Month: December 2015

  • Let’s Destroy the Death Star

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    The holiday season is supposed to be jolly and merry. Let me tell you that it does not always work out that way. As a matter of fact there are more deaths this time of year than any other. The sun setting so early leaves us in darkness. And the pressures that come with expectations…

  • The Merriam-Webster Word of the Year 2015

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    (English poster for the 1929 elections) Merriam-Webster has picked a word of the year. Actually they did not: they declared 2015 the year of a suffix: -ism. Since 9/11 the world has been flushed with -isms related to terror-ism. The recent shootings in San Bernardino brought it back to the top of the agenda. This…

  • Who can receive Holy Communion?

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    The Lord be with you! Und mit deinem Geiste! Lift up your hearts! Wir erheben sie zum Herrn! This is how over 100 people started the Communion Prayer for our German Christmas Service last Sunday. A few times a year we have multilingual events whereas Holy Communion is usually celebrated once a month. It so…

  • A very old-school pastor

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    I have read two pastoral autobiographies lately. You would say they could not be any more different: 1. Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor is about him starting a family-oriented home town church in suburbia at a time when his baby boomer generation was just moving into their starter homes. 2. Nadia Bolz-Weber found her call to…

  • World AIDS Day

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    The Rosenberg City Council has invited me to give the invocation for tonight’s meeting. World AIDS Day is held on December first each year. This is a time when we remember people who have died from AIDS-related illnesses and people who are living with HIV; a time to give thanks for the progress that has…