Reflections

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Join HT for a reading of the days Higher Things Reflection. A short devotion directed toward the youth of our church, written by the Pastors and Deaconesses of our church, clearly proclaiming the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! Find out more about HT at our website, www.higherthings.org

  1. HACE 12 H

    Friday of the Seventeenth Week After Pentecost

    September 20, 2024  Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 18 - Psalm 37:5-7; antiphon: Psalm 37:4 Daily Lectionary: Nehemiah 4:7-23; 1 Timothy 3:1-16 “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act” (Psalm 37:5) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Waiting for the Lord to act when things do not appear to be going the way they should be going is one of the most difficult things to do. We see whatever evil is going on. Does God? If He does, why does He allow it to continue? When will He intervene? Will He?  In Psalm 37, David says, “Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil” (37:7-8, emphasis added). God certainly knows all the evil in the world, and He knows it far better than we will ever know it! He knows not only all the evil that is happening right now but all the evil that has ever happened and will ever happen.  But God does not only know of evil. Not only will He set it right when evil-doers are caught and punished; not only will He put all things right on the Last Day, ridding His creation of sin, death, and the devil; He has already put evil right on the cross. Jesus’ crucifixion is where all evil comes to its full expression, in the killing by creatures of their Creator. And Jesus takes all that evil, including your sin and mine, and dies under its weight. By doing that, He buries sin and death in His grave and leaves it there when He rises from the dead.  It is true that we still see evil in the world after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, but that is only the death rattle of this old creation. The present form of this world is passing away (1 Corinthians 7:31). God has made this known to us by His Spirit. And He has made us part of this same story in our Baptism; the same old/new, death/resurrection line now runs through us as it does through the creation. Because of this, we can be still before Yahweh and wait patiently for Him (Psalm 37:7). When Christ is revealed, then He will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:21), and “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday” (Psalm 37:6).  Your future is assured by Christ’s resurrection, so you can be patient as God works all things together for our good in Christ. He who has called you according to His promise in Christ is faithful. He will surely do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24).   In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. In the midst of evil, O God, grant us the assurance of Christ’s victory over sin, death, and all evil, so that we may wait patiently for the revealing of that victory in the whole creation. Amen.  -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min

  2. HACE 1 DÍA

    Thursday of the Seventeenth Week After Pentecost

    September 19, 2024  Today's Reading: Catechism: Table of duties: of civil government Daily Lectionary: Nehemiah 2:11-20, 4:1-6; 1 Timothy 2:1-15 “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Sometimes, we think that if other people are not doing what they are supposed to do, then we can do what would otherwise be wrong. We think that we will do what we’re supposed to do when they do what they’re supposed to do. We’ll obey our parents when they do everything God has commanded them to do. Husbands will only sacrifice themselves for their wives when their wives submit, and wives will only submit when husbands act like Jesus. Likewise, we think that we will be subject to the governing authorities when the governing authorities do what God has given them to do.  But all of those are contrary to God’s word. The fact is, of course, that the sinners in the government, in families, and in marriages will never do everything that they are supposed to do. But God’s Law does not have exceptions. We don’t get to decide whether we will follow God’s word based on what other people do. We obey God, not people. And obeying God means that we obey those whom He puts into authority over us, whether parents or governing authorities (which are extensions of the Father’s authority). The explanation of the Fourth Commandment reminds us: “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.”  What does this mean? What should we do when the government does not act according to God’s will to protect the innocent and punish the evildoer? The most obvious example is when governments persecute Christians. What will submission to the governing authorities look like in that case? It will mean continuing to hear God’s word and receiving His sacraments. The government may abuse its authority and put us in prison or put us to death. Even so, we trust the God who instituted them more than those He put into authority. As Jesus says to Pilate, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). Jesus does not deny Pilate’s authority to put Him to death, but He tells Pilate that his authority comes from God.  We must continue to do what God has given us to do according to our vocations. We pray that everyone else properly carries out the vocations God has given them. We pray that when they do not act rightly, God will replace them. Above all, we pray that God will have mercy on all of us in Christ.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Lord God, you have put into place all authorities. Cause them to serve according to Your will, for the good of all people. Give us full trust in You, so that whatever anyone does, we are assured of Your mercy in Christ. Amen. -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min

  3. HACE 2 DÍAS

    Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week After Pentecost

    September 18, 2024  Today's Reading: Haggai 1:1-2:23 Daily Lectionary: Nehemiah 1:1-2:10; Haggai 1:1-2:23; 1 Timothy 1:1-20 “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:9) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  The people who returned from exile in Babylon had begun to rebuild the temple, as Cyrus, the Persian king, had allowed them to do. But then, in the face of opposition and threats, they stopped building. So God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to exhort them to start again and give them a promise about His ongoing presence among them.  In the face of the idolatry and the blasphemy of the priests and people, the prophet Ezekiel saw the glory of Yahweh depart from the temple (Ezekiel 9-10). Now, after the exile, God promises through Haggai and Zechariah that the glory will return to the temple and that the glory will be greater than it was previously. But this will not be a glory according to human expectations. “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes” (Haggai 2:3)? The appearance does not match the reality of the promise.  The temple is tied to the giving of peace, of shalom, which is a whole, entire peace and well-being, where everything is right and there are no more enemies against God’s people. God has them rebuild the temple, even though they are currently surrounded by threats and opposition, based on His promise and their trust in Him.  But the temple always points forward to the day when there will be no more threats, only shalom. So Jesus promises that the temple will be torn down and He will rebuild it in three days. He cleanses the temple because something greater than the temple is here. When that hour comes, when it appears as if Jesus, the place of God’s presence and shalom, is being destroyed, that is actually the glory of God being revealed in the world. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23), and “when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to Myself” (12:32).  Jesus says that His servants will be where He is, and where He is, in that place, God will give shalom. We wait, like the returned exiles, for the day when all enemies and threats will be removed from this creation, but He gives us His saving presence now—even in the midst of our enemies—at the Table, in the flesh and blood of our temple, Jesus.   In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O Lord, be present with us in the midst of all threats to body and soul, and keep us from our enemies of sin, death, and the devil, until we have the fullness of Your peace and glory in the new creation. Amen. -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min

  4. HACE 3 DÍAS

    Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week After Pentecost

    September 17, 2024  Today's Reading: James 3:1-12 Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 36:1-23; Philemon 1-25; Colossians 4:1-18 “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” (James 3:10) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Isn’t it strange how little control we have over our tongues? Why do we continually have to apologize to people because we “didn’t mean to say that”? What did we mean to say? And if we meant to say something else, why didn’t we say that? The tongue is a restless fire, and the words we say can burn down or build up. And it’s not only James who says it. Jesus says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,” (Matthew 12:36). The words we speak mean far more than we often think. There is an old campfire song that goes, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.” It only takes a single word to change completely a relationship. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can also harm and destroy. It should not be so. But it is also a word that restores, heals, and forgives. It doesn’t start with our words, trying to “take them back” or fix what we’ve said and done. Sin is not like that. There is no fixing what has been broken in the past, what has been burned down, and all the idle and useless words we’ve spoken. It is only an entirely new word, a pure word, a living word, that can rebuild and restore. The Word made flesh enters a world of lying words, damaging words, and killing words and embodies the life and forgiveness of God. He hears words like “Crucify!” and He speaks words like “Forgive.” He hears words of death, and He speaks words of life. He hears words like “If He is the Son of God, let Him come down from the cross and save Himself,” and He speaks the dying word, “It is finished.”  But this Word will not be silenced. He rises from the dead, and the first word He speaks to the disciples in the Upper Room is “Peace.” Peace between God and people; peace between people. Peace that heals where our words have broken; peace that pours quenching water on our burning, igniting words. Peace that spreads from the risen Jesus to His people, spreads from one of His baptized believers to another, spreads from the baptized people of God to those who do not know His peace. His Word is not idle or useless or powerless. His Word alone does at all times the good that He means to do: I forgive you. Take and eat, take and drink; this is My Body and Blood, given and shed for you. His Word is everything, for us and between us, until we see the truth of His Word: “Look! I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5)!  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O Lord, cleanse our tongues with Your forgiving word, so that we, too, may speak healing and forgiving words to one another. Amen. -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min

  5. HACE 4 DÍAS

    Monday of the Seventeenth Week After Pentecost

    September 16, 2024  Today's Reading: Isaiah 50:4-10 Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 35:1-7, 16-25; Zephaniah 1:1-3:20; Colossians 3:1-25 “He who vindicates me is near…” (Isaiah 50:8) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  In the words of Isaiah the prophet, we hear our Lord, the Man Jesus, who suffers as the holy and righteous Servant of God. As a man, He hears the Word of God, learns it, grows in the knowledge of it, and obeys it (see Luke 2:52). He does not exercise His human will in rebellion to His Father’s (and His) divine will. He goes willingly to the suffering and death that is the wages of human sin. He gives His back to those who strike and His face to those who pull out the beard. He does not hide from disgrace and spitting. The Lamb goes uncomplaining forth.   But He doesn’t do this for Himself. He does it for you. His knowledge, earned in the flesh by His life, suffering, and death, is for all the unrighteous, for those who do not do the will of God, who do not want to hear His Word, and who rebel against Him. “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:11). He knows His Father and has full human trust in Him. So He knows that He will not be left in the humiliation of the cross or ashamed in His trust. The Father raises Him from the dead and vindicates Him. So we, too, have been given Jesus’ holy confidence in the Father: “Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?” (Isaiah 50:9a). Paul says it this way: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:31-34). The One who has been vindicated in righteousness, the Holy One whom the Father would not let see decay in the grave, now stands alive forever, interceding for you by His death and resurrection. If this is how God has helped you, neither sin nor death nor anything else can condemn you as guilty. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God that is Christ Jesus, our Lord. If God is for you, who can be against you? In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O Lord God, You have justified and vindicated us in Christ. Cause all those who walk in darkness to trust You, the Light of the world, and keep us forever in that same faith. Amen. -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min

  6. HACE 5 DÍAS

    Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost

    September 15, 2024  Today's Reading: Mark 9:14-29 Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 34:1-4, 8-11, 14-33; Nahum 1:1-3:19; Colossians 2:8-23 “But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” (Mark 9:27) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Between predictions of His death and resurrection, Jesus’ divine glory is displayed on the mountain, and Jesus gives life to an apparently dead boy in the valley. This is beyond the disciples; it comes only from firm belief and prayer. Jesus is the true believer and the doubtless pray-er, but He is in the midst of an unbelieving generation. Apparently, the other nine disciples had been waiting at the foot of the mountain for Jesus, Peter, James, and John to return. While they were gone, a man brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus, but since Jesus wasn’t there, either the man or the disciples decided to try the exorcism on their own.  Jesus comes down the mountain, and the disciples, the crowd, and the scribes are arguing with each other. Jesus says, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” (Mark 9:19) When Moses came down from the mountain and found the people worshiping a golden calf in place of Yahweh, God said that Israel was a stiff-necked, stubborn, idolatrous people (Exodus 32:7-10). People have not changed from that generation to this. We still alternate between pride and helplessness; we still waver between trust in God and the gods we make with our own hands or in our own minds. “I believe; help my unbelief!” There is no cure except death and resurrection. We have been this way since childhood— from conception.  So Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray, to weep, and to bear all the unbelief of all generations. This is how long He puts up with us: to death on a cross, to the grave. This devil, this death, this sin; they can only be driven out by death and resurrection, just as He says. And He gives a glimpse of it with this boy. “And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” (Mark 9:26-27). So the Jesus who died and rose stretches His hand out to those dead in sin and pulls them up from the water by His Word, and we arise to live in new life before Him forever. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him” (Romans 6:8). I believe; help my unbelief!  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Lord Jesus Christ, our support and defense in every need, continue to preserve Your Church in safety, govern her by Your goodness, and bless her with Your peace; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min

  7. HACE 6 DÍAS

    Holy Cross Day

    September 14, 2024  Today's Reading: John 12:20-33 Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 33:1-25; Jonah 1:1-4:11; Colossians 1:24-2:7 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  The cross looks like defeat, but faith sees the victory of Jesus over sin and death. The cross looks like helplessness, but faith sees the power of God for salvation. The cross looks like humiliation, but faith sees the exaltation of Jesus and His coronation as King. “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” The death of Jesus on the cross is a result of sin. And since everyone who has ever lived on the earth (except Him) is a sinner, the cross is where He draws all sinners to Himself. He “came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:17-18).  The Greeks said to Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:20). In response, Jesus spoke of His coming death as His glorification and said, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also” (12:26). The servants of Jesus are with Him in His death: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).  Jesus gathered you to Himself on the cross by your baptism so that you would be always with Him, not only in death but even more– in His resurrection. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). This is the mystery and contradiction of the holy cross: here, Jesus wins victory in defeat, power in weakness, and exaltation in humiliation. “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle; sing the ending of the fray. Now above the cross, the trophy, sound the loud triumphant lay; tell how Christ, the world’s redeemer, as a victim won the day. … Faithful cross, true sign of triumph, be for all the noblest tree; none in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thine equal be; symbol of the world’s redemption, for the weight that hung on thee” (LSB 454:1, 4)!   In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Merciful God, Your Son, Jesus Christ, was lifted high upon the cross that He might bear the sins of the world and draw all people to Himself. Grant that we who glory in His death for our redemption may faithfully heed His call to bear the cross and follow Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min

  8. 13 SEPT

    Friday of the Sixteenth Week After Pentecost

    September 13, 2024  Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 17 - Psalm 31:14-16; antiphon: Psalm 31:24 Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 32:1-22; Hosea 1:1-14:9; Colossians 1:1-23 “But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’” (Psalm 31:14) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  What does it mean to have a God? We confess that the First Commandment requires us to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” So whatever it is in which we put our trust is our God. Whatever we fear can easily become our God. What we love with our time, money, and energy is our God. Let’s not try to get out from under this judgment of God’s law. We are no different from the Israelites, who made another God when Moses did not show up for a month. When we do not find the answers we want or think we need, when our money, the government, or our families seem more immediate, and we turn to them most quickly when we are in trouble, then we have our gods exposed.  But the God who delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt refused to let the people have any other gods. No other god made everything that exists. No other god delivered them from slavery. No other god would bring them into the land that Yahweh had promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7). God does not want us to make other gods for ourselves, not so much because we should choose Him out of all the gods there are, but because there are, in reality, no other gods. “Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any” (Isaiah 44:8). So the only God there is sends the only Son in order to gather all of us god-makers back to Himself. Idolaters are as idolaters do, and so the only true God gets crucified as a false god. But the resurrection demonstrates that He alone is God. “Ask ye, who is this? Jesus Christ it is, of Sabaoth Lord, and there’s none other God” (LSB 656:2). And the Spirit of this Jesus preaches the true God back into our ears and hearts by His Word, and creates a true fear, love, and trust. And now we rejoice with all the believers in the true God, and we pray with the psalmist: “But I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’”  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O God, Your dwelling is with us in Christ. Dwell with us always, that we may be Your people, and that You may be with us as our God (Revelation 21:3). Keep us as Your people until the final day, when we say, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him! Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation (Isaiah 25:9)! Amen. -Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington. Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY. The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.

    5 min
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Join HT for a reading of the days Higher Things Reflection. A short devotion directed toward the youth of our church, written by the Pastors and Deaconesses of our church, clearly proclaiming the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! Find out more about HT at our website, www.higherthings.org

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