My 5 year old loves to play the Wii.  And he recently discovered the joys of the Mii channel.  With this “game” you can create your own character—customizing the look, shape, hair, eyes—you name it.  Then you get to use the character you created to play many of the games.  It is a pretty cool customization aspect of the Wii.  As I said, Ethan has just discovered how to do this.  So we quickly created avatars for him and the rest of our family.  But Ethan took it further.  Ethan always takes it further… Normal.dotm 0 0 1 370 2111 St. John's Lutheran Church 17 4 2592 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times...

Normal.dotm 0 0 1 454 2591 St. John's Lutheran Church 21 5 3181 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Just over a year ago my brother in law, Ryan, died.  To say it was sudden isn’t strong enough.  He left behind 2 precious little girls.  2 weeks ago those girls came to live with...

 There is a lot of ugliness in this world.  It isn’t hard to miss.  Turn on the news or turn on your computer and you are bombarded with images of ugliness: people being ugly to people; events and catastrophes that distort beauty and demean our Father’s creation; stories of oppression, aggression, and depression.  Our consumption culture thrives on ugliness.  We want to know the next celebrity sleaze story.  Our political spheres throw dirt at the other side more than they define their side.  Parents yell at children.  Children rebel against parents.  Husbands and wives treat one another worse than they would their enemies.  Ugliness has become a way of life for us.  Normal.dotm 0 0 1 449 2561 St. John's Lutheran Church 21 5 3145 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:"";...

What would you say about a church that never read scripture together?  Or how about never prayed together?  Can a congregation be a congregation if they outsource all of the “spiritual stuff” of life to some outside group?  It is a crazy notion, isn’t it?  A congregation that doesn’t pray, doesn’t chew on the Scriptures, doesn’t engage in intentional faith talk together isn’t a congregation at all.  It’s a social club and it is not what we are called to as the body of Christ.

And yet, this is where so many of us find ourselves.  Let me explain.  As Lutherans we have, at least, a cursory understanding of “the canon within the canon.”  We hold fast to the powerful teaching of Jesus that “Where two or more are gathered, I am there.”  We witness the growth of the early church was about whole households being baptized together and coming to faith.  Is the family a church—a church within a church?  And not just the nuclear family—the family that you live with—in whatever size, shape, or stripe it happens to be. ...

The importance of memory in life and in the story of Holy Communion

I have a  son who brought three bibles to camp for the weekend because he loves the Word of God.  He uses a play sword he got from a pirates of the caribbean hotel at disney world as a book mark.  It struck me today of the depth of that.  A sword to mark our place as we read the Sword (Ephesians 6:17). I have a daughter who screams at me, she literally screams at me, before I leave the room at bedtime.  "Pray!" she screams.  She screams unless she prays with me before bedtime.  She isn't yet two years old.  How many of us scream if we don't pray before we go to sleep....

 Yesterday was the first swim of the summer—unless, of course, you count walking through the swamp that has become my backyard.  We swam for good reason—the family was together to celebrate my Dad’s 70th birthday.  To celebrate, my sweet Emery (22 months) kept whacking her head.  By the end of the night she looked like she went a round with Oscar De La Hoya.

            She was walking along the pool deck—and as typically happens, her eyes saw something she liked and she bolted for it.  Again, as typically happens, her mind and her legs didn’t march at the same pace.  Emery likes to lead with her head.  She did again last night… right into the patio pavers.  The tears that flowed were justified if the size of the abrasion on her forehead is any indication of the pain.

            How often do you wipe out in life?

            The birthday boy came to Emery’s...

 My brother in law, Ryan was a gifted gardner.  Prior to his sudden death he planted 8 fruit trees in the side yard of the house.  As followers of Christ we await the day when we will fully enjoy the fruits of Christ and His tree, the cross.  I guess I'll have to enjoy Ryan's fruit until then...

Are you living to the fullest?  Christ Jesus calls us into life-abundant but too often we find ourselves, at best, only half full of life.  How do we unleash the divine calling that God has placed within you to lead an abundant life of purpose and meaning? 

 Where do you focus when an oncoming car forgot to click off their brights?  Driving is all about focus--and so is life.  What is your focus?