iHOPE

St. Patrick: Beyond the Clover

It's St. Patrick's Day today- as you have no doubt been reminded. I can't think of another saint for whom there is so much attention focused, yet of which so little is known.

Beyond the wearin' of the green, three leaf clovers and a dubious run in with snakes, what is known about St. Patrick?

Mark Roberts is always thoughtful and I thought his article today about St. Patrick was especially helpful. He makes a great connection between Patrick and Joseph. Check it out here.

Recent Readings from Worship

Several people have asked about the prayer from Ted Loder that I used in worship on March 2. It is titled, "I Need to Breathe Deeply, Lord" from his book, Guerrillas of Grace and I copied it below.  We have used a Loder prayer from time to time in worship, and with good reason. He is a constant source of inspiration.

The second request was from last Sunday (March 9) and the reading I used in the sermon. It was from a piece called "When Christians Love Theology More Than People." It was originally written by Stephen Mattson and relayed through a post by Jerry Kieschnick. If you are familiar with the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, you'll appreciate this even more.

I love finding nuggets of wisdom and insight, and I love passing them on. Enjoy!

Four Things You Can Do to Make Lent Meaningful

We are in that season of the Church that is known as Lent. If you came from a Catholic, Episcopal or Lutheran church background, that will mean something to you. From what I hear, it meant you usually had to “give something up” (like TV, chocolate or dessert).  If you didn’t, Lent probably means, “Something my Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran friends did this time of year that made them give up something they really liked).” I am in the second category, though over the years Lent has become much more important to my life.

The word “Lent” simply means “Spring” and it is a season of preparation for Easter. It has been likened to “spring-cleaning for the soul” and that makes sense to me.

Here are four things I have found helpful for the spring cleaning of my own soul during Lent.