Article: The Mood of Christmas

Here we are again. It is the end of the year and we will step into a new one Sunday morning. Although this is a secular holiday will many stop their routine and celebrate the incoming year- sometimes late into the evening. Some reflect on the year coming to an end and wonder what the…

We’ve been spending some time on the weekends telling stories about people who found themselves in a “jam.” No likes obstacles or trouble, but they are a fact of life. Some of the most revered people of the Bible faced great difficulties. The question is not how to avoid all potential jams because we can’t….

In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano of Spain mapped the coastline of North Carolina. Most likely Verrazano left a gift that still resides in North Carolina today. Wild Spanish Colonial Mustangs still roam the outer banks of North Carolina today. There are not many left and they are critically endangered.  Currently, there are about 100 Spanish…

Last Sunday we had one of our two congregational meetings of the year. I talked about several things but I reflected that as a leader and as your pastor I need to be thinking about Bethel in multiple levels of time all at once. I need to be thinking about: The day-to-day operations of Bethel…

This past Sunday at church, I told everyone that Rachel (my wife) made an old family cookie recipe that goes back several generations. That old Swedish cookie is called “Pepparkakor.” The house smelled wonderful as the first batch of cookies baked in the oven. The aroma took me back to when I was a child…

One week ago, a gunman entered two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand and killed 50 people and injured 50 others. These people were coming to worship in peace. An Australian white supremacist committed this horrendous hate crime. I denounce white supremacy and violence against others.  The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America…