"I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen." (Luther's Morning Prayer)
Day 277 - (Today’s Bible readings: Amos 5:1-15; Psalm 93; Mark 2:13-28)
NEWNESS IN CHRIST
Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22 ESV)
“Jesus stresses that the time of fulfillment has arrived, and thus totally new ways of thinking and acting are in order. In our own lives, the same dynamic is at work. It will not do simply to patch some little bit of the Gospel on our existing lifestyle and expect it all to hold together. Thankfully, the Lord offers such surpassingly great promises that the old is made obsolete. That is what Paul meant when he said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (Lutheran Study Bible, CPH, 2009, page 1659)
How can such life changes and such newness come about?
● Prayer - for God’s guidance and insight into His will.
● Study of the Word of God - where we are shown the will of God.
● Weekly worship - where God comes to us in His Word and Sacraments.
● Regular reception of the Lord’s Supper (weekly?) - given and shed for you.
● Consolation of the brethren - sharing life’s challenges and joys with fellow Christians.
Children of God,
Dying and rising,
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Heaven and earth,
Hosts everlasting,
Sing to the Lord a new song!
He has done marvelous things.
I too will praise Him with a new song!
Amen.
("Earth and All Stars,”“ Lutheran Service Book, CPH, 2006, #817 stanza 7)
Pastor David Paape
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105 ), undergirds this three-year journey through the entire Old Testament once (the Psalms - twice yearly), and the New Testament twice. There will be daily readings from the O.T., Psalms and the N.T. Special days on the church calendar will be highlighted with appropriate readings. This calendar has been compiled by representatives of the Lutheran Church of Canada, the North American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. Please click this link for the daily reading calendar:
Then scroll down to 2022 Bible Reading Calendar and download it if you so wish. The “assigned” daily readings will appear on a daily basis in this blog. May the Lord bless your meditation upon His precious life-giving Word!
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