Haircuts and hope
Mission & Ministry

Haircuts and hope

Some students at the New LIFE School in the South Bronx, N.Y., use razors and scissors in addition to pencils and pens. The 10 students are learning to be barbers,…
Report from a retired pastor
Voices of Faith

Report from a retired pastor

Thank God I am in charge of next to nothing. Mostly I take care of the garden and pets these days (Anne Lamott, Hallelujah Anyway; Random House, 2017). Earl is…
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Mission & Ministry

Health volunteers offer care, encounter grace

“We were infused with the grace of God right away and it carried throughout the day.” Nothing was going right in the neonatal intensive care unit at Arusha (Tanzania) Lutheran…
I’m a Lutheran: Jonathan Ernst
Voices of Faith

I’m a Lutheran: Jonathan Ernst

Lutheran Church of the Reformation, Washington, D.C. Photojournalist for Reuters  I believe Martin Luther King Jr. was right when he said the arc of history bends toward justice. I feel…
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Voices of Faith

Royal overconfidence and the spirit of God

This week’s lectionary readings tell the story of two very different kings who both made poor decisions based on overconfidence that lead to fatal consequences for someone else. The difference…
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Living Faithfully

Christ’s love served one bowl at a time

Not sisters by birth or blood, but sisters united through faith and service describes the Soup Sisters ministry of Christ by the Lake Lutheran Church in Bull Shoals, Ark.   With…
<i>Queer Eye</i> and reconciliation
Voices of Faith

Queer Eye and reconciliation

I didn’t initially pay much attention when Queer Eye, Netflix’s reboot of the early-2000s Bravo reality series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, started streaming earlier this year. I hadn’t…
Captives in the land of the free
Voices of Faith

Captives in the land of the free

For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Romans 7:15).   A searching and honest friend of mine once said, “You Christians always…