This Sunday is “Pink Candle Sunday!” The Sunday is named “Gaudete” Sunday which comes from the Latin word for “Rejoice” which was the first word in the historical first song of the mass for this Sunday (which quoted the Epistle lesson for the day, Philippians 4, “rejoice in the Lord always,”). Traditionally, the color of…
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“Pastor Winters, would you be willing to give an invocation at our next event?” The first time that I heard this phraseology I thought it was a little silly. “Sure, that’s easy enough,” I though to myself, “I just say ‘In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,…
I remember being a kid and watching the seasons come and go in the Lutheran churches we attended, but nobody ever made sense of the seasons for me and certainly never answered the question what use they might be for me as a Christian. This was the case far too often in church for me…
Like a father of many children, I don’t think a pastor is supposed to have favorites. I’ve gotten flack about saying that I may or may not have a favorite Gospel, but that it certainly isn’t John. And I’m not sure that I’m allowed to have a favorite part of the worship service or liturgy,…
“Worship” “Liturgy” “Service(s)” “Eucharist” “Mass” “Gathering” “Church” “Meeting” – these are some of the words that Christians use to describe their Sunday morning experience. While none are terrible, some are preferred by some tribes. Our own Lutheran tribe has a preference toward “Service,” specifically “Divine Service” due to the German word “Gottesdienst” which literally means…
“We continue by singing ‘Simeon’s song‘” has been how I have introduced the Nunc Dimittis for the past couple of weeks now (Latin for the first line’s of Simeon’s song in Luke, “Now, You dimiss [me]”). This was because someone was talking to me about how we help people, especially students, understand what is going…
“So what are some of the Lutheran holidays?” a student asked me recently. “Lutheran holidays?” I questioned back, “what do you mean?” “You know, like Advent and Lent and…” I got the picture. “Those aren’t Lutheran holidays. Really the only distinctly “Lutheran” holiday is Reformation Day….the rest of those, they are just….historical Church holidays that…
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” These five elements of the Apostle’s Creed form what we know about the Holy Spirit’s activity in the Church and in our lives – these five elements will…
The winds have died down, the sun is out, and the heat is back. Generators aren’t humming in most places. The trees that were over roads and on houses and in streets have been cut up and tucked onto the shoulders of the roads – at least here in Tallahassee. But even here, the storm…
I’m writing this on Sunday night hoping that Tropical Storm/Hurricane Michael won’t be too much of a problem for us in Tallahassee. However, it’s possible that when this newsletter gets sent out, that you won’t read it because you’ll be saving energy on your phone. That’s ok, I get that. If you need anything, please…