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Fun Reformation Activities for Children
By Keri Wolfmueller If you need a craft project or fun activity to use with your child you probably google it, and Pinterest and the like have a million ideas ready for you to go! There is one topic I have found very little on and yet it is oh so important in the Lutheran church, the Reformation! As an Early Childhood Educator and mother of four, I’ve done a little brain storming and thought I’d share a few ideas. Hope they help. Have a Blessed Reformation! My favorite creation, a song about Martin Luther, to the tune of Zacchaeus: Luther was a brave little man, and a brave…
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Prayers and Praying with Children
By Mary Abrahamson The basic foundation to keep in mind when praying and when teaching children to pray can be found in the meanings of the first and last parts of the Lord’s Prayer according to Luther’s Small Catechism. The Introduction Our Father, Who art in heaven. What does this mean? God would hereby tenderly invite us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children, so that we may ask Him with all boldness and confidence, as children ask their dear father. and What does “Amen” mean? Amen means that we should be sure that these petitions are acceptable to our…
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Jesus, a Quiet place, and My Anxiety
By Heidi Goehmann Life was pretty good. I was in the kitchen fixing dinner. There was a pot of goodness boiling on one burner and a pan of goodness sautéing on another. My daughter was reciting her memory work to me. My two littlest children were playing with a racecar track on the dining room floor nearby, and my eldest son was holding on to my wrist to let me know he had something to say. It was all good…until someone turned on the music. The theme track of Star Wars barrels into the anxiety already bubbling up! I forgot to mention that it was 4:30pm. What I just described…
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Michaelmas
By Amanda Markel The Lutheran church has quite a few feast days and commemorations. One of my favorite of these days is the feast of St. Michael and All Angels (also know as St. Michael’s Day or Michaelmas). It falls on September 29 every year, and it’s not just a commemoration day…it’s one of the Principal Feasts of Christ! Here is what the Treasury of Daily Prayer has to say about this feast day: “The name of the archangel St. Michael means “Who is like God?” Michael is mentioned in the Book of Daniel (12:), as well as in Jude (v. 9) and Revelation (12:7). Daniel portrays Michael…
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Travel and Church
By Holly Scheer Whatever the reason for the travel– for work, to see family, vacation, ect, travel that stretches past Sunday brings with with it the need to consider what to do about church. My family was on vacation this last Sunday– a vacation that included my parents. This meant that Sunday morning when we visited a church there were two pastors sitting in the pew, and that they spent time researching where we should visit. How many families spend time online researching hotels but don’t think to apply some of the same time and effort to looking for a church to attend? If looking for another church to visit…
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It’s Quiet Here
By Holly Scheer There’s a few days without posts. Sorry! I’m on vacation– that is, staying with my parents. Sometimes as adults and parents of our own families we still need OUR parents– some extra love and comfort. My husband and I and our kids are staying with my parents for a too brief time of family joy. I’ll try to get posts up as I can. Photo Credit to PapaPiper. Some rights reserved.
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Missing Your Church Home
By Holly Scheer I share something in common with many of you– the church I attend now is not the church I grew up in. Our society is increasingly mobile. We move for jobs, for college, when we get married. Sometimes we move so far away that going “home” is hard. And for those of us reared in the church this means that not only are we apart from childhood friends and family we are apart from the church of our youth. New churches come with new experiences. New meals at potlucks, new holiday traditions. New hymns the congregation prefers. I grew up with the liturgy. I can close my…
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Sexual Abuse and Marriage
I am a new “convert” to the LCMS because of my marriage. I was raised Baptist, in a very strict home. My parents seemed intent on keeping ALL things sexual in nature from our home. Not a mention of it, not in movies, music, nothing. I rebelled a ton as a teenager and wound up being sexually abused by a couple of men, one of whom was double my age, when I was only 15. My husband, likewise, had several one night stands during a short phase in college. We never realized how these things affected our marriage until recently. Neither of us feels any palpable jealousy or upset over…
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Christ the Life of All the Living
By Holly Scheer Christ, the Life of all the living, Christ, the Death of death, our foe, Who, Thyself for me once giving To the darkest depths of woe,– Through thy sufferings, death, and merit I eternal life inherit: Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus, unto Thee. Ernst C. Homburg, the author of this popular hymn, is credited as a popular author and poet of his time– and that initially he started out writing secular works and drinking songs. Hard times in his life and that of his wife brought him closer to the church and church music and he then became a prolific hymn writer. Many of these…
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On Contention, Love, and Feelings
By Holly Scheer Have you ever found yourself in a discussion that, when it turns heated, becomes more about feelings than facts? If so, you may have found it to be a frustrating experience. I know that I do. Most people don’t want to proceed when someone says that a certain line of argumentation is upsetting to them or is hurting their feelings. Our natural care for each other can cause us to pause and reflect at this moment. It’s never, ever a bad thing to think through thoroughly whether what you are saying in the moment is true, needful, and appropriate. Sisters, sometimes we have to speak hard words…
