lindespirit

I am a pastor and the recipient of perspectives, concerns and interests handed down from a long line of pastors in the Lutheran Church (one German script sermon from my great-grandfather is dated 1857, two undated sermons are from my great-great-grandfather), hence my interest and background in such things as the Sacraments, the Covenant, and even the Star of Bethlehem. My Bible Study groups have also contributed greatly in developing these various themes, and now as retirement approaches, this is a good time to gather these thoughts into a more finished form. Born and raised in New York City, I have come to also value the life in the smaller communities. With my deeply appreciated companion (my wife), our family bulges at the seams with four natural, two adopted, a variety of foster children, and now grandchildren – there is no end to the usually delightful competition for my attention. Perhaps in the coming years there may even be time to pursue my Master’s interest in carpentry.

I Sure Would-A Been Peeved

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. … Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? … Tell Me, if you know all this.      Job  38:4,17-18 A Louise Allen Harris wrote about […]

I Sure Would-A Been Peeved Read More »

The Best Part

Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.         Isaiah 55:1 Virginia Burke, a chaplain at the Good Samaritan Society assisted living facilities, once wrote in a devotion on this passage: One Sunday morning, Karl

The Best Part Read More »

A Special Treasure

For you are a Holy People to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a People for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.  The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number

A Special Treasure Read More »

The Lord, the King, the Redeemer, the Rock

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no god.‘    Isaiah 44:6   When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels, was a university student, he lived in a boarding house. 

The Lord, the King, the Redeemer, the Rock Read More »

The Truth of the Word

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return

The Truth of the Word Read More »

Peace Isn’t Always Peaceable

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.            Matthew 10:34 The pronouncement made by Jesus is dramatic.  It really catches us off guard.  The angels sang at the first Christmas, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to

Peace Isn’t Always Peaceable Read More »

Essential Job

But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.  But, O LORD of hosts, You Who test the righteous, and see the mind and heart, let me

Essential Job Read More »

Never enough, Much more

For when we were still helplessly feeble, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through

Never enough, Much more Read More »

The God Who Paints Things With Beauty – Trinity Sunday

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. … God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. …  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.                                                                         Genesis

The God Who Paints Things With Beauty – Trinity Sunday Read More »

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

But Peter … said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, … heed my words. … this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; …  I will show

Inquiring Minds Want To Know Read More »