Celebrations in the Kingdom of God are sacred occasions to pause, reflect upon and give thanks for the gracious activity of the Triune God. Seasons change, years pass, but the Lord of the Church remains the same! On Sunday, November 6th at the 10 am service, East Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Detroit will be celebrating […]
My mother sends me a text every February 14th reminding me of my baptismal birthday. While reminiscing, she likes to note that I screamed the entire time. I suppose Luther’s introductory words to his baptismal rite were appropriate for me … “flee you evil spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit!” A few weeks […]
For the last couple of months I’ve been struggling with how to teach the Book of Revelation. To be honest, my study of the Apocalypse has been like herding cats. Just when I thought I had everything organized, well thought out and heading in the right direction, a stray theme or vision or symbol came […]
The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! We have been purchased and redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Lamb of God that was slain now sits on the throne. He rules and reigns, and we proclaim His Gospel until the Day He reappears to judge the world and make all things […]
For nearly two full years we’ve been living in an unpredictable, uncertain world. Many are wondering … what if 2022 is exactly the same? Or some might think … COULD 2022 BE A WHOLE LOT WORSE? The past two years have brought more than physical suffering and illness. They have infected our way of life, […]
For nearly two full years we’ve been living in an unpredictable, uncertain world. The COVID years have brought suffering and illness, plagued our thoughts, crippled our plans, weakened relationships, decimated trust. They have infected our way of life and created a state of chronic chaos. Scroll through your social media feeds, watch the news, […]
Welcome to The Receptive Life video series. This week we will focus on Station 1 of the Daily Practice: The Sign of the Cross and the Daily Invocation. Here’s today’s video … Day 1: The Sign of the Cross and Trinitarian Invocation In the coming weeks (on Mondays – Fridays), I’ll walk you through each of […]
Behind every story there’s a backstory – the story behind the story. In this video I trace the events and experiences that “flipped” my spiritual ladders from performance to reception. In the video I talk about … washing out of the pre-med program the spiritual ladder of “performance” my parents 30 day notice my first […]
In this new year I’d like to offer up a spiritual framework that will teach you how … to defend yourselves against the “unholy trinity” (the devil, the corrupt world, and your own sinful flesh) to fight using the Scriptures and all of the promises of the person and work of Jesus to rest and […]
The peace of Jesus to you and your home. Come what may, we do belong to Him and He abundantly gives all gifts needed for this life and the one to come. On Monday, January 24th, I’ll be starting a new video series called The Receptive Life. It’s a spiritual framework and a daily practice that […]
As we begin 2022, I’d like to share with you six Scriptural metaphors that reorient our understanding of … the incessant attacks of the “unholy trinity” (the devil, the corrupt world, and our own sinful flesh) the daily work of the Triune God on behalf of His creation the power of the Word of God […]
A blessed New Year to you and your family. It’s been a hard couple of years for all of us. With a sure and certain hope, we commend 2022, and all that we love, into the hands of the Triune God. Come what may, we do belong to Jesus. fighting the “unholy trinity” in 2022 […]
During the summers of the 1980’s construction boom years, I delivered building supplies for Ulrich Lumber all over the Metro Detroit area. Through the long hours in the yard and on the road, the Lord provided just enough shekels to get me through college and seminary. I remember one of the perks of driving the […]
The Bible is God’s Word to us! It is the revelation about the person and work of Jesus, the Son of God, for the forgiveness of sins. It’s a book full of good and gracious news written to give us hope. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so […]
We just finished our first “Got Questions?” ZOOM meeting. We went about 90 minutes and talked about the following questions: Why do we have so many gods, idols and religions in this world? How do we interpret the Scriptures? What’s the role of human reason, emotion and experience? Why is there sin? death? Where is […]
