Lenski's Gospel Selections from the Ancient Church - Free PDF and Low-Cost Print Version

The Gospel Selections of the Ancient Church - by Lenski - pdf - is linked here.

“No Calvinistic preacher has ever produced a Postil, — the term derived from post illa (sc. verba), meaning “after those words,” i.e. the sermon spoken after reading the words of the text. Among the sermon books of all time Luther’s Postil stands in the front rank. Great is the number of other Postils. All of them expound the anciently chosen texts. Often they were called Sermons for the Church Year; many of them bore specific and beautiful titles. All these preachers knew only one form of preaching, namely the expository, which sticks to the text and unfolds to the hearers the saving contents of the text.

“The need of a more adequate exegetical-homiletical treatment of the ancient gospel and epistle selections has long been felt. The manager of the Lutheran Book Concern has commissioned the writer of these lines to meet this need.” — R.C.H. Lenski

Level of Difficulty: Primer: No subject matter knowledge needed.

Richard C. H. Lenski (1864-1936) is best known for his insightful and still invaluable series of New Testament Commentaries. He served as Professor of Theology at Capital University and President of the Western District of Joint Synod of Ohio and Editor Die Lutherische Kirchenzeitung.

“A truly magnificent conception is presented to us in the so-called Christian Church Year. Adopted in the earliest centuries, the Church Year comes to us as a most valuable inheritance."

The print version of Lenski's Gospel Selections of the Ancient Church is available on Amazon.

Book Contents

Index of Scripture Texts

Contents

Preface by Lutheran Librarian

General Introduction: The Christian Church Year And Christian Preaching
The Festival Half Of The Church Year From The First Sunday in Advent to The Festival of The Trinity The Savior In the Supreme Divine Events on Which our Salvation Rests

The Christmas Cycle: The Savior’s Coming
The First Sunday In Advent. Matt. 21:1-9
The Second Sunday In Advent. Luke 21:25-36
The Third Sunday In Advent. Matt. 11:2-10
The Fourth Sunday In Advent. John 1:19-28
Christmas. Luke 2:1-14
Second Christmas Day. Matt. 23:34-39
The Sunday After Christmas. Luke 2:33-40
The Circumcision Of Christ (New Year). Luke 2:21
The Sunday After New Year. Matt. 2:13-23
The Epiphany Cycle
Epiphany. Matt. 2:1-12
The First Sunday After Epiphany. Luke 2:41-52
The Second Sunday After Epiphany. John 2:1-11
The Third Sunday After Epiphany. Matt. 8:1-13
The Fourth Sunday After Epiphany. Matt. 8:23-27
The Fifth Sunday After Epiphany. Matt. 13:24-30
The Sixth Sunday After Epiphany. Matt. 17:1-9
The Lenten Cycle: The Savior’s Redemption
Septuagesima. Matt. 20:1-16
Sexagesima. Luke 8:4-15
Quinquagesima. Luke 18:31-43
Invocavit. Matt. 4:1-11
Reminiscere. Matt. 15:21-28
Oculi. Luke 11:14-28
Laetare. John 6:1-15
Judica. John 8:46-59
Palm Sunday. Matt. 21:1-9
Maundy Thursday. John 13:1-15
Good Friday. No Text
The Easter Cycle: The Savior’s Triumph
Easter. Mark 16:1-8
Easter Monday. Luke 24:13-35
Quasimodogeniti. John 20:19-31
Misericordias Domini. John 10:11-16
Jubilate. John 16:16-23
The Pentecost Cycle: The Savior’s Mission of the Holy Spirit
Cantate. John 16:5-15
Rogate. John 16:23-30
Ascension Day. Mark 16:14-20
Exaudi. John 15:26 To 16:4
Pentecost. John 14:23-31
The Day After Pentecost. John 3:16-21
The Non-Festival Half Of The Church Year The Twenty-Seven Sundays After Trinity The Saved From Their Reception of Salvation to the Consummation
The First After-Trinity Cycle
The Festival Of Trinity. John 3:1-15
The First Sunday After Trinity. Luke 16:19-31
The Second Sunday After Trinity. Luke 14:16-24
The Third Sunday After Trinity. Luke 15:1-10
The Fourth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 6:36-42
The Fifth Sunday After Trinity. Luke V. 1-11
The Second After-Trinity Cycle
The Sixth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 5:20-26
The Seventh Sunday After Trinity. Mark 8:1-9
The Eighth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 7:15-23
The Ninth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 16:1-9
The Tenth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 19:41-48
The Eleventh Sunday After Trinity. Luke 18:9-14
The Third After-Trinity Cycle
The Twelfth Sunday After Trinity. Mark 7:31-37
The Thirteenth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 10:23-37
The Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 17:11-19
The Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 6:24-34
The Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 7:11-17
The Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity. Luke 14:1-11
The Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 22:34-46
The Fourth And Last After-Trinity Cycle
The Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 9:1-8
The Twentieth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 22:1-14
The Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity. John 4:46-54
The Twenty-Second Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 18:23-35
The Twenty-Third Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 22:15-22
The Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 9:18-26
The Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 24:15-28
The Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 25:31-46
The Twenty-Seventh Sunday After Trinity. Matt. 25:1-13
The Reformation Festival Matt. 11:12-15
The Mission Festival Matt. 9:36-38

 The Gospel Selections of the Ancient Church - by Lenski - pdf - is linked here.

The print version of Lenski's Gospel Selections of the   Ancient Church is available on Amazon.

Creation Weeds and Other Foods in the Garden

Poke Weed is prolific, and 60+ species of birds like it - more than any other source of food. The birds also plant it with abandon - fertilizer.

I showed Randy our Poke Weed specimen. Last year I let it get a start and kept the above ground portion up all winter. Tiny birds like such perches simply because they are so weak.

By spring the old plant was white on the outside and hollow and new growth was coming up. It had layers of organic matter, chiefly coffee, and cardboard to keep it looking neater. I had a pile of loose cardboard, too much for the recycle barrel, so I used that to cover the rather messy mulch de garbage (say it in French, much more elegant that way). That included all the altar flowers for winter, plus a few egg shells for the fanatics, and anything else to improve the soil. I never include food garbage because they stink and attract the wrong customers. 

To keep the cardboard in place, I added some wood mulch. Leaves can also be used. We import leaves rather than export them. 

The renewed Poke Week was looking dry, so I poured gallons of stored rainwater at its base. The next day it was filled out and ready to grow more. More than seven inches of rain would weigh down the cardboard and wood mulch, keep all the organics moist, and encourage red wiggles to turn everything into the best soil over time. Molds and all the creatures of decay take part.

This attracts the ground feeding birds, which are always looking for insects and worms. Any organic mulch will bring birds to look under the shade for a bug to take to the nestlings, so a mulched is by itself a bird feeder.