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Living Water
By Amanda Markel I spent most of the Divine Service the Second Sunday after Pentecost sweating bullets, on the edge of the pew with worry. What was the cause of my distress? Well, you see, my three-year-old is as repeater. Anything she hears that she understands, is interested in, or finds funny, she repeats. Loudly. It’s something we’re working on, especially in church, but in the meantime, the Old Testament reading was about the fall into sin. And if you’re familiar with that reading from Genesis 3, you know that the word naked comes up more than once. My preschooler, like many children her age, thinks the word “naked,” as…
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Katie’s Bookshelf– LadyLike by Rebekah Curtis and Rosie Adle
Welcome back to Katie’s Bookshelf! 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, Ellie Corrow,and our special guest reviewers, Bethany Kilcrease, Tabitha Moldenhauer, and Annie Riley, as we use the technology available to regularly e-chat about books we’ve chosen to read and discuss together. These reviews are informal, probably a little 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…
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Teaching Children Church History
By Amanda Markel Teaching church history to children is an important, although often overlooked, part of their growth in the Christian faith. We tend to be intentional about teaching the Bible, at home, in Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School, which is great. We also make an effort to teach Luther’s Small Catechism, if not at home (the place for which the Small Catechism was written!), at least in the church as we prepare children for Confirmation, which is also good. We might even teach some Lutheran history as we do that, but in general, early church history is often forgotten. But church history is also important! Just as we…
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Smalcald Articles– The Second Part,
Part II, Article II: Of the Mass. 1] That the Mass in the Papacy must be the greatest and most horrible abomination, as it directly and powerfully conflicts with this chief article, and yet above and before all other popish idolatries it has been the chief and most specious. For it has been held that this sacrifice or work of the Mass, even though it be rendered by a wicked [and abandoned] scoundrel, frees men from sins, both in this life and also in purgatory, while only the Lamb of God shall and must do this, as has been said above. Of this article nothing is to be surrendered or…
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The Smalcald Articles– The Second Part
THE SECOND PART Treats of the Articles which Refer to the Office and Work of Jesus Christ, or Our Redemption. Part II, Article I: The first and chief article. 1] That Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins, and was raised again for our justification, Rom. 4:25. 2] And He alone is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, John 1:29; and God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all, Is. 53:6. 3] Likewise: All have sinned and are justified without merit [freely, and without their own works or merits] by His grace,through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in…
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Interview With an Adult Convert
By Holly Scheer Vanessa Rasanen is a regular writer here at Sisters of Katie Luther and was kind enough to let me interview her about her experiences growing up as an athiest and coming to Lutheranism (and Christianity, in general) as an adult. Grab a cup of coffee and read along as Vanessa tells us about her experiences. How old were you when you became a Lutheran? 22 is when I became a christian. I didn’t really learn what Lutheranism was until I was 30 and became a member at our current LCMS church. What kind of religious life was in your family growing up? I vaguely remember…
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Longing to Belong: A Sheep’s Tale
By Debra-Lynn Swearingen We were lost sheep for a season. There is nothing like church shopping to make you certain you are shepherd-less. Especially if you are susceptible to being a part of the growing sad, mad, church alumni. In some churches we were greeted heartily, some put us through a grueling Q&A session, and some we passed through without notice. We knew little of what we were looking for, and more of what we weren’t willing to endure. We were unsure of how right doctrine and social-fit unite, but we wanted both. We were longing to belong. We just didn’t know what that meant. This was not a new quest…
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To the Teenaged Girls I Know, And Those I Don’t
By Amanda Markel Dear Teenage Girls: There are so many things I want to tell you. So many things I wish somebody had told me. I was your age not that terribly long ago, so I remember! Here are just a few things I want you to know, things I think will help you navigate the choppy waters of being a teenager in high school: Go to church—I know, some people will say it’s “not cool” to go to church. People who say that aren’t your friends, and they’re flat-out wrong. Every chance you get to receive God’s gifts, to remember your baptism, and to gather with your church family,…
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Revering Celebrities
By Amanda Markel Ever since Hollywood has been the center of the entertainment scene in America, people have been obsessed with stars. This obsession has taken different forms over the years, from the old bus tours of the neighborhoods that celebrities lived in in the 1950s, to today’s tendency to think that because someone is a star they should hold public office. We have revered these people– occasionally going as far as committing the sin of idolizing them. Reality TV has made this an even more dangerous prospect because the people that have become “stars” in our home via the television are often promoted as being regular people like you…
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Smalcald Articles- The First Part
Treats of the Sublime Articles Concerning the Divine Majesty, as: I. That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons in one divine essence and nature, are one God, who has created heaven and earth. II. That the Father is begotten of no one; the Son of the Father; the Holy Ghost proceeds from Father and Son. III. That not the Father nor the Holy Ghost but the Son became man. IV. That the Son became man in this manner, that He was conceived, without the cooperation of man, by the Holy Ghost,and was born of the pure, holy [and always] Virgin Mary. Afterwards He suffered, died, was buried, descended…
