Blog - Hope

Epiphany.

Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
So today is Christmas Day.

Luke 1:39-56 

It happened when it was the furthest thing from my mind.

“Der Pfarrer und die Gläubigen sollten sich nicht einbilden, dass sie eine religiöse Gesellschaft sind, die sich um bestimmte Themen herum dreht, sondern sie leben in der Welt. Wir brauchen doch – nach meiner alten Formulierung – die Bibel und die Zeitung.”

We are a people called and gathered and washed.

I have a dear friend, up here in Two Harbors.

Here’s the two-fold gist of this Ash Wednesday/Gearing-Up-For-Lent blog:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born 112 years ago today on February 4, 1906.

Every day, I get to drive my girl back and forth to her high school in Duluth.

We’ve all asked ourselves, when hearing of some moment of historical courage, “What would I have done?”

I was already late and well on my way to my late husband’s memorial service before I realized that the urn with his ashes still sat on the kitchen table.

This past Sunday, November 19th, I had the pleasure of preaching at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais, MN.

For what may or may not be the umpteenth time, E and I were belting out Hamilton on our way to her confirmation class this morning.

Adjectives are the unsung heros of nouns.

This past week, I celebrated my birthday.

My two children, my father, and I, we really lived it up for our New Year’s Eve last night, I tell you what.

“Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
So, tells Matthew in 2:7-8, said King Herod to the wise men after learning from them that the king of the Jews had been born.

I think it was in the early winter of 1996 when I won a gaudy set of dishes, flatware, and stemware simply by chucking my name in a box at the Watertown SD Target.

The late Joseph Sittler, Lutheran theologian and wordsmith, savored life.