I just got back from vacation. Here are the highlights: I got up in the morning with my daughter and we jumped in the swimming pool together. I took a nap alongside my wife in the afternoons. I got to sit on a breezy porch and read “Invisible Monsters” by Chuck Palahniuk while drinking a…
A Jesus Centered Community of Scripture, Faith, and Grace
Posts from 2016 (Page 3)
My talk at the National Youth Gathering was entitled “Relax and Be a Christian”. When people asked what my talk was about, I told them that the gist of the talk was “Stahhhhp…..just stoppppp…” Sometimes we need to be told to stop, to relax, and to recognize that Jesus has this all under control. But…
I (Pastor Jay) have been out of town quite a bit lately, first in Milwaukee for the National LCMS Convention (read more about that here http://universitylutheranchurch.org/2016/07/15/inside-lcms-baseball/ ), and most recently in New Orleans LA for the National Youth Gathering. Of those two trips, the Youth Gathering was certainly the biggest. The Convention featured approximately 3,000 people…
Today marks the end of my ninth year of a very specific way of serving God, as a “called and ordained servant of the Word”. As year number 10 starts, I look back to a weird moment when I felt the “inner call” of God to be a pastor. This “inner call” is a gut…
“Inside baseball” is a term that usually refers to a detail-oriented approach to the minutiae of a subject, which in turn requires such a specific knowledge about what is being discussed that the nuances are not understood or appreciated by outsiders. Hopefully this is a little easier to understand. This past week the Lutheran Church Missouri…
I’m all about the Gospel. I have the word “Gospel” literally tattooed to my right arm (I have “Law” on the left). But I’m just not sure that the average person on the street understands the word Gospel. If anything, they probably think I’m talking about one of the four accounts of Jesus’ life in…
Living the Lectionary is a weekly devotional tool intended to give you ideas for living out the Word of God that we encounter on Sundays in worship. ABOUT THE WEEK STARTING July 3rd: THE 7th Week after Pentecost Overall Theme: Where you find comfort – the readings all point us to find comfort in God, which is…
In 1977, Iggy Pop released the classic song, “The Passenger”, a song that he says he wrote as he was riding Germany’s S-Bahn train, but also thinking of how he had been been driven around several countries for which he didn’t have a driver’s license. It’s not exactly a Psalm, or is it? The lyrics…
Living the Lectionary is a weekly devotional tool intended to give you ideas for living out the Word of God that we encounter on Sundays in worship. ABOUT THE WEEK STARTING June 26th: THE 6th Week after Pentecost Overall Theme: Choices – When God gives us the Gospel, He also gives us the freedom to choose. Law:…
Today at the gym, a lady who usually takes the elliptical machine next to mine found a (hopefully unused) kleenex in one of the cubbie holes of the elliptical. She promptly took it out, and threw it on the floor, presumably for the employees of the gym to take care of later. On Monday, on…