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My Lutheran Story
By Amanda Markel Sometimes, I think I’m the most boring Lutheran ever, if only because I’m so very Lutheran, and have been since my baptism, when I was just a few weeks old. I was baptized, confirmed, and married at the same church…the very church at which my mother is still a member to this day, and the church at which my father served on many boards before his death. I started out at my Lutheran dayschool in the four-year-old class. I still have fond memories of that year (or maybe it was kindergarten…both years involved the same basement classroom, and the same loving, exuberant teacher). I then went on…
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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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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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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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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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Vocation
By Amanda Markel Christians, especially Lutheran Christians, understand the concept of vocation…that God has called each of us to unique tasks in life. This can be seen in the form of our careers, a task for which we are often paid, as well as other callings in life, such as relationships like wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, or volunteer positions like Sunday School teacher or after-school tutor. We can hold many different vocations at the same time, and our vocations can change throughout our lives. One thing should remain the same, however. Whatever our vocation is, we should do it joyfully, as though we are serving God Himself when we…
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A Two Pronged Approach to Modesty
By Amanda Markel I’m going to admit to something that may not be popular in Christian circles…I no longer use the word “modesty” when talking to my daughters. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the idea of modesty…it even appears several times in the New Testament. But modesty is another one of those words that our modern culture has twisted to mean something other than what the Bible expresses, and like many other things in American Evangelicalism, I want to stay as far away from it as possible. First of all, there is a tendency when we emphasize modesty, for Christian women to act in a less than Christlike manner toward…
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The Elephant in the Pews
By Amanda Markel There’s an elephant in the living room in some of our churches and it’s time to stop ignoring it. That elephant is the former church workers in our midst. The “elephant in the corner” metaphor doesn’t apply to every former church worker. There is a group of retirees, especially pastors, that receive a place of honor in our congregations, such as the pastors emeriti. They who have served many successful, although often hard, years and are now retired, but willing to help out from time to time, are not the people I’m talking about. The former church workers that I’m talking about are often younger, although not…
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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…
