This past weekend I preached on The Parable of the Shrewd Manager from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 16:1-13).  After the service I had a few people tell me that they've always found this text to be rather challenging to understand.  In part, this is because it seems as if Jesus is encouraging dishonesty in … Continue reading Presuppositionally Challenged →

Tomorrow morning we will encounter the Gospel reading from Luke 14 wherein Jesus tells the parable of the Great Banquet.  Through this story Jesus exhorts his listeners to invite those who cannot repay them when they give a feast such as the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.  This seems to be a simple … Continue reading All We Need →

As I wade in the muck and the mire of this thing called parenthood, and more specifically, this thing called fatherhood, I find myself baffled.  Baffled because you really don't know what you're getting yourself into until the child actually arrives.  While the snuggling, the cuddling, the sleeping are incredibly endearing and cute, the sleepless … Continue reading Parenting and Love →

To say that we are in the midst of a unique presidential election race would be an understatement. Truly, "choosing the lesser of two evils" has taken on a new significance that we have not had to grapple with before. Voting for Bush instead of Gore or Obama instead of Romney seems so bland and boring when compared … Continue reading Confessions Of A Potential Voter →

When Pope Francis visited New York City last year an elementary school student asked him what God did before he created the world.  The Pope answered, "He loved". I first learned of this story from one of my professors and thought it to be incredibly simple and yet profound.  Simple in that it was a … Continue reading Hitting the Reset Button: Beginning With Love Not Law →

These past two weeks have been rather tumultuous to say the least.  I have to say that it was a bit strange to go from the bubble that was the National Youth Gathering of the LCMS in New Orleans back out into the "real" world.  There was another shooting of police officers just up the … Continue reading What Is Going On Out There? →

I recently became friends with a fellow graduate student who believes that the Church should be more active in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. This young woman is of Puerto Rican and African American descent. She was passionate about this issue because about 10 years ago her brother was assaulted and arrested by the NYPD while he was walking home … Continue reading Black and Blue: A Humanizing Exercise →

I am a grandchild of the Greatest Generation.  The strain of the Great Depression, the importance of World War 2 and the storied growth of post war America in the late 1940s and 1950s are things that I've heard much about growing up.  Dates like December 7th, 1941 and June 6th, 1944 will be embedded … Continue reading Born On The 5th Of July →

Anyone familiar with Bob Dylan would know that this is the title of one his great songs. This song popped into my head on Sunday during the gospel reading from Luke 9:51-62.  Here Luke tells us that Jesus had "set his face to go to Jerusalem" and when passing through Samaritan villages was not welcomed because of this.  … Continue reading “With God On Our Side” →

I've recently began reading the writings of Dorothy Day again during my devotional time in the mornings.  Reading Day has been simply refreshing and joyous. For those who don't know, Dorothy Day was the founder of the Catholic Worker movement and lived and did ministry amongst the poor and downtrodden in the midst of New … Continue reading Learning From Dorothy →