“Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “command or mandate.” This day of the church year focuses on Jesus’s new commandment to love one another. But why do we name this day for the commandment rather that the gift of God bestowed? It’s telling. Our inclination as humans is to take control, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, to do rather than be. But before Jesus gave His mandate to His disciples, He gave them two very important... Read more
I have been having a rousing conversation with my commenters over the course of the last few days over at my first post on Indiana’s RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act). As always, I learn a lot from them and appreciate their willingness to hear what I have to say as well. I would like to briefly clarify a few points, including a few areas where my thinking is changing. First of all, it may be helpful to recall the news... Read more
Here at the very end of Women’s History Month, we are given a great opportunity to get to know a woman who was highly influential in progressing social reforms in Western society and in the literary world but who has been all but lost to history: Hannah More. For a while now, I’ve been hearing great things about Karen Swallow Prior’s new book, Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More–Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist. Although very prominent in literary, artistic, and... Read more
UPDATE on 4/1/2015: A follow-up post is now available. I found that there were a few things that were coming up again and again in the comments section that I wanted to address, and I also found some areas where my readers helped to deepen my understanding of the issues involved. Please go read the follow-up here. ——————- Over the weekend, I got up-to-date on the controversial new Indiana “religious freedom” law. What I discovered left me pretty much frustrated... Read more
Note: I preached this sermon in 2009, as a young pastor in North Dakota. I share it with you today, with just a small amount of editing. You can read the text for this Sunday here. The long-awaited day had arrived. Since Jesus had begun His ministry, whisperings about Him had been heard all through the land of Israel. There were people who guessed He might be the Messiah, the coming Deliverer who was prophesied about in the Old Testament.... Read more
Thanks for joining me for another installment of “Walking with Jesus through Lent.” During this season of the church year, comprised of the roughly forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, Christians focus on the themes of repentance, mortality, and the need for salvation. Many Christians fast from certain pleasures during this time in order to demonstrate repentance or grow in faith. For Lutherans, this practice is not mandated but may be a helpful one for certain believers. To... Read more
Hi readers, Just a quick note to share an important post with you. It’s been quite a lot of years since I first read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. There is a story in there about a Confession Booth that seriously pretty much changed my life and my approach to Christian mission. When I reviewed Tony Kriz’s book, Aloof, I was unaware that he was in Blue Like Jazz. But I recently discovered that in Miller’s book, Kriz is... Read more
(Trigger warning: this review contains some non-explicit references to sexual abuse. The film itself speaks more graphically of the abuse.) At first glance, Calvary is a deceptively simple film built around a very simple plot device: Father James (Brendan Gleeson), a Catholic priest in Ireland, is taking confessions one day when a man tells him that he was horrifically sexually abused many times a week for years as a young child…and that this abuse was committed by a Catholic priest.... Read more
Thanks for joining me for another installment of “Walking with Jesus through Lent.” During this season of the church year, comprised of the roughly forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, Christians focus on the themes of repentance, mortality, and the need for salvation. Many Christians fast from certain pleasures during this time in order to demonstrate repentance or grow in faith. For Lutherans, this practice is not mandated but may be a helpful one for certain believers.... Read more
Vulnerable Faith by Jaime Arpin-Ricci is a treasure of a book. You could open it to any page and find something wise and profound, something that you could take years to really understand. It is a guidebook for the life of Christian discipleship. It uses the structure of Alcoholics Anonymous’s 12 Steps program and the narrative of the life of St. Patrick to lay out a roadmap for what Christian discipleship should look. The book opens with this quote from... Read more
Rebecca Florence Miller
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