Lutheran Chronicles: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Archbishop Rinalds Grants presiding

Today, the church commemorates Joseph of Arimathea.

Luke sketches the burial of Jesus in a few bold strokes, omitting mention of the role of Nicodemus (John) and of the watch placed at the grave by the high priests (Matthew). Nor does he inform us that the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid belonged to Joseph (Matthew), or about its location (John). But very definitely he brings before us the chief actor, Joseph, who was not known as a follower of Jesus […] . He was an honorable, pious person, wealthy (Matthew) and highly respected (Mark), and what is especially important for our understanding of the narrative, he was a member of the chief council. […] The account says that he waited for the kingdom of God, that is, he was one of the pious souls in Israel who, like Simeon and Anna 30 years before, were eagerly awaiting the coming of the Messiah. John 19:38 informs us that he secretly was a disciple of Jesus. We may imagine that he like many other Israelites (cf. e.g., Luke 7:16) regarded Jesus as a true prophet of God and wished to obey His teachings.

[…] The death of Jesus occurred about 3:00 p.m. At once Joseph went to Pilate and requested that the body be given him for interment. […] By 4:00 or shortly thereafter Joseph and his servants (remember he was rich) were at the cross and reverently took the body of Jesus down. He had quickly purchased (Mark 15:46) a linen cloth; in this the body, undoubtedly after having been washed, was wrapped. John 19:39 ff, in addition to the co-operation of Nicodemus, tells about fragrant spices which were used at the burial. The tomb, hewn out of rock, was in an adjacent garden (John 19:41). […] Matthew, Luke, and John state that it was a new grave, and Luke and John add that no corpse had ever been deposited in it before. […] The event was concluded by Joseph’s rolling a huge stone before the entrance of the sepulcher, undoubtedly employing his servants for that task.

https://www.facebook.com/stjohnwheaton

The Sacrament of the Altar - Luther's Small Catechism

What is the Sacrament of the Altar?
It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.

Where is this written?
The holy evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and St. Paul write thus:
“In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

What is the benefit of such eating and drinking?
The words “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin” show us that forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation are given to us in the sacrament through these words, because where there is forgiveness of sin, there is also life and salvation.

How can bodily eating and drinking do such a great thing?
Eating and drinking certainly do not do it, but rather the words that are recorded: “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin.” These words, when accompanied by the physical eating and drinking, are the essential thing in the sacrament, and whoever believes these very words has what they declare and state, namely, “forgiveness of sin.”

Who, then, receives this sacrament worthily?
Fasting and bodily preparation are in fact a fine external discipline, but a person who has faith in these words, “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin,” is really worthy and well prepared. However, a person who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, because the words “for you” require truly believing hearts.

Lutheran Church of Southern Africa ELCSA

St Paul Church - Serbin, Texas, built in 1871 https://lutheranmuseum.com/2025/01/13/pulpit-altars-architectural-doctrine/

Here's an intriguing article published by the Perry County Lutheran Historical Society on chancels in which the pulpit is situated directly above the altar to demonstrate that the Word is integral to the Sacraments. Called 'Kanzel Altar', dating back to shortly after the Reformation in Germany, and later in Norway and North America, [and Indonesian missions].

Resembling the pulpit-centered chancels in Reformed Churches, the Eisenach Regulation of 1861 required that the altar be free-standing or against the east wall and the pulpit on the Gospel side [left side] of the chancel.

Nonetheless, pulpit altars existed in North American parishes, circa the 19th Century and after.

A Protestant Baroque church, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, was built in 1669. Though originally not a cathedral, St Michael is the seat of the Lutheran bishop of Hamburg. The Feast of St Michael and All Angels is celebrated on September 29 among Lutherans, Catholics, and Anglicans.

"Evangelical Catholics teach that Lutheranism at its core "is deeply and fundamentally catholic"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Catholic

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

In the Words of Jesus Himself,
John the Baptist was the greatest man ever to be born among women (Luke 7:28).
Of course, his birthday is celebrated today only in the church.
Sorry – no long weekend off…
There is no Federal holiday in his name –
no bridges, elementary schools, or roads named after him…
He doesn’t even appear in my book of the 100 Most Influential People in the history of the world.
And yet, he is great beyond compare, because he is the prophet of the Most High –
the Last of the Old Testament prophets, and the First of the New –
a man heralded by the angel Gabriel, sanctified by the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb,
and given for you and me as the one who steadfastly, unfailingly, and unceasingly points us to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

And no, we are not here to worship John today, because John is NOT the Messiah.
He is NOT the One who would bare his heel as the sign that he was willing to pay the price for our redemption.
That job was reserved for One mightier than John –
One whose sandals John was not even worthy to untie (Luke 3:16).
No, John was the Last of the Old prophets and the First of the New whose job it was to point to the Christ and to proclaim salvation in His Name alone.
He was chosen to “go before the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 1:76-77).”
And he didn’t waste any time!
Beginning with his dramatic leap in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:41),
John never once failed to direct our attention to Jesus.
Even before he had seen the light of day,
he was proclaiming the Light of Life who had come “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79).

John came to us in the wilderness – the dark wasteland of our sin –
the place of our suffering and death to proclaim that our warfare is over –
that our sins are forgiven,
and that we have indeed received an abundance of grace from the hand of God (Isa 40:1-2).
He came to prepare the way for the Lord and to pour out God’s comfort for us in our time of greatest need.

Of course, he did it in a way that the world has never really understood or gotten on board with –
for He did it by showing us our sin – by showing us what it is we need to be rescued from –
and by calling us to repentance.
In sermons the likes of which I would NEVER get away with,
John gets in your face and tells you like it is:
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:2ff) –
The Day of God’s wrath is coming!

He called people to confess their sins.
He offered a baptism of repentance.
And when the good, focused, determined “church people” finally started showing up, he really got down to business:
“You brood of vipers!”
You spawn of the devil who think you are following in God’s ways, while all the while you are giving yourselves over to the prince of this world –
You cunning snakes in the grass who lie low, hide your vile natures, and bring pain and death to everything you touch by your malice and self-serving ways.
Don’t even say to yourselves, “We’re good people. We go to church. We have Abraham as our father… we have Luther as our father…”
Because you KNOW better –
you KNOW what you are, and you KNOW what you deserve.

Pretty harsh, right?
But that’s John – no bent reed shifting his position with every breeze of public opinion or political correctness –
No smooth-talking softy reaching out to delicate ears with cautious words to accommodate our ceaseless desire to feel good about ourselves.
No, this is full-blast, full-frontal Law telling us like it is,
damning us for who we really are,
driving us to our knees and hurting us – killing us in fact…
Because only in that way is the LORD’S way truly prepared.
In the words of Johann Gerhard, “Christ cannot enter the heart with His grace unless the way is prepared by true repentance.
If this Prince of Heaven is to take possession of us, the filth of sin must first be removed.
[And] if we are to have the saving knowledge of His blessedness, we must first know ourselves” (Quoted in Lindemann, “The Sermon and the Propers).

And so, St. John holds up the mirror –
He speaks the truth, and he brings us to our knees in repentance.
But thanks be to God, he does not leave us there.
For death under the Law is not the desired goal.
Nor does John show us our sin so that we might climb our own way out of the pit.
He shows us our sin that we might fall into the arms of our Savior who has come to rescue us out of the pit.
For GOD “has visited and redeemed His people,” as Zechariah sings –
GOD has raised up a horn of salvation for us –
GOD has remembered His Holy Covenant…
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives (Luke 1:68-75).”

St. John comes to us with the Law so that we might be raised up by Him who comes to us in His body and blood.
As the last of the Old and the first of the New,
John shows us the way of God’s comfort in Christ crucified and risen:
“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world…”
Behold, the beloved Son of God who was anointed by John to the throne of the cross.
Behold the One who bared His heel to the serpent’s strike and crushed the serpent’s head to set you free.
Your accuser has been destroyed.
Your death has been taken away.
Your sins are paid for.
And in the rising of the Son to new life in the resurrection, you too shall be raised up through the water of Holy Baptism.
At the font, Jesus has washed you clean and united you to Himself.
At the rail, the Blood of the Lamb passes over your lips and into your hearts (Petersen),
filling you with His Holiness, His righteousness, His forgiveness for YOUR life and salvation.
And as you take your place in Christ’s presence confessing your sin and receiving this tender mercy of our God,
you, too, may rejoice and leap for joy like the one whose birth we remember and celebrate today –
in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

 

Preached by Rev. James R. Holowach
Sermon Text: Luke 1:57-80

https://christlutheranjacksonms.org/the-last-of-the-old-the-first-of-the-new/

St Jakob [Lutheran] Church - Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Reliquarian The Altar of the Holy Blood

The Way of Saint James: Pilgrimage to the Tomb of a “Son of Thunder”

Gospel

Lk 1:39-56

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In the Book of Acts, we learn that there were 120 faithful, including the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary. And following St Peter's sermon, a crowd of 3000 gathered.

This is an artwork by John August Swanson, a recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa, from California Lutheran University. Swanson's paintings are featured in several Lutheran parishes, especially in the Los Angeles area.

The previous bishop, R. Guy Erwin, of the Southwest California Synod [ELCA], authored this tribute to Swanson.

The holy simplicity of artist John August Swanson

https://www.tiktok.com/@lutheranen

St Mark 16:14–20

14Afterward [Jesus] appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

At the very start of the video of Friday's Eucharist, the altar and chancel are censed. I wonder if this is a new custom to use incense before the service rather than during the liturgy.

Holy Communion - Concordia Seminary, Fort Wayne

At 161.53 meters (about 530 feet), the Ulm Minster tower was the tallest church in the world until the Sagrada Família tower [162.91 meters/534 ft] in Barcelona, Spain, surpassed it in 2025.

Ulm Church - Germany [tiktok.com/@travel_travel_with_me/video

Ulmer Muenster [Lutheran]