His Time - The Value of Vicarage, Psalm 40, Worldview Watch, "The Boy Jesus in the Temple"

1. The Value of Vicarage

Vicar Jacob Benson leads morning Matins at the start of the first domestic Mercy Medical Team on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, at Shepherd of the City Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford

Guest Rev. Michael Roth, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Saint Joseph’s, Michigan, talks about the value of vicarage. Rev. Roth wrote an article in Winter Issue of For the Life of the World, a publication of Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, IN, on the experience and value of vicarage. Find the CTSFW publication here: ctsfw.edu/resources/for-the-life-of-the-world.

2. Meditation on the Day’s Psalm

Rev. Jonathan Fisk gives a meditation on the Psalm of the Day, Psalm 40:6-10.

Psalm 40:6-10

⁶In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
    but you have given me an open ear.^[a]
Burnt offering and sin offering
    you have not required.
⁷Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
    in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
⁸I delight to do your will, O my God;
    your law is within my heart.”

⁹I have told the glad news of deliverance^[b]
    in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
    as you know, O Lord.
¹⁰I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    from the great congregation.

Footnotes:

Psalm 40:6 Hebrew ears you have dug for me
Psalm 40:9 Hebrew righteousness; also verse 10

3. Worldview Watch

ROBIN HAMMOND/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Avery Jackson, 9, covers the subscriber’s edition of National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution” issue in January. — ROBIN HAMMOND/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Avery Jackson, 9, covers the subscriber’s edition of National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution” issue in January.

Rev. Jonathan Fisk talks about the recent National Geographic cover of a transgender child. Read Walt Heyer’s article on the Federalist here thefederalist.com/2015/12/02/public-schools-force-kids-into-transgender-wars. Find the National Geographic cover and their rationale at nationalgeographic.com/magazine.

4. Daily Lectionary

Rev. Dustin Beck from Trinity Lutheran Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, studies Luke 2:41-52.

5. Morning Prayer Sermonette

Today’s sermonette is given by

"The Bible is cradle wherein Christ is laid." - Martin Luther — “The Bible is cradle wherein Christ is laid.” – Martin Luther

Luke 2:41-52

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴²And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. ⁴³And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, ⁴⁵and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸And when his parents^[a] saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” ⁴⁹And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”^[b] ⁵⁰And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. ⁵¹And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.