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6 Ways to Support the Military in Your Congregation
By Vanessa Rasanen Our nation has been at war for a decade and a half — even if the word “war” isn’t actually used. While our media has slowed in their coverage, many military families continue to face deployments, separation, and hardships. Now, before you click away thinking this post doesn’t apply to you or your church, not so fast. Whether your congregation is one block or hundreds of miles from the nearest military installation, you may have military and their families in attendance. National guardsmen and reservists often live away from their units, perhaps even in entirely different states. While families differ in their needs and preferences for support, the…
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Easter Afternoon
By Allison Hull Everybody’s in the house. All right. We need to eat. Peanut butter sandwiches for all, and you can get your own drink. Mommy and daddy are just going to lay down for a few minutes and just shut our ey… And they’re out. Is this anyone else’s Easter Sunday afternoon? After going full force through Holy Week and then getting up early for the Sunrise service, smiling, keeping the kids in check, running up and down the choir loft stairs 5 times, then trying to keep the kids’ clothes clean while they eat messily and do it all again for the second service, and finally walking out…
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Good Friday 2016
By Amanda Markel Good Friday 2016 gives us a unique opportunity for a rare glimpse at the church year coming full circle, because this year, Good Friday’s movable date falls on the same date as one of the principal feasts of Christ: The Annunciation. Too often, we separate the Jesus of Christmas from the Jesus of Good Friday. We don’t want to think of the baby swaddled in the manger dying, and when we picture Jesus suffering on the cross, the image of a tiny, helpless baby is far from our minds. But that baby, whose coming was announced first to Mary in Nazareth, was born to save us…
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For Those Weary in Discernment
By Vanessa Rasanen I am tired. And while a lot of that could be blamed on pregnancy exhaustion and restless sleep, some of it has to do with discernment. Discernment is tiring. How wonderful would it be if we could trust anything with the “Jesus” label on it? How awesomely simple would it be if we could determine Truth based on how we feel? Yet, it’s not that easy. As I’ve grown in my understanding of scripture and Lutheran doctrine, I’ve found myself becoming more wary when approaching the Christian writing of others, whether in blog posts, books, or even simple tweets. A red flag automatically raises when words initiate…
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Psalms for Holy Week
By Mary Abrahamson In the Christian church, seven Psalms have historically been classified as the Penitential Psalms. These psalms focus on our sin and our need for a Savior. Some show how a particular sin or sinful lifestyle can eat at us. Others meditate more generally on sinful nature or sin in the world. On repentance and salvation, too, some are more specific and others more general. These Psalms have been used in a variety of liturgical devotional ways throughout the history of Christianity. Some traditions use them during all of Lent; others use one Psalm a day during Holy week. The Eastern church uses them in specific liturgical rites…
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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,…
