Pastor Sullivan's Blog

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Today we hear again of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed. We hear this gospel lesson every year on the fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. But it is good for us to hear it again on this National Day of Thanksgiving. The connection is obvious. Ten men with leprosy, a living death in which their flesh decays a bit more each day, cry out to Christ, “ Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! ” Christ shows them that He is gracious and compassionate to those who humbly seek mercy from Him. He says only, “ Go, show yourselves to the priests. ” He tells them this because according to the Law of Moses, Leviticus specifically, the priest’s duties included examining sores on the children of Israel to see whether or not they were leprous. If the priest found the sore to be leprous he declared the man unclean. But if a leper was healed by the grace of God, the priest would examine him once again to publically testify that the man was...

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 1)         “ Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. ” That’s the point of a National Day of Thanksgiving, that we bless the Lord for all His benefits which He graciously gives to us. As Thanksgiving rolls around and we begin thinking about the things for which we are thankful, our thoughts first go to the daily bread that God gives us. Daily Bread is everything that we need for this body and life. Luther defined daily bread in the Small Catechism as “ Everything that belongs to the support and wants of the body, such as meat, drink, clothing, shoes, house, homestead, field, cattle, money, goods, a pious spouse, pious children, pious servants, pious and faithful magistrates, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. ” 2)         O...