Northwoods Table Talk

  They Remained Silent Luke 14:1-11   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.   Amen.   On one Saturday, Jesus was invited to the home of a ruler of the Pharisees for a meal. He had been invited for a purpose, “they were watching Him carefully.”   They were watching Him carefully because many people were following Jesus, listening to what He had to say, hanging on Jesus’ words . On the other hand, the Pharisees seemed to have be losing some of their following.   Jesus was invited to dine at the home of this Pharisees on this particular Sabbath in order that they might catch Jesus in a slip-up. They set up the conditions so that He would break the Sabbath – they believed that is what He would do. Why did they believe He would break the Sabbath? Because the Pharisees believed Jesus did not follow God’s Torah. They had a different view of the Sabbath than Jesus – their Creator and Torah-giver by the way – than they did. ...

  God Calls Sinners Matthew 9:9-13 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. If you noticed, today we are celebrating St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.   Some may be wondering what are the qualifications to make one a saint. Others may be wondering what exactly the words ‘apostle’ and ‘evangelist’ mean. Today we will handle these questions. Simply put, to be a saint one must be holy - perfect and sinless. Of course, we know that no one is holy of their own. And no, a saint does not need to be dead. To label someone a saint, is nothing more than to recognize that they have been called by God, made holy by Him through baptism into Christ’s holiness. Saints are so, because the Holy Spirit has built in them the faith to trust in God’s grace through Christ Jesus for their salvation. It is highly appropriate then, for us to call one another saints. In fact, if we look at very first verse of the book of Ephesians, Paul calls the...

  The Cross? Or Christ Crucified? 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 & John 12:20-33 Holy Cross Day – 09.14.2025 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.   Amen.   September 14, has historically been celebrated since 335 AD as Holy Cross Day. One legend claims that Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, went to Jerusalem to discover the precise location of location of the crucifixion of our Lord. Legend states that three crosses were unearthed and a dying woman touched them and only one of them healed her.   Yeah, right! Neither the healing nor Helena’s trip is verifiable. However the date of the feast marks the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335. It was a two-day festival. The church consecrated on September 13 th and the cross discovered on the site of the crucifixion was brought outside the church on September 14 th so that the faithful could pray before the True Cross.   Legends and stories abound, let them. Bu...

  On Wednesday, an event took place that has been rather polarizing, Charlie Kirk was murdered!   I have thought long and hard about what to write. On 9/11 I posted my thoughts on sinfulness - mine and the sinfulness of every single person who has, who is, of whoever will inhabit human flesh. That sinfulness is often manifested in vile evil. And I begged all to pray The Litany.  It is an ancient prayer of The Church and it is easy to see why. (see it at the end of this post) How do those who disagree respond?   I am going to state what I believe. God created man in His image, God’s own breath (spirit) was breathed into man to make him a living soul. That image pointed forward to Him who is God in human flesh - Jesus, God’s Christ - the One in whose image Adam was created. Woman was brought forth from that man as God caused Adam to go into a deep sleep, took a rib from his side, and made woman from that rib. This is the lesser miracle pointing forward to the gre...

 It has been a minute (that is the modern phrase meaning "quite a long time" - and - I don't get it) since I have written something on this blog. Well, something piqued my interest (got under my skin) enough to finally have something to write. OK, first an admission. I am probably not the one who should sit down and write a piece that extols the correct use of grammar. Why? Well, I may have been an elementary educator who taught English grammar a "minute ago" (back in the 1980s), my current written use of English grammar is done in order to give me cues to reading what I have written as the preached Word in the context of the sermon. So, my writing is not usually academic in any fashion. However, for what I want to address in this short missive, it does not matter.  I have two issues to bring to the fore. Neither of these are theological issues, but they are issues that arise in the church. And (IMOHO), they are issues that need to be addressed. Personally, I do...