Newsletter

Reanimated without a harp

When I was growing up watching cartoons, the world was still Judeo-Christian enough that when a cartoon character died, it wasn’t surprising to see a “ghost version” of themselves, now clad in a white robe, with a halo, wings, and a harp, floating upwards towards the heavens. And had you asked me at that time…

Two Factor Thomas

I don’t know how much you like it, but I usually sigh when I get one of those “two factor authorization” messages when I’m trying to log into something. You input your username and password, expecting to be let in to whatever it is you’re trying to get into, and then you get a message…

Of Beards and Easter

One year I went on vacation after Christmas. Since I wasn’t going into the office, I decided that I wasn’t going to shave. By the end of the vacation time, I decided that I still wasn’t going to shave. The season of Epiphany came and went, and then we got into Lent, and by the…

Peeps

Peeps. These sugar coated marshmallow baby birds (now outsold by their rabbit cousins) are sort of like the candy corn of Easter — not many people will confess to liking them, but they still sell well enough that they stay on the shelves. In fact, estimates say that every year the parent company of the…

Holy Week – Shouts, Silence, and Songs

Holy Week starts this Sunday with Palm/Passion Sunday. As we have done for the past few Holy Weeks, we are going to do a sermon series that stretches throughout Holy Week – a bigger picture look at the powerful services that happen during this zenith of the church year. This year our series will be…

Lent and Spring Break

The word “Lent” is derived from the Old English “lencten”, which was the word for “Spring”. You can probably see our modern English word “Lengthen” in the word as well – this is not by accident. The word for Spring sounds like “lengthen” because in Spring the days “lengthen” as the amount of daylight increases…

Backed up

Woof. Today is one of those days. Last week I talked about the possibility of writing a newsletter article via ChatGPT, this week after a short day at work yesterday because of obligations, and then a dentist appointment that ran over time — well, I’m definitely still considering it. We have these days, right? These…

Value of a Human

How valuable is a human? Well, it kind of depends on how you look at that question. If you look at the human being as an animated bag of chemicals, our chemical make up averages only about $200 – if we were just using your potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorous. However, if you value a human…

Lent FAQ

I’ve spent some time over the past week or so addressing questions that come up about the season of Lent. So today instead of the “normal” newsletter, I’m just going to drop some of the frequently asked questions and some answers here. Question One: Why Lent if Jesus never mentions doing Lent? Lent is a…

40 Days Deeper

You’re getting this on Thursday. I’m writing it on Wednesday. We’re just beginning Lent.  Lent is a 40 day season that lasts for 46 days. Huh? Well, technically the Sundays don’t count in Lent – so we’re going until April 5, but we’re only counting Monday through Saturday. You may also know Lent by its…