As we begin the new year, I would like to share a Christmas Prayer written by the famous 20th century African-American civil rights leader and theologian, Howard Thurman.

The Work of Christmas
by Howard Thurman

“When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flock,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among others,
to make music in the heart.”

My prayer for us this Christmas season and beyond is to believe that Jesus has come to work real change and do real things, not just be a babe in a manger but to be a force in our lives.

The biggest and best Christmas present of all is given and it comes with something of a warning label for us. God is good, God is love, but don’t ever think that God is safe. This Jesus who breaks into the history of the world does so with a mission and that mission is to totally transform and change our lives. For sinners in a bind that is good news, but for the comfortable people who are getting ready to settle in for a week of bowl games in front of their new LCD flat screen hi-definition TV, it might be a little hazardous. Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew 28:10 – Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Don’t be afraid. Jesus wants to take away our fear because fear gets in the way of our joy and our mission as his resurrection people. Read the rest of this entry »

As I begin my eighth year of ministry at First Lutheran Church (FLC), I realize the need to plan for a sabbatical in the year of 2011. It is time for renewal for the congregation and myself. Read the rest of this entry »

The readings this week will focus our attention on pride and humility. Jesus will rebuff us in the very areas which we often take our greatest pride: Our families and our ability to control and predict nature.

Jeremiah’s message will revolve around the pride which seems to afflict every age: The idea that of us choosing which message to hear and obey, as if Read the rest of this entry »

The initial Sundays after Pentecost draw our attention to the very basics of our faith. Last Sunday’s readings focused us on the person of Christ and his power over death. Only God has that sort of power because God is not subject to death. But when the Lord of Life spoke, death also had to obey and render up its captives. God did it in the Old Testament and in the New, but in the New he bore the name Jesus. Read the rest of this entry »

For many years the Trinity was an obscure field of study which only strange academic sorts actually cared about. All this has changed in the recent decades. There has been a revival of interest in the doctrine of the Trinity and its history. What was once an arcane theological subject, has for a variety of reasons come to be a “hot” topic. Some of them are seeking rationalistic explanations and are well on their way Read the rest of this entry »

We have come to this really strange time in the Church year. It is sort of the Advent/Lent of Pentecost. Jesus has ascended; his disciples are left gaping as they stare into the sky, hoping to catch one last glimpse of him. The Spirit has not yet been poured out, at least we would remember that day when that had not yet happened, Read the rest of this entry »

The 23rd Psalm is the most well-known psalm, in which the writer sees himself as being led through life to his ultimate resting place. He is taken by the Lord – who is the shepherd – to green pastures and still water, but he’s also led through dark valleys. Read the rest of this entry »

In  Acts 16:9-15 we read about another example of “The Kingdom Comes.” The Christian today might be tempted to look about  and think that the Christian movement has run its course. But the Christian movement has always been empowered by the Spirit of God and built on the simple changes that God continues to make in lives like Lydia, the seller of purple cloth, who was given the gift of generosity.   Read the rest of this entry »