Thoughts on Stewardship, Leadership, Church and the Neighbor
In baptism and the affirmation of baptism, we profess our faith together like we do most weeks in worship. But unlike our usual profession of faith, which usually involves some proclamation of a creed or statement of belief, in the baptism and affirmation of baptism liturgies, the creed is prefaced with three questions. The presiding
Happy August! Can you believe it’s already August? Where has time gone? I guess that makes sense, since I’ve been having so much fun, there haven’t been any links in about a month. Well, hopefully you enjoy this week’s offering. Tuesday on the blog generally means that it is time to share some links to things
My Great Aunt Sophie Ommedal passed away earlier this week at the impressive age of 100. Sophie had just celebrated her birthday a week and a half earlier. Sophie was impressive, to say the least. She graduated valedictorian, one of many in her extended family. She served as an organist and church musician, also one
On Wednesday March 15th, I was invited to lead worship and preach at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Valley, Nebraska. For their mid-week Lenten series, they are reflecting about people of faith, and the focus for the evening was on Abraham. I was invited to preach on Hebrews 11:1, 8-22, and to share thoughts about
Today is my Dad’s birthday. I have already had a great phone call conversation wishing him a happy day today, and last week we got to celebrate a week early in person with a wonderful steak dinner out in Nebraska. But today, in honor of my Dad’s birthday, I want to share some personal reflections
The following is a portion of a blogpost that I wrote that appears on the COMPASS blog. Please enjoy this sample, and then read the whole post over at COMPASS. Student loans? Broken down cars? How am I ever going to pay this off? Those are some pretty normal reactions to debt, and ones we
The following is the manuscript of the sermon I shared Sunday October 2nd at Messiah Lutheran in Aurora, Nebraska. The sermon was grounded in the appointed gospel lesson from the revised common lectionary, Luke 17:5-10; and included some reflection on the congregation’s stewardship theme, “Live Simply” based on 1 Timothy 6:18-19; as well as words of
I am in the midst of a two-week series leading my congregation’s confirmation class in thinking about money and stewardship. Part of the first session was to paint a picture about money, and some of what the Bible has to say about it. This week’s session will be more about what it means to be
The following is the majority of the sermon that I preached at Messiah Lutheran Church this weekend based on the readings for Easter 4C, “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The readings included: Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, and John 10:22-30. I did something I don’t usually do when preaching, breaking into a couple short Sunday School, Vacation Bible
At the heart of Maundy Thursday, is Jesus’ commandment, “That you love one another, just as I have loved you.” I have written about that before. As I think about this holy day today though, I am struck by the question Jesus asks right after washing his disciples’ feet. Jesus asks, “Do you know what
