Are you in trouble? Everyone’s in some kind of trouble: financial trouble, personal trouble. Maybe you have a troubled past. Whatever the nature of your trouble, the reason you have trouble is sin. Sin results in a troubled life for everyone. It’s the reason we wander, the reason we faint, the reason we sit in…

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  These opening words from Psalm 22 are no doubt familiar to us from when quoted by Christ as He was on the cross paying the penalty of human sin.  The psalmist David paints a detailed image of the suffering that about one thousand years later would occur in…

Psalm 26 begins with, “Judge me, O Lord…”   What a stunning request!  It is so scary that I initially just stopped reading at the first verse.  I am not eager to face God’s judgment because the outcome of this “trial” has the eternal consequences of heaven or hell.  So Lord, if you don’t mind, let’s…

Transfiguration this coming Sunday marks the end of the Epiphany season, which will be replaced starting on the Wednesday after (Feb 14) by Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. During this seasonal change we will be taking the opportunity to hear from “the Body”, the people connected to University Lutheran, instead of from Pastor…

When I was growing up there was an educational computer game called “Where in the Word is Carmen San Diego”. Sometimes I wonder if you could play that game with me, “Where in the World is Jay Winters”? Today I’m writing from St. Louis as I’m attending our National Youth Ministry Symposium, an event that…

I recently had my first trip to IKEA, and so all things sort of Northern European/Scandinavian are interesting to me. So when I found out about the Dutch concept of “niksen”, I was intrigued. “Niksen” is best translated as “doing something without a purpose”, so it’s like staring out of a window just to stare…

If you’ve ever had sushi in Japan, you’ll realize something when you taste the wasabi. There’s something wrong with it. Or more correctly there’s something wrong with the wasabi that you’re used to. The stuff that they serve at your favorite sushi restaurant in the United States, well, isn’t wasabi. It’s a horseradish blend with…

Gloooooo-ooo-ooo-ria! “Angels We Have Heard on High” This French hymn translated by John Chadwick into English is one of the greatest Christmas anthems that we have in the Church. But the French version is slightly different, it’s slightly more playful. The French version is loosely translated to “Angels in our Countryside,” and tends to bring…