Suicide Prevention Week and World Suicide Prevention Day are held each year in September. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Experts estimate that for every suicide there are 29 attempted suicides. Whites and American Indians have the highest rates of suicide…
John 9 tells the story of the time when Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth. In this story we encounter three forms of blindness: physcial blindness, spiritual blindness and sacramental blindness. The physical blindness in this story is quite profound; the man had been blind from birth. To heal him, Jesus…
This Sunday, June Ninth, Christians will celebrate the Day of Pentecost, the last major festival of their church calendar. This festival commemorates yet another promise kept by Jesus, the promise to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples. Since Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter with such gusto, the Day of Pentecost is sometimes overlooked. Yet…
Most of us who use social media choose pictures of ourselves or things we are interested in for our profile pictures, the pictures that people see first when they visit our sites. So I was quite surprised when I saw an unfamiliar symbol, pictured here, in the profile picture of an acquaintance. The symbol made…
I grew up in a Muslim-majority area of Africa. I currently have neighbors who are devout Muslims. I studied Islam at the seminary and in various continuing education classes since then. Yet still there was much that I learned from Hanadi Chehebeddine’s “Demystifying Islam” presentation at the Steele County History Center on January 18. According…
I am not a big fan of statistics but one I read recently did catch my attention. According to a book by Callan Rush, 97 percent of a business’ potential clients are NOT looking for that business’ product, program or service. In fact, only 3 percent of a business’ potential clients are actively searching for what that…
The following is an excerpt from an article by Rev. Dr. Robert Newton, president of the California/Nevada/Hawaii District of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. The title of the article is “Facing Challenges of the Post-Christian World” and it appeared in the November-December, 2013 issue of The Lutheran Layman. The world’s antagonism toward God’s Word…
Mirror Neurons 