Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you had a blessed week.
Well, here we are entering our third week in the Season of Epiphany. Epiphany is that time of year when we read about the various ways God revealed to the world whom Jesus really was and is. “Epiphany” means a sudden realization or awareness. It is an “Oh, now I get it!” experience. An epiphany is…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you had a happy and blessed New Year.
In the church, we love to talk about being saved and we Lutherans love to talk about justification by faith. That is, we proclaim we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. We all learned that in confirmation and it is true, but for many of us the real question is, so, what is grace?…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you had a happy and blessed New Year.
As I wrote in my letter last week, the Season of Christmas ended this past Tuesday, January 5, and that means the Season of Epiphany officially started on Wednesday, January 6.
Now the word “epiphany” comes from the Greek word epiphaneia, which means “disclosure” or “unveiling.”…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you had a Merry Christmas.
Well first I want to thank my wife, Jill for helping me out the past couple of weeks. I hope you enjoyed her notes with news from Salem as much as I did. And secondly, I just want to say that I pray you all had a very blessed and merry Christmas.
I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to believe…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week!
In our gospel text for this coming Sunday, John 15:9-17, Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (15:12). Jesus actually commands us to love. It sounds so simple “go love each other,” but to be honest, don’t you find this really hard to do? I mean, sometimes,…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week!
I love this weather! The temperature is perfect these days. We are getting good amounts of rainfall. The flowers and trees are in full bloom and I can sit on my back deck and watch the birds and animals. I just love this time of year and now, in just about a week, Jill and I will begin planting our garden…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week!
I think I have shared this with you before, that my Grandpa Weinstein died right on my 13th birthday. Because of that, my birthday is always a bittersweet day because, although that was 43 years ago, I can still feel the pain that I felt when my mother came in my bedroom to tell me Grandpa had died.…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you had a blessed Easter and week!
I was watching the news this morning and two of the top stories didn’t have to interview real people to talk about the events that were being reported about. In both cases, instead of talking to a person, the reporter was able to show a video that was shot of each of the particular incidents and…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you had a blessed Easter and week!
When I woke up Monday morning, I was feeling unusually tired. After all, last week, Holy Week, was extremely busy, and Easter Sunday was full, as well, and I was frankly ready for a little break. But when I got up, I began to think how Easter was over. We had once again proclaimed “Christ is Risen!”…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week!
Last week, I spoke about how our lives can change in an instant, but as I wrote that letter, I had no idea how true that would be for us here at Salem this Holy Week. Last Saturday morning, as I was working around the house, I received a call from Alan Uhl that his son, Victor, had died suddenly. Then, on…