Bishop’s Messages

Most church-goers can tell you about Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning. Many of us may even have their favorite gospel text of this event. Nevertheless, each time we hear this “old, old story of Jesus and his love,” as ELW hymn 661 describes it, we are invited to...

This year, 2025, the Christian church commemorates the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Nicaea, a city in modern-day Turkey, is where the emperor Constantine convened a council in 325 A.D. to settle disputes in Christian theology and practices. It is...

It can be said that night is a time when we are most vulnerable to distress. We might remember sleepless nights when a child’s illness, or our own, caused a fever to spike, coughing, congestion, or pain to escalate, or other maladies of body or soul to predominate....

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...