What are your hopes for the Church? All sorts of ink has been spilled on what makes for a good church or a healthy church or an effective church. In fact, even those adjectives (good, healthy, effective) betray a little bit of what we might be hoping for in a church. Some church hopes are…

When Martin Luther said, “everything that is done in the world is done by hope,” he was largely meaning that for individuals. The expanded quote tells us about the hopes he was talking about: “No merchant or tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby.” Hoping is naturally…

This year, University Lutheran is engaging with our annual focus, “Done by Hope”. The name of the focus comes from Martin Luther’s quote, “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. No merchant or tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby.” As with many…

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Jesus’ first words in Luke are “Why were you looking for me?” and that got me to wondering what each of the Gospel writers captured as Jesus’ first quotes. Like I said, in Luke, Jesus asks his parents, “Why were you looking for me?” and follows it…

What did John the Baptist, Samuel, Jonah, Moses, Paul, and Elisha all have in common? Hope. As we continue our “Done by Hope” annual focus year, we take Epiphany to engage with the stories of some notable Biblical figures – each of them from a different time, a different context, and each of them having…

The other day I learned about “Green Monday”. Green Monday is the 3rd Monday in December, which is now being added to the list of celebrated retail holy days like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”. Green Monday’s specificity is that it is the last day to reliably order an online gift that will show up…

Every mother is different, but I remember the relief that came over my wife, Liz, when each of our children moved into the “weaned” stage. This was the point when each of the kids didn’t need her body for sustenance anymore, but just for her loving presence with them. That is the moment that David…

This past Sunday we started off our “Ugly Christmas, Beautiful Christ” sermon series that will run during Advent and Christmas here at University Lutheran. One of the reasons that I chose this as the theme for our Advent and Christmas series is that it IS going to be an ugly Christmas in lots of ways…

This coming Sunday, November 22, 2020, will be the end of our “Follow Me” annual focus year. As we end this year, we consider what it has taught us about discipleship. The orange and yellow toned “Follow Me” banner hung in our sanctuary since November, but many members only saw it for five months of…