St. Isaiah foretold it. St. Paul described it. Jesus lived it. But even more, Jesus is it! I am speaking of Love. So, what is love? What is real love? Our world has become used to seeing emotions and feelings as love. In our fallen world, love is not an action verb, but more often […]
Optional Supplemental Lectionary Readings from the OT Apocrypha
February 24, 2011 by
For my next pastoral conference in early March, I will lead a study on the Apocrypha. We will learn how it fell into disuse within Lutheran circles, and it will finish with optional Old Testament readings from the Apocrypha for the Lutheran Service Book lectionaries. Here is the optional Old Testament Apocrypha pericopes I will present. […]
Lent–What’s with the Season Anyway?
February 21, 2011 by
Lent is almost here. Yes, the days of ashes and sackcloth, fasting, and mourning are almost here. As the ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). After the Fall into sin, God called Adam to remember the earth from which he came, and […]
Epiphany 7: Luke 8:4-15, The Parable of the Sower and the Seed
February 20, 2011 by
About every week, somebody sends me mail, mail that promises to make my church grow, mail that promises to bring life to a dying church. Obviously, many churches must be shrinking for so many companies to send out such advertisements. Yet, every one of those mailings focuses–not on God–but on people’s wants and wishes. They […]
Epiphany 6: Matthew 20:1-16
February 13, 2011 by
The Parable of the Vineyard Owner Don’t look for the world’s justice in God’s kingdom. What passes for justice in this world lacks the grace and mercy of our Lord. God rules by grace and mercy, which the Parable of the Vineyard Owner clearly shows us. In the parable, God doesn’t understand a day’s pay […]
Epiphany 5: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
February 6, 2011 by
The parables dealing with God’s rule over us in the book of Matthew are full of promise and hope, especially in the 13th chapter, which we heard in our Gospel reading. The sower goes out to sow his seed. Some of his seed falls on rich soil and produces a generous harvest. Then there is […]
Dealing with Our Spiritual Bullies
February 1, 2011 by
In this study, we find the spiritual and physical are not as separated as many of us assume. So it comes as no surprise that God uses physical aspects in our lives to streghten us to say no to our spiritual “bullies.” Dealing with Our Spiritual Bullies Feb 6, 2011 The Link between the Spiritual […]
Epiphany 4: Jonah 1:1-17
January 30, 2011 by
God called Jonah to go and preach to the wicked city of Nineveh, to preach repentance into the forgiveness of sins. The book of Tobit tells us that Nineveh was part of the Assyrian Empire, and so was Israel’s enemy (Tobit 14:15). That’s why Jonah didn’t want Nineveh to repent. He would rather see the […]
Multisensory Worship, Pt 2
January 25, 2011 by
Continued Thoughts on Multisensory Worship By Pr. Rich Futrell Last month we began to look at how God has always used all of our senses during worship. This month, we continue in this exploration. Anything that engages one or more of our five senses during worship has one primary purpose: to proclaim the Gospel in […]
Multisensory Worship, Part 1
January 25, 2011 by
This is the first of two articles I wrote for the congregational newsletter on the multisensoryness of worship. Multisensory Worship, Part 1 By Pr. Rich Futrell In Matthew 15:8, Jesus said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” When Jesus said that, He wasn’t setting up an either-or […]
