Today my alma mater, Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, is holding its commencement exercises. I love a good commencement exercise. I enjoy the pomp and circumstance, the academic regalia, the nods to the institution and traditions of which those graduates become an everlasting part. At the seminary in particular my heart warms hearing “Thy Strong …
Tag: religion
Asking Tough Questions
Recently I listened to an episode of the Russell Moore Show that featured singer/song writer Jon Guerra (listen here). A member of the congregation I serve shared it with me because it resonated with her and she thought it might have the same effect on me. She wasn’t wrong. I can commiserate with much of …
Looking in the Mirror
For at least the past five years one quote from a now sainted theologian has rattled around in my head. “Too often,” said Anthony Thiselton, “we attack or defend before we have genuinely understood.”1 He spoke that in an address he gave in the mid-80s as he took up a post as Principal of St. …
A Bit Pale By Comparison
For Martin Franzmann, his wife Alice was the “lady who (saving all their lovely reverences) has made all other ladies seem a bit pale by comparison.”[1] For me, Martin Hans Franzmann is the Lutheran theologian, who, saving all their lovely reverences, has made all other Lutheran theologians, especially those named Martin, seem a bit pale by comparison. …
The Path of Love
Twenty years before I was born the publishing house of my church body published a book called The Daily Office. It was a daily devotional, structured and rooted in the ancient liturgical traditions of the church. It fell out of use, as devotional texts do, but I was on the hunt for a copy for …
People
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 …
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 …
Twenty-seven Hours with Tom and His Friends
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 …
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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 …
an occasional theologian 