Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition
In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Private Reiben asks, “Where’s the sense of riskin’ the lives of the eight of us to save…
Category: Uncategorized
Indiana and RFRA
Indiana is ground zero in our nation as people struggle to live under law protecting the rights…
Go to church. No really, it’s that simple and it will be good for you.
Today is Maundy Thursday, tomorrow Good Friday, Saturday is Holy Saturday. Don’t miss out on hearing the Word of God over the next…
Christian Worship: Palm Sunday Sermon
What is worship? How do you worship? Well, the word worship literally means to ascribe worth to someone or something. And this is…
Wearing Jean Shorts to a Wedding: 7 Problems with CoWo
Originally posted over on JonRodebaugh.wordpress.com: Music is one of my favorite indulgences. Thanks to my parents, I grew up on a healthy…
Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Easter, Eggs, and Nowruz
By now most Americans have probably heard of the Iranian/Persian New Year festival called Nowruz, or No Ruz. One of the more recent…
Using Freedom to Steal Freedom: Mob Beauty
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of…
The Most Dangerous Situation You’ll Ever Encounter: A Sermon for Wednesday of Judica on Psalm 130
Click here for a free, downloadable Bible study of Psalm 130 from Around the Word. Out | of the depths* I cry to…
Ecclesiastical War Looming in the Kenyan Lutheran Church as Obare Hires Guards to Keep People from the Electoral Convention, by Pr. Rossow
While we are fighting our worship war here in the LCMS, a worthy fight indeed, the Lutherans we are in fellowship with in…
Christian Anderson’s 3rd and 4th Points
Originally posted Feb 14, 2007 on diatheke.blogspot.com: [The following is from a paper by Pr. Christian Anderson found in The Clergy Bulletin…
Bible Studies That Don’t Ask You to Talk about Your Feelings
This Lent I began editing and co-authoring a weekly free, downloadable PDF Bible study with Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller on the Penitential Psalms (6, 32, 38,…
Martin Luther and the Enthusiasts-Part I
“Christ finds not only Caiaphas among his enemies, but also Judas among his friends.” (Martin Luther, LW 40:66) Martin Luther wrote this sentence…
It is Finished: A Lenten Poem
For C.L. Come and view the Word made flesh On whom all our sin was laid; He has words that will refresh Every…
Does Your Pastor Dress as a Shepherd or a Sheep?
Work clothes and uniforms are signs or markers which speak of the vocation wherein we serve our neighbor. In a most delightful way…
Talking about the Black Sheep of the Family
The children of a prominent family commissioned a biographer to write a book of family history. They warned him about the black sheep…
Update on St. Timothy Lutheran Church UK
The following is an update of St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Sunderland, England, which was vandalized and burned back in January: We have…
The Secular Case for Church Discipline
There’s an old saying—“You’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Sometimes, Christians employ this adage when it comes to exercising church…
On Namecalling
Part of the art of rhetoric is knowing what one can defensibly and logically say and knowing what one ought to say. Rev. Joshua…
Quick question for our Readers
((This post will be deleted after we obtain some of your responses)) Quick question to our readers — after installing the new face…
Letter to Pastors – First Sunday in Lent
Found over on LCMS.org: The First Sunday in Lent, A.D. 2015 Dearest Brothers in the Office: I greet you in the name…
When Assurance Isn’t Reassuring
Here’s the latest statement from the LCMS Council of Presidents (pasted below), released on the Witness, Mercy, Life Together blog. While I am…
Unintended Consequences
Will Underwood, an occasional BJS reader and member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, emailed me, offering some insightful comments regarding the recent…
Lenten Bible Studies in the Penitential Psalms, from Around the Word
Beautiful for the Lenten season, Around the Word Bible Studies offers a series of excellent studies on The Seven Penitential Psalms. These Psalms…
Lutherans and Zombies – More Stuff to Annoy the Pietists
There at the dinner table her song began as expected, being carried along by a mesmerizing joy afforded only to three-year-olds. But no…
Free Lenten Devotionals for personal and congregational use: Around the Word
There is a great Lutheran option for Lenten Devotions this year. Around the Word, the theological journal written for laity is offering a…