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Voices of Faith

Matthew lectionary series: What is good soil?

We all come from different places. When we read the Bible, we use our own contexts to imagine the scenes in our heads. This can be helpful for personalizing the…

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Lectionary Blog

Lectionary blog: Love all; don’t shun some

Lectionary blog for Sept. 10 Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Ezekiel 33:7-11; Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20 This text is about learning to love people, even when they don’t particularly…

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Lectionary Blog

Lectionary blog: ‘And he had compassion’

Lectionary blog for Aug. 6 Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21 The first line of our Gospel lesson is “when Jesus heard this.” “This”…

Lectionary blog: The bad runs through us
Lectionary Blog

Lectionary blog: The bad runs through us

Lectionary blog for July 23 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 44:6-8, Psalm 86:11-17, Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 My late father-in-law liked to tell the story of a man who…

‘Amazing grace’ — St. Paulus Lutheran celebrates 150 years
Faith in Action

‘Amazing grace’ — St. Paulus Lutheran celebrates 150 years

St. Paulus Lutheran Church turned 150 years old on May 15. San Francisco has been its home for the past century and a half, and during that time, St. Paulus…

Study guide: Grief with no warning
Spiritual Resources

Study guide: Grief with no warning

Death and transition are universal human experiences. Acknowledging our common mortality, some anonymous plainspoken philosopher coined the phrase: “Nobody gets out alive.” But that realization doesn’t lesson the pain that…

Campus ministry 101
Mission & Ministry

Campus ministry 101

Jon B. Olson, pastor of Lutheran Campus Ministry at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. Tia Mathre-Adams, director of Lutheran Campus Ministry for San Antonio area colleges and universities. Becca Seely, director…

Church in rural America
Mission & Ministry

Church in rural America

As she was on her way to her first worship service of the morning, Jess Felici, a pastor of Mountain Lutheran Parish, received a phone call from a member saying…

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Spiritual Resources

Study guide: Church in rural America

At 28.1 percent, churches in rural settings make up the largest single demographic block among the ELCA’s nearly 10,000 congregations. Every ministry context has its challenges and opportunities, but ministry…