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April 2025 “Faithfulness” Bible study video supplement Session 4
Watch the video. (April) Session Four: Faith risks: Jairus and the Faithful Woman When both Jairus and the woman who is bleeding reach out in their pain and disappointment, Jesus meets them with compassion. Jesus is present in our actions as well, when our listening...
Be not afraid!
March 25th is the celebration of the Annunciation. On this day, we remember the angel coming to Mary with the words, “Be not afraid.” By most accounts, Mary had many reasons to be afraid. Simply encountering a powerful spiritual being is cause for one to tremble. In...
Tell us: How do friendships enhance your life?
Friends can make us laugh, know the right things to say when we are going through a tough time – and even finish our sentences for us! Friends look out for us and have our best interests at heart. For an upcoming issue of Gather magazine, we will feature a story about...
The hardest part of parenting
No parent or caregiver wants to get a call from the school principal’s office. Last year, I got that call. “I have your son here in the office with me,” said a school administrator, adding, “There was bullying on the playground.” She relayed the offenses, which...
In the image of God
If you were to attend Sunday service at Holly Grove Lutheran Church in Lexington, North Carolina, you might notice that Pastor Anna E. Carter rarely leads worship alone. As she sets the table, serves communion, and processes down the aisle, there is a little boy at...
Repentance opens the door
I’d make a terrible career criminal. I have major qualms about taking more than one sample cup of salsa at Costco. I always follow up if I’ve been under-charged for something, and never fail to make good on the transaction. I still burn with shame as I recall my...
March 2025 “Faithfulness” Bible study video supplement Session 3
Watch the video. (March) Session Three: Faith adventures: Peter and Cornelius We do not always see eye-to-eye with our neighbor. And yet, we are called to love our neighbor. Peter’s experience with someone different gives the Holy Spirit an opportunity to teach Peter,...
Seeing Christ in others
“I do not eat cats and dogs,” I told my class after the presidential debate last September. A couple of students giggled. The rest of them remained silent. They knew I wasn’t joking. While I wasn’t born in Haiti, I can identify with other American immigrants who face...
February 2025 “Faithfulness” Bible study video supplement Session 2
(February) Session Two: Psalm 22 Watch the video supplement. David testifies that God is God and worthy of praise, even as David is in despair. It’s no wonder that Jesus cried out to God during the crucifixion using these very words. In our worst times, this psalm...
Faith in economics
What is the rule of your household? How do you manage your home? How do you make sure that everyone gets what they need and sometimes what they want? Who feeds the dog or cleans up after the cat? Who does the grocery shopping, and who pays for the groceries? How are...
January 2025 “Faithfulness” Bible study video supplement Session 1
(January) Session One: Ruth and Naomi Watch the video. Ruth chooses to remain part of Naomi’s family, even after Naomi has lost everything – including her husband and sons. This intergenerational story of faithfulness during emptiness and sorrow helps us learn how to...
Winter/Spring 2025: “Faithfulness” by Denise Rector
(January) Session One: Faith where you are: Ruth and Naomi Ruth chooses to remain part of Naomi’s family, even after Naomi has lost everything – including her husband and sons. This intergenerational story of faithfulness during emptiness and sorrow helps us learn how...
December 2024 “In God’s garden: What fig trees teach us about Advent” devotional video supplement
Watch the video. This Advent, we’ll learn from some surprising teachers: fig trees. Astonishingly vibrant, fig trees have a zest for life. Their roots have even been known to bust through plumbing and climb walls like ivy! Yet fig trees also have a dormant period—a...
Bridging the gaps
Ivannav Davila Garcia knows brokenness and where the cracks are. Ivannav, 23, immigrated to the United States from Venezuela in 2016, when she was 14. She traveled with her mother and father, who sought asylum after her mother’s public advocacy and anti-corruption...
Chalk blessings
For several years, our suburban Philadelphia ELCA congregation had a practice of setting out a big basket in our narthex with a different special item that people could take with them after worship. Back then, I was in charge of coming up with the items, alongside my...
Seen. Heard. Welcomed.
Do you ever go to church hoping you have enough snacks and “stuff” to keep your child quiet and occupied throughout the worship service? Many of us are familiar with the stigmatizing saying that children “should be seen and not heard,” in places that often include...
Building Advent traditions
Every Advent, mom would drag the yule log out of storage and place it on the kitchen table. She’d made the dusty birch centerpiece herself, complete with greenery and holes to anchor the Advent candles. Although I can no longer remember if we lit one or all the...
Redeeming grace
Coupons, rainchecks and rebates were my dad’s way of saving money on groceries and other household items. Because of this, even as a young child I understood what “redeeming” meant. Dad redeemed coupons a little like he played cards. He knew just what coupon to play,...