Go & Tell the Story

By Bishop Brian Maas And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.  --Galatians 4:6-7 Paul writes, “because you are children,” not suggesting we’re childish but making the point that believers aren’t just slaves who work for a family, but children of that family. The first gift of being a child is that of the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with that awareness; an awareness that we can call on God not just as some distant deity, but as Father—“Abba!” (“Daddy!”) as both Jesus and Paul make clear. One of the many great joys of being a parent is the memory of our kids being toddlers and their response when they’d see my face across a room. There was an instant of recognition, and then a smile, and then a full-bore charge to run and be with daddy. We’ve all seen it. Having experienced it firsthand as a parent, I wonder if t...

By  Rev. Kristen Van Stee , Associate to the Bishop As a pastor, I usually prepare for Ash Wednesday every year by reading the assigned Gospel text for the day from Matthew 6 in which Jesus instructs his followers in how to give alms, pray, and fast.   And indeed, that is what I and probably most congregations focused on for Ash Wednesday March 6 th , 2019…but only a week later as I felt the fear of a rising Elkhorn River only a mile south of Pilger where I live, I remembered the often-overlooked text from the prophet Joel that was the first reading for Ash Wednesday:             1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor w...

By Lisa Kramme, Director of Faith Formation And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.   - John 14:16-17 As I stood at the sink washing Mom’s dishes the day after Dad died, she walked up to me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and said, “That’s from your dad.   He gave me that kiss before he left in the ambulance, and now I’ve given that kiss to you and your brothers and sister, too.”   This happened over 25 years ago, and it’s still a treasured memory in my heart.   The reading from John comes only four chapters before Jesus is arrested and the arduous journey toward the cross begins.   Reading these verses, I’m reminded of my dad’s kiss. I feel convinced that both Jesus, and my dad wanted the people they love to know they are...

By Deacon Karen Melang, Synod Council Secretary One thing you can say for Lent: it isn’t over commercialized. Oh, sure, you’ll see the occasional fish special in the grocery ads, but that’s about it. The business community has never gotten a grip on Lent the way it has on Christmas. And I guess it’s no wonder. After all, if you get people feeling all warm and fuzzy inside and then plunk down in front of them a beautiful, rosy-cheeked, always sleeping baby, his cool and collected mother and surround them both with pudgy angels – why we all fairly beg businesses to take our money just so that feeling can last! But in the real world – the world of political scandals, of hunger at home and abroad, the world of strange and hostile global entanglements, and private worlds of desperation – in that world the warm and glowy feelings engendered by tiny baby Jesus cannot carry the day. There may be no cashing in on a bloody, beaten Jesus, but still the discipl...