August 15, 2025

Today's Reading: Luke 1:(39-45) 46-55

Daily Lectionary: 2 Samuel 5:1-25; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

“And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” (Luke 1:50)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Mary sings with hope. Over a short period of time, she has been visited by an angel, told she would carry a baby, told that this baby is the Son of God, trusted the announcement in faith, learned that her barren relative Elizabeth is also carrying a child, rushed to see her relative Elizabeth, and received a loving greeting to and about her and her child. This is a lot. And yet, when her next words are recorded, they are a song of praise and are steeped in trust and hope.

I’m going to be honest. Had this same situation occurred to me, I can’t be sure I would react the same. (Anxious? Me? Yep). It really seems like too much. An angel visits, and from Biblical descriptions, that is a terrifying sight. The message she receives does not seem reasonable. She’s engaged and yet pregnant, but didn’t break her promise to Joseph. This seems like an unmanageable situation. What will people think? How can I be the right person for this task? What do I know about being a mom? And yet, Mary responds in faith and trust.

Mary gives all glory to God. She sings in faith and focuses on God’s promises and mercy. She believes, even as she carries this little baby boy, that He will do as God’s Word has promised. Mary was a sinner. We will see over the course of Jesus’ life that she does not do motherhood perfectly. And yet, in faith, she clung to the promises that are for her, too. She is shown mercy. She is indeed blessed.

We get to rejoice alongside Mary that God had a perfect plan and did indeed keep His promises. We get to be fellow redeemed sinners who sing about and cling to hope. Jesus, her Son and her Lord, is our Brother and Lord. We were indeed buried with Him in Death and raised with Him in His Resurrection; all that He accomplished, He gives to us. In our Baptism, we are connected to Jesus and are brought into God’s family. We, generations after Mary, are indeed shown mercy.

Thanks be to God for His perfect plan. Thanks be to God for using His people, including Mary, to fulfill His plan for the salvation of the whole world. Thanks be to God that He uses you to love and care for the neighbors you have. Cling to hope. Live in God’s mercy for you.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Oh, how great is Your compassion, Faithful Father, God of grace, That with all our fallen race In our depth of degradation You had mercy so that we Might be saved eternally! (LSB 559:1)

Deac. Sarah Longmire, Bible study editor for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Study the early Church Fathers, Scripture, and Christian history alongside FLAME's conversational voice to see for yourself why their teachings from Scripture are important to study, and live out, today.

August 14, 2025

Today's Reading: Catechism: What is the Sacrament of the Altar?

Daily Lectionary: 2 Samuel 1:1-27; 1 Corinthians 7:25-40

It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink. (Catechism: What is the Sacrament of the Altar?)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Simple, plain, boring language. It’s the best. There is nothing to worry about or misunderstand. It is the Body. It is the Blood. It is given by Jesus. It is for us. This is amazing! This is a miracle, given to us every week. And yet, why do we so often disparage it? Why do we complicate it or get it mixed up?

The short answer? Sin. Sin breaks the beautifully simple and makes it jaggedly complicated. Do Jesus’ words really mean what He said? Should the wine be red in color? Does the bread have to be a certain shape? Or worse - ‘oh man, it’s Communion…church is going to be soooo long.’ More hymns? More prayers?

Lord, have mercy.

We sinners have a tendency to take what is simple and make it complicated. We tend to make it about us instead of Jesus. And yet the Truth is that Jesus gives us His Body and His Blood in the Lord’s Supper. He delivers forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in, with, and under the Bread and Wine. He has done the work; we get to joyfully receive. In fact, in your Baptism, you are given the Holy Spirit Who creates the faith that clings to these Gifts from Jesus. This is so wonderfully simple—God saves you, washes you, claims you, forgives you, and continues to strengthen and sustain you in Him.

When you are tempted to make The Lord’s Supper complicated, or about you, repent. When you are tempted to despise the preaching of the Gospel and the giving of God’s Gifts, repent. Allow God’s amazingly simple Gift of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection to be exactly as God has declared it: for you. It is done. It is finished. In the faith you have been given, you get to rejoice that these words and God’s promises mean exactly as He has said them. The Truth is simple: Jesus for you.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Draw near and take the body of the Lord, And drink the holy blood for you outpoured; Offered was He for greatest and for least, Himself the victim and Himself the priest. (LSB 637:1)

Deac. Sarah Longmire, Bible study editor for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Study the early Church Fathers, Scripture, and Christian history alongside FLAME's conversational voice to see for yourself why their teachings from Scripture are important to study, and live out, today.

August 13, 2025

Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:1-24

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 31:1-13; 1 Corinthians 7:1-24

“Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” (1 Corinthians 7:17a)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

These words are so great because they make me immediately bristle and feel defensive. In my Western-culture, independent, sinful mind, I want to immediately self-justify and argue. “The life that the Lord *assigned* and that ‘God has called him?’ Nah. I worked for my life. I matter because of what I can do. I choose and decide what and who is included in my life.”

Okay, perhaps it’s true that God made me and, yes, He gifted me with talents and abilities…but my works still count…right? Ugh.

Independence is ugly. When we strive so hard to prove our own worth, value, relationship status, or self-defined identity through *our* works or choices, we are truly chasing after an unattainable goal. The reality is that no one is independent on their own; dead things can only be dead. No one has earned their worth before God. All fall short. All need to be rescued.

In truth, these words, and this whole section in 1 Corinthians, are amazing. Paul speaks about vocational gifts and teaches us that within them, it is best to focus on the Giver of these gifts and the mercy through which He gives them. Are you married? Thanks be to God—love your spouse and care for them. Are you single? Thanks be to God—serve the neighbors you have been given. Rest in the gifts that God has blessed you with. Don’t covet something different. Don’t despair of your life; live it as the gift that it is. The Giver is the One Who sent His perfect Son to die on the cross in your place and give you forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Does my independent sinner-self still want to cling to my works? Do I still think I want something different? Yeah. And yet, God in His mercy gifted me with Baptism. In my Baptism, I daily repent of my sin, drown the Old Adam, and live as the new creation God has made me. The Holy Spirit works in and through me to recognize the abundant Gifts that God has given me and also to look at the neighbors in my life as gifts. Has God assigned me a life and called me? Yep. It is beyond comprehension that He would care for, rescue, love, forgive, and redeem sinners. And yet, this is truly what has happened. We get to rejoice in our dependence and look to the Giver of our lives, gifts, neighbors, and vocations.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

By grace! None dare lay claim to merit Our works and conduct have no worth. God in His love sent our Redeemer, Christ Jesus, to this sinful earth; His death did for our sins atone, And we are saved by grace alone. (LSB 566:2)

Deac. Sarah Longmire, Bible study editor for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Study the early Church Fathers, Scripture, and Christian history alongside FLAME's conversational voice to see for yourself why their teachings from Scripture are important to study, and live out, today.