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Incarnation: A Meditation
By Mary Abrahamson Furthermore it is necessary for everlasting salvation that one also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; And man of the substance of His mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a rational soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood. Who, although he is God and Man, yet He is not two…
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Married with Friends
By Vanessa Rasanen My best friends in kindergarten were dudes. Twin boys, actually. Sure, I went on to have girl friends, but throughout school I usually felt more comfortable with the guys. Being an engineer certainly made it easier – if not a necessity – to befriend guys, and even after my husband and I were married, I still remained friends with the guys at work. Now most of my friends are on social media – no judging, please – and I have a nice mix of men and women in my friend pool, most of whom are not mutual friends with my husband. Many have warned me about this – especially as my blog garnered…
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Making Time for Catechesis In A Busy Schedule
By Vanessa Rasanen You don’t have to be a working mom and wife to have a hectic schedule, nor do you need to be a parent for catechesis to be important. But when your schedule is nuts, finding just five minutes seems daunting. Even the shortest of devotionals or the simplest of catechism routines can often take much longer than expected when you consider having to wrangle squirmy kids while hunting down the materials that got buried under this week’s mail or laundry or dishes or all of the above. Then the world distracts to no end — even if we manage to sit down with our Bible or our Small…
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Katie’s Bookshelf– Pew Sisters Review & Giveaway!
Life’s busy, really too busy to waste time on bad books, and The Sisters of Katie Luther are here to help! Feel free to eavesdrop on Sandra Ostapowich, Holly Scheer, Bethany Kilcrease, Tabitha Moldenhauer, and Ellie Corrow as they use technology available to regularly e-chat about books we’ve chosen to read and discuss together. These reviews are informal, probably slightly snarky, but always informative, and designed to help you determine what is worth your consideration. Pull up a chair, a cup of tea, or something else, if you prefer, and help yourself to our conclusions, as we explore what is on offer. Our book this time is “Pew Sisters” by…
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It’s Not All About You… or Me
By Vanessa Rasanen Whatever your social media of choice — be it Facebook, twitter, instagram, or whatever — you are likely inundated with friends, acquaintances, perhaps even complete strangers sharing tidbits of themselves through opinions, thoughts, memories, or general goings-on. Given the incredibly narcissistic time in which we live – there’s even a book about it – it shouldn’t be surprising how often these tidbits feel like a slap in our face. I remember reading my friend’s post about being a stay at home mom last year. I read about her joy of “making memories” and somehow twisted it all into meaning my not being home meant I was NOT making memories. Because, you know,…
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Homesick
By Mary Abrahamson When I was young I pined for a home. A place to be from. Before I graduated high school my family and I had lived in five different houses. This was not a ton, but still quite a bit a change. New friends, new neighbors, new ways of organizing possessions. I remember telling my mom once that I was NEVER going to marry a pastor. “Pastors don’t have homes and I want a home. I want my kids to have a place to look back on as home, and have sentimental memories about. And I want them to know where everything is and who all…
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On Lenten Worship with Children
By Shelley Mielke Last night’s midweek Lenten worship. Full of pondering and solemnity and introspection and a deepening understanding of what our Savior did for us on the cross. Yes? Yes it was. There many times during the service when I closed my eyes and soaked up the words I was hearing and singing. More than once my heart was stirred. But did I mention I also (re: always) attend church with my five children? Yessiree! I wouldn’t have it any other way, of course, because worshiping with my children is hands-down one of the best things I can do with them. Raising them in the faith is the single-most important…
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What Moms Need to Hear
By Vanessa Rasanen I see them often, and I’m sure you have, too — those pretty memes and pictures on Facebook, Pinterest, and all across social media. They’re bent on inspiring and encouraging, lifting you up on those really crappy days when your own screams rival any your little ones have belted. They tell you it’s okay. You’re doing just fine. You’re a good mom. You’re awesome. You’re enough. Oh, sure, those make us all warm and fuzzy inside. We smile and sigh, patting ourselves on the back before pouring ourselves a glass of wine. We aren’t as rotten as we act. The internet told us so. Or maybe a…
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The Harm of Sharing Personal Testimony
By Vanessa Rasanen Witness and testimony are good and biblical, but somewhere along the lines these became little about Jesus and much more about us. Instead of sharing the Gospel — the good news of His Grace and Salvation (and, ahem, why people need it) — too often we’re sharing stories of life-change or conversion. Left and right, here and there, we hear stories — moving, emotional, impressive, and heartbreaking — of how faith in Christ has helped someone, picked them up out of the rubble, dragged them away from the rock-bottom they had hit, and brought them into a life of joy and peace. Now, I like a good motivational story as much as the next…
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Contentment in Christ
By Holly Scheer When I was younger I thought a major goal in life was happiness. Primarily my own happiness. The choices I made, the ideas I pursued, and the friends I kept were in line with what I thought at the time would make me happy– even if it was bad for me. And those around me. But happiness is fleeting. Self absorbed happiness is even more so. Life has had many joys and sorrows for me in adulthood. There has been the joy of marriage, of children born and reborn in the waters of Baptism, of friends who point me to Christ. But there has also been death…
