Thanksgiving (Every) Day There’s something about Thanksgiving — it’s not a religious holiday like Christmas and Easter, but it’s not the same as other national holidays either. It stands alone as a day of unique purpose — to acknowledge how richly blessed we are, and to be thankful for the manyRead More →
Building Families It’s blustery, it’s cold, and we haven’t seen the sun for a week — it must be November! Not too many people would say they’d just love for these dark, damp, chilly days to continue indefinitely. In contrast with the recent spell of blue skies, colorful leaves, andRead More →
For All the Saints . . . And the Sinners, Too We Lutherans don’t address one another as saints, and we certainly aren’t bold enough to consider ourselves as saintly. In fact, it’s pretty safe to assume that when most of us visualize a saint, a person in biblical-style robesRead More →
“Where Two or Three are Gathered” The inspiration for a devotion can come from a pretty unlikely source, but even I didn’t expect to see a story on the Weather Channel that would provide a theme for this Reformation Sunday. The widespread destruction of Hurricane Michael in the Florida PanhandleRead More →
Greatest of All Time “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” (1) Muhammed Ali once uttered this iconic phrase in reference to his (and the world’s perception) of his boxingRead More →
Keeping It Simple “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” – Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew 7:12 How many times have you thought to yourself, “Why can’t ———— (you fill in the blank) be simpler? Read More →
God’s Grace — Hidden but Evident It’s October, that Reformation time of year, and it seemed an appropriate, seasonal thing to do was to read about Martin Luther and his “Reformation breakthrough.” The Lutheran Study Bible has an introductory section about Luther, who as a Biblical scholar, was deeply engagedRead More →
On a Mission I was a young grade-school child, probably 7 or 8 years old, when our pastor’s wife invited me to come to “Junior Mission Band,” which met one Saturday a month. I heard the “band” part and envisioned playing some neat little instruments — tambourines, flutes, whistles, littleRead More →
Calming the Waters One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and theRead More →
Running on Empty “For Christ did not send me [Paul] to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to usRead More →