Is Church Membership a Requirement?

Suffering. Few things in this life will strip you to your core like suffering does. The book of Job is a story about perhaps one of the most seemingly cursed men in the Scriptures. Job lost his wealth and his family in a single day. He was struck with “loathsome sores” that covered his entire body. His wife abandoned him, telling him to “Curse God and die,” forcing him to face these challenges alo...

I love musicals. They tell real-life stories, yet through song, those stories become magical. Specifically, when a musical sings about love, the whole story becomes mythicized. Take “Summer Nights” from Grease: the story is realistic. Two teenagers meet and have a summer fling. But when it is sung in a musical number, the simple love story becomes a fantasy.Song of Solomon is a musical. It tells t...

As we read Psalm 32 this week, to see confession and forgiveness in action, I thought it would be helpful to do a brief lesson on confession using Martin Luther’s A Brief Exhortation to Confession. The version I will be using is from a Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord, the statement of faith of the Lutheran Church. We could compare it to our Baptist Faith and Message 2000, but much larger. ...