November 20, 2025

Today's Reading: Catechism: Table of Duties - To Children

Daily Lectionary: Daniel 1:1-21; Matthew 28:1-20

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and your mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—’ that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life in the Earth.’ Eph. 6:1-3” (Catechism, Table of Duties: To Children)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

How does the Lord take care of you in this world—not just in your life of faith where you are justified by your Lord’s Word, but in your earthly life, where you need food and drink and home and safety?

The Lord sets, for the benefit of children, parents. Mom and Dad. The son or daughter, then, is given to receive all good gifts of family and childhood from his or her parents. And where the parent needs help in caring for a child, perhaps a teacher to teach algebra or a doctor to diagnose a fever, the parent brings in a teacher or doctor or whatever other profession so that the teacher or doctor (or whomever) is acting by the authority and in the stead of the mom and dad.

Mom and Dad are the Lord’s instruments. They are standing in the Lord’s stead to provide for the children. So obedience to parents is not just some ritualistic keeping of the law; it’s much more. When we are young, respect and obedience are our recognition that we receive every good gift from our Lord, including all the gifts of “daily bread,” through our parents. They are the Lord’s servants, his vessels.

This, of course, often goes poorly in our sinful world. A parent may die; a family may be torn by divorce; or a parent does his or her parenting poorly (which is true to some extent for every parent, except, of course, God the Father). Yet, in all of this, even when we find them in their weakness, we give thanks for parents, for they stand as God’s instruments to care for, protect, teach, encourage, comfort, and sustain the children. And we pray to our Father in Heaven that we may be forgiving of our parents where they do poorly, and happily obedient to them, hearing them with ears of respect and thankfulness.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

You are our holy Lord, The all-subduing Word, Healer of strife. Yourself You did abase That from sin's deep disgrace You so might save our race And give us life. O ever be our guide, Our shepherd and our pride, Our staff and song. Jesus, O Christ of God, By your enduring Word, Lead us where You have trod; Make our faith strong. So now, and till we die, Sound we Your praises high And joyful sing: Infants, and all the throng, Who to the Church belong, Unite to swell the song To Christ, our king! (LSB 864:2,4,5)

Author: Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

November 19, 2025

Today's Reading: Jeremiah 38:1-28

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 38:1-28; Jeremiah 39:1-44:30; Matthew 27:57-66

“So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.” (Jeremiah 38:6)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Put yourself in Jeremiah’s shoes. Wait, maybe don’t do that. Jeremiah is standing in mud. At the bottom of a cistern. Waiting to die.

Jeremiah could’ve avoided the cistern treatment if only he had agreed to go along with the current wisdom, if only he had spoken what was popular. He didn’t. Now he’s waiting to die, sunk in the cistern’s mud.

It can be hard to turn our backs on the worldly temptations of prestige, popularity, or power. When our world pressures us to bow down to the predominant ideology or current movements, the reasonable response can seem to be “Go along to get along.” The world’s recognition is a siren song.

The prophet Jeremiah did not go along to get along. Rather than seek the king’s favor and secure friendship with the public, Jeremiah did the opposite. He spoke the Word the Lord had given him, even when everyone wanted to hear a different word, and found himself standing in the cistern mud, waiting to die.

Of course, we know Jeremiah was rescued. The Lord was not ready to have his Word shut down. The Lord was about the business of giving the gift of repentance, rescue, and salvation to his people, and Jeremiah was his appointed mouthpiece. But the worldly lesson was clear: the easiest path would’ve been for Jeremiah to speak words acceptable to the world, and to go to sleep at night in his own comfortable bed with the approval of the king, not sinking in mud.

Many generations later, around 1230 A.D., St. Elizabeth of Hungary is quoted as saying, “How could I bear a crown of gold when the Lord bears a crown of thorns? And bears it for me!” That’s the suffering of every person in our world, including Jeremiah, whose faith is in the promised Christ.

The preaching of the cross turns us away from the siren song of worldly prestige, popularity, or power. It turns us to the Word of Jesus, the Gospel of our redemption.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

By all Your saints in warfare, For all Your saints at rest, Your holy name, O Jesus, Forevermore be blest! For You have won the battle That they might wear the crown; And now they shine in glory Reflected from Your throne. We praise you for the prophet Who spoke your word at cost, He stood in the cistern mud— foreshadow of your cross. From the mouth of Jeremiah, we heard your word impart Your Gospel of redemption To cleanse the sinful heart. ( LSB 517:1, verse for Jeremiah)

Author: Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

November 18, 2025

Today's Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:(1-5) 6-13

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 37:1-21; Revelation 17:1-18; Matthew 27:33-56

“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. … For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.” (2 Thessalonians 3: 6, 11)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

“Idle hands … devil’s workshop”—we don’t want to be caught being idle.

So the Apostle instructs us to keep away from those walking in idleness. But Paul’s actual word here in the Greek addresses something more than just laziness.

In Greek, it’s disordered, the same root word as properly ordering things. Scripture uses this word for the institutions the Lord put in place for us in creation—institutions such as marriage and home, neighbor and society, possessions and property, all given in the “orders of creation.”

Paul knows as well as we do that the Church lives in a sinfully disordered world. “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from any brother who is walking outside of order and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. … For we hear that some among you walk in disorder, not busy at work, but busybodies.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 11)

In these last Sundays of the Church year, we review how the Church is given to live in these latter days while waiting for our Lord’s return to judge the living and the dead.

In this disordered world, the Lord’s institutions (life, marriage of man and woman, life and family and home, neighbor and society, possessions and property) will remain under attack. So the Apostle encourages the Church.

But this disordering is not just our world. It’s us, our own sinful flesh. Realizing this, we have one place to turn. 2 Thessalonians 3:5: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”

Where we’re unfaithful to Christ, he’s steadfast and faithful to us. Until that day when he comes again to judge the living and the dead, as we live in this disordered world and our own disordered lives, we turn to him, for he is faithful to his promise: “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord, you remain faithful to your promise. In our disordered world, we pray for our neighbor, that your institutions of family and home, of marriage of man and woman, of possessions and wealth, may be upheld for our neighbor’s benefit. And we give you thanks that you have instituted for us your gift of Baptism. Keep us in Baptism’s forgiveness of all sins and promise of life everlasting. Amen.

Author: Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

November 17, 2025

Today's Reading: Malachi 4:1-6

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 33:1-22; Jeremiah 34:1-36:32; 45:1-51:64; Matthew 27:11-32

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The prophet Malachi promises an Elijah. But what was Israel’s problem that they needed an Elijah?

Israel’s great sin is that they were treating the Lord’s altar as common. The Lord gathers Israel to his altar to receive the forgiveness of their sins, to be made holy by the Lord’s institution of sacrifice. But Israel is treating his altar as common, even profane—they even call it not a holy Altar but a defiled table! (See Malachi 1:7, 1:12) Because they treat it not as the holy Altar where the Lord comes to them with blessing, but as a defiled table for empty religious rituals, Israel has been bringing not the proper, appointed sacrificial animals, but … trash. (See Malachi 1:7, 1:13-14)

When she has despised the Lord’s Altar, denigrating it as a common table, where has Israel left herself to go to receive the forgiveness of sins? What hope is there for the sinner separated from the Altar where God has placed his holy Name (Malachi 1:11)?

Enter Malachi. He decrees the promise to save the sinner from the deserved decree of utter destruction (Malachi 4:16). It is the promise of an Elijah: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.”

Elijah? Elijah was, of course, in Israel some 450 years before Malachi’s time. But Malachi is promising there will be another prophet who will stand in the office of Elijah. This prophet will do the “Elijah job” of bringing salvation for the sinner. As we know, that new Elijah is John the Baptist (Matthew 11:12-14), who, after baptizing Jesus in the Jordan, then declares: Jesus is the Lamb of God who is bearing the sin of the world! (see John 1:29)

John, the new Elijah, has announced the greatest news of all. Jesus bears the sin of the world, every sinner of every generation! Your sin and mine. And where we, in our sin, have forgotten the Lord’s Name and treated the gifts of holiness as common, we hear the voice of Jesus, and we know that his table is not common, not to be despised, but is nothing less than the holy gift of the Blood to forgive our sins.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord, where we have treated your gifts as common, where we have forgotten your Name bestowed upon us in Baptism, forgive. Gather us again to hear your Gospel; restore us as your holy people. For you alone, O Lamb of God, are the forgiver of sins, the Savior of the world. Amen.

Author: Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

November 16, 2025

Today's Reading: Luke 21:5-28 (29-36)

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 31:1-17, 23-34; Revelation 16:1-21; Matthew 27:1-10

“[Jesus said,] ‘And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’" (Luke 21:25-28)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

When you see these things: things of evil governments laying hands on Christians, Christians being persecuted for the holy Name; things of your own sin, your own failures; things of the frustration of living as a Christian, wishing you could do better each day, but seeing the hopelessness of it all as you find yourself once again, as yesterday and the day before, falling to doubt, to fear, to lust, to the desire to control others, or to any other temptation—when you see these things, Stand, lift up your heads, for you belong to Baptism.

And Baptism is not the sinner showing allegiance to God. It’s God saving the sinner. It’s your Lord using his appointed means to work the forgiveness of sins, to rescue from death and the devil, and to give eternal life to all who have faith in the words and promises of God.

So despair not. Lift up your heads, for you belong to the life-giving water, rich in grace, a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)

With each day, the world nears its final judgment. We see the signs all around.

Despair not. We continue to rejoice in serving neighbor, in opportunities to work for peace and good order, in words spoken in kindness to acclaim our Lord’s gift of life, extolling his institutions of family and home, of marriage of man and woman, of property and possessions, our Lord’s institutions so often rejected by our fallen world. For we know that these things instituted by the Lord are his way of providing for us and our neighbor on Earth.

We see our sin, our failures, and we fear. Despair not. Hear your Lord’s Gospel and rejoice in the life of Baptism to which you belong.

We stand and lift up our heads in faith. Luke 21:28: [Jesus said,] “Now when these things begin to take place, stand and raise up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Lord, Almighty and always-living God, You gave great and precious promises to people who trust You. Reign and lead our hearts and minds with Your Holy Spirit. Then we can continue to live forever in Your Son. Jesus lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Author: Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

November 15, 2025

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 23 - Psalm 121:1-2, 5, 7-8; antiphon: Luke 21:33

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 30:1-24; Revelation 15:1-8; Matthew 26:57-75

“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.” (Psalm 121:5)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

“The Lord is your keeper.” Wow! Now that’s a promise to grab onto. Not just any lord, but The Lord is your keeper, and his keeping covers your entire life, past, present, and future.

If we’re honest, we often go through the day totally unaware of how the Lord is keeping us under his protective care. We can manage most of the daily stuff put before us. Yet, all it takes is an illness, a near-miss car accident, the death of someone we know, or money problems to shake us up and cause us to realize how fragile life is and how quickly we can find ourselves in a helpless situation.

The Lord is your keeper, whether you realize it or not. Psalm 121 is calling us to see that the Lord who made heaven and earth, who made you, is intimately involved in caring and providing for you. How can you be certain? He promised!

The Lord put his name on you when he washed you with his Word in the waters of your Baptism. There you were adopted into the family of God. Your life was joined to Jesus, who promised to be with you all of the days of your life to the end of the age. He is keeping you!

The Lord will keep you. That means you have a future. God promises it. He will keep you from all evil, so what have you to fear? “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). You have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is keeping you and your inheritance of eternal life safe and secure (Ephesians 1:13-14).

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in today and all the days unto eternity! Knowing you are being kept by the one who made you and all things, that means you are free to live each day without fear or doubt. Even if it seems the world and the entire universe are going up in smoke, remember, “Heaven and earth may pass away, but my words will not.” His word and his promises are yours. The Lord is your keeper.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25)

Author: Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Anaheim, CA.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

November 14, 2025

Today's Reading: Matthew 26:36-56

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 29:1-19; Revelation 14:1-20; Matthew 26:36-56

“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?’” (Matthew 26:53-54)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus is praying, the disciples are sleeping, and Judas is coming, leading a great crowd carrying clubs and swords. It’s happening; the hour is at hand. It feels like a climactic scene from a Hollywood movie, heading to a final confrontation between the good guys and the bad.

Jesus is not caught by surprise. He is in Gethsemane, praying fervently to his Father. He knows what is about to happen, and it is troubling his soul. Jesus prays, “Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me.” Yet, Jesus knows this is his mission; this is why he was born; this is his destiny, so he continues to pray, “Not as I will, but as you will.”

The great crowd finally arrives with swords in hand. Peter draws his sword and draws first blood, cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. Jesus charges Peter to put down his sword and says, “Do you not realize I can ask my Father and at once he will send more than twelve legions of angels?”

60,000 angels! Yes, that’s what we want, don’t we? A cosmic battle between good and evil. Jesus with his sleepy disciples against a huge sword-wielding crowd, but now with an army of angels coming down to wipe all those bad guys out. That would make for a great movie, but it is not part of the script. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. God has a different ending in mind.

The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. That’s how the scene plays out, and all is going according to plan. Fast forward to a Roman cross outside of Jerusalem on a dark Friday. Jesus might have been betrayed, arrested, tried, and crucified by sinners, but it is for sinners that Jesus traveled the road to his cross. He carried their sins, your sins, and the sins of the entire world and nailed them to the tree. The one who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. This is the Father’s will. This is what Jesus willingly endured, so that your life might have a beautiful climactic ending. Dressed in the robe of Christ’s salvation, you are welcomed into the glories of heaven by the angelic hosts of heaven and into the open arms of God your Father. Now that’s a movie worth seeing.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

“From heaven’s shining regions to greet me gladly come Your blessed angel legions to bid me welcome home.” (674:2)

Author: Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Anaheim, CA.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

November 13, 2025

Today's Reading: Catechism: Table of Duties - To Parents

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 26:1-19; Revelation 13:1-18; Matthew 26:20-35

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Thank God for our parents. Without them, we wouldn’t be here. It pleased God to continue his work of creation by giving you life through a mom and a dad. God continues to care, provide, and protect us through the parents he gives us. This is at least God’s design and intention for the family, to see one another as a gift and to share life together in love.

This is the heart of the Fourth Commandment, where God instructs children to honor their father and mother. In his Small Catechism, Luther explains that rather than despising and angering our parents, children should honor, serve, obey, love, and cherish them. To see our parents as a gift from God causes hearts to cherish and love them. Love can’t help but bear the fruit of willful service and obedience. Looking at one another through the lens of a God-given gift makes all the difference.

There is no “Commandment” for parents, though, is there? Yes, there are several places in Scripture where parents are instructed in how to raise and treat their children. Although the particular guidelines may differ, the lens prescription is still the same; see your children as a gift from God. When parents see their child as a gift from the hand of God, they see their role in a whole new light. Dads and moms become a portrait to their children of their heavenly Father, mirroring God’s gracious love, his sacrificial care, tireless provision, and tender guidance and protection. This is the hands-on way of raising children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

The thing about parents is that they are sinners, too. I’ve never met a parent who doesn’t have regrets or who hasn’t wished they could do some things over. Parents need forgiveness, too, just like children. This is perhaps the most profound way a parent can teach their children the faith when a parent is on the receiving end of God’s forgiving grace.

God loves to give gifts. He gave his most precious gift, his very own Son, to die for the sins of the world, and “the world” includes parents. God has given parents the gift of a family to love and to care for. Sharing life together in Christ makes all the difference.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

“I the Lord will be your Father, Savior, Comforter, and Brother. Go, My children; I will keep you and give you peace.” (922:4)

Author: Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Anaheim, CA.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.

This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week’s readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.