My family has an affection for certain shows. Many of you do as well, I'm sure. You don't simply have a show you watch, but you have shows that are "your shows”. You may not rush home to watch them, like in the days before DVRs and streamed TV, but something has happened culturally where we all gained a possessiveness to our shows. At our house, we like Star Trek of various kinds, Young Indiana Jones, and Sherlock. We get our reality show fix in the form of The Amazing Race. You can probably make your own list. It maybe slightly less nerdy, but I bet you have a list.

We focus on the Old Testament text for today by reading a devotion from Concordia Commentary: Leviticus.

For our devotional reading commemorating Martin Luther, we turn to Luther: Biography of a Reformer.

Our devotional reading for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany focuses on the Gospel text and is from Concordia Commentary: Matthew 1:1–11:1.

The month of February in our house comes without a whole lot of pomp and circumstance. We celebrate the snow probably more than we celebrate anything. However, every year when about February 12 rolls around, I think, “Maybe we should do something for Valentine’s Day. Gee, wouldn’t it be nice to get some presents? But presents cost money. That’s not good. Well, dinner then. Ooooo—what if it was at a fancy restaurant and we got all dressed up? That would be exciting! And what if there was a horse-drawn carriage ride, or a singing telegram guy, or . . . yes, that’s it, what if there were diamonds?!!!!”

Today, we focus on the first discourse in the Sermon on the Mount with a reading from Discourses in Matthew: Jesus Teaches the Church.

My husband and I come from very different families. Like most newlyweds, we rooted around for what traditions we might maintain, where we needed to be intentional, and what ways we might burst out of our families’ molds and do something new. We read books. We prepared and enriched. We asked lots of questions of mentors and friends.

Today’s devotional reading focuses on the Gospel text and is from The Sermon on the Mount: The Church’s First Statement of the Gospel.

When I was young, my parents taught me a great distinction that I now appreciate as a therapist a whole lot more than as a five-year-old. My parents enjoyed a good debate, and they were careful to distinguish between an argument and a “discussion.” Discussion is often a more accurate word for what we think of as a marital disagreement. It’s a difference of opinion, something that needs to be hashed out as a couple or a family, a normal part of the process. There isn’t something wrong with you as a couple if you don’t see eye to eye on every pinpoint of day-to-day life. Living a life well together means being vulnerable enough with one another to share our deepest opinions in a safe place. As well as being able to say “I see it differently” about where the trash can should go, without concern for judgment and backlash.

On the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, we focus on the Epistle with an excerpt from The Big Book of New Testament Questions and Answers.