“How do Lutherans feel about Jesus’ ministry of healing and casting out of demons?” I answered, “That scares most of us and we ignore it as much as possible.” | more »
Pastor
Such spontaneous outbursts may make us uncomfortable in the extreme. We don't know how we should respond. | more »
My community based on the book of Ruth exists only in my imagination. Were it to be translated into a reality, it would be like any other faith community: imperfect. | more »
What you’re saying doesn’t apply to me. I’m not sick. I’m not a sinner. | more »
This particular person, at least, didn't want to sing about being a “wretch.” And they cared enough to actually scratch the word out of their bulletin. | more »
Jesus had a tendency to work a miracle and then tell the healed ones to keep quiet about it. | more »
The one who was out was now in; the one who was low was made high; the one who was nobody became somebody. | more »
If you’re trying to go somewhere, get from here to there, a straightforward, readable map is exactly what you need. | more »
Turns out jobs and cars were a little more complicated than I first believed. Lawns? Forget it. Lawns have always been way beyond my control. | more »
The church is called to talk to anyone who is seeking to know and understand God’s love. That call is to all of us. | more »
It is not important that we get the world to come to the church. Our calling is to bring the thirsty and the water of life together. | more »
“No one is speaking up for women here, and this is America!” | more »
The story of what God is doing in the world through Jesus and his followers can’t be contained in one book, or two, or 102 or more. | more »
My runner friends have been angry, and hurt and sad. I’ve been scared and struggling to process it all. | more »
Jesus calls us to “agape,” self-sacrificial love. This is love that has to do with how we act toward one another, not how we feel about each other. | more »
The hearing of the Shepherd’s voice is not the difficult part in all this. Just hearing the voice is not enough. | more »
The signs of resurrection and new life were at first so small, it was easy to miss them — and to dismiss them. | more »
Our congregation has an “Investment in Ministry Plan,” not a budget. In our meetings and conversations, the leadership avoids the word “budget” and always speaks in ministry terms. | more »
Multitasking isn’t inherently bad, and newer generations are simply better at it than older generations. | more »
Like those first disciples surprised by the empty tomb, we can instead get lost in that past moment of time. | more »
Some who saw the risen Christ still doubted, while others, who have never seen him, believe fervently. | more »
One of the persistent questions we ask when we approach the Passion story is “why?” | more »
Mary discovered that things had changed, the tomb was empty, the body was missing, and angels were lurking about. She had come upon the greatest “but God” moment of them all. | more »
I agree with the idea that in order to survive — even thrive — in life, we have to make choices about where we spend our energy. | more »
The image of the real Jesus has been obscured by time and cultural shifts and “preacherly” reinterpretation. | more »
When absolution is pronounced, it is pronounced on behalf of God. It draws us out of the echo chamber of our own inner feelings and into relationship. | more »
These stories remind us to never give up when we feel lost in the universe for God is always out there looking for us. | more »
Exclusively harking back to a lovely bygone era is not a helpful or life-giving model for the community of faith in the here and now. | more »
I keep thinking that because we are made in the image of God we stamp God’s presence on the world like a typewriter stamps an image on a piece of paper. | more »
Such fears are too often personally devastating and publicly debilitating if left ignored or unresolved. | more »
He had given up fast food for Lent but ate at Burger King and got food poisoning. I told him his worst sin was blaming God for fast food. | more »
Just because you teach spiritual truth through the use of a story doesn’t mean the story isn’t factual. It just means that sometimes the facts are beside the point. | more »
It is good to identify people in the community who exhibit qualities of wisdom. They seem to be attuned to lasting patterns of meaningful life and purpose. | more »
In the end, it is simply this: The call is from God. This call to speak as Jeremiah did — loving the people enough to call them to account. | more »
John Bunyan was honored, but his teachings are now ignored. Is this the way it is with the church today, remembering Jesus but forgetting his message? | more »
Our identity as Christian people flows directly out of Jesus’ identity as the Christ of God, what we are called to do follows directly on what Jesus was called to. | more »
Do we continue in our illness, embracing the symptoms, and running to our death? Sounds dramatic, I know, but sin needs to be taken seriously because God takes it seriously. | more »
Jesus took good things from the past and transformed them, changed them, into other good things for the future. | more »
Too often too many of us act as though we have been baptized with John’s baptism only, redeemed from the past, but not empowered for the future. | more »
I find myself thinking of those wise men, those magi, those kings and I find myself wondering about what stirred in their hearts to compel them to risk so much. | more »
Today we get Jesus in the temple and it’s a good story, an important story for today because Luke is trying to tell us who this Jesus really was. | more »
There are very few neat and clean endings to the day where everything is accomplished and put away. | more »
I want to lift up the versatility of certain storytellers who work to help us see the story and its power anew. | more »
There is no place on earth to find the peace we are looking for. There is no place on earth the peace of God in Christ cannot find us. | more »
The gospel is crazy hard. “Come and die and be raised” is not a sexy message. It is actually a hard sell. | more »
He's coming for all of the ones who have lost their way, who have fallen and can't get up, who have died and need to be raised to new life. | more »
Instead of speculating about suffering or damnation, perhaps we should hold fast to Christ’s promise that he returns out of love for us. | more »
Advent is the season of waiting. Sometimes waiting patiently; other times waiting quite impatiently. | more »
What, in fact, does it mean to say that Jesus is King? How important is it that he was both fully divine and fully human? | more »
God has many comforters. | more »
My son’s wedding was most definitely a worship service of Word and Sacrament and they came for God's blessing. All of the other choices followed from this truth. | more »
These two stories are not only about widows, they are about putting your complete trust in God as well. | more »
I think we do ourselves a disservice by only considering those saints who have died. | more »
We tell lots of stories because stories have this marvelous way of taking big, amorphous thoughts and feelings and making them concrete and share-able. | more »
People don’t know our language. And they are not running out to get a religious Rosetta Stone course in order to learn it. | more »
But Jesus isn't giving just one more thing for the rich young man to do. Jesus is giving the man something impossible for him to do. | more »
I can't seem to get my brain around what is called "The Big Picture."
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It had been a while since I was in the room as someone died and I had to deal with the initial grief. One generally does not do much speaking. | more »
Even though I grew up with this term, know more or less just what it means, I still think it’s high time to get rid of it. | more »
There were several "firsts” for me as a pastor last month, and they were practically back to back. | more »
Preaching is not about trying to come up with a clever message but about trusting the Holy Spirit. | more »
Real hospitality is more than making a space in your house for someone. | more »
There was no mention of suicide or the battle that was waged against depression, and the words addiction, alcohol or treatment were not mentioned once. | more »
Whatever (or whomever) you have at the core of your heart exerts huge influence over your choices. | more »
For you and me, the kind of taking away or cutting off that Jesus speaks of is one that leads not to less but to more. | more »
We all have good intentions. We all want to be better people than we are. What’s stopping us? What is our downfall? | more »
In the church-as-business model we have sometimes neglected the church-as-relationship model. We need to be out there where the people gather. | more »
When did the kingdom of God become all about success and numbers? | more »
Then Jesus did a monumentally important thing in the history of the church. There, on the spot, he invented the children's sermon. | more »
Giving our lives to Christ is neither glorious nor spectacular. It’s done in little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. | more »
The further Jesus goes in his ministry the deeper his understanding of his mission becomes. | more »
I reflected: "What is unique about me and my calling? What do I care about and what can I do about it?" | more »
Christ is encountered through those “small” acts of love done in his name. | more »
The goal of the law is to remind us that we have a human being inside, in our hearts, in our souls, in our center of being. | more »
What are we accomplishing as a congregation to make a difference for Christ in our mission field? | more »
Choose this day. Decide. As Bob Dylan said in the song, “You gotta serve somebody.” Who’s it going to be? | more »
How are we to understand this? What are we to make of such language? What is John trying to tell us with all these “bread” stories? | more »
But I still have mixed feelings about claiming it as one of my strengths. | more »
We must listen carefully and hear God say to us, “Arise and eat. I know who you are and what you’ve done and failed to do and I love you anyway.” | more »
You will hear comments and conversation that range from anger and frustration, to deep sadness. | more »
Pastors don’t cry. We’re supposed to be the solid presence, the comforting balm in crisis, and the one to lean on. | more »
The old rule used to be that biblical saints and commemorations could take precedence over the lectionary for a Green Sunday. Now they all just get shoved off to Monday. | more »
In the days following Global Village Camp, I realized that my youth-inspired insights on discernment could not have come at a better time.
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By paying attention to the cultural and religious currents of our age we may draw out important implications of Christian doctrine and practice. | more »
Add a strawberry milkshake and I’m in heaven. I think that’s the way it was for Mark as he wrote the good news he understood from his experience with Jesus. | more »
If we trust God, we can trust enough to ask questions about God, of God, of one another without being threatened. | more »
Paying attention to the way that Matthew, Mark and Luke handle the same material helps me better understand what each author is trying to say.
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John the Baptist surveyed the whole mess at Herod's palace and called him out on issues of morality and leadership. | more »
I wonder if those really helpful worship folders could be isolating us from one another? | more »
If you go on vacation and do not cross the threshold of a church, I will not judge, although I might ask where you encountered Christ that Sunday. | more »
To look out from the Lincoln Memorial, over the Reflecting Pool, past the great obelisk of the Washington Memorial and to the Capitol, brings much of our nation's history into perspective. | more »
Maybe we need a faith with fewer answers and more questions, with more room for exploring, changing our minds, adding a new insight. | more »
Deepened skills of both listening and receiving have shaped who she is as a pastor and are gifts that she hopes to bring to her new congregation, says Twila Schock. | more »
A lie we pastors tell ourselves is, "I'll still be able to worship while I lead worship." Not true. | more »
Walter had a rare gift for working collegially and encouraged me and so many others as valued partners in the common work of discovering and sharing the gospel. | more »
Those assembled saw, “Why” -- a mission drama and had a Birth Day Party and committed themselves “in the Unity of the Spirit” to “One Church Made New.” | more »
I like technology. I like communicating with others. But I think there are limits. Mine stops at blogging. | more »
What an incredible journey. I have been pulled at like taffy, nurtured in the dusty sunlight, and filled up with good news and hope. | more »
While these leaders can help congregations and individuals experience tremendous growth, when they leave it can be difficult to fill that’s leader’s role. | more »
Squeaky clean Christian. That’s precisely what we try to be, and what is ultimately behind the comments (joking or otherwise) that I hear. | more »
Recent Comments
Bruce Roberts: “It is discouraging to be a discussant in The LivingLutheran” | more »
Rogan: “When this discussion turns to the making the belief in” | more »
Bruce Roberts: “Dear Tim, Well I was/am a boy scout; an Eagle.” | more »
Ken: “Correction to the above--I don't know how that space got” | more »
Peter: “It sounds like there are two main changes you propose” | more »