All Saints Lutheran Church and School

January 20, 2026 allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

Our Father & Mother

A sermon for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, by Fr. Josh Leigeber.

At the wedding at Cana, Jesus reveals the mystery of His love for the Church. The Church is the Bride of Christ and our Mother, through whom God gives us new birth, nourishment, and care by His Word and Sacraments. Christ’s first miracle taking place at a wedding is no accident: marriage is God’s creation and a living image of His faithful, self-giving love for His Bride.

Earthly marriage, as St. Paul teaches in Ephesians, reflects Christ’s sacrificial love for the Church—a love sealed by the dowry of His own blood, by which He cleanses and claims her as His own. The miracle at Cana points beyond itself to the greater miracle still given to us today. At the altar, Christ sustains His Church with a foretaste of the wedding feast to come, transforming wine into His blood and strengthening His Bride as she awaits the day when Christ and His Church will be joined forever at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Listen to the entire sermon below.

January 20, 2026January 13, 2026 allsaintsjonesboro Why We Do What We Do

Why the Church Uses Incense

This post is part of a new “Why We Do What We Do” series, explaining the biblical and historic practices of the Church.

THE CHURCH HAS RECEIVED THE USE OF INCENSE as part of her worship from the beginning of her life. Long before denominational divisions, long before the modern suspicion of ceremony, the Church prayed, sang, and offered her worship with incense, according to the pattern given in Holy Scripture and received in faithful continuity from generation to generation.

The Church that confesses the Book of Concord stands within this same inheritance. She does not imagine herself a new church, nor as a departure from the ancient Church, but as the catholic Church reformed and restored by the Word of God—teaching nothing new and retaining everything that serves the proclamation of Christ and the faithful administration of His gifts. For this reason, Lutheran worship has always been marked by reverence, continuity, and catholic fullness.

Incense, then, is not an innovation, nor a borrowed custom, nor a matter of taste. It is a visible confession of what the Church believes about prayer, sacrifice, and the presence of Christ among His people. To understand its use, we begin where the Church must always begin: with the Holy Scriptures.

Incense in Holy Scripture

The Scriptures themselves give clear testimony to the meaning and use of incense in the worship of God.

The psalmist prays:

“Let my prayer rise before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” (Psalm 141:2)

Here incense is explicitly connected with prayer—visible, tangible, and rising heavenward toward God.

The Book of Revelation reveals the same heavenly reality:

“Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God.” (Revelation 8:3–4)

When the Church uses incense, she does not invent a symbol; she participates in the worship of heaven itself. Incense proclaims that the prayers of the saints are heard, received, and presented before God through Christ.

Incense and the Atonement

Incense is also bound to the atoning work of God. On the Day of Atonement, the Lord commanded Aaron the high priest:

“He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it inside the veil… that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat.” (Leviticus 16:12–13)

The cloud of incense covered the mercy seat—the place where blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins. In this way, incense points to Christ Himself, who is our mercy seat, whose sacrifice is a sweet-smelling aroma before the Father, covering our sin and reconciling us to God.

The prophet Malachi looks forward to the Church’s worship extending throughout the world:

“From the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.” (Malachi 1:11)

This is not a prophecy of the old temple cult, but of the Church’s universal worship—Christ-centered, sacramental, and offered among all nations.

Even at our Lord’s Epiphany, incense appears:

“They offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11)

Frankincense is a priestly gift, confessing that the Child is not only King, but God in the flesh, worthy of worship.

The Church’s Practice

For these reasons, the Church has always understood incense as a confession of faith, not an ornament or aesthetic flourish. It confesses that Christ is present among His people, that prayers are truly offered and heard, that worship is not merely earthly but heavenly, and that the Church stands in continuity with the saints who have gone before.

When the Church uses incense, she is not becoming something new. She is being what she has always been.

And when Lutheran congregations use incense, they are not borrowing from Rome. They are simply living as what they confess themselves to be: catholic Christians, gathered around Christ, receiving His gifts, and worshiping according to the Scriptures and the historic faith of the Church.

Series: Why We Do What We Do

Understanding the theology, Scripture, and historic practice of Christian worship at All Saints.

In This Series:

January 12, 2026January 15, 2026 allsaintsjonesboro Why We Do What We Do

Receiving the Body of Christ with Reverence

This post is part of a new “Why We Do What We Do” series, explaining the biblical and historic practices of the Church.

FROM THE EARLIEST CENTURIES OF THE CHURCH, Christians have approached the Holy Sacrament with fear, love, and deep reverence. The way we receive the Body of Christ is never a matter of mere technique or personal preference but must take into account what Scripture says is actually happening in the Supper. Our bodily posture confesses what we believe about who Christ is, who we are, and what He is giving in this most holy gift.

Holy Scripture consistently teaches that man is by nature sinful and unclean and so unworthy to handle the holy things of God. This confession is not meant to shame the faithful, but to tell the truth about our condition apart from Christ. The prophet Isaiah, when brought into the presence of the Lord, does not congratulate himself for drawing near. Instead, he cries out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.” Only after a seraph touches his lips with a burning coal from the altar does he hear the Gospel: “Now your guilt is removed, and your sin forgiven” (Isaiah 6:5–7).

The Church has long understood this passage as a powerful image of the Holy Sacrament. The forgiveness of sins is not achieved by Isaiah’s effort or worthiness. It is delivered to him by God, from the altar, through an appointed servant. In the same way, Christ places His own Body upon the lips of His people, forgiving sins and cleansing the unclean. Receiving the Host on the tongue vividly confesses this biblical reality: we do not take Christ for ourselves; He gives Himself to us.

This confession is further reinforced by the Church’s historic practice of the lavabo—the washing of the celebrant’s fingers. The celebrant’s hands are not holy by nature, but are set apart by the Word of God and prayer for the handling of the Sacrament. As Psalm 26 declares, “I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, O Lord.” The Church has therefore guarded the handling of the consecrated Host with care, not out of superstition, but out of reverent faith in Christ’s true presence.

Receiving the Body of Christ on the tongue beautifully embodies the Gospel itself. In the Sacrament, we contribute nothing. We bring no work, no worthiness, no act of devotion sufficient to earn what is given. We simply open our mouths, like beggars before a merciful Lord, and receive what He promises. This posture teaches us again that salvation is by grace alone, given freely for Christ’s sake.

For these reasons, the Church has consistently preferred reception of the Host on the tongue as the clearest confession of reverence, humility, and faith in Christ’s gift. While the Church does not bind consciences with an absolute requirement, she does encourage practices that best teach and protect the faith. To receive on the tongue is to let the body confess what the heart believes: that Christ alone acts, Christ alone gives, and Christ alone forgives sins in His holy Sacrament.