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Maundy Thursday
When I was growing up I thought Maundy Thursday was people pronouncing Monday Thursday slightly strangely and I couldn’t really understand why they were combining the two days. I didn’t know what it was about, really, and while I knew that it was some pre-Easter holiday (I’m cringing, too, here, sorry!) I didn’t really think that anything terribly important was happening or commemorated on this day. Oh, I was wrong. I was so wrong. Sometimes it’s frankly embarrassing looking back at the sure certainty of childhood and the things we’ve (OK, I) misunderstood. Maundy isn’t a mispronunciation of the beginning of the week. Nor is it some unimportant place holder…
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When “Training Up” Ends and Moving Out Begins: Parenting College Aged Children
By Pam Thompson Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 ESV It is difficult to discern whether this Proverb is a command, or a comfort. But, for most parents, it is our prayer — our plea. Our children grow up and move out. We spend years worrying about and sweating the small stuff. We agonize over preschool choices and screen time limits. But, we have also spent much time in prayer and teaching of our children. We teach them the prayers of our faith. We read to them from the Bible. We teach them…
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Celebrating the Church Year- April
By Marie McNary Life is busy. Sometimes in all the hustle and bustle the urgent takes priority, and the important is put off until another day. Keeping Christ at the center of our households is both urgent and important. It should be at the top of our “to-do” lists. Celebrating the church year within our homes is a fun way to bring Lutheran history to life that we are exposed to only in Church. We are always looking for ways to make Christ the central focus of our life and our days. When it comes to celebrating the church year sometimes it can be tough to know where to begin, but…
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Holy Week
by Holly Scheer Sunday was Palm Sunday. We have entered Holy Week– the holiest of weeks in the church year, in which we follow the final footsteps of our Lord from his Triumphant entry into Jerusalem, remember the institution of the Lord’s Supper, mourn the betrayal in the garden and pray as He suffers on the cross. And on Sunday we rejoice in the Resurrection and the forgiveness and peace that is ours as beloved children of God. Holy Week brings so much of our theology into perfect clarity in such a short period of time. It is a week filled with the best of news — we are loved, we…
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Amnesty
By Sandra Ostapowich For all your sins, you are forgiven in Christ. For all the times you were ashamed of the body the Lord gave you, you are forgiven in Christ. For all the times you compared your size to another woman, you are forgiven in Christ. For all the times you worried that you had completely messed up your life, you are forgiven in Christ. For all the times you dressed to tempt men, you are forgiven in Christ. For all the times you took pride in your modest attire, you are forgiven in Christ. For all the times you wished you could take back your hurtful words, you are…
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Comfort for Those Tending to the Lord’s Littlest Sheep, Part 2
by Keri Wolfmueller Understanding Age Appropriate Behavior Greetings! If you are just now joining us, please see Comfort for Those Tending to the Lord’s Littlest Sheep, Part 1. Surprisingly, one of the most valid arguments against having children in church is sometimes brought to us from educators or pediatricians. These men and women have invested years into studying how children learn, how to best instruct them, how to care for them, and keep them healthy. (Please note the use of the word sometimes, this is not an absolute to these vocations.) The argument goes something like this, “It is not appropriate to expect young children to sit through an hour…
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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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Adoption and Loss
by Amy Stafford People often say how blessed our daughter is to have been adopted. And of course, my response is always that we are the blessed ones to have her in our lives. People also often say she was meant for our family. She certainly appears to be. Her personality is so much like her older sister’s, it’s scary. She fills what was previously a gaping hole in our family. She is the delight of our lives and fits in perfectly. But it must be said, she was also meant for her birth family. She was born to another mother, and another father. To other grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. …
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Book of Concord
Defense of the Augsburg Confession Article XVII: Of Christ’s Return to Judgment. 66] The Seventeenth Article the adversaries receive without exception, in which we confess that at the consummation of the world Christ shall appear, and shall raise up all the dead, and shall give to the godly eternal life and, eternal joys, but shall condemn the ungodly to be punished with the devil without end. Source.
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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…
