Letters On The Page

Cheryl Swipe and Melinda Heine, Curriculum Resource Guide for Classical Lutheran Education   CCLE Press, 2015.  This is a remarkable resource that includes books, periodicals, and websites.  Each entry has a succinct description that includes age appropriateness. The authors are Lutheran and warn against doctrinal matters that need to be worked around.  For example, a Latin book may include prayers to Mary or a philosophy and theology book that may include a Reformed perspective.   The final pages include a section titled Classical Education Reference Books and More.  These resources provide a broader view of classical education in general and Lutheran Classical Education in particular. There is also a listing of online classes, materials for teaching children with special needs and a list of classical education publishers.   The website for the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education is  https://www.ccle.org/  .  The website is loaded with useful information and links. However, th

Last week Marie and I were introduced to the Fountain Park Chautauqua in Remington, IN.  A friend from Emmaus Lutheran Church invited us to join them for supper.  What a great place and experience!

  Icon of St. Paul the Apostle Click for video of service at St. Luke, Rensselaer Tenth Sunday after Pentecost   Genesis 9:8-17       Ephesians 3:14-21           Mark 6:45-56 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.  In an age when our technology enables us to do remarkable things, the readings for today remind us that God has power beyond our abilities. We can inflict significant damage to our world, make a desert green, and build enormous buildings, but God is the one who has complete mastery over the world. God created the world from nothing. He can use the forces of the world that he created to bless or discipline His creation as He sees fit.  The reading from Genesis comes at the end of the Great Flood. The wickedness of men must have been ghastly and awful for God to feel the need to punish humanity with a worldwide flood. But now the waters have receded. The earth is turning green again. The Lord

 The Apostle Paul preaching in the Synagogue in Ephesus Video of Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer                  The Nineth Sunday after Pentecost  Jeremiah 23:1-6             Ephesians 2:11-22                   Mark 6:30-44   Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.    I don’t know the personal history of all of you, but I suspect that most of you cannot remember a time when you were not a Christian. Nor do you remember a time when you were not associated with the church. You may have gone through various feelings and thoughts about your association with the church, but you have always been connected to the church. By “feelings and thoughts” I mean “bored,” “indifferent,” wonder about the “relevance” of it all, being “mad or upset,” or “grateful and can’t imagine not being a part of the church” and you cannot recall a time when your faith was not strengthened by your connection to the church.    The A

Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries: "It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones. "There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion. "If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice! "Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer prod

  Blessed to witness and be a part of Pastor Scott Woodhouse's ordination and installation at St. James Lutheran Church, Logansport, IN on July 14. God's riches blessings upon Pastor Woodhouse and the congregation of St. James!

Image is from Wikimedia Commons   Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer   2024 Pentecost 8   Amos 7:7-15 Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:14-29 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.  When I was a child in school, we often did team sports during gym class. The instructor would choose two captains.  The captains took turns choosing teammates. Sometimes, the choice was based on friendship, but most often it had to do with skill and ability.  No one wants to be the captain of a team that loses because he picked people with no skill or ability. Your first picks are the most athletic. You save the uncoordinated and less proficient for last.  As we go through life, we realize that we are often chosen because of certain skills, insights, characteristics that get us noticed. Merit, skill, accreditation, and relationships have a lot to do with our lives. It is very easy to transfer our worldly experiences into our spiritual

Click here for video of service at St. Luke Dublin St. Patrick's Cathedral Ambulatory Southern Section Window Lift Up Your Hearts 2012 09 26.jpg Stained glass window in the southern section of the ambulatory, depicting angels making music with various instruments. It is titled  Lift up your hearts  at the top and  he shall sing a new song  at the bottom. Created by  An Túr Gloine in 1909. 2024 Pentecost 7     Ezekiel 2:1-5         2 Corinthians 12:1-10               Mark 6:1-13 Lift up your hearts! Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.  As I reflected upon the readings for today, I found myself humming and singing the Sursum Corda. Sursum Corda is Latin for “Lift Up Your hearts.” It is also shorthand for describing the six lines that begin The Service of the Sacrament. The Lord be with you/And with thy spirit. Lift up your hearts/We lift them up unto the Lord. Let us give thanks unto the Lord, ou

From President Stuckwisch The Promises, Vows, Responsibilities, and Gifts of the Pastoral Office Having recently ordained and installed a couple of men to the Office of the Holy Ministry within our Indiana District – and looking forward to a number of other ordinations and installations over the coming months – I’ve been considering again the significance of those rites, not only directly as pertains to the man being ordained and/or installed, but also more comprehensively as pertains to the fellowship that we share as pastors of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Appropriately, the rites of both Ordination and Installation of a Pastor prominently feature multiple passages of Holy Scripture, conveying the Lord’s institution of the Office of the Holy Ministry, the responsibilities He has entrusted to that Holy Office as a sacred stewardship of His gifts, and the strength and promises that He provides to His servants within that Holy Office. As with any Christian calling and station, an