There are times that I unceremoniously snicker at the titles of Lutheran hymns. One of my favorites is “My Lord, What a morning” which I always thought would pair well with other classic “bad day” songs like “Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Kris Kristofferson, “Manic Monday” by the Bangles, or “My Head Hurts, My Feet…
A Jesus Centered Community of Scripture, Faith, and Grace
Posts by University Lutheran (Page 46)
“Why would I want to do that?” That was the question that I asked the person on the other end of the line who wanted to sell me some product. “Well we have a very good reputation and we’re running a new service, blah blah blah . . .” was the response that I received.…
I remember reading my friend Travis Scholl’s book “Walking the Labyrinth” , and being struck by a line that was probably otherwise somewhat forgettable. He talked about one of his earliest memories of being a part of the community of the Church as playing in the pews and smelling the wine from communion on his…
Just this past weekend I was reminded of an item called a “church key”, a term used for a certain type of bottle opener. According to at least one source, this name came about because the bottle opener’s rounded opener looked like the ring on one of the large skeleton keys used on church doors. …
The first time I confessed my sins to a pastor, it wasn’t what I had imagined. We all have that Hollywood image of what it means to go to confession: the little closet room with the sliding window, the priest saying “how long has it been since your last confession?”, etc. Mine was at seminary.…
I remember Emory Hingst (pastor at University Lutheran in the 60s) telling a story about an early University Lutheran Easter service that they held in one of the Tallahassee cemeteries. The experience was palpable with the sense of victory over the grave as the people gathered to worship the King of Life who rose from…
This morning I was having a conversation with the foreman of the Black Student Union that is being built next to University Lutheran. We talked about a lot of stuff, but eventually the conversation came to what was happening in Texas. We talked about the flooding damage that we had seen – him from living…
This next week, we at University Lutheran will be working side by side with several other Christians as we put on the FSU Luau together. This often becomes an opportunity to ask questions about other Christians and to answer questions that they have about what Lutherans believe. One of those questions that comes up is…
It is not often that I take issue with Luther’s Small Catechism, but if I may be so bold, I have a bone to pick with our illustrious founder. That particular bone of contention is where he stops the quote of Matthew 28 in what we confessed this past Sunday: What is Baptism? Baptism is…
I celebrated 10 years of ordained ministry and concurrently 10 years of ministry at University Lutheran this summer (thank you to all of you who had a part in celebrating this with me). That meant that for my usual time of reflection, I took a look not only at the past year, but also at…