We’re spending this week at Outlaw Ranch Lutheran Camp, located in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. I’ve been fortunate that over the years I’ve been invited to teach at a number of our summer church camps and always look forward to spending time with family and with friends old and new learning about and worshiping God in the beauty of God’s creation. In fact, let me say that a little more forcefully. I don’t just look forward to this time, I long for it, as I’ve come to have a tremendous appreciation for what our summer camps do for our youth and families and, indeed, for the whole church. The Lutheran Church of which...

I’m a huge fan of the Christian concept of vocation: that God calls each and all of us to serve God by serving our neighbor in whatever roles we may have. So whether you’re working or volunteering or a parent or sibling or student or friend or citizen – whatever role you have you can serve God by serving others. I’m attracted to this idea because it elevates our daily work and effort. In the middle ages, Christian lives within a spiritual hierarchy. Yes, it was good to be a mother or father or bricklayer or whatever. But it was better to be a priest and even better to be a monk, and so forth. One of the things Martin Luther protested...