Category Archives: Featured

Pentecost 23 A: Arming Ourselves for Peace

The second lesson for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost is 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that … Continue reading

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Pentecost 20 A: The Death of Death.

Isaiah 25  O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 2     For you have made the city a heap, the … Continue reading

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Sunshine, Alfalfa, and Max

Hooray for sun, alfalfa, and Max. Today was a day of somber thoughts for our family of faith at St. Luke Lutheran Church. I’m back helping to give pastoral care, preaching, and worship leadership after a dozen years retirement. It … Continue reading

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Betty Back from the Brink

Life with many animals on a livestock farm is full of emotional highs and lows. Loving life is no guarantee of happy times, but loving life means life is thick with feeling. Thick with a joy that is more nuanced … Continue reading

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Farewell to Bilbo

Frodo was the best of mentors to four-month-old Bilbo nine years ago. Photo by John It is a heavy thing to be responsible for an animal. So, for weeks I had a weight on my chest and uneasy sleep because … Continue reading

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Hawk Calling from the Cross

Refreshed. Wine and bread, blood and body. Coffee and hugs, chatting and loving. We then stepped out into dazzling light and wakening breeze to hear the shriek. And then another, and another. This dramatic shriek is the same they put … Continue reading

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Burying My Hatchet with the LC-MS and Biblical Inerrancy

This morning I grew nostalgic and Googled my old Pilgrim Lutheran congregation in Louisville, Kentucky, which is now Resurrection Lutheran. This was the congregation I was part of as I came to an awakening of faith and a quickening of … Continue reading

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Spot and a Still Small Voice

In my early days with sheep herding dogs, I thought the only way of getting through to them was through my voice….and the louder the better. You see you train dogs in a big open field; and the sheep start … Continue reading

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Nothing Wasted

I notice those two dead spruce trees. Should I cut them down. They take up space. They are untidy. But, the mourning dove is there now, cooing. And the red winged black bird trilling; and armies of ants up and … Continue reading

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Starling Feathers

On the tall maple tree on the south side of our house hangs several bird feeders. Every morning I stand at the window and watch the swarming. My eyes search for the downy woodpeckers, the chickadees, and the flashy male … Continue reading

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