As a kid I was taught that my stuff was important. I was taught to take care of my stuff, and if I was going over to a friends’ house, I was taught that I was to take care of their stuff. One time when my parents invited some of their friends over who…

I remember feeling weird the first time that I was at a wedding and thought to myself, “those two people are going to leave here and have sex.” I mean, in a lot of ways, my attendance – and the attendance of their 100’s of guests at their wedding – was to celebrate two people…

It has been a Baptism heavy month here at University Lutheran with the baptisms of Tempest and Taylor, and a few upcoming Baptisms. That is definitely a reason to give thanks to God, because as we confessed together last week: What benefits does Baptism give? Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the…

The water in there, is it holy water? Occasionally I will get questions  like that about the water that we use for Baptism. I was told a long time ago that the best answer to such questions is often a further question: Why do you want to know? The answer is possibly a nuanced a…

“Well at least I haven’t murdered anyone . . .” It’s probably the most hackneyed self justification out there. “Well, maybe I cheated on my taxes, but [scoff], at least I haven’t murdered anyone.” or “Well, maybe I cheated on my husband, but [scoff], at least I haven’t murdered anyone.” or a thousand other “Well…

There is an old story about a preacher who got up early on a snowy Sunday morning and went into church. Because it was so snowy outside, many people did not show up – in fact, there was only one person who did, an old farmer. The preacher waited the customary 5 minutes for any…

On December 12th, 2016, I became a father again. Or, rather, I had been a father already but I got to meet my daughter, Tempest Jane, face to face. As I write this newsletter article from home, I’m looking over my laptop screen and watching her wake up from a nap. Sitting on the couch…

I don’t know if it’s all preachers that get sheepish around the recitation of the explanation of the 3rd commandment, but I sure do: What is the 3rd Commandment? Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and…

The second commandment will often get interpreted as the “Thou Shalt Not Use Four Letter Words” commandment. However, that may be a bit of a mistake. Except in the case of one particular American invective (the one where you call on God to banish something into eternal torment) the case that Paul makes in Ephesians…

You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust God above all things. This past Sunday we started something that we’re planning on doing all year long – in addition to our confession of the Creeds (the Nicene this Sunday), we recited or confessed a portion of Luther’s…