Everyday Lutherans

If you love me, you would keep my commandments.  Jesus words to his disciples are words for us to know and understand today.  For they are part of our history and part of what makes us Christians even today.  For in many regards, they still define who we are and what is so very important to us.   Several thousand years ago, God gave to Moses the stone tablets. Upon those tablets, God wrote the Ten Commandments.  These commandments would be given to the Hebrew people after leaving the land of Egypt.  The purpose of the commandments was a gift of love, to show and remind people that God is a part of their life. Yet, there is a need for others and need for community to care and help one another. Commandments 1-3 deal with your relationship with God Commandments 4-10 deal with your relationship with others.   Having these good relationships in your life is so very important.  It reminds you not worry about the little things but focus on the bigger picture.     Yet so often, people share th

Have you ever looked at someone, and just by the way their face was formed, the color of their hair, their mannerisms, you could tell that they were part of a particular family?  You could easily tell that this boy was a Johnson, Swenson, or Heskin.  You could look at a girl and know that she was a Larson, Frederickson, or Berger. Each one of us, has similar features in our face, our hair, the way that we walk, and even our mannerisms to others family members.  These are all things that we share with our own family members.   Though we each have our differences in appearance and we come from different families, we bear the image of God.  But I am not referring to our looks when I state this, but I am referring to the way we act and treat each other. For when we look at one another, we bear witness to similarities to our own self. We see within others the same hard life experience, and the same joys that we also share with one another.  However, in each and everyone of us, we merely see

  Have you ever had questions about the Christian faith?  Why this is so important to some and why others regard it as nothing?  Gail Ramshaw composes a wonderful book that helps answers many questions that people have regarding the Christian faith.  Ramshaw writes in such a way, a person is easily able to understand.  In this way, Ramshaw helps the reader grasp different perspectives of understanding.  Ramshaw offers countless definitions to clarify what the meaning of each word is as they are typically used within the church.     This book provides great insight for anyone who is part of the Christian faith, helping them understand more about the gathering of the books that make up the Bible.  Ramshaw discusses the different denominations that have formed, and the roots to our modern church.  This book would be ideal for any college course looking at the topics that are covered.  I could see great potential in a high school study or adult education opportunities within the church.  A

Walking in to a coffee shop, you know that you will go in there to pay for a service.  The person behind the counter will make a coffee beverage of your choice with a variety of flavors, sugar, or milk to go with it.  There is a menu placed on the board that clearly notes the cost of that beverage that you choose.  From the cost of that beverage, you know that you are paying the farmer for the coffee beans, the farmer for the sugar and even the farmer who gathered the milk.  You are also paying the wage of the person who served you along with anyone who is part of the path that brought all of these things together.   When you go into a bookstore, it is much of the same thing.  You know that you shall purchase a book.  The cost of the book will cover not only the paper and printing cost, but also part of the of money will go to the author, the person who works at the bookstore, and even some to the company. Along with anyone else who may have been a part of the production, shipping, and

This is one of those questions that I have heard from children, teens, young adults, and adults.  About the only ones I don’t hear this from is the elderly.  However, the real answer to this question is No.  You do not HAVE to go to church.    Rather you should WANT to go to church.  There are some who would say that, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” - Billy Sunday  However, these words were spoken by a preacher, someone who was reminding you that you are supposed to be engaged in the events and happens of the church in order to be a Christian.   Now if your immediate reaction is to quote the Third Commandment, You shall remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  Yes you are right.  Yet we should also consider what the Chosen People of God did before they were given the Commandments.  Remember there was a time when God chose Abraham and his descendants as his very own people within the world.  Abraham lived his day

In today's Gospel lesson, we hear of two disciples who travel down the Road to Emmaus.  It is here on the road that these two disciples see, hear, and learn from their teacher, but they do not recognize him.  There are many times in our own life that God enters into our life, but the real question becomes, do we realize it?  The day in which we encounter the Road to Emmaus is really the journey of our own life. The first thing that I want you to note is that Jesus seeks us out.  The two disciples do not expect to see Jesus after hearing the events of what has taken place.  They have heard the accounts of others but they do not believe in the words or events that Jesus has been raised from the dead. For it does not make sense to them and even to us.  Instead, they leave, and like so many of us, flee from judgement and what others may think or do against us.  They are running from their greatest fears because their faith is small, yet God comes to them in the midst of their fear, in

Today we are celebrating camp sunday, a day in which we receive a taste of camp in our worship experience.  A place where our children can go out of their busy life, and experience some of the great wonders that is God’s Creation.  They can experience another Christian community outside of our own congregation.  A place they are accepted, encouraged to grow in their faith, and meet other disciples from other communities.   In our lesson today, we have a glimpse into the community where discipleships is formed.  We see them gathered together even after our savior and lord has been crucified on a cross.  The disciples relied upon one another for support.  They give care and protection for each other fearing what the Jews would do to them. They are only able to trust others who had been gathered and learned from Jesus.  They had locked the door.  Yet, it was in this space Jesus enters the room, and shows them the glory and honor God had given to him.  Raising him from the dead, bestowing

Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, where they laid their friend and loved one, Jesus.  She was going there to care for him, ensure that he would cleaned, and prepared to be laid to rest.  When she arrives, she expects to find a stone against the tomb, Jesus lying still wrapped in bands of cloth from the last time her and the disciples were gathered at his death. But instead, she finds something else. Entering here today, what did you expect to find? Did you expect a person who had recently died and you came and pay your respects?  While the disciples and many others would expect to find death, sorrow and sadness, today, we celebrate because now things have changed.  Something different has happened.  There is still death, but there is a gift of life! Death is something that has been part of human existence since Adam and Eve were sent out of the Garden of Eden. They were the first to sin against God and ever since, sin and death have been part of the human existence. The death of a loved