Reflections

May 27, 2023

Today's Reading: John 14:15-21

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 20:22-21:9, Luke 20:45-21:19

John 14:15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my commandments”.  Faith, of course, is presupposed.  I guess that’s good…we assume Christians believe.  But also, when we take faith for granted, all that’s really left to talk about is what we want to come out of it.  We assume the most important part of what Jesus said, then leave all of the stress on something that wasn’t ever given to carry the weight.  We focus on the word keep.  We assume it’s ours to carry as obedience and call it proof we love God. The problem, of course, is that when this is our hope, our lack of obedience can really only be proof we hate Him.  

Don’t presuppose faith.  See it for what it is.  The gift of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost celebrates that.  God wants to speak and give good gifts to sinners.  He sends the Spirit to bring faith, to bring to remembrance the teachings of Good. Not just to know them.  To remember them. To love them. To treasure them.  That’s what keep means.  Keep isn’t measured in obedience but in love.  Love what the world loves not.  Love the cross and all it brings.  Love the place God puts to death all evil and saves you from yourself.  Love the life He gives that only comes on the other side of the tomb, but already belongs to you in your Baptism. And so love the commandments too, as they paint a picture of the Lord who saved you by fulfilling them in your stead and then dying that you would live.  

In the promise Jesus makes, you who love the Lord do treasure His words.  The word speaks and it shapes us. Each day it forgives, and each day it ties us to the great promise He makes us. The promise we cling to and keep because we love Him who has first loved us.  Rise. Let us go from here. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and ever-living God, You fulfilled Your promise by sending the gift of the Holy Spirit to unite disciples of all nations in the cross and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ. By the preaching of the Gospel spread this gift to the ends of the earth; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

May 26, 2023

Today's Reading:  Luke 20:19-44

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 20:1-21, Luke 20:19-44

Luke 20:25: He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Do you think stamping Caesar’s face on a coin makes it not God’s anymore? It isn’t just whether or not this is God’s coin. It’s whether or not this is God’s Caesar.  The Pharisees saw Caesar as something ungodly that came about by the will of men, not God.  They saw tribute to him as worship to an idol.  Maybe to those who saw him as a god, it was, but isn’t that the problem?  This isn’t about the coin. It’s about the face.  Is this God’s Caesar, or is this Caesar independent of God, and a god himself? 

It’s the same today. This guy who you don’t like and doesn’t agree with your beliefs is in charge.  He’s still not God. Even if some people worship him.  Do you think God doesn’t work there anyway?  Do you think that’s not God’s creation raised up to the office of president? If God puts someone in the office, He will work there. Even if it’s messy. Even if the person put there is sinful.  Even if the person put there is ungodly. 

The thing that is God’s is the authority to establish leaders, and the promise to work through them and their institutions.  The tax paid can be called theft. It might not be so far from it.  But render unto God the power and will to work good among thieves.  He saved you by dying in-between two of them.  

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.  He has authority given by God.  Render unto God what is God’s.  He has the will to work good through sinful men and the faithfulness to make His promises worth clinging to.  

It makes the questions of church and state easier.  If it’s against God’s 10 commandments, call it sinful.  If God is risen from the dead, expect Him to work good through sinners.  That good won’t be measured in their sins becoming socially acceptable, but in God forgiving sinners by His death on the cross and His day by day working of blessings that should not be able to thrive in a field of so much sin.  Yet here we are.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Let us recall that in our midst Dwells Christ, His only Son; As members of His body joined We are in Him made one. (Where Charity and Love Prevail, LSB 845:5)

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

May 25, 2023

Today's Reading: Luke 20:1-18

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 16:41-17:13, Luke 20:1-18

Luke 20:4: “was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?””

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Who is running the verbs?  Who is doing the thing? It changes baptism. Not just because the Pharisees were afraid of upsetting the crowds, but because if all we have is a bath of good intentions, the waters never get less muddy. 

Pledge yourself to Jesus all you want.  But take an honest look at yourself and what you’re pledging each time you have to redo it because you screwed the last one up.  Do you think God really wants you to pledge Him that? Do you think God really wants your best intentions and the excuses for all the sins that lead you to having to do it in the first place? 

But if John’s Baptism comes from heaven, maybe it means something that Jesus climbed down in those muddy waters too.  God works something in your Baptism. Forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  He climbs down from heaven to collect not your good intentions but your sins.  He gathers up not your promises to do better, but your past and all your excuses, carries it with your future ones too each step to a cross to bleed and die for you to save you.  Baptism is what God would do for you.  It now saves you. 

The Pharisees didn’t understand this.  So Jesus won’t tell them why He preaches either.  It isn’t just whether or not Jesus should be allowed to speak in the house built upon His name and promises.  It’s what He would say there.  Does the Gospel Jesus preached actually forgive sins, or is it just a call to try harder and come up with a new life plan?  Who is running the verbs? Who is doing the thing?  If all you want from Jesus is a chance to prove you can do better, you’ll miss out because the answer isn’t so tricky.  God has authority in His creation.  And God wishes to save sinners.  So when God works in His church, it isn’t actually about you. It’s for you. It isn’t about your works or your gifts or your intentions or your life changes.  It’s about salvation given freely to sinners. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

This miracle of life reborn Comes from the Lord of breath; The perfect Man from life was torn; Our life comes through Christ’s death. (This Is the Spirit’s Entry Now, LSB 591:2)

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

May 24, 2023

Today's Reading: Luther’s Small Catechism Ten Commandments: The Ninth Commandment

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 16:23-40, Luke 19:29-48

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  In mercy, God will even guard your heart.  There’s already a commandment about not taking what’s yours.  You shall not steal.  You shall help your neighbor improve and protect his possessions and income.  We covered this.  But your heart can trespass too.  It can go where it ought not go.  Even the pagans recognize the shortsightedness of materialism.  Spending all day on Amazon and ignoring what you’ve been given is foolishness.  That doesn’t make the things we would covet sinful. It means that our hearts will do sinful things with them.  We usually call it greed.  Greed seeks more than God already graciously gives at the expense of others.  And greed creates problems with the extra it acquires.  To quote the hymnist, “More money, more problems.”

So God gives us a commandment to guard our hearts.  Because greed is an ugly beast to slay.  It looks at the world and the possessions within it as a zero-sum game instead of a heap of gifts given by a merciful Father.  And God would rather your heart be fixed on Him who gives what we don’t deserve, then keeps on giving it even though everything in the world is falling apart, all just to make you a little more comfortable than you deserve on the beach with one set of footprints because He had to drag you kicking and screaming the whole way into the resurrection because you think your sandcastle is what really matters even though the tide is going to take it by tomorrow anyway.  

Thou shall not covet.  Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Set not your heart on greed, which would take from others, but on God who would only give in mercy.  It isn’t just instructions to follow for a happier life.  It’s a joy that the Jesus who died to forgive you all your sins, even forgives your heart.  Your heart is forgiven too.  The greed that you hide and the greed that you don’t is forgiven by Jesus.  He numbers it among the 10 commandments He fulfills and the 10 He daily and richly forgives. So count it as a joy that God cares about your heart so much that He’d guard it, redeem it, and seal it for salvation.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

“You shall not crave your neighbor’s house Nor covet money, goods, or spouse. Pray God He would your neighbor bless As you yourself wish success.” Have mercy, Lord! (These are the Holy Ten Commands, LSB 581:10)

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

May 23, 2023

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 16:1-22, Luke 19:11-28

1 Peter 4:13: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Peter calls suffering a blessing.  I wish he wouldn’t.  It isn’t just how much it hurts.  It’s the question of why.  Because a loving God sends some suffering for good.  And also, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking to devour Christians.  Working havoc.  And suffering. It makes the suffering God sends hard to pick out from the suffering the devil brings.  And highlights the question.  Why?  We try to parse the source of the suffering. We try to parse the reason.  When all along, this is simply a call about where to take it.  We take suffering to Jesus, who joins us in it.  

It’s going to hurt down here.  Be ready.  Some of it will come from the devil.  Some of it will come from God.  Some of it will come as the consequences of your own sins and sins others commit. And in the middle of it all, you won’t understand where it comes from. You’ll just pray it will go away.  You won’t understand why it’s happening, be it divine plan, satanic attack, or simply human stupidity.  But even if you do, it usually won’t be worth the trade to you. We have a bigger problem with suffering than God does.  

That’s evident.  Not just because it’s too common or because it  hurts, but chiefly in the fact that suffering is how God saves you.  He suffers for you.  God dwells in suffering first.  He died on the cross to save you, not just from the attacks of the devil, but from the consequences of your own sins.  So that you could do more than hope that this world too full of suffering might get a little better.  He places Himself into suffering so that you can be placed into the resurrection and a world without it.  

God dwells in suffering first.  His glory is revealed there.  Glory is a presence word.  It means that God is actually there.  God suffers for you on the cross and works good there.  When we are close to suffering, we are close to where God works salvation. That’s a blessing.  When we suffer, we join ours to Him who has already conquered it and we look past the cross to the empty tomb, that we would know suffering isn’t all there is, it’s just the rocky path already paved smooth by Jesus for your salvation. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O LORD, let us who suffer according to Your will entrust our souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. Amen. 

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

May 22, 2023

Today's Reading: Acts 1:12-26

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 14:26-45, Luke 18:35-19:10

Acts 1:16: ““Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. What do you say at the funeral of a friend? Judas was numbered with them. Spent 3 years with them. Ate, laughed, and cried with them.  Then he killed himself.  This isn’t just a turning point towards the calling of Matthias, the 12th 2.0.  It’s a loss over what to say in the face of something so awful.  Sometimes there just aren't’ words. 

The heavy-handed law to anyone considering Judas’ end might look at how they don’t know what to say.  Look at how much work is still left to be done, but now by another.  Look at how little is fixed by this.  There is a field devoted to the tragedy that will never be the same to everyone left. 

It’s so easy to put a better construction on things than they rightly deserve.  Find a reason.  Peter doesn’t do that.  He points to the fulfillment of the scriptures, which don’t deny Judas his sin, but also provide the answer.  The scripture had to be fulfilled.  And it was.  Jesus was betrayed, crucified, and risen.  He ascended to sit upon the throne.  It’s not what Judas’ sin allowed. It’s what God insisted would happen, even for sinners like Judas.  Hope can draw near and exist even when there aren’t words to talk about what happened.  There is forgiveness, life, and salvation for all who believe.  Don’t excuse away actions. Cling to the word of God.  That endures to life, even when yours fall short.Trust in the baptism that saves sinners.  God saves through faith, even battered and broken.  

Then, when you look back to Judas, it can be more than a cautionary tale.  If you look at the darkest funerals you stumble across, they can be stories of commending a fallen brother to the mercy of God, and a chance to look forward to seeing God who saves the sinners still at work in your life and to life everlasting. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O LORD God, Dear Father in Heaven, give to us the Lamb in the midst of the throne to be our shepherd, that He will guide us to springs of living water, and will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Amen.

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

 May 21, 2023

Today's Reading: John 17:1-11

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 14:1-25, Luke 18:18-34

John 17:11: “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Why does it feel so good to lament the decline of civilization? It seems like a solid 80% of the conversations I have with Christians involve some sort of complaint about the world. Why does it feel so good to think there’s nothing we can do about it but say “I told you so” in the face of calamity?  

Maybe it’s because quitting feels easier. Or because when we are powerless to circumstance, it might be our problem but at least it’s not our fault.  Even with Christ who is risen from the grave, Christians aren’t just sad but despondent.  Hopeless. That’s worse than sad. Sadness can keep fighting. Keep struggling. But when there’s no hope, when the world is insurmountable, why bother? Hopelessness creeps into every part of life.  Relationships feel broken and unfixable.  Anxieties pile up and can’t be conquered. Illnesses are terminal and can’t be cured.  This is what giving up feels like.  And it feels good. 

Despondency feels good. Complaining about the world feels good. If you couldn’t have won anyway, you can be dragged into the same sins you lament in the world, the same culture you decry, but with a superior attitude and “I told you so” on your lips. Despondent people build altars to their own emptiness and turn the church into something that looks like it’s dying too.  Do you know how pitiful it is to quit something the Lord has already won the victory over?  Repent of your hopelessness. Repent of your politics and the despair they bring you.  Hear Jesus pray a prayer for glory and fully expect it to be answered by the Father with a cross. Know that this cross is for you. To forgive you your sins. To save you from a world destined to decay.  Cling to the resurrection and the promise it yields.  Nothing that falls apart won’t be put back together.  Christ died on the cross to save sinners.  To save you.  To save those in the world.  The world itself may fall apart. But you are already rescued, as surely as He is risen.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O King of glory, Lord of hosts, uplifted in triumph far above all heavens, leave us not without consolation but send us the Spirit of truth whom You promised from the Father; for You live and reign with Him and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

May 20, 2023

Today's Reading: Psalm 100:1-5; antiphon: Psalm 101:1

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 13:1-3, 17-33; Luke 18:1-17

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (Psalm 100:1-2)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Holy Spirit has gifted some with amazing musical talent, which they employ in service to God’s Word. Think of all the musicians and poets whose work is compiled in our hymnal. Consider all the talent and dedication that make for choirs and festivals, which make up the music played on Lutheran Public Radio. Now think of your own congregation. Some are able to lead the congregation with their voice or instruments. Others can join in with their own voices. Still others are not gifted musically, and may even stay completely silent, while they listen to others sing to them.

We may joke that our singing ability amounts to making a joyful “noise” to the Lord, but that’s not what the word means. It’s not noise like your parents say when they tell you to turn down your music. It’s a joyful cry to the Lord. A cry, as in when the walls of Jericho fell (Joshua 6), and as when the Lord entered Jerusalem to accomplish our salvation (Zechariah 9:9). It’s a joyful cry in response to what God has done.

The reality is that every believer can make a joyful noise to the Lord, regardless of their personal musical ability. This psalm describes the natural reaction of lost, hopeless sinners being reconciled to God, of those who were dead being made alive together with Christ. Even if our vocal cords or our fingers are not capable, our spirit within us can rejoice.

That doesn’t diminish the value of sacred music. The psalms invite us to come into His presence with singing, with the sound of lyres, horns, tambourines, and flutes. This is to give external voice to our inner devotion. Just as making the sign of the cross or bowing before the altar are an expression of our heart’s deep reverence toward God.

Martin Luther once shared this insight about how God’s Word in music bolsters our faith: “Except for theology there is no art that could be put on the same level with music, since except for theology, [music] alone produces what otherwise only theology can do, namely, a calm and joyful disposition.” (LW 49:428)

Don’t let the level of your musical ability or that of your congregation hold you back from making a joyful cry to the Lord and to come into His presence with singing. Be encouraged by the last verse of the Psalms: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6)  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Oh, that I had a thousand voices To praise my God with thousand tongues!  My heart, which in the Lord rejoices,  Would then proclaim in grateful songs, To all, wherever I might be,  What great things God has done for me. (Oh That I Had A Thousand Voices, LSB 811:1)

- Pastor Michael A. Miller is Pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

May 19, 2023

Today's Reading: Numbers 11:24-29, 12:1-16

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 11:24-29, 12:1-16; Luke 17:20-37

“Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him” (Numbers 12:6)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. There was a problem with Moses: He couldn’t do it all. Today, we would have said Moses was close to burnout. There needed to be others to share the burden of spiritual headship. So, seventy men were appointed to serve as elders, and the Lord took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on them. Well, actually, 68 of them were present. When Moses heard of it, he—perhaps in exasperation—says, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” This turned out to be a prophecy.

At Pentecost, the Lord again pours out His Spirit on His people. Peter explains this is something the Lord had promised through Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28-32) However, Aaron and Miriam show that sin can still spoil God’s work in giving the Spirit.

They became resentful toward Moses saying, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” They wanted to seize the Spirit to give themselves what they considered a promotion. The Lord checks such uppity “spirituality.”

It’s true that the Lord continues to pour out His Spirit on His servants—young and old, men and women. What they all have in common is, “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32). But as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 14, the Spirit gives us gifts according to our vocations. Don’t get jealous of your fellow servants, but be content with the vocation He has given you in the Church.

If you are a woman, it’s clear that you are not called to the role of pastor (“public prophesy”). Nevertheless, there are so many other ways the Spirit has gifted you to serve in the Name of Jesus. Parents can delight in prophecy by teaching and modeling the faith to their children. Friends can prophesy by sharing their faith and even inviting others to church. Our Lord Jesus has gifted us with His Spirit, and put each of us exactly where we need to be in His Church to fulfill His purpose.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and ever-living God, You make us both to will and to do those things that are good and acceptable in Your sight. Let Your fatherly hand ever guide us and Your Holy Spirit ever be with us to direct us in the knowledge and obedience of Your Word that we may obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

- Pastor Michael A. Miller is Pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

 May 18, 2023

Today's Reading: Luke 24:44-53

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 11:1-23, 31-35; Luke 17:1-19

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Alleluia! Christ is risen!  What’s a huge difference between Christianity and other religions? Not just that other religions require us to justify ourselves to God by works. It’s also that they rely on human works to spread. The mission of the first Muslims was to spread by military conquest, allegedly proving that Muhammad’s Allah was true. Judaism depends on the preservation of traditions handed down from one generation to another, and that Jerusalem be taken back. Mormonism relies on door-to-door missionaries and that people feel a “burning in the bosom” to know the far-fetched claims of Joseph Smith are true. Even the Wokeism of our day is a human effort, because it’s fueled by the cunning of academics and the power of politicians.

Not so with Christianity, even though people are the instruments by which it spreads. Before His Ascension, our Lord explained His work as the fulfillment and confirmation of all the Law, Prophets, and Psalms—“that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations.” These are the mighty works of God, no longer just handed down to the sons of Israel. They are to be told to people of every nation. This is what He has done, and by Jesus Christ’s faithfulness and obedience; by His holy, innocent suffering and death, sinners have peace with God and can stand at the final judgment.

This Gospel of Christ is not spread by our cunning or force. Even though God uses people just like us to spread that Gospel, we are not doing it on our own. The Lord told the apostles: “Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

It is God the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies by this Gospel. Jesus ascended into heaven so that He would send the Holy Spirit who would draw all people to Him (John 12:32). That same Lord who spoke these reassuring and powerful words before His Ascension is the same who mightily sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and who still is at work wherever His Word of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed. Even though He ascended on high, He is actually as near as our pulpits and in our words as we share this Gospel today.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (Collect for the Ascension)

- Pastor Michael A. Miller is Pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Jonathan Lackey is an LCMS seminarian.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.