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Pastors' Study Group in Plano
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[F] The Visitation (W)
[F] The Visitation (W)
July 2, 2020
Old Testament: Isaiah 11:1-5\rPsalm 138 (antiphon: v. 8a)\rEpistle: Romans 12:9-16\rGospel:Luke 1:39-45 (46-56)\r\rThe Visitation\rToday Zechariah's house is prepared to sing: the Lord God of Israel has visited His people (Luke 1:68). For the Scriptures are being fulfilled: there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit (Isa. 11:1). What could raise a King from a dead line? Only the Lord Himself! This is no son of man's will, but the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15). The Word of the Lord has done this, and so all are blessed in Him. The greeting of blessed Mary causes John to leap in Elizabeth's womb (Luke 1:41). Both are delighted at what the Word has wrought: "blessed is she who believed there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken by the Lord" (Luke 1:45). Likewise we too rejoice with those who rejoice (Rom. 12:12-15), for our joyful hope is the Lord who has visited us to redeem us-not just a town in Judah but our entire fallen world. The Holy Spirit discloses where salvation is to be found: in the Most Blessed Fruit of Mary's blessed womb. And the whole Church rejoices, saying, "my Beloved Bridegroom, behold, He comes!" (Song of Sol. 2:8)
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5
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4th Sunday after Trinity (G)
4th Sunday after Trinity (G)
July 5, 2020
Introit: Ps. 27:3-4a, 5; antiphon: Ps. 27:1-2\rGradual: Ps. 79:9-10a\rOld Testament: Gen. 50:15-21\rPsalm 138 (antiphon: v. 8b)\rEpistle: Rom. 12:14-21\r or Rom. 8:18-23\rProperVerse: Ps. 9:4b, 9\rGospel: Luke 6:36-42\r\rChrist's Mercy Is Ours to Show to Others\r"Be merciful, even as your Father also is merciful" (Luke 6:36-42). The old Adam in us wants to condemn and seek vengeance. But the Lord says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay" (Rom. 12:14-21). To condemn, to avenge yourself, is to put yourself in the place of God. It is to fail to trust that He is just. Ultimately, it is to disbelieve that Jesus suffered the full vengeance for all wrongs. Only Christ is merciful as the Father is merciful. He is the one who overcame all evil with the good of His cross, forgiving even His executioners. Jesus is our Joseph, who comforts us with words of pardon and reconciliation (Gen. 50:15-21). He is the One who does not condemn but gives life that runs over. Only through faith in Christ are we sons of the Father-being merciful, forgiving, doing good to our enemies. For in Christ we know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:8-13).
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Divine Service Live Streamed
Divine Service Live Streamed
July 5, 2020 9:30 am - 10:30 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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Bible Study
Bible Study
July 5, 2020 10:45 am - 11:45 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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6
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Isaiah
[C] Isaiah
July 6, 2020
Isaiah son of Amoz is considered to be the greatest of the writing prophets and is quoted in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament prophet. His name means Yahweh [the Lord] saves. Isaiah prophesied to the people of Jerusalem and Judah from about 740 B.C. to 700 B.C. and was a contemporary of the prophets Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Isaiah was a fierce preacher of God's Law, condemning the sin of idolatry. He was also a comforting proclaimer of the Gospel, repeatedly emphasizing God's grace and forgiveness. For this he is sometimes called the Evangelist of the Old Testament. No prophet more clearly prophesied about the coming Messiah and his saving kingdom. He foretold the Messiah's miraculous birth (Is 7:14; 9:6), his endless reign (Is 2:15; 11:116), and his public ministry (Is 61:13), but most notably his Suffering Servant role and atoning death (52:1353:12). The apostle John's description of Isaiah, that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory and spoke of him (John 12:41), is an apt summary of Isaiah's prophetic ministry.
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8
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Pastor on Vacation
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[Other] Lutheran Women's Missionary League organized (1942)
[Other] Lutheran Women's Missionary League organized (1942)
July 8, 2020
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11
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Pastor on Vacation
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Safety Class at Church
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12
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Pastor on Vacation
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5th Sunday after Trinity (G)
5th Sunday after Trinity (G)
July 12, 2020
Introit: Ps. 27:1a, 11-12, 14; Ps. 27:7, 9\rGradual: Ps. 84:9, 8\rOld Testament: 1 Kings 19:11-21\rPsalm 16 (antiphon, v. 11)\rEpistle: 1 Cor. 1:18-25\r or 1 Peter 3:8-15\rProperVerse: Ps. 21:1\rGospel: Luke 5:1-11\r\rJesus Makes Fishers of Men\rThe Lord called fishermen to be fishers of men (Luke 5:1-11). The net they would use is the message of the cross, which is foolishness and a stumbling block to the world (1 Cor. 1:18-25). The power of God to save is not in spectacular signs like wind and fire and earthquakes (1 Kings 19:11-21), nor is it to be found in human intelligence and wisdom. The power of God to save comes in the still, small voice of the preaching of Christ crucified. In worldly darkness the disciples could catch nothing. But in the light of Christ, whose Word was attached to the water, the boats were filled with fish. So it is that in Baptism you have been drawn in to the ship of the Church. Though the nets are breaking and some who hear the Word do not believe, pastors continue to cast the net of the Gospel and the Sacraments, that Christians may abide in the boat of the Church and that we may be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:8-15).
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Divine Service Live Streamed
Divine Service Live Streamed
July 12, 2020 9:30 am - 10:30 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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Bible Study
Bible Study
July 12, 2020 10:45 am - 11:45 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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Pastor on Vacation
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Circuit Pastors' Meeting
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Ruth
[C] Ruth
July 16, 2020
Ruth of Moab, the subject of the biblical book that bears her name, is an inspiring example of God's grace. Although she was a Gentile, God made her the great grandmother of King David (Ruth 4:17), and an ancestress of Jesus himself (Mt 1:5). A famine in Israel led Elimelech and Naomi of Bethlehem to emigrate to the neighboring nation of Moab with their two sons. The sons marriend Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, but after about ten years, Elimelech and his sons died (Ruth 1:15). Naomi then decided to return to Bethlehem and urged her daughters-in-law to return to their families. Orpah listened to Naomi's but Ruth refused, replying with the stirring words: Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God (Ruth 1:16). After Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, Boaz, a close relative of Elimelech, agreed to be Ruth's redeemer (Ruth 3:713; 4:912). He took her as his wife, and Ruth gave birth to Obed, the grandfather of David (Ruth 4:1317), thus preserving the Messianic seed. Ruth's kindness and selfless loyalty toward Naomi, and her faith in Naomi's God, have long endeared her to the faithful and redounded to God's praise for his merciful choice of one so unexpected.
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Pastor on Vacation
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6th Sunday after Trinity (G)
6th Sunday after Trinity (G)
July 19, 2020
Introit: Ps. 28:1-2, 7; antiphon: Ps. 28:8-9\rGradual: Ps. 90:13, 1, 2b\rOld Testament: Ex. 20:1-17\rPsalm 19 (antiphon: v. 8)\rEpistle: Rom. 6:(1-2) 3-11\rProperVerse: Ps. 31:1\rGospel: Matt. 5:(17-19) 20-26\r\rOur Only Hope Is in Christ's Righteousness \r"Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 5:20). God demands nothing less than perfection and holiness from you in regard to His commandments (Ex. 20:1-17). Your only hope, then, is not in your own goodness but in the goodness of Christ, who did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them for you. In Christ, your righteousness does indeed exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. For you have been baptized into Christ's death and your sinful nature crucified. Therefore, he who has died has been freed from sin (Rom. 6:1-11). You are now raised with Christ to walk in newness of life and to share in His resurrection on the Last Day. Christ has brought you through the baptismal sea "out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Ex. 20:2). Therefore, "consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11).
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Divine Service Live Streamed
Divine Service Live Streamed
July 19, 2020 9:30 am - 10:30 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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Bible Study
Bible Study
July 19, 2020 10:45 am - 11:45 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Elijah
[C] Elijah
July 20, 2020
The prophet Elijah, whose name means, My God is Yahweh [the Lord], prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel, mostly during the reign of Ahab (874853 B.C.). Ahab, under the influence of his pagan wife Jezebel, had encouraged the worship of Baal throughout his kingdom, even as Jezebel sought to get rid of the worship of Yahweh. Elijah was called by God to denounce this idolatry and to call the people of Israel back to the worship Yahweh as the only true God (as he did in 1 Kgs 18:2040). Elijah was a rugged and imposing figure, living in the wilderness and dressing in a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt (2 Kgs 1:8). He was a prophet mighty in word and deed. Many miracles were done through Elijah, including the raising of the dead (1 Kgs 17:1724), and the effecting of a long drought in Israel (1 Kgs 17:1). At the end of his ministry, he was taken up into heaven as Elisha, his successor, looked on (2 Kgs 2:11). Later on the prophet Malachi proclaimed that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah (Mal 4:56), a prophecy that was fulfilled in the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist (Mt 11:14).
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Ezekiel
[C] Ezekiel
July 21, 2020
Ezekiel, son of Buzi, was a priest, called by God to be a prophet to the exiles during the Babylonian captivity (Ez. 1:3). In 597 B.C. King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army brought the king of Judah and thousands of the best citizens of Jerusalemincluding Ezekielto Babylon (2 Kgs 24:816). Ezekiel's priestly background profoundly stamped his prophecy, as the holiness of God and the Temple figure prominently in his messages (for example, Ezekiel 910 and 4048). From 593 B.C. to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C., Ezekiel prophesied the inevitability of divine judgment on Jerusalem, on the exiles in Babylon, and on seven nations that surrounded Israel (Ezekiel 132). Jerusalem would fall, and the exiles would not quickly return, as a just consequence of their sin. Once word reached Ezekiel that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, his message became one of comfort and hope. Through him God promised that his people would experience future restoration, renewal and revival in the coming Messianic kingdom (Ezekiel 3348). Much of the strange symbolism of Ezekiel's prophecies was later employed in the Revelation to St. John.
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22
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Pastor on Vacation
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[F] St. Mary Magdalene (W)
[F] St. Mary Magdalene (W)
July 22, 2020
Old Testament: Proverbs 31:10-31\rPsalm 73:23-28 (antiphon: v. 1)\rNew Testament: Acts 13:26-31\rGospel: John 20:1-2, 10-18\r\rSt. Mary Magdalene\r"An excellent wife who can find?" (Prov. 31:10). The Lord's love does not search out what is lovely. Instead, His love seeks out sinners and dies for them, washes them clean, and presents them to Himself as a spotless bride (Eph. 5). Christ had no wife on earth; His bride is the Church-the assembly of forgiven sinners rescued by His death and resurrection. Among them is St. Mary Magdalene, one who had come up with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem" (Acts 13:31). The Lord rescued her from the power of seven demons and she provided for Him out of her means (Luke 8:2-3). Christians have traditionally connected her with the unnamed penitent woman who was forgiven much by faith and thus loved much by anointing Jesus' feet (Luke 7:36-50). She was there at Christ's death, present at His burial, and honored as the first witness of His resurrection. She would have clung to Him there in the garden, but the Lord had not yet ascended to His Father and our Father (John 20:16-18) to fill all things (Eph. 4:10). For now He is heard in the Word of His witnesses and is here bodily in His Supper, not just for Mary, but for all penitents who fear the Lord (Prov. 31:30), so that grace may abound all the more (Rom. 5:20).
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Pastor on Vacation
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[F] St. James the Elder, Apostle (R)
[F] St. James the Elder, Apostle (R)
July 25, 2020
New Testament: Acts 11:27-12:5\rPsalm 56 (antiphon: v. 4)\rEpistle: Romans 8:28-39\rGospel: Mark 10:35-45\r\rSt. James the Elder, Apostle \rThe sons of Zebedee ask for seats at Jesus' right and left in glory (Mark 10:37). But they do not know what they are asking (Matt. 20:22), for God's kingdom is not of glory and power but the cross. We will bear ours after Him. For His sake we are killed and regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all this we are more than conquerors through Him (Rom. 8:36-37), for Jesus' death is unique. He alone is baptized with our sin and drinks the cup of God's wrath against it (Mark 10:38). We live in service to our neighbors after His example; but He alone is the Son of Man, come to give His life as a ransom for many (v. 45). Today the Church commemorates the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy about James, killed with Herod's sword (Acts 12:2). He is honored as the first apostle to be conformed to the image of God's Son (Rom. 8:29). But what is that when Christ Jesus has died-more than that, is raised-and is at the right hand of God, interceding for us? Nothing (not even a sword) can separate James and us from the love of Christ (v. 34-35).
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Pastor on Vacation
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7th Sunday after Trinity (G)
7th Sunday after Trinity (G)
July 26, 2020
Introit: Ps. 47:3, 6-8; antiphon: Ps. 47:1-2\rGradual: Ps. 34:11, 5\rOld Testament: Gen. 2:7-17\rPsalm 33:1-11 (antiphon: v. 6)\rEpistle: Rom. 6:19-23\rProperVerse: Ps. 47:1\rGospel: Mark 8:1-9\r\rJesus Restores Paradise and Feeds Us Freely\rIn the Garden of Eden, our first parents received food freely from the gracious hand of God, apart from any burdensome work (Gen 2:7-17). But after the fall, food would be received only through toil and labor. The curse declared, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground . . ." (Gen. 3:19). In other words, "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). But into this wilderness world came Jesus the Messiah to restore creation. Having compassion on the weary multitudes, He renewed the bounty of Eden on the third day, freely granting an abundance of bread to the 4,000 (Mark 8:1-9). So also our Lord Jesus, having endured the burden of our sin, was raised on the third day to bring us back to Paradise. He now miraculously turns the bread of death into the Bread of Life in the Sacrament, giving you His very body and blood for your forgiveness. For "the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
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Divine Service Live Streamed
Divine Service Live Streamed
July 26, 2020 9:30 am - 10:30 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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Bible Study
Bible Study
July 26, 2020 10:45 am - 11:45 am
6960 Parkwood Blvd, STE 200, Frisco, TX 75034, USA
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28
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Johann Sebastian Bach, Kantor
[C] Johann Sebastian Bach, Kantor
July 28, 2020
Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750) is acknowledged as one of the most famous and gifted of all composers past and present in the entire western world. Orphaned at the age of ten, Bach was mostly self-taught in music. His professional life as conductor, performer, composer, teacher, and organ consultant began at the age of 19 in the town of Arnstadt and ended in Leipzig, where for the last 27 years of his life he was responsible for all the music in the city's four Lutheran churches. In addition to his being a superb keyboard artist, the genius and bulk of Bach's vocal and instrumental compositions remain overwhelming. A devout and devoted Lutheran, he is especially honored in Christendom for his lifelong insistence that his music was written primarily for the liturgical life of the church to glorify God and edify his people.
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29
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany
[C] Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany
July 29, 2020
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany were disciples with whom Jesus had a special bond of love and friendship. John's Gospel records that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus (John 11:15). On one occasion Martha welcomed Jesus into their home for a meal. While she did all the work, Mary sat at Jesus' feet listening to his Word and was commended by Jesus for choosing the good portion which will not be taken away from her (Lk 10:3842). When their brother Lazarus died, Jesus spoke to Martha this beautiful Gospel promise: I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he life? (John 11:2527). Ironically, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the death, the Jews became more determined than ever to kill Jesus (John 11:3954). made Jesus' enemies more determined than ever to kill him (John 11:3954). Six days before Jesus was crucified, Mary anointed his feet with a very expensive fragrant oil and wiped them with her hair, not knowing at the time that she was doing it in preparation for Jesus' burial (John 12:18; Mt 26:6-13).
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30
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Robert Barnes, Confessor and Matryr
[C] Robert Barnes, Confessor and Matryr
July 30, 2020
Remembered as a devoted disciple of Martin Luther, Robert Barnes is considered to be among the first Lutheran martyrs. Born in 1495, Barnes became the prior of the Augustinian monastery at Cambridge, England. Converted to Lutheran teaching, he shared his insights with many English scholars through writings and personal contacts. During a time of exile to Germany he became a friend of Luther and later wrote a Latin summary of the main doctrines of the Augsburg Confession titled "Sententiae." Upon his return to England, Barnes shared his Lutheran doctrines and views in person with King Henry VIII and initially had a positive reception. In 1529 Barnes was named royal chaplain. The changing political and ecclesiastical climate in his native country, however, claimed him as a victim; he was burned at the stake in Smithfield in 1540. His final confession of faith was published by Luther, who called his friend Barnes "our good, pious table companion and guest of our home, this holy martyr, Saint Robertus."
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31
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Pastor on Vacation
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[C] Joseph of Arimathea
[C] Joseph of Arimathea
July 31, 2020
This Joseph, mentioned in all four Gospels, come from a small village called Arimathea in the hill country of Judea. He was a respected member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious council in Jerusalem. He was presumably wealthy, since he owned his own unused tomb in a garden not far from the site of Jesus' crucifixion (Mt 27:60). Joseph, a man waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went to Pontius Pilate after the death of Jesus and asked for Jesus' body (Mk 15:43). Along with Nicodemus, Joseph removed the body and placed it in the tomb (John 19:39). Their public devotion contrasted greatly to the fearfulness of the disciples who had abandoned Jesus.
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