This week I get to do a little sabbatical breaking and go to the convention of the Florida-Georgia District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. If you’re unfamiliar, this is a business meeting of the churches in our District. Just under 200 churches will be represented, each with two votes – one for their pastor,…
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I’ve been on a few airplanes the past couple of weeks. Trip to Indiana, trip to Kentucky, trip to California. Airplanes are funny places. People are kind of weird on airplanes. Not much of anybody really *wants* to be on the airplane, they just want to arrive at their destination without too much hassle about…
My morning devotion today came from John 14, in a part of that chapter, Jesus says “I do not give to you as the world gives.” That brings up the question, “how DOES the world give?” What is Jesus differentiating Himself from? Perhaps it is giving out of self-interest, giving simply to receive something back.…
The girls brought home their yearbook this week. They’ve spent time going through pictures, showing me where they end up in the yearbook and pictures of their friends and teachers. It makes me think of my collection of yearbooks in the guest room, gathering dust. Pictures there too of people that had been close, pictures…
This is my first week of sabbatical. This is a great gift that the congregation has given me to take some time to rest, retool, and refresh in order to get ready for the next part of my ministry. I am truly grateful for everyone who has stepped up to help make this possible. One…
Good morning from Fort Wayne, Indiana. I am here at the request of our District President who normally takes this trip. Four times a year, he and his fellow District Presidents come to the midwest and meet with the national Synod President and others about the state of the denomination. But our District President couldn’t…
Thursday of last week was Maundy Thursday. The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin word “Mandatum” meaning “command” or “mandate”. The “mandate” of that day is when Jesus told His disciples, “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13) Of course, last week Thursday we saw someone who did the opposite of that…
Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller – a Christian speaker, pastor, and author – wrote a short book once called “Hidden Christmas”. In “Hidden Christmas” he argues that the true meaning of Christmas (Jesus’ incarnation and birth into the world for the sake of dying and rising for humanity) gets “hidden” by the commercial and sentimental secular…
There’s a joke that goes: Little 5 year old Samuel couldn’t go to church with the rest of his family one Palm Sunday because he was sick. He stayed home with his mother who took care of him while the rest of the family went to church. When his father and siblings came back, he…
I saw an interesting phrase that caught my attention the other day. The phrase was “sources of darkness”. As I thought about this phrase, I thought, “well, that’s odd – there are actually no ‘sources’ of darkness.” Darkness is an absence, and you don’t really have a “source” to an absence. That isn’t to say…