The Unearned Bread of Life
Not too long ago I met a man at the shelter who seemed out of place. When I arrived at the shelter before lunch, I saw a man sitting by himself directly in the middle of all the chaos of folk waiting for lunch. Outwardly, I could tell he had been on the streets for several days; his dark tan and dirty clothes gave that away. However, I could also tell by his dress and mannerisms that he had not been homeless long. Read more...
Pentecost: Spirit, Word, See
Today is the great feast of the Pentecost. Adorned in red, we speak of the fire of the Holy Spirit and celebrate the birth of Christ’s Holy Church. But, even amidst all the fire talk, I often wonder if we really understand what type of fire we’re playing with. At times, it would seem, we’re talking less about fire and more about a cute, fluffy bunny that makes us feel happy. Read more...
Twitter Mute Filters
Without explanation, above are the keywords, hashtags, and clients I’m blocking on Twitter. If a topic doesn’t apply to you and/or does nothing but make you anxious, stressed, and/or angry you can block it. If Twitter isn’t bringing you joy or edifying you, it ain’t worth it. No one deserves a space on your timeline!
Z Shell One-Year Update
I’ve been using Z Shell for over a year now and I’ve been very pleased with it. Honestly, I should have moved off macOS’s antiquated default Bash ages ago. Below is an update on where my .zshrc is sitting a while down the road. Oh My ZSH Plug-ins I keep the Oh My ZSH plug-ins pretty light. Partially because I want to keep startup times low and partially because I can’t remember the commands anyways. Read more...
Simple Keyboard KVM Switch
I recently replaced my iMac with an M1 Mac mini and did an entire rework of my desk setup. With the iMac gone, I was finally able to buy a proper 4k montior to share between my work laptop and my personal workstation. I was also able to upgrade my keyboard to a Varmilo Miya Pro and get a new mouse. Since I would be switching between my work and personal machines several times a day, I wanted a simple and reliable system to share external devices between my systems. Read more...
Just as Important
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. These two commandments here are pretty interesting. I think it shows the two tendencies that most people generally fall into. Read more...
I'm *Not Tired Yet
I don’t know about y’all, but there’s a lot of noise in my world right now. Politics — almost always a bunch of clanging symbols — is in high gear. The pandemic, still running wild across the world, is — as almost all things seem to be — a divisive often partisan topic. Race is a topic. Police are a topic. Riots, looting, and vandalism are topics. Gender & sexuality didn’t stay in 2019, either, and decided to join 2020’s party. Read more...
Christians & the 2020 Presidential Election
There is no Christian candidate in this presidential election. Though I personally cannot look past his poor moral character and inappropriate use of Holy Scripture and the Church, many faithful Christians will vote for Trump. Many faithful Christians will vote for Biden. Other faithful Christians will vote for the Solidarity Party or for other political parties. The &Campaign points a way forward for faithful Christian political engagement in all areas of the political landscape. Read more...
Die Taufe: Frisches Wasser im finstern Tal
Freunde, wir leben in schwierige Zeiten. Das letztes mal, dass wir zusammen waren, war es 1. März. Der Frühling war endlich da. Als ich bei Memorial Lutheran alles aufgerüstet hat, kamen vielen vorbei an den Fahrrädern. Die Nachbarschaft war voller Lärm von Rasenmäher, Kinder, und Vögel. Ein Marienkäfer hat mir besucht im Narthex. Winter war vorbei und die Welt war voller Hoffnung. Zwei Tage später kam der Tornado. Die Macht Gottes Schöpfung war klar zu sehen. Read more...
Baptism: Fresh Water in the Valley
Friends, we live in difficult times. The last time we were together was March 1st. Spring was finally here. When I setup everything at Memorial Lutheran, many people were out on their bicycles. The neighborhood was full of noise from lawn mowers, children, and birds. A ladybug visited me in the narthex. Winter was over and the world was full of hope. The tornado came two days later. The power of God’s creation was clearly seen. Read more...
Drafts 5 Sermon Prep with LectServe
Drafts 5 for Mac recently introduced the ability to do some basic scripting in JavaScript as an action in the application. Each time I prepare a sermon, the first step for me is to lookup the readings for the week on LectServe and then paste the readings into Drafts where I can start doing sermon preparation and, eventually, write my sermon. As soon as I saw actions and scripting introduced for Drafts, I knew I’d have to automate my sermon prep process. Read more...
Angst vor den Tod
Während der Adventszeit haben wir „O Komm, O Komm Immanuel“ gesungen. In die Weihnachten sangen wir von eine „Stille Nacht“ ob sich Christus geboren war. Am 6. Januar fingen wir mit der Epiphanie — oder die Erscheinung des Herrn — an. Ein Retter wird kommen. Ein Retter ist gekommen. Gekommen, aber nicht wie wir gedacht haben. Wir stehen jetzt in die Mitte der Epiphaniezeit. Die drei Weisen aus dem Morgenland sind schon gekommen. Read more...
The Toddler Evening Office
We started a pattern of family prayer back in Advent. Each night after dinner, I’d lead the family in prayer. Oliver (23 months) would listen(-ish) and join in the amens and Rosemary (~4) would chime in with the responses — “Hear our Prayer” — and lead the Lord’s Prayer. Having established a habit of prayer after dinner, I wanted to keep it moving forward even after the Advent calendars were empty and the wreath was put away. Read more...
His Word has Made it So
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 (RSV) In this room alone, how many sermons have we heard on this passage? Dozens? Maybe even hundreds? And, yet, these words are impactful each time. Why? There are two main reasons, I think. The first is guilt. The second is hope. For many people, their hearts sink at hearing this passage. They remember times they were called by Christ, but did not listen. Read more...
Review: Basis Bibel Auslese
Back in October I launched a German-language worship service in Nashville, Tennessee. In the lead-up to launching St. Mang, I knew I’d need to focus on my German to get back to the point where I could write a sermon in German each month. I immediately switched to German for my morning prayers using the 1984 Luther translation. Though there is a lot I like about Luther’s translation in German, it is not a great entry point into theological/ecclesial German. Read more...
