Bishop’s Messages

The Pentecost Season: A Call to Grow in Faith and Action The church’s calendar begins with Advent and continues through the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday is followed by Trinity Sunday, the only Christian observance which...

Christ is risen; He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia means “Praise the Lord.” In many congregations, the word Alleluia has not been sung during Lent; it has been “buried” during our Lenten worship as we journeyed with Christ through his passion and death. Now, on...

The season of Lent is observed in the church for 40 days (excluding Sundays) beginning with Ash Wednesday and lasting until Easter Sunday. It is a time for spiritual reflection, fasting, and focus on the ministry, witness, life, and sacrifice of Christ, and is...

On January 6, Lutherans celebrate Epiphany, the day the Magi came to worship the Christ-Child. The word Epiphany means manifestation.  It is the 12th day of Christmas and begins a season of the church calendar that lasts until Lent. The Magi were wise and learned...

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined (Isaiah 9:2). The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:5). Christmas is not a holly-jolly time for...

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “… go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to...

This past Sunday many of our congregations put away the Alleluia until Easter: by burying or veiling banners, or just singing “Alleluia, Song of Gladness” (ELW 318), an ancient hymn that reflects on how we lay aside our songs of joy for a short time in order to enter...

https://youtu.be/IhmHRRJOwM8 Who doesn’t love seeing our young people this time of year wearing a scratchy costume… a fake beard or a blue scarf…dressed up to play Mary and Joseph or some shy shepherds as attentive parents, grandparents, and others look on. Whatever...

“Jesus’ beatitudes this morning exemplify this great reversal. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the persecuted. Certainly not in the eyes of the world. But through the eyes of faith, to see the world through God’s eyes, we find that the...

“We do not offer anything to the departed , or on behalf of the departed, but we remember them with gladness. Bernard of Clairvaux says, ‘The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. But I tell you,...