The Pastor’s Pen – Season of Advent
The Season of ADVENT is about waiting for the coming of the Lord. We wait for Christ’s arrival that happened twothousand years ago and for the arrival that is yet to occur. We journey...
The Pastor’s Pen – All Saints Nov 2021
All Saints Sunday has become an important and non-negotiable festival in our Lutheran congregations. Observing this festival’s readings, however, breaks up the narrative of the Common Lectionary Sunday readings through the brief remainder of...
The Pastor’s Pen – Autumn / October
At the heart of the gospel message is the mercy of Jesus. A merciful Messiah, who is our blood ransom. A merciful healer and teacher who hears the begging of outsiders otherwise ignored by...
The Pastor’s Pen – September 2021
AUTUMN – September The Pastor’s Pen‘After a summer of discipleship through “binary challenges” (a call away from; … a call toward … ) and moments of decision, St. Mark in his gospel now moves...
The Pastor’s Pen – August 2021
Saint John continues our late-summer Gospel readings with Jesus feeding the ancient crowds with bread, and feeding us with his Word. We are confronted again with the ‘either-or’ questions of discipleship we have been...
The Pastors Pen – A Tale of Two Halves
Trinity Sunday is the great hinge between the two halves of the liturgical year: The incarnation of Christ, and Our response of discipleship. Though we are saved by grace , discipleship calls us to...
The Pastor’s Pen – PENTECOST
Maybe our congregations perceive Pentecost as a one-time celebration of the Holy Spirit. While red is the color of our paraments, hangings, and vestments for only one week, the Festival of the Holy Spirit...
The Pastor’s Pen – Easter!
I heard of a local mega-church that raised a “sunrise” colored billboard one year that said simply “Easter: April 18-21.” The message implied a multi-day “come-when-you-can” Easter bonanza. The dates simply conflated the Church’s...
The Pastor’s Pen – Holy Week
HOLY WEEK. For people who are accustomed to being at worship just once a week, the shift from once-weekly worship to the five liturgies of Holy Week (count them!) is a huge planning-calendar adjustment!...
The Pastors Pen – Dive Into Lent!
LENT. Some years the season of Lent becomes merely a six week narrative of following Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. This year, when St. Mark tells our gospel stories, is a good time...