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A Great Flood: An Even Greater Gospel

Posted by Delania Byerley on September 16, 2020 at 10:53 AM

Most of us in America don’t have to worry about life-altering flooding. While we have had our fair share of flooding issues (the most recent being Hurricane Laura), our country also has the means to send government aid, and our Synod has the means of calling on thousands of Lutherans to help with restoration. But along the Nile River, a place that hundreds of thousands call home, flooding is an unfortunate part of life. The people there need our help now more than ever.

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Three Times God Has Used Turmoil in His Salvation Plan

Posted by Adele Werner on September 2, 2020 at 10:32 AM

I remember in grade school, reading books from what I considered fascinating historical times. The American Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Westward Expansion eras always drew my attention. I remember thinking, “Wow, life was so different and difficult back then.” I thought that a lot of what took place happened because it was the “old times” and that, even though I knew in my short lifetime there had been trouble and turmoil worldwide, it would never touch me. But now here we are amid a pandemic. And our lives have all been changed by what is happening throughout the world today. While all of this trouble and turmoil are around us, we can remember that this is nothing new. Throughout time, plagues and unrest have been a staple. Take a look below at a few times in the Bible where God has used turmoil in His salvation story.

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The Eighth Commandment and Your Witness

Posted by Adele Werner on August 12, 2020 at 7:00 AM

I am not great at being positive. I’m a little bit of a Debbie Downer. My default mode is to feel everything is bad and there’s nothing I can do to make it better. Some people will say this is a good thing—to recognize that, apart from Christ, nothing is good, everything leads to death (morbid I know, but true). But this is not 100 percent true for all things. When it comes to people—our neighbors, family members, friends—we are to act in a different way. The Eighth Commandment tells us, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). As Luther describes in his Small Catechism, we are to “explain everything in the kindest way” when it comes to our neighbors.

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How God’s Word Reaches Remote Alaska

Posted by Sarah Rivers on July 28, 2020 at 1:56 PM

It is important for children to receive the Word of God and to learn the biblical stories that have been passed down for generations. It is especially important today, in the uncertain and unsettling times the world is facing, that the Word—which provides comfort, reassurance, and guidance—reaches young ones.
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Deepening Relationships during a Summer Apart

Posted by Adele Werner on July 15, 2020 at 10:50 AM

Summer is a great time to invest in others. Life seems simpler and free time more abundant. During this unusual summer, investing in others may not follow a normal path, but even with big gatherings and events canceled, you can still find opportunities to deepen relationships.

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Connection and Community: Reasons Young Adults Stay in the Church

Posted by Adele Werner on July 1, 2020 at 8:00 AM

It’s no secret that in America the Church across denominational lines is shrinking. The LCMS is no different. We, of course, are not without hope. God’s kingdom will have the ultimate victory. That doesn’t mean we say, “Oh, well,” to our young adults leaving and never consider why they’re leaving; we need to examine our retention. A few months ago, I wrote a post which used empirical data from the LCMS young-adults study to offer hypotheticals to explain the departure of many young people. This post will not do the same. Instead, in this post, I’ll take a qualitative approach to the question “Why do some people stay in the LCMS from childhood through their entire lives?”

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Repentance in the Life of a Christian

Posted by Adele Werner on June 10, 2020 at 7:00 AM

A few months ago, I wrote on Luther’s thoughts on three components of the Christian life. I reflected on how it leads us to witness Christ. In doing so, I talked briefly about how living the Christian life leads us to repentance. The life of a believer is one of continual repentance. As such a vital and important part of the Christian life, I’d like to dive a little more into repentance and how through repentance we love our neighbors.

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Spreading the Gospel amidst a Pandemic in Michigan

Posted by Adele Werner on June 3, 2020 at 7:00 AM

If you couldn’t give someone a complete Bible, only a few books of it, what books would you choose? Likely, your answer includes one or more of the Gospels. As the true story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the Gospels are of utmost importance in evangelism (and in our own faith). And last month, we looked at how the Psalms are helpful in outreach. We looked at how they help us express a range of emotions that show us that God not only understands but that He is also okay with our feelings. We also talked about how they show community and point us to Christ.  

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Outreach
 

Emotions and Comfort: Outreach Using the Psalms

Posted by Adele Werner on May 20, 2020 at 10:17 AM

We all need Jesus. We always have and always will. Sometimes I think we forget that in our desire for things to be good or normal or best, we’ll always need Jesus. Even now, when we’ve been given more “free time,” maybe you feel as though there are a billion other things to think about or do besides go to Jesus? Maybe you always say  you will later? Or you’re feeling angry. Maybe you feel like you’ve prayed enough. Or you feel like your prayers fell on deaf ears. Could it be that you’ve tossed God to the side in exchange for the scrolling of the news feed or social media profiles?

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Outreach
 

Loving Your Neighbor during a Pandemic

Posted by Adele Werner on April 29, 2020 at 7:00 AM

If I had asked a month ago what loving one’s neighbor looks like, I’d probably have gotten answers such as helping old ladies cross the street or parking further away from the church entrance so others could park closer. A glass-half-full benefit of this current pandemic is that, while we are seeing that such actions are great, ultimately, loving our neighbor extends further than these things and fully invites them into community with us.

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