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Transitions
By Paula Miller Life is full of transitions. We move from one season to another, sometimes gently, and sometimes forcefully ushered along with conditions over which we have no control. Transitions can be hard physically, emotionally and spiritually, in particular if you’ve been pushed into it by those forceful conditions. Listed as some of the most stressful events in life are moving, marrying, the death of a person close to you, and the birth of a child. We all will experience some or all of these things in our lives. Transitions have similar stages. First, there’s the preparation stage. Planning as we can for what is to changing makes it…
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Adoption and the Church as Family
By Dalas Mueller Today is Gotcha Day for our sweet daughter, Hope. That is, the one year anniversary of my husband busting her out of her orphanage and making her our daughter forever. I didn’t expect to be celebrating today sitting across the room from my sweet girl as she lies in a hospital bed in the ICU, fighting off an infection and awaiting her third brain surgery since coming home. But… I wouldn’t trade her for the world! And I could not be more thankful that she is in our arms for comfort and love as she faces her earthly trials. Other than God Himself, there is one entity…
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Narrator-mothers
By Emily Cook Sometimes, serving one’s neighbor means doing things out loud. I remember, before children, when I would make dinner in silence. I just did what had to be done, and I didn’t explain myself to anyone. Now, when I make dinner, I prattle on and on: “Move, honey, so mama can get the pot out. Look, I’m filling it up with water. We will wait for it to boil, then we’ll add the yummy pasta. Do you want to watch me cut the carrots? Maybe you can help me put them on the plate when I’m done. One, two, three, four carrots. Yum, carrots. Should we cut some…
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Children and Hymns
By Amanda Markel Last week, my children attended a “Kantorei Kamp” at one of our sister congregations. It was a great experience for them. Even in just a week’s time, they learned a lot about music, had daily worship where they got to sing a wide variety of hymns, had an opportunity to share their time and talents when they sang at several different locations, and had some good, old-fashioned fun with their brothers and sisters in Christ. It was really wonderful…I wish every Lutheran child could have a similar experience! It did get me thinking, though. We spend a lot of time in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School…
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The Loneliness As We Sit Together
By Vanessa Rasanen Last week I wrote about hope. This week so much of that hope is gone. Even when I’m able to spend 5, 10, 30 minutes focused on a project or helping one of my children get dressed or giving them a bath or rocking them to sleep, it doesn’t take long for this painful reality to come and smack me in the face again. Our baby’s dead. Not even alive long enough for his or her heart to start beating. Dead. Gone. And as if that knowledge wasn’t difficult enough as it is… there is the physical reminder, the discomfort, the pain, and the visible evidence of…
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Lutheran Labor Singers–satire
By Emily Cook (This post is a lighter and silly one) This week, I was blessed to meet for tea with a special woman: Topanga Lovegood. Topanga is the president of Lutheran Labor Singers, Inc., a brand new Lutheran ministry (official synod endorsement pending.) She was joined by Soliel, the very first mother to make use of this unusual ministry. Soliel, a self-described “natural mother,” spoke to us wearing her baby. “It all started at our women’s Bible study. I was weeks from delivery, and planning my own home birth. I considering how to bring my child into the world in the best, most natural, most peaceful way possible…”…
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Body Image
By Amanda Markel Our culture has near-impossible standards for physical appearance. Plus-size models are criticized for normalizing — or even promoting — a “fat” lifestyle. All overweight women are that way because they’re lazy gluttons, right? They must sit around all day eating, and never think about exercise. It’s assumed if you’re overweight, no matter how much care you take with your appearance, you can’t be considered pretty, because lazy over-eaters are not good looking. Maybe you’re funny, or skilled in a particular area, but attractive when you’re overweight? Impossible. Skinny women seem to have it made, but they aren’t immune to hurtful critique, either. “You should eat more” is a common…
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Raising Our Daughters (and Sons) To Just Be
By Vanessa Rasanen Never, in all my years of growing up, did I doubt I would get married and have children. It was a given. It was part of my dream, my goals, my plan. Despite my liberal and feminist upbringing — which emphasized career over “just” being a housewife — I wanted a family and I wanted to stay home to care for that family. And no matter what it took, I was going to have it. And I do. I have three wonderful children, an amazing husband, two sweet dogs. I have a home filled with love and laughter, joy and hilarity. And though I’m no longer home…
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Teach Chastity Not Purity
By Amanda Markel For as long as I can remember, and maybe even longer than that, American evangelicals have focused on purity when talking to their children about sex. On the surface, this sounds good. Purity goes hand-in-hand with abstinence-based sex education, and that tends to be the goal of most Christians…waiting to have sex until marriage. The emphasis on “purity” is problematic for several reasons, though. Let’s start with the most obvious. None of us are pure, period. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking sexually, or in any other way…we all fall short. We are all poor, miserable sinners. To think we can attain purity in a specific area…
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The Post-Confirmation Journey
By Ellie Corrow The Confirmation Season undoubtedly brings a great deal of joy to many families, as children go through this rite of passage, finally receiving the Sacrament of the Altar alongside their parents. Indeed, Palm Sunday this year was, for me, easily one of the happiest days of life, as I admittedly wiped a tear or two, watching my son confess his faith before God, our pastors, and the congregation; it was a time of enormous thanksgiving, as we gave thanks to God for the faith He had given my son and the other confirmands, and a time of reflection, as I considered the road that had brought us…
