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5 Things That Do Not Offer Salvation
Spend much time at all among Lutherans and you’re likely to eventually hear the phrase “proper distinction of Law and Gospel”. This is something we cherish — the preaching of God’s Law along with the soothing words of His Gospel predominating. Yet, we aren’t a perfect lot, and sometimes we can find ourselves drifting away from this right balance, falling to one side of the sword edge or the other — diving into a Gospel reductionist mindset (where we downplay the importance and necessity of the Law) or wandering into Law-Law-Law territory. While both deviations are equally possible, it is the latter that has me up at 4am writing, rather than attempting to catch…
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3 Tips for Resolving Conflict in the Church Family
As with any family, our church families may be riddled with tension, drama and hurt-feelings. Whether it’s a disagreement over the VBS curriculum, general butting heads in a board meeting, or merely some incompatible personalities within the congregation, conflict may arise. Navigating these situations within the church can be challenging for a multitude of reasons, but these are challenges worth facing for the sake of our neighbors. Here are 3 tips that may help: 1. Pray Our initial reaction may be to complain and vent, to seek those who understand our hurt feelings and can commiserate. I’m not saying venting is necessarily wrong, as friends can help us see things more…
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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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On Being Friends With Pastors’ Wives
by Vanessa Rasanen My two best friends at church happen to be the wives of our pastors. I’m not sure how it happened exactly — perhaps it’s that we’re all around the same age. Or maybe that our kids are around the same age. Or maybe it’s that as a military spouse, I can relate a bit to the frequent solo parenting we each endure due to our husbands’ schedules. Beyond that, they’re just really awesome women who I get along with, so friendship just developed naturally. And that’s not a bad thing. Because our pastors’ wives need friends, too. Sure, they have a built in support system with the other…
