Liturgy in the church is a foretaste of the eternal song of praise, an earthly expression of that which is the content of eternity and the basic melody of creation, a never ending thanksgiving to the Creator and Father of all things.  Within its earthly poverty Liturgy contains something of the beauty of the heavenly, the blessed sense of the nearness of the Eternal, and the joy of being privileged to sacrifice everything in order to be one with Christ. –Bo Giertz What we commonly call worship is also regularly named “liturgy.” That word comes from two Greek words: “laos,” meaning people; and “orgia,” meaning work. In...

I thought I’d put a short poem up that I found on Daylight Savings Time ending both because I thought it was rather clever and as a reminder to folks to set clocks back an hour…but then didn’t get it posted in time to make the daily email for subscribers! Well, most folks are reminded by their phones these days, and forgetting has fewer penalties in the fall anyway, as you only end up arriving places an hour early. I hope you enjoyed the day and the extra hour of sleep! Daylight Savings Time In spring when maple buds are red, We turn the clock an hour ahead; Which means, each April that arrives, We lose an hour out of...

Today we continue our look at Martin Luther’s life and teaching, focusing in particular on his objection to the medieval church practice that started the Reformation: the sale of indulgences. Luther expressed his objections to this practice the way scholars have expressed themselves through the centuries: by writing a paper. In this case, that paper was an invitation to debate the practice of selling indulgences that came to be called The 95 Theses, posted in Wittenberg on this day 496 years ago. Two looks, then, at that pivotal event in history. The first is another except from the PBS documentary Martin Luther: Reluctant Revolutionary...

Today, rather than our usual Wednesday TED Talk, two videos from the Khan Academy, a collection of educators, artists, and professionals from a variety of disciplines that construct and post videos for free for anyone who wants to watch and learn. I’ll post more on the Kahn Academy next week, but for now I want briefly to introduce these two videos as we continue our commemoration of the Reformation. The first video one sets the context for the Reformation, introducing us to Luther’s world and to Luther. The second one delves into the Reformation itself, particularly as it centered around Luther, explaining the historical context and...