Pastor’s Blog
Hear the Call into God’s New Future
Chicago’s world-class museums welcomed many during the spring break, offering visitors stories of cultural, historical and religious importance. Visitors delighted in works of Rembrandt, displays of the latest in DNA research, and explorations into the technological...
Words Have Power
A prayer rug lay on the wooden floor in front of the altar/table of our church this past Sunday. The rug was a memorial to the 50 murdered by a right wing terrorist while they were praying in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15. Following the attack,...
Love One Another, No Exceptions
“I’m childless,” complained Abram to God, lamenting he had no family. So God brought a fussing Abram outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you can count them…So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5). Those words from Genesis were read last...
Lent’s Invitation: To Empathize with Others
Observing Lent was a family practice in the Foster home. On Saturday, allowance day, Keith and Alan each received one dollar. Ten percent of the dollar, one dime, went immediately into their Sunday School envelope except during Lent when two dimes were included in...
Lenten Preparation
Our 40 days of Lenten preparation for Easter began on Wednesday. The season’s name Lent comes from an Anglo-Saxon word lencten meaning spring. Irenaus of Lyons (130-200 CE) was the first to describe Lent as a two to three day fast. The early Christians prepared for...
Lent’s Reminders
Crocus will soon appear in our yard, announcing Spring’s imminence. Costco usurped the flower’s mission with aisles of paddle boards and sunscreen while snow yet covered the ground. Ashen crosses will mark our foreheads on Wednesday. Lent begins with the reminder that...
The Crisis of Gun Violence: What Can We Do?
A conflict arose in Corinth over this question: Is a Christian permitted to eat meat sacrificed to an idol? Sacrificed meat was plentiful, the best cuts and affordable. But some reasoned eating the sacrificed meat would be a tacit endorsement of the pagan gods to...
Black History Month: Remembering Our Past
Four hundred years ago in July of 1619, writes Jill LePorte, twenty Africans arrived in Virginia. They were the first slaves in British America. The twenty were Kimbundu speakers from the kingdom of Ndongo (present day Angola) captured in raids ordered by their...
Creationism vs. Evolution
We were reading the story of creation from the book of Genesis in Confirmation class when a student confessed she had learned about evolution in her science class in school but in an effort to defend and protect her church, assured us she believed in God...
Black History Month is for All of Us
A 4-seat section of the lunch counter from the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth store is on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. On February 1, 1960, four North Carolina A&T State University African American students, David Richmond, Franklin...
The Joy of God’s Law
Worship must be spellbinding for me not to squirm after sitting 90 minutes. I have sat through two-hour services, but I’m a Lutheran, and for the most part gladly welcome 60 minutes of worship each week. Patience is needed when asked to sit much longer. So how, I...
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
On Saturday, January 19, members of LCM will participate in a service of Prayer for Christian Unity at Heritage Presbyterian Church. We will pray together with Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics remembering these words of St. Paul to the Ephesians (2:19),...
Moral Clarity Needed
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used the phrase “moral clarity” describing her appeal upon winning a Democratic congressional primary in June. Moral clarity, she said, is “exactly the kind of principled action her (New York) constituents had voted for.” She wasn’t the first...
Reasons for Hope
Clint Schnekloth identified several religious trends to watch in 2019 (www.patheos.org). He began by admitting to the struggle the church faces in the years ahead: changes in the tax code have significantly reduced charitable giving and the cultural change has...
No Room in the Inn
An all-time favorite story is the birth of Jesus as told by the evangelist Luke, a story inviting listeners on a journey with shepherds to Bethlehem to greet the newborn king on that first Christmas. While at the manger, I remember a question once asked of me by a...
The Birth of Baby Jesus: Our Glad Response
On a cold December night we will gather again in the warmth of our church to hear told the story of Jesus’ birth. We will listen to the story read from Luke’s gospel, a familiar story we’ve heard before of that first Christmas when the baby Jesus was welcomed by...
Slowing Climate Change: Doing Our Part
Candidates for the office of Mayor of Chicago have been asked, what is your position on “dibs?” Some of the 21 candidates aren’t prepared for the question. Former police chief Gerry McCarthy would outlaw the practice. Bill Daley, a candidate and brother to the former...
Helping Victims of Domestic Violence
Enjoy a delightful evening of music at the “Love Sweet Love” benefit concert, Saturday, December 1 at 7:00 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Master. “Love” is the theme of a mix of 60s, 70s and contemporary music. Admission is free; contributions made will benefit...
Celebrating Christ the King Sunday
Our world faced turbulent times in the 1920's. Secularism was on the rise, dangerous dictatorships were emerging in Europe, respect and reverence for the Church was waning and Christians were being told to “compartmentalize” their religion and give their highest...
Living in the In-Between Times
Frightening words from the book of Daniel will be read this next Saturday and Sunday: “There shall be a time of anguish such as never occurred since nations first came into existence” (Daniel 12:1). The year was 165 BCE when the prophet Daniel’s words were first heard...