When I ask people what they would like to read in the Bible, many times they will come up with the Book of Job. I’m not exactly sure what it is about the book that attracts us to it, but there certainly is an attraction to it. The book itself is somewhat shrouded in mystery.…
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An aged Paul sits in a room accompanied by a Roman centurion. Both of them are quiet for the time being, Paul is perhaps writing some notes to himself for a letter that he will dictate later to a scribe so that the letter can be sent to Philippi. As if doodling, Paul writes out…
When Jesus asks His disciples in Matthew 16, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They come up with answers like “John the Baptist” and “Elijah”. How do you think people would respond if we did a man-on-the-street type interview and asked people who they thought Jesus was? When I’ve seen that…
Do you know the story of St. Christopher? Christopher was a big man, around 7 foot tall. He was working as a mercenary when he became interested in Christianity and asked a hermit-monk to teach him. After Christopher was baptized, he asked how he could personally live out his faith. The hermit at first responded…
It’s been a doozy of a week this week in the University Lutheran church building. Obviously, being under a hurricane warning was a part of that. Also, the HVAC unit for the resident apartment went out and will have to be replaced. Lastly, the network external hard drive that we keep a lot of files…
I knew a student once whose goal it was to enter into the Department of State as an ambassador. In preparation she learned several languages during her undergraduate degree and took courses in political science and international studies. When we were talking about her course work, however, she noted that it was surprising that there…
Last week, one of the big news stories came out of China as people were accusing staff at the Hangzhou Zoo of putting humans in bear costumes instead of displaying real bears. The zoo’s display of Malaysian Sun Bears got some attention after videos of the bears standing upright went viral. Of course the accusations…
Our Sunday morning Bible study from 9:30am to 10:30am chooses their own topics most of the time. Recently we finished up studying the life of Paul the Apostle. Starting this Sunday, we are going to be studying Old Testament Typology and Prophecy — in other words, “Where is Jesus in the Old Testament?” The question…
For the next few Sundays, we are going to visit some of Jesus’ miracles as they are recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew. The question that we can often have when it comes to Jesus’ miracles is “great, that’s kind of neat that He did that, but what does that mean for me?” One…
This coming week, I (Pastor Jay) will be at the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod National Convention. This is a gathering of representatives from the near 6,000 congregations within our church body, representing about 1.75 million members. Each Circuit (a unit of approximately 7 nearby churches) elects one lay person (non-churchworker) and one pastor, each from…