Newsletter

<p>January 19, 2021 Dear friends, Every year at this time, we prepare some statistics for our Annual Report and for reporting to the Synod. As I was working on this, I rigged up the chart you see below out of curiosity. It shows the distribution of ages here at Concordia.<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2021/01/19/let-the-little-children/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Let the little children&#8230;</span></

<p>January 13, 2021 Dear friends, Occasionally I get questions about how to read the Bible. These are great questions, and I’m so happy to hear when folks are interested in renewing their devotion to God’s Word. It can be a formidable task, however, as the book is quite thick, and<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2021/01/13/reading-the-bible/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Reading the Bible</span></a></span><

<p>January 6, 2021 Dear friends, Listen to Isaiah’s description of Jesus, many hundreds of years before his birth: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold,my chosen, in whom my soul delights;I have put my Spirit upon him;he will bring forth justice to the nations.He will not cry aloud or lift up<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2021/01/07/epiphany/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Epiphany</span></a></span></p>

<p>December 17, 2020 Dear friends, First, let me invite you to worship on Christmas Eve (7pm) and/or Christmas Day (9am). I’m extending to you the same invitation that sounds out every time you hear Bing Crosby’s mellow voice sing “Adeste Fidelis.” “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Come and behold the<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/12/17/christmas-at-concordia/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Christmas at Conc

<p>November 26, 2020 Dear friends, We were made for Thanksgiving. We were not made for second and third and fourth helpings of sweet potatoes covered in brown sugar and Rice Krispies™. We were not made for watching the Cowboys or the Lions while in a partial food-coma. We were not<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/11/25/oh-give-thanks-to-the-lord/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Oh Give Thanks to the LORD<

<p>November 12, 2020 Dear friends, Psalm 90 includes a profound petition: “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Wisdom is not something reserved for big-brained, highfalutin types. It is not like skills in art or music, where either you have a knack for<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/11/12/gain-a-heart-of-wisdom/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Gain a heart of wisdom</span></

<p>October 29, 2020 Dear friends, This Sunday we celebrate All Saints’ Day. We celebrate so that you might not grow weary or fainthearted. It is a welcome encouragement in the midst of a world beset by sin and decay and death. We are reminded that there is victory over sin<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/10/29/behold-a-host/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Behold a host</span></a></span></p>

<p>October 22, 2020 Dear friends, Two announcements first: 1) Come to church this Sunday and next! We have two festivals ahead of us – this Sunday commemorates the Reformation, and next Sunday (Nov. 1) is All Saints’ Day, on which we thank God for his faithful departed. You’ll notice that<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/10/22/the-whole-armor-of-god/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">The whole armor of God<

<p>October 15, 2020 Dear friends, Maybe you’re familiar with that great picture of Rev. C. L. Wuggazer in the display case in the fellowship hall. He was Concordia’s first called pastor in 1887. I have some things to share about him in the future, but for today I only mention<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/10/15/faithful-settlers/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Faithful settlers</span></a></span></p>

<p>October 8, 2020 Dear friends, What is the foundation of our church? Decades before the stones were laid and the bricks stacked for this building, a group of Germans Lutherans took it upon themselves to establish Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in Fair Haven, Minnesota. What<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/10/08/built-on-the-foundation/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-read

<p>October 1, 2020 Dear friends, Our gradual for this Sunday comes from Psalm 33. It’s a fitting Psalm for your meditation considering the ever increasing attention given to the upcoming presidential election. Here’s the whole Psalm. It’s worth your time. Psalm 33 1 Shout joyfully to the Lord, you righteous.The praise of<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/10/01/put-not-your-trust-in-princes/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="scr

<p>September 24, 2020 Dear friends, On Sunday, our first communion hymn will be “Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense” (LSB 741). Here’s the first verse: Jesus Christ, my sure defenseAnd my Savior, now is living!Knowing this, my confidenceRests upon the hope here given,Though the night of death be fraughtStill with many<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/09/24/it-is-not-possible-for-a-christian-to-be-too-confident/" class="more-link">Continue readin

<p>September 17, 2020 Dear Friends, First of all, don’t forget to mark your calendars for Pork Chops in the Park on Saturday, October 3, 4:30-6:30pm! You can find some more by clicking here. Invite your friends! There are a few other things on the calendar to notice as well: Sunday<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/09/17/seek-first/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Seek first the Kingdom of God</span></a></

<p>September 10, 2020 Dear Friends, The Collect for Sunday goes like this: O Lord, keep Your Church with Your perpetual mercy; and because of our frailty we cannot but fall, keep us ever by Your help from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation;<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/09/10/fruit-of-the-spirit/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">Fruit of the Spirit</span></a></span>

<p>September 3, 2020 Dear Friends, It’s a picture of heaven, really. Imagine a life where you were never selfish, where you never hesitated to do good, where you never paused to wonder whether this or that will benefit you. Imagine a life free from the shackles of sin, free from<span class="more-button"><a href="https://www.concordialcms.com/2020/09/03/198/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text">A picture of heaven</span></a></span></p>