Weekly Email Devotions - Page 10 of 19 - St. Peter's Lutheran Church

Disciplined Prayer

The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God: it is a grace that is given…. In this regard it would be proper to speak of “the…

And It’s All FREE!

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Gal. 5:1) My grandson started kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. A lot has changed in the 25+ years since my kids started school … especially the lunchroom. Sammy can take the lunch special of the day,…

Life is Fragile

For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10) I was in the building one Saturday about a week and a half ago, checking on a few details for our Sages service. As…

Treasure

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21) I came across it while digging for something else in my desk at home. I was searching for a key that I thought was buried in a small container in the desk drawer which serves as a repository for all sorts of small trinkets. …

Those Among Whom We Walk Unseen

I saw him again this morning. The man I think of as my occasional “elevator buddy.” I don’t see him a lot … maybe every couple of months … always in the hospital … almost always in the elevator. His accent suggests that he is African – but I can’t be sure … he is…

Spiritual Road Kill … Rescued

There is a great difference between the skill and the grace of prayer. The skill is but the outside, the shape, the carcass of our responsibility. The grace is the soul and spirit that gives it life, vigor and efficacy, that renders it acceptable to God and of real advantage to ourselves. The skill consists…

Control … or Lack of It

I am not in control of my life. I know this already, of course. I have been married for 38 years. I promised to share control of my life with my beloved at the altar of Ascension Lutheran Church, Deer Park in August of 1980. I am also a baptized child of God, who in…

Heaven on Earth

It was not heaven, but it felt pretty close to me. I fell asleep in one room (Operating Room) and woke up in different place (Recovery Room). I woke up pain free … I experienced a sense of excitement as I tried to process what was going on around me … and I felt like…

Four Freedoms

In his January 1941 State of the Union address delivered to Congress, Franklin Delano Roosevelt shared these words, as he spoke about national security and a proposed change from America’s traditional stance of non-intervention. In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human…

The Circle of Life

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The words take on new meaning as I stand next to a man lying in a temporary casket a few feet from the cremation oven in a local funeral home. The deceased is surrounded by his family members. We all hold hands and lift up prayers of thanksgiving for…