Here’s a push for reading outside the box. After a random comment that the letter of Jude is seldom (ever?) read, our Wednesday Bible study group decided to read it. It’s short. It wasn’t edifying. But it mentioned the book of Enoch. Enoch is obviously not in our Bible, but it has a long history in the Jewish tradition. It tells the story of how the world became so bad that God needed to destroy it in the flood. In short, it’s all the fault of angels. It’s much more interesting reading than the letter from Jude! I’ve enjoyed the opportunities to look at readings that are outside the “box”of our prescribed Bible. They may have a tradition from the early years of the Christian church, or they
Do you ever feel like you are just staring at a blank page? Writers might know what I am talking about - a page that is supposed to have a ton of writing on it but has nothing. Not the page of someone with writer’s block, but a page ready for the first word of your next novel. A page ready for the start of a new chapter. I was taunted by a blank page one night in seminary when I accidently deleted a ten page paper due the next day. For some reason I was unable to recover it, though looking back I am glad I did not recover a mediocre paper. The one written in the haste of midnight until the hours of daybreak was one of my best. The blank page gave me that proverbial ‘clean slate’ to begin wor
I like how little things can make you smile and change your day, On my way to church Sunday, I stopped at a red light. A gentleman crossed in front of me pushing his young son in a stroller. The man did not acknowledge me at all, but halfway across the road the little boy raised his hand in that way drivers do to signal a casual “thank you” to another driver. It made me laugh the rest of the way to church. Our liturgy for a few weeks is focused on creation, so some of our readings are a little grittier than usual. As we prayed for “everything that creeps on the earth,” Noah helpfully held up his rubber snake as an example. I don’t know if anyone else in the choir saw it, but it made me smile
From the ELCA’s website: “‘God’s work. Our hands.’ Sunday is Sunday, September 8, 2019. This day is an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor. Service activities offer an opportunity for us to explore one of our most basic convictions as Lutherans: that all of life in Jesus Christ – every act of service, in every daily calling, in every corner of life – flows freely from a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. You work every day to make your community a better place. Let us continue doing this work together in 2019!” Since 2013 the ELCA has been engaging in setting aside one Sunday a y
