For a variety of reasons, I’ve been reflecting on those things that compelled me to go into a professional church leadership career. I ran across this reflection on my ‘call story.’ I figured if I wanted to understand how Lutherans understand faith development, I needed to experience camp. After college… Continue reading
I was setting up my nativity characters for chapel this week, and was reminded about a preschool chapel last year that became the central illustration in a sermon I preached on Dec. 20, 2015. The sermon was in the context of a ‘Traveler’s Christmas,’ a Christmas Eve service for those… Continue reading
In pondering the sermon for this Sunday, I discovered that I actually had two sermons. This is the one that won’t get preached. Text: Matthew 5:13-16 In the movie Lion King, Simba is born into greatness. A descendant of the king, he is told from a young age that he… Continue reading
Yesterday I watched camp counselors guiding a group of senior high youth through an intermediate level ropes course challenge activity. It was a pretty basic challenge–wearing a harness, climb the rope ladder and walk the elevated course of steps, platforms and wires, and then zipline your way back to the… Continue reading
Yesterday in Preschool Chapel, I was trying to get some kids’ attention who were talking to each other. So I called out to them, “boys, are you with me?” From the opposite side of the group, where I wasn’t even looking, I heard a little voice say, “I’m with you,… Continue reading
I’ve been on the road a bit recently, so haven’t been in worship very consistently on Sundays. This past Sunday, I got back to church just a few minutes before the end of the service. As everybody was leaving the sanctuary, I stood in the narthex to greet people in… Continue reading
At a Deaconess Board Retreat, this question was posed: “Think of one person in your context…what is that person teaching you?” The first person who came to mind for me was a 4 yr. old in my congregation. When she’s there on a Sunday morning, this little girl sits with… Continue reading
Today’s word was ‘sacrifice,’ and our conversation over breakfast circulated again around Phil. 2. My reflection is that acts of sacrifice are important…adopting kids, selling everything to move overseas, living on one income to spend more time volunteering, etc. yes…perhaps we should do that more often as Christians. But what… Continue reading
During my senior year of high school I took a class called “Current World Issues.” We watched a lot of CNN. And the teacher tried to convince us to care about these news stories we researched and reported on each week. Unfortunately, in our teenage arrogance, we thought we knew… Continue reading
I’ve been getting surprisingly challenging questions from kids recently. Last week in preschool chapel a group of kids came in obviously eager to engage me in a conversation they had been having on their own. The first kid comes up to me and says, “Sister Michelle, I have a difficult… Continue reading