Category: Columns
Banishing the Humbugs
by Thomas Prachar In Charles Dickens’ short story, “A Christmas Carol,” the words of Ebenezer Scrooge are as true today as when Dickens first put them in his mouth: “I live in a world of fools…. Merry Christmas after Merry Christmas…. What is Christmas time…
Christmas and Our Seminaries
by Robert Bugbee The God of Christmas Eve didn’t worry much about marketing strategies. He used shepherds to first proclaim the Good News out of Bethlehem. The Prime Minister of Canada would never appoint guys like that as press secretaries. Banks, businesses, and advertisers wouldn’t,…
Not Embarrassing but Amazing
by Glenn E. Schaeffer When I was pastor at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Barrie, Ontario, the children and youth, with the assistance of some adults, presented a Christmas pageant entitled, “This is So Embarrassing!” The pageant starts with a youth complaining about…
True Joy and Peace
by Mathew Block “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,…
Light in the Darkness
by Paul Zabel I was born and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. During my “formative years” my family attended and were members of Holy Cross Lutheran Church located at Grand River and Whitcomb on what is known as the West side of Detroit. I and…
Doctor Strange: A dazzling spiritual junk drawer and a jerk
by Ted Giese Doctor Strange introduces the Marvel cinematic universe to magic through Dr. Stephen Strange, an arrogant brain surgeon who becomes” sorcerer supreme.” The general premise of Doctor Strange is summed up by one of the film’s characters, Wong, who observes, “While heroes like…