If you want better health, you have to be disciplined. You have to engage in a healthy diet and exercise. And if you want stronger faith you need to feast on the Scripture (Soul food) and live the Word of God.

Grant Harrison had a brainstorm one day, as he was working at the Innovation Center at the Humana health-benefits company in Louisville. The Innovation Center is a think tank, so Harrison was…thinking. It was dawning on him that health-insurance companies need to change, that they can’t focus solely on health-policy reform. Then the light bulb went on: Read the rest of this entry »

God helps those who help themselves.

I imagine most of us have heard this phrase before. Historians like to attribute this theology to Ben Franklin, but he was merely repeating and old and popular idea of God – one that continues to resonate with American culture to this day. Pollsters estimate that roughly75 percent of Americans believe this saying is found in the Bible. There is even a citation for it on the Web: “God helps those who Read the rest of this entry »

Easter Season in the life of a Christian is one of the most awesome ones of the year. It is awesome because it is a proclamation – death is undone. Christ has Risen, Alleluia! Death without the resurrection of Christ would be the enemy.

Without Easter, death would be the end of all of us. The cruel reality is that every one of us will taste death’s bitter dregs. Read the rest of this entry »

Already we are focusing on Holy Week. Palm Sunday most often begins at FLC with our little donkeys leading a procession of people in our prayer garden. We wave palms and sing; we give all glory, laud and honor to Jesus.  Read the rest of this entry »

Today I was driving down the streets of Omaha and saw all the green and observed people celebrating St Patrick’s Day; I watched as people laughed and held hands, as people sat on the park benches for the first time in months.   I was reminded of a story about two elderly Irish women sitting on a park bench. Read the rest of this entry »

We are coming to an intense, sometimes difficult, but rewarding and beautiful time of the year. We are approaching the celebration of the Passover of Christ, the time we in the English speaking world call Easter.

The celebration of the resurrection, one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith, is preceded by a period of penitence, forty days of penitential reflection we call Lent. This preparatory season leads us to the true joy of the Easter message of new life. Read the rest of this entry »

As  brothers and sisters in Christ, we are constantly discerning the will of God in our midst. Until we can be focused on spiritual growth we are not able to be effective in any type of ministry. Read the rest of this entry »

Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say, “I came as a guest, and you received Me.”

Rule of St. Benedict (Chapter 53)

We pray that as people worship with us at First Lutheran Church, they feel like they are being welcomed as Christ is welcomed. When we look in the eyes of another we hope to see the love of Christ shining through.  Read the rest of this entry »

As we continue our Lenten journey at FLC we are focusing on different types of prayer. This week I  share a message about the labyrinth as yet another prayer discipline.
Labyrinths are not mazes. There is no dead end on this path, just a circuitous journey to the center. Read the rest of this entry »

Every year the season of Lent starts with the story of how Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil. It seems many of us are alarmed by the fact of temptation, by the fact that when we pause and look into our hearts we notice that there within us are desires that we know are wrong, wants that we know if indulged will lead to evil. Read the rest of this entry »