ’tis night.
9 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
Encore Post: Our names are important to us. They are kind of shorthand for everything we are and have worked to build. They tell us which family we belong to and how close we are to the people who use it. At important times in our lives, our names change — when we get married, if we are appointed to an office, earn a degree or get married. Parents often take a lot of time deciding on the name to give to each of their children.
In the Hebrew culture of the Bible, names meant even more, if that it possible. They were thought to predict the kind of person the child would be. Often, people would change their names when life changed. Sometimes a name was given, along with the reason for its choice. Some of the most important people in God’s plan were named by God Himself.
On January 1st, the Lutheran Church traditionally celebrates the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus. God Himself gave Jesus his name. The name is a form of the name Joshua, which means God saves. (Matthew 1:27) The angel told Joseph, “For he will save his people from their sins.” In one sense, we dedicate each new year in Jesus’ name. In another sense, God dedicates us in the name of Jesus.
In the circumcision of Jesus, God’s son began his suffering for our salvation. He lived a perfect life for our sake, suffered and died on the cross for our sake, rose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven for our sake. In our baptism, God’s name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is given to us. We are now his children, and we will live with him forever. On the last day, Jesus will return for us. He truly is Jesus because he saves us from our sin.
Encore Post: Simeon patiently waited for years. The Holy Spirit told him he would see the promised Messiah. On the day that the Son of God suddenly appeared in his temple, the Holy Spirit led him to the Court of the Women in the temple. There he did as countless rabbis did, took a baby in his arms. This time, the infant was different. He was the Son of God. Simeon’s song — the last in Luke’s musical — is sung by the church in the vespers, compline and in divine services.
We know the song by the first of its words in Latin — nunc dimittis: “Lord, release…” Simeon’s words sum up the checking off of the last item on the ultimate bucket list. He had held God himself in his own hands. He knew that in this Son of David, God would save his people — both Jewish and Gentile. He could die in peace.
When we sing the song of Simeon after the Lord’s Supper, we, too, have received the Lamb of God in our own hands and mouth as we eat his body with bread and drink his blood with wine. We, too, can go in peace. When we sing the song in the evening, we do it as we prepare for bed, knowing that we have seen the Lord in his Word.
There is one other time when we sing this song. When a pastor senses that the Lord himself will soon call us to be with him, the pastor will sing this song with us or for us. If he has time, he will bring us the Lord’s own supper as bread for our journey. If he is present with us when the angels come for us, he will sing this song for us again: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace, according to your word. For his own eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people. A light to lighten the gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” I did this for my own wife twice during her last hours, just before the angels carried her home to be with Jesus. May we then rest in his peace, now and to the day of the resurrection of all flesh.
Encore Post: “He’s a saint!” you might hear someone say. What they probably mean is that the person is very good, generous, kind, or helpful. Most often, when we use the term, we mean someone respected and honored by the early or medieval church for their example of holy living or strong faith. Such people, called saints in the first few centuries, were witnesses to Jesus to the point of death. They were also called martyrs, witnesses.
The Bible does not use the word saint in such a narrow way. The word means “holy one” and is used to describe God’s people, saved and made holy by his grace. St. Paul goes to great lengths to explain how those God is making holy should live. Many Lutheran pastors follow this custom and call the hearers of their sermons “saints.”
During the Middle Ages, saints who were admired for their faith went from being good examples to be venerated — worshipped, really, although Catholics would object to that description. The church redefined a saint as someone whose good deeds were more numerous than their sins, so they did not go to purgatory but directly to heaven. (that subject is for another post!) There, it was said, they are aware of what is going on and pray for us. They can hear our prayers and do miracles for us—or instead, ask God to perform them. The honoring of and praying to the saints became known as the cult of the saints.
Martin Luther and the reformers believed the cult of the saints had gotten out of control. They believed it was good to give thanks to God for saints, to study their lives, and to imitate their faith. The Book of Hebrews says as much. (Hebrews 13:7) Yet the saints in heaven do not know what is happening on earth, and they do not hear our prayers. Prayer and worship belong to God alone.
So Lutherans do not pray to saints, collect pieces of their bodies, or things that belonged to them as magic objects. We study their lives, consider what happened to them, learn from their sins and mistakes, and imitate their faith and good works. We do this not because they are better than us, but because they are just like us. If God got them through this life by faith, he can — and will — keep us to everlasting life.
Encore Post: “In the beginning was the Word…” John begins his gospel. (John 1:1) His introduction is very different from Matthew, Mark’s, and Luke’s gospels. He takes us back in time to creation itself. Where are the shepherds, the sheep, the star, the wise men, and all the details we’ve come to love? Why doesn’t the beloved disciple tell us the story? It is because John is not a biography like the ones we’re used to. (The other gospels aren’t either, but that is another story!) In fact, John tells us what he is trying to do: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31)
For John, what happened in Jesus’ earthly life is less important than why. The Gospel of John tells the good news simply, profoundly, and in ways that strengthen the faith of every Christian — young and old. So, John begins at the beginning.
Jesus is the eternal Word — the λόγος (Logos) — living with God the Father forever. He is divine, God himself, the Author of Life and the Creator of all things. He is Light itself, which overcomes darkness. He came to the world, and the world did not know him. His own people did not receive him. Yet those who believe in him, he adopted as his children, not born of human will, but by the will of God.
But John does talk about Christmas — he tells us the reason for the season. The Word became flesh and lived with us. This mystery is so profound that it makes no sense in Greek philosophy. To the Greeks, spirituality is all about denying the flesh and the material world in which it lives. To them, the body is suspect and evil; the spirit is good. That God’s Word would become human is backwards. For the Jew, it is offensive to think that man could be God. Yet that is precisely what happened at Christmas.
So, the beloved disciple teaches us, if you want grace and truth, look to Jesus. Human beings have never seen God, but the only begotten God — he is from the Father and made him known. Christians are blessed because when they discover they cannot understand God, they can look to Jesus. In him, God has come to live with us and will do so now and forever.
Encore Post: The coming of the wise men from the east is a beloved part of the story of Christmas — even if the church doesn’t get around to celebrating it until the twelfth night of Christmas. (Stay tuned!) It really was logical for them to stop in Jerusalem. Where else would you find an infant crown prince? Yet that stop set in motion unintended events that are not so pleasant.
Herod the Great was a master politician and a loyal client of Rome. He was a master builder, rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, constructing the port of Caesarea Maritima out of nothing, among other projects. He was also paranoid, executing anyone he thought was plotting to take his throne, including his favorite wife and several of his sons. The standard joke in Rome was that it was safer to be Herod’s pig than his son. (as a Jew, he did not eat pork) No wonder his court was upset when foreign scholars wanted to worship the newborn King of the Jews!
When the wise men were warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the king took no chances and ordered all young boys in Bethlehem to be executed. True to his name, Jesus’ foster father, Joseph, heeded an angel who appeared to him in a dream and took his family to Egypt. This may sound strange to us, but it was not odd during the time. Egypt was then a province of Rome, and the route there was a well-traveled and relatively safe one. Many Jews lived in Egypt, especially in Alexandria, the intellectual capital of the empire. Egypt had for centuries, been very friendly to Jews.
On the Church’s calendar, December 28th is celebrated as Holy Innocents Day. We remember the boys murdered by Herod as martyrs for Jesus, even though they did not realize it. We also remember all the children sacrificed by their parents for various reasons and dedicate ourselves to preserving the lives of infants, born and unborn.
Tonight is the Night Christmas Eve Luke 2:1-14 December 24, 2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear saints, tonight everything changes. Tonight, something important happens. For tonight, in a small room, something incredible is delivered. Someone’s life will be forever changed. That is, if they match all the numbers. The last time I looked, the Powerball drawing tonight is worth an estimated $1.7 billion. The cash option is estimated at $780 million. The cashier seemed surprised that I did not want tickets for the second-largest jackpot in our nation’s history. I suppose that makes sense. This is life-changing money. But for many jackpot winners, it is also life-ruining money.
It makes you a target. People you know will want things from you. They will ask you for things or money. Have sob stories where they deserve your charity…whether the story is real or not. People have been killed after winning. Sometimes by robbers who target you, others by robbers who pretended to be friends until they could ‘finish the job.’ Even if you escape with your life, they can still steal your mammon. I mean, money.
But it doesn’t end there. Events like winning a jackpot can change and strain relationships. If you are single, good luck finding someone interested in you and not your money. Then there is the boredom and even guilt that comes. Guilt that you did nothing to have everything. Boredom that your days are free, while everyone else still toils.
What is worse is that statistics say 70% of lottery winners actually go bankrupt. Probably not from a nearly $2 billion ticket, but professional athletes end up broke while and after making hundreds of millions of dollars.
But why do I bring this up? It isn’t to get you to buy a ticket. It is to show where hope lies. Tonight, many hope for a Christmas miracle. That their ‘lucky numbers’ or their Quick Pick ticket is the right one. They think a windfall can lift the darkness around them. Darkness that has been around since the beginning of time.
Things change in the darkness. The darkness is scary and can be dangerous. It is in the dark that evil meets and schemes. Where the seedy underbellies of city and town thrive. There is a reason the unlit alley is scary. That the dark room seems to press in on you.
But it was in the darkness that the Lord spoke the words, “Let there be light.” It was in the night that the Lord’s judgment on Egypt came, where the firstborn of Egypt, even Pharaoh’s son, was destroyed and Israel was vindicated. Where, at the Red Sea, the Lord spends the night driving back the waters that Israel would cross on dry land.
Several times in the Old Testament, we see the Lord work on behalf of His people in the darkness. We recall Gideon’s 300 men, or when God causes the Syrian army to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army in the night. They abandon their camp and run away in fear, leaving it for lepers to find and bring the good news to Samaria when God answers Hezekiah’s prayer and sends an angel to strike down the 185,000-strong Assyrian army of Sennacherib.
While the world schemes in the night, the Lord breaks through it. There is no darkness in Him. He causes it to become light, because He is the Light. And a little over 2,000 years ago, the Light forever pierced the darkness. But unless you knew, you would have never known.
It did not sound like God breaking into His creation. It sounded like a young woman in agony. Like the desperate cry of a newborn. It didn’t look like the nursery of a king. It was the smell of a barn and the feed trough of an animal. But He was there. The Light who had just broken into the darkness.
And this good news had to be proclaimed. And it is, not to the might who were living in splendor and soft clothing. But to the humble and scorned. To some lowly shepherds in a nearby field. It is dark. Real dark. The darkness of the middle of the field; no such thing as light pollution. And suddenly, it was bright. Not just light, but the weighty glory of God. And in that brightness, an angel caused the shepherds to fear greatly.
Again, that makes sense. Even prophets, in the presence of the holy, fear. Yet the words of this angel dispel any need: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
This is, indeed, good news. The Messiah is here. The darkness’s days are numbered. Soon, its power will be vanquished.
The proclamation is enough. Nothing more needed to be said. But the angel goes on: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” God’s word, His promise, is enough. But even more grace is given to the shepherds. They can see the fulfilled promise with their own eyes.
What joy! What grace! Immanuel is here. God is with His people. In the flesh.
And heaven cannot contain itself. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
You are among those with whom He is pleased. He created a perfect world out of love for you, His creation. He gave a good Law. Gave a promise of deliverance after the Fall. Kept that promise through various schemes of the devil trying to overturn God’s will and plan.
God breaks through the darkness to bring His light. In the darkness, your Messiah takes His first breath. In the darkness, He is betrayed. In the darkness, even though it was the middle of the day, He takes His final breath. He descends to the gloomy darkness of hell to proclaim His victory. And in the darkness, just as the sun begins to rise, He rises too.
He is the true, life-changing, eternal jackpot. And winning all for you, blessing you with life and salvation, you are made a target. But do not fret, for Jesus is the stronger man. He raids the devil’s kingdom and overthrows his throne. He will battle the devil and demons. He will face off against His own creation and people. And He will conquer it all, winning your redemption in the process.
But it all begins tonight. Because tonight, everything changes. Tonight, something important happens. For in a small room in a small town just south of Jerusalem, someone incredible is delivered. Where a poor family welcomes the virgin’s firstborn, lying there in a manger. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Nativity of Our Lord Luke 2:15-20 December 25, 2025 Through the Eyes of the Shepherds
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It’s the middle of the night. You’ve been out in this field for hours. Just like you were last night and, it seems, every night. Even when you’re used to the long nights, your eyes get heavy. And it’s even harder in the cold. But, as far as you know, it is just another night like so many before it. Just another night…until the darkness is suddenly gone and everything is lit as if it were day. And now someone is standing there who was not there just three seconds ago. This ordinary night has just become the most frightening night of your life.
And then, he speaks: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Whatever you understand of this message, the man you now recognize as an angel continues, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
If this was not overwhelming enough, now the sky explodes with light and sound: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Just as quickly as everything appears, it is gone. The night surrounds you once again. The stillness comes over you. But the sights and the sounds continue to ring in your minds. You cannot help but think of what you have just seen and heard. And you start talking about it. Your group decides, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
You quickly leave the fields and make your way into the little town. You find Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. And awe overcomes you. You see what you heard from the angels. And you cannot help yourself; you tell them everything you saw on this very night. You see deep contemplation in Mary. Finally, you all return to your fields and your flocks. This ordinary night has just become the most joyous night of your life.
Now things are different. Your eyes are open. Your shoulders are lighter. You cannot help but praise and glorify your God. Not only because of what you have seen, but because of what He is accomplishing. The long-awaited Savior has arrived. The root of Jesse has finally cracked the surface of the soil. And you realize that the peace being made known, made manifest, is for you.
This is because the Light will shine. Think of our Introit. In a world of darkness, a light pierces through. And while the darkness is a frightening place. A place where evil abounds, your God is still at work. And on this day, we celebrate that to us a child is born. A child who brings peace between God and man.
Think of what we heard from Isaiah, words that Jesus will confess about Himself in the synagogue at Nazareth: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
All these things your Lord has done. He instructs, he convicts, and he comforts. He tells you of His peace and absolution. He takes and heals your heart. He frees you from sin’s captivity. The gates of hell are destroyed, no longer able to bind those He calls to Himself.
In this, you have true joy. For your salvation comes. Now, in a manger. Soon, on a donkey. In glory upon a cross. In victory over the grave. And, one day, descending upon the clouds, ending all strife and bringing you and all His holy people to the New Creation. Where you will dwell with Him and all the saints forever and ever. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
