St. Stephen's Lutheran Church

An exciting change is coming to St. Stephen’s! On Easter Sunday three Christian congregations will be in our building celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. I find this exciting for these three reasons, starting with the least important. This will provide us with extra income. We have a large building which needs maintenance, and we are a small congregation. And while taking care of the building should never be our chief purpose, we are stewards of this space. Rightly underst

If I’m paying attention, I sometimes find images in the world around me that remind me of our congregation and its ministries. This evening, as Sue and I drove back from a restaurant, a beautiful rainbow appeared high up in the sky as I looked out the right side of our windshield. We have seen rainbows many times on previous trips, but this year none until now. This rainbow was especially significant as it meant rain was likely to have fallen near our villa on the drought-str

This week I want to pass on a piece by Tish Harrison Warren of the New York Times on how people around the country are praying for Ukraine. (And yes, this is copyrighted. But everyone gets three free reads each month. Count this as one of yours.) The link is here. Peace, Pr. Mark Walters

The text message came from my son "Some child will be wearing my mane someday." There were two pictures: one post haircut, one with his hair in long ponytails ready to be cut and donated to Locks of Love. He's been growing his hair out since the pandemic started. He complained about the upkeep of long hair when he was home at Christmas (been there, done that), but he's shorn his hair and is in his happy haircut stage. He will receive comments and questions at work and with hi

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts 40 days (not counting Sundays), 40 being one of the Biblical numbers of completeness. Like Advent, Lent is a season of preparation. As Advent prepares us for Christmas, Lent prepares us for Easter. In the early Church, Lent was a time when adults prepared for baptism. Today, Lent remains a time for renewal and learning and going back to the source of our faith. The final week of Lent, Holy Week, centers on the events that led to the suff