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...
The Pastor’s Pen – WHAT IS IT that makes for a good story?
A novel that grabs and keeps our attention gradually reveals that which is not known. A novel, at each turn of the age, reveals the detail and progression of the story. The time after...
The Pastor’s Pen – Advent
ADVENT is about the art of waiting. BUT … holiday decorations have been on the shelves in our “box stores” since well before Hallowe’en, and the world will declare that every day after Thanksgiving...
Green Phase Update
This past month, we have begun the process of reopening the church buildings for worship, ministry activities, and outside groups. Starting July 19th, we began holding in-person outdoor worship in the lawn by the...
Farewell – Live in Peace with One Another
Greetings St. John’s Lutheran Church! Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be...