1517 Blogcast

It often breaks our hearts to accept reality, but we can't save anybody. We can't save our brothers and sisters in Christ from unbelief, error, and a heart that's run cold. We can speak up. 

Many of us probably remember singing the song, “Father Abraham,” as children in Sunday School, but have we ever really thought about the words? Father Abraham? How am I a son of Abraham?

Next week, December 20, marks the anniversary of the death of Katharine von Bora, whose husband was Martin Luther. Her importance goes beyond simply managing the reformer’s household.

The following is an excerpt from “A Year of Grace: Collected Sermons of Advent through Pentecost” written by Bo Giertz and translated by Bror Erickson (1517 Publishing, 2019).

Hands in her lap. Eyes clenched shut. Black swells of emotion rushing from deep behind her eyes down to the pit of her stomach. Sketchy scenes replay from her past as if from a damaged filmstrip. Shameful thoughts and conversations bring an uncontrollable shudder from the depths of her soul.

The Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” continues to captivate the English-speaking church 158 years after John Mason Neale translated five of its verses into English for the 1861 hymnal, “Hymns Ancient and Modern.”

What is the significance of God’s promise that Christ will be born of a virgin? Is it significant because of Mary’s example of purity or something else entirely?

Christ continues to go to surprising places, into enemy territories and darkened rooms to sing, “Merry Christmas,” to prisoners of shame, fear, and death.

When it comes to biographical material on Saint Augustine, in the last 50 years, no work has surpassed Peter Brown’s seminal biography, Augustine of Hippo. This biography is a formidable one, but well worth the time to walk through the life of a truly great church father.

Every year, while I prepare the sermon for Thanksgiving morning and plot out the day’s menu with my wife, I go back and read Robert Capon’s book, The Supper of the Lamb. I do this because, like Capon, I’m a theologian and a foodie. And, like Capon, I can’t help but apply the former to the latter.