The Gottesdienst Crowd

Pastor Paul Schultz sits down with Pastor Joseph Muench of Trinity Lutheran Church in Nokomis, Illinois to dig into the baptismal and Exodus theology running through 1 Peter. Before working through the text itself, they lay out two foundational hermeneutical commitments: the Old Testament is the primary background for New Testament language and imagery, and the word and sacrament life of the church is the native context in which documents like 1 Peter were written and heard. With those in place, they begin to show why a Lutheran reading of 1 Peter sees baptism not as an occasional reference but as the lens through which Peter addresses his readers throughout. Part one of two.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the First Sunday after Trinity, Luke 16:19–31.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Epistle reading for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Romans 11:33–36.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, John 14:23–31a.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, John 15:26–16:4.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, John 16:23–33.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, John 16:5–15.

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The Elector's Bible is a witness of Lutheran history on how early Lutherans rebuilt after the devastation of the Thirty Years War. And in this episode, Pastor Travis Berg walks us through its origins and how it came to be. From the political and ecclesiastical climate that produced it to the hands that shaped it, this conversation anchors the Elector's Bible in its proper historical context, giving listeners a richer appreciation for why this Bible matters and what it represents for Lutherans.

But history is only the beginning. The heart of this episode is the Elector's Bible's theological substance — specifically, how it lays the scriptural groundwork for Lutheran doctrin, specifically the articles of the Apostles' Creed. Pastor Berg demonstrates how the Creed is not a free-floating confession invented by the church, but a distillation of what Scripture plainly teaches about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is catechesis at its best: rooted in the Word, confessionally grounded, and directly useful for Christians who want to know what they believe and why.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, John 16:16–22.

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Two pastors thinking out loud about the upcoming Gospel reading. This episode is devoted to the Gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Easter, John 10:11–16.

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