There’s a lot of hubbub in the media today about the unsealing of some files from the JFK administration. Questions are obviously being asked about if these files say anything about his assassination, but also some questions that might seem sillier – like if they discuss his supposed relationship with Marilyn Monroe or even answer…
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There is a historical artifact that shows us the way that Rome looked at Christianity in the 200’s AD. A piece of graffiti carved into the plaster of an excavated room near the Palentine Hill in Rome shows a man raising his arm in worship of a donkey-headed figure on a cross. Words around the…
Sometimes I hear Lutherans say, “we’re Lutheran, we don’t do that fasting stuff.” That’s not entirely correct. Luther’s Small Catechism says that fasting “is fine outward training.” (Small Catechism, On the Sacrament of the Altar). But if it is “fine outward training, what does that really mean? Fasting is a spiritual discipline, it is something…
We’re having a potluck after worship this Sunday at University Lutheran. It’s a weird word, “potluck”. The etymology of the word is unclear – we have no idea where or who started saying “potluck” first. And I’m sorry, but no, Lutherans probably invent the concept (although, neither did the Baptists who like to claim it…
Today I get to go to the dentist. It’s a great moment in my life that comes only so often and so the joyous expectation builds up in my soul until that moment that I sit down in the chair…. Actually, it’s nothing like that at all. I sort of dread getting in that chair.…
In Matthew 16, Jesus asks His disciples an important question: “Who is Jesus?” He starts off asking them how other people answer that question, and then He drills down to them: “But who do you say that I am?” This past Sunday at the Super Bowl, I saw something that I’ve seen happen many times…
There’s a story of a young seminary graduate who was sent to a village where an elder missionary had established a church community. The older missionary was showing the young man around and introduced the young man to the chief of the village. Figuring he would make an impression, the seminarian said “In the wisdom…
Pretty much every Sunday, I try to listen to my own sermon. No, it’s not because I’m a narcissist who loves to hear his own voice. It’s sort of because it’s not fair for you to have to listen to me if I don’t have to listen to me. But mostly, it is so that…
Paul says something that has always made me feel a little funny as a Christian in the 12th chapter of his letter to the Romans. In it he says in the power of the Holy Spirit that “If your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in…
About one month ago, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan was able to sell his piece of art “Comedian” for $6.2 million dollars. What might even be more shocking is that “Comedian” was simply created by Cattelan using a roll of duct tape to tape a banana to a wall. So I suppose if you want to…