I have had several discussions lately about how sad Easter will be this year since we cannot gather as family. Both as church family and our own family. Yet, if you think about it, this Easter will be, in nature, closer to that first Easter 2000 years ago than any other Easter that we have celebrated in the past.
Read MoreWe have been processing with palms for a long time – and washing feet, and stripping the Altar, and experiencing the darkness of the tomb, and hearing once again the passion of Jesus – but now we must go it alone. Jesus did.
Read MoreOur response can and will make a difference to our neighbors. We are not the first human society to suffer through a pandemic. There have been many throughout history. Luther himself experienced one, the plague named “Black Death.”
Read MoreOf course our self-isolation is not some arbitrary thing foisted upon us by some authoritarian figure. It is a needed response to slow the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives. We know that, but it still makes us feel as if we are Mary or Martha and have lost an important part of our life; or even feel that we are in the tomb with Lazarus.
Read MoreI can tell you of many instances when tragedy-struck people wondered why God was punishing them. Or that they no longer will worship God because God allowed something tragic to happen: financial loss, cancer, death of a loved one. You know them. Perhaps you have been one of them. I know I have certainly questioned God about why things have happened.
Read MoreWe have seemingly become a society where doing the absolute minimum is alright. That means the job is done quicker and we can get on to playing games on our phone, or sending texts with the minimum amount of typing, or just wasting our time.
Read MoreIn less than a week the people reject him. They went from gloriously receiving him and spreading their cloaks on the ground for a royal pathway to shouting “Crucify him.” What went wrong? Who is it to blame?
Read MoreLuther left the safety of Wartburg and traveled to Wittenberg. There, on Invocat Sunday (the first Sunday in Lent) and the seven days that followed Luther preached some of his most famous sermons.
Read MoreMarguerite breezed into the office on Thursday morning, having missed an important meeting there on Tuesday. “Oh,” she said, “I was so sick on Tuesday – feverish and throwing up. I just cancelled the day and went to bed until it passed on Wednesday.”
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