Ordination and installation worship service in my Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod denomination are joyous, reverent celebrations marking the completion of years of hard work and training. God has provided another shepherd for a flock of his sheep. The recent ordination and istallation of Gatluk Reat at Trinity Lutheran Church, Faribault, Minnesota was the culmination of…
I like Bible verses that say a lot in just a few words. 2 Corinthians 5:15 is one of those verses: “And he died for all that those who live, might no longer live for themselves but for him who, for their sakes, died and rose again.” This point of this verse is simple: Jesus…
One of the changes that was initiated by the Lutheran leaders of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century was to allow members of the clergy to be married. The recently-concluded summit on clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has focused attention on that church’s requirement that its priests be celibate, that is, abstain…
One of our favorite stops each Christmas season is the Owatonna Art Center to see what they have for decorations. Here is what we found this year. The Art Center is open to the public from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
The loss of loved ones can be especially hard to bear when the holidays arrive. Intense memories of special times together make it hard to feel joyful. For All Saints Day this year our congregation commemorated the life and witness of the members of our congregation that the Lord had called home. We started with…
Christians believe that the one, true God is a three-in-one God; three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, in one divine essence or being. The three persons of the Holy Trinity are united in all that they do, especially in their work of bringing us to faith in…
In the last of my eight posts on Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, we will focus on Paul’s encouragement to put on the full armor of God: [10] Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to…
Ephesians 5:22–32 [22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to…
In our sixth post about Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we continue looking at how Paul applies the Gospel to our everyday lives. One thing we notice about Paul applying the Gospel to our everyday lives is that when he does so he never strays far from the Gospel. The reason for this is because…
In the first three chapters of his letter to the Ephesians Paul writes about the Gospel in great detail. Now in the fourth chapter he begins applying the Gospel to our everyday lives. This is important because you can have the greatest message in the world, which I believe the Gospel is, but if does…
Mirror Neurons 