By Ken Sehested Reformation Sunday generally has a hard time competing with Halloween — except, maybe, for our Lutheran friends. Six years before Luther commenced his Ninety-Five Theses’ complaint with the Roman church, an earlier but lesser-known reform movement took…
Fasting a Lenten discipline to tame appetites
By Ken Sehested When we hear the word “fasting” — an historic Lenten emphasis — the initial image is associated with dieting. Fasting is a foreign and somewhat threatening notion, conjuring images of self-depreciation and ascetic mortification. In Scripture, fasting…
Giving good gifts
By Ken Sehested We have a problem. On the one hand, gift-giving is not only fun but is also a reflection of our most cherished convictions. Maybe the deepest current of Scripture is God’s gift-giving character, with the parallel notion…
On Valentine’s Day, prisoners and Haitian debt
By Ken Sehested As with many modern cultural traditions, Valentine’s Day draws from a jumble of historical memories. However, the observance’s namesake comes directly from Christian history. The Roman Catholic Church’s official list of saints actually has three entries for…