Fill… Spill… Thrill…

Bishop Dave deFreese
Nebraska Synod, ELCA

Jesus said to them: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21)

The 10 o’clock news just about did me in last night. With machine gun precision, the newscaster’s rapid fire litany of tragedy spewed forth unrelentingly:

• a 15-year-old boy standing at a bus stop killed by a drive-by shooting
• a 21-year-old man who was run over by unwanted visitors at a party, senselessly died
• a 54-year old real estate mogul was sentenced after his fifth D.U.I.
• a seven-year-old girl was molested at the shopping mall … and on and on.

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Pastor Martin Russell
Assistant to the Bishop
Nebraska Synod, ELCA

An English author once observed “Death was Nature’s way of telling you to slow down.” One could easily say “Lent is the Church’s way of telling you to slow down.” This first Sunday in Lent we slow down to encounter the temptations faced by Jesus in Luke’s gospel. I am indebted to Richard Rohr (Radical Grace: Daily Meditations) for the ways in which he reminds me that all of us face the same three temptations as Jesus did.

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The school bell rings and children rush to the flagpole. There they meet the volunteer of the day for the “walking carpool” from the elementary school to Our Savior Lutheran Church’s “Front Porch” building in Wayne.

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