Feb. 16, 2018 A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled because they are no more (Matthew 2:18). As we live into these first days and weeks of Lent, we do so riveted by the news of another tragic mass shooting, this time […]
“Church Speak” A colleague at the Lutheran Center related this story. An unchurched friend of hers was visiting and noticed her Advent calendar. “What is Advent?” she asked. A simple question. But my colleague soon discovered it wasn’t that easy to explain Advent to someone who had never heard of it, but who also had […]
Alternative Giving When you think about the special people in your life and the best gifts you have given or received, it is not the gift itself but the meaning behind the gift that makes it significant. One way to increase the meaningfulness of a gift is through alternative giving. Alternative Giving is a form […]
“October 32 and Beyond” This is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. For the past year it has been “All Reformation All the Time!” Everything Martin Luther. The really observant have branched out to Philipp Melanchthon and Johannes Bugenhagen. True believers will dress their children up as Martin and Katie for Halloween, or if they […]
“At the Table Together” Old recipes are precious things. They give instructions about how to prepare a dish, but they are so much more. They are filled with memories. They connect families as they are passed from one generation to the next. They bring events and people from long ago right into the present. I […]
“The Laborers in the Vineyard” Just before Jesus entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, Jesus told a very interesting parable. It’s sometimes known as the “Laborers in the vineyard” (Matthew 20:1-16). You remember how it goes: A landowner hires laborers for his vineyard at 6 a.m., promising them that he would pay the usual […]
The congregation members participating in the Intergenerational Mission Trip to Harlan, Kentucky on July 23-29, 2017 will have returned by the time you read this article. Kathy Holcombe, Jan Stebbins, and Melanie Morgan participated in the SWAP program during their time in Kentucky. SWAP stands for Sharing With Appalachian People. Participants were involved in a […]
“Serving the neighbor in charged times” These are politically charged times. This very sentence in the presiding bishop’s column is likely to raise eyebrows. Across this church I’ve heard stories of parishioners disturbed by the Gospel read on Sundays, believing the pastor chose the passage as a critique of the current administration. The Beatitudes seemed […]
“I Wonder” Recently, I heard the Bach cantata O heilges Geist und Wasserbad. The cantata’s text is based on John 3:1-15, which was the Gospel lesson at the service where the cantata was first performed. The image that stuck with me and about which I have been doing a lot of thinking was the story […]
4/12/2017 12:40:00 PM CHICAGO (April 12, 2017) – In her Easter message, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), reminds us to rejoice even when the brokenness of this world breaks our spirits. Visit ELCA.org to listen to Eaton’s message. – – – About the Evangelical Lutheran […]