St John Evangelical Lutheran Church

04/15/2026

We missed it on the 6th of April, so we rejoice today to remember Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Dürer, Artists.

Lucas Cranach (1472–1557), a close friend of Martin Luther, was a celebrated painter of portraits and altarpieces and a producer of woodcuts of religious subjects. Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), a native of Nürnberg, Germany, was one of the most learned of Renaissance artists and an ardent admirer of Martin Luther. His paintings and woodcuts include examples of the splendor of creation and skilled portrayals of biblical narratives. Both Cranach and Dürer are remembered and honored for the grandeur of their works of art, which depict the glory and majesty and the grace and mercy of the triune God.

Writing:
Who can exhaust all the virtue and power of God’s Word? The Holy Scriptures, sermons, and all Christian books do nothing but praise God’s Word, as we also do daily in our reading, writing, preaching, singing, poetizing, and in painting. This blessing abides and sustains us when the temporal blessings vanish and when through death we part from them and from one another. This blessing does not leave us or depart from us; it goes through death with us, tears us out of it, and brings us to eternal life, where there is neither death nor fear of dying. —Martin Luther

Summary and Writing: Treasury of Daily Prayer (CPH)
Image: Albrecht Durer, Praying Hands

04/05/2026

Mark 16:1-8
AT THAT TIME: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Jesus. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Job 19:23-27 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Mark 16:1-8 This sermon includes a devotional writing and a prayer both written by Johann Gerhard. Devotional writing: THE INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF THE RESURRECTION Johann Gerhard, The Handbook of Consolations: For the Fears and Trials that Oppress Us in the Struggle w...

04/03/2026

My Savior, be Thou near me When death is at my door;
Then let Thy presence cheer me, Forsake me nevermore!
When soul and body languish, Oh, leave me not alone,
But take away mine anguish By virtue of Thine own!
-TLH 172 O Sacred Head How Wounded (st. 9)

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 THE PASSION OF OUR LORD ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN (John 18-19) This sermon includes a devotional writing and a prayer both written by Johann Gerhard. Devotional writing: THE PAINS OF DEATH Johann Gerhard, The Handbook of Consolations: For the Fears and Trials th...

04/02/2026

John 13:1-15
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

THE SACRED TRIDUUM: I. Maundy Thursday Unworthy Use of the Lord's Supper Exodus 24:3-11 1 Corinthians 11:20-32 John 13:1-15 This sermon includes a devotional writing and a prayer both written by Johann Gerhard. Devotional writing: THE UNWORTHY USE OF THE HOLY SUPPER Johann Gerhard, The Handbook of C...

03/31/2026

Today, we remember and thank God for Joseph, Patriarch.

Joseph was the son of the patriarch Jacob (February 5) and Rachel. The favorite son of his father, Joseph incurred the jealousy of his older brothers, who sold him into slavery in Egypt and told their father he was dead (Genesis 37). In Egypt, Joseph became the chief servant in the home of Potiphar, a military official. Because Joseph refused to commit adultery with his master’s wife, he was unjustly accused of attempted r**e and thrown into jail (Genesis 39). Years later, he interpreted dreams for Pharaoh, who then freed Joseph from prison and placed him in charge of the entire country. When his brothers came from Canaan to Egypt in search of food, they did not recognize Joseph. He eventually revealed his identity to them, forgave them, and invited both them and his father to live in Egypt. Joseph is especially remembered and honored for his moral uprightness (Genesis 39) and for his willingness to forgive his brothers (Genesis 45 and 50).

Writing:
I would like to tell you an instructive and profitable story. What is it? Once, when a persecution arose, and a severe war was raging against the Church, two men were arrested. The one man was ready to suffer anything at all. The other man was prepared to submit with firmness to be beheaded, but was afraid and trembling and shied away from other tortures. So, how did things turn out for them? When the judge was seated, he ordered the one who was ready to endure anything, to be beheaded. The other he caused to be hung up and tortured, and that not once or twice, but from city to city. Now why was this permitted? That he might recover through torture that quality of mind which he had neglected, that he might shake off all cowardice, and no longer be afraid to endure anything. Joseph, too, when he wanted to escape from prison, was left to remain there. For hear him saying, “Indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews; please mention me to the king.” And for this he was made to remain, that he might learn not to place hope or confidence in men, but to cast everything on God. Knowing these things, therefore let us give thanks to God, and let us do all things that are expedient for us, that we may obtain the good things to come, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and ever and world without end. Amen.
—John Chrysostom

Collect:
Glorious and blessed Trinity, how beyond all human wisdom is Your kind providence and plan! You graciously fulfilled Your promises to Joseph the patriarch in a wondrous way. Through the path of humiliation and suffering, You lifted him to glory and honor, prefiguring the Passion and resurrection of our Lord. Fill us with the confidence that You can and do work all things together to bring us blessing; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Summary and Writing: The Treasury of Daily Prayer (CPH)
Collect: Celebrating the Saints, Rev. William Weedon (CPH)

03/25/2026

Today, the Church celebrates with great joy the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord.

The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and announces that God has shown her favor and will use her as the means for the Messiah’s birth. So Mary conceives Jesus when the angel says: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). This same Spirit who hovered over the waters and brought forth creation (Genesis 1:2) will now “hover over” the waters of Mary’s womb to conceive the creation’s Redeemer. As the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary, she conceives Jesus “through her ear” (as Martin Luther says). The one who is conceived is called Holy, the Son of God. This is the moment of the incarnation of our Lord. The date of the Annunciation falls on March 25, because the Ancient Church believed the crucifixion occurred on that date. In antiquity, people linked the day of a person’s conception with the day of his or her death. Thus, in the Annunciation, the Church joined together both the incarnation of Jesus and the atonement He accomplished.

Writing:
Most of the holy fathers and patriarchs and prophets desired to see Him with their own eyes, but did not. Some of them by visions beheld Him in type, and darkly; others, again, were privileged to hear the divine voice through the medium of the cloud and were favored with the vision of holy angels. But only to Mary the pure virgin did the archangel Gabriel manifest himself in brilliant light, bringing her the glad address, “Hail, you who are highly favored!” And thus she received the Word, and soon, in time, through the body’s natural process, she gave birth to the dear Pearl. Come, then, you, too, dearly beloved, and let us chant the melody that has been taught us by the inspired harp of David and say, “Arise, O Lord, into Your rest, You, and the ark of Your sanctuary.” For the holy Virgin is truly an ark, made with gold both within and without, who has received the whole treasury of the Holy of Holies. “Arise, O Lord, into Your rest.” Arise, O Lord, out of the bosom of the Father, in order that You may raise up the fallen race of the first man…. Mary laid in a manger Him who sits above the cherubim and is praised by myriads of angels. In the manger set apart for irrational animals, the Word of God lay, in order that He might impart to men, who are really irrational by free choice, the true reason and understanding. In the manger from which cattle eat was laid the heavenly Bread, in order that He might provide men who live like the beasts of the earth with spiritual food. Nor was there even room for Him in the inn. He found no place, who by His word established heaven and earth; “for though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor” and chose extreme humiliation on behalf of the salvation of our nature, in His inherent goodness toward us. He who fulfilled the whole administration of unutterable mysteries of God’s work in heaven in the bosom of the Father, and in the cave lay in the arms of the mother, reposed in the manger. Angelic choirs surrounded Him, singing of glory in heaven and of peace upon earth. In heaven He was seated at the right hand of the Father; and in the manger He rested, as it were, upon the cherubim. Truly, even there was His cherubic throne; there was His royal seat. Holy of the holy, and alone glorious upon the earth, and holier than the holy, was the manger where Christ our God rested. To Him be glory, honor, and power, together with the Father undefiled and the altogether holy and quickening Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
—Gregory Thaumaturgus

Collect:
Almighty God, who didst will that agreebly to the angel's message Thy Son become incarnate of the Virgin Mary, mercifully grant that our sinful conception may be cleansed by His immaculate conception, through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Summary and Writing: The Treasury of Daily Prayer (CPH)
Collect: The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941
Image: The Annunciation, Philippe de Champaigne, French, ca. 1644, on view at the Met Fifth Avenue.

03/19/2026

Today, the Church celebrates the Festival of St. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus.

St. Joseph has been honored throughout the Christian centuries for his faithful devotion in helping Mary raise her Son. Matthew’s Gospel relates that Joseph was a just man, who followed the angel’s instructions and took the already-pregnant Mary as his wife (Matthew 1:24). In the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark, Jesus is referred to as “the carpenter’s son” (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). This suggests that Joseph had building skills with which he supported his family. Joseph was an important figure in the early life of Jesus, safely escorting Mary and the child to Egypt (Matthew 2:14) and then settling them back in Nazareth once it was safe to do so (Matthew 2:22). The final mention of Joseph is at the time the twelve-year-old Jesus visits the temple in Jerusalem for the Passover (Luke 2:41–51). Joseph, the guardian of our Lord, has long been associated with caring parenthood as well as with skilled craftsmanship.

Writing:
When Joseph became aware that Mary was with child, and was thinking of putting her away privately, the angel said to him while he was asleep: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for her conception is from the Holy Spirit. For she will deliver a Son and you will call Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”… So Joseph was convinced beyond all doubt, and he took Mary and joyfully obeyed everything in regard to all the rest of the education of Christ, undertaking a journey into Egypt and back again, and then went away to Nazareth. Those who do not know the Scriptures, nor the promise of God, nor the dispensation of Christ, call him the father of the child. For this reason, too, the Lord Himself read at Capernaum the prophecies of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach the Gospel to the poor and to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and to give sight to the blind.” Thus He showed that it was He Himself who had been foretold by Isaiah the prophet, and He said to them: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears.”
—Irenaeus of Lyons

Collect:
Almighty God, from the house of Your servant David You raised up Joseph to be the guardian of Your incarnate Son and the husband of His mother, Mary. Grant us grace to follow the example of this faithful workman in heeding Your counsel and obeying Your commands; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Summary and Writing: Treasury of Daily Prayer (CPH)
Collect: Celebrating the Saints by Rev. William Weedon (CPH)
About the Painting: St Joseph Leading the Christ Child, Bartolome Esteban Murillo
Date: Between 1670 and 1675
Source: Collection of William Coesvelt, Amsterdam, 1814

03/17/2026

Today, we remember and thank the blessed Trinity for St. Patrick, Missionary to Ireland.

Patrick is one of the best-known of the missionary saints. Born to a Christian family in Britain around the year AD 389 he was captured as a teenager by raiders, taken to Ireland, and forced to serve as a herdsman. After six years, he escaped and found his way to a monastery community in France. Ordained a bishop, it is believed that Patrick made his way back to Ireland in the summer of 433, and there spent the rest of his long life spreading the Gospel and organizing Christian communities. He strongly defended the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in a time when it was not popular to do so. His literary legacy includes his autobiography, Confession, and several prayers and hymns still used in the Church today. At least one tradition states that Patrick died in Ireland on March 17 around the year AD 466.

Writing:
I bind unto myself today The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan River, His death on cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb, His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet “Well done” in judgment hour, The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, apostles’ word, The patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life-giving ray, The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free, The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay, His ear to hearken to my need. The wisdom of my God to teach, His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech, His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin, The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within, The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh, In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles, Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles, Against the heart’s idolatry, Against the wizard’s evil craft, Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft, Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name, The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three.
By whom all nature hath creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word: Praise to the Lord of my salvation, Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
—St. Patrick’s Breastplate

Collect:
Faithful God, You never cease to give to Your Church those who delight to carry the Gospel to foreign lands. Receive our thanks this day for Your servant, Patrick, who carried the saving name of Jesus to Ireland and summoned its people to abandon idolatry and worship You, the only true God, the blessed Trinity. Strengthen today all missionaries, that they may fearlessly bear Your name and summon all sinners into the joy of forgiveness and the promise of resurrection through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Summary and Writing from the Treasury of Daily Prayer (CPH)
Collect from Celebrating the Saints by Rev. William Weedon

03/16/2026

John 6:1–15
AT THAT TIME: Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

Exodus 16:2–21 Galatians 4:22—5:1a John 6:1–15