Current Series
On ‘Moby Dick’: Grappling with the Book of Nature
A literary reflection on Herman Melville's "Moby Dick."
On the ‘Little House’ Series: Longing for the Promised Land
Homesteading is not the secret to happiness. It’s merely the backdrop against which Ma and Pa joyfully live out their vocations.
On the ‘Odyssey’: The Joy of Redemption
A literary reflection by Davis Smith on Homer's Odyssey. This is one installment of a monthly series providing reflections on works of literature from a ...
On ‘Wuthering Heights’: The destruction of love turned inward
Catherine and Heathcliff's pseudo-love is an obsession absolutely turned inward, a snake eating itself which, in its appetite, finds destruction.
On ‘My Ántonia’: Bodily Life as Fallen and Redeemed Creatures
My Ántonia invites the reader to look closely at one life, so closely that it becomes a window for looking at one’s own life, and ...
On ‘Paradise Lost’: What Temptation Looks Like
Adam and Eve may have been tempted by the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; readers of Paradise Lost are ...
On ‘Silas Marner’: An Enduring Life
Seeing Silas through the lens of Jesus and the false accusations He bore up under is a fruitful endeavor.
On ‘The Wind in the Willows’: Enjoying the Creator’s Good Gifts
When we learn to pay close attention to created gifts, how much more joy will we find in attending to the gifts of Word and ...
On ‘The Princess and the Goblin’: Having Faith Like a Child
Without a doubt, there is nothing more essential to child's play than the imagination.
Theodore Stelzer: Seward’s “Renaissance Man”
Stelzer believed in the power of Lutheran music, as animated by the Gospel.
Edward Rechlin: First Concert Organist of the Missouri Synod
Rechlin's professional life was spent in the service of the Gospel through performance rather than through composition, teaching or parish ministry.
Walter Wismar: A Kantor for the Whole Church
Walter Wismar's writing, conducting and leadership modeled the fullest vocation of a Lutheran Kantor.
Martin Lochner: Building a Sacred Music Tradition at River Forest
Martin Lochner continued his family’s legacy of stewarding the rich musical heritage of the Lutheran church as he taught generations of church musicians.
Karl Brauer: The First Music Professor of the Missouri Synod
Through his organ design and promotion of the ancient, rhythmic style of chorale singing, through his teaching of singing, theory and organ, Brauer conveyed high ...
C.F.W. Walther: Theologian and Musician
Did you know that C.F.W. Walther's original dream was to be a church musician?
The Future in the Digital World
What lies next on the digital horizon? What principles should guide our thinking as each new technological frontier is opened?
Adulting in the Digital World
This installment provides practical advice for adults on how to manage their own technology usage.
Coming of Age in the Digital World
This installment addresses the challenges teens and twenty-somethings face in the digital world.
Parenting in the Digital World
This installment provides practical advice on parenting and raising children in the digital age.
Part 1: Why This Conversation, Why Now?
Christians can develop a better framework for understanding the digital world, responding to it, and living humanely and faithfully within it.
On “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns”: Hope So Close I Can Taste It
This is the dark before dawn. In the morning, He's coming for us.
On “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”: His Prize-Winning Harvest
Thanksgiving hymns are all about provision, the good earth, God’s bounty, and His joy in the physical world.
On “O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe”: A Hymn for Reformation Day and Halloween
My life is hid with Christ in God. I’m inside His armor. I get to see Him fight for me.
Nourishing Children’s Minds and Hearts with Beautiful Illustration
One of the ways to help us and our children read Scripture faithfully is through faithful, realistic art and illustration.
On “The Kiss” by Gustave Klimt
Marriage is an image, a shadow of the ultimate marriage of Christ and the church.
On a Lucas Cranach Portrait
Through Cranach's portraits of Johann Friedrich I over his life, we see the life of Christian suffering depicted.
On “Easter Mystery” by Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis' mysterious Easter scene conveys the prophecies fulfilled, and the life won for us, in the Resurrection.
On “A Time to Keep” by Tasha Tudor
Family traditions show our children that our seemingly mundane and fleeting lives can be a reflection of the eternal life we are meant for.
On “It Is Finished” by James Tissot
Tissot gave the viewer unvarnished slices of biblical life, based on his own experiences in those places where our Lord actually walked.