What Does This Mean?

In a recent edition of my local paper, a letter to the editor bemoaned the current state of affairs. Many mainline Christian church bodies are embracing CRT, DEI, and LGBTQAI+ ideologies. She rightly observes, in part:

“Through a recent church letter, I have learned that plans have been in the making for a while now … to restructure some of the oldest, most established religions slash churches as diverse, equitable, and inclusive, plans are to allow homosexual marriages, officiated by their clergy, and to also now accept these beliefs into their religions. The clergy themselves may even be LGBQTIA+. In other words, making homosexuality compatible with Christian teachings.”

“[T]he UMC … with the backing of the ELCA, has decided to ratify the plan … to basically align with DEI … I would wager my last dollar that Martin Luther would “not” have been behind this blasphemy.”

“I was instructed as a young child to believe the words of the Bible. … Countless Christians will not support the very churches who chose to go this route of DEI, when previously, these very churches taught them to live by the words in the Bible.”

“When will people start standing up? When will people have had enough? When will God have had enough?” Glynis Tietjen — La Grange

(“Church and Pride,” The Fayette County Record, La Grange, TX, June 14, 2024, Volume 102, Number 64, page D2)

(In response to “Church and Pride,” June 14, 2024) Miss Glynis, I can understand your frustration and disappointment. Christianity used to be more serious about those things forbidden and commanded. You’re right to suggest that DEI and LGBTQAI+ ideologies are opposed to Christianity. The accepted culture of the first quarter of the 21^st century doesn’t just encourage DEI and LGBTQAI+, it demands submission. Acceptance, the terminology of my youth, isn’t enough. The new order requires us to glorify sinfulness as a morally superior lifestyle. Movies, gaming, comics, books, music, and other products of the current mainstream culture attest to this.

I pray you’re right that a minority of folks in national church organizations, including the UMC, the UCC, The PCUSA, the Episcopal Church, and ELCA are behind the shift in official positions and activities. Regardless of who it is, the people of whom we speak are in power. They are driving the bus away from the Bible. Without the only certain witness of God’s Word, the Christian faith has no mooring. We’re certain to be lost apart from the Word of God, which entirely testifies to Jesus’s death and resurrection for sinners like us.

There’s been a bit of linguistic trickery for many years. It is as if Jesus’s love undoes the condemnation of the Law of God. It does not. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18) That’s the last day, the judgement, and the resurrection of all flesh.

Jesus forgave and forgives sin even today. The message remains the same. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10)

We are constantly being saved, reconciled by Jesus’s forgiveness. This is where the accepted culture falls down. “Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’” (John 8:10-11) The Gospel of forgiveness doesn’t grant permission to continue in sin. It also doesn’t bless those things that the Law of God condemns: adultery, homosexuality, idolatry, theft, covetousness, and the like.

The battle for the Bible started over 60 years ago. In those early days, the lines were fairly simple: is the Bible the inerrant Word of God or does it only contain the inerrant Word of God? The error we’re seeing on full display is this: if some of the bible isn’t true or isn’t normative to me, who decides that, and where does it end? Each one of us becomes the arbiter of God’s Word for ourselves. It ends when my pet sin becomes permissible. The temptation has never changed from the serpent in the garden. “… Did God actually say … you will be like God.” (Genesis 3)

All of God’s Word actually matters and He did actually say it. He has preserved His Word for us since ancient times in the original languages and in far better density and reliability than any other ancient texts. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Even those bits I don’t like, those are still God’s Word. Especially the bits that accuse me in my sin, those are still God’s Word.

In the LCMS and other orthodox Christian traditions, we have held to the Bible as the rule and norm of the Christian faith. “We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with all teachers, should be evaluated and judged (2 Timothy 3:15-17) are the prophetic and Apostolic scriptures of the Old and New Testament alone.” (Formula of Concord, Epitome, 1576) It’s been a long and lonely road, cleaving to the Word of God. But, it’s worth it.

You’re always welcome back over on the other side of the fence, where we hold fast to the Word of God. We’d love to have you and your friends among us.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2024 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

Some people do share your opinion. I understand the motivation to a certain degree. There are many wonderful things about The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941 (TLH). Unlike the scriptures, the canon of the hymnody can never be closed. Like preaching, there is always something new and useful to say regarding God’s Word to His people. Like preaching, the older things should not be thrown away. And they’re not. 340 of TLH hymns are preserved in the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). That’s greater than 50% of its hymnody (h/t Rev. Dr. Paul Grime). TLH is still in print today. There are also congregations that retain the use of both TLH & LSB, and even TLH exclusively.

There are some historical failures of the church, leading to the notion that TLH is the only right hymnal. Emotions, which are a poor standard of decision making in most contexts, notwithstanding, poor timing is among the chief concerns.

There were theological errors in the Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978 (LBW), causing a stir at a time when a new hymnal was needed and desired. Our (LCMS) participation with the other Lutheran groups produced a hymnal, whose use we could not encourage. We had to back out of the project, but retained copyright usage authority over the materials produced.

This led to a hasty publication of the Lutheran Worship, 1982 (LW). That was a bad move. Simply stripping-out and correcting theological errors didn’t produce a good hymnal. In fact, it produced a fairly poor hymnal. It was not well received. At LW’s peak, it was in use in just over half of LCMS congregations. As evidence of that, the old LWs are even difficult to give away.

Among the complaints about LW are these: the defaced common service, organ arrangements, and altered text. By “Common Service,” I mean TLH p. 5/15, LW Divine Service I, and LSB Divine Service, Setting Three. The TLH and LSB settings are quite similar. The LW setting updated the Jacobean English and stripped the chorale harmonies from the pew edition. Further, LW has also removed and/or rewritten common chorale harmonies to several hymns. These were not well received.

All of this failure has encouraged the notion that TLH might be the only good hymnal. Even the great TLH contains some noticeable weaknesses. Some translations of the German hymns are theologically sketchy, leading to some of the revised wording more recently. A more subtle, but more significant, error comes from the sequencing of the services. The Order of Morning Service without communion on page 5 for use on Sunday is followed by The Order of the Holy Communion on page 15 are a two-fold failure. Prior to TLH there was no printed chief service for Sunday without the Lord’s Supper. TLH not only introduced an innovation but also gave it priority by placing it first in the book. This may have been an editorial oversight. However, it leaves the impression that not only is Sunday without communion normal, it may be preferable.

At a time when the frequency of the celebration of the Lord’s supper may have been at an historic low, TLH inadvertently or deliberately reinforced the same. For LCMS congregations that celebrated as infrequently as once a month, once a quarter, twice a year, or once a year, TLH gave at least a nod to encourage the practice. Ask some of your own elderly members. You’ll likely hear about how infrequent it was. You may even hear like I have, “Well, p. 5 comes first. That’s the one we used most.”

LSB is also not a perfect hymnal. It is a good hymnal. A harsh reality at its publication was division in hymnal usage throughout the LCMS. In 1999, 35% of LCMS congregations retained TLH only, 60% had adopted LW, and scant number had even adopted LBW (h/t Rev. Dr. Paul Grime). There was no hope of returning to TLH more broadly. LW had demonstrated the peak of its acceptance. LSB achieved its goal of unifying a greater number of LCMS congregations under a single, common service book. By returning to the TLH, page 15 liturgy (LSB DS 3), as well as the LW Divine Service II: settings one & two (LSB DS 1 & 2), LSB struck a balance. LSB also restored the original settings and text of many of the TLH hymns with a few translation corrections.

LSB enjoys greater than 70% adoption among LCMS congregations. It’s not perfect by any means. It does, however, improve the likelihood of lifelong Lutherans like us and new converts finding a familiar hymnal in use, when they travel or move their families.

That’s good for the synod as a whole.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2024 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com.

Six months is all that separates the Baptist and Jesus, at least by earthly age. And so typically on June 24th, the Church celebrates and remembers the birth of the Baptist. For with his coming into the world, the Sun of Righteousness also would follow soon after.

Zechariah, when he was confronted by Gabriel, was confused and unbelieving of the news that he and Elizabeth would have a son. As part of the sign that Elizabeth would have a son, Zechariah would be mute until the child was born. And when he named the child John, in accordance with what the Angel told him, Zechariah’s mouth was loosed. He could speak. And the people were filled with awe and asked: “What then will this child be?” 

Being filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah prophesied the song that we commonly call the Benedictus, Latin for “Blessed.” Zechariah’s song does not answer the question of the people right away. He first prophesies of the One that his own son would point to as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

This song is not about John, but about Jesus. And He had actually been in Zechariah’s house for the past 3 months via the womb of Mary. And the redemption of God’s people was the plan from of old as far back as Adam’s fall. John still proclaims that message into your very ears every Advent season, preparing us for the coming of our Lord, the Sun of Righteousness.

Some think John’s preaching is fire and brimstone, and it might be on that side, but how else to rattle and crack the hearts of stone of a dead people? The preaching of repentance puts you to death, but not only that, it raises you to life. John’s preaching causes the Light of the Lord’s mercy to shine upon you. It gives you the new birth of the Holy Spirit, and gives to you the Name of God by his Grace, granting you peace that passes all human understanding. John preaches not his own word but the Word of the Lord, in order that they might be made alive by the Gospel and Comfort of the coming of the Lord Jesus who would die for the sin of the world and be raised from the dead on the 3^rd day and would then lead the way unto everlasting life with the Father in Heaven.

John’ preaching of repentance is the preaching of the forgiveness of sins. But John’s preaching is really the preaching of Christ! And thus by John’s preaching, you are not just prepared for Jesus’ coming, but it is by this way and means that Christ comes to you in love and visits you with tender compassion. 

Christ did not just visited Zechariah or the people of Judea and Galilee, but He has come and visits you with tender care and mercy this day. He has redeemed you just as we swore he would do, giving you the forgiveness of sins which He won for you by his cross, now by giving you His body and blood in the Sacrament, the Covenant/Testament of His body and blood. That you may be led in the way of peace forever. 

John was the forerunner, the preparer, the preacher who pointed to Jesus without fail. May the preachers of this day follow on coattails of John and continue to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, that ears and hearts be prepared to receive Christ now and always, for it is He who has released you from all sins, and has removed from us one and for all fear of death and hell and now guides our feet into the way of Peace. 

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

©2024 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

Christianity is often a system of maintaining polar opposites without compromise. The law accuses us of sin (even in its instructive sense), and the Gospel forgives sin with no merit or worthiness in us. We receive salvation through God’s gifts of repentance and faith by Sacrament and Word. Damnation comes to unbelievers solely because of their stubborn unbelief and hatred of God.

These aren’t systems we built for ourselves. They are truths taught by God’s Word that leave us with concepts that defy our human logic. The tension makes us uncomfortable, leading us into accidental error. Arminian decision theology and Calvinist double predestination are two notable examples.

Jacob Arminius harmonized the clear teaching that damnation is our own doing and our own choosing in unbelief, by teaching that we choose salvation as well. “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:18-19 ESV) He was and is half right. Damnation is entirely on us and because of our sinful unbelief.

John Calvin harmonized the clear teaching that God chooses some for salvation, by teaching that salvation and damnation were solely by God’s choosing. “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:4b-6 ESV) In Calvin’s desire to uphold God’s sovereignty, Calvin made God a capricious ruler, separating without discernible reason.

The biblical position, which we Lutherans hold, is that damnation is our doing and salvation is God’s doing. We sometimes call this single predestination.

The same sort of harmony confusion is at play here. We should much more correctly say that God loves us despite the way we are. Poorly hidden behind the God-loves-me-just-the-way-I-am view of myself is a desire to overwrite God’s Law. I don’t want to leave my former sins behind. I want God to bless my sin and call it good. I want Jesus to Jesus me in the way that I would have Him Jesus me, rather than the way that he does.

Jesus doesn’t bless our sin. He forgives it AND sends us off without sin. To the adulteress spared from stoning, He says, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11b ESV) The forgiveness we receive delivers a clear conscience, which will flee from sin.

St. Paul describes our sinful situation as a state of death. Only God can bring life into dead things. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV)

God loved us despite our deadness in sin. His love revives us and sets us free from that sin. He has delivered us out from the “way we are” into the way He would have us be.

Go forth and sin no more,

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2024 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

In the enlightened prose of a certain modern public figure, “seriously, not a joke, that’s no lie.” Call your pastor. “Call” doesn’t even have to be literal; call (and leave a message), send a letter, email, Facebook messenger, any sort of direct contact is good. Your pastor doesn’t know about the joys and sorrows in your life outside of the things you share with him.

But for goodness’ sake, don’t spread a rumor, expecting it to make it to your pastor’s ears. There are countless things he’s heard through the rumor mill. Your pastor is bound by the eighth commandment in the same way you are. He does hear about someone drinking too much, stepping out on their spouse, building their fence on the wrong side of the property line, being sad, being angry, or being ill. When he hears these things, he is also bound by God’s Law to put out of his mind the thing that he shouldn’t have heard about someone from someone else.

Please, call your pastor.

“Pastor’s are too busy to be bothered with [this event or thing].” Yes, pastors are frequently busy. But, pastors also constantly make adjustments to meet, talk to, and visit folks on a regular basis. We do this, I do this, because your concerns concern us.

Do you desire the prayers of the congregation? Call your pastor.

“Why wasn’t I included in the prayers?” Prayer requests are one link where the gossip chain breaks. Prayer requests from immediate family go right onto the list; requests from someone who heard from someone else that a third someone may have a need, do not so readily make the list. Since the Lord knows our needs, we also do not include details with requests. If you know, you know. If you don’t know, the Lord doesn’t require your knowledge to hear and answer the prayer.

AND, He does promise to hear and answer our prayers. (1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 18; 1 Thessalonians 5; Romans 5:26-27) The scriptures in no place require a detailed analysis of the situations of our prayers. Prayer is what the Lord requires.

Do you want a visit? Call your pastor.

He doesn’t know if you don’t contact him. He will spare no effort to meet your request. While we’re talking about it, contact him before it’s an emergency. I make visits most every week. The shut-in list gets the initial scheduling spots. Nota bene: the shut-in list includes folks who aren’t listed in the prayers by their own request. Additional notes: a visit from your pastor does not mean you are, or require you to be, near death. A visit is just a visit.

Seriously, call your pastor. – Pastor

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2024 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Introduction: One Hundred and Eighty-six years ago, a dense forest stretched from the Great Lakes west to the Illinois prairie and south to the Ohio River Valley. Majestic oaks and sycamores, elms and maples, chestnuts, pines and cedars lined the paths and newly hewn roads, moved even young banker Hugh McCulloch to awe. Into this frontier poured first thousands and soon tens of thousands of Germans and Irishmen, drawn by the promise of the most fertile land in the world, where anyone was free to carve out a farmstead and leave a heritage to his children. They found it hard work in a hard climate. Isolated in the wilderness, where the bush might keep you from knowing you even had neighbors, you were very much alone and isolated. No church bells would call you to worship in non-existent churches. You see, while they came, pastors, by and large, did not.

Even when you were blessed with a servant of the word and the Lord’s house, tragedy often struck. In the frontier village of Fort Wayne, St. Paul’s Lutheran Congregation was in mourning. Their young German American pastor had just died. Their elder Adam Wesel wrote the Pennsylvania Ministerium Mission society on June 4^th: “If you canvas the northern part of Indiana, you will soon see how important it is that you send us a faithful Shepherd. The harvest is great, but unfortunately there are no workers. If it is not possible to send us a pastor, dear brothers, then send us a circuit rider. We hunger and thirst for the Word of God.”

God heard their prayer. Three days before their pastor died, Friedrich Wyneken set sail for Baltimore on the Brig Apollo. As Adam Wesel’s letter arrived in Pennsylvania, he presented himself before the mission society, prepared to receive a call as a missionary. They sent him to gather the scattered Germany Protestants of Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. And he did.

1. God has called you to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

a) As God’s people prayed for a pastor then, so they do now.        
b) As God answered their prayer, sending Wyneken, so he answers their prayer and sends you.       
c) You bear the same call that Wyneken did       
d) You have the same gospel to proclaim, the same baptism to administer; the same absolution to grant; the same Supper to celebrate.

2. Yet you are aliens and exiles in this world

a) While a remnant of Christian America remains, we live a pagan culture.    
b) The fear of death drives their lives and actions       
c) What little they know about Jesus and the church is a caricature.       
d) Peter’s advice is sound: live an honorable life among them.

3. We are founded on the living cornerstone, chosen and precious

a) We are not redeemed by silver and gold, but his precious blood.       
b) We are now his own holy nation, a royal priesthood.       
c) Though we may seem alone, we are never alone.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2020-2024 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Sermon on Revelation 7:13-17‌
All Saint’s Sunday‌
November 5-6, 2023‌
Our Hope Lutheran Church‌
Huntertown, Indiana

‌‌Note: This is a sermon version of my All Saints’ Day devotional revised as a sermon remembering my late wife Kris and dear friends at my home parish. She entered rest on 29 April 2022 and was buried from this church 6 May 2022.

Text: “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

‌Prayer: For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Amen.

Christ is Risen!

‌Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who by his death has destroy death and by his rising again opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Introduction: All Saints’ Day is a memorial day. From the earliest days of the church, first congregations, then regions, remembered Christian loved ones on the day they died — especially those who died as martyrs. Around 800 AD, Charlemagne set November 1st as the day the church remembered all the saints. Since then, the church has marked that day to follow the lead of the Book of Hebrews: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:7–8) Memorial days are really the last stage of grief. We thank God for our departed, remember how they lived, especially how they trusted God, and make their trust in Jesus our own. They are now at rest with Jesus, after all, and one day we will join them.

‌Our text this morning opens the curtain of heaven for us to see the throne of God. The Elder explains to St. John that the crowd no one can number are coming from the Great Tribulation, the time between the Ascension of Jesus and his return in glory. They are gathered before the Father and the Lamb of God. They are God’s children from every time – Adam and Noah, Joseph and Moses, David and Elijah, all those trusting in the coming Messiah. The the Apostles and Evangelists, Christians from every time and place, language and nation are there. There also people much more familiar to us. Our grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, spouses, friends and sometimes children are there. It is good to remember them, to thank God for them, to consider the things they did, especially the good things they did in faith and because they love God.

‌Who do you remember? I remember my own grandparents and grandparents-in-law, who lived and prospered through incredibly hard times, kept the faith in their own … unique … ways, who were often living examples of saints and sinners at the same time. Some of you remember the days of the World Wars and depression all too well. I remember my grandmother Smith reading from the big, KJV family Bible to me as a child on her lap. I remember my grandmother Schneider and her aunt who gave me my first Greek New Testament as a confirmation gift. There are also my parents and parents-in-law, troubled in troubled times, yet who still kept their faith. Also present is my father, that bruised reed the Lord did not break. And now in 2023, i remember my beloved wife, Kris, who has joined them. She loved me, her children and grandchildren through constant pain all of her life, produced endless beautiful and practical crafts that blessed many. Her straightforward, rock-hard faith was an inspiration to me and to many.

‌Who do you remember? As you and I look out at our church today, we remember brothers and sisters in Christ who sat here with us. We can almost see them in their favorite pews. All are at rest with their Savior. Many others are there, too. My Fathers and brothers in the faith. I remember those that taught me and many others and laid the stole of ministry on me the same stole I have now laid on my son-in-law, spiritual sons. I am thankful for them and for their confessions. I pray to be as faithful to the Lord as they were.

So, how did they get there before the throne? Born sinners they struggled with the Old Adam and Old Eve until the day they died. Yet when they were baptized, Jesus united them with his death. He, the Lamb of God, took away the sins of the world – their sin, our sin. When he rose from the dead, he opened the way for them – and us – to be with him forever. He gave them and us the white robe when he baptized them, the robe of his perfect righteousness. He placed the palm branch of victory in their hands. When we worship, we join them and angels and archangels in praise. You can almost see them waving the branches when we sing with them “Hosanna in the highest!”

At their deaths of our dear saints, Jesus sent his angels, to bring them home to him in paradise. In our church, we drape their bodies at rest in a pall. It reminds us of that the white robes of his righteousness and the palms of victory they now wave before the throne.

So, how did they make in through this Valley of the Shadow of Death? In life, Jesus was their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might; he was their Captain in the well-fought fight. Their fears were calmed when the remembered he was with them. They placed their burdens at the feet of the cross. The Lord’s Supper strengthened them like bread for the journey — a phrase that pastors often say when communing the very ill and those near death.

I was blessed to celebrate All Saints Day with my wife thirty-four times, thankful for each day we were together, praying to thank the Lord for those safely home. Now I pray after receiving the Lord’s Supper to thank God for my late wife, an ever-growing list of grandchildren, my children and their spouses. I will rejoice that this year I can still hold their hands, speak with them and see them all once in a while. Soon, all too soon, the angels will come for me or one of them, to join those at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb as the Lord Jesus says to one of us, “welcome to the joy of your Father.”

As glorious as this is, yet there breaks a more glorious day. As blessed as being with Jesus in paradise, the best is yet to come. The saints triumphant will rise in bright array; The King of glory will pass on His way. Sin and death will die. The world renewed, restored and be transformed, fit for eternity. God will pitch his tent with us and live with us forever. And he will dry every tear from our eyes. There will be no more sorrow, sighing grief or pain. All these will pass away. God will make all things new again. Once more he will see all that he has made and now redeemed with his own blood and say, “Look, it is very Good!” Amen, come Lord Jesus, at the end of days and at the end of our days.

Christ is Risen!

Prayer: Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old And win with them the victor’s crown of gold! Amen.

‌Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, set watch over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2023-2024 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com