Pastor Mark Schroeder cites a rather compelling quotation on worship from Klemet Preus: “If the Divine Service is viewed primarily as our praising God, then you can do that just as well from home. In fact, once we have looked at the topic of vocation,
Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether state laws defining marriage as being between a man and a woman are unconstitutional. Joseph Backholm, of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, has an interesting take on the arguments that the constitution mandates gay
Lehigh professor Henry J. Barkey points out that the institution of the nation-state is virtually unraveling in the Middle East, with central governments being unable to enforce their laws within its borders, being replaced with local warlords, factional militias, and cross-border organizations such as ISIS.
Rev. Christopher Jackson informed me that the new Prime Minister of Finland is a Laestadian Lutheran, a pietist strain best known today for rejecting birth control and having very large families. (more…)
Christopher Walker tells how authoritarian governments are trying to make themselves seem legitimate by constructing a facade of democracy, complete with (fixed) elections, (controlled) news organizations, and even government-sponsored non-governmental organizations, such as human rights groups, election monitors, and environmental groups–all of which work to
A massive earthquake, hitting 7.8 on the Richter scale, hit Nepal, killing at last count some 2,500 people. Avalanches in the Himalayas wiped out whole villages, as well as a base camp of mountain climbers on Mt. Everest. To help go here. (more…)
Now that Hilary Mantel’s superb novels about Thomas Cromwell have been made into a TV series, Wolf Hall, her points about the good guys and bad guys in Tudor England are attracting attention and controversy. Conventionally, Cromwell has been considered a Machiavellian villain who helped
Parents have long been frustrated with their teenager’s “what was he thinking” moments. Why do bright, thoughtful adolescents so often do things that are foolish and reckless? We now know the reason: their brains are not finished growing. Specifically, the pleasure center is not completely
Back in the 1930’s, an elderly woman wrote a memoir about her life on the American frontier. But no one would publish it. So she recast her memories as a series of children’s novels, giving the world the immortal Little House on the Prairie books.
The reading for last Sunday at our church was about the lame beggar at the Temple gate who was healed by Peter (Acts 3:1-21). You should see what our pastor did with that passage, showing how we are in the position of the beggar and
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