This coming Sunday is Gaudete Sunday, which around University Lutheran is known as “Pink Candle Sunday.” So far I have succeeded in my liturgical reform concerning this Sunday by getting at least 50% of our worshipers to show up for this Sunday wearing pink (or something gaudy). I’m hoping for 75% this year. The notion…

This coming Sunday ends our “Done by Hope” annual focus year. It seems hard to believe that we started this church year off in the calendar year 2020. Over the past year we have engaged quite a bit in our hopes. The name “Done by Hope” came from a quote from Martin Luther. Luther said…

My three daughters have recently gotten into telling jokes – specifically “knock knock” jokes. It isn’t uncommon for them to say “knock knock” at dinner, have us say “who’s there?” and then respond with something…unintelligible. Same with the “why did the chicken…” jokes. There is something interesting about the knock knock joke. It gets you…

In March of 2020, just as the COVID pandemic was coming into our cultural realizations in the United States, Jeff Christopherson released a book with the odd title “Venal Dogmata”. Venal Dogmata is a short book, Christopherson even calls is a parable, about what might happen in the United States if the church were to…

In the 500’s BC, the city of Sardis was the capital of King Croesus. Sardis was a citadel that sat high above the surrounding countryside. Any attacking army would have to attempt to climb the elevated position of Sardis and then break through the high walls. Everyone thought this was impossible. Sardis was an impregnable…

Jezebel. The name probably means something to you even if you don’t remember everything about the Biblical figure. Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, the king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. She, herself though, was not an Israelite. She was a native of the nation of Tyre, modern day Lebanon. As such, she didn’t…

I won’t say that I have never written a newsletter article from a bathroom in Atlanta, but it’s definitely not a regular occurrence for me. For those of you who have not heard, my 6 year old daughter has been diagnosed with cancer behind her eye. We’re currently at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta trying…

In the early 1990’s, the rental car company Hertz ran a series of advertisements using the line, “There’s Hertz, and there’s not exactly.” The point of the ad was that Hertz, was a complete and uncompromised experience. Hertz’s competitors may be cheaper, but you would get a cheaper experience from them. Jesus’ message to Pergamum…

This Sunday we start off our last “Done by Hope” annual focus sermon series. This one is going to go for 8 weeks and bring us through things like Reformation Day, All Saints, and Christ the King Sunday. But unlike some of our sermon series this year, this one doesn’t have “hope” in its name.…

We haven’t had a new member celebration in a while. Some of the reason we haven’t had one has been the pandemic and the strangeness of taking attendance for worship when a bunch of people are online. Some of the reason has been less new people visiting in general. But we haven’t neglected a new…