Strewn across our bed were the remnants of our toddler’s Christmas haul—stacks of new outfits, empty cardboard boxes, a tower of books, a stuffed reindeer. I turned to my husband…
Every day, Living Lutheran offers a prayer for the day from the ELCA resource Prayer Ventures, which can be downloaded here. These petitions are offered as a guide for your own prayer life…
Last summer, during a special week for families at Outlaw Ranch in Custer, S.D., a small group of campers decided to cook tamales for everyone at camp—about 120 people. The…
One of my 4-year-old son’s favorite pastimes is putting together his jumbo jigsaw puzzle depicting a dramatic NFL touchdown. On any given day, you’ll likely find him splayed out on…
James Hazelwood didn’t grow up in the church. Still, the directors at El Camino Pines, a Lutheran outdoor camp north of Los Angeles, took a chance on this “unchurched guy,”…
Sometimes it seems like all we do is shush them, or maneuver snacks to avert a meltdown during worship, send “the look” or a pointed finger at them during a…
Editor’s note: Todd Buegler, an ELCA pastor and the executive director of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network, offers suggestions for congregations as they consider Vacation Bible School curricula. Last month,…
Here’s a familiar Sunday scene: Before worship begins, a baby wearing a white gown is passed around between parents, grandparents and godparents. Noticing the baptismal party, parishioners check the bulletin…
“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he is wrong.” —Charles Wadsworth My friend Dan once told me,…
I was curled up in my assigned bed in the mental hospital—ready to go to sleep for the night—when a nurse came in to tell me I was pregnant. The…
Years ago, I experienced adverse reactions to various foods I’d eaten. My doctor took months to pinpoint the issue, and I lost a good amount of weight in the process….
There are so many parenting books available—but as people of faith, we want to be intentional about the messages we espouse. Cindy Wang Brandt writes from her home in Taiwan…
You have attempted to access a feature of this website that is only available to members of livinglutheran.org.
A free membership gives you a customized dashboard for curated content based on your interest, the ability to like and save articles, an optional subscription to a weekly email digest “LL Stories”, and more.
Already have an account? log in
If you are a subscriber to the LL Stories email digest from before the introduction of the new website in December 2025, your account is intact, but your password will need to be reset unless you have a login for another ELCA website.
If you have a login for another ELCA website like community.elca.org, directory.elca.org or others you can use the password associated with that login.
Logout
