Pastor John joined as lead Pastor at Concordia in Late 2021, relocating from Southern California. He nrings with him his wife Angela and two daughters.
“My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth” Psalm 121:2 The phrase above is so short and simple, you probably have just memorized it by reading it. That’s good. It’s not “Jesus wept” good, but almost. The short phrases of Scripture can still have a...
Easter is just around the corner. I’ve always liked Easter. The gift baskets, bright and cheerful colors, and brunch with the family after church (hopefully, at the “all-you-can-eat” buffet!). It’s also one of two days of the year that everyone shows up to...
25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap...
You can send a quick note to Pastor below. It will be sent directly to him.
A couple of months ago, my wife and I rented the movie, Conclave. It was a fascinating drama about the process the Roman Catholic Church goes through to elect a new pope. It gives imaginative insight into a mysterious process.
Shortly thereafter, Pope Francis died. I felt like I knew what was coming next because I was informed by Conclave. It turned out to be a lot less dramatic than Conclave as Pope Leo was elected in one day.
It’s too early yet to form an opinion on his papacy.
Even so, Lutherans (ones who actually hold to the Book of Concord) remain divided from the R.C.C. over the same core issue: Justification. And without going too deep into the weeds, Rome claims that we are justified by faith + works. Luther and the Evangelicals of Concord claim that we are justified by faith alone (in Christ alone).
From this core division, all other differences flow.
And the division originated during the time of another Pope Leo, Leo the tenth (Leo X).
A battleground verse for this division was James 2:17, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” This would appear, on the surface, to cancel out the declaration of “by faith alone” of the Evangelicals (Lutherans).