St. Luke Lutheran Church June 9, 2024 Enews Lead us not into Temptation I have to admit that this petition in the Lord’s Prayer has always been difficult for me. Since childhood, I have wrestled with this petition.  It seems that if we have to pray for God not to lead us into temptation, then…

St. Luke Lutheran Church June 2, 2024 Enews Forgives us our sins, as we forgive others CONCRETE LOVE Pastor Joel Gregory tells the story of a seminary professor who taught the Christian graces of love and forbearance for forty years until he retired. Occupying himself in his retirement years, he poured a new concrete driveway…

St. Luke Lutheran Church May 26, 2024 Enews Give us today our daily bread.- Matthew 6:11 This Sunday, we will consider the fourth petition of the Lord’s prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”  In the petition, we entrust our physical needs to our loving heavenly Father, who knows us well. With the Fourth…

St. Luke Lutheran Church May 12, 2024 Enews Thy Will Be Done In the third petition of the Lord’s prayer, we pray that God’s will be done.  Martin Luther reminded us that God’s will is not dependent on our prayers.  God’s will is done because nothing exists that can resist the will of God.  When…

St. Luke Lutheran Church May 12, 2024 Enews Thy Kingdom Come In the third petition of the Lord’s prayer, we invite God’s kingdom to come, but what do we mean when we pray the petition?  When the disciples heard the petition, it probably made sense to them.  They expected Jesus to be a ruling emperor.…

St. Luke Lutheran Church May 5, 2024 Enews Hallowed By Thy Name Putting your faith in the God of the Bible is a little like purchasing something from a website on the internet. You don’t get to “handle” eternal life before buying into it. We simply have God’s Word that putting our faith in Jesus…

St. Luke Lutheran Church April 28, 2024 Enews Lord, teach us to pray! How did you learn to pray? Often, we learn from the examples of people around us. Some of us can remember our earliest childhood memories and the simple prayers our parents used at the table and at the bedside. Others have learned…

St. Luke Lutheran Church April 21, 2024 Enews Prayer: Beyond the Basics Few questions can make churchgoers squirm more than “How’s your prayer life?”  The question can be ambiguous.  Is the question asking how diligently you pray, or is the questioner asking how effective are your prayers? If the question asks about our diligence, do…

St. Luke Lutheran Church April 14, 2024 Enews From Broken to Blessed The sermon last Sunday focused on the distinction between guilt and shame.  Our culture concentrates on a person’s guilt to the point of neglecting the impact of shame on our outlook on life.  Guilt is an objective state of our relationship to God’s…

St. Luke Lutheran Church April 7, 2024 Enews Recovery or Rescue Operation? Have you noticed that there is a subtle terminology shift in describing the response to a disaster?  The initial urgent efforts to save the injured are referred to as a “rescue operation.”  In contrast, the long, slow, careful process of locating and removing…