by Rev. Terence Groth “Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go.” This poem and song, whose “dapple gray” originally pulled his sleigh-riders through “the white and drifted snow” to Thanksgiving dinner, also has versions where the object of the journey was the pumpkin pie and pudding of Christmas Day. Every …
by Rev. Ronald E. Nelson Mision Gracia (Grace Mission), East Moline, Ill., is a ministry of the Central Illinois District, partially funded by gifts to Fan into Flame. District Missionary-at-Large Pablo Dominguez directs the ministry. Currently serving the Quad Cities community from a 1,000-square-foot, three-room storefront, the mission is seeking a larger, permanent facility. About …
The December Letter to the Editor (below) titled “Wake Up Call” was so sad to see. The confilct between the beliefs of the Masons and LCMS are clear. What is also clear is Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18:15-17. Has this man been privately apporached to discuss the conflict between the Masons and LCMS? Do we …
Despite the darkness of this world, there is a Light that darkness cannot overcome. I will let that Light be my guide.
The gentle faith of a stepfather makes a young Thai boy marvel at the Good News of Christmas–and wonder what it means for him.
This month, 4,000 volunteers will help with the Lutheran Laymen’s League “mission statement on wheels” at the Tournament of Roses Parade.
We all remember special gifts from Christmases past, but the one great Gift remains the Son our heavenly Father sent to us.
How do we endure His silence in times of suffering and persecution? The question is a very real and practical one for the Church and for each one of us.
Written 472 years ago this Christmas, Martin Luther’s Christmas letter to Prince Joachim remains a testimony to Luther’s pastoral theology.
I was in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany, in September serving with the Wittenberg English Ministry. I question Pastor Torgerson when he says it will be wonderful when someone can say, “There is a Lutheran church here” (Lutheran Witness, October 2007). There is a strong Lutheran presence in Wittenberg now. The congregations of St. Mary’s (the Stadtkircke) …
I was perplexed when I read the article about the all white Sunday school class in St. Louis sending literature featuring a white Jesus and other white biblical characters to an all Black Sunday school in Kenya. This on the heels of an article on racism in a previous issue, and even a letter to …
I was very encouraged to read the article “Is God green?” by Pastor Nelson a couple of months ago. My own graduate studies on the topic of “Christianity and Environmental Ethics” lead me to the realization that conservative Christian denominations such as the LCMS have fallen behind in the way of supporting care for creation …