Every year it’s the same old story. I think we can all recite the story of Christmas by heart, or at least the little kid’s pageant version of the story, complete with barn animals, and shepherds, and wise men, and a shiny star. You’d think you would get tired of the same story, but no, …
From the Pastor’s Desk How’s your prayer life? A colleague of mine posed that question to me at a recent clergy gathering. It’s a question that causes us to pause…the usual answers to “how are you?” that most of us typically use as a greeting won’t suffice here. “Busy” doesn’t seem like a good …
From the Pastor’s Desk If you’ve been paying attention in church, you’ll have noticed that our Old Testament readings are tracing a rather long journey. From the first promises God made to Abraham, through the sagas of Jacob, Isaac, and Joseph, and onto Moses we’ve been following the story of the Hebrew people’s journey to …
Wow, has summer gone by fast! Don’t worry though, the fun at St. John keeps on going right into Fall. There have been a number of new and exciting changes at St. John designed to help us serve the needs of everyone. This month I want to highlight for you some of the changes and …
Did you know that 1 in 5 adults lack the basic reading skills beyond a fourth grade level? Or that almost 85% of all young people in the juvenile court system are illiterate? As a complicated and broad social justice issue, literacy is an issue that touches (and addresses) other issues, including economic justice, gender …
At the beginning of June I traveled to Green Lake, WI for our denomination’s Wisconsin Conference Annual Meeting. While the keynote speakers are always good and I enjoy the privilege of having a voice and vote on issues at the business meetings the real highlight of this weekend for me has always been the various …
It seems nearly every time you turn on the news there is some story relating to environmental justice: ongoing debates over energy production such as the Keystone pipeline and fracking, the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires, oil spills, global warming, etc. As Christians, we are called to view such events through a lens of …
I write this from the quiet of my study after this year’s Good Friday service and find the silence disconcerting. For those of you not in attendance, the service simply ended after the final hymn….no benediction, no ringing of the bell, nothing, leaving us to wait and hope for Easter. What was most disturbing to …
“From dust you have come, and to dust you must return”…those are the words spoken to each person who received ashes on Ash Wednesday a few weeks ago. As a kid I remember thinking “Wow, that’s depressing!” But it’s kind of miraculous too. I remember the day Vanessa was born, I understood all of the …
In a recent Bible study session we watched the video of Rob Bell’s reflection on riches. The video put our views on wealth in America in perspective when compared to the worlds as a whole. The point of the video was that we, as Americans, have been truly blessed, and how as Christians we are …
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