The congregation I serve is about a mile from a naval air station. A fairly decent portion of the people who commune with me on a Sunday have connections to that naval base either because they are or were active duty there, engage in or retired from contract work there, or have a friend or …
Tag: christianity
Today is a day…
I suppose there is no end to the number of emotions people are experiencing this morning. Some are celebrating, they are glad and joyous because the candidate they supported has won. Others are mourning, they are sad and fearful because the candidate they supported has lost. Me? I’m neither celebrating nor in mourning, neither happy …
So We Preach
In 1947, Martin Franzmann wrote this piece celebrating the anniversary of the founding of my church body, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). I share it today to commemorate it again, this is still the church where we should lay down no conditions. So We PreachMartin Hans Franzmann “The power of God unto salvation to everyone …
An Expression of Joy and Humility
The following was part of my morning devotions. It is in The Daily Office (St. Louis: CPH, 1965), 254–6. An Expression of Joy and Humility Let us praise God in gladness and humility for all great and simple joys and for the weak things of the earth which have confounded the strong. For the gift …
I Wasn’t There
My favorite place to sit and think on the campus of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis is on a bench just inside the Walther Arch. The arch was famously boarded up fifty years ago today, with the word EXILED painted across it. February 19th, 1974 is a day many are remembering today, some perhaps even …
A Day We Never Thought We Would See
In late June of 2017 my wife and I saw a day we never thought we would see. We went in for an ultrasound at the 18 week mark of our second pregnancy. We were excited for another little addition to our family. I was serving a wonderful congregation who cared for me and my …
The Rhythm of the Academic Year
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 …
A Word in Our Pockets
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 …
Take they our life…
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 …
not resolved by power…
One of the wonderful things I get to do by virtue of my day off is spend time at a coffee shop near where my wife works. I hang out there for a variety of reasons: the people, the coffee, the opportunity to read in silence if I so choose. It is also a place …
an occasional theologian 