For the last six months, I have read about a work of Richard Wurmbrand a month. I find his story and life fascinating. Wurmbrand was a Lutheran pastor in Romania during the communist occupation, and was imprisoned for a total of 14 years. He later founded the organization called The Voice of the Martyrs. In his book, If Prison Walls Could Speak,…
When my wife was becoming a Lutheran teacher through the colloquy program, part of the requirements for that, along with doing a theological and personal interview, was taking 10 one-month classes on a variety of topics. They were mainly Lutheran theology and church history. The most common assignment that she had to do was an assignment called, “crafted sentences.” Crafted sentences were…
A few weeks ago, I started reading C. S. Lewis’ classic book, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” and fell in love with this phrase that describes the mythical land of Narnia. It goes like this: “It is always winter but never Christmas.” That is the description of life under the White Witch’s rule. There is no joy and no peace. …
A few weeks ago, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowd asked, “Who is this?” Who is this? It’s the most important question that we can ever ask, and Advent gives us the answer. Who is this? The crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” To them, Jesus was a teacher and miracle worker Who came from backwater Galilee. That isn’t too…
I have a little quiz for you that I would like you to participate in. I have the little quiz in the bulletin, or you can participate by listening to me. How would you fill-in the blanks for the following statements? Statement 1: “I want it .” What did you put there? How did you answer it? Next one: “I said, ‘Do it …
“It was a dark and stormy night….” Do you recognize these words? If you are a Snoopy fan like me, or if you read the comic section in St. Paul newspapers, you probably do. These are the words of Snoopy, the famous beagle from Charles Schultz’s Peanuts cartoon. Among Snoopy’s many past times, whether it is a World War I fighter Ace, fine art…