Reflections

Today's Reading: Genesis 15:1-6

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 22:22-23:12; John 18:15-20 

And [the Lord God] brought [Abram] outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Andhe believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:5-6) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Abraham is a 75-year-old man when God first calls him, and promises that his offspring will inherit the most beautiful land his eyes had ever seen. But ten years later, there was still no son; and ten years for a 75-year-old doesn't leave much time for having children. So Abraham decides to give God a helping hand and have a son with a woman who was not his wife. (Best intentions always sound like a good idea, but they rarely ever are.)  It's another 15 years after the Hagar debacle that Isaac makes his way into the world and Sarah holds her one and only son.

Bottom line: The Lord always keeps His promises. He may seem slow in doing so, at least from our point of view, but He isn't. When it is good and right, in His time, He fulfills what He has spoken and brings forth what He has always promised. For Abraham, a descendant finally came. And through Isaac, his lineage, as many as the stars in the sky,  spiraled forward all the way into the New Testament. But it wasn't because Abraham cut any sort of covenant with God. He tried to, time and time again, but that had always left things worse than when things began. Sinners do this to the things of God. Whenever we try to make things better, whenever we try to tell God how it is going to be, whenever we promise to Him that we will never fall away, we always end up screwing it up before we can take our next breath.

Abraham is like us, and we are like him. In fact, we are his sons and daughters in faith, the exact same faith that grasps onto the promises of God, because sinners like us can never accomplish anything on our own. So a Son will come, has come, to be (and was) the Ram in thicket thorns who died in our stead and grants us His righteousness through faith. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

The God of Abr'ham praise, Who all-sufficient grace Shall guide me all my pilgrim days In all my ways. He deigns to call me friends; He calls Himself my God. And He shall save me to the end Through Jesus' blood. ("The God of Abraham Praise" LSB 798, st.3)

-Rev. Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, CO.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Luke 16:19-31

Daily Lectionary:Proverbs 22:1-21; John 18:1-14 

He said to him, "If they do not hearMoses and the Prophets,neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." (Luke 16:31) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The two men in our text couldn't be any different. One feasted sumptuously. He had more than he ever needed, more than enough to support this body and life. He ate what he wanted, and lived how he desired. The other man had nothing. He lay in ruins. Sores covered his diseased body from head to toe. His only companions were the filthy dogs licking his sores, making him continually unclean. 

It's clear, from the world's perspective, which man was more favored. When you lack for nothing, when everything is placed at your fingertips, when life is easy and blessed and perfect all of the time, it's obvious that you live a semi-charmed kind of life. And this has to be because the Lord up above is pleased with you, for some unknown reason. If you want any proof, all you have to do is look at your temporal surroundings. 

But then when you do, you realize that everything isn't always so wonderfully perfect. Truth be told, your life probably resembles the leprous poor man's than it does the rich guy's. And if that is true, then you probably find it pretty easy to believe that your life is garbage for a reason. Some sin that you have committed along the way has made God so angry with you that He is going to curse you for however long it takes you to die.  

But that's just it: Both men die, which means that they were both sinners, despite how it may have appeared. But only one of the men had a name, Lazarus. His name was known by God. He was known by God. And this certainly couldn't have come from his sinful self. The name had to be a gift.

It's a Name that comes in the baptismal waters which cleanse you in the blood of Christ and make you alive in His empty tomb. It's a Name that speaks against everything that sin, death, and the world declare you to be. It's a Name that makes you partakers of the wondrous glories of heaven. Before the Father, a name means everything, and you have one for the sake of Christ. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

O God, the strength of all who trust in You, mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing, grant us Your grace to keep Your commandments that we may please You in both will and deed; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday after Trinity)

-Rev. Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, CO.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Introit for the First Sunday after Trinity 

(Psalm 13:1-4; antiphon: v.5-6)

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 20:5-25; John 17:1-26

Consider and answer me! (Psalm 13:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Desperation, abandonment, hopelessness and sorrow, enemies exalting themselves over me. Are there any words in this psalm that we have not spoken or thought? 

Yet the psalm gets real Hebrew, real fast. Psalm 13 teaches us to pray like a Hebrew: Give me an answer! "Consider and answer me" (Psalm 13:4) is the tidy way the English puts it. We like tidy prayers, just tiptoeing, whispering, muttering sheepishly. Oh, that we'd pray like a Hebrew, with a finger pointed to the sky, with ugly tears, with clenched teeth, yelling, screaming, and deep lamenting. Psalm 13 prays about big time problems to a Triune God who is big enough to handle it, gentle enough to stoop down to comfort us, merciful enough to take us up into His arms with our sloppy tears, broken hearts, and words that sound like what we'd hear at a truck stop rather than in church.

Consider me! Hear me, take note of me, notice me! Do it now! It's nothing other than to pray as God has commanded us. Christ has taken notice of you, He's taken upon Himself your own sin and become your Savior. He notices you and cares for you because there's no one else He'd rather pay attention to than you. There's no need of yours that's too big, no hurt that His forgiveness and peace cannot soothe.

Answer me! Let me hear what You're going to do about this! Let me hear your Word, your peace, your care for me. Tell me that I'm not alone, that I'm not the only one to suffer this. Tell me again that You'll never leave me or forsake me. Answer me in my hour of deepest need, delay not, come quickly! 

He considers you: "You are forgiven, by My blood and righteousness." He answers you: "I, too, have suffered as you do (Isaiah 53). I, too, have known injustice and hatred. I have borne your sin unto death, fulfilled the Law for you. Not only that, but I also weep with you, I abide with you still, today, tomorrow, and forever. Your tears are My tears, your joy is My joy, your guilt and shame I made My guilt and shame. You are the apple of my eye, my beloved, my child, my very Bride." In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and most merciful God, in this earthly life we endure sufferings and death before we enter into eternal glory. Grant us grace at all times to subject ourselves to Your holy will and continue steadfast in the true faith to the end of our lives that we may know the peace and joy of the blessed hope of the resurrection of the dead and of the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary:Proverbs 17:1-28; John 16:17-33

A little while . . . (John 16:17)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. How long is a little while? The disciples wanted to know. Are we talking 15 minutes, 15 days, or 15 years? 

God's been talking like this since the Old Testament. "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; it's time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come" (Jeremiah. 51:33). "For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction" (Isaiah 10:25). "A little while": words that mean there's going to be waiting, and with waiting all the headaches that go with it. The disciples witnessed the scourging, trial, and death of their Lord, and spent three agonizing and terrifying days waiting for the resurrection.

We focus on the waiting. To be sure, Jesus says, "You will weep and lament, the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy" (John 16:20). How long until we see the joy? A little while, but your sorrow will not be forever. Your joy, however, is and will be forever! Today you hear that it'll be a little while until we see the fulness of our Lord's blessings, but even in the little whiles, which might seem to last for a very long time, even there in the  waiting, sadness, sorrow, depression, grief, Christ our Lord abides with us still.

Sorrows will be turned to joy. In a little while there will only be joy. But even now, for a little while, there is joy in the midst of all that we suffer. Waiting for loved ones to get better, suffering through a breakup, struggling to find a job–a little while where God attends to you, a little while where you will be sorrowful, when you will weep and lament. Yet it is Christ who sorrows with you. He cries tears with you, laments with you still. God sends you His good Gifts under bread and wine, in the sign of the cross that reminds you that you're marked as the apple of God's eye. For a little while you are filled with all that you need for this body and life that will give way to an eternity of peace and joy. A little while but not forever. Until forever, Christ finds you, wipes your tears away, forgives you your sin and loves to take care of you still. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, by the patient endurance of Your only-begotten Son You beat down the pride of the old enemy. Help us to treasure rightly in our hearts  what our Lord has borne for our sakes that, after His example, we may bear with patience those things that are adverse to us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Romans 11:33-36

Daily Lectionary:Proverbs 16:1-24; John 16:1-16

Who has known . . . Who has counseled . . . Who has given? (Romans 11:34-35)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Paul wonders who has known the mind of the Lord (Romans 11:34). The answer, because of sin, is none of us. "You have not in mind the things of God but the things of men," Jesus says to Peter (Matthew 16:23). Paul also wonders who has counseled God. In other words, who has actually been able to give God advice about how best to be God? The answer? We've certainly tried, but our counsel is so deeply immersed in our sin that even the best of our advice is found wanting. Who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid? My goodness, that last phrase hits hard. The only thing that could be given is our very lives, and thankfully, God does not require that of us. According to the Law, because of our sin the answer to all three questions is none of us, not one.

But Paul writes so that we would see that Jesus' death and resurrection, His tabernacling with us, addresses at least two of the questions. Who has known the mind of God? You have. He's given you His mind, given you Jesus. "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him" (John 14:7). We "see" Him by hearing (Romans 10:17). But who has given God something? This is where the psalmist helps: "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord" (Psalm 116:12-13). Our giving, then, starts in and finds its everlasting source in receiving: receiving what Jesus graciously gives in the Divine Service and the Lord's Supper, so we may call upon Him, pray, and confess the words He's given us to say.

As for counsel, well, that's where Paul leaves us hanging. None of us has counseled God, and there is great comfort in this. He needs no help from us, but instead sends the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, to lead us to and  keep us in the Holy Christian Church, where daily forgiveness and life are given to you and me. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Triune God, be Thou our stay; O let us perish never! Cleanse us from our sins, we pray, And grant us life forever. Keep us from the evil one; Uphold our faith most holy, And let us trust Thee solely With humble hearts and lowly. Let us put God's armor on, With all true Christians running Our heav'nly race and shunning The devil's wiles and cunning. Amen, amen! This be done; So sing we, "Alleluia!" ("Triune God, Be Thou Our Stay" LSB 505, st.1)

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Apostles' Creed, Second Article part 2

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 15:1-29; John 15:12-27

I believe that Jesus Christ has become my Lord. (Small Catechism: Apostles' Creed, Second Article)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus has become my Lord: It's not what the English versions of our catechisms say, but it is a good translation. Christ Jesus has become my Lord. 

You've perhaps met people who have spoken in this way before. Maybe someone has said that they've made Jesus their Lord, usually by some good thing they had done, said, or decided. But the Second Article of the creed and its explanation aren't saying this in the least. In a word, it says this: Christ saw me in my great sin, my sorrow, and need, took note of the great agony here on Earth, and did something about it. Paul says it, too: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Jesus says elsewhere, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32). What does this mean? That even in your inborn sin and your actual sins each and every day, Christ Jesus, true God and true man, came to dwell among His enemies, came to bear your sin to the Cross, bore the whole weight of God's Law for you and me, suffered in your place, died your death, ascended to heaven to bring His very blood as the sacrifice for sin. And then, from heaven, Jesus comes still to give you the Gifts of heaven right here on earth. We say it like this: " . . .on earth as it is in heaven."

How has Jesus become your Lord? He took all that stood between you and Him, all your sin that made you His enemy, all your grief, sorrow, and guilt, and provided full remission of sin by Baptism. Now, day after day, as you rise and pray the Morning Prayer, you are awakened to new mercies, gracious gifts, protection and peace brand new each day. He's always been your Lord and yet He becomes your Lord by His precious Body and Blood, given and shed for you in the Holy Sacrament. He graciously comes to you still, and mercifully rules you through the forgiveness of sins that He pours out to you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Thou art King of glory Christ; Son of God yet born of Mary. For us sinners sacrificed, As to death a Tributary, First to break the bars of death, Thou hast opened heav'n to faith. ("Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" LSB 940, st.4)

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary:Proverbs 14:1-27; John 15:1-11

"Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5b)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Elisha, son of Shaphat of the tribe of Issachar, was the prophet of God to the Northern Kingdom of Israel around 849–786 BC. Elisha assumed the prophetic office after his predecessor and teacher Elijah was taken up into heaven. 

Elisha is best known as the guy who asked for a double portion. He asked boldly for the blessings of Yahweh to be bestowed on him, and by grace it was granted to him. Our reading for today, particularly the portion that deals with bearing much fruit, is unfortunately often misunderstood. Bearing fruit is sometimes thought of as what we do, what we bear forth and give to God and neighbor. The problem here is that while the fruits we bear are for God and our neighbor, it's not the fruits that bestow salvation to us. The Vine bears the fruit, one of which is salvation. It's just one of many free gifts that Christ our Lord has won for us and has freely delivered in Baptism.

Elisha is a wonderful example of a branch grafted to the Vine. Taken from the fields, taught by Elijah and given a double portion of the blessings of God Himself, Elisha learned daily what it meant to receive the grace and mercy of God. He was a branch, grafted lovingly to the life-giving Vine. Whether it was the poor widow and orphan of 2 Kings 4 who received the never-ending grain and oil, or the son of the Shunammite whom Elisha raised from the dead, God used weak and lowly Elisha for His good purposes. 

Finally, by Elisha's interactions with Naaman the Syrian, an enemy of the people of God who was healed of leprosy by washing in the Jordan river, our gracious Lord revealed His mercy and grace to all. Let us praise God as we remember Elisha and those who bring to us the certain hope of our resurrection in Christ. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Elisha, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Isaiah 6:1-7

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 13:1-25; John 14:18-31

Woe IS me! (Isaiah 6:5)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You've heard it before, you've said it before . . . woe is me! Thanks be to God that the prophet Isaiah gives us a fuller understanding of that phrase: "I AM woe. It's what I've known and all it seems that I'll ever know." Isaiah had witnessed something unbelievable, something not known on earth: a glimpse of holiness and perfection, but just a glimpse. For the six-winged seraph veils Isaiah's eyes from beholding it fully, for no man of woe, no sinful man, can see God and live! Woe is me. I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips. We can identify with Isaiah, for not only have our own lips muttered terrible things to friend and foe alike, but our scrolling fingers, typing thumbs and wayward minds have revealed the true fallen nature that plagues us each day. 

Not only that, Isaiah dwells with a people of unclean lips. It's funny how 800 BC is so much like AD 2022! Isaiah saw with His own eyes the holiness of God and it caused him to recognize how wretched he was. That's what the holiness of God does, it terrifies us, because we natural sinners know that perfection in and of ourselves is unattainable by even our best desires and works. That's how the Law works, especially the Law which sets us up alongside the perfect and Holy Christ.

God our Lord, is pleased to come. With Him are the seraphs, messengers of God to still our shattered hearts, to grant solace to our precious and fragile hearts and lives, to cleanse not just our lips. We are not cleansed by fire but by the water of Baptism, water that drowns our Old Adam. It is cleansing water, pure, clean, and refreshing water that stills our souls. By the Word in and with that water that speaks the same words spoken to Isaiah, "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7).

Woe no longer IS you! Your woe has been taken up completely by Christ your Lord. Woe is not you for it has been drowned and died with all sin! Christ is in you, and you in Christ. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Gracious Lord, you have known me before I was in my mother’s womb, You have known me, my sorrow and my grief for You were pleased to dwell on this earth, You willingly humbled Yourself to bear my sin, there is nothing of me that You do not know, no sin of mine that You did not put to death; take heed of me in my great need this day and pour out again, abundantly and without end, Your, lovingkindness, Your perfect holiness and Your gentle mercies known n the forgiveness of my sins, open my ears to hear always,“Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: John 3:1-17

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 10:1-23; John 14:1-17

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:17)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Back in the day, I was told that in order to know something you must sometimes understand what that thing is not. John does just that  in our reading for today: He tells us that Jesus did not come as true God and true man to condemn the world. So now we know what Jesus hasn't come to do. What has He come to do? Of course, John says that Jesus has come to save the world, but He's also come to save you. 

On this blessed Feast of the Holy Trinity where we behold the Trinity in unity and unity in the Trinity, an unfathomable, unexplainable concept, it's wonderful to simply take in the fact that God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier is pleased to dwell with us. He comes among us not to condemn us or the world with us in our sin, but the Creator, God the Father, was pleased to send His Son to us. To send the Redeemer of the world to bear our sin, fulfill every last jot and tittle of the Law for us and to hang and die in our place. The Sanctifier, the Holy Spirit, gives us faith in the Word made flesh, to wake us, who by our own reason or strength cannot believe in Jesus our Lord or come to Him. The Holy Spirit, or the divine finger, as I've heard Him called, points only and always to what Christ Jesus has done for you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, You have given us grace to acknowledge the eternal Trinity by the confession of the true faith and to worship the Unity in the power of the Divine Majesty. Keep us steadfast in the faith and defend us from all adversities for You, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Mark 6:7-13

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 9:1-18; John 13:21-28

So they (the apostles) went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. (Mark 6:12-13)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Barnabas, which means "the son of encouragement," was a contemporary of Paul's and was originally from Cyprus. Through his generosity, he sold his land and offered all the proceeds to the preaching of the Holy Gospel. He was a cousin of Mark the evangelist, whose text we consider today: "So they (the apostles) went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them" (Mark 6:12-13).

As described in Acts 1-12, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas up the coast to Antioch. While there, Barnabas preached and taught just as your pastor preaches and teaches, of the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. Barnabas even grabbed up an ornery, raucous persecutor of the new Christians, a man by the name of Saul, also known as Paul in the Greek, and convinced the frightened disciples that Paul's conversion and Baptism of Saul (Acts 9 and 13).

Such is the way of the Lord, that during the years of His ministry He sent the apostles out two by two. So it was also in the days after His ascension that Barnabas and Paul were sent out to preach and teach, and to confirm every word they preached with the signs they did. Yet they were quick to assert that they were not gods, but men like their listeners (Acts 14:15). "We bring you good news," they said, "that you should turn from these worthless idols to the living God who made all things."

Through many years Barnabas continued, finding himself back again in Cyprus, where he would labor until his death by stoning. Barnabas, the son of encouragement, endured hardships and traveled widely. God sustained him in his vocations, just as God is always with you as you carry out your own vocations. Thanks be to God for the encouragement He gives to others through you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty God, Your faithful servant Barnabas sought not his own renown but gave generously of his life and substance for the encouragement of the disciples and their ministry. Grant that we may follow his example in lives given to charity and the proclamation of the Gospel; through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the commemoration of St. Barnabas)

-Rev. Adam Degroot is pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Come on an adventure with author Eric Eichinger as he unpacks the saga of Jesus' Hero Journey. You'll see how aspects of this journey are seen in popular stories, and how God used Jesus to create the most action-packed one with a real Savior for all. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.