Vocation

Learning from Belichick

By Bob Hiller –

Our country is divided over pretty much everything these days. In such times, it is helpful to remember that nothing unites quite like a common enemy. That is why I am thankful that the New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. Our collective disdain for ol’ Grumpy Bill and that disgustingly talented quarterback just might be what this nation needs to bring us together. Just think of the collective joy we would feel watching Matt Ryan march down the field with only seconds left on the clock to score a winning touchdown and rip the hearts out of the New England sideline. It just makes you want to hug your enemy, doesn’t it?

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A Wasted Life?

By Scott Keith –

My friend Aaron recently introduced me to a website that has shattered my world. No, it’s not a site spouting a new theology. No, it is not even a site promoting a new worldview or philosophy that has got my head spinning. Rather, it is a site dedicated to tools. Yes, tools. The site is John Neeman tools, and they have a rather simple philosophy. All of their tools are made in their small, traditional workshops (in Latvia) using equally traditional methods and techniques. Their focus is on uniqueness and quality, not quantity. They say that they want to help people remember how to use their hands, to relate their own human energy to their tools and achieve the true joy of creating something from humble beginnings.

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Fishers of Men

By Paul Koch –

In our text today we find our Lord on the move. The great forerunner, John the Baptist, has been imprisoned by Herod Antipas and the time has come for Jesus to begin the public work for which He was sent. He leaves behind His home town of Nazareth and travels to Capernaum by the sea. His movement is like the inbreaking of a great light into a land trapped in darkness. As Isaiah declares, “Those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” For as John had preached and baptized for repentance, as he had so faithfully pointed to our Lord and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world,” now we hear from the lips of our Savior the great call of faith. The light that breaks into that darkness comes in the gift of His Word as he now declares, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

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Preaching: The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent

By Paul Koch –

“But is it terrible everywhere?” My wife asked, interrupting me in the midst of my (almost weekly) tirade about the state of preaching in the church. Now that is a good question. Is preaching really all that poor in the churches or has that only been my experience? Or am I just too damn picky and overly critical of what I hear? While many may think that because I am a preacher I have more of a right than most to critique preaching, the truth is I don’t get out that often to hear preaching. As a friend in Georgia used to remind me, I live in a strange little Lutheran bubble.

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Memorizing Versus Understanding

By Caleb Keith –

Last week, I started what will be my last semester as an undergraduate student, and boy does it feel sweet. As week two begins, I am feeling the hurt as the work begins to stack up. For my last semester, I decided to torture myself by taking three classical languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Primarily taking language classes is nice because there are no research papers due at the end of the semester. However, the time and energy I gain from not writing papers is quickly sapped away by memory work. Vocab cards need flipping, paradigm charts need filling, and I could use a drink. Memory work is vital to language study, but it isn’t the whole picture. Memory work can’t be blind; it must have a purpose or goal for it to be worthwhile. When I study, I do not do so with the intention to have a bunch of random words and charts in my head. I do it with the goal to better understand my world. Memorization is far from understanding, and memorization that never reaches a level of any understanding is hardly worth the time. This is not true only concerning language but concerning everything we put to memory.

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Success and Failure

By Ross Engel –

“Success” is a loaded word. It is such a subjective word that it can be challenging to nail down what a person means when they start talking about “success” and “failure.”

Consider the various vocations and duties that you have. If I consider the various stations of life that God has given me, I can say that I am a husband, father, son, pastor, boss, brother, friend, neighbor, and probably a handful of other things to a variety of people. But how do I determine whether or not I am a success in any of these stations of life? I ask this, because lately I haven’t been feeling terribly “successful” at life.

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Girls Can’t Forgive Sins

By Cindy Koch –

It’s a hard mouthful to forgive someone their sins. They are some of the most awkward words to come out of your mouth. Firstly, you are bold enough to actually say “I forgive you,” which is not one of our top ten automatic responses in uncomfortable situations. Secondly, by pronouncing forgiveness, you are admitting that this person before you has sinned. In our passive aggressive culture, looking someone in the eye and calling sin a sin is a feat of bravery. Thirdly, this person probably didn’t even sin against you, so you are speaking the powerful words of God in His stead concerning His eternal judgement. You might wonder, who are you to proclaim these life-giving, sin-loosing words? 

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An Internal Reformation – Not an External Revolution

By Graham Glover –

It’s here. The year 2017. And with it, an onslaught of conversations about an Augustinian Friar who started a chain of events 500 years ago that forever changed the Western Church.

As Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and others begin to discuss anew the causes and consequences of Luther and the reformation that bore his name, we are wise to remember that Luther sought an internal reformation, not an external revolution. This may sound like semantics to some, but it calls to mind a quote attributed to the Lutheran theologian, Peter Brunner, that went something like this: “a Lutheran who does not daily ask himself why he is not a Roman Catholic cannot know why he is a Lutheran”.

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Superheroes Walking Among You

By Cindy Koch –

There is an underground world of hidden powers that the mortal world knows nothing about. A league of superheroes lives and works among you. We walk around by the light of day in tennis shoes and yoga pants. We pick our kids up from school in minivans. We blend into grocery store lines and walk our dogs through the park. We wake up early and meet at the office or the gym. We stay up late and watch Netflix. We are everywhere, but you might never even notice us.

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The Loss of Civil Discourse

By Scott Keith –

A few years ago, Dr. Rod Rosenbladt retired from Concordia University in Irvine. Rod’s retirement gave him the occasion to give a final public lecture, which I attended. I had Rod as a theology and philosophy professor and considered him a “theological” colleague. It seemed natural to expect that Rod’s lecture would be on a topic of theology, and I settled into my seat ready for just that. The lecture was not at all what I expected. Knowing Rod for as long as I have, I have come to expect the unexpected. Rod’s lecture, “Education, Gospel, and Freedom,” was more or less on the state of education and the disintegration of academic discourse.

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The Wussification of the American Pulpit

By Paul Koch –

Now, with a title like that, you might be thinking that I’m going to ramble on about the lack of masculinity among the members of my own vocation. And you would be right, but not necessarily in the way you are thinking. To be sure, there is fertile ground in making fun of the so-called bravery of the theological-thought police on Facebook (or so I’m told), and who doesn’t love a well-timed and well-aimed rant about the ivory tower theologians that plague genuine proclamation? However, my focus here is on the very attitude and way in which a pastor speaks. To put it simply, more and more pastors today sound like a bunch of wussies.

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Spiritual Masturbation and Masculinity

By Paul Koch –

In my experience, women fight differently than men. As a father of five, one boy and four girls, I have witnessed the clear difference in their strategy and tactics. My son seems to have a deep instinctual desire to fight with a physical exchange, a trading of blows to make his point. In fact, you can see the torment he goes through when he restrains from physical retaliation toward one of his sisters because he has been taught from the get-go that you don’t hit girls.

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The Theologian’s Craft

By Paul Koch –

In 1965, Dr. Montgomery presented an insightful and challenging paper titled “The Theologian’s Craft: A Discussion of Theory Formation and Theory Testing in Theology.” (For those interested, it can be found in a collection of his essays here.) His paper was a real attempt to explain to scientists just what it is theologians do. He offers a brilliant comparison between scientific and theological methodologies and in my estimation, he succeeds in his task and builds a compelling case for how we understand and speak about the craft of a theologian.

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Idle Temptation

By Paul Koch –

We have all heard at some time in our life, usually on the lips of a well-meaning grandmother, that famous saying, “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” This is a great saying and there is truth found in it. In fact, if you think about it, this saying focuses us on a central problem of mankind. The thing is, our hands don’t stay idle. To be idle is to be unproductive, to do nothing, but we are busy creatures always working in some way. So, this a cautionary saying that if our hands are not being employed toward something good, something faithful, or something beautiful then they will be employed towards something wicked – for they will not stay idle.

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How You Should Vote

By Paul Koch –

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Allegiance. Allegiance to a republic that stands boldly as a great nation under God. Allegiance that binds us together as citizens of this great country. Left-wing, right-wing, Christian, Muslim, black, Hispanic, poor and rich we are all a part of the land of the free and the home of the brave. And this Tuesday we will once again take to the polls and the rest of the world will watch as we elect the next President of the United States. Once again, we are enduring a hotly contested race. Once again, we hear the charge that this is the nastiest year yet, most divisive, and most shameful all around. Perhaps it is. Perhaps this year really is the worst we’ve ever experienced. It is certainly the most expensive. Did you know that this year they’ve estimated that over 5 billion will be spent on the political campaigns?

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