Calendar

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Micah 3:5–12\rPsalm: Psalm 43; antiphon: v. 3\rEpistle: 1 Thessalonians 4:1–12\rGospel: Matthew 23:1–12\rIntroit: Psalm 149:1–4; antiphon: Psalm 148:13\rGradual: Revelation 7:14b; Psalm 84:5\rVerse: Matthew 23:12\r\rIn Faith and Love, the Christ Has Fulfilled the Law and Removed Our Heavy Burdens\r \rThe prophets lead the people astray when they do not speak “with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:8), but rather according to their own whims, to please the people and to satisfy their own desires. By such abuse of their office, they bring disaster upon the people, so that “Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins” (Micah 3:12), and there shall be “no answer from God” (Micah 3:7). God does not call His people to follow the lusts of their fallen flesh, “like the Gentiles who do not know God,” but to live “in holiness” and “to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:5, 7, 9). In the humility of faith before God, the teachers of the Law should be heeded and obeyed, because they “sit on Moses’ seat” (Matt. 23:2). Yet “you have one instructor, the Christ” (Matt. 23:10), who has humbled Himself to “be your servant” (Matt. 23:11), even unto death, and who has been exalted in His resurrection. He has fulfilled the Law, removed your heavy burdens and raised you up as a child of God. \r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: White\r\rFirst Reading: Revelation 7:2–17\rFirst Reading: Revelation 7:9–17\rPsalm: Psalm 149; antiphon: v. 4\rEpistle: 1 John 3:1–3\rGospel: Matthew 5:1–12\rIntroit: Psalm 31:1, 3, 5; antiphon: Revelation 7:14b\rGradual: Revelation 7:14b; Psalm 84:5\rVerse: Hebrews 12:1a, 2a\r\rSaints Are Blessed in the Eternal Presence of Christ\r \r“A great multitude … from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne” (Rev. 7:9–17). Faith-filled saints from every place and time, with unified voices, eternally magnify the Lamb of God. As His beloved children, we, too, “shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1–3). Joined with the throng of angels and myriad saints, we shall “serve him day and night in his temple” (Rev. 7:9–17). In our earthly tension vacillating between saint and sinner, faith and doubt, sacred and profane, we earnestly seek Jesus to calm our fears, comfort our spirits and forgive our sins. The Holy Spirit through faith in Christ propels us forward, fortifying us in Word and Sacrament, to our eternal home. In the midst of our constant struggle as believers, we need to be blessed. And so we are. The poor in spirit, the meek, the hungry, the thirsty, the merciful, the pure and the persecuted are all blessed, and we will most certainly inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:1–12).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Amos 5:18–24\rPsalm: Psalm 70; antiphon: v. 4\rEpistle: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18\rGospel: Matthew 25:1–13\rIntroit: Psalm 84:1, 9–12; antiphon: v. 3\rGradual: Revelation 7:14b; Psalm 84:5\rVerse: Matthew 25:13\r\rThe Gospel Prepares Us for Our Heavenly Bridegroom’s Coming\r \rThe Day of the Lord is “darkness, and not light” (Amos 5:18, 20) for all who trust in their own righteousness and piety. The Lord will not accept their “burnt offerings and grain offerings,” nor will He look upon their “peace offerings” (Amos 5:22). Instead, He desires a heart of faith that trusts in Him, which lets “justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24) in love for the neighbor. In order for the “lamps” of our lives to burn brightly with such love, we must be filled with the “oil” of forgiveness through faith in our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ (Matt. 25:1–4). Therefore, as we await His coming, wisdom directs us “to the dealers” (Matt. 25:9), that is, to the ministers of His Gospel. Thus we wait upon the Lord, and we “encourage one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18). Waking or sleeping, we are prepared to meet Him when He comes “with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God,” and “we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Zephaniah 1:7–16\rPsalm: Psalm 90:1–12; antiphon: v. 17\rEpistle: 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11\rGospel: Matthew 25:14–30\rIntroit: Psalm 143:2, 5–6, 10–11; antiphon: v. 1\rGradual: Revelation 7:14b; Psalm 84:5\rVerse: Matthew 25:29a\r\rGod’s Gift of Forgiveness Engenders Our Forgiveness of Others\r \rThe Day of the Lord is “near and hastening fast,” and it will be “a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation” (Zeph. 1:14, 15). The Lord will search out and punish “the men who are complacent” concerning His Word, “who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud” (Zeph. 1:9, 12). Then all their works and efforts will be for nothing: “Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them” (Zeph. 1:13). But those who fear, love and trust in the Lord are “good and faithful” stewards of His property (Matt. 25:21). They live by faith in His free gift of forgiveness, and they multiply His goods in the loving forgiveness of their neighbor, and “the master of those servants” settles His accounts with them by the gracious reckoning of His Gospel (Matt. 25:19). Likewise, “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). Therefore, let us also “put on the breastplate of faith and love” in our dealings with one another (1 Thess. 5:8). \r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24\rPsalm: Psalm 95:1–7a; antiphon: v. 7a\rEpistle: 1 Corinthians 15:20–28\rGospel: Matthew 25:31–46\rIntroit: Psalm 39:4–5a, 7–8, 12; antiphon: 2 Peter 3:13 NIV\rGradual: Revelation 7:14b; Psalm 84:5\rVerse: Revelation 22:13\r\rBy the Cross of Christ, We Enter the Kingdom of Our God and Father\r \rWhen the crucified and risen Lord Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead, “he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:32). “To those on his right,” who have been crucified and raised with Him through repentance and faith in His Gospel, He will grant the blessed kingdom of His Father (Matt. 25:34). Having been justified by His grace, they live unto righteousness in Him (Matt. 25:35–40). But “those on his left,” who trust in themselves and despise their neighbor, will depart “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). Until that day, the Lord searches for His sheep “as a shepherd seeks out his flock” (Ezek. 34:11–12). Through His preaching of repentance, He disciplines the proud sheep and goats, “the fat and the strong,” but through the preaching of forgiveness He rescues the lost, binds up the injured, strengthens the weak and feeds “the lean sheep” (Ezek. 34:16, 20). In this way, He destroys the power of death in the children of Adam by His cross, so that “in Christ shall all be made alive” by His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20–26).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship