The Magazine

‘What’s a Single Mother to do?’

We agree with all the helpful influences in the sidebar article to your June/July cover story, “Fathers and Sons,” but we feel you have left out an extremely important one, the influence of the heavenly Father in a single-parent home. Our daughter often reminds her daughter of how their heavenly Father has taken care of

Not noise pollution!

As a mother of small children, I do not agree with Mrs. Curtis’ June/July opinion about the presence of young children and how their noise level should be handled in church (“Hosanna, Loud Hosanna!”). I do not view my 13-month-old’s voice as “noise pollution.” He is old enough to understand that if he fusses he

Checking the record

Many thanks to Tom Ramsdell for revealing to us in the June/July issue that our blessed Lord is neither humane nor compassionate: “The vegetarian/vegan way of life is the truly humane, compassionate way of life.” Let’s check the record: Gen. 9:3: “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all

God’s grace at St. Paul’s

I just read “Uncovering History,” the June/July Lutheran Witness article about Rev. Franz Julius Biltz and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Concordia, Mo. In July, our granddaughter, Layla Denine Oetting, was baptized at St. Paul’s, becoming the sixth consecutive generation of Oettings to be baptized there. Layla’s great-great-great-great grandparents, Christian and Marie Knigge Oetting, homesteaded

Maintaining Perspective

by Dr. Leslie (Jack) Fyans Earlier this summer, the news was filled with stories about the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. The international attention this generated was astounding, even for a former Jackson fan like me! I have compassion for the loved ones of these celebrities, but I wonder how we can help

Shedding Some Light

An Errant Quest A badly bruised knight returned to the castle of his lord after a long and arduous quest. He was a mess. His armor was dented, his helmet askew, his face scarred, and his lance broken. His horse limped, and the knight himself listed slightly in the saddle. His lord saw him coming

Getting Less in the Land of Plenty

by Rev. Thomas E. Engel Imagine it is 1840. Like many others, you have escaped a famine or a revolution in Europe. You and your family are now immigrants in New York, and you live in a cramped apartment. The summer is hot, the city is dirty, and it stinks from overcrowding. You are working

Lutheran Witness: September 2009

Maybe it’s just our growing older, but each year, September seems to arrive more quickly than anticipated. Suddenly, our vacation is a receding memory, the kids are back in school, Labor Day is upon us, and we are left to wonder, “What happened to summer and all the plans I made? Where did the time go?” One item that occupies much of our time is work.

Hack The Shack?

I have a few comments regarding The Shack and the article by Rev. Steven Borst in the May Lutheran Witness. Even though, as Pastor Borst says, the book has some good points, my concern is its vicious attacks on Orthodox theology and the anti-church and misleading messages the book portrays. Many people may read this

Our magnificent faith

I appreciate Dr. Karl Barth’s response to my April Witness article, “Reservations on the Resurrection?” and I certainly agree that the Gospel writers did a much finer job of recall than did my students in the illustration provided! The point, again, was simply to demonstrate that, in terms of the human dimension, people seeing the

An Old Lutheran?

My husband teases me about being “an old Lutheran.” In this day of universal informality, lots of decency and manners seem to have gone out of style, even in church. Perhaps it is the floor plan of our church, but I can’t help but notice that people don’t seem to observe what was once known

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