Well, I had a very nice sermon all laid out perfectly on the pulpit. Â Then I wrote an outline for a new sermon on the back of the bulletin during the sermon hymn. Â So, no manuscript. Â But here is the audio:
You don’t need to have children to have a marriage…
This post by my cyberfriend Pastor Hans Fiene encapsulates so much of my own thinking on missions, outreach, and the place of buildings and such, I thought that I had actually written it in my sleep and morphed it into his brain.  Okay, that’s a really weird sentence, but you get the idea.
Districts are cutting campus ministries left and right. Â Frankly, districts are cutting ministries left and right. Â Certainly this is because of financial deficits, and I am acutely aware of how important and how difficult such decisions are.
I can remember vividly the smell of my grandmother Ardis Peperkorn’s basement in Julesburg, Colorado. Â It was musty and strange. Â As I dug around the farthest corners, I found toys left from the 40s, tools I had never seen before, treasures under every box. Â Yes, I was snoopy. Â But that place spelled HOME and FAMILY for me in a way which nothing else could ever do. Â I’m all in favor of vacations to far away places, but in terms of developing long term memory and connection, there is simply nothing quite like the 80 year old home. Â It is irreplaceable.
The Church is rooted in the Incarnation.  God comes in real time and space for us men and for our salvation, to quote the Creed.  There is an ordinariness and sacredness  to churches that transcends square feet, bricks and mortar.  For the high school graduate who is away from home for the first time in a strange place, it is hard to overestimate the importance of having a physical place to go to in order to receive God’s gifts.  For the five year old, it becomes a new home with a bigger family.  That list can go on and on.
Abandoning buildings in the middle of huge campuses across the country in favor of endowment funds for the latest missional fad is absurd. Â It’s as absurd as abandoning seminary education on campuses to deployed distance learning and “mentoring” programs with little or no theological grounding. Â We would never consider doing that.
Wait.
Just.
One.
Minute….
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church – Kenosha
St. Nicholas Orthodox – Kenosha, a set on Flickr.
Last Sunday I took about a dozen folks from my parish down the road to see St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Kenosha. The priest, Fr. Stephen Hrycyniak, is a wonderful host and was very kind to us.
Generally speaking, it is a beautiful space, although quite small. I would guess it seated about 130 max. The building dates from the late 1920s.
It is a somewhat Americanized space for the Orthodox. They have pews. Their Iconostasis was painted by a local Italian artist a hundred years ago or so. There were a few other things to that effect. One of the things that the Orthodox have which we Lutherans do not as much is the link between cultural, ethnic and spiritual traditions. We certainly have that, but they do to a much greater extent. It kind of shapes how they address change. More on that later.
More importantly, it is quite beautiful and pious, and is (I believe at least) faithful to their tradition and confession of faith. There is little doubt in walking in St. Nicholas that this is a Christian space. It’s not for me/us, but I like it and appreciate their faithfulness.
Introducing Lessons for Lambs
[Reposted from historiclectionary.com. -LL]
I am very pleased to announce the newest addition to historiclectionary.com.  Lessons for Lambs is a series of 65 bulletin inserts that follow all of the Sundays of the one-year lectionary.  They are two pages, designed to be folded in half as a little booklet.
Lessons for Lambs is the brain child of Heidi Sias, wife of Pastor John Sias at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Colstrip, Montana. Â She has spent the last several years developing these bulletin inserts. Â Here is her introduction to these little gems:
Lessons for Lambs is a children’s bulletin that follows the one-year historic lectionary. Lessons for Lambs is not meant to serve as a way to keep kids busy and quiet during the service, but rather to involve them in what’s going on in the service so they can begin thinking about it. The bulletins are geared toward kids in 2nd through 6th grades with varying degrees of independence. They could certainly be used with younger kids, in part, with help from their parents, and by older kids who still need a better theological foundation.
I have been field-testing these inserts for about two years now, and I can attest to their quality and age-appropriateness. Â They are perfect for the elementary age student. Â But be careful, even the adults might actually learn something from them!
By the way, we are offering these absolutely free. Â You may download them all as a zip file, or download them individually. Â If you find them of benefit and would like to help historiclectionary.com, you may want to consider donating via PayPal or some other means.
You may find the main page for Lessons for Lambs by clicking HERE.
God’s richest blessings to you in Christ, as we mourn our sins and look for the coming redemption in His blood.
Yours in Christ,
Todd Peperkorn
HistoricLectionary.com
Site Administrator
Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukee
Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukee, a set on Flickr.
This is the next set of photos from our steeplechase. I’m not generally a fan of abstract sculpture and art, to be honest. This building is a quasi-romanesque space. Kind of squat given the size of it. Very lovely font. It also sported the largest tabernacle I’ve seen outside of Rome itself.