13
Mar 2007
July 3, 2013 Dearest Diocese of the Upper Midwest: What a joy it is to write those words! After 18 months of very focused work, the ACNA has received our request to be named a diocese. Many have served different roles to bring this moment about. I am especially thankful for our Steering Team, the Deans, and our Vicar General, Canon William Beasley. Katherine and I also want to thank the many who have reached out to us with prayer and support in my election as bishop. We so need your constant......
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15
Dec 2006
Wednesdays, Olsen Home This summer we’ll focus on equipping our members to be on mission in Kenosha, Southeastern Wisconsin or where ever you live and work. The Light of Christ Ministry Lab is a regular time of teaching, prayer or discussion on ministry and mission. There are two purposes to this ministry lab: The first is to unite spirit, mind and body, teaching our hands to follow where our hearts and heads have been led. The second is to frame our entire lives as mission. The ministry lab will meet every other Wednesday from......
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13
Nov 2006
We have forgotten God also tempts us He came at Moses and said Be my next best thing Moses shouted NO You already have a people! In a fragmented church Every victory is a sign That God is not absent And that the church is still broken Every victory also a temptation To forget that the church is still broken Victory is a song of joy sung to a dirge Success a temple built From the rubble of the ruins We dare to remember lest In forgetting We, unlike Moses Will think......
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15
Feb 2006
This is a topic that no one likes to think about. What happens to your marriage when one of you becomes seriously ill, disabled or terminally ill? Every couple will have to deal with minor illnesses, such as colds and the flu, but not everyone has to learn to persevere and thrive when the conditions are really difficult. If you are honest, most couples just assume that this is something for those who have been married a very long time, the part of marriage that is reserved for the elderly. But what......
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13
Sep 2005
Makor HaTikvah is a Messianic Jewish school in Jerusalem to whom we gave our Good Friday gift. There have been recent attempts to close the school (read more here). This is an update from the school’s principal, Cookie Schwaeber-Issan. Dear Friends and Family of Makor HaTikvah: First of all, thank you all so much for those of you who prayed and fasted yesterday for our court hearing. Here is a short summary of what happened: The judge ruled that our school can remain open to finish out he 2012-13 school year which......
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15
Jun 2005
One of the most profound and meaningful ways to show your love for your spouse is to be fully present. This means giving your spouse your undivided and whole-hearted attention without judgment, without expectation and for the sole purpose of savoring their presence. You probably know exactly what I mean. It happened when you fell in love, when you were content just to see and be in the presence of your beloved regardless of what happened, just so long as you were with them. Everything else faded into the background as you......
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14
May 2005
In one of my recent posts, I wrote about being consumed, about opening my hands and my heart to let the Spirit enter in. This could be part two of that post. I’ve been meditating and praying a lot on what this means, and I’ve been seriously amazed at what it can mean. Over the past several years, I have known I’m missing something in my spiritual life. I was kind of floating along, playing the part, listening to others and wondering what I’m doing wrong. I would read certain Scriptures and......
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13
Jan 2005
One thing stood out in my mind from this week’s sermon. Fr. Phil talked about Heaven not being a place to escape from our bodies and live for ever as disembodied spirits. (In the book of Revelation, the spirits of the saints in Heaven yearn for their bodies, and plead, “How long, Lord, how long?”) God will restore and renew, purify and perfect our souls, bodies, and the earth itself, “As a bride adorns herself for her husband.” But with our souls beset with sin, our bodies falling into disease and decay, and the earth itself in a......
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13
Sep 2004
Long ago God died for me He took my place of agony Before my Birth, He offered me Life My Soul struggled to know; Sliced open by a knife I reel about for I hardly understand The truth I grasp, yet it escapes me and Once again I read the old stories – The Palms, the Hosannas, The donkey, the supper, The bread and the wine The prayer of despair, The arrest, the trials, The terror and denials, The cross, the grave, The dark, the light The Resurrection Day; All Glory......
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14
Dec 2003
I got to the church early for Ash Wednesday service. I like in Luke’s sermon, just pulled over and stopped. I had to listen to what God had to tell me. This is what came out. I lay there weeping, seeing all the signs of things to come, every man, mother and child marked with the dark stain of night across their forehead. I knelt there in my place and stayed the whole while, not to be a martyr to my own sins, but a signpost for others to follow. I know that soon the Day of......
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