Events

Color: White\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 40:1–5\rPsalm: Psalm 85:7–13; antiphon: v. 9\rPsalm: Psalm 85; antiphon: v. 9\rSecond Reading: Acts 13:13–26\rGospel: Luke 1:57–80\rIntroit: Luke 1:68, 76–79; antiphon: Malachi 3:1\rGradual: Jeremiah 1:5, 9b\rVerse: Luke 1:17a, d\r\rThe Nativity of St. John the Baptist\r \rSt. John the Baptist is not the Christ, only His forerunner (Acts 13:25). He was called from the womb to bring Jacob back to God through his Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Is. 49:5), just as Christ was the true servant of the Lord. Miraculously conceived by Zechariah the priest of barren Elizabeth, John was marked to be the greatest born of women (Matt. 11:11). The Church rejoices over the Lord’s mercy just as Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives did at John’s birth. But when Zechariah’s tongue was loosed, John was not the subject of his song. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68). John is the voice “[preparing] the way of the Lord” (Is. 40:3); Jesus, the virgin-born Son of God, is that Lord. John is “the prophet of the Most High.” He is born to “give knowledge of salvation to [God’s] people in the forgiveness of their sins,” because Christ, the Dayspring, is visiting (Luke 1:76–79). Thus, what John preaches is the comfort of iniquity pardoned by Jesus, the promised Savior of Israel (Acts 13:23) and “the nations, that [His] salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Is. 49:6).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Genesis 50:15–21\rPsalm: Psalm 138; antiphon: v. 8b\rEpistle: Romans 8:18–23\rEpistle: Romans 12:14–21\rGospel: Luke 6:36–42\rIntroit: Psalm 27:3–4a, 5; antiphon: vv. 1–2\rGradual: Psalm 79:9–10a\rVerse: Psalm 9:4b, 9\r\rChrist’s Mercy Is Ours to Show to Others\r \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).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Red\r\rFirst Reading: Acts 15:1–12\rFirst Reading: Acts 15:1–21\rPsalm: Psalm 46; antiphon: v. 11\rEpistle: Galatians 2:1–10\rGospel: Matthew 16:13–19\rIntroit: Psalm 89:1, 5, 15–16; antiphon: Psalm 119:46\rGradual: Romans 10:15b, 18b; Isaiah 52:7b, alt.\rVerse: Matthew 16:18b\r\rSt. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles\r \rJesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” So confessed St. Peter. And Christ promised to build His Church on it by the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 16:16–19). He does this so we don’t try to build the Church ourselves, on this or that person, or by any human means. “Let no one boast in men … whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas,” for “all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21–23). The same Lord “who worked through Peter … worked also through” Paul and is still at work in His Gospel and Sacraments (Gal. 2:7–8). The Church of every age must be recalled to “hear the word of the gospel” — the free forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake apart from the Law — “and believe.” The Holy Spirit makes “no distinction” among men, but cleanses “hearts by faith” alone. So “we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15:7–11). Both were imprisoned (Acts 12:1–11), both wrote Scripture (2 Peter 3:15–16), both opposed the world — and sometimes each other (Gal. 2:11–16) — all so “that the truth of the gospel might be preserved” for us (Gal. 2:5).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: White\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 11:1–5\rPsalm: Psalm 138; antiphon: v. 8a\rEpistle: Romans 12:9–16\rGospel: Luke 1:39–56\rGospel: Luke 1:39–45\rIntroit: 1 Samuel 2:1–2, 7–8; antiphon: Luke 1:46b–47\rGradual: Psalm 103:2; 105:5; 100:4\rVerse: Luke 1:45\r\rThe Visitation\r \rToday Zechariah’s house is prepared to sing: “The Lord God of Israel … has visited and redeemed 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” (Is. 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 that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45). Likewise we, too, “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Rom. 12:12–15), for our joyful hope is in 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! Behold, he comes” (Song of Songs 2:8).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: 1 Kings 19:11–21\rPsalm: Psalm 16; antiphon: v. 11\rEpistle: 1 Peter 3:8–15\rEpistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18–25\rGospel: Luke 5:1–11\rIntroit: Psalm 27:1a, 11–12, 14; antiphon: vv. 7, 9b\rGradual: Psalm 84:9, 8\rVerse: Psalm 21:1\r\rJesus Makes Fishers of Men\r \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).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Exodus 20:1–17\rPsalm: Psalm 19; antiphon: v. 8\rEpistle: Romans 6:3–11\rEpistle: Romans 6:1–11\rGospel: Matthew 5:20–26\rGospel: Matthew 5:17–26\rIntroit: Psalm 28:1–2, 7; antiphon: vv. 8–9\rGradual: Psalm 90:13, 1, 2b\rVerse: Psalm 31:1\r\rOur Only Hope Is in Christ’s Righteousness\r \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).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Genesis 2:7–17\rPsalm: Psalm 33:1–11; antiphon: v. 6\rEpistle: Romans 6:19–23\rGospel: Mark 8:1–9\rIntroit: Psalm 47:3, 6–8; antiphon: vv. 1–2\rGradual: Psalm 34:11, 5\rVerse: Psalm 47:1\r\rJesus Restores Paradise and Feeds Us Freely\r \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).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: White\r\rOld Testament: Proverbs 31:10–31\rPsalm: Psalm 73:23–28; antiphon: v. 1\rSecond Reading: Acts 13:26–31\rGospel: John 20:1–2, 10–18\rIntroit: Psalm 30:1a, 2–3, 12b; antiphon: Psalm 31:1a\rGradual: Psalm 45:10; John 10:11b, 10b, 3b, 16c\rVerse: John 20:18a\r\rSt. Mary Magdalene\r \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 (Ephesians 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 him 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).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship