allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul

Today (June 29) is the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the holy apostles “through whom we have received the beginning of our religion,” as we prayed during Mass in the ancient Collect of the Day. In Ephesians 2:20, we hear that as those who have been made members of the household of God, we are built upon the “foundation of the apostles.” What does all of this mean? How do the apostles–and these two men in particular–fit into a biblical, Christ-centered faith? Is the foundation upon which the Church (and we as members of it) are built the apostles as men (as important as they are) or is that foundation perhaps something, rather, which comes to us from the apostles but is more bound up with their doctrine and Scriptural writings? These two men teach us an important lesson today, a lesson which helps us remain on the via media and avoid the extremes of either papism or modern evangelical biblicism. Listen to the sermon below for more.

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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.

allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith…

This past Sunday was the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. One of the fixtures of this day in the liturgical year is the Church’s recitation of the Athanasian Creed, an ancient statement of faith that helps us confess in great detail the biblical doctrine of who God is–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. During Divine Service at All Saints, though, as we heard the Scriptures read and listened to the sermon, we were reminded that it is important to confess rightly who God is chiefly because it helps us uphold and confess the true biblical teaching and faith of what the Triune God does, for us and for our salvation.

The true catholic faith has at its center the work of God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–to rescue us from sin and justify us before the Father, to cause us to be born again into God’s household and kingdom, to restore us to God eternally as His dear beloved children. We heard in the Gospel lesson from John 3 that we are brought to God and into His kingdom through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Through the rebirth of water and the Spirit, as those who have had the name of the Triune God placed upon us, we have been rescued from sin, death, and the devil, and have been made new in Christ. We saw this happen firsthand on Sunday to little Baylor Nathaniel. God be praised! Listen to the sermon for more.