The Shepherd’s Voice – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Tomah, WI

The Fifth Sunday after Trinity July 5, 2026 Luke 5:1-11   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.   Yesterday, the country paused for fireworks, picnics, and celebrations. But why? It was our nation's Independence Day. It marks the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, some 250 years ago in 1776, a document few continue to read, but many...

The Festival of St. Peter and St. Paul June 29, 2026 Matthew 16:13-19   +INJ+   As we celebrate the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, maybe you are wondering, why?   Why would we observe this date in the Church’s calendar? Do we need to? No.   Is observing this day worthwhile? Absolutely.   But why?   Well, if you were to open your hymnals to the roman numeral page xii, you’d read, Our churches tea...

Trinity 3 June 20, 2021 Luke 15:1-10   This past week, I was at Fort McCoy for a promotion ceremony, and it reminded me of the days I traveled to the base for military training.   One of the basic skills a soldier must learn early in their military training is land navigation. Technology is great, but if you can't find your way with a compass and a map, you might be in serious trouble when the bat...

The Second Sunday after Trinity June 14, 2026 Proverbs 9:1-10 & Luke 14:15-24   The first reading this morning came from the book of Proverbs. In many ways, the book of Proverbs can be difficult to understand. A reason for this is that a proverb often requires the reader to meditate on it to grasp its deep meaning and truth.    You see, proverbs are usually short sayings that express deep, uni...

The First Sunday after Trinity June 7, 2026 Luke 16:19-31   The Trinity season begins in earnest today with the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man.   This is a familiar Gospel, today, that draws the lines between falling in love with earthly glory and heavenly glory. The Rich Man depicts many people of the world who see glory in what you wear, what you consume, who you keep company with, while La...

The Seventh Sunday of Easter May 17, 2026 John 15:26-16:4     It seems to me that we hear these words of the Gospel each year, in addition to this Sunday, but in a different way. Let’s ponder them for a moment, and forgive me, but I’m going to paraphrase the Gospel here.   Jesus says He’s sending the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to the disciples to show them what He has done for them by dying on the c...

The Sixth Sunday of Easter May 10, 2026 John 16:23-33   Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!   As another Mother’s Day approaches, I find myself remembering my mom, who Jesus brought into His eternal presence over two years ago. It’s always interesting to me that some of the thoughts that come to mind are the things she said.   She’d say, “Oh, that’s different.”   Code word for, she didn...

On this episode of the Shepherd's Voice, we get to know soon to be married, Josh and Nicole!

The Fifth Sunday of Easter May 3, 2026 John 16:5-15   Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!   What comfort this sweet sentence gives, what joy it is to sing! This is your song of victory, your song of hope, your song of truth. Although it is a short song, it tells a bigger story. Much of music is used to tell stories. It is used to express happiness and to comfort in sadness. As...

The Fourth Sunday of Easter April 26, 2026 John 16:16-22   Alleluia! Christ is Risen!   This past week, my family drove 4 hours to Iowa for a Lutheran education conference. With a van full of children, you can imagine the constant refrain from the backseats…   “Are we there yet?”   “How much longer?”   A child’s understanding of time is often skewed, isn’t it?   When waiting for something good to...

Easter 3 April 19, 2026 John 10:11-16   Alleluia! Christ is Risen!   Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, which tells the story of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. What’s so wonderful about this passage is that Jesus teaches us He is not like a hireling, who doesn’t care about you, His sheep, and abandons you in your troubles or when the enemy attacks; no, instead, He came to save you. And that’s what He did—b...

Easter 2 April 12, 2026 John 20:19-31     Alleluia! Christ is Risen!   Disappointment, grief, and fear are difficult feelings to process.   Certainly, you’ve experienced a time when you loved someone so deeply that you couldn’t imagine life without them. There are others you’ve trusted in life so completely that you’d follow them anywhere. And there are people you’ve depended on for their steady a...

The Festival of Easter April 5, 2026 Mark 16:1-8     Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!     Since ancient times, family members have cared for their loved ones’ bodies after death. The family washed the body, dressed or wrapped it in linen shrouds, and surrounded it with incense, spices, and costly ointments. These practices of using pleasant fragrances served a practical pur...

The Great Easter Vigil April 4, 2026     Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!     The Psalmist writes, “My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6)   Since the beginning of time and the fall into sin, mankind has been keeping watch for its redemption.   In fact, the entirety of Scripture is nothing but the p...

Good Friday April 3, 2026     Leading up to the season of Lent, we meditated on the Latin phrase “Memento Mori,” meaning “remember your death,” or “remember you must die.”   A difficult phrase to comprehend, a matter we’d prefer not to contemplate.   We don’t want to grapple with the idea of death, let alone give it room to exist in our minds. Yet, as people get older, the thought becomes unavoida...

Holy Thursday April 2, 2026 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 & John 13:1-15, 34-35     When one thinks of Maundy Thursday, they often think of the Lord’s Last Supper.   Rightfully so, as in the sequence of Holy Week’s events, this is when the Lord’s Supper was instituted by our Savior for us Christians, to eat and to drink, for the forgiveness of our sins.   It’s also for this reason that we hear St. Pa...

Palm Sunday John 12:20-43 March 29, 2026     Their brother had just died. They were overwhelmed with anger, sadness, and confusion. How could this have happened? What should they do now?   They had called for help, but no one came. Have you ever felt this panic before in your life?   The pain of death has started to take hold. Have you felt this fear? Has death touched someone close to you? Your b...

Lent 5 – Midweek Matthew 16:13-28 & John 20:19-23     Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,   Last week, we began discussing the Office of the Keys.   The Small Catechism asks, “What is the Office of the Keys?”   The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentan...

The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Judica March 22, 2026 John 8:42-59   Today isn’t one of the Gospel readings that gets you excited to say, “This is the Gospel of the Lord.”   “Praise to you, O Christ!”   But in some ways, Judica Sunday, appears like a downer all the way around.   Judica means “Judge me.” But who wants to be judged?   This Sunday marks another wave of changes in the Divine Service. We be...

Midweek 4 – The Office of the Keys March 18, 2026 Matthew 18 & John 20:19-23   Tonight, we continue our walk-through Confession and Absolution and take up the Small Catechism’s teaching on the Office of the Keys, a teaching we don’t really meditate upon much these days.   The Small Catechism asks, “What is the Office of the Keys?”   The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ...

The Fourth Sunday in Lent + Laetare March 15, 2026 John 6:1-15     A beautiful reality of a church with children is that you get to see them grow from the time they are born.   The child, often carried to the font in a mother’s arms, enters the church through Holy Baptism and receives new life through the work of the Holy Spirit. For the first few months, one might wonder if the baby makes any noi...

Lent 3 + Midweek (Examination) March 11, 2026 Deuteronomy 5:1-21     Do you know yourself?   Do you think you know yourself?   These are two different questions if you think about it.   The reality is that you probably believe or think you know yourself, but honestly, the picture you create in your mind is distorted. It’s a self-made image, formed through a filter of perspective, similar to the fi...

Lent 3 (Oculi) March 8, 2026 Luke 11:14-26   In the late 1940s, a thirteen-year-old boy lived just outside Washington, D.C. He was a normal young man, living in a middle-class home, with a mother and father who took him to church, a Lutheran church, for that matter.   Like many young boys, he was curious about life, including good and evil. Like a child around Halloween, he wondered whether spirit...

Lent 2 Midweek – Confession March 4, 2026 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25   Tonight, we continue our Lenten midweek series on Confession and Absolution, focusing on the act of confessing our sins.   As you just heard, the story of David’s sin has a snowballing effect—lust, murder, and an attempt to conceal. It’s a remarkable yet common story.    David allows lust to take hold of his heart as Bathsheba bathes...

The Second Sunday in Lent March 1, 2026 Matthew 15:21-28   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.   In the Gospel today, we see Jesus not as we are accustomed to. The Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and His disciples with a prayer – a plea, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”   The Gospel says, “He answered her no...