From the Pastor’s Desk
I get it. Many people have gotten out of the habit of going to church this past year. Habits are hard to form. According to Psychology Today, it takes roughly 90 days to form a daily habit. A weekly habit takes even longer!
This Sunday, I’m going to be preaching on Luke 14:15-24. What an appropriate text for us! It is a parable about a great host who hosts a great banquet and invites guests. When the time for the banquet comes, all of those who are invited make excuses. None of them fly with the host. So the host sends invitation throughout the city and into the countryside in order to fill his banquet.
God, likewise, has invited you to His banquet. At this feast, he will shower you with gifts that go far beyond what you could deserve or hope for. This banquet happens weekly amongst His people who congregate around Word and Sacrament. Will you join us this week?
Below, you’ll find an explanation of the texts for the week as well as a link to join via live stream. At times, there are legitimate excuses for missing church. If you are unable to join us, please tune in online. But, we must not forget, God’s people are called to gather together. Online is no substitute for face to face. And that is what happens in church. We meet face to face with God himself as we hear the gospel and receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord will bless your coming in and going out from this time forth and forevermore. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Schultz
Explanation of the Week’s Texts
Wisdom has issued an invitation to the divine feast: “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live” (Prov 9:1-10). This is the call of the Spirit of Christ to believe the Gospel and to receive His saving gifts in the Holy Supper. Many make excuses and reject this invitation, even as the Jews did in the days of Jesus, yet the Master’s house will be filled. The Gospel call therefore goes out to the lowly and despised, into the highways, even to all the Gentiles (Luke 14:15-24). For “you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13-22). In Christ, believing Jews and Gentiles are no longer strangers but fellow members of the household of God. The enmity of class and race is put to death through the cross. Having been reconciled in the one body of Christ, we are enabled to love one another (1 John 3:13-18) as we await the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which will have no end.
