This morning I saw a familiar yellow school bus on the road and it reminded me that a brand new school year is just around the corner. It’s a familiar and routine time of the year, I suppose, when classes begin and school bells ring out – and the wheels...
Brothers and sisters in Christ and fellow members of Trinity Lutheran Church, West Seneca. I am writing this article from the LCMS Convention in Tampa, Florida. While I am many miles away from you, my heart, my thoughts and my prayers are with you – especially one of you! (Can...
Is God “really good” and what does that actually mean? Our Summer Bible Camp / Vacation Bible School theme is based on the premise: “God is Good – in all circumstances!” I went to Scripture and spent some time doing a word study on “good”. Let’s just say, the Bible...
Congratulations! If ever there was a “word for the month,” this would be the word for June! June is a month when we think of weddings, graduations and confirmations. These events certainly happen in other months, but often times they occur this month, as they do this year at Trinity....
How sad it was on the Monday of Holy Week, April 15th, to see the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, engulfed in flames. Watching the television coverage of the fire unfold felt like Christ and the Christian church itself were being attacked! Many news commentators wondered if that...
Living in Western New York where it is chilly to freezing from Halloween thru a “late” Easter, we really appreciate a clear and sunny day. Life is always better when the sun is out! Even on a freezing cold day the sun can warm and lift one’s spirit. Likewise, as...
Time sure is ‘marching’ on! As we begin the third month of 2019, we move into the Lenten Season with Ash Wednesday on March 6th. Some years we might even celebrate Easter in March as we did in 2016, and will again in 2024. Certainly March is still considered to...
“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Gal. 5:6 Valentine’s Day… where did the tradition of giving notes of love, gifts and affection every February 14th come from? While there are several different versions, St. Valentine was a physician and priest living in Rome during the...
In the December 2018 issue of The Lutheran Witness, an official publication of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a title of one of the articles really grabbed my attention: “When Jesus Ruins Christmas.” It begins, “Up against the glorious reality of Christ’s incarnation, a ‘holly jolly Christmas’ loses all it’s...
I recently ran across two strange, but interesting, folk stories pertaining to some Christmas traditions. One of them was about a spider and the other about a pickle! How peculiar is that? There are many variations as to how and why these traditions got started. So, I’ll try to offer...