By Joel A. Hess –
After the recent Supreme Court ruling knocking down Texas’ sanitary requirements for abortion clinics that are probably weaker than those used in poultry farms, we witnessed yet again the manifestations of a society that believes humans are really only animals.
That is the question of the age: is man an animal or something more?
By Bob Hiller –
In a few weeks, I’ve been invited to speak at the National Youth Gathering of the good ol’ Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Because of the nature of my little blog here, I’ve been tasked with chatting up the youth on what it means to be a Christian athlete. To be honest, I feel a bit like CS Lewis (well, except for the whole being smart thing) when he was asked to talk to a religious society at Oxford about writing Christian literature. He compares the idea of writing Christian literature with writing a Christian cook book. Though the dishes may have something Biblical about them, there is nothing particularly “Christian” about how one is to actually make the dishes. Lewis quips, “Boiling an egg is the same process whether you are a Christian or a Pagan.”
By Paul Koch –
Small talk at a recent wedding reception:
Guest: “So you’re a pastor, huh? I enjoyed that sermon. What sort of pastor are you?”
Me: “I’m a Lutheran. Missouri Synod, if you know what that is.”
Guest: “Lutheran, no kidding. I used to go to a Lutheran church, grew up in a Lutheran church. Do you guys still do the traditional stuff, or do you have a band?”
(Why do they always want to know if we have a band?)
By Jaime Nava –
A pastor friend posted on Facebook that a religion’s beliefs are in line with their founder. So someone calling themselves a Buddhist will follow Gautama Buddha and his teachings. Christians find themselves following Christ. Do Muslims follow the teachings of Muhammed, and do those teachings contain the violence we have seen from recent attacks? Fort Hood saw the deaths of 13 when a psychiatrist proclaimed “Allah Akbar” in 2009. The Boston Marathon was attacked by religiously motivated Chechen Muslims, killing 3 and maiming or injuring another 264 in 2013. San Bernardino suffered the deaths of 14 and another 17 injured at the end of 2015. Now we have Orlando with 49 dead and 53 injured. Are these people claiming to follow the teachings of the Koran, or are they on the fringe?
By Joel A. Hess –
Often times, my Roman Catholic friends enjoy mocking my reformation allegiances by pointing out all the different denominations. “Luther did that!” they quip. Perhaps the major criticism of the reformers from the Roman side is their introduction of individual interpretation over and against the official Church interpretation. Of course, if one were to actually read the confessions, there is no support of every man for himself interpretation. Also, having an official magisterium does not guarantee unity of teaching. There are as many ‘little’ church bodies within the Roman community as there are among protestants.
By Donavon Riley –
Take away your church’s rituals and traditions. What’s left? Can you be a Christian without your rituals and traditions? Take away liturgy, and hymns, and sermons. What about now? Can you still be a Christian without them? Take away the water, words, bread and wine. Can you be a Christian without water, words, bread and wine?
By Paul Koch –
In a day where our communication is shaped and defined by electronic media more than anything else, the art and beauty of the hand-written letter is almost a forgotten joy. E-mails and texts and Facebook updates are quick and easy ways to stay connected to family and friends, but they always seem to lack something compared to an old fashioned letter. When our thoughts and well-wishes are translated through our computers and cell phones, the individual persona is often filtered out. By comparison when you receive a hand-written letter, it is like you are receiving a part of the person who wrote it.
By Paul Koch –
One of the things that I truly love about my vocation is regular participation in the study of Holy Scripture. From Tuesday mornings with a few of my colleagues and friends where we translate the text for the upcoming week to the regular midweek and Sunday morning Bible studies at church, I am fortunate to be able to engage the Word as part of my regular schedule.
Now, it may sound like a stupid thing to assert that a pastor would spend a lot of time with the Word of God and that he would enjoy it,
By Jaime Nava –
Do you know your short, fuzzy pal, Grover? He’s the blue monster from Sesame Street. When he is caped, he is also known as Super Grover and even Super Grover two-point-oh. Grover has a trait in all his appearances. You see, he thinks he knows something when in actuality, he doesn’t. For example, he wears a professor’s garb, calls himself professor Grover, and wants to tell you about one of nature’s wonders: mailboxes! No, trees! (He’s corrected by Cameron Diaz). In one episode, Grover is the Music Monster, and he breaks down crying because he has to admit that he knows nothing and that he’s a sham. He had been trying to lead everyone into thinking he was a musical expert. Grover is the self-deluded non-expert who makes claims that are true because he says they are. It is rare for Grover to repent.
By Joel A. Hess –
This past week, I had the privilege once again to sit near the bedside of a woman breathing her last breath. Afterward, I noticed the hospice caretaker speak gently about her client to her daughter. When referring to her death, she never said “she died.” Instead, like so many within and without the community of the risen Jesus, the nurse said “she passed.”
People don’t like to say that their loved one “died.”
By Graham Glover –
We still have a long way to go in the 2016 election cycle. We may think we know who the party’s nominees are, but if there is anything this election has proven, it is that this year is entirely unpredictable. I suggest you get comfortable and fasten your seatbelt, because there are a lot of twists and turns yet to come this election year. Nobody knows what America will wake up to on November 9th. Nobody. All we know is that anything and everything is within the realm of possibility.
By Jaime Nava –
When I was a buzz-headed lad growing up with my similarly shorn siblings, we would all gather around the Nintendo and play some of the most frustrating games I have ever seen. Granted it could be that we were too young to actually understand a specific game like, say, Metal Gear. It could also be that some games were just too incredibly difficult. People actually have a term for this: Nintendo Hard. These were games that were so difficult they were nearly impossible. It was the kind of thing that caused many a kiddo to hurl the remote control in an original rage quit. Games like Contra and Double Dragon come to mind. To be honest, I can’t recall all of them; but Nintendo was hard, okay?
By Joel A Hess –
Nothing is worse than a drama queen, right? Like a train wreck, we slow down our cars to watch them on reality T.V., Hollywood award shows, or perhaps we get to enjoy a live show at work or on campus. They wear their emotions on their sleeve. Well I suppose it’s just one emotion. They are upset and they want to make sure everyone knows. One can tell that they actually like being upset!
By Jeff Mallinson –
What do we mean when we call something good or bad, whether in aesthetics or ethics? These days, it seems that children tend to have a quicker and more genuine response. The rest of us these days, find locating goodness, truth, and beauty far more problematic.
By Caleb Keith –
At one point or another, everybody makes their way to the edge of town. Past busy streets and crowded buildings lie an ominous wood. The woods are densely packed with foliage filling the space between trees both great and small. Squeezed between the packed greenery sit three paths. The paths were carved long ago; to this day, nobody knows who took the first steps.
By Graham Glover –
I am generally immune to the antics of Christian pietists. Their self-righteousness is more silly than offensive and their claim to represent some kind of authentic Christianity is as ridiculous as the theology the espouse. They are found throughout Christendom, from Roman Catholicism to your garden variety non-denominational community church, and yes, they even make their presence known in my own Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
By Daniel van Voorhis –
The Jagged Word has its first scoop of the new year! We tracked down these, well, unflattering pictures of some of the hottest stars on the planet RIGHT NOW! Whether it is celebrities in their “not quite ready for summer” beach bods or an “A”-lister stopping at the local market in jeans and hoodie, we have, over the next few pages, discovered that some of these celebrities are JUST like us!
By Caleb Keith –
This evening I was exposed to an interesting piece by T. S. Eliot called Tradition and the Individual Talent. The opening line is something I can’t help but to agree with, “In English writing we seldom speak of tradition…” This statement was assuredly true for Eliot and most certainly true for us in the technologically fueled 21st century.
By Daniel van Voorhis –
It is the first day back to school, or the day of a job interview or meeting, or a first date. Maybe it is just going to a party with people who dig talking about things that intimidate you? We might be nervous on all sorts of levels. This anxiety comes from a number of sources. Will I fit in? Will I say the right thing? Will I be dressed appropriately?
By Scott Keith –
Recently, I had a discussion with a good friend regarding the nature of beauty. He recalled a frequent argument he has had with another friend. The nature of their argument sought to answer if music can be categorized into bad, good, better, and best. In other words, can it be said that Bach is better than the Beatles or that the Beatles are better than Bach?
