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Comfort for Those Tending to the Lord’s Littlest Sheep, Part 1
Part I: The Why of Taking our Children to Church Full of frustration and embarrassment I am driving away. Away from the staring faces, away from the haughty looks, away from the very place I should love to be. I cannot hold back the tears and my lips are quivering. My head is swirling with thoughts. “Why do I even go to church? I never even hear the sermon! Surely they remember what their toddlers were like? It can’t just be my child. I cannot believe my son just lapped the sanctuary during the prayers!” Yes, it’s quite true. I have had on any given Sunday a child lap the…
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For Tired Mothers of Small Children
When my first baby was new and small and I was deep in sleep deprivation there was a piece of advice that made me cringe every time I heard it. I could almost feel it coming based on the sweet facial expression of the person and my recoil was strong before all the words were even out. This feeling strongly carried through toddlerhood and the babyhood of my next baby. Can you guess what the words were? It was a variation of the, “You’ll miss these days! They go too fast!” It was not helpful or encouraging when I was exhausted and dealing with a child tantrumming over something neither…
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Special Needs Parenting
One of the most difficult tasks of parenting any child is discipline. This difficulty is magnified when parenting a child with special needs. How do you strike the proper balance between correction and mercy, especially with a child who may not understand their actions or the need for correction? In church we refer to this as the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, even though as parents, on a day to day basis, we don’t always think about it in those terms. The Law, of course, shows us our sin, while the Gospel shows us Jesus. We deal with this constantly in our homes, from the littlest matters to the…
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Every Life is Worth Celebrating
Shock. Disbelief. Denial. Anger. Shame. Worry. Loneliness. These may be common feelings at the news of an unplanned pregnancy, especially one that comes from less than ideal circumstances. For the pregnant woman who finds herself unmarried, in the middle of a divorce, still in school, younger, older, unemployed, or any number of other scenarios, it can feel incredibly lonely and bring a great deal of stress and worry. How do you tell the father, your friends, your family? How do you face a world that tells you the best option is to kill the unplanned baby rather than bring it into a less-than-perfect situation? How do you face the church…
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Welcoming Adopted Kids into Our Churches
Psalm 127 tells us, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.” Welcoming a new child into our church family is often an exciting and much anticipated event. While most families are blessed with biological children, other families are created through adoption, or a combination of biological and adopted children. Unfortunately, there is often confusion about how best to welcome adoptive families into our midst and support them through the adoption process. With a little thoughtfulness and preparation, however, your congregation can be a source of love, comfort and strength to an adoptive family. First of all, supporting the adoptive family begins before the child is ever placed in their…
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The Lutheran Working Mother
by Pam Thompson I always imagined that I would be a stay at home mom. My mom worked outside the home, in a community filled with housewives. There were times I thought I was missing out, not having my mom be a room mother, or hosting fun swim parties in the summer. I attended college, earned a degree, and hoped for a good job to hold me over until I had children “someday”. Someday came quickly. Our first son was born a few weeks after our first anniversary. He was followed by three brothers and set of twin sisters. I enjoyed my time as a stay at home mom. But,…
