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It's a Girl!
2007-09-17 23:50:00
Just a brief note from the hospital to let everyone know that Layla Margaret Hansen arrived in the world on Septtember 17, 2007, at 10:08 am. Everything could not have gone more smoothly. We arrived at the hospital at 2:00 am, and everything went pretty quickly from then.She is a healthy, beautiful baby girl. 6 lbs., 10 ounces and 19.5 inches long. Her mother - who was the perfect patient - is doing well, resting and recoving.I may have pictures to share as early as tonight. Until then, thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers - God has certainly watched over us and richly blessed us today.
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Holy Cross Day
2007-09-14 15:42:00
I am off to the Funeral home, but I offer to you the following post from the archives of this blog:If it doesn't happen on a Sunday, Lutherans often pay very little attentionto the Christian calendar of feasts and commemorations. But I could not lettoday, the feast of the Holy Cross , pass by without comment.It was on this day, September 14, in the year 335, that the first churchbuilt on the site of Jesus death and resurrection was dedicated. The buildingwas completed on September 13, but it was on the following day that the piece ofthe "true cross" discovered by Constantine's mother was brought into thechurch.Over the years, due to the struggles for control of Jerusalem, the buildingwas partially or completely destroyed a number of times. And yet today, almost1700 years later, one of the most revered sites in all of Christendom stillstands on that same location: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (aka the Churchof the Resurrection or Anastasis).There are those who are not big fans o...
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At the Banquet of the Lamb
2007-09-14 04:40:00
The family of Saint John Lutheran Church lost one of our faithful saints this afternoon, someone whom I consider a dear friend. While we trust always that we will be reunited at the great wedding feast of the Lamb , and we celebrate his life and the power of the resurrection, we also mourn the empty space he occupied in our mortal lives.Please pray for the family of Alvin Schawe - and for our family of faith - as we say our earthly good-byes.**Update***Services for Mr. Schawe will be here at Saint John, on Sunday, September 16, at 3:00pm. Visitation will be Saturday from 6:00-8:00 at Brenham Memorial Funeral Home.

Hurricane Humberto
2007-09-13 18:57:00
That's right, Hurricane . Late last night, just before it made landfall, the winds in Tropical Storm Humbert o increased - making it the fastest escalating storm in recorded history. Landfall came in at East Texas, only about 20-30 miles west of where Hurricane Rita came crashing in just two years ago this month.Reports from the ground are that the damage was pretty minimal - at least as far as these things go. Power is out, and phone lines are unreliable. Some wind damage to trees and homes. The good news: many in the area are better supplied for such a situation than they were two years ago - having purchased generators and other emergency supplies following Rita. The bad news: those who haven't fully recovered from Rita - those who are still repairing homes or living in FEMA trailers - will undoubtedly be the hardest hit.I have heard from my wife's family in the area, and they are safe and doing well.Please pray for all those affected by this storm.

The Face of Death
2007-09-13 16:45:00
It is one of the realities of a life in the ministry, that we spend a great deal of time with people on the edges of life. There is, quite frankly, no time that is more frightening for many people. We spend our entire lives trying to avoid, delay, and stay away from death. We follow (or at least listen to) the doctor's advice, in the hopes of delaying death. We change our diets with a view to longer life. Even the cars we buy are sold, at least in part, on the idea of helping us avoid death. And so, is it any wonder that when death does approach, we are totally unprepared?Between my CPE at a hospital, my year at Prairie Hill, and a lifetime in churches, I have been present at the end of a life more times than I really care to count. It is often the case that the person dying has made peace with the fact - their body is failing, and they are ready to stop fighting. But, for family and loved ones, such a peace seems harder to find.Part of it is that, despite a lifetime in the...
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5 Things for Layla to Know
2007-09-12 22:37:00
David at the blog Here I Stand, has asked me what five things I would want my daughter to know. I have given his question a great deal of thought – thus the delay between his request and my post. I suppose it reveals as much about me as anything else that there is a strong Lutheran theological bent to this list - oh well, some things are unavoidable. Thanks for the question David, it was a very though-provoking exercise.1) She is beloved, and nothing can ever change that. I pray that my daughter will quickly learn that she is loved no matter what. She does not have to earn the love of my wife and me, nor can she ever do anything to lose that. And what is true of her parents goes double for God – corum deo she is also a beloved daughter.2) Hate is never ok. In our home, we take seriously the words of 1 John, “that any who says he loves God, while hating a brother or sister, is a liar.” We can dislike, we can disagree, but Hate is not a thing that we believe ...
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On Vision
2007-09-12 19:48:00
"Without vision, the people will perish"So writes the author of the book of Proverbs, and certainly modern analysts of businesses and organizations have proven this Proverb to be true. Organizations that do not a clearly expressed, passion-inspiring vision - whether they are fortune 500 companies or small mainline churches - wither and die. We've seen it with companies - as the Detroit auto industry faltered in the 80's and 90's without a clear vision. We've all seen it in congregations we know, as membership and attendance have fallen into the basement - and people have been more passionate about high school sports that the life of the church.When I arrived at St John Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill, I had a vision of what our congregation could be. It was a vision that excited me, a vision that made me passionate about ministry in this place. I envisioned this congregation becoming a vibrant, growing, exciting family of faith - where discipleship is fostered and worship i...
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Where were you?
2007-09-12 17:01:00
On September 11, 2001, I was just a few weeks into my first semester at the School of Theology of the University of the South. That Tuesday morning began, as every day at Sewanee did, with the Daily Office, the service of morning prayer at 8:00 am. I don't recall who preached that morning, it was probably one of the seniors as it was so early in the semester.There were some murmorings as we moved from the chapel to class about something going on, mainly coming from people who missed morning prayer and caught some of the morning news. But of course, at that time (about 9:00 am, central time), no one knew what all this meant - just something about an out of control plain in New York.And so, off we went to church history, with Prof. Don Armentrout. There were again, more murmorings. A couple of classmates left the room. Cell phones were ringing. As we took a break from class, everyone at the school gathered around a small television in the student break room, catching the lates...
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A Prayer for Peace
2007-09-12 16:44:00
The following prayer was forwarded to me by our congregation's webmaster, and fits well with our current conversation:Eternal God, Creator of the universe, there is no God but You.Great and wonderful are Your works, wondrous are your ways.Thank You for the many splendoured variety of Your creation.Thank You for the many ways we affirm Your presence and purpose,and the freedom to do so.Forgive our violation of Your creation.Forgive our violence toward each other.We stand in awe and gratitude for Your persistent lovefor each and all of Your children:Christian, Jew, Muslim, as well as those with other faiths.Grant to all and our leaders attributes of the strong;mutual respect in words and deed,restraint in the exercise of power, andthe will for peace with justice, for all.Eternal God, Creator of the universe, there isno God but You. Amen.(Excerpted from Current Dialogue 24/93, p.36)
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An Anniversary
2007-09-11 17:18:00
It seems that this blog has been up for a year. With 11,600 visitors and 143 posts, this continues to be a nice little spot for conversation - both with members of Saint John Lutheran Church and beyond. This week has not seen much blogging, as I have been traveling to and from the hospital a great deal to visit with the increased number of members who are having health troubles. Without disclosing anything in this public setting, let me ask for prayers for the family of Saint John Lutheran Church - in particular please lift up those prayer concerns from last week's bulletin. My third post on this blog was a reflection on the fifth anniversary of Septempber 11th. I listed there three things that I had learned since September 11 - a fitting reflection now also for the 6th anniversary.These are the things that I have learned, about myself and about the world, since that day five years ago.1) I still cannot explain it. 9 years of theological education, and still there is no explana...
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