Jesus said, “You pore over the Scriptures because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40). People often pass by those words of Jesus without a second thought. In those words, Jesus is […]
Understanding God: His Divine Being (Essence) and His Energia
May 19, 2011 by
We have little problem recognizing, as a concept, that God exists as a Divine Being. God in His Divine Being is God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is God as He exists in His essence (or “substance” as we confess in the Creeds). Although we don’t have problem understanding that God exists as a […]
Faith? Works? Yes!
May 12, 2011 by
This is an article that I wrote for the May 20th edition of the Stone County Gazette. Did you realize the Bible never says that we are saved by “faith alone”? In all of Scripture, you will never find those words, “faith alone.” This is what Scripture says: We are “justified by faith, apart from […]
Lay Readers in the Lutheran Church: A Short Primer
May 3, 2011 by
Lay Readers: A Scriptural, Historical, and Lutheran Look By Pr. Rich Futrell Introduction Within our lifetime, we have seen “lay readers” become the norm when it comes to the reading of scripture during worship. Although this practice is now widespread, most of us don’t know what prompted this change. For most of us, it just happened. […]
The Forgotten Battle of Spiritual Warfare
March 21, 2011 by
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. (Ephesians 6:12) Martin Luther ends his Large Catechism with these words: “They [the contents of the Large Catechism] must all certainly help […]
Sample Sermon: 1 Maccabees 4:36-56 and John 10:22-30 (Easter 4C)
March 7, 2011 by
To go the first article in this series, click here. This is a “sample sermon” on preaching from the Apocrypha (Anagignoskomena/Deuterocanon), which is in a presentation I will lead for a pastoral circuit conference. This sermon is more didactic than usual because the average listener is clueless as to how the Feast of Dedication ties […]
The Americanization of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
March 6, 2011 by
The process of “Americanization” within the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod began at its very formation. One of our founders, Wilhelm Loehe, noticed as much when he stated our constitution showed signs of Americanization, which he likened to “mob rule.” Even so, despite the initial Americanization that had already taken place, further inroads were held at bay […]
Optional Supplemental Lectionary Readings from the OT Apocrypha
February 24, 2011 by
For my next pastoral conference in early March, I will lead a study on the Apocrypha. We will learn how it fell into disuse within Lutheran circles, and it will finish with optional Old Testament readings from the Apocrypha for the Lutheran Service Book lectionaries. Here is the optional Old Testament Apocrypha pericopes I will present. […]
Dealing with Our Spiritual Bullies
February 1, 2011 by
In this study, we find the spiritual and physical are not as separated as many of us assume. So it comes as no surprise that God uses physical aspects in our lives to streghten us to say no to our spiritual “bullies.” Dealing with Our Spiritual Bullies Feb 6, 2011 The Link between the Spiritual […]
Multisensory Worship, Pt 2
January 25, 2011 by
Continued Thoughts on Multisensory Worship By Pr. Rich Futrell Last month we began to look at how God has always used all of our senses during worship. This month, we continue in this exploration. Anything that engages one or more of our five senses during worship has one primary purpose: to proclaim the Gospel in […]
