Are work and Sabbath polar opposites? The Rev. Dr. Joel Biermann, Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology and author of Day 7: For Work, Rest, or Play from Concordia Publishing House joins Andy and Sarah for a series on what Sabbath means for us. In this episode on chapter 3, they discuss how the “Protestant Work Ethic” affects how we consider work, our culture's “therapeutic” mindset, how the concept of being “made to work” is affected by the fall, the ways in which work and Sabbath are related, how we define and categorize work, whether work is part of what it means to be human, and what we learn about vocation from Luther's teaching.

Find Day 7: For Work, Rest, or Play at cph.org/day-7-for-work-rest-or-play.

As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

What's it like to graduate from a Concordia University? The Rev. Dr. Jamison Hardy (President, Concordia University System) and the Rev. Dr. Douglas Spittel (Vice President, Concordia University System) join Andy to talk about Graduation 2025, including what happens at graduation ceremonies around the Concordia University System, other activities surrounding graduation, and the outlook for future church workers and others heading towards careers and the workforce. Learn more about the Concordia University System at cus.edu.

As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

What is life like as an Early Childhood Educator in a Lutheran School? Gretchen Gosch (1st grade teacher at Unity Ridge Lutheran School in Denison, IA), Heather Nitzel (2nd Grade teacher at Iowa Great Lakes Lutheran School in Spencer, IA), and Chelsea Adams (Kindergarten teacher at Mt. Olive Lutheran School in Des Moines, IA) join Andy and Sarah for our Set Apart to Serve Series to talk about their journeys to becoming Lutheran teachers, what they love about teaching, and specifically, teaching in Lutheran schools, what motivates them in their vocations through the good and bad days, who encouraged them to pursue becoming a Lutheran educator, and how their schools form future church workers.

Christ’s church will continue until He returns, and that church will continue to need church workers.

Set Apart to Serve (SAS) is an initiative of the LCMS to recruit church workers. Together, we pray for workers for the Kingdom of God and encourage children to consider church work vocations.

Here are three easy ways you can participate in SAS:

1. Pray with your children for God to provide church workers.

2. Talk to your children about becoming church workers.

3. Thank God for the people who work in your congregation.

To learn more about Set Apart to Serve, visit lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve.

Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

It's a graduation celebration! Sarah Gulseth (Digital Media Manager, co-host of The Coffee Hour and The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge Podcast) join Andy and guest co-host Jordan Harms to talk about her journey to getting a master's degree in Organizational Leadership from Concordia University Irvine's Townsend Institute, including how her career path has changed over the years, why she decided to go back to school, why she chose Concordia Irvine and this program in particular, what she's learned through her coursework, and how this knowledge has benefitted her and the entire KFUO team.

Listen to Sarah’s study notes from her graduate courses on the "Sarah Goes to School" episodes of The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge podcast at kfuo.org/tag/sarah-goes-to-school and find more information on CUI's Organizational Leadership programs at the Townsend Institute at cui.edu/townsend/programs/masters/organizational-leadership.

As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

What does Jesus say and show us about the true significance of the Sabbath? The Rev. Dr. Joel Biermann, Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology and author of Day 7: For Work, Rest, or Play from Concordia Publishing House, joins Andy and Sarah for a series on what Sabbath means for us. In this episode on chapter 2, they discuss why God chose to rest on Day 7 of creation, whether rest equals inactivity, what we learn about rest from God delighting in His creation, how the Third Commandment includes both our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with creatures, how Jesus is the Sabbath Incarnate, and the Sabbath rest to come.

Find Day 7: For Work, Rest, or Play at cph.org/day-7-for-work-rest-or-play.

As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

“Type” has to do with forms, shapes, patterns, images. People demonstrate “typical” behavior when they act in a similar pattern time and again. In typesetting, a block with a typographic character on it makes an image of that character on the page. Our first four Bible studies in this year’s series have focused on straightforward messianic prophecies, which abound in the Old Testament. However, Jesus and His church are prefigured in other ways in the Old Testament. This is known as typology — seeing an Old Testament person or event (a “type”) as a pattern for a New Testament one (the “antitype”). This sort of interpretation is employed by the New Testament, which shows us how it can be done responsibly (and not fancifully!). For example, Jesus says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). Here Jesus teaches about Himself and His work by pointing back to Numbers 21:4–9, with the bronze serpent that saved snakebitten Israelites (the type) corresponding to Jesus as One who was lifted up on the cross that we might look to Him in faith and be saved (the antitype). In this study, we will look at more typological connections between the Old Testament and New Testament.

Rev. Carl Roth, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin, TX, joins Sarah to talk about the “Searching Scripture” feature in the May 2025 issue of the Lutheran Witness titled “Isn’t That Typical?” on Typological Connections throughout Scripture. This year, “Searching Scripture” is themed “Opening the Old Testament” and will walk through ways that the Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy and peace, delivered through the holy Christian church. Follow along every month and search Scripture with us!

Find online exclusives of the Lutheran Witness at witness.lcms.org and subscribe to the Lutheran Witness at cph.org/witness.

Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

Who were Increase and Cotton Mather, and what happened with the Salem Witch Trials? Rev. Dr. Cameron A. MacKenzie, Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joins Andy and Sarah for our nine-episode series, “Pilgrims, Puritans, and the Founding of New England.” In episode 8, we learn about the influence of both Increase and Cotton Mather (including how they got their names), the religious context in Salem, and what happened during the Salem Witch Trials.

Resources in this episode:

• All episodes in The Puritan Movement series
• Find more from Dr. MacKenzie here
• Recommended reading from Dr. MacKenzie includes: Worldly Saints by Leland Ryken, English Puritanism by John Spurr, Reformation in England by Peter Marshall, Puritan Christianity in America: Religion and Life in 17th Century Massachusetts  by John Carden, and Pilgrim’s Progress  by John Bunyan.

As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

Donna Laughlin (Principal of Immanuel Lutheran Church & School in Batavia, IL) and Sue Domeier (Principal of Zion Lutheran Church & School in Marengo, IL) join Andy and Sarah to talk about their respective journeys into school administration, why they love being educators in Lutheran schools, and what encourages them to keep going every day. They also share what it looks like to build relationships in their unique contexts, including what a strong foundation of healthy relationships allows them to accomplish.

Christ’s church will continue until He returns, and that church will continue to need church workers.

Set Apart to Serve (SAS) is an initiative of the LCMS to recruit church workers. Together, we pray for workers for the Kingdom of God and encourage children to consider church work vocations.

Here are three easy ways you can participate in SAS:

1. Pray with your children for God to provide church workers.

2. Talk to your children about becoming church workers.

3. Thank God for the people who work in your congregation.

To learn more about Set Apart to Serve, visit lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve.

Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

What does Scripture tell us about Law & Gospel? The Rev. Brady Finnern, President of the LCMS Minnesota North District and host of KFUO Radio’s Concord Matters, joins Andy and Sarah to talk about the Formula of Concord reading plan he created for 2025, including the questions concerning Law and Gospel that are addressed in this month’s readings. Why is Law and the Gospel an article in the Formula? What isn’t the Gospel? What is Gospel Reductionism? What are some take aways to keep in mind when reading Law & Gospel this month? Why is proper understanding of Law and Gospel important in “soul care”?

Find the full reading plan from The Lutheran Witness at witness.lcms.org/2024/reading-plan, and find correlating Concord Matters episodes at kfuo.org/formulaofconcord.

May | Law & Gospel

Week 1:

Ep V 1 (p.484)

SA III, Article 2 (p.271-272)

Week 2:

Ep V 2-10 (p.484-485)

SA III, article 4 (p.278)

Week 3:

SD V (p.552-557)

Week 4:

Ep V 11 (p.485)

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Confessional Subscription: What is Quia?
• Confessional Subscription: Why is a Quia Subscription Still Vital for the Church Today?
• Confessional Subscription in the ELCA: Past & Present
• Confessional Subscription in the AFLC

As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].

What does Sabbath teach us about who we are—and what we're made for?

The Rev. Dr. Joel Biermann, Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology and author of Day 7: For Work, Rest, or Play from Concordia Publishing House, joins Andy and Sarah for a series on what Sabbath means for us. In this episode, covering the introduction and chapter 1, they discuss why Dr. Biermann chose to write this book, why it matters that we understand what “Sabbath” means, the relationship between person and purpose (telos), Luther’s context for writing the explanation to the Third Commandment, the fundamental principle for understanding both the commandment and the Sabbath, and how the Sabbath was built into the very rhythm of creation.

Find Day 7: For Work, Rest, or Play at cph.org/day-7-for-work-rest-or-play.

As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let’s be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].