St. Stephen's Lutheran Church

Ash Wednesday. The day of the year that many Christians around the world gather in their places of worship and participate in a ritual in which they submit to having ashes imposed on their foreheads and hear the words, “Remember … that you are dust; and to dust you shall return.” I was raised among a tribe of Lutherans that did not buy into so “pagan,” so “cultish” a practice. It became normative for me when I was a seminarian. It’s been interesting to see that, of all Christ

Prayer. I don’t know how. Today I invite you to Prayer. That a double entendre. On the one hand, it’s an invitation to join with your fellow parishioners (and others whom you might invite?) in a weekly Lenten reflection guided by Richard Foster’s classic book Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home. If I’m reading it correctly, most Christians are not happy with their prayer life. Most say they aren’t good/regular at prayer. Some say they don’t at all know how to pray. And pray

In two weeks, on Wednesday, February 22, we will celebrate Ash Wednesday at a worship service in the Sanctuary at 7 pm. Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days of Lent that leads up to the special days of Holy Week. Why do we celebrate Lent for 40 days? The answer I found online is consistent with what I have been taught over the years: The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry. Lent is a

Two weeks ago I asked, “What is a Christian?” I pointed to some obvious examples of people who wrap themselves in the faith while spewing hatred, fear, and division. And I pointed out that what Jesus asks us to do is follow him. So what does following Jesus look like? Last September I led a workshop on identifying the value of Jesus because following Jesus means living out the values he lived out, doing the kinds of things he did, treating people the way he did. Most of the p