If you have been disturbed to the point of tears these past days, you are not alone. Words are inadequate to express my outpouring of grief and anger at the consistent horror of preventable gun deaths. The question so many people – including myself – are asking is “how can this get better?” No one wants to live in a world where going to…
I haven’t known exactly what to say in light of the multiple mass shootings last weekend. The one in Buffalo is a special brand of horror, with its combination of white supremacy, internet-fueled isolation and easy access to assault rifles. Again I find myself asking, what does our faith have to say about this? A few things come to mind.…
A question we have all asked at some point and especially over the course of the past two years during the worldwide pandemic: Why doesn’t God heal us all? This may be the most daunting question in Christian theology. For the sixth week of Easter, Pastor Sarah reflects on the universal and personal application of God’s love. Read the full…
As of this week, 1 million people have died in the United States from COVID-19. After the 10:30 service on Sunday, we will ring the church bell twelve times. Once for each hundred thousand people and two extra times for the two members of Peace who died from COVID-19. All week I’ve been going through news articles from the early…
Peter is hardly the first person to challenge the status quo because of something God told him in a dream. In this reflection for the 5th week of Easter published in the Christian Century, Pastor Sarah asks the hard questions: What do you need to do to be part of Jesus’ community? What rituals do you need to participate in?…
Christians are sometimes called “an Easter people.” That means we are always in the after. Even when we don’t live like it, and even when the world still seems to “groan in pain,” the resurrected Jesus has changed everything.
Indeed, for Christians, community is key to almost everything we do. Easter is a time when we not only rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus, we also rejoice that through his resurrection, Jesus rebuilt the community that would become the earliest church.
Hope is a word that gets thrown around a lot, especially at Easter. It’s an encouraging and powerful thing, hope. But, let’s be real. Sometimes it is hard to muster even the smallest bit of hope. Every year at Easter I am reminded of the same, simple, powerful truth: The resurrection of Jesus was all God’s doing. People had lost all hope…
On a cold, rainy March 26,2022, around 70 participants in the Neighbor2Neighbor (formerly called Homework Club) program gathered at Peace Lutheran Church to celebrate Nowruz, the Afghan New Year. The group included approximately 12 Afghan families and many of the volunteers who have worked with them as tutors or mentors or have provided household furnishings, books, toys, children’s clothing, rides or donations.
Thank you to everyone who helped Peace host Memorial services for Susan DeHaven, Erin Messner, as well as the Memorial prayer for Sophia Katamba’s father. Peace offered Christ-like hospitality and comfort to many grieving people. Last Sunday, my sermon was about the worldview of the Eminem Song “Lose Yourself,” which says you have to seize your one shot. On the surface this…