Hope Archives - Page 3 of 5 - St. Peter's Lutheran Church

The Terrible Gift of Free Will

The problem of pain, of war and the horror of war, of poverty and disease is always confronting us. But a God who allows no pain, no grief, also allows no choice. There is little unfairness in a colony of ants, but there is also little freedom. We human beings have been given the terrible…

Blessed is the True Judge

Baruch dayan ha’emet ברוך אתה ה’ אלוהינו מלך העולם, דיין האמת It is the phrase that is spoken among Jews when a fellow Jewish person dies. Translated it means “Blessed is the true judge.” A fuller version of the phrase is “Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, dayan ha-emet” which means “Blessed are You, Lord,…

A Different Kind of Witnessing

We meet in the slightly chill air of an overcast morning … twenty or twenty-five of us. Most of us have come right from church service. We stand on a brick walkway or in the mulch or atop a few cement steps. Trees surround our gathering area, though not entirely. Those who pass by on…

Death is Not the Final Word

Some of you know I am a bit of a poetry junkie. I subscribe to a couple of poetry blogs … The Writer’s Almanac … Panhala … Poem of the Week. They are all different. The Writer’s Almanac is my favorite, as it has the widest breadth of poems from classic to modern, from rhythmic…

Concerning a Dodge Caravan … and Hope

Email Devotion For The Week Of Easter 3 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. (Romans 12:12, NRSV) We were the only two people in the building who were crying … literally … the only two of the dozens of people surrounding us at the local CarMax showroom. We were signing over the…

The Cross on Good Friday

What is there to say this evening? This evening that we remember Jesus crucified. This evening where we look upon the cross. The cross, an instrument, by which empires tortured and shamed masses into silence. The cross, a symbol when abused, that can still carry a message of shame and force. The cross, a sign…

Carrying Your Cross with Hope … and Joy?

traditional sermon LENT 2 The 8th chapter of Mark’s Gospel from which we read today is a challenging piece of writing to be sure. This past Wednesday morning, my weekly Bible Study class studied this very chapter, and discussed the change in spirit that occurs in the roughly fifty verses of this chapter that stands in…

Dark Nights in a Season of Light

EMAIL DEVOTIONAL week of AdVENT 2 Most of us try to avoid death at every turn. We don’t talk about it … when we are in the presence of the dead we often keep our distance … at times we even act as if we will never die, even though we know better. During the…

Talents & More

New Day Sermon PENTECOST 24 When we hear the word “talent” we think of what brings us to ballet class, or we think of huge monetary amounts in the biblical world. This morning you were invited to use Jesus’ story about talents as a call to choose courageous acts over those that are fearful and…

Out of the Depths

EMAIL DEVOTIONAL WEEK OF Pentecost 17 Out of the depths I cry to you; O Lord God, hear me calling. Incline your ear to my distress in spite of my rebelling. Do not regard my sinful deeds. Send me the grace my spirit needs; without it I am nothing. (ELW Hymn 600) Like you, I find myself conflicted. I am admittedly…