Pastor Kory's Page for Sunday, February 15, 2026

“Lent” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “spring season.” While it doesn’t look much like spring yet, soon enough, flowers will begin to blossom and tree buds will emerge. The Old Testament festival of Passover along with Jesus’ death and resurrection all took place in the springtime. Throughout church history, Christians have also set aside a springtime season of preparation and remembrance for Holy Week and Easter, the season we know as “Lent.”

For some people, Lent may conjure up ideas of dark and depressing hymns or of giving up one too many creature comforts – a season of “dos” and “don’ts.” I want to encourage you, though, to view Lent as a time of opportunity. Just as springtime is a season of new life, Lent is also a time of renewal in our life in Christ.

The words of the prophet Joel characterize this season: “‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12-13) Just as the Lord called His Old Testament people to return to Him with repentant hearts, He still desires the same from us.

While the entire Christian life is meant to be lived in repentance before the Lord, the season of Lent is especially intended for repenting of our sins and leaving them at the cross of Christ. Lent is a great time to do just what Joel 2:13 says: returning to the Lord your God. He constantly invites you back to Him! Return to Him in regularly attending Divine Services and receiving the Lord’s Supper. Return to Him in confession and repentance. Return to Him through prayer and the reading and hearing of His Holy Word. And return to Him in thanksgiving, remembering all that Christ Jesus underwent for your salvation and forgiveness.

Ash Wednesday, which falls on Feb. 18 this year, begins the Lenten season. I encourage you to return to the Lord by attending our 6:30 PM Ash Wednesday service, which will begin with a traditional symbol of repentance: the imposition of ashes. For anyone who is unable to attend the evening service, I will also be available to offer the imposition of ashes before and after the 10:00 AM Bible study on Feb. 18 and again from 2:00-4:00 PM. Please contact me if you’d like to arrange a specific or different time. If you would also like to participate in individual Confession and Absolution, I will be available for that as well. Please avail yourself of these opportunities. 

Our Wednesday services this Lent will continue our focus on St. Matthew’s Gospel as we look closer at “Places of the Passion” (the city of Jerusalem, the village of Bethany, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the courtyard of the high priest, and Pilate’s judgment hall), destinations on Jesus’ journey to the cross for us. Please join us each week at 6:30 PM from Feb. 18 – March 25. Pre-service meals will also be offered, beginning on Weds, Feb. 25.

A Lutheran Hour Lenten devotional booklet is also available for you in the church entryway. Its theme is “Behold the King.” It offers devotional messages and reflection questions for you from Ash Wednesday through Easter.

Another devotional opportunity which you might consider would be to select one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and read through it over the Lenten season. Trace Jesus’ march to Calvary from heaven, to Bethlehem, to His eventual ministry, and His final days before His death for you on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Fasting is another practice associated with the season of Lent. While this isn’t something that you must do in a certain amount or certain way, it’s another opportunity to offset this time of Lent, to practice the fruit of self-control, and to forego certain foods or distractions. Jesus Himself fasted at the beginning of His ministry (as we’ll see on Sun, Feb. 22nd), and He also assumed that His disciples would practice fasting, since He said, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others” (Matthew 6:16). In this passage, Jesus makes the point that fasting is a good step to take in our devotion to the Lord but that it’s not meant to be something that we do for show. If you choose to fast this Lent (whether from certain foods or drinks, technologies, or habits), view it as an opportunity to set aside some unnecessary things in order to give more time and attention to your Lord and His great sacrifice for you.

Lent is an opportunity. In these days leading up to Ash Wednesday, I encourage you to prayerfully reflect on how this year’s Lenten season can be an opportunity for you to return to your Lord, grow in His Word, and experience repentance and renewal in your Christian faith.

Peace in Christ,

            Pastor Kory Janneke

Pastor Kory’s Page for Sunday, February 1, 2026

“Meditation” is a practice that is often associated with Eastern religions, such as Hinduism or Buddhism. In Eastern spirituality, meditation is usually understood to be a quiet, introspective practice. Meditation in this sense seeks for truth, enlightenment, emptiness, awareness, and so on by attuning to one’s own thoughts and surroundings. 

Being attentive (rather than constantly distracted) is certainly a worthwhile goal, but what is most deserving of our attention? Our own thoughts and observations, the collective wisdom of man, or the Lord’s revealed will in Scripture? As Christians, we know that our answer is the latter. God wants us to meditate upon His Holy Word, but what does it mean to do this?

The Bible speaks about meditation in several places. The Lord said to Joshua, “The Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it” (Joshua 1:8a). The Psalms begin by saying, “Blessed is the man … [whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). And at the other end of the Psalter we read, “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare you mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness.” (Psalm 145:4-6)

What makes the biblical practice of meditation different from Eastern meditation is that it refers to more than just internal reflection upon the Bible. We should reflect upon and remember Scripture in our hearts, but the Hebrew concept of meditation focuses on oral repetition, speaking God’s Word audibly, even if just to oneself. 

Why is speaking God’s Word out loud so important? For one thing, speaking engages more of our brain and our senses. It aids in memorization. Modern neuroscience shows that the words you hear most often – even from your own lips – will “rewire” your brain. But long before brain scans could show such a thing, the Lord already revealed in His Word that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

In other words, hearing God’s Word from outside ourselves is critical to forming and maintaining our Christian faith. In a preface to his writings, Martin Luther wrote, “You should meditate, that is, not only in your heart, but also externally by actually repeating and comparing oral speech and literal words of the book, reading and rereading them with diligent attention and reflection, so that you may see what the Holy Spirit means by them. And take care that you do not grow weary or think that you have done enough when you have read, heard and spoken them once or twice, and that you then have complete understanding.”

Luther then goes on to reference Psalm 119 and how the author “constantly boasts that he will talk, meditate, speak, sing, hear, read, by day and night and always, about nothing except God’s Word and commandments. For God will not give you His Spirit without the external Word; so take your cue from that. His command to write, preach, read, hear, sing, speak, etc., outwardly was not given in vain.” (Luther’s Works, American Edition, Vol. 34, pp. 285-286).

Do you ever feel like your mind gets stuck thinking the same negative thoughts over and over again? Over time, those thoughts literally shape our brains and keep that cycle going, whether those repeated thoughts are fearful, depressive, resentful, etc. But the Lord has given us an antidote! Just as He said to Joshua and the Israelites more than 3,000 years ago, His Word ought to not depart from out mouths! If we want to think faithfully (and we should want that!), then we need to listen and speak faithfully, beginning with God’s own powerful Word. 

Here are a few recommendations: first, prioritize hearing God’s spoken Word through the Sunday liturgy and sermon and also by joining in Bible studies where His Word is spoken and discussed among believers. In doing personal Bible study or devotions at home, rather than just quietly reading the Bible, speak it aloud to yourself and your loved ones. Alternatively, you can also use an audio Bible along with your personal Bible reading. (There are many free audio Bibles available now online or as applications. Bible Hub is one that I have personally used.)

Memorization is also not just an exercise for children preparing for Christmas programs or youth participating in catechism classes. The Lord intends for His people of all ages to commit His Word to heart, but in order to “save” it on the inside we need to hear it and speak it on the outside. Here are five Bible verses as a starting place for memorization:

A Word for our fear: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

A Word for our anger: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).

A Word for our loneliness: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

A Word for our faith: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

A Word for our future: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

These are just a few examples. Speaking and memorizing whole Psalms or hymn verses is also a great way to get God’s Word into our hearts and minds and to practice meditation – in the biblical sense. May the Psalmist’s words about God’s Word be true of you and me: “Your testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm 119:99b).

In Christ,

                        Pastor Kory Janneke

Pastor Kory’s Page - January 2026

A New Year is a great time to start some new habits, especially when it comes to your life in Christ. On that note I want to invite you to participate in one or both of our new weekly Bible studies. Here is a little preview of both Bible studies:

Beginning on Sunday, January 18th, our new topic will be “Man and Woman in Christ.” I invite you to join us for this study in the sanctuary at 9:00 AM each Sunday. This study will run through Sunday, February 22nd. Over the course of those six Sundays, we’ll discuss both Old and New Testament Scripture passages which speak about marriage, singleness, sexuality, chastity, homosexuality, and more.

This is a very relevant topic at any time but even more so in our current culture. Going back to Genesis chapter three, we see that Satan’s first attacks on God’s creation centered on the relationship between our first parents, Adam and Eve. However, Satan sought to destroy more than just the connection between this couple. He attacked God’s creation of man and woman, made to “image” Him to one another and the surrounding creation. Satan went after the very culmination of God’s creation: the first marriage and family, and with it, all subsequent marriages and families on earth. 

You don’t need me to tell you that marriage and family life is still under attack. Satan isn’t very creative. He continues to undermine the relationships between men and women, husbands and wives, parents and children, and more. The distortions we see of God’s design for man and woman are nothing new. As far back as the time of Abraham, we hear about the city of Sodom, known for its public practice of homosexuality (Genesis 19). Today, Christians are confronted with transgenderism, pornography, and societal disdain for getting married and having children. Our new Bible study will offer a respectful setting in which we can discuss challenging issues like these.

Also, beginning on Wednesday, January 21st, our new midweek Bible study will look at each of the 27 books of the New Testament. I invite you to join us each Wednesday at 10:00 AM in the Fellowship Hall. I also make a recording of most of our Wednesday Bible studies. If you miss a week or would like to view the recording to keep up with what we’re studying, please let me know.

On January 21st, we’ll begin with an introduction to the New Testament and an overview of the Gospel of Matthew. Each week, we’ll look at the basic setting of each book, answering the “Who, What, When, and Where” questions surrounding it. We’ll also discuss the structure of each book and its major themes. Time will also be allotted for reading some key passages in the longer books, and, in the case of shorter books, reading most or all of them together in class.

If you’d like to gain a better understanding of the New Testament and how it all fits together – and shouldn’t we all want that? – then, please join us on Wednesdays this year as we walk through Matthew through Revelation!

In Christ,

                   Pastor Kory Janneke