ProtestantBeliefs.com

Prepare This reading begins with a question about the afterlife from the Sadducees, a group of leaders who did not believe in the resurrection. This is important to note because the question is not really about the resurrection at all, but about trapping Jesus. The Sadducees want him to give an answer that somehow “convicts” him. Keep in mind that this gospel lesson comes just one chapter after Jesus has made his final entry into Jerusalem, what we celebrate as Palm Sunday. So this conversation takes place sometime between Sunday and Thursday, before the Last Supper. To clarify the question,…

An email question from a reader of the blog: 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠 “𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒” 𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑. 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡. 𝑆𝑜 𝑛𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡? 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠, “𝑏𝑦 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑…” 𝐼𝑠 𝑃𝑎𝑢𝑙 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒? 𝐶𝑎𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠? My brief response: 𝐒𝐨, 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐉𝐮̈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥, 𝐓𝐅 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞), 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐚 “𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠.” 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬…

“For what shall we pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here.   Prayer prompts: For an end to war and conflict, and for places of political unrest or contention, especially Gaza,…

Augsburg Fortress is the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers that support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from other partners in a monthly blog post. Unbridled Presence: Sanctuary Scribes, Series 1 Ever feel like kids’ worship activities are more distraction than devotion? Sanctuary Scribes flips the script with interactive booklets for worship that keep kids engaged—not just entertained. Sanctuary Scribes is a collection of 40 booklets designed to engage children during worship….

Natural theology separates God from his Word, and in the Reformed context this separation requires that another mechanism be constructed in order for God to enact relationship with the world; i.e. through the 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑚, or through a determining decretal system that inter-links God’s power and being to the rest of the world all along keeping God untouched by the world or the creatures who inhabit it (all in an attempt to sustain the philosophically developed loci known as simplicity, immutability, impassibility, infinity, etc.). The problem, if not recognizable, is that in this ‘classical’ system of theology proper God is…

Prepare Luke is the only gospel in which we find the story of Zacchaeus. Luke often shares stories of people who are marginalized, oppressed, or looked down upon and shows how Jesus’s love changes them. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and would have been shunned by his own people because of his profession. In those days, taxes imposed by Rome took a large portion of people’s money, leaving many poor.  And as was the practice of tax collectors, Zacchaeus was likely skimming a little extra for himself too, aggravating people even more. Zacchaeus became wealthy through his position in…

“For what shall we pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here.   Prayer prompts: For an end to war and conflict, and for places of political unrest or contention, especially Gaza,…

Ludwig Feuerbach Karl Barth is often identified as a neo-Kantian, or just straight up Kantian in his theological orientation (and methodology). It seems too facile to me to maintain that Barth was somehow a slavish servant of Kant, especially materially. Maybe formally, Barth could be understood to be a Kantian in certain qualified ways. But in the air he breathed to be “Kantian” or neo-Kantian would be like saying that John Calvin et al. was an Aristotelian, or Scotist for that matter. The point being, often, formalities are not the all-encompassing thing in the theological project. Ultimately, what is at…

In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month which is celebrated in the United States September 15- October 15, we share this message from the Associate of Latino Ministries of the ELCA. Credit: This image is from the October 10, 2024 Living Lutheran Magazine online post entitled “Thoughts for Thursday during National Hispanic Heritage Month” which can be found here. For more information on the Association of Latino Ministries of the ELCA:  AML de la ELCA For more on the Latino Community of the ELCA:  Latino For more on Hispanic Heritage Month from Living Lutheran, check out these recent articles:  2025,…

In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month which is celebrated in the United States September 15- October 15, we share this message from the Associate of Latino Ministries of the ELCA. Credit: This image is from the October 10, 2024 Living Lutheran Magazine online post entitled “Thoughts for Thursday during National Hispanic Heritage Month” which can be found here. For more information on the Association of Latino Ministries of the ELCA:  AML de la ELCA For more on the Latino Community of the ELCA:  Latino For more on Hispanic Heritage Month from Living Lutheran, check out these recent articles:  2025,…