Northwoods Table Talk

Lection for Cantate Leviticus 20:1-16, 22-27       Luke 11:37-54 Jesus had just gotten done dressing down the Pharisees because they were more concerned about outward appearances than they were with the state of their hearts in relationship to their neighbor or to God. “Woe to you Pharisees!” One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” Did Jesus reply, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I did not mean to hurt your feelings! It was not my intention to insult you.” No! That is not what He did. In fact, what He did was double down! But He convicted them of there sinfulness, saying, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers… (vs. 46) Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” (vs. 52) “Woe… to you.” If you do not repen...

Lection for  Jubilate Saturday Leviticus 19:9-18, 19:26-37       Luke 11:14-36    Today's devotion is the third sermon (unedited) I preached when I did a series on the Divine Service. It has as the context what is referred to as the "Service of The Sacrament." I pray that it is educational, helping you to be more focused in worship when next you gather in God's house. (As it is unedited, it will read a bit differently, for it was intended to be the preached Word.) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For the last two weeks we have had a Bible Study in place of the sermon. This was done for a dual purpose, to give people the idea that Bible Study might be enjoyable (and they might want to join), and because God’s children need to understand the great benefit and gifts given in the Divine Service. Today will be the last Study to replace the sermon. Our topic is the Service of the Sacrament, the third ...

Lection for  Jubilate Friday Leviticus 18:1-7, 18:20-19:8       Luke 11:1-13   Today's devotion is the second sermon (unedited) I preached when I did a series on the Divine Service. It has as the context what is referred to as the "Service of the Word." I pray that it is educational, helping you to be more focused in worship when next you gather in God's house. (As it is unedited, it will read a bit differently, for it was intended to be the preached Word.) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Last week we looked at what is called the preparation for the Divine Service, this week we will examine what is called the “service of the word.” Christ, the very Word of God made flesh, who spoke everything into being in the beginning, is still the Word speaking things into being – faith, His Body and Blood, forgiveness – speaking now through His called servants. He is the living Word still coming down from heaven. ...

Lection for  Jubilate Thursday  Leviticus 17:1-16      Luke 10:23-42 Today's devotion is the first sermon (unedited) I preached when I did a series on the Divine Service. It has as the context what is referred to as the "Preparatory Service." I pray that it is educational, helping you to be more focused in worship when next you gather in God's house. (As it is unedited, it will read a bit differently, for it was intended to be the preached Word.) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today’s message is going to be more like a Bible Study. In the past, we have done a narrative Divine Service where I would explain a portion of the Divine service, and then we do it. Today will be a bit different. We are going to look at the first portion of the Divine Service and why we do what we do. It is my prayer that you will begin to develop an even deeper appreciation of what we do during the service, and see it as th...

Lection for Jubilate Wednesday  Leviticus 16:1-24       Luke 10:1-22 I mentioned on Tuesday that I was going to do a series on the Divine Service for the the next few days. While we have 5 different settings in our Lutheran Service Book , we will be using the form, Divine Service Setting 1 for this series of devotions. This is also the same liturgy (except for a little bit of updated language) as found in The Lutheran Hymnal  in the Service of Holy Communion which begins on page 15. Why do we worship the way we do?   Is there a reason that we do the same thing, is there a purpose for it all?   There is most definitely a purpose for the form of worship that has been handed down to us, not only from our Lutheran roots in Germany, but the form of our service finds its origin in the 1st Century after Christ ascended.   We can see this form in the early North African liturgies of that age. (taken from Lutheran Worship, the INTRODUCTION, page...

Lection for Jubilate Tuesday  Leviticus 10:1-20       Luke 9:37-62    It has been my practice in this space, to concentrate our meditation upon some part of the New Testament lesson which is given as the day’s lectionary. Today it is good that we consider the Old Testament lesson. I know some like to think that the Old Testament is “done” and we are now “New Testament Christians.” Well, it is important to remember what Jesus declared, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matt. 5:17) So, today’s Old Testament lesson gives us a clearer understanding of what God thinks concerning His house of prayer, and how He wants it to be treated. With that in mind, it is important to read again a portion of that lesson from Leviticus. 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before...