Oxford Languages defines empathy as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Up to this point, we’ve been on the outside looking in. Our faith community is more than empathetic towards those who have been adversely affected. You don’t need to watch the news to know that people who lost earnings, employment, businesses, personal liberty, and peace of mind during the last six months struggle to recover their equilibrium.

Persons who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 or...

This nostalgic phrase in the American language came into common usage when cars became an accepted mode of transportation in this country. Its been so much a part of my life, it probably made the top-ten list of all-time worst questions to hear from anyone in the passenger seat. There are emojis, memes, gifs, and even a movie made by the same title. These four words, apparently the perpetual question, make frequent appearances in cartoons, books, and yes, even church newsletter articles.

Th...

Passing the mantle

Looking at the book of Exodus over the last couple of weeks, we hear about the actions of God as he delivered the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. Exodus provides the story of Moses, giving an account of his life from infancy to end of life. God not only saves Moses as an infant, but his becoming an adopted member of the royal family means that Moses receives the best education Egypt could offer. Little does he know how much he will come to need every ounce of educatio...

Looking out of the backdoor, I can see that the September sun is making heat distortion that makes my view of the church look a little wavy.  A slight breeze ripples through the yellowing stalks of a quickly drying field of soybeans. Soon the combines will be stirring up dust in that field, bringing in the harvest for another year.

Saturday, Penny and I went to Stuttgart via St. Charles and State Highway 153, where farmers were busily cutting corn and rice. Tractors pulling grain hoppers wer...