My wife Allison and I both preached at Messiah Lutheran Church in Vancouver, Washington this past weekend, preaching on the gospel text from Luke 2:41-52. What follows is the majority of the text that I preached Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Grace, peace, and Christmas blessings and surprises to you! I will let you in on a little secret, as someone who has been a … Continue reading The Boy Jesus in the Temple & Christmas Surprises
Christmas Eve is tomorrow, and I need to catch up on these posts. I am writing as I currently sit in a hospital waiting room. I’m here on a visit for a congregational member about to go into surgery. It might seem to be a weird place to start reflecting about peace and freedom, but I think it makes sense. There’s a sense of peace … Continue reading Peace & Freedom- Days 22 & 23 of Advent
During Advent this year, I am reflecting daily using this Advent Photo Devotional. The word designated for today, December 13th is #Light. When I think of light, there is one passage that I go to before any other. It is the gospel passage appointed for Christmas Day every year, found in the beginning to the Gospel of John. Within this passage, it is written: “In … Continue reading Light- Day 15 of Advent
During Advent this year, I will be reflecting daily using this Advent Photo Devotional. The word designated for December 3rd was #Story. Last night it hit me, my wife and I have a lot of stories already. It struck me as we unpacked box after box of Christmas ornaments how each one has some connection to a life experience, a trip, vacation, or hand me … Continue reading Story- Day 5 of Advent
During Advent this year, I will be reflecting daily using this Advent Photo Devotional. The word designated for today is #Glory. When I think of “Glory” and Advent and Christmas, I usually think of the angels and their witness, such as the refrain “Gloria inexcelsis deo.” However, that’s not what I have on my mind today. Instead, I am confronted again by the senselessness of … Continue reading Glory- Day 4 of Advent
During Advent this year, I will be reflecting daily using this Advent Photo Devotional. The word designated for today is #Hill. “I lift up my eyes to the hills- from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” – Psalm 121:1-2, NRSV I grew up near the bottom of a big hill, with another hill in my … Continue reading Hill- Day 3 of Advent
Each week on the blog I get to share some of what I have seen, read, and found interesting and thought provoking over the past week. To help make sense of all of these links, I have grouped them by the following categories: Church and Ministry Thought & Practice; Cross-Sector Collaboration; Leadership Thought & Practice; Millennials; Neighbor Love; Social Media & Blogging; Vocation; and Miscellaneous. I … Continue reading This Week’s Links
Each week on the blog I get to share some of what I have seen, read, and found interesting and thought provoking over the past week. To help make sense of all of these links, I have grouped them by the following categories: Church and Ministry Thought & Practice; Cross-Sector Collaboration; Leadership Thought & Practice; Millennials; Neighbor Love; Social Media & Blogging; Stewardship; Vocation; and Miscellaneous. … Continue reading This Week’s Links
I recently blogged about the challenges of talking about faith and finances in the midst of life’s transitions over at the COMPASS blog. Below is a sample of that post, and I hope you will check out the whole post here. Talking about money can be hard under what we might consider normal circumstances. But it can be even more difficult to do during times … Continue reading Talking about Faith and Finances during Life Transitions
Tuesday on the blog means that I get to share links to some of what I have seen, read, and found thought provoking over the past week. To help make sense of all these different links, I have grouped them by the following topic categories are: Church and Ministry Thought & Practice; Cross-Sector Collaboration; Leadership Thought & Practice; Millennials; Neighbor Love; Social Media & Blogging; … Continue reading This Week’s Links
Timothy Siburg 