Okay y’all, buckle up for How to Ruin the Christmas Pageant. Mark’s gospel starts with Jesus as a full adult at the shores of the river Jordan. John’s gospel starts with the beginning of the universe, and then goes straight to adult Jesus also. The two birth stories of Jesus are found in Luke 1:26-2:20 …
We remember the mothers of our faith, the bearers of God’s story. We remember Rachel, Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth,and every woman who found herself unable to bear children —every woman who has faced miscarriage, infertility, and loneliness.We mourn with you.May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you. We remember …
The Story I was remembering the poster my youth minister had in her office when I was growing up — multiple images of Jesus, with text that stated: “Welcome to a place that believes there’s still room for interpretation.” I’d always been fascinated by that poster, and now, twenty years later, I wanted a copy …
Object Lesson (kids’ names changed for privacy) One of our kids, John, got to open a small box. Inside: heart-shaped milk chocolates, foil wrapped. “Today,” I explained, “we’re going to talk about rules for chocolate.” Jane, whose mother has diagnosed her with “chronic cuteness syndrome,” narrowed her eyes and pouted in an exceptional ham-it-up moment. “Rules …
Rules about chocolate: a sermon on insults, abuse, and lies Read More »
At the heart of the Christmas story is a story of God’s total embodiment into suffering. God was not born into grandeur and palaces, but to an unwed teenage mother sleeping in a stable and fleeing a murderous king. Christmas, at its core, is a holiday for the suffering. No Place For Them In those …
Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy is he who sees a married woman from far off, commands her to be brought to him, rapes her, and sends her home. Happy is he who kills the husband of the woman he wants and who, when called out by the prophet …
Brothers and Sisters, grace to you and peace from the Triune God. This month’s issue of The Lutheran, a monthly publication of our denomination (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), is set to publish a front page cover article by Charles Austin, called “Get set for clergy retirement wave.” Upon reading the article, we thought …