There is a phrase often repeated (and wrongly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi) that goes something like this, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.” The purpose of this well-liked phrase is to remind Christians to let their actions speak for themselves, and to say more about love than anything … Continue reading Use Your Words
As we continue to navigate this new, coronavirus-initiated, shelter-in-place world, many of us are attending worship services online. While this new method of 'gathering' in front of a computer or television screen for worship via livestream, Facebook Live, YouTube and other platforms certainly has its challenges, I thought I would give you a peek at … Continue reading Worship On the Other Side of the Screen
As this coronavirus thing wears on with all of its social distancing and all-too-real statistics, I continue to see people posting things on social media attacking those who do things differently, with absolute confidence that "those people" are wrong enough to be personally insulted. And I see a whole lot of it coming from Christians, … Continue reading We Can Do Better
I love the truth. I am a philosopher and a theologian at heart, which means I love to ask questions, I love to learn about the history of things, and I love to know why we do the things we do. What that often means is that I have to reshape my way of thinking … Continue reading No, Easter Was Not Stolen From Pagans
In spite of the fact that we are not able to gather in person to observe it, the Season of Lent nevertheless concludes this week in what is known as Holy Week. Holy Week has been observed since the earliest days of the Church, and reflects what is known as Christ's Passion, or suffering, on … Continue reading Why Do We Do That: Holy Week
As we continue on this stationary journey of social distancing and relaxed home arrest, the information I share as the Lead Pastor of Peace Lutheran Ministries is all "Need to Know," in the interests of not overwhelming our people with communications. That also means that everything I write is pretty serious. So, although I had … Continue reading 14 Random Things About Me
Now that our daily habits have been completely altered by the covid-19 pandemic, I thought maybe we could stand to take a moment to lighten things up for a bit. So, I came up with a partial list of things we could do while stuck inside our homes with our families and no sports on … Continue reading Things to Do While Social Distancing
Obviously, life has changed a whole lot in the past few days. Michigan voted in the Presidential primary on Tuesday 3/10, and that seems like months ago as I write this on Sunday 3/15. The world is in a health crisis. So is our nation, our state, our community. Wherever you are, your situation is … Continue reading Covid-19 Special Edition: To Gather or Not?
If you've been reading me for any length of time here, you know a big part of what I like to do is dispel myth - to shine the light of truth, history and fact on the lies that get repeated so many times they eventually become accepted as fact. I've already tackled some of … Continue reading The Evils of Christianity
So, in previous posts (one and two), I have attempted to answer what makes Lutherans different, and why I am a Lutheran. This is the last (intended) post on this topic, and it is actually the answer to the original question that started it all, from a reader who asked what the difference was between … Continue reading The Lutheran Difference, Part 3
