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Church Life

WHAT IF WE COULD STOP IT?

About a month ago, we marked the first anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  In a little less than two months, it will be the anniversary of the shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston, Texas.  Next month, it will be …

Walking in the Darkness

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light …   That’s where we’re headed in Advent, these words from Isaiah that we’ll read on Christmas Eve.  Advent is a journey set in the darkest weeks of the year, as the days grow shorter and shorter.  Even after …

WHAT IF IT DOESN’T GET BETTER?

Summer and assembly time have  passed.  Rally Day, the now traditional re-launch of regular congregational activities, has come and gone.  In many cases, some of the prompting for renewed focus on activities — and attendance — in the congregation has come from the downward trend lines that are dogging most …

AFTER EASTER … AFTER ANSELM …

Because Easter fell rather late this year, the commemoration of the theologian Anselm of Canterbury on April 21st falls within the first week of Easter.  Maybe it’s because these events are so close this year … Maybe it’s because I spent Lent reading Walter Wangerin Jr.’s The Book of Sorrows …

AN INVOCATION

In some traditions, there is a custom known as “St. Martin’s Advent” or Celtic Advent by which the season begins November 16th so as to be 40 days before Christmas, balancing the season of Lent, which is 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays). It is with a view to …

A Prayer for Peace

A Prayer for Peace… … On the occasion of the 2015 National Vigil to #EndGunViolence Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Saint Paul, Minnesota December 9, 2015   O Lord our God, maker of all things… Hear your children as we pray by the many names with which we cry out …

Mid-Lent Check Up

Shout aloud, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion …   Perhaps Lent started for you with these words from Isaiah (Chapter 58) back on Ash Wednesday; perhaps with other words declaring a fast – or something like it. Fasting …