On January 1, 1863, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, issued an executive order which changed […]
freedom
By Joel A. Hess – Another shooting. More pontificating. Along with the hopeless, Christians scurry to draw lines […]
By Tim Winterstein – From 1949 until 1990, East Germany (or the German Democratic Republic—DDR auf Deutsch) was […]
By Dennis Matyas – Many have and will undertake an account of the recent synodical convention in Tampa. […]
By Joel A. Hess – This Thursday, many of us will celebrate the birth of the Declaration of […]
By Cindy Koch – Worrying about the children. Looking over my shoulder to see if anybody is watching. […]
By Paul Koch – This Thursday, on the 4th of July, our nation will celebrate its independence. We […]
By Cindy Koch –
We’re on the brink of another new year. It’s exciting to think of the big changes that could happen. Maybe I’ll start that kitchen project I’ve put off for so long, or drop those 10 pounds. Maybe I’ll put a little more time into friendship or family. Success, prosperity, love—these are the things you strive for as the seconds tick along the timeline that continues from before you were.
By Paul Koch –
There is nothing worse than the feeling that comes over you when reality beats back your wish dreams. When you imagine what something would be like—how it would look, act, or feel—and then you experience it in real life and finally take it all in only to find that it’s not what you imagined. In that moment, your expectations, your ideal is shattered. And in a way, a big part of what our Lord does as he walks the earth is tear down the images and dreams people had concerning the Messiah. Everyone was waiting for the Messiah, eager to receive the Anointed One, and they all had their own detailed understanding of just how he would act and what sort of things he would accomplish. Would he be compassionate, kind, and forgiving? Would he be a critical judge and immovable threat? A liberator of the people of God? A deliverer from oppression or a political king? Everyone took the title of Messiah and filled it with their own wish dreams, and everything went along wonderfully until it crashed into reality.
By Paul Koch –
Being a hearer of the Word is not my usual position. I am a speaker of the Word, one called to proclaim the living Word of God to others. I’m a pastor, the guy up front, and I’ve grown accustomed to that role over the years. It has become somewhat comfortable.
By Hillary Asbury –
People are sometimes very surprised to find out that my church has a service on Thanksgiving. I love it though; I grew up with it being a normal thing and for whatever reason I find it to be a very comforting service. There’s something grounding about celebrating a Christ-centered Thanksgiving. Its about something more than gorging ourselves with food, about more than time with family, and even about more than expressing gratitude for the many blessings we have enjoyed that year.
By Cindy Koch –
There is something beautiful about a debate. Even if it is with the tiny mind of a two-year-old, it is a valuable and precious conversation. The exchange of ideas, as eloquent or as basic as it may be, requires both people to be introspective. Why do I think this? Why does she think that? How can I get someone else to see my point? Maybe, possibly, I am wrong. The questions and tactics flow back and forth, from passion to passion. And there is a true beauty in the discussion.
By Hillary Asbury –
The Harrowing of Hell is just one panel of a larger altarpiece which depicts several vignettes from the Passion of our Lord. In the painting, we see a cut out scene of a dark cave, and several of the faithful departed huddled within. Two men, perhaps Noah and Abraham, kneel before Jesus. Behind them stand John the Baptist who is, as always, pointing to Christ and turning to his companion (likely King David) to tell of the coming of the Savior. In the back corner we see Adam and Eve, patiently awaiting the fulfillment of that long-ago promise.
By Hillary Asbury –
My family is a musical family. My grandfather played an instrument in school. My uncle was in the marching band, and so was my stepdad. My mom plays piano and was a member of the jazz band. My cousins play piano, sing, and write music. Even my best friend is an opera singer.
By Paul Koch –
I recall many years ago I was doing a Sunday morning Bible study at my previous congregation in Georgia. We were working our way through St. Matthew’s Gospel that happened to be the text that corresponds to our reading today of Mark 10:2-16. So, we began by talking about the harsh realities of divorce. Divorce seems to be a plague of sorts in our land, it’s no longer rare or shocking. All of us have come in contact with the realities of divorce. Either you have been divorced or your parents have, or you know someone who has gone through the hurt and struggle of divorce. And it is easy if you haven’t been divorced to speak with a certain self-righteousness about the whole thing. Then again, it is also easy to justify divorce to the point that it can seem a noble or necessary thing. During that Bible study in Georgia, I was no doubt more on the self-righteous side of things when a member brought to my attention the simple fact that most of the people sitting there had been through divorce. In Bible Study on a Sunday morning a small southern town, those who had not been divorced were certainly the minority.
By Paul Koch –
The concept of F-You Money flows from a new take on the American dream. No longer is it simply about climbing the social-economic ladder to achieve a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. It’s not merely about doing better than your parents did or setting up your own children to have a better life than you. F-You Money is about being free to give your boss the finger, to quit and walk out without any sacrifice to your lifestyle. It means you are not beholden to another for your time. If you don’t want to do something, you don’t have to do it, period.
By Cindy Koch –
So much of our daily lives cycle around the same old thing, day after day. Laundry, dishes, fixing the car, going to work, walking the dog, the mundane routine seems like it spins around and around, never resolved and never finished. It takes me back to a time when my babies were very little. I found myself caught in the mundane, the everyday routine. I would wake up, feed the baby, change her, do some dishes, feed the baby, change her, clean the bathroom, feed the baby, change her, and go to bed. Every single day. But nothing much changed.
By Cindy Koch –
He doesn’t know.
You know the answer. You want him to know the answer. You know it will help. You know it’s the only thing that will help.
By Graham Glover –
We Lutherans, that is, we Lutherans of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, are an interesting bunch.
For a denomination that prides itself on doctrinal purity, remaining steadfastly loyal to the creeds and confessions that define what it means to be a Missouri Synod Lutheran, we have an unusual fear of those outside our denominational walls.
By Paul Koch –
Do you confess the Unaltered Augsburg Confession to be a true exposition of Holy Scripture and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church? And do you confess that the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord—as these are contained in the Book of Concord—are also in agreement with this one scriptural faith?