I’m what many people would call a “religious professional.” As a religious professional, prayer is a part of my job. I’m lucky in that way — but that is not to say that I’m “good at prayer,” because I don’t think I am, especially the prayer-by-myself type of prayer. Yeah, I can do it, but…

Peter thought he was showing off. “How often should I forgive? up to….seven times?” The rabbis of Peter’s era had weighed in on this already. Forgiving someone 3 times was considered extravagant and gratuitous. But here, Peter might feel like he’s showing off showing a willingness to forgive 4 more times – up to 7?…

About every quarter we try to stop and celebrate the newest members of our “Jesus-Centered Community of Scripture, Faith, and Grace.” Normally, that membership is the product of a conversation that I start that goes something like, “Hey, we’d like you invite you into membership.” That already is kind of weird for Lutheran churches, because…

It’s the week before classes, and all through the FSU campus you’ll see girls in different stages of finery walking or running to sorority houses in full make up, clothes meant to impress, and battery operated fans. This is panhellenic sorority recruitment on our campus. About 2,000 of the approximately 3,500 female freshmen at least…

The year was 1529, and Martin Luther had gathered together with some others who were pushing away from the Roman Catholic church — but who were also seemingly afraid that Luther hadn’t gone far enough in his reform movement. They were getting together to talk through if they could agree to work together. The person…

If you drive through Carabelle FL, you might notice that the city of Carabelle proudly touts the honor of having “the World’s Smallest Police Station.” This police station is nothing more than an old style telephone booth like Superman used to change in before the advent of the iPhone destroyed payphones. Another little box that…

I’ve spent a little more time in the air this summer than I did last summer. This summer I flew to North Carolina for a wedding (congrats Emma and Hunter!), to Tennessee for a wedding (congrats Mara and Ben!), and to the National Convention of the LCMS. We all know that before you get to…

Martin Luther wrote a little pamphlet when he was a pastor called “A Simple Way to Pray.” It basically takes some of the content of the Small Catechism and turns those things into headings for prayer. It was all written down in a letter to a guy named “Peter the Barber,” and was recently translated…

I will be flying out this Friday to do something that I have ended up doing once every 3 years – going to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod National  Convention. I have learned that not a lot of people understand what this event is about. So I’m going to spend a little time outlining what…