I came across a true but odd story about pardons…. In 1829 two men, George Wilson and James Porter, robbed a United States mail carrier. Both were subsequently captured and tried in a court of law. In May 1830 both men were found guilty of six charges, including robbery of the mail “and putting the…
I am sure all of us at one time or another have used headphones to listen to music or watch a tv show or even a movie. I use my headphones to listen to audiobooks when I am at the gym. (I use the Bluetooth when I am in my car.) Using headphones insures that…
The fundamentalist Christian movement began in the 1920’s as a hedge against modernism. This movement is characterized by a strict belief in the literal interpretation of scripture. Often the modernism that is rejected among fundamentalist relates to science (e.g. evolutionary theory and the age of the universe), music that is not specifically Christian and a negative…
This is the story that I wrote for our children at Bethel Lutheran Church for the Christmas Eve family worship service. This is a live reading so it is a little rough! Enjoy! Merry Christmas!
What kind of Christmas will you have? Some of us might say, “It is too soon to tell.” Or “I will let you know on the 26th.” We don’t know what will happen on Christmas so we have no way of knowing what kind of Christmas we will have… or do we? Yes, there are…
A volunteer is a person who can see what others cannot see; who can feel what most do not feel. Often, such gifted persons do not think of themselves as volunteers, but as citizens – citizens in the fullest sense: partners in civilization. President George H.W. Bush There is no higher religion than human service. To…
Advent isn’t complete in the Lutheran world if there isn’t at least one mention of John the Baptist. What’s funny about that is this: John the Baptist has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus yet he always seems to make an appearance in Advent. Sure, there is the story in Luke that points…
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matthew 6:24 Several years ago, before his death, Millard Fuller the founder of Habitat for Humanity addressed the…
When people talk about developing a “long-term approach” to something they usually are not talking about the next 500 years. That seems a little too long for most of us. Yet with Christianity and even Judaism, every 500 years or so there is a reformation of sorts. If not a reformation a major shift in…
A week from today, it will be Thanksgiving Day. Can you believe it? I can’t. Time seems to be accelerating the older I get. Blink twice and it will be Christmas! Not really, we have to celebrate Advent first, after all we are Lutherans. I know people think we have been celebrating Thanksgiving annually since…
