It never seems to end. From the halftime show to the State of the Union Address, this week has been, like many weeks before and many weeks to come, filled with punditry. It is easy to get caught up in it. My side is right. Your side is wrong. Never the twain shall meet. I’m …
Continue reading That one time a bunch conservative Lutherans voted Republicans out of office…
Today my oldest son started preschool. It is still only half of a day, but this year it is three days a week. Soon enough he will go everyday, all day, and he will do it for years. The older I have become the more I have grown to love the idea of an academic …
Five years ago tomorrow I made some promises, some brothers laid their hands on me, and a stole was put on my shoulders. The moment itself was brief, but the journey toward that point had been anything but. Growing up as I did in a theologically conservative Lutheran context, I found myself often pushing back …
Continue reading Twenty-seven Hours with Tom and His Friends
January 29, 1907, in Lake City, Minnesota, Martin Hans Franzmann was born. He no doubt never knew that his life and work would have the tremendous impact it has on my own life and theological perspective. At the memorial service held on the campus of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis on April 2, 1976, Professor …
It has been just over 8 months since we came home to find someone we didn't recognize. Yesterday that saga drew to what is hoped to be its final breath, the man who was on our property that day has been found guilty and sentenced. To be honest, neither my wife nor I wanted to …
Last Wednesday my wife, son, and I pulled up to our house to find a car in the driveway we did not recognize. I told them to wait in the car and walked up to the front door and found it still locked. It was then that I heard a sound on the side of …
For the first time in my voting life, the presidential candidate I voted for did not win. To say that there is shock is an understatement, not necessarily for me, but for my friends and family on both sides of the divide. Some celebrate, others mourn, others are afraid. Throughout this entire election cycle, and …
Most Monday mornings start out the same way, sipping coffee and studying some text of scripture with a group of older ladies who have been gathering together for well over a decade. Yesterday went a little longer than the usual hour, but I didn't mind, because the conversation spiraled into a conversation about persecuted Christians. …
For the first time, I am spending a couple of days away from my wife and 3 month old son. It wasn't an expected thing but, as circumstances would have it, I am reverting to my bachelor self for a brief moment. That means, above all, that I am wasting as much time as possible …
Sometimes I feel bad when I don't post. Not bad enough to actually sit down and write something, but bad enough to think about it. Other times, I'm ok with not posting. I read a lot of what passes for theology and tend to end up very cynical or arrogant because I think I know …
an occasional theologian 