Daily Faith

This will be an unpopular post. I understand that. To be clear, I don’t really dislike the fun and cute side of little ones dressing up in adorable outfits to parade around to friends’ and family’s houses. I find that to be harmless fun. But perhaps, if you’ll read this entire post, you’ll think just a little differently about the uglier parts of Halloween by the time you reach the end.

It is easy to expect gifts from neighbors and loved ones as if they are our due. And taking these gifts for granted makes us forget that community must grow naturally from tiny seeds first before it can bear fruit, and just like the time and immense nutrition that tomatoes require to not just grow but turn deep red, community requires a great deal of tending, too, before it bears that fruit.

Here is the truth perceived by Canute and manifested by Jesus on the Sea of Galilee: there is a King and His laws still stand. There is order in this world. Tides come in and go out as usual. Storms rage and storms cease. And none of this is accidental. It’s all carried out by the decrees of the Lord.

In this episode, Katie is joined by Pastor David Kind from University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis, MN. They discuss the history of the liturgy from ancient times to today. They cover topics like how certain familiar ceremonial practices developed, why different churches practice the liturgy differently (or not at all), best practices for introducing a congregation to a new (to them) liturgical practice, and - one of Katie's favorite topics - the lectionary. Pastor Kind explains why the new three year lectionary was adopted by many churches and whether that was a good thing or not for the church as a whole. Listen and enjoy!

A different piece of artwork for each day of the week depicting the Nativity of our Lord and excerpts from the daily readings according to the historic lectionary.

A different piece of artwork for each day of the week depicting the Nativity of our Lord and excerpts from the daily readings according to the historic lectionary.

With the start of Advent, Emily and Katie discuss all sorts of fun and meaningful aspects of the Advent, Christmas, and even Epiphany seasons. They also talk about listening to Handel's Messiah during these seasons and give some details and information about that work as well as a few guides to increase your enjoyment when listening to it. Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again: the time when everyone is talking about being thankful. It strikes me every year that we, who live the most decadent lives of any civilization in history, have set aside only one day to be thankful for all that we have…

Happy Holy Week! As you read this, I hope you find yourself prayerfully preparing your heart and your mind for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery that the Church celebrates in full at the end of this week. Often we refer to the last three days of this week as “The Triduum.”

The celebration of the Annunciation of our Lord approaches quickly on March 25th and Good Friday follows soon after. Not long after that, my own child will be born. So Titian’s beautiful and heart-rending portrayals of the Annunciation and Christ’s suffering in his two works from 1557 and 1547 respectively immediately caught my attention during a recent perusal of artwork for the website…

Walking provides you with intimate knowledge of your own place and facilitates interaction with your own people. It is exactly these kinds of relationships that need to be formed or healed if we are to recover a common culture and attitude of civility toward our fellow Americans.

Denying oneself, especially in this physical way, is an essential practice of Christianity that we have largely lost. Lent begins today, and it is time for us to return to the spiritual discipline of fasting.