Baptized Into Christ

This year at Hope Lutheran Church, we're doing a study of the book " Connected to Christ: Why Membership Matters ." The question might be asked, "Why are we bothering with this study?" It's a valid question, so here are some answers. Very few people have any idea what it means to be a member of a church.  In my years as a pastor I have observed that some elderly members have a good concept of membership, a few middle aged and younger members understand it, but the vast majority of Christians have no concept of what it means to be a member at all.  There's a myth that "membership" isn't biblical.  It is biblical, but the word "member" does have a very different meaning than how the word is often used these days.  When we understand what it is to be a member of a congregation, then we are better equipped to faithfully live out that calling from the Lord. If we're going to be doing outreach, we'd better understand w...

Yesterday, because of the heavy rain we've had recently, the prayer garden behind Hope Lutheran Church was flooded.  As some of us looked at the flooding, I couldn't help but be struck by the visual of the cross in the water and how it reminded me of baptism; specifically it reminded me of these verses. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live w...

I love baseball and I love history, so books that have history and baseball are among my favorites.  Below I've categorized several books I've read that fit into the category of history and baseball. Not Recommended Cobb: A Biography   by Al Stump Al Stump was a hack. Actually that's putting things far too kindly.  Stump made loads of money by making up stories about Ty Cobb that were entirely untrue, but have been widely shared as if they were fact.  Book stores shouldn't even carry this book anymore, but they do.  If you want to read about the shady work done in this book, check out this article.  Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig   by Jonathan Eig As I read this book, I had to ask myself, "Why does Eig dislike Lou Gehrig so much?"  Eig takes every chance he can to diminish Gehrig and his words seem to indicate that he truly didn't like or respect Gehrig. I was very disappointed in this biography. ...