Today in chapel we commemorated Trans Awareness week, and our new homiletics professor, Sam Gilmore (who is fabulous, by the way–we are so blessed to have her here at Wartburg), preached a fantastic sermon. I’d like to share just a few reflections from it. The text was Matthew 23:37–24:14, the passage where Jesus laments over…… Continue reading Commemorating Trans Awareness Week
Category: Jesus
Remembering the Saints
There are many reasons to get up on a Sunday morning and come to church: seeing our friends and sharing in community, hearing and singing beautiful hymns, and, of course, being fed by Jesus Christ in Word and Sacrament. In addition to all of these, another reason that I love coming to church is the…… Continue reading Remembering the Saints
Abundant Life as an Integrated Life
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” I wanted to share some reflections from a homily I gave at our most recent faculty retreat, and share a book recommendation in the process. I’m starting with this declaration from Jesus in John 10: “I came that they may have life, and have…… Continue reading Abundant Life as an Integrated Life
A Rhetoric of Love
Regardless of what the old adage about sticks and stones tells us, we all know how much words matter, and how much they can both hurt and heal. A cruel word can stay with us for years, even decades, especially when it is repeated, perhaps by a parent or a spouse. And an encouraging word…… Continue reading A Rhetoric of Love
New Life—Christ’s & Ours, Really
Make no mistake: if he rose at allIt was as His body;If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,The amino acids rekindle,The Church will fall. It was not as the flowers,Each soft spring recurrent;It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of theEleven apostles;It was as His flesh; ours.…… Continue reading New Life—Christ’s & Ours, Really
The Mother Hen on the Cross
This blog post is coming a week late, but nonetheless, I wanted to share a wonderful sermon that I heard last week. The Gospel text was from Luke, and the specific verse that was the focus for the sermon was Luke 13:34: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are…… Continue reading The Mother Hen on the Cross
“Do Whatever He Tells You”
Last week, the ELCA Seminary Leaders got together in person for a few days down in San Antonio, and it was wonderful: wonderful to be in person with these amazing colleagues for the first time; wonderful to think and dream together about the ways the ELCA Seminaries can continue to support the church for the…… Continue reading “Do Whatever He Tells You”
Lingering with the Bible
What are your views on Scripture? I’ve been thinking about this question quite a bit the past few days, for a couple reasons. First, along with colleagues from across the ELCA, I’ve been reading If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I?: Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority, by Dr. Angela Parker. Dr. Parker is a…… Continue reading Lingering with the Bible
Hopkins & the Incarnation
I just finished A Heart Lost in Wonder, a short, accessible biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of my two favorite poets. There’s not much new here, but the author, Catherine Randall, writes a very engaging story, and goes into enough theology to make the key points clear, without too much detail for the non-specialist.…… Continue reading Hopkins & the Incarnation
Doubling-Down on Gratitude
Every year, I write a “Gratitude” editorial for the Winter issue of Dialog. This is a version of that editorial–choosing gratitude, even when gratitude doesn’t seem to me the most logical or obvious response to current circumstances. I get it. And yet….So here it is. Here we are again. Despite all optimism, despite all positive…… Continue reading Doubling-Down on Gratitude
Happy Lutheran 