Life Thoughts in the Church Year
Life Thoughts in the Church Year are designed to help pastors and congregations see the church year through the lens of the sanctity of human life. Life Thoughts are based on the appointed readings from Lutheran Service Book using the Three-Year Lectionary.
Also available:
Life Thoughts in the Church Year – One-Year Lectionary 2025 (Word)
Life Thoughts in the Church Year – One-Year Lectionary 2025 (PDF)
Audio: LifeMoments from Lutherans For Life and KFUO Radio
Life Thoughts in the Church Year – Three-Year Lectionary:
November 23 – (Proper 29) – When people argue that we should not bring more children into a world such as this, they agree with the people of Jerusalem at the time of its destruction: “Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed” (Luke 23:29). But this is not the way that Jesus intends us to view the gift of new life. Instead, we weep with those who cannot bear and nurse, and we celebrate God’s gift of life, trusting that He will always reign over all things and be the “refuge and strength” of His people (Colossians 1:18; Psalm 46:1), and the little children will always be His “treasured possession” (Malachi 3:17).
November 30 – Advent 1 – Being a Gospel-motivated voice for life means loving all our neighbors, regardless of their size, condition, or past. As servants in the Master’s house (Matthew 24:43), we not only need to be prepared for Christ’s coming (Matthew 24:44; Romans 13:11), we should be eager to make all others ready, preaching the Gospel to them, inviting them “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:3) that they, too, might be brought into the safety of the ark of the holy Church.
December 7 – Advent 2 – We rejoice that God Himself defends the cause of the poor and needy (Psalm 72:4) and that He does this primarily through us, His saints. We must be careful, however, that we don’t fall into self-righteousness and become a pharisaical “brood of vipers” (Matthew 3:7), always pointing out the sins of others while neglecting our own. Instead, as children of Abraham, we are all to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8), remembering that the things of God’s Word were “written for our instruction” (Romans 15:4), as well as for the instruction of others.
December 14 – Advent 3 – God sends us, like John, to be His messengers and share His Gospel with the world before He comes (Matthew 11:10). Instead of grumbling against one another (James 5:9), we have the privilege of sharing Christ’s forgiveness, comfort, and encouragement with those having feeble knees and anxious hearts (Isaiah 35:3-4), especially with those frightened women facing surprise pregnancies, women enduring the cross of barrenness, and those carrying the guilt of abortion.
December 21 – Advent 4 – The birth of the King of Glory (Psalm 24:7) is surrounded by the messiness of human sin and intrigue (Matthew 1:18-25). As we rejoice that our Lord has taken on our human likeness with all its sin and pain, being “descended from David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3), we can also rejoice that Jesus has sanctified every human life, even those born in circumstances which are surrounded by sin and pain.
December 25 – The Nativity of our Lord – “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), and in Him is life (John 1:4)! By His holy incarnation, being conceived in the Virgin Mary, growing in her womb, and being born as an ordinary man in Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-6), our Lord Christ has sanctified our human nature, along with every stage of human life and development from the womb to forever.
December 28 – Holy Innocents – The devil hates little children because he hates the Christ child, who was promised to crush his head (Genesis 3:15). Sadly, his influence can still be seen today in those who, like Herod, see little children as a threat to their authority and aim for their destruction (Matthew 2:16). As we weep with Rachel and her children (Jeremiah 31:15), we also rejoice that by sparing His only-begotten Son from Herod’s wrath, God has provided eternal salvation for all the holy innocents—past, present and future—that they too might join in the heavenly song around the throne of God (Revelation 14:3).
January 4 (Christmas 2) – God used Joseph, who adopted Jesus as his own son (Luke 2:41), to care for our Lord as He (Jesus) mysteriously lived a perfectly human life as our substitute. Through Jesus, God has now adopted us as His own children and has promised us an eternal inheritance in His kingdom (Ephesians 1:5, 11). Christians should be encouraged to likewise consider and promote adoption as a godly way to preserve and care for the lives of God’s precious children and bring them into His kingdom.
January 11 (Baptism of our Lord) – Jesus was baptized to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15), that all whom God created and gave breath to (Isaiah 42:5) might be baptized into His death and resurrection and have everlasting life (Romans 6:4-5). Living in that new life in Christ and dying to sin (Romans 6:7-8) means that we are to cherish all life the way God does, caring about our neighbor’s physical life and wellbeing, as well as their everlasting life in Christ.
January 18 (Epiphany 2) – Life issues (abortion, suicide, sexual identity, physician-assisted suicide to name a few) can often be the result of a person trying to solve their own problems or fulfill their own needs instead of relying upon the Lord to help them. The appearance of our Lord as the sacrificial Lamb of God (John 1) reminds us that God is always faithful (Isaiah 49:7), even at the cost of His own blood. By faith in Christ, we can and should wait patiently for the Lord (Psalm 40:1) and make Him our trust (Psalm 40:4) in any and every situation, and we should invite our neighbors to do the same.
January 25 (Epiphany 3) – Abortion and assisted suicide are often followed by crushing amounts of guilt and shame. While the Church rightly teaches that these are sins against God and neighbor, may we never forget that Christ has sent us to preach the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (1 Corinthians 1:17-18). In Christ, “there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish,” (Isaiah 9:1), for He has come in the fulfillment of His promises, bringing the Kingdom of God near to us (Matthew 4:14-17), that all who repent and believe in Him can take shelter in the Lord (Psalm 27:5).
February 1 (Epiphany 4) – Tragically there are many people who do in fact sacrifice the fruit of their bodies for the sins of their soul (Micah 6:7), killing their own children to undo or cover up the sinful choices they’ve made. How foolish is the so-called “wisdom” of the world (1 Corinthians 1) that calls death life! And though the Lord could rightly bring an indictment against His people for this evil (Micah 6:2), He instead shames the “strong” and “wise” among us by sacrificing His only begotten Son to cover the sins of the entire world (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). In Christ crucified, all who believe will inherit the kingdom of heaven, and those who mourn the wanton destruction of life will be comforted forevermore (Matthew 5:3-4).
February 8 (Epiphany 5) – “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). God’s people do wonderful things before the world: march for life, support local pregnancy resource centers, speak up on behalf of the unborn and vulnerable. However, we must always remember that we are to shine our light before men, not to earn favor with men or with God. Such self-serving works “will not make your voice be heard on high” (Isaiah 58:4). Instead, knowing Christ crucified and having the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2, 16), we let our light shine before men to give glory to God (Matthew 5:16), that all might have life now and forever.
February 15 (Transfiguration) – In the Transfiguration of Jesus, we see that the glory of the Almighty God was hidden in the human flesh of our Lord. What a great reminder that God can work remarkable and glorious things through that which the world views as normal and ordinary. God, who can bring about the restoration of the fallen world through human flesh and blood, can also do wonderful and amazing things through surprise pregnancies, people born with severe disabilities, and those with terminal illnesses. Instead of turning to death in these cases, we should look for the ways that God might be hiding His good and gracious will in them.
February 22 (Lent 1) – Satan tempts us to turn away from God by appealing to the desires of our flesh and our egos. The devil twists God’s Word to make us think that things like abortion, sex without marriage, suicide, and assisted suicide will give us pleasure, self-fulfillment, and an end to our suffering. But, like our first parents did, those who give in quickly find that the devil’s words are nothing but empty promises which end in pain and suffering. Thankfully, by withstanding the devil’s temptations, Jesus both defeats that old Satanic foe for all sinners and reminds us that the way to true joy and happiness is found in trusting the unfailing promises of our Heavenly Father.
March 1 (Lent 2) – Salvation comes only through faith in Christ, who was “lifted up” on the cross as the payment for the world’s sins (John 3:14-15). Not even Abraham our forefather was saved by his works or inner worth (Romans 4:2-3). In choosing to redeem us by His own grace apart from our works, God shows us that our value is not found in a person’s own qualities. Instead, every person is precious to God and worthy of dignity because “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16).
March 8 (Lent 3) – The world tells us to avoid suffering at all costs, even justifying murder (abortion, suicide, assisted suicide) on the grounds that death can be used to avoid further suffering. However, St. Paul reminds us that instead of trying to avoid suffering through death, we “can rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:3), knowing that God uses our suffering to increase our hope in Him and bring us to everlasting glory. Therefore, when suffering comes, “let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker (Psalm 95:6), entrusting ourselves into the hands of the One who “died for us” (Romans 5:8).
March 15 (Lent 4) – Sin makes us blind to the things of God (Isaiah 42:16, 18). Not only do we often fail to recognize our neighbors and the many needs they have, but we also have a hard time seeing our own lack of love (John 9:41) and need for salvation. Thankfully, Jesus has come to open our blind eyes and turn our darkness into light (John 9:6, Isaiah 42:16). The Lord not only grants us faith to see Him and know His salvation, He also empowers us to “walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8) to better see and serve our neighbors in need, from the least of them to the greatest.
March 22 (Lent 5) – Jesus is the “resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), the one true God who raises the dead from their graves and gives them new life (Ezekiel 37:5-6). Everything Jesus has said and done testifies that He gives, sustains, and loves life. It is inconceivable to think that Jesus, who raised Lazarus from the tomb and who died to “give life to our mortal bodies” (Romans 8:11), would approve of the murder of any innocent person, regardless of their size or condition.
March 29 (Palm Sunday) – When Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, he gave up, washed his hands, called himself innocent, and let the Innocent One, our Lord Jesus Christ, be taken away and crucified (Matthew 27:24-26). As the world around us continues to call for the death of the innocent, it may seem that we are gaining nothing, and we will be tempted to wash our hands and give up like Pilate did. But the Lord, in His mercy, has given you a tongue to speak that you may sustain with His Word those who are weary (Isaiah 50:4). God grant us the strength to speak up on behalf of the innocent ones and let “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).