Joy, my friends. My heavens, we forget, at our own peril, that life is also supposed to be filled with joy. The Apostle Paul lists joy as one of his vital “fruits of the spirit.” And God calls all of us to find genuine gladness in the company of others, likening it to a form of true ...
First Lutheran receives LSS Servant of Christ Award Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota has recognized First Lutheran Church in Marshall as the 2026 LSS Servant of Christ Award recipient for the Southwestern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The LSS ...
The older I get, the more I wish I would have paid attention to the naturalist writers of America’s 19th century 35 years ago in Mr. Hassler’s literature classes. Oh, Mr. Hassler did his best to grab the attention of a teenage boy’s mind, but unfortunately I was not mature enough to ...
Oh, I read the headlines just like everyone else does. I hear the news reports about the epic rise in our feelings of loneliness, our move toward isolationism for fear of our neighbor, that our distrust in anyone unlike us is skyrocketing. I don’t doubt the data, nor the conclusions the ...
It was 7:15 p.m. … Already 15 minutes late. But no more people were wandering in. Michael, our gracious and gifted musician who volunteered months ago to help reboot our shelter worship services after a years’ long hiatus, and I had made small talk long enough. “Well, there’s ...
As a kid, I dreaded going anywhere with Mom because inevitably she would find someone she’d connect with, and there would ensue a long conversation about things that did not entertain a youngster. Grocery store, post office, doctor’s office … didn’t matter. She found someone in which ...