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At the Banquet of the Lamb
2008-03-25 03:56:00
As we enter into the celebration of the Great 50 Days following the resurrection of our Lord, the family of Saint John Lutheran Church lost one of our saints today. While we trust always that we will be reunited at the great wedding feast of the Lamb , and we celebrate her life and the power of the resurrection, we also mourn the empty space she occupied in our mortal lives.Please pray for the family of Easther Schroeder - and for our family of faith - as we say our earthly good-byes.Funeral arrangements have yet to be determined.

The Paschal Homily
2008-03-22 17:08:00
What follow's is the Easter sermon of John Chrysostom. It has been called the best sermon ever preached by Christianity's greatest preacher (ca. 400 ad). For centuries it has been read as the the meditation for the Easter vigil, and indeed it continues to be preached in many Orthodox churches to this day.Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages!If any have toiled from the first hour,let them receive their due reward;If any have come after the third hour,let him with gratitude join in the Feast!And he that arrived after the sixth hour,let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.And if any delayed until the ninth hour,let him not hesitate; but let him come too.And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,let him no...

Maundy Glory
2008-03-20 23:47:00
Ok. I know full well that Thursday and Friday of Holy Week are somber and reflective days - certainly not days in which celebration is entirely appropriate. But I can't help myself. I was home for just a couple of hours this afternoon, and for the first time our little one strung together a couple of "da-da-da-da"s. She has been working on consants for some time now (mostly B's), but this is the first appearance of the D sound - and in that great string of da-da no less.Yes, I am well aware that she has no idea what she is saying. But I really don't care. I am beaming from ear to ear in these last moments before our Maundy Thursday service.
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The best Easter Card
2008-03-20 19:13:00
In Wal-Mart last night, I found the best Easter card I have ever seen.Exterior:(Picture of a robed preacher in the pulpit). "Today's Easter message is ..."Interior:"Where the hell have you been since Christmas?"Perhaps its only funny to clergy, but it made me laugh out loud in the store.
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Maundatum
2008-03-18 21:47:00
We all know the story of Maundy Thursday - of how Jesus washed his disciples feet as an example of service. And then there's the bit where Peter tries to refuse.Maybe Peter just had ugly feet, and didn't want to take off his sandals.

Random Visitors
2008-03-18 16:12:00
It is always fun to look and see how people get to this little site. We have had visitors from all over as of late - someone from Geneva with a World Council of Churches IP, folks from Australia, many visitors from England (though not, I understand, Wales), and from all over the US. How do they find this little corner of the internet? Some recent search terms that led here:Carolingian CreedNikolaj Grundvig (this one brings people in fairly regularly)Funeral Sermon Outline (and many variations - apparently lots of folks are looking for help with their Funeral sermons)Evangelical Lutheran Worshipdavid hansen (some folks apparently looking for me)Blogging LutheransELW Baptism liturgyHoly Week trivia (looking for sermon illustrations, maybe?)Pastor's kid blog
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A Palm Sunday Homily
2008-03-17 16:29:00
... No one can make us look on the cross. No one can force us to make the trip up Golgotha.But there’s just one problem. If we want to stay at the party, we do so alone – Jesus has left. Jesus has left the party ...Read the rest of my Palm Sunday reflection: "The Party & The Passion"

Sunday Trivia Answer
2008-03-17 16:02:00
With yesterday's celebration of Palm/Passion Sunday , the church has entered into the time known as Holy Week. It is undoubtedly the most important week in the life of the church, and has been for centuries. Yet where and when does it come from?The celebration of Easter, the Christian pasch, is probably as old as the church itself. We have records that talk about the church's celebration of the resurrection of our Lord at least back to the 2nd century, and the controversies around the dating of Easter are some of the first controversies in the church. Yet, Easter alone does not make a Holy Week. It was the addition of Good Friday and Maundy Thursday which began what we would call Holy Week - and once they were added, they remained a central part of the Christian year ever since.We cannot say exactly when the celebration of Holy Week began. But the first record of the celebration come from the late fourth/early fifth century. It was the Spanish nun Egeria who made a pilgrimag...
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Sunday Trivia: Holy Week Edition
2008-03-16 12:34:00
We enter this week into Holy Week - the most important week in the life of the church. When and where does the first record of the church's celebration of Holy Week come from? And who recorded it?
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Tax Time II
2008-03-14 14:19:00
The entire economic stimulus plan is paying out somewhere around $150 billion. With roughly 80% (as I recall) of Americans describing themselves as Christian, that means that if every Christian would tithe their rebate, there would be around $12 billion of unexpected funds for ministry. Can you imagine?
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Draft Sexuality Statement
2008-03-14 13:41:00
The ELCA has released the draft of a new statement on sexuality (it can be downloaded here). From what I understand, no decisions are made in this statement about the ordaination of openly gay and lesbian persons in committed relationships - rather the document tries to establish a firm foundation of common ground in our language about sexuality and love. (you can also always check and see what the secular press is saying online about the ELCA)But that's all I know about it. I haven't read it yet. I've downloaded it, so I have it for when I am ready to read it. But right now, I have the much more important work of Holy Week to attend to. Once I am through Easter, I will give a once over - until then, I am just too focused on other things; like the death and resurrection of our Lord.
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Tax Time
2008-03-12 18:28:00
As a part of President Bush's economic stimulus plan, most Americans will be receiving a rebate come May. The estimate that I received puts the total rebate given to the members of the ELCA at $1 Billion. That's right, $1,000,000,000.Imagine ...What would happen if the members of the ELCA all tithed from their tax rebate checks? $100 Million dollars, committed to ministry and mission. Many of the ELCA's bishops, including our own Synodical Bishop, have pledged to do just that - to give 10% of their rebate checks to "Blessed to be a Blessing", which is the ELCA's "ministry among poor people" (MAPP).If my math is right (and it may not be), and if the estimate I received is correct, then that means that members of this congregation - St. John Lutheran Church - will be receiving just under $100,000 from the tax rebate; which puts a tithe for our congregation at $10,000 - which is no small change for a congregation our size.What about you?What are your plans for the rebate check?Mayb...
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Coming Up
2008-03-11 21:02:00
It's here. Holy Week. The marathon of ordained life. I'm not quite sure how we got through it before we hired a Director of Music and Worship - she has made this all go much more smoothly. On the Pastor's plate:A congregational visit from the Bishop on Wednesday6 sermons to prepare - including a funeralA short visit from the in-laws over Palm Sunday weekend, and my parents arriving for an extended stay at the same time8 separate liturgies (we are using slightly different orders of service for the two worship services on both Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday)Finishing the remodeling of the front entrance to the churchWorking around an almost finished front entrance for a funeral and Palm SundayPraying that the entrance is finished for EasterIt will be hectic and a little crazy. But it will also include that wonderful journey through the darkness of the tomb - which really recharges me for the rest of the year. For all of the stress and busy-ness of it all, Holy Week is an amazing tim...

At the Banquet of the Lamb
2008-03-11 20:59:00
As we quickly approach Holy Week, the family of Saint John Lutheran Church lost one of our saints last night. While we trust always that we will be reunited at the great wedding feast of the Lamb , and we celebrate her life and the power of the resurrection, we also mourn the empty space she occupied in our mortal lives.Please pray for the family of Emma Steinfeld - and for our family of faith - as we say our earthly good-byes. Services for Mrs. Steinfeld are being planned for here at Saint John, on Friday, March 14, at 10:00 am. Visitation will be Thursday from 6:00-8:00 at Brenham Memorial Funeral Home.

Easter Message
2008-03-11 20:28:00
The following is the Easter Message from the ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson. (You can read all of the Bishop's messages here)."For you have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory." (Colossians 3:3-4)"You have died." The words resonate because this world's violence and suffering--so pervasive, so needless, so relentless--haunt every human community and life. Where death rules, hope lies entombed in endless grief.Another death--the crucifixion of Jesus--changed everything. God is not hidden, but present through suffering, sorrow, and death. Jesus is God's resounding "yes!" to the steadfastness of God's forgiving love, embodied on a cross.The death of Jesus shows no partiality. It was for all nations and all people--for them, for you, for me. Your life is now with Christ. In baptism you have died. Hidden with Christ, no longer entombed in grief, your life carries the promise of glor...

Of PKs
2008-03-11 00:19:00
When I tell folks that I am a PK of a PK of a PK, they usually go on to comment that it is natural that I chose this line of work. And yet, the story of those who grow up in the families of clergy is no where near that simple. Many a pastor's kid has left the church, never to return. Others stay on the outskirts of congregational life, refusing to engage in the community of church life in order to also avoid the politics of church life.I stumbled upon a very insightful reflection on the life of a PK at philosophy over coffee - it is worth checking out.

A Eucharistic Parable
2008-03-10 19:10:00
Ben - who hosts one of the most theologically insightful blogs around - posted the following little parable entitled "Eucharistic tears". I think his instinct to post it without comment was right on - so here it is:At my local parish, young children are allowed to receive the bread atCommunion. But this morning our rector was away, and the visiting priestfollowed the usual Anglican procedure of giving the children a blessing insteadof bread. I didn’t really notice this until my family had returned to our pew –when we had sat down, my three-year-old daughter burst into tears and exclaimedloudly: “But where’s my body of Christ?”
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Gonna make these dry bones walk
2008-03-10 15:23:00
My inspiration for the sermon for the 5th Sunday in Lent came from the song "Dry Bones " by Lost and Found - a Lutheran group who were huge when I was involved in youth ministry (maybe they still are). The central part of the refrain to that song was (as I recall it) "Gonna make these dry bones walk", a phrase that has stuck with me as Lost and Found applied it not to the bones in the valley - but to the life of every Christian....Then God commanded Ezekiel to preach to the bones.Now, I know that I have said that there are Sundays when ya’ll seem dead – when you haven’t quite woken up before arriving here. But can you imagine preaching to an open-air grave? But Ezekiel did it.And as he preached …Bones began to clackand click …Sinews and muscle and veins began to connect bone to bone …Skin covered the muscle and bone …Yet they remained lifeless, without breath. Now, I don’t know about you, but this sounds to me more like the night of the living dead than it does th...
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Sunday Trivia: Answer
2008-03-10 15:00:00
Well, you all assumed, that Art hit this one on the head in the first response to the question - and he was remarkably close, but just a little off. March 23rd is the second earliest calendar date possible for Easter. Easter is, as many of you know, based on the Lunar calendar (rather than the solar calendar, which is the basis for our calendar) and falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox.Easter last fell on March 23 in 1913. The last time it fell on March 22 was 1818.Art had correct that Easter will fall on March 23rd in 2228 - however, it will be on the 23rd one other time before then, in 2160. It will not be not fall on March 22 until 2285. (This site lists all the dates of Easter from 1700-2299).Tip of the hat to Hal for sending me this info.
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Sunday Trivia
2008-03-09 12:24:00
The source for today's trivia question is our congregational webmaster, Hal:When will Easter again be as early as it is this year?And for extra credit - when was Easter last earlier than March 23?
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The worker's wages
2008-03-08 16:48:00
For some reason the question of clergy compensation - especially the motivation behind such compensation - has been floating in my head for the last few days (and let me say at the outset that I am quite happy with the compensation provided by my current congregation, this is just an intellectual wandering, not a complaint).With most church budgets being occupied 50-70% by pastoral compensation, it is no shocker that the pastor's pay (and attending costs) are subject to more discussion every year than any other single element of the budget. Indeed, I would argue that the pastor's compensation is the most consistently contentious issue in church life.Part of the reason, I think, is that we have different understandings of what should be the determinative factor when setting pastoral compensation. In fact, there is a whole list of issues that could be, are, or should be factors in determining such compensation (to name a few):Amount of educationAmount of ordained experienceQuality o...
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Recommendation
2008-03-08 16:31:00
When I was in grad school and college, I did a fair amount of IT work to help pay the bills. In fact, I have done some sort of IT work or another ever since high school. That has meant that I have always ahd access to the latest software, and I sort of got spoiled by that. In particular, I always loved photoshop and prefered to use it to work with graphics on my computer. However, once I was out of the IT world, I was not about to shell out $650 dollars to put photoshop onto my personal computer.What I have found, however, is a wonderful solution. GIMPshop is a free, open source photo editing software, developed to mimic photoshop. If you do a fair amount of photo or graphic manipulation, GIMPshop (or its predecessor, GIMP) are worth looking into. They are certainly more affordable.
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Easter comes early
2008-03-07 22:33:00
Normally I am a bit of a liturgical stick in the mud. You should avoid celebrating Christmas during Advent and you should avoid celebrating Easter during Lent. However, when the liturgical faux pas is this cute, who can object?
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Clerical troubles
2008-03-07 22:21:00
Laity often have a different set of expectations for clergy than they do for anyone else. Now, usually, I would make the argument that this ought not be the case - that clergy are just ordinary people with a specific job. And I do believe that to be true. However ...Our specific job is in a position of trust, and I am indeed more disappointed when I hear about the very public and especially egregious shortcomings of a particular member of the clergy (like yesterday's story about the Lutheran pastor in North Carolina). I am not trying to say that we should be able to avoid such temptations because we are of a better moral character than the average public (which anyone who has followed the news releases about clergy in recent years knows to be untrue). I would, however, argue that the public nature of our position makes such public failings doubly hurtful.I have no doubt that Pastor Graff was a decent pastor, and I do feel sympathy for his family. However, my prayers today go ...
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Of Leo, Luther, & Benedict
2008-03-07 02:48:00
It seems that Pope Benedict may be reconsidering Pope Leo's condemnation of Martin Luther as a heretic. If so, it is quite a step forward from Cardinal Ratzinger's 1998 reaction to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification ... but I will believe it when it moves beyond media speculation and the words actually come with a Vatican seal attached. Read the entire story in the Times online.(Tip of the Hat to the Reformed Catholicism blog for posting this story).

Happy Thanksgiving!
2007-11-21 21:43:00
This really is one of my favorite holidays. The fundamental goals of Thanksgiving Day are simply to enjoy with gratitude the gifts of God's creation, the gift of family, and the gift of community. What a wonderful opportunity for all of us.This evening, the family of Saint John Lutheran will gather for our annual Thanksgiving service. Together, we will make the thanks we offer to God the first fruits of our holiday celebration. I hope that you and your family, wherever you are, will do the same.Enjoy the holiday. Sit back with your family, feast on the bounty provided by our gracious God, and enjoy the conversation. Turn off your cell phones, don't answer your email, and just relax.And I'll see you on Sunday morning.
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Response to a Review
2007-11-20 17:54:00
Last week, I posted a review of the book, Jim & Casper Go to Church. Jim Henderson, one of the co-authors and the creative force behind Off the Map, was good enough to stop by and respond to the review. Here is is his response:David,Thanks for the thoughtful review. Barbara Tuchman, noted historian, said "inhistory,contradictions are always ocurring"No doubt, our book is a one sided subjective look at much of what outsiders view as contemporary Christianity and as such it certainly dos not represent all that is going on inside of church. Church is about a number of things (one of the reasons I resigned from pastoring btw) but the view we bring is resonating with people for a reason. It isnt so much a rant as it is a cry to those with power to reconsider the "other" and the "outsider".Since we talk so much about this in church we thought we had a right to raise the issue. You were very fair in your review and restrained to be sure which was very kind of you.Thank youJim Henderson
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Sunday Trivia Answer
2007-11-20 17:08:00
Well, what an overwhelming response to this week's Sunday Trivia . First of all, thanks to everyone at the RevGalBlogPals for the warm welcome. In amongst the answers were greetings from old friends and people with roots just next door. Thanks to everyone for their words of welcome.A number of people were correct that the Thanksgiving Classic usually refers to the NFL game hosted by either the Dallas Cowboys or the Detroit Lions. Dave rightly pointed out that the Lions game is much older than the Cowboys game. St. John's webmaster, Hal, was the only one to get right that the Lions game began in 1934.When the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans moved to Detroit, new owner G. A. Richards was looking for a way to increase interest in the new team (which was overshadowed in Detroit by the Tigers). Thus, he invited the Chicago Bears (who were the World Champions in 1933) to play in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day, 1934. Prior to the game, Detroit was at 10-1, and the Bears were at 11-0. Chicago sque...
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Sunday Trivia (On Monday)
2007-11-19 16:52:00
Well, after almost a week of an unreliable internet connection (gremlins seem to have had a hold of it), I am back for this Thanksgiving week Sunday Trivia . As we begin Thanksgiving week, we are giving thanks here for a much needed Saturday night rain (the official Prairie Hill rain gauge says we got 2.5 inches).What is the traditional NFL game for Thanksgiving, and when did it start?
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Jim & Casper Go to Church
2007-11-12 19:44:00
I am always interested in new and creative ways to think about how we do church. As such, the website churchrater.com appealed to me: they went to churches, and then reviewed various aspects of the service. The critiques are often not about theology or liturgy, but about how the church seemed to the unintiated. I frequented the site for a while and participated in the dialogue there.And so, when I saw the book Jim & Casper Go to Church , I snatched it up. Jim Henderson is the driving force behind Off the Map, an organization rethinking the ideas of behind evangelism and being welcoming churches. Matt Casper is the atheist hired by Henderson to give his "outsider's view" of worship at some of the most influential churches in America.The concept, I think is a good one. Clergy, evangelism committees, worship committees, and property committees are often all people born and raised in the church. Very rarely are we able to set aside our personal histories and look at what we do on Su...