When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but...
ITM Technical Difficulties & Update
posted by DJL
Just a quick blog update. Actually, two: 1) Late last week I somehow lost all my subscribers. I use Google’s Feedburner utility which allows folks to subscribe, emails the posts daily to subscribers, and manages those subscriptions. Somehow, all 4500 subscribers got wiped away last week. I’m trying to figure it out, but for now that means no daily blog updates are reaching anyone. I have, at the moment, no idea how to remedy this, but I’ll let you know when I figure it out. 2) I’ve got a crazy busy – and very exciting – week coming. This Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll be on the campus of The Lutheran...
The 23rd Psalm on Mother’s Day
posted by DJL
What would you dedicate to your mother? Mother’s Day is, of course, just around the corner. It’s a day – along with Father’s Day – that I’m a tad ambivalent about. While not actually invented by Hallmark, as the common lore has it, the day’s founder – Anna Jarvis – soon became quite resentful of how Hallmark and others exploited the day to their gain. Given that history, one wonders why we need a special day to honor our mothers (or fathers) – I mean, why not honor them every day? At the same time, I think I have a great mom (and dad!), and I think my wife, my sisters, and my...
Matthew 8:1-4
posted by DJL
When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his...
Changing Together
posted by DJL
One of the really interesting side discoveries of the research we did as part of the Vibrant Congregations Project is that it’s really hard to change alone. Maybe I should back up a bit to put this more in context. The Vibrant Congregations Project was a research endeavor generously funded by the Lilly Endowment to help a team from Luther Seminary investigate what contributed to congregational vitality and vibrancy. Partnering with congregations all over the U.S. and Canada, we studied four dimensions of congregational life – stewardship, vocation (connecting faith and daily life), biblical preaching, and biblical fluency (patterns of...