By Joel Krogen –
I once had a phone interview with a congregation that revealed to me the length to which some people will go to avoid Scripture in the pursuit of being “relevant” to those around them (because, of course, the Word of God isn’t “relevant”—unbelievers around you are supposed to think you’re cool, then you’ll be ‘relevant’).
By Hillary Asbury –
Lately I have been reflecting on the unique challenges one faces when maintaining a creative career.
It’s a little odd, building a business by manufacturing products based on one’s private thoughts and feelings. My thoughts are inspired by many things—by experiences and certainly by Scripture. Those thoughts coalesce into a vision, and that vision eventually becomes a piece of artwork, which I will likely sell. Sometimes it feels as though I am selling my heart, my mind, my soul. It’s why, as a young artist, I found it difficult to let go of my work or sell it. It’s why many artists struggle to price their paintings.
By Bob Hiller –
We’ve all been there: You’re having a conversation about the faith with a person who is struggling to believe, or doesn’t at all. In the course of the conversation, they bring up an argument you don’t have an answer for. In fact, the point is way over your head, and you worry that pursuing the question will challenge your faith in uncomfortable ways. Maybe they are questioning how you know Jesus rose from the dead, or why you believe the New Testament is full of trustworthy documents. They’ve watched the latest Food Network special on the historical Jesus or checked out the latest Bart Ehrman thriller reconstructing the first four centuries of the church, and now they have questions. They aren’t afraid to put you on the spot: “How do you know? Why should I believe?” And all you can say is, “I just have faith that it is true. You just need to believe it! Take it on faith!”
By Hillary Asbury –
At the end of next month, I will be exhibiting at my church’s district convention in Irvine, CA.
This means that for the next few weeks I will be gearing up: getting my booth materials ready and organized, counting inventory, sending files out for print, and matting prints. I don’t enjoy this part particularly, but traveling with my work is always a little nerve-racking, and I insist on everything being done the right way before I go. As much as I get anxious about everything being just so, I love going to these conferences.
By Paul Koch –
Over the years I have read quite a bit about the influence of Scientific Management in our schools, corporations and military but I had never really thought much about its influence in the church. Scientific Management views efficiency as the highest good. So if you want a good and well-oiled society the best way to get it is to engineer it to be as efficient as possible. Schools need to track students and guide them to fill a specific role in society and so people are viewed as part of a machine, each providing a crucial piece and working with the highest efficiency. Such things don’t happen by chance; they need to be scientifically managed to reach the best outcome.
By Cindy Koch–
For some of us, the day came and went. Flowers, family, breakfast, phone calls, homemade cards, maybe even a glass of champagne if you were lucky. Mothers all over the country were honored in some little way due to a brilliant campaign on behalf of Hallmark. It was a lovely little day set aside to give thanks for the mother in our lives.
By Paul Koch –
Once a month, all my colleagues get together for a regular meeting of all the pastors in our circuit. We sit around and talk shop over coffee and breakfast type foods. We undertake some sort of theological study and catch up on any important news from our district (though it’s never as important as they think). Yet the pinnacle moment of our time together and the thing I enjoy the most is worship. That’s right, we gather together to receive the Word and Sacraments of our Lord, and it is something I cherish.
By Joel A. Hess –
This past Sunday, our church celebrated the confirmation of a bunch of our kids, my son included. Poor kids. What are we doing? Thirteen and fourteen year olds promising to be upstanding members, givers, and receivers in the Church, to hold to the teachings of the Church according to the Small Catechism, even to suffer death than to fall away from the faith.
By Bob Hiller –
My good buddy, Rev. Eric Eichinger, has written a wonderful book on Olympic runner and missionary Eric Liddell. I’m honored to have him contribute this piece on the Jagged Word. Check out his book here!~Bob
By Paul Koch –
Sometimes it seems as if I’m living in some sort bizarre parallel universe, where the things I learned from my childhood, the things that have helped defined me up to this point no longer seem to matter. Or perhaps a better image would be that of a modern-day Rip Van Winkle. I often find myself wandering through my world, confused by what I see and unsure of how we got here. Perhaps I was asleep while everything was changing, or I didn’t keep up with times. Perhaps I didn’t really care. And now I’m at a loss to explain just what the hell is going on.
By Hillary Asbury –
Every month I will be featuring an “Illustration of the Month,” a digital image that can be downloaded at www.hillaryasbury.com, for free, for use in church or home. My hope is that this simple offering will aid in the edification of our families and communities.
This month’s image (available for the month of May only) is an illustration inspired by Ezekiel 37: 1-14, The Valley of Dry Bones:
By Tim Winterstein –
By the time you read this, I will be at the 19th annual Newport Beach Film Festival. Since I started attending with my brother, Jay, six or seven years ago, one of the things that I’ve come to appreciate is the short film program. This will be my second year as a short film programmer, but even before last year, I found that short films were among the more interesting and provocative films I saw. In fact, short films often make a film festival worthwhile because you’re unlikely to see many of them anywhere else.
By Hillary Asbury –
Whoever said “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” was full of baloney.
I love what I do, and I still do all kinds of things that feel like work! I love painting, and I love serving people and churches with my art. But I work all the time. I maintain websites, professional profiles, and subscriptions. I’m self-employed, so I maintain the business side of everything I do. I draw up and negotiate contracts. I make drives out miles away for conferences and meetings about commissions. I edit my work digitally and send files out for print. I network, exchange business cards, and shake hands.
By Joel Hess – John R. Cash on why your pastor wears black. Yeah, there is more to […]
By Cindy Koch –
When it comes to her child, a mother isn’t afraid of much. Without thinking, she will run into disaster to save her little one. She will seek out the answer and remedy when her baby is sick. She will go to great lengths to make sure her child is safe and well cared for, unafraid of the consequences. It is in her nature to shield and love the creatures that God has given her. But there is an evil enemy that a mother doesn’t talk about. It is a terrifying force that lies just as close as her protection. A mother’s greatest fear is not the evil that threatens to harm her child from the outside. Rather, for the sake of her child, she is deathly afraid of her own evil that rages within.
By Bob Hiller –
How would you respond if I told you that you are a sheep? My guess is that your initial response would not be positive. In fact, when we call someone a sheep in our day, we usually mean they are weak—a follower. They blindly follow a leader with no thought or bravery. They are meek and foolish.
By Paul Koch –
The life of an individual Christian is a life that is lived in tension. I know, this isn’t new to you, but it is worth our focus today. The life of a Christian it is not a perfectly stable existence. It is organic. It shifts and moves. It flows from highs to lows as experiences and outside forces come crashing into our beliefs. There is a temptation to paint the faithful with a broad and even brush. We want to say that the Christian life is filled with confidence and stability, that those who go to church and receive the gifts of Christ will all experience similar things, have similar convictions and be set on similar paths throughout their journey. But that simply isn’t true. On any given Sunday morning there are a wide variety of emotions and fears and worries that grip the people of God. There is a tension between the promises you all share in the gifts of Christ and the varied life experiences you have. Sometimes, that tension can be pretty brutal.
By Tim Winterstein –
[SPOILERS]
First of all, if you haven’t gotten Movie Pass yet, what are you waiting for? If you sign up on the website, it’s only $6.95 a month, and if you see even one movie a month, it pays for itself. (Just make sure that it covers theaters in your area. It didn’t cover Wenatchee for a long time.)
By Bob Hiller –
There seems to be an inordinate amount of literature on pastoral leadership these days. Some of it is good and helpful. I have personally benefited in wonderful ways from a leadership program I was involved with some time back. But other leadership material is not as useful. I worry that some may even be harmful. I’ve recently found myself thinking: Are pastors actually called to be leaders?
By Paul Koch –
There is great comfort found in the traditional liturgy of the Church. When you wander into a congregation gathered around the gifts of Christ, the liturgy of their worship provides a rhythm and focus to the things that are happening. There is a movement and purpose that aids in carrying the individual from whatever was going before that moment into a genuine experience with the Almighty located in Word and Sacrament.
