Pastoral Meanderings

Some folks think that the only future the Church has is to change -- change what is believed and change worship and change what we do.  Th...

One of the things I have learned is that none of us can be strong in the face of threat or trial unless our faith is strong.  An old joke ...

By now most folks have heard that the Hagia Sophia, the largest Byzantine Christian Church ever built, is becoming a mosque again.  Built at...

Sermon for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15A, for Sunday, August 16, 2020.      You do not have because you do not ask.  At least...

I got a notice that on August 25, 2020, 1517 Media (Fortress Press) is coming out with a must read book that is surely relevant to what a ...

No, no one has yet suggested that steeples on churches be removed as offensive or inappropriate.  But this is not about architecture.  Thi...

“ Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth . I have not come to bring peace , but a sword . 35 For ...

Although some Lutherans have forgotten this and others outside Lutheranism never knew it, it is untrue to say that Lutherans have been unfri...

A while ago I had a discussion with another Lutheran pastor about a word used in the Prayer of the Church.  It was not a common word but n...

 A sure sign the world has lost its mind. When the wind that is used to power a pipe organ is labeled a threat or a danger to people and wor...

In the midst of so many cases brought in the courts for seemingly similar circumstances that have already been decided by the courts, it w...

Sermon for Pentecost 10, Proper 14A, preached on Sunday, August 9, 2020.      You have to have a little sympathy for St. Peter.  Sure, he s...

A prayer assembled by George W. Douglas from sermons of Cardinal John Henry Newman is the source of it but the author of the hymn version is...

When the conflict between St. Thomas a Becket and his once-close friend King Henry II culminated into burning anger, King Henry II utte...

As with most pastors, I am still trying to get a handle on how life in the Church will look post-COVID 19 or even mid-COVID 19.  I expect ...

In February life seemed relatively normal.  Corona was a beer.  China was the place where a small virus was causing a small stir.  We were...