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Let down the nets for a catch!

On this Fifth Sunday after Trinity, our Gospel lesson from Luke 5:1-11 points us to the reality of Christ within the boat of the Church and His command to His disciples (which includes all Christians) to let down the nets for a catch by striving to catch men with the Gospel. In our baptisms we enter this holy ark of the Christian Church; through God’s constant provision of Word and Sacrament, we are kept safe with Him as our Captain and sent forth to share Christ and to invite people into the boat with us. Like Peter, we may have “toiled all night” in sharing the Gospel, only to feel empty-handed. Yet at Jesus’ word we cast the nets again—trusting that He, not we, fills them. This miraculous catch points us to our duty within our various vocations: every baptized Christian is called to “fish for men.” Evangelism isn’t firstly the job of a committee or the pastor—it’s our daily calling in our homes, workplaces, and friendships. We speak of Christ not because we have the power to persuade, but because Jesus works through the words and witness of His people. Just as others once brought us into this ark of salvation, so now we are sent to rescue others from the flood of sin and death. Fed and strengthened by Christ within the Divine Service, may we joyfully and faithfully let down the nets again and again.

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Do we venerate the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist?

For about eight hundred years, the Church has dedicated the Thursday after Holy Trinity Day to be a feast day dedicated entirely to the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. This past Thursday, then, was that feast day–the Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

In the Epistle from 1 Corinthians 11, we heard about Jesus’ institution of this holy supper and the words He has given through which He converts simple bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord, and in the Gospel lesson, Jesus’ words from John 6, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

But it was, especially, the traditional collect (prayer) of the day that focused our contemplation on this miraculous gift. We prayed:

O God, who under this wondrous Sacrament hast left us a memorial of Thy Passion: grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever have in ourselves the fruit of the redemption which Thou hast wrought; who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest, ever one God, world without end.

Do Lutherans venerate and adore the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist? For many American Lutherans and other Protestants, that may sound more than a little bit strange. But if Christ says that the bread and wine of the Sacrament are actually His true Body and Blood, is it strange? Or simply Christian? Listen to Father Leigeber’s sermon below for more.

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Marriage: A Living Picture of the Gospel

Last evening, June 13, 2025, Allison Sterling and David Scarborough were united in holy matrimony at All Saints Parish. Their wedding was a joyous celebration of God’s good gift of marriage—but more than that, it was a living confession of something sacred, something eternal.

Allison and David chose yesterday as the date for their wedding, in part, because it was the five hundredth anniversary of the wedding of Martin and Katie. Five hundred years ago to the day, Martin Luther married his beloved Katharina von Bora—His “dear rib,” as he affectionately called her. Their union was not just personal; it was theological—a declaration that holy marriage, far from being a worldly formality, is a gift from God and a holy calling. Allison and David’s wedding was a continuation of that same confession: marriage is very good.

When God created man, He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” So He made a helper fit for him. He brought Eve to Adam, and He gave her to him. And now, just as Allison’s father has given her to David, so God unites wives to husbands within this holy estate. But even in the Garden of Eden, marriage was never just about Adam and Eve. It was always pointing forward to something greater, to a divine reality.

Saint Paul tells us that the union of husband and wife is a “great mystery”—in Latin, a sacramentum—because it is an image of Christ and His Bride, the Church. Though Lutherans don’t generally refer to marriage as a sacrament in the same sense that Baptism, Absolution, or the Eucharist are sacraments, it is nevertheless a holy act of God and sacred mystery that proclaims the Gospel.

Holy marriage, when understood rightly and lived out according to God’s design, becomes a sort of sermon—an embodied proclamation of Christ’s love for His Church. The husband is called to love his wife as Christ loves the Church: sacrificially, tenderly, enduringly. The wife is called to honor and trust her husband as the Church submits to Christ: willingly, faithfully, and in love.

This kind of union is increasingly out of step with the world. Our culture often treats marriage as optional or temporary. Cohabitation has become common. Divorce is tragically frequent. Even the definition of marriage is being blurred. But Christian marriage stands as a holy resistance—a living witness to the enduring truth of God’s Word and the unchanging love of Christ.

And this is precisely why the devil hates marriage. Because he hates Christ. And anything that images Christ’s love and grace becomes a target. But through the Spirit’s strength, pious Christian couples like David and Allison are able to stand firm—not by their own power, but by the grace given them in Christ within the communion of His Church.

Marriage is good. It is good for husbands and wives. It is good for children and for society. But most of all, it is good because it proclaims Jesus. It reveals the love of the Bridegroom who laid down His life for His Bride. It tells the world that there is One who forgives, who redeems, and who remains faithful forever.

So we rejoice with David and Allison. We thank God for their union. And we pray that their marriage, together with every Christian marriage, may always reflect the holy mystery of the eternal union of Christ and His beloved Church.

To God alone be all glory. Amen.