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What the Grieving Heart Needs
by Vanessa Rasanen Life is not easy. The vast majority of us here have it pretty good, and most of our “trials” could likely be chalked up to your average #firstworldproblems, a basic annoyance or irritation, frustration or hurdle. Most of us don’t know and cannot fathom a life spent in constant fear, facing real persecution, or feeling true hunger. Yet, we are not immune to pain and tribulation, and we get no pass from sin, death, suffering and loss. Satan attacks all, from the poorest beggar to the wealthiest of kings. He shows no discrimination or favoritism based on where we live or who we were born to. Our civil, financial…
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Book of Concord
The Defense of the Augsburg Confession Article XVI: Of Political Order. 61] It is also a most vain delusion that it is Christian perfection not to hold property. For Christian perfection consists not in the contempt of civil ordinances, but in dispositions of the heart, in great fear of God, in great faith, just as Abraham, David, Daniel, even in great wealth and while exercising civil power, were no less 62] perfect than any hermits. But the monks [especially the Barefoot monks] have spread this outward hypocrisy before the eyes of men, so that it could not be seen in what things true perfection exists. With what praises have they…
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Celebrating the Many Members of the One Body
by Vanessa Rasanen We bloggers know the value of being real and transparent in our writing. Our readers want to connect, to read the words and to know the person behind them is just like them — flaws, struggles, warts and all. Okay, maybe not warts. But blemishes, for sure. We cringe when someone portrays themselves or their life as too perfect and pristine. We balk at Instagram feeds and Facebook timelines that appear spotless. No woman could possibly keep her house looking like that, or cook a meal like that, or dress like that every day. Obviously she’s not showing us the real her, the her who goes unshowered on Saturdays,…
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On Women’s Bible Studies
by Holly Scheer I don’t lead a charmed life. Honestly, I don’t buy things just because they’re pink or sparkly. My favorite color is blue and I’m more likely to be found wearing boots and blue jeans than a dress. I also don’t flock to women’s only Bible studies. I don’t really think that the Bible has a different Truth for me than it does for a man– there is one core truth that we ALL need. That truth is that Jesus came as a tiny baby, held safe in the arms of his mother, and went willingly to Calvary to conquer Death for all of us. There’s no sugar…
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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…
