Baptized Into Christ

Last week we celebrated national Lutheran Schools Week.  All over the country (in fact there are Lutheran Schools all over the world) Lutheran Schools had special events and did fun things like sports day, school spirit day, and the so on. But what makes Lutheran Schools so special?  Why are they worth the cost to a congregation?  Why not just assimilate our kids into the other schools? Here are just some of the reasons that Lutheran Schools are worth the cost. The most important job that parents have is raising their children in the Christian faith.  Obviously parents can raise their children as Christians without a Lutheran School, but the reality is that it is harder without the help that you can receive at a Lutheran School.  Instead of a curriculum that is entirely secular, your child gets to see all things through the lens of Christ.  Rather than children being left to pray on their own, they learn to pray with their teachers and other child...

One of my favorite television shows of all time is "News Radio." It was "The Office" before "The Office" existed. It was over the top, totally unrealistic, and often slap stick, but it still makes me laugh. There's one scene in the episode "Rap," in which Bill McNeil (played by the late great Phil Hartman) has Joe, the station's electrician, "fix" his car radio. When they turn on the audio, rap music is booming through the speakers, but it's only the beat and it doesn't sound quite right. Ultimately Joe fixes the car's audio by simply turning the treble back to it's normal position. Upon the fix Bill realizes, for the first time, that rap music has words. (check it out here starting at about the 3:50 mark) Bill's great joy at discovering that rap music has words makes me think of how many people think that all hymns do and should sound alike. They should all be a bit slow and sung sweetly. But if that...