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Christian Fiction
by Amanda Markel Reading is a great use of time…except when it isn’t. I have enjoyed reading for as long as I can remember, and I’ve tried to pass that on to my children. There are many books from my childhood which hold a special place in my heart; treasure that I’ve looked forward to sharing with my children. There are also books from my pre-teen years, that looking back, make me cringe to think that I read them. Lest you think I was reading something worldly and inappropriate when I was still in junior high school, let me reassure you—I wasn’t. I was reading something much more insidious—Christian fiction.…
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The Communion of Saints
by Shelly Hurt Mielke Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. . . Hebrews 12:1 “Riddley, Riddley, Ree! I see something you don’t see, and the color of it is. . .” My five-year-old daughter loves to play this old family game, passed along for a few generations. I recall playing it with my beloved grandma, as she sat under the hair dryer in my childhood kitchen. After being told where the game originated, my little daughter has…
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For Difficult Times
by Deac. Mary J. Moerbe In an ironic twist, encouragement means entirely different things to different groups of people. For many, it has become a matter of sharing personal strength or perhaps reinforcing the other person’s confidence in him- or herself. It’s a catchphrase to accompany empowerment in inspirational memes. Such self-focus and inward direction generally turns me off. Anyone who knows me would know better than point me inward! Let’s leave puffing up to baked goods and balloons, and keep it far away from my emotional and spiritual well-being, especially during times of stress and distress! I haven’t made a formal study of it, so correct me if I’m…
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Book of Concord Sunday Edition
Article XVI: Of Political Order. 53] The Sixteenth Article the adversaries receive without any exception, in which we have confessed that it is lawful for the Christian to bear civil office, sit in judgment, determine matters by the imperial laws, and other laws in present force, appoint just punishments, engage in just wars, act as a soldier, make legal contracts, hold property, take an oath, when magistrates require it, contract marriage; finally, that legitimate civil ordinances are good creatures of God and divine ordinances, which a Christian can use with safety. 54] This entire topic concerning the distinction between the kingdom of Christ and a political kingdom has been explained…
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Book of Concord for Saturday
45] And of the mortification of the flesh and discipline of the body we thus teach, just as the Confession states, that a true and not a feigned mortification occurs through the cross and afflictions by which God exercises us (when God breaks our will, inflicts the cross and trouble]. In these we must obey God’s will, as Paul says, Rom. 12:1: Present your bodies a living sacrifice. And these are the spiritual exercises of fear and faith. 46] But in addition to this mortification which occurs through the cross [which does not depend upon our will] there is also a voluntary kind of exercise necessary, of which Christ says,…
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Fresh Air
by Emily Cook Sunday morning, people in tight shoes and uncomfortable clothes greet each other: “Hi, how are you?” “Oh, pretty good. Busy of course. You?” “Yep, pretty busy, but we’re hanging in there!” And off we go to sit in the pews. We keep most to ourselves, not wanting to burden every one we see with our problems. We do this because we are strong, or proud, or afraid, or kind, or just in a hurry. We control how much of ourselves we expose, and this is not entirely a bad thing. As I sat in church this Sunday in my itchy nylons and tight mask, I wondered what…
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So Your Pastor Has a Call….
You’re sitting in church on Sunday, expecting a regular Sunday service. But the pastor stands up before the service, and says: “I have received a call to St. Someone’s church in Anytown USA. Please keep my family and me in your prayers while I deliberate this Call.” Most of the time, this announcement comes as a surprise. You know pastors move around, but this is your pastor. They can’t have him! Why do they want him? Who do they think they are? And wait! What about your friend, the pastor’s wife? If he leaves, you not only lose your pastor, but you lose your friend, too! Before you react, however,…
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Why My Writing May Not Include Scripture
My writing may seem oddly devoid of direct quotes from scripture given that I am a Christian blogger. While this may be puzzling or frustrating — or even downright infuriating — I mean, how dare I ignore God’s Word?!? — there is a reason behind the perceived slight. Several reasons, actually, with some being legitimate and others a constant and difficult struggle. As I value transparency and honesty as a writer — and since this has actually been nagging at me for over a year — I’m finally sitting down to hash all of this out. Christian Blogs Are… Blogs… While I would certainly agree we bloggers of the Christian faith and theology…
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Book of Concord for Sunday
31] Neither have the bishops the power to institute services, as though they justified, or were necessary for justification. Yea, the apostles, Acts 15:10, say: Why tempt ye God to put a yoke, etc., where Peter declares this purpose to burden the Church a great sin. And Paul forbids the Galatians 5:1, 32] to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Therefore, it is the will of the apostles that this liberty remain in the Church, that no services of the Law or of traditions be judged as necessary (just as in the Law ceremonies were for a time necessary), lest the righteousness of faith be obscured, if men…
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Book Of Concord for Saturday
22] Paul writes to the Colossians 2:23, that traditions have a show of wisdom. And they indeed have. For this good order is very becoming in the Church, and for this reason is necessary. But human reason, because it does not understand the righteousness of faith, naturally imagines that such works justify men because 23] they reconcile God, etc. Thus the common people among the Israelites thought, and by this opinion increased such ceremonies, just as among us they have grown in the monasteries [as in our time one altar after another and one church after another is founded]. 24] Thus human reason judges also of bodily exercises, of fasts;…
