26 April 2026: 4 Easter

19 Apr 202619 Apr 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

Introduction: Day by Day

As Christians, how do we hold the past, present, and future in a healthy balance? That question has been sitting with me this week. Having spent more than 45 years teaching history, I have spent much time wandering through the past. And while history can be a gift, it can also be perilous if we get stuck there. Sometimes we linger too long in the darker chapters — our own or the broader narratives of community or nation — and the weight of it keeps us from moving forward. Other times nostalgia takes over, that aching homesickness for a “better time” when life seemed simpler. A little nostalgia is harmless; too much can keep us from meeting life as it actually is. The future can trap us just as easily. Fear of what might be around the corner — especially in a world as anxious as 2026 — can leave us cynical or even despairing. A quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln comes to mind: “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” I appreciate Lincoln’s simplicity and perspective and pray the Serenity Prayer each morning.

Maybe that’s why the phrase “day by day” in this week’s reading from Acts caught my attention. It appears twice, and it sent me back to my high school days and the 1973 film Godspell. You might remember the song Day by Day, inspired by both Acts 2 and the 13th‑century Prayer of Saint Richard of Chichester: “to know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly, day by day.” The Swedish hymnwriter Lina Sandell penned a hymn by the same name in 1865 — I have included that story and a version of the hymn later in the blog.

What strikes me is how the earliest Christians lived this rhythm. They carried a living memory of the resurrection — imagine the energy in that community! They experienced “wonders and signs,” shared what they had, and leaned into a mission bigger than themselves. As indicated in Acts 2, they did it day by day, trusting God with what came next. Maybe that’s the model for us too. Not to deny the past or ignore the future, but to stop letting either one swallow the present. Today is the only day we are actually given. We can’t change yesterday, and we can’t control tomorrow. But we can show up today, with faith, courage, and hope. After all, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

TRY LUTHER’S METHOD OF READING
A Revision of the Lectio Divina (Augustinian)

Three Steps

Oratio (Prayer): This is the starting point, where one humbly prays for the Holy Spirit’s guidance to understand God’s Word. Luther emphasized that prayer prepares the heart and mind to receive divine wisdom.

Meditatio (Meditation): This involves deeply engaging with Scripture, not just reading it but reflecting on it repeatedly. Luther encouraged believers to “chew on” the Word, allowing its meaning to sink in and shape their thoughts and actions.

Tentatio (Struggle): Often translated as “trial” or “temptation,” this refers to the challenges and spiritual battles that arise as one seeks to live according to God’s Word. Luther saw these struggles as a way God refines faith, making it more resilient and authentic.

Navigate the Blog Here

Image of the Week

St. John, the author of this week’s Gospel, has been the focus of many artists. The Russian artist Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757-1825) depicted John as young and deeply attentive, almost as if he’s pausing to listen before he writes. That quiet, upward focus fits the long Christian tradition that sees John as the evangelist whose vision “soars” toward the divine. The eagle beside him comes straight out of that tradition: early Church Fathers linked John to the eagle in Ezekiel and Revelation, saying his Gospel rises highest into the mystery of Christ’s divinity. Borovikovsky leans into that symbolism but softens it—his eagle isn’t dramatic or fierce, just steady and companion-like, echoing John’s contemplative gaze. Painted in the early 1800s, the whole scene feels gentle and intimate, shaped by the luminous, polished style that marks Borovikovsky’s mature work and by the deep iconographic heritage he’s quietly carrying forward.

Easter 4 Readings and Connecting Themes

26 April: 4 Easter

Acts 2: 42-47

Psalm 23

1 Peter 2: 19-25

John 10: 1-10

The readings for 4 Easter circle around one central promise: the risen Christ is the shepherd who gathers, guides, and guards a community shaped by his self‑giving love. Acts shows the early believers living this out in real time — devoted to teaching, fellowship, shared meals, and generous care — embodying the kind of life that grows when people trust the Shepherd’s voice. Psalm 23 gives the inner landscape of that trust: God leading, restoring, and accompanying us even through shadowed valleys. First Peter connects this care to the cross, reminding believers that Christ’s suffering is not defeat but the healing path that brings us back to the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls. And in John 10, Jesus names himself as both the shepherd who knows his sheep and the gate that opens into abundant life, tying the whole set of readings together in a vision of a community sustained, protected, and made whole by his presence.

Note: I utilize the Bible Gateway website for the readings (NRSVUE) and also receive as assist from Co-Pilot (A.I.) for summarizing the themes each week.

ELCA Commemorations This Week

The ELCA’s Lesser Festivals and Commemorations grow out of a much older Christian instinct — shared with Roman Catholicism — to remember the saints as companions in faith rather than distant icons. Early Christians, especially in the Western (and later Roman Catholic) tradition, honored martyrs, apostles, and teachers whose lives made the gospel visible in their own generations. Lutherans kept that rhythm after the Reformation but shifted the emphasis: we remember these people not to elevate them, but to point to the God who worked through them. In the ELCA today, these commemorations help us stay grounded in the wide, diverse story of the church across time and remind us that the same Spirit who stirred courage, creativity, and compassion in earlier believers is still shaping our lives and our witness right now. You will find the listing of these on pages 15-17 of the ELW.

Explore Kagawa’s Story Here

Tuesday 21 April
Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury (d. 1109)

Thursday 23 April
Toyohiko Kagawa, renewer of society (d. 1960)

Saturday 25 April
Mark, EVANGELIST

Music and Prayer: Day by Day (Sandell and Ahnfeldt)

Carolina (“Lina”) Sandell Berg wrote Day by Day in 1865, several years after witnessing the tragic drowning of her father — a Lutheran pastor — a moment that shaped her lifelong emphasis on God’s daily care. Sandell wrote more than 650 hymns, many of them centered on trust, providence, and the nearness of God in ordinary life. When Oskar Ahnfelt (1813-1882) later set Blott en dag to music in 1872, his gentle melody helped carry the hymn across Sweden and eventually into the Swedish‑American community, where it was translated into English in the early 20th century. It became a favorite hymn of Scandinavian-Americans and was often sung at funerals.

There’s no evidence Sandell was thinking of Acts 2:46–47 when she wrote the hymn, even though the passage uses the same phrase “day by day.” But the thematic overlap is unmistakable. Acts describes the early church receiving God’s gifts one day at a time — daily bread, daily fellowship, daily grace. Sandell’s hymn echoes that same rhythm of trust: God gives strength for today and tomorrow rests in God’s hands. Whether or not she had Acts 2 open on her desk, she was writing out of a pietist tradition that loved the idea of daily dependence on God. That’s why the pairing feels so natural: both the Scripture and the hymn invite us to live in the present moment, trusting that God meets us there.

The hymn is part of the ELW (#790) and this piano interpretation by Sangah Noona is especially good. If you need a few moments of peace this week, enjoy this hymn!

Sangah Noona (born 1987) is a South Korean–born pianist known for her expressive playing and easy connection with listeners. She grew up in Seoul, started piano at five, and later studied music at Dongduk Women’s University before building a busy career as a session musician and hotel pianist. After moving to the United States, she kept performing in high‑end venues but also found a huge audience online, where her YouTube livestreams mix classical training with pop, jazz, rock, and whatever her viewers request. Her style is warm, versatile, and unpretentious — the kind of playing that makes you feel like you’re right there in the room with her.

Visit Sangah’s Website Here

Going Beyond: Digital Ministry and Global Refuge

Global Refuge—once known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—has spent more than eight decades doing something that sits right at the heart of the Gospel: welcoming people who’ve been pushed to the margins and helping them rebuild their lives with dignity. What started in 1939 as a Lutheran effort to care for families displaced by war has grown into a nationwide network that accompanies refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and migrants with legal support, resettlement services, mental‑health care, and practical help that restores hope. At its core, the organization lives out Jesus’ call to love the stranger, protect the vulnerable, and see every person as a neighbor worth showing up for—no prerequisites, no exceptions, just the steady work of compassion in action.

VISIT THE GLOBAL REFUGE WEBSITE

Are You Looking for a Church Home?

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and is part of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA). We stream our Sunday worship at 9:30 each week. Please feel free to join us!

Access our YouTube Channel here.

Note: The Lectionary Discussion Group will NOT be meeting on Sunday 26 April.

Reminder: Blog Purpose and Format

19 April 2026: 3 Easter

12 Apr 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

“Purpose sends you back to that sense of awe in front of something greater than yourself. It gives you focus. Purpose grounds, inspires, and energizes. It lets you appreciate your own effort and the effort of others. Purpose connects you with those around you: It will lead you to other people, movements, and institutions, histories and futures that you can participate in. ‘Faith, hope, and love remain,’ writes Paul, ‘and the greatest of these is love’ (1 Corinthians 13:13). Not all is lost when hope is lost. And even hope regenerates when we allow faith and love to sow purpose and meaning.” (Hanna Reichel, Princeton Theological Seminary)

Introduction: The Emmaus Moment

Regular readers of this blog know how much I value artistic interpretations of Scripture. Today’s Gospel — the encounter between Cleopas, an unnamed disciple, and Jesus on the seven‑mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus — has long been one of my favorite post‑resurrection moments. Part of that affection traces back to an 1877 painting by Swiss artist Robert Zünd, a work that hung in one of the parishes my father served during his fifty years of ministry at Faith Lutheran in West Fargo, North Dakota (note the description below). Scripture records eight appearances of the risen Christ in the forty days after Easter — eight moments of conversation, recognition, and shared meals. This week we join two disciples on the road, heavy with grief and confusion (v. 21). It is Sunday evening, three days after the crucifixion. They leave Jerusalem for Emmaus, trying to make sense of what they have witnessed. Steeped in Jewish hope for a different kind of Messiah, they cannot reconcile Jesus’ death with the rumors of resurrection. They feel lost. Jesus steps into their sorrow and walks with them, unrecognized. They’re startled that this “stranger” seems unaware of the week’s upheaval. He listens first. Then he opens the scriptures with authority, tracing the promises of the Messiah through the prophets (vv. 25–27). Still, they do not see him for who he is. At Emmaus, they urge him to stay as night falls. And in one of the most luminous scenes in the post‑resurrection narratives, Jesus breaks bread — and vanishes. Recognition floods in at once (v. 31). Joy propels them back the seven miles to Jerusalem to tell the eleven what they have seen. I imagine them excitedly running that seven miles. If purpose anchors and renews us — as Hanna Reichel reminds us — then Emmaus becomes a lesson in how purpose catches up to us, providing hope — perhaps when we least expect it! Two disciples leave Jerusalem hollowed out, and everything shifts when Christ joins them on the road. Good words for us to hear in April of 2026!

Soli Deo Gloria!

The introductory quote is drawn from For Such A Time As This: An Emergency Devotional (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2025). The author, Hanna Reichel, is the Charles Hodge Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Reminders: Blog Purpose and Format

Thanks for visiting this space again this week! Two Worlds is a digital space for ministry where I post the Revised Common Lectionary readings each week (NRSVU) and offer a brief, historically grounded reflection alongside music, visual art, and other creative expressions that deepen our understanding of faith. I include the ELCA’s weekly commemorations and link to thoughtful resources for readers who want to explore further, with a Table of Contents that lets you pick and choose a bit. Most images come from Wikimedia Commons, and I use Copilot to support some of the writing and research.

Where are we? Right now, the lectionary places us in the heart of the Easter season in Year A, hearing resurrection through Matthew’s bold storytelling while Acts traces the early church’s emergence and 1 Peter steadies communities learning to live as people shaped by new life. In the weeks ahead, the Gospel readings shift from resurrection appearances to Jesus’ farewell teachings in John, leading us toward Ascension and the Spirit’s dramatic arrival at Pentecost—a moment that launches the church’s public mission and opens the long season of discipleship that follows.

I welcome feedback at pstrykken@gmail.com.

Navigate the Blog Here

TRY LUTHER’S METHOD OF READING
A Revision of the Lectio Divina (Augustinian)

Robert Zünd’s The Road to Emmaus (1877) places Luke’s resurrection story not in first‑century Judea but in the rolling, pastoral landscape of his own Austrian world, and that choice reshapes how we experience the moment. The towering trees, the filtered sunlight, and the gentle rise and fall of the countryside create a setting that feels familiar and lived‑in—an everyday place where revelation could quietly unfold. Against this backdrop, the three figures walk in unhurried conversation, their gestures understated, as if the mystery of the risen Christ is something that dawns slowly rather than breaks open all at once. By rooting the scene in an Austrian landscape, Zünd suggests that Emmaus is not a distant event but a recurring human experience — grace meeting us on the roads we actually travel, in the places we know by heart.

The Readings and Connecting Themes

19 April: 3 Easter

Acts 2: 14a, 36-41

Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19

1 Peter 1: 17-23

Luke 24: 13-35

The readings for 3 Easter trace a movement from bewilderment to renewed life, showing how God meets people in their confusion and calls them into transformation. Acts and the psalm highlight a God who hears, rescues, and draws people into a new way of living marked by gratitude and trust. First Peter presses that transformation further, urging believers to embody holiness and sincere love as the fruit of their new birth in Christ. Luke’s Emmaus story gathers these threads, revealing the risen Jesus as the one who opens eyes, rekindles hope, and sends disciples back into the world with burning hearts and a renewed sense of purpose.

Note: I utilize the Bible Gateway website for the readings (NRSVUE) and also receive as assist from Co-Pilot (A.I.) for summarizing the themes each week.

ELCA Commemorations This Week

Sunday 19 April

Olavus Petri, Priest (d. 1552); Laurentius Petri, Bishop of Uppsala (d. 1573); renewers of the church

Olavus Petri and his brother Laurentius helped steer the Swedish Reformation in ways that still shape the church today. Olavus, fresh from studying with Luther and Melanchthon, brought Reformation ideas home through bold preaching, accessible teaching tools, a Swedish New Testament, and the first Swedish hymnal—always pushing for worship people could actually understand. Laurentius, calmer in style but equally influential, became the first Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala and defended the episcopate—the church’s order of bishops responsible for teaching, oversight, and continuity of pastoral leadership—when the crown tried to eliminate it. He oversaw the 1541 Swedish Bible and wrote the 1571 church order that grounded Swedish worship and governance for generations, making the Petri brothers the architects of a national church rooted in Scripture, the vernacular, and steady pastoral care.

Statue of the brothers Petri,
Örebro, Sweden

**Reflective Music: An American Tune (1973)**

In my quest to explore music through the prism of the Christian journey, An American Tune feels like the right companion for this week’s Gospel. A favorite of mine, I first heard it as a junior in high school when the country felt unsteady — Vietnam still raw, Watergate beginning to seep into the headlines, adults around me carrying a quiet confusion I didn’t yet have words for. Paul Simon did. His honesty — “mistaken, confused, and forsaken” — sounded like the world I was watching. Hearing it this week triggered memories (and nostalgia).

Luke’s Emmaus story lives in that same emotional landscape. Two travelers walk the road naming their disappointment with the most honest words in Scripture: we had hoped. They try to make sense of what just happened, not sure what to believe next. Simon’s song turns into a modern Emmaus when you set them side by side — a people bruised by history, still walking, still talking, still waiting for meaning to reassemble itself. Both texts remind us that resurrection rarely begins with certainty; it begins with honest sorrow, shared bread, and the slow recognition that hope has been walking beside us all along. Only later did I learn that Simon built the melody on O Sacred Head, Now Wounded—a Passion tune hiding inside a 1970s lament. That ancient line, braided into a modern ache, makes the song’s quiet hope feel even more like Emmaus.

This performance comes from the Concordia Choir’s 2026 Northeast Tour, recorded at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Matthew Culloton, the choir’s director, created the arrangement — a beautiful rendering of the piece. The version I’m sharing, sung on that tour, carries the song’s quiet hope with real grace. I hope you enjoy it (especially good with headphones).

Lyrics: An American Tune

Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I’m alright, I’m alright
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home
I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
Oh, but it’s alright, it’s alright
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong
And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying
And we come on the ship they call The Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hours
And sing an American tune
Oh, and it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s gonna be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all I’m trying to get some rest

The Concordia Choir of Moorhead, Minnesota stands as one of the nation’s premier collegiate a cappella ensembles, known for its luminous blend and disciplined artistry. Founded in 1920, the choir’s identity has been shaped by a century of influential leadership, most notably Paul J. Christiansen, René Clausen, and current conductor Dr. Michael Culloton. Its national and international tours showcase a repertoire that spans sacred masterworks, global choral traditions, and newly commissioned works. The choir’s signature Christmas Concerts—broadcast and celebrated across the country—embody its mission of musical excellence, spiritual depth, and community connection.

Going Beyond: Digital Ministry and Religion in the News

Join Us for Worship and Study

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and is part of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA). We stream our Sunday worship at 9:30 each week. Please feel free to join us!

Access our YouTube Channel here.

FOR THOSE INVOLVED . . . .

Our in-person Lectionary discussion will gather again this Sunday. Join us in the ELC library for discussion of this week’s readings! All are welcome!

The Challenging World We Are Experiencing . . .

History is filled with examples of the intersection of war and religion. As I am writing this, we are 42+ days into the 2026 Iran War. This article gives a helpful big‑picture look at how some in the U.S., Israel, and Iran are using religious language to frame the current conflict. It sticks to public statements and constitutional structures, which keeps things grounded instead of speculative. I also appreciate that it names the internal disagreements within each tradition, so it’s not just “religion vs. religion” but a look at how political leaders selectively use religious themes. Overall, it’s a solid starting point for understanding how faith gets pulled into the rhetoric of war, even if it doesn’t dive deeply into any one tradition’s theology.

Read ELCA Bishop Curry’s Statement on the Iran War (3 March), including a prayer for peace.

12 April 2026: 2 Easter

6 Apr 202612 Apr 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

“Influenced by the intellectuals of the Enlightenment, Jefferson scoffed at biblical stories of miracles but believed that the study of nature proves the existence of God. He thought deeply about religion all his life, and although his views sometimes shifted, one opinion never changed: He believed that no government had the right to impose any religion on any individual. He wrote Virginia’s statute on religious freedom and famously coined the phrase ‘wall of separation between church and state.’” (Historian Peter Carlson)

Introductory Reflection

As the opening quote from historian Peter Carlson indicates, our third President, brilliant and deeply educated, remains a complex figure when it comes to religious faith. At age 33, young Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, something we are highlighting this year as part of a 250th anniversary commemoration. If he had done nothing else beyond that moment, he would remain famous in the annals of history. Nevertheless, the man who wrote “all men are created equal” enslaved hundreds of people during his lifetime — an unsettling contradiction. He also pursued destructive policies toward Indigenous people, something that is well documented. His religious views were tangled as well, something his political opponents liked to highlight (he was often accused of being an atheist, but that does not line up with his writings). Raised Anglican, he believed in God but rejected the divinity of Jesus and every miracle in scripture. He literally cut those passages from the New Testament to create what we now call the “Jefferson Bible.” While admiring Jesus as a moral exemplar, Jefferson’s rational mind simply could not move past his doubts regarding the miracles that sit at the center of our faith. It’s difficult to easily summarize Jefferson’s religious views, but you will find good information here if you want to go further!

*The Incredulity of Saint Thomas* by Caravaggio (1601)

Sunday’s Gospel brings us face‑to‑face with another story of doubt. It’s still Easter evening. The disciples hide behind locked doors, afraid for their lives, when Jesus suddenly stands among them. He shows them his wounds and breathes his Spirit into them, giving them the power to forgive. Imagine the shock in that room. Then we meet Thomas, who missed that first gathering. When the others tell him they’ve seen the risen Christ, he can’t accept it. He wants evidence — wounds he can see and touch. One week later, Jesus appears again and meets Thomas right at the point of his doubt — the Caravaggio painting captures the moment (also note the Serodine painting described below).Thomas responds with the clearest confession in John’s Gospel: “My Lord and my God.” Curiously, this story appears only in John, and it’s there for a reason. Jesus doesn’t shame Thomas; he simply names a deeper truth: those who have not seen and yet believe are blessed. That’s us. And 1 Peter echoes the same promise today: though we have not seen Christ, we love him; though we do not see him now, we trust him and rejoice with a joy beyond words, receiving the salvation of our souls. Good words to ponder on this Second Sunday of the Easter season.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Reminders: Blog Purpose and Format

Two Worlds is a digital space for ministry. Each week, I post the Revised Common Lectionary readings for the upcoming Sunday and link them for easy access (NRSVU edition). Along the way, I also offer an introductory reflection — usually with a historical bent — and explore how music, visual art, and other creative expressions deepen our understanding of faith. Because of my interest in history, I also include the ELCA’s weekly commemorations. You’ll find links to thoughtful resources for anyone who wants to dig further (italicized and bolded). And because this is meant to be a tool, not a script, feel free to use the Table of Contents to jump to whatever sections speak most directly to you. My sourcing is eclectic. Nearly all images are drawn from Wikimedia Commons and I am utilizing Co-Pilot as an assist for some of the writing and research. I welcome any feedback here or via email (pstrykken@gmail.com).

Navigate the Blog Here

TRY LUTHER’S METHOD OF READING
A Revision of the Lectio Divina (Augustinian)

“Doubting Thomas” by Giovanni Serodine
(1600 –1630)

Giovanni Serodine’s Doubting Thomas (c. 1620s) feels like you’ve stepped right into the room with the disciples—everyone crowded close, faces lit by a sharp, almost theatrical glow as Thomas reaches toward Christ’s wound. Serodine loved this kind of high‑drama lighting, a hallmark of the Caravaggisti, the circle of painters influenced by Caravaggio’s bold realism and deep shadows. He was a Ticino-born artist who worked mostly in Rome in the early 1600s, and although his career was short, he developed a reputation for raw, emotional intensity. You can feel that intensity here: the mix of doubt, awe, and recognition playing across the disciples’ faces makes the scene feel startlingly human and immediate.

The Readings and Connecting Themes

12 April: 2 Easter

Acts 2: 14a, 22-32

Psalm 16

1 Peter 1: 3-9

John 20: 19-31

Together, these readings proclaim that the resurrection is God’s decisive act of life‑giving power, witnessed in Jesus and extended to us. Peter’s sermon in Acts and the confidence of Psalm 16 both testify that God does not abandon the faithful to death but brings them into new life. First Peter echoes this hope, describing believers as reborn into a living future even as they navigate trials. And in John’s story of the risen Christ meeting the disciples—and Thomas—fear is replaced with peace, doubt with trust, and the community is sent out as witnesses to the life God now makes possible.

Note: I utilize the Bible Gateway website for the readings (NRSVUE) and also receive as assist from Co-Pilot (A.I.) for summarizing the themes each week.

ELCA Commemorations This Week

Explore Cranach’s Story and Art Here

Monday 6 April

Albrecht Durer (d. 1528), Matthias Grunewald (d. 1529), and Lucas Cranach (d. 1553), Artists

Thursday 9 April

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theologian (d. 1945 )

Friday 10 April

Mikael Agricola, Bishop of Turku (d. 1557)

Explore the Story of Mikael Agricola Here

Explore Bonhoeffer’s Story Here

Symbolism and the Cross

A reminder why Protestant Churches, like the ELCA, primarily display the empty cross, while Roman Catholic Churches primarily display the Crucifix. Here is an explanation I appreciated reading from The Compass, a publication of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay: Displaying the corpus of Jesus on the cross is a stark visual aid that helps us to more easily focus on the very real sacrifice Jesus offered for us for our salvation . . . Our brothers and sisters of mainline Protestant and non-denominational traditions typically display an empty cross in recognition that Jesus died once and for all for us and is now risen from the dead. The cross, like the tomb, is empty. We should see these not as opposing viewpoints, but as complimentary emphasis.

Reflective Music and Prayer

My early childhood memory of hymns includes All Creatures of our God and King. In our current hymnal (2006 ELW), you will find that hymn on 835 and called, All Creatures, Worship God Most High. The hymn has a great origin story going back to St. Francis of Assisi’s 13th century poem, Canticle of the Sun (also called Canticle of the Creatures (Read the full poem here). Celebrating God through the voices of creation, it eventually made its way into the hymnal through a much later English paraphrase. In the early 1900s, William H. Draper took Francis’s Italian text and reshaped it into metered English verses that a congregation could actually sing. His version kept the heart of Francis’s idea — that all of creation joins in praise — while giving it a structure that fit a familiar hymn tune. When Draper’s text was paired with the lively 1623 melody Lasst Uns Erfreuen, complete with its joyful “Alleluia” refrains, the hymn took on the form we know today.

Though not an Easter hymn, the message of Francis’ poem is universal, and speaks to our time! Deanna Witkowski’s jazz interpretation of the hymn is offered here. Hear it in a new way and enjoy!

Lyrics (one variation)

All creatures, worship God most high!
Sound every voice in earth and sky:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Sing, brother sun, in splendor bright,
sing, sister moon and stars of night:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Sing, brother fire, so mirthful, strong;
drive far the shadows, join the throng:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Dear mother earth, so rich in care,
praise God in colors bright and rare:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

O sisters, brothers, take your part,
and worship God with humble heart:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

All creatures, bless the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit Three in One:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Deanna Witkowski is an award‑winning jazz pianist, composer, and scholar whose music blends jazz, Brazilian rhythms, and sacred traditions with clarity and rhythmic lift. A past winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition and a leading interpreter of Mary Lou Williams, she earned national acclaim for her biography Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul. Shaped by a lifelong engagement with Christian liturgical music, Witkowski brings a reflective spiritual depth to her work.

Visit her website for more information!

Going Beyond: Digital and In-Person Ministry

Have you explored the revamped ELCA website? User friendly and many great resources! Check it out by clicking on the logo.

FOR THOSE INVOLVED . . . .

Our in-person Lectionary discussion will gather again this Sunday. Join us in the ELC library for discussion of this week’s readings! All are welcome!

30 March – 5 April: Holy Week and Easter 2026

30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

“There are days when I look at today’s world, torn apart by violence and hatred, and I can’t even imagine all of us living in harmony with one another. It seems impossible. Jesus knew something about conflict and discord. He rode into Jerusalem to shouts of ‘Hosanna!’ The crowds rejoiced at the coming of their king. How quickly, though, those songs of praise turned to cries for Jesus to be crucified. (But) Jesus, the crucified king, conducts creation’s choir. With his dying breath, he teaches us the song of infinite forgiveness. He silences all those forces that rebel against God, directing our days and our deeds in peace. We may not be able to hear the harmony quite yet, but it’s here, because Jesus is here.” (Stacey Nalean-Carlson)

Introduction

Holy Week always asks us to hold more than we think we can — beauty and betrayal, praise and violence, hope and heartbreak. Stacey Nalean-Carlson’s commentary highlights the tension in our experience. The world around us isn’t so different from the world Jesus entered: crowds pulled in every direction, longing for peace yet captive to fear, eager for a savior yet quick to turn on the very one who brings healing. And still, Christ steps into the noise without flinching. He doesn’t wait for harmony before he begins to sing; he brings harmony with him. His path through this week reveals a love strong enough to absorb our dissonance and patient enough to teach us a new way to listen. Anchor yourself in that this week.

The Gospels tell the resurrection story in different ways, a reminder of how memory shifts as communities retell what matters most. John’s Gospel, written near the end of the first century, places Mary Magdalene at the center. She appears in all four Gospels as a devoted follower and a witness to both the crucifixion and the resurrection. She’s mentioned twelve times — more than any woman except Mary, the mother of Jesus. Honored as a saint in the Catholic tradition and commemorated in the ELCA on July 22, she still carries an air of mystery. What we know for certain is this: Mary is the first to proclaim the resurrection. John doesn’t mention the other Mary at the tomb, though Matthew, Mark, and Luke do (Matthew 27:61; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10). Some scholars see symbolism here—the mother of Jesus representing the old, earthly relationship, and Mary Magdalene representing the emerging community of believers. It’s an intriguing possibility.

Holy Week confronts us with mysteries just as profound. Christians live as an Easter people — running toward the empty tomb with Peter and John, trying to grasp what happened there. Our faith stands on the bold acceptance of miracles: water turned to wine, sight restored, freedom breaking through oppression. Many dismiss these as fantasy. Still, as children of the light, we keep running. At the center of our story is the greatest miracle: the Creator entering our humanity, walking among us for thirty‑three years, enduring betrayal, suffering, and a brutal Roman execution. Jesus absorbed the world’s dysfunction — our sin, our fear, our violence — and carried it to the cross, breaking the power of sin and death. His resurrection bursts into the story like a beacon, reordering everything. Set free by that moment, we now live free — free to love, free to forgive, free to bear light into a world still learning to hear the harmony he brings.

Soli Deo Gloria!

The opening quote from Stacey Nalean-Carlson was drawn from Love Outpoured: Devotions for Lent 2026, published by Augsburg Fortress in Minneapolis. Stacey is an ELCA Pastor, ordained in 2003. To learn more, visit her website here.

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A compelling question for us this week:

“Where do I need to trust that God is already at work bringing resurrection out of what feels lost or broken?”

*The Disciples Peter and John running to the sepulchre on the morning of the Resurrection* by Eugene Burnand (1898).

Eugène Burnand’s 1898 painting The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection captures the dramatic moment from John 20 when the two apostles race toward the empty tomb after hearing Mary Magdalene’s news. Burnand, a Swiss realist painter known for his deep Christian faith, exhibited the work at the Paris Salon, where it was immediately acclaimed and later acquired by the French state for the Musée d’Orsay. The painting is celebrated for its vivid emotional realism: Peter’s anxious, weathered face and John’s youthful, hope‑filled expression reveal the turmoil and dawning faith of that first Easter morning.

The Readings for the Triduum and Easter Sunday

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are referred to as The Three Days (traditionally known as the Triduum), and their roots hearken back to the Jewish celebration of the Passover. Part of that tradition among our spiritual ancestors involved slaughtering a lamb and sharing a meal — a reminder of the Israelite’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. Recall that God visited a number of plagues (think water turning to blood, frogs, lice, etc.) on Pharaoh Ramesses II to convince him to free the Israelites, including sending the “angel of death” to slaughter the Egyptian’s firstborn sons. The Jewish slaves marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb so the “angel of death” would pass over them, sparing their sons. Drawing from this tradition, early Christians observed the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God, to commemorate the Pascha, — Christ’s passage from death to new life. Further, this new life was marked by the liberating gift of baptism. If you go to pages 30-31 in the ELW (which we have been using since 2006), you will see in the inclusion of the Three Days as part of the Sundays and Principal Festivals of the Church Year.

All the readings are linked for easy access.

2 April: Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12: 1-14

Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19

1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

John 13: 1-17, 31b-35

3 April: Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Psalm 22

Hebrews 10: 16-25

John 18:1-19:42

4 April: Holy Saturday
(Easter Vigil)

Romans 3: 6-11

John 20: 1-18

(Note: A complete list of readings for Easter Vigil are found on page 269 of the ELW).

5 April: Easter Day

Jeremiah 31: 1-6

Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Acts 10: 34-43

John 20: 1-18

Common Themes and Connecting Ideas

The readings for Easter Sunday proclaim God’s decisive act of renewal, moving a people from sorrow into joy and from death into life. Jeremiah announces a future where God gathers the people in love and restores them to dancing and hope, while Psalm 118 celebrates the Lord’s saving power with the triumphant declaration that “the stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Acts 10 expands this renewal to all people, as Peter proclaims that the risen Christ brings forgiveness and new life without partiality. In John 20, this cosmic victory becomes deeply personal as the risen Jesus calls Mary Magdalene by name, transforming her grief into witness. Together, these texts reveal Easter as God’s surprising, world‑shifting act of life‑giving love that restores, includes, and sends people out with joy.

Note: I utilize the Bible Gateway website for the readings (NRSVUE) and also receive as assist from Co-Pilot (A.I.) for summarizing the themes each week.

ELCA Commemorations This Week

Tuesday 31 March:
John Donne, poet (d. 1631)

Saturday 4 April:
Benedict the African, confessor (d. 1589)

Click on each photo for background information

Reflective Music for Holy Week

“Were You There” grew out of the lived experience of enslaved African Americans in the 19th century, who used song to name both their suffering and their hope. It first appeared in print in 1899, but it had already traveled for years through oral tradition, carried by communities who sang it to remember the story of the crucifixion. The repeated question — “Were you there?” — pulls us into that story and asks us to feel its weight in real time. At the same moment, the song quietly links Christ’s suffering with the suffering of the people who created it. By the mid‑20th century it had become a beloved hymn across traditions, recorded by major artists and sung in churches everywhere, a testament to its emotional power and deep roots. This interpretation by Ensemble Altera is particularly powerful — enjoy! (Listen with headphones for a rich experience).

Lyrics

1 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

2 Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

3 Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

4 Were you there when God raised him from the grave?
Were you there when God raised him from the grave?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when God raised him from the grave?

Ensemble Altera is a rising professional chamber choir from Rhode Island, known for its luminous sound, imaginative programming, and deep commitment to the healing power of music. Led by countertenor Christopher Lowrey, the ensemble has earned national and international praise for performances that blend artistic precision with emotional depth. Their recordings have garnered major awards and critical acclaim, helping establish Altera as one of the most compelling new voices in American choral music. Whether presenting reimagined classics or bold contemporary works, they invite audiences into experiences that uplift, challenge, and inspire.

Visit Their Website for More Information

Meditative Prayer: A Collect for Easter Day

A collect gets its name from the Latin collēcta, meaning “a gathering,” originally referring either to the gathering of the people or the gathering of their prayers. Over time, the term came to describe the brief, focused prayer that opens worship by uniting the community’s intentions into one voice. Its structure and purpose reflect this origin: a single, elegant petition that gathers the church for what follows. The following prayer is drawn from The Lutheran Hymnary, published by Augsburg Publishing House in Minneapolis in 1935. My father utilized it while attending Luther Seminary in the late 1940s. Note the language, reminiscent of the King James version of the Bible. As you hear the words, imagine our Lutheran forbears saying this on Easter morning:

Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst deliver Thy Son for our offenses, and didst raise Him again for our justification: We beseech Thee, grant us Thy Holy Spirit, that He may rule and govern us according to Thy will; graciously keep us in the true faith; defend us from all sins, and after this life raise us unto eternal life, through the same, Thy beloved Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Going Beyond: Faith at Work

Ecumenical News This Week:

Lutheran leaders from around the world joined ecumenical guests in Canterbury Cathedral on March 25 for the installation of Archbishop Sarah Mullally, the first woman to lead the Church of England.
Lutheran World Federation General Secretary Anne Burghardt celebrated the historic moment and highlighted the strong, evolving relationships between Anglicans and Lutherans across the globe. The service blended ancient tradition with global diversity, underscoring a shared commitment to unity, prayer, and common Christian witness.

Read the full story here!

FOR THOSE INVOLVED . . . .

Our in-person Lectionary discussion group that meets at ELC will be off until APRIL 12TH. This is due to travel on my part and activities on Palm Sunday and Easter.

The ELCA is one of the largest member churches of the Lutheran World Federation, a global communion representing more than 77 million Lutherans in 99 countries. As a full and active member, the ELCA helps shape the LWF’s work in theology, humanitarian response, advocacy, and global mission. ELCA leaders serve on councils, commissions, and working groups that guide the federation’s priorities and partnerships. Through the LWF, the ELCA joins a worldwide witness to Christ’s justice, mercy, and reconciliation.

29 March 2026: Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday

23 Mar 202623 Mar 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

“We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.” (Ken Untener)

Introduction

The opening excerpt this week comes from the pen of Fr. Ken Untener and is a marvelous statement regarding faith and mission. Untener was honoring the slain Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered in 1980 after challenging those in power in El Salvador. The full prayer, titled “Prophets of a Future Not Our Own,” speaks volumes for those of us on the Christian journey — I commend it to your reading. My reference to Romero this week serves as a reminder that the ELCA commemorates him on Tuesday (24 March). Read more about his story here.

Thanks for your visit again this week! For three years, we have been using this space to better understand the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), providing context for our worship experience. And a quick reminder: The RCL provides a set of readings from the Bible for the various seasons of the church year. It was preceded by the Common Lectionary (1983), which in turn was based on the 1969 Ordo Lectionum Missae, the three-year lectionary produced by the Roman Catholic Church following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Forgive my descent “into the weeds” here, but the background is necessary for understanding WHY we refer to next Sunday as both Palm and Passion Sunday. Here is a short explanation, if you’re interested. The ELCA follows this framing as well intentionally holding together two movements at the start of Holy Week. We begin with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, waving palms and singing hosannas, and then we turn toward the solemn proclamation of the Passion, entering the story that will shape the days ahead. (Sidenote: In my quest for understanding the evolution of our hymnbooks in my lifetime — the 1958 Service Book and Hymnal, the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, and the 2006 Evangelical Lutheran Worship — the Palm/Passion combination first shows up in the 1978 LBW. If interested, you can see the full layout of the Palm Sunday through Easter period on pages 256-270 of our current hymnal, the ELW. I’m giving you an opportunity here to really sharpen up your skills of “talking Lutheran!”).

Our walk through Lent continues and on Wednesday we will arrive on day 30 of that 40-day journey. MaryBeth and I are on the road back from Texas and I’m utilizing information from a prior Palm Sunday blog, including a great column by Cory Driver.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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A compelling question for us this week:

What kind of King am I actually welcoming who enters Jerusalem not on a warhorse, but on a donkey?

*The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem* by Leullier (1811-82)

Leullier’s mid-19th Century painting, Entry of Christ into Jerusalem comes across like a lively street scene, with Jesus staying calm and steady while everything buzzes around him. The colors and movement naturally pull you toward him, even though the whole crowd is putting on a bit of a show. It captures that mix of celebration and quiet weight—like everyone knows something big is happening, even if they can’t name it yet.

Palm Sunday Readings (Palmerum)

Procession: Matthew 21: 1-11

Isaiah 50: 4-9a

Psalm 31: 9-16

Philippians 2: 5-11

Gospel: Matthew 27: 11-54

The Readings Are Linked!

Common Themes and Connecting Ideas

Palm/Passion Sunday traces the arc from Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem, welcomed as a king, to his rejection and suffering on the cross. Isaiah’s Servant and the psalmist’s lament frame this journey as one of steadfast obedience and trust in God amid humiliation, betrayal, and violence. Philippians deepens the theme by portraying Christ’s self‑emptying love, revealing that his suffering is not defeat but the path to exaltation. Together, the readings unveil a kingship defined by self‑giving service and a God who vindicates the righteous sufferer through love stronger than death.

Note: I utilize the Bible Gateway website for the readings (NRSVUE) and also receive as assist from Co-Pilot (A.I.) for summarizing the themes each week.

Palm Sunday Reflection

“Not Quite Ready for Palm Sunday”

The passion story (as noted above) is one of the texts for this Sunday. The following commentary by Cory Driver (Living Lutheran Blog) explores Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, another text for this Sunday. Reading it, along with the passion story, takes us through a range of emotions — the highs and lows of Palm/Passion Sunday.

Access it here

Driver is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA].

Visit His Website!

ELCA Commemorations This Week

Oscar Romero, the Annunciation, and Hans Nielsen Hauge give us a surprisingly rich sweep of Christian witness in the week of 23 March. On 24 March, we remember Oscar Romero, the Salvadoran bishop whose preaching for justice and solidarity with the poor cost him his life at the altar in 1980. On 25 March, the Annunciation pulls us back to the heart of the story—God choosing to enter the world through Mary’s brave “yes,” a moment that sets the whole gospel in motion. And on 29 March, Hans Nielsen Hauge reminds us how the Spirit can stir renewal from the ground up, as his lay preaching energized everyday believers and reshaped Norwegian church life in the early 1800s. We keep these commemorations not just to honor the past, but to stay awake to the many ways God works through ordinary people — prophets, disciples, reformers — and to let their courage and faithfulness nudge our own.

Note: Many upper midwestern Lutheran parishes, including ELC in Black River Falls, have “Haugean” roots and date back to the pre-Civil War era and first Norwegian settlers in the region. Read more about Hauge’s story here.

ELCA Commemorations This Week

Tuesday 24 March:
Oscar Romero, Bishop of El Salvador, martyr (d. 1980)

Wednesday 25 March:
ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD

Sunday 29 March:
Hans Nielsen Hauge, renewer of the church (d. 1824)

Reflective Music for Palm Sunday

“All Glory, Laud and Honor” has one of those backstories that feels almost tailor‑made for Palm Sunday. Theodulf of Orléans wrote it in the early 800s while he was sitting in a prison cell — hardly the setting you’d expect for a hymn full of praise and procession. The legend says the emperor heard him singing it through the bars and was so moved he ordered it sung every Palm Sunday. Even if that tale is embellished, it captures the hymn’s spirit: praise rising from a place of confinement. When John Mason Neale translated it centuries later and Melchior Teschner’s tune carried it into congregations, it became the soundtrack for Christians reenacting Christ’s humble ride into Jerusalem. And that’s where it connects so naturally to Leuillier’s painting — the hymn and the artwork both invite us to slow down and really see the scene, not as a grand parade but as a moment of unexpected kingship, where humility, color, and movement all point toward a different kind of glory.

Seraphic Voices of Toronto is a 26‑member ensemble founded in 2019 that blends Western choral traditions with the rich musical heritage of Africa. Under the leadership of Samuel Wesley Asare‑Kusi, the group brings together singers from diverse backgrounds to create a vibrant, cross‑cultural sound. Their repertoire ranges from classical works to contemporary African sacred music, reflecting a commitment to musical excellence and cultural storytelling. The ensemble has become known for themed concerts such as “An African Christmas Radiance” and for its growing presence in Toronto’s choral community. Together, these singers offer a joyful and compelling expression of faith, culture, and community through song.

Visit their website for more information.

Meditative Prayer: Inspired by Isaiah 50: 4-9a

Heavenly Father, grant us ears to hear Your wisdom each morning, and tongues to speak words of comfort to those in need. Strengthen our resolve to follow Your guidance steadfastly, even in the face of adversity, knowing that You are our refuge and strength. May we trust in Your faithfulness, finding our hope and salvation in Your everlasting love. Amen.

Going Beyond: Faith at Work

Interesting Ecumenical News This Week:

Sarah Mullally stepped into her role in January as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, making history as the first woman to hold the position. Her upcoming installation — often called an enthronement –marks the start of her public ministry as head of the Church of England and a unifying figure for Anglican churches around the world, including The Episcopal Church. Because the ELCA is in full communion with The Episcopal Church, Lutherans are closely connected to this wider Anglican family as well. Full communion means we share the Eucharist, recognize each other’s ministries, and work together in mission. Note the diagram detailing the churches with whom we are in full communion.

Read the full story of Mullally here!

FOR THOSE INVOLVED . . . .

Our in-person Lectionary discussion group that meets at ELC will be off until APRIL 12TH. This is due to travel on my part and activities on Palm Sunday and Easter.

Two Worlds: 22 March 2026: 5 Lent

16 Mar 202616 Mar 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: 5 Lent)

“Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you’re not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied. In the spiritual life, discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planned or counted on.”

(Henri Nouwen, Dutch Theologian)

INTRODUCTION
Living in the northland makes the Lenten journey feel like the slow turn from winter toward spring — a season that asks us to clear space inside ourselves the way the land slowly clears itself of ice. The gray, frozen landscape loosens, and the first thin layers of green push back into view. Lent invites that same discipline of stepping back from what occupies or preoccupies us so that God can do what we could not plan or predict. That movement from darkness to light, despair to hope, and death to life runs straight through the readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent — Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones and Jesus calling Lazarus from the tomb. Ezekiel’s vision has always pulled me in. He stands among the great prophetic voices — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Daniel — and he lived through the trauma of exile in Babylon after his people watched the Temple fall in 587 BCE. That loss cut deep into their identity. Ezekiel spoke with fierce clarity, confronting the idolatry and corruption of Israel’s leaders and insisting their choices mattered. Yet he refused to leave his people in despair. He promised restoration, a return home, a rebuilt Temple. At the center of those promises rises that wild, unforgettable vision: a valley of bones so dry they almost rattle, until God breathes life into them and they stand with energy and purpose. Darkness to light. Despair to hope. Death to life.

That same breath — God’s life‑giving Spirit — carried forward through Israel’s story, shaping the imagination of the people who later stood at Lazarus’s tomb. They knew the God who brings life out of death; they had sung it, prayed it, and passed it down for generations. So when Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, they recognized the pattern. God’s presence wasn’t an idea to them — it formed their memory, their imagination, their identity.

So what do we make of these stories two thousand years later? I’ve been sitting with that question this week. The same breath that filled those dry bones and stirred Lazarus awake still moves in and among us. Paul says it plainly in Romans 8: the Spirit dwells in us. That brings to mind the word enthusiasm — entheos — “God within us.” God doesn’t leave us stuck in darkness, despair, or death. God fills us with light, hope, and life — and calls us to live as if we trust that promise. And maybe that’s where Nouwen helps us land. Lent isn’t only about recognizing the breath of God; it’s about making room for it. Creating space — somewhere not occupied, not preoccupied — so that the same Spirit who raised dry bones and awakened Lazarus can move freely in us. The season invites us to that quiet, courageous openness.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Note: The opening quote comes from Henri Nouwen’s 1981 book, The Way of the Heart: Connecting With God Through Prayer, Wisdom, and Silence. A prolific writer, Nouwen published 42 books in his lifetime.

Navigate the Blog Here

Thanks for your visit again this week!

Monday (16 March) marks Day 22 of the 40-day Lenten journey (Ash Wednesday to Easter, not counting Sundays).

Reminders regarding the blog: utilize the table of contents to navigate around and also realize that I have links for greater depth that are italicized and bolded throughout the blog.

This Week’s Readings

Themes and Connections

The readings for 5 Lent trace a movement from death’s grip toward the life-giving breath of God. Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones and the psalmist’s cry “out of the depths” both name the stark reality of human despair while trusting that God can raise what seems lost. Paul deepens this hope by contrasting the futility of the flesh with the Spirit who brings life to mortal bodies. In John’s account of Lazarus, Jesus embodies this promise by stepping into grief, calling forth new life, and revealing God’s power to transform even the tomb into a place of awakening.

Ezekial 37: 1-14

Psalm 130

Romans 8: 6-11

John 11: 1-45

The Readings are Linked!

*The Raising of Lazarus* by Van Gogh (1890)

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings. All images are drawn from Wikimedia Commons, thereby copyright free.

Image of the Week

Francisco Collantes’ The Vision of Ezekiel (1630) plunges the viewer into the drama of Ezekiel 37 with a sweeping, almost theatrical sense of scale. The prophet stands elevated in his blue robe, arm outstretched as he confronts a valley littered with bones and half‑formed bodies—figures caught in the very moment between death and restoration. Around him, ruins and crumbling architecture heighten the sense of desolation, while the turbulent sky above suggests divine power breaking into the scene. The whole composition captures the tension and hope of the biblical vision: God’s breath stirring a devastated people back to life, an “exceeding great army” rising where only despair once lay.

“The Vision of Ezekiel” (1630) by Spanish painter Francisco Collantes (1599-1656)

This Week’s ELCA Commemorations

There are four ELCA commemorations this week:

Tuesday 17 March
Patrick, bishop and missionary to Ireland (d. 461)

Thursday 19 March
Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

Saturday 21 March
Thomas Cranmer, Bishop of Canterbury, martyr (d. 1556)

Sunday 22 March
Jonathan Edwards, teacher, missionary to American indians (d. 1758)

Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut, into a prominent Puritan family, and his early brilliance carried him to Yale at thirteen. He emerged as a central figure of the First Great Awakening in Northampton, where his preaching and writing helped redefine Calvinist theology for a changing colonial world. After conflicts over church membership led to his dismissal, he spent productive years as a missionary and scholar in Stockbridge, working among Mohican and Mohawk communities while completing major theological works. In 1758 he became president of the College of New Jersey, but died shortly after from a smallpox inoculation, leaving a legacy as one of early America’s most influential theologians

Learn More About His Story Here!

Musical Meditation: Abide With Me

Abide With Me comes out of Henry Francis Lyte’s own season of weakness and uncertainty, and that’s part of why it still feels so human. He wrote it near the end of his life, when the days really were “fast falling,” and his simple plea for God to stay close has the same emotional honesty you hear in Psalm 130. The psalmist cries “out of the depths” and waits for God the way a watchman waits for morning; Lyte is doing something similar, just in the language of evening—naming the fears that surface when things grow dim and trusting that God’s presence won’t slip away. Put together, the hymn and the psalm sound like two voices in the same room: one calling from the depths, the other from the edge of night, both leaning on the same steady mercy. The version I’m including here comes from a performance by the Concordia Choir at Central Lutheran in Minneapolis from 2024. Enjoy!

Lyrics

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Lyrics drawn from hymn 629, ELW.

The Concordia College Choir of Moorhead, Minnesota, is widely regarded as one of America’s premier a cappella ensembles, known for its refined blend and expressive musicality. Founded in 1920, the choir has built a century‑long legacy shaped by influential conductors including Paul J. Christiansen, René Clausen, and current director Dr. Michael Culloton. It tours nationally and internationally, performing sacred and secular repertoire in major concert halls and historic sacred spaces. Concordia College is one of 26 colleges and universities across the United States affiliated with the ELCA.

Learn More About the Choir Here!

Prayer Meditation: The Prayer of St. Patrick

The Prayer of St. Patrick (483) — often called St. Patrick’s Breastplate — is a bold, rhythmic call to “bind” oneself to God’s strength, presence, and protection. It paints a vivid picture of Christ surrounding the believer on every side, turning faith into something embodied and fiercely alive. Rooted in early Irish Christianity, the prayer endures because it speaks to our deep desire for courage, grounding, and the sense that God walks with us into every moment. I’m including it this week in honor of St. Patrick and for those with Irish heritage — in my case, twelve percent according to DNA testing. My Viking ancestors, apparently, made trips to Ireland!

*St. Patrick by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)*

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, Lord, be ever with us.

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

Greetings from Texas! We’re spending time with Jake and family this week.

FOR THOSE INVOLVED . . . .

Our in-person Lectionary discussion group that meets at ELC will be off until APRIL 12TH. This is due to travel on my part and activities on Palm Sunday and Easter.

Evangelical Lutheran Church (2024)
Joel Busse Photograph

Two Worlds: 15 March 2026: 4 Lent

6 Mar 20269 Mar 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: 4 Lent)

“The world desperately needs this Lutheran witness. In our current context, we see so much yelling — even as many people don’t feel heard or seen. There is so much anger, even as so many people’s hearts are breaking with grief. We are surrounded by so many voices, images and opinions, even as many people feel isolated and alone. God’s love has the power to break through all this noise, break down all this division, break apart all this cruelty. One person — you, the bearer of this love — can make all the difference. Put your body where love is needed.”

(Reverand Kristin Johnston Largen, President of Warburg Seminary, Iowa)

INTRODUCTION

John’s Gospel gives us a vivid conversion story this week: Jesus meets a man born blind, sees him with compassion, and restores his sight — sparking wonder, confusion, and notable outrage among the Pharisees. The moment exposes how easily we mistake certainty for vision, and how Christ keeps pulling us out of our shadows into the light of what is good and right and true. It’s the kind of moment Dr. Largen names so clearly: a world full of noise, anger, and isolation suddenly interrupted by a love that actually sees someone and moves toward them.

That same pattern shows up in the life of John Newton, whose own eyes began to open during a terrifying storm at sea in 1748. Newton had spent years participating in the slave trade, yet that night marked the beginning of a long, uneven conversion that eventually led him into abolitionist work, ministry, and the writing of a poem for a sermon—Faith’s Review and Expectation. We know it today as Amazing Grace, with its unforgettable confession: “Was blind, but now I see” (note John 9:25). Newton’s story, like the blind man’s, reminds us that God keeps showing up in the places we least expect, inviting us to see differently and live differently. And if Dr. Largen is right — and I believe she is — this is not just ancient history or a hymn’s backstory. It’s a call. In a world where so many feel unseen, unheard, or overwhelmed, the healing in John 9 and the awakening in Newton’s life point to the same truth: God’s love breaks through the noise by taking on flesh in ordinary people. One person, putting their body where love is needed, can make all the difference.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Note: The introductory quote from Kristin Johnston Largen was drawn from her Living Lutheran article (Spring 2026), page 53.

NAVIGATE THE BLOG HERE

Thanks for your visit here again this week! Monday (9 March) marks Day 16 of the Lenten season (40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday (not counting Sundays).

A reminder: Utilize the Table of Contents to navigate various sections of the blog and also take note of links within the text (italicized and bolded) that offer further explanations.

This Week’s Readings

Themes and Connections

The readings for 4 Lent trace how God sees and restores what human eyes overlook, moving people from shadow into true sight. Samuel learns that God chooses by the heart, Psalm 23 voices trust in a shepherd who leads through darkness, and Ephesians calls believers to awaken as children of light. John 9 embodies all of this as Jesus opens the eyes of a man born blind, revealing that real vision comes through encounter with God’s mercy rather than human judgment.

1 Samuel 16: 1-13

Psalm 23

Ephesians 5: 8-14

John 9: 1-41

The Readings are Linked!

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week

**“Healing of the Blind Man” by Danish painter Carl Bloch (1834-1890)**

Carl Bloch’s Healing of the Blind Man (1871) shows Jesus meeting Bartimaeus with a calm, steady authority as the blind man kneels and reaches toward him. The scene unfolds against dark stone walls, where townspeople, children, skeptics, and disciples gather — each reacting in their own way to the moment of grace. Bloch, a Danish painter trained at the Royal Danish Academy and shaped by years studying Italian masters, became known for religious works that combine emotional clarity with dramatic light. This painting highlights the shift from darkness to light, both in the setting and in Bartimaeus’s awakening, reflecting Bloch’s conviction that Christ’s miracles reveal a deeper kind of sight.

Learn More About Artistic Interpretations of John 9

This Week’s ELCA Commemorations

Among this week’s commemorations, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth come across as two women who simply refused to let the world stay as it was, and they carried a fierce, grounded faith that shaped everything they did. Tubman’s courage on the Underground Railroad and Truth’s preaching and public witness both grew out of a deep conviction that God intends freedom, dignity, and wholeness for every person. The ELCA remembers them as renewers of society because their lives didn’t just challenge injustice — they helped re‑imagine what a just society could look like, insisting that faith must take the side of the oppressed. Their stories still nudge us today to put our own bodies where love, courage, and truth are needed most.

Learn More About Their Remarkable Stories Here!

There are three ELCA commemorations this week:

Tuesday 10 March:
Harriet Tubman (d. 1913) and Sojourner Truth (d. 1883), Renewers of Society

Thursday 12 March:
Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome (d. 604)

Musical Meditation and Prayer: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace began as a New Year’s Day sermon illustration John Newton wrote in 1772, long after a violent storm at sea first shook him awake to God’s mercy during his years in the slave trade. Newton later became an Anglican priest in Olney, England, where he and poet William Cowper published the text—then titled Faith’s Review and Expectation—in their 1779 collection Olney Hymns, printed without any musical setting. The hymn remained relatively modest in England, but it flourished in the United States during the early 19th century, especially amid the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening, where its message of grace resonated across denominations. Its now‑familiar melody, New Britain, was added in 1835 by American composer William Walker, and that pairing transformed Amazing Grace into one of the most widely sung hymns in the world, cherished for its simple poetry, its honest confession, and its enduring promise of redemption.

The version offered here is a wonderful interpretation of the song performed by the Salt Lake Choral Artists. Enjoy!

Lyrics

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

Note: These lyrics are drawn from the ELW (779).

Salt Lake Choral Artists is a distinguished multi‑ensemble choral organization in Salt Lake City, recognized for its artistic excellence, stylistic versatility, and commitment to choral education. Bringing together singers of varied ages and backgrounds, the organization presents performances that range from classical masterworks to global and contemporary repertoire, often in collaboration with leading artists and institutions. Through initiatives such as the Summer Choral Institute, they cultivate emerging talent and support the development of singers, conductors, and composers. Their work has earned consistent regional and national acclaim, positioning them as an ensemble that enriches both the cultural life of their community and the broader choral landscape.

Visit Their Website Here

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

ARE YOU INTERESTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA? (ELCA)

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION!

And, here is something you may find hopeful regarding the situation in the Middle East — it is from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) website:

Joint statement from Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed church leaders

Leaders of four global Christian communions say they are “profoundly dismayed” at the international community’s failure to prevent wars including the escalation of conflict in Iran and the Middle East.

Read the Full Statement Here

**Pioneer Chapel and Christ Statue, ELC**

ONE MORE THING!

Our in-person Lectionary discussion group that meets at ELC will be off until APRIL 12TH. This is due to travel on my part and activities on Palm Sunday and Easter.

Two Worlds: 8 March 2026: 3 Lent

2 Mar 20262 Mar 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: 3 Lent)

“In his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus must overcome a number of barriers to interaction, much less to genuine, vulnerable conversation. Their contrasting genders, ethnic identities, faiths, and social roles all discourage them from speaking to each other . . . And when she leans in, connecting his proclamation to her own sacred teachings, Jesus honors her with his own trust. He confesses to her — the first person to whom Jesus himself makes this claim in John’s Gospel — that he is the expected Messiah.” (Serena Rice)

INTRODUCTION

Life’s chance encounters sit close to the surface for me this week as I return to Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. John writes this scene not as a detached reporter but as one of the early church’s theological narrators, shaping the community’s memory of Jesus through the sources available to him — his own presence among the disciples on that journey through Samaria, the stories they shared afterward, and the oral tradition that carried these encounters forward. That layered memory lets him slow the pace and let us overhear a real conversation unfolding in real time. And beneath it all runs the question that drove every Gospel writer and still presses on us today: Who is Jesus for us, here and now? In John’s hands, that question comes alive in the bright noon light, where an unexpected meeting becomes a turning point for a woman, a village, and anyone willing to listen.

“*The Samaritan Women” by Tito (c. 1919)*

The Samaritan woman — known in Eastern Orthodox tradition as Photini, steps into the story unnamed but unforgettable. Jesus and his disciples take the direct route from Judea to Galilee, which means passing through Samaria. That choice alone carries weight. Jews and Samaritans shared ancestry but lived with deep hostility, especially over where God should be worshiped: Jerusalem for Jews, Mount Gerizim for Samaritans. What feels like an old family argument to us was a defining boundary line two thousand years ago. Into that tension, Jesus initiates a long, open conversation with a woman who, by every social measure, should have been ignored. She carried three strikes: Samaritan, woman, and someone whose marital history raised eyebrows. Yet Jesus not only speaks with her—he speaks with her longer than with anyone else in the Gospels, as Barbara Brown Taylor notes. And she becomes the first person to whom he openly reveals himself as the Messiah. Those details should stop us in our tracks. As you read the exchange, notice how Jesus meets her. Nicodemus came at night, curious but cautious. She came for water, not answers. Jesus seeks her out in broad daylight and opens a conversation that touches her deepest truth. You can almost feel the moment her world shifts. Her response stands in sharp contrast to Nicodemus. He fades back into the shadows, still wrestling. She runs toward her community with joy, becoming the first evangelist in John’s Gospel. Because of her testimony, the people of Sychar come to Jesus and proclaim him “the Savior of the world.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

Note: My reflections here were prompted by Serena Rice’s article in the March 2026 edition of The Christian Century (p. 25). She serves as Pastor at Abiding Peace Lutheran Church in Budd Lake, New Jersey. Abiding Peace is a member of the ELCA.

Monday (2 March) marks Day 11 of the 40 day Lenten Journey which began on Ash Wednesday (18 February) and will end on Maundy Thursday (1 April).

Thanks for visiting this space again this week and two reminders: utilize the links to the left to navigate the blog and be aware that I have various links throughout the blog that will take you to sites for further reading!

This Week’s Readings

Themes and Connections

The readings for Lent 3 tighten around a single arc: people thirst, hearts harden, and God meets that resistance with sustaining mercy. Israel’s quarrel at Massah and Meribah becomes the backdrop for Psalm 95’s warning, even as Paul names the deeper truth—God pours out love precisely when we are weakest. That love takes flesh in Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, where living water breaks open old boundaries and turns skepticism into witness.

Exodus 17: 1-7

Psalm 95

Romans 5: 1-11

John 4: 5-42

The Readings are Linked!

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week

*“Christ and the Samaritan Woman,” (c. 1593) by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609)*

Carracci’s Christ and the Samaritan Woman captures the moment when an ordinary stop at a well turns into a life‑changing conversation. Jesus leans toward her with a calm, open gesture, meeting her right in the middle of her daily routine—much like Pastor Serena Rice describes, breaking through every barrier that should have kept them apart. The woman pauses with her jar, caught between the world she knows and the unexpected trust he offers, and the whole scene glows with the quiet revelation of someone realizing, perhaps for the first time, who is standing before her.

Learn more about this painting here.

This Week’s ELCA Commemorations

There are three ELCA commemorations this week:

Monday 2 March:
John Wesley (d. 1791), Charles Wesley (d. 1788), Renewers of the Church

Saturday 7 March:
Perpetua, Felicity, and Companions, martyrs at Carthage (202)

Perpetua and Felicity were part of a small group of North African Christians martyred in Carthage in 203, during a wave of persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus. Perpetua — a young noblewoman and new mother — and Felicity — an enslaved woman who gave birth in prison days before the execution — stood alongside their companions as a community formed not by status but by baptismal identity. Their story, preserved in The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, shows them crossing social, economic, and gender boundaries with the same kind of courageous trust Pastor Serena Rice highlights in the Samaritan woman: when Christ meets people across the lines meant to divide them, they respond with a boldness that still speaks to us today.

Learn More About Their Story Here!

Musical Meditation

“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” comes from Horatius Bonar (1808–1889), a Scottish pastor who wrote it in the 1840s during his ministry in Kelso. He crafted it as a simple, direct invitation to Christ — part of his wider effort to give congregations and young people clear, memorable gospel language. Its imagery of thirst, rest, and living water echoes the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4, where Christ meets human need with an offer of life that never runs dry. The hymn appears in Evangelical Lutheran Worship at ELW 332, placed in the Lent section, and most hymnals trace its origin to Bonar’s early collections such as The Bible Hymn‑Book (1845–1850), where several of his texts first appeared.

Lyrics

1. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in him a resting-place,
And he has made me glad.

2. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quench’d, my soul revived,
And now I live in him.

3. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
Look unto me, your morn shall rise,
And all your day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of life I’ll walk,
Till trav’ling days are done.

The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge is one of the world’s leading collegiate choirs, known for its luminous blend, expressive clarity, and deep roots in the English choral tradition. Made up of around thirty choral scholars and two organ scholars, it sings regular services in Trinity’s historic chapel and maintains an active schedule of touring, broadcasting, and award‑winning recording. Gramophone has ranked it among the top choirs globally, a reputation built on both its centuries‑old heritage and its adventurous, wide‑ranging repertoire.

Visit Their Website Here

Prayer Meditation: The Serenity Prayer

The latest U.S.–Israeli bombing strikes in the Middle East have stirred that familiar heaviness — the sense that the world might be sliding toward another war. With a soldier in the family for more than twenty years, we have learned to take these moments in stride and not overreact, but they still land hard. In times like this, the heart reaches for words that steady us, which is why Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer still feels so alive. When it first appeared in the 1944 Book of Prayers and Services for the Armed Forces, chaplains used it to help soldiers face fear, uncertainty, and the limits of their own control. But the prayer was never meant for military life alone. Its quiet movement—from accepting what can’t be changed, to acting where we must, to discerning the difference—speaks just as clearly to civilians watching events unfold from a distance yet feeling their weight. In every era of conflict, it offers a way to stay grounded without becoming resigned, and hopeful without becoming naïve.

*Protestant Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr*
*(1892-1971)*

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Click here for more history of this prayer.

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

The Lutheran World Federation—a global communion of Lutheran churches that includes the ELCA—marks four years of accompanying Ukrainians through the trauma and displacement caused by Russia’s full‑scale invasion. Its teams and member churches continue to repair homes, support schools, and provide psychosocial care even as violence intensifies and winter conditions worsen. Ukrainian church leaders express deep gratitude for global solidarity and urge continued support as international funding declines and humanitarian needs grow.

Read more about this story here!

Access the Homepage of Two Worlds here
(linked to the picture). I offer more background there and also the entire archive of the first three years.

Two Worlds: 1 March 2026: 2 Lent

22 Feb 202623 Feb 2026 / Rykken / Leave a comment

Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: 2 Lent)

African Methodist Episcopal Church
Nicodemus, Kansas

INTRODUCTION

Place names often carry remarkable stories. Founded in 1877 by formerly enslaved people from Kentucky, Nicodemus, Kansas took its name from the biblical figure in Sunday’s Gospel because the settlers saw their new community as a kind of “new birth.” The AME Church, built in 1885, quickly became the town’s spiritual and civic anchor, hosting worship, school lessons, and community gatherings; today it stands within the Nicodemus National Historic Site as a powerful reminder of the faith and resilience that shaped this Reconstruction‑era settlement.

So who was Nicodemus, and why did his story matter enough to inspire a town’s name in the hinterland of North America? An intriguing character, he appears only in John’s Gospel, and we meet him three times—first in John 3 during his nighttime conversation with Jesus, then in John 7 when he challenges the Pharisees’ rush to judgment, and finally in John 19 when he helps Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus. A Pharisee steeped in Jewish law, he comes to Jesus under cover of darkness, genuinely seeking to understand what God is doing through him. He senses something divine in Jesus but struggles with the idea of being “born again,” a concept that doesn’t fit his religious framework. His tension exposes how easily religious structures can distract us from Christ himself, a temptation that sits squarely within the First Commandment. Nicodemus wrestles because Jesus is announcing a new reality that stretches beyond conventional Judaism, yet the later references to him show a man changed by the encounter — someone who comes to see Jesus as the Son of God. In that sense, he becomes a mirror for us. And it’s in this same conversation that we hear John 3:16, perhaps the most quoted verse in Scripture. It sounds simple — believe and be saved — but as Lutherans we remember that salvation rests on grace, not on our own effort. That’s why verses 16 and 17 belong together: God enters the world through Christ not to condemn but to save, an expansive promise that includes all of humanity and challenges us every day.

Soli deo Gloria!

Thanks for visiting this space again this week! We are now in the 40 days of Lent (46 calendar days, because Sundays are not counted), leading to Holy Week (the first week in April).

Something to think about . . .

“The Christian faith, while wildly misrepresented in so much of American culture, is really about death and resurrection. It’s about how God continues to reach into the graves we dig for ourselves and pull us out, giving us new life, in ways both dramatic and small.”

(Nadia Bolz-Weber, as quoted in Love Outpoured: Devotions for Lent 2026, Augsburg Fortress Publishing).

Use these links to navigate the blog!

This Week’s Readings

Genesis 12: 1-4a

Psalm 121

Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17

John 3: 1-17

The Readings Are Linked

Themes and Connections

The readings for 2 Lent trace a movement of trust: Abram steps into an unknown future on the strength of God’s promise, the psalmist lifts his eyes to the One who guards every step, and Paul insists that such trust—faith apart from works—is the true inheritance of God’s people. Nicodemus’s nighttime conversation with Jesus extends this theme, revealing that new birth and salvation flow not from human effort but from God’s initiative and love. Together, the texts invite a posture of receptive faith that opens us to God’s surprising, life‑giving future.

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week: “Christ and Nicodemus“

“Christ and Nicodemus” by Matthias Stom (c.1600 –1652) Dutch-Flemish

Matthias Stom’s depiction of John 3: 1-17 comes from the mid-1600s. Stom was drawn to moments when people were wrestling with big spiritual questions, so Nicodemus’s late‑night conversation was a natural fit for him. In the world Stom inhabited — where the church was urging people toward personal renewal — the scene underscores the heart of the passage: a respected teacher trying to make sense of new birth and the depth of God’s love revealed in Christ.

Learn more about the artist here.

This Week’s ELCA Commemorations

There are three ELCA commemorations this week:

Monday 23 February:
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna,
martyr (d. 156)
Wednesday 25 February:
Elizabeth Fedde, deaconess (d. 1921)
Sunday 1 March:
George Herbert, hymnwriter (d. 1633)

Norwegian immigrant Elizabeth Fedde played a significant role in the Deaconess movement, a Christian tradition focused on social service and ministry. Drawing from her own experiences and convictions, she championed the idea of women serving in practical, hands-on roles within their communities, particularly in addressing the needs of the poor and marginalized.

Fedde came to Minneapolis in 1888 at the invitation of Midwestern Lutherans who wanted to replicate the deaconess work she had pioneered in Brooklyn. During her brief but influential stay, she founded a deaconess home and helped launch what became the Hospital of the Lutheran Free Church — Deaconess Hospirtal. Her Minneapolis work anchored Lutheran social ministry in the Upper Midwest and shaped care for generations of Norwegian‑American immigrants. Thanks to my pal Rollie Lee for putting me on to Fedde’s story!

Read about Elizabeth here!

Musical Meditation

“There Is a Balm in Gilead” has long been one of my favorites because my mother, Cathy Rykken, sang it often, and its soaring melody fit her soprano voice beautifully. The song itself grew out of the 19th‑century African American spiritual tradition, drawing on Jeremiah’s question about healing in Gilead and transforming it into a Christian affirmation that Christ restores the “sin‑sick soul.” Included as one of roughly fourteen spirituals in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal (#614), it isn’t officially a Lenten hymn, yet congregations often sing it during Lent because its message of healing and hope speaks so directly into the season’s themes. My sense is they sang this often in that AME Church in Nicodemus, Kansas!

The interpretation I posted here is remarkable in a couple ways. The sound quality is superb (especially good with headphones), and the style makes it meditative. Enjoy!

The Adventist Vocal Ensemble was a UK‑based broadcast choir led by Ken Burton, known for its polished hymn arrangements and frequent appearances on the BBC’s Songs of Praise. The recording I’ve posted comes from 2013, during the group’s most active period. Their website hasn’t been updated since 2016, so the ensemble may no longer be active as a formal performing group, or they may have merged with another ensemble.

Prayer Meditation: Psalm 121

Psalm 121, one of the “Songs of Ascents,” likely accompanied pilgrims on their climb to Jerusalem and speaks with steady confidence about God’s protective care. It has long been my favorite. Known as “The Traveler’s Psalm,” my father requested it for his funeral in 2013, echoing his saying that “we’re all just traveling through.” I later learned it had been read at his father’s funeral as well, a quiet thread of faith that binds our family across generations. The accompanying prayer reflects the Psalm.

Further Information Here

God, you know the roads we walk and the ones we can’t yet see. Lift our eyes when we grow tired, and steady us with the promise that you never drift off or look away. Watch over our coming and going today—every step, every conversation, every quiet moment—and keep us rooted in the trust that you travel with us. Amen.

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

1960s Lutheran Humor

If you grew up within the tradition of 1950s and 60s Lutheranism, these cartoons by Charles Schultz resonate! Schultz had a gift.

Access the Homepage of Two Worlds here
(linked to the picture). I offer more background there and also the entire archive of the first three years.

18 and 22 February 2026: Ash Wednesday and 1 Lent

16 Feb 2026 / Rykken / 2 Comments

Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: Ash Wednesday and 1 Lent)

“In a social mileiu so tuned to chronos, it can be difficult to imagine ourselves as participants in a drama enacted in kairos and so learn to view the events around us from this eternal perspective. . . Calibrating ourselves — body, soul, and mind — to the liturgical calendar may not seem like something that would change our relationship to the news. But there is a profound, insidious kind of formation that happens when the first thing we do in the morning is to reach for a smartphone to find out what new thing occurred while we were sleeping. Such habits form the horizon of meaning by which we judge the significance of our daily life and actions. Structuring our days and weeks instead around Christ orients us to his story and equips us to fit the news of our day into the redemptive pattern of his life and work.“

(Dr. Jeffrey Bilbro, Grove City College, Pennsylvania)

INTRODUCTION

Author Jeffrey Bilbro has me thinking about how we experience time and further, how time shapes our “horizon of meaning.” In the Greek tradition, chronos and kairos name two very different ways of moving through our days: chronos is the clock — think minutes, deadlines, schedules — while kairos is the charged moment of openness — the kind of time that feels alive with meaning. Early Christians, shaped by Greek language and thought, naturally used this distinction to describe how God works both in history and in the moments that break it open. When we lean too hard into chronos, we lose our sense of kairos and allow the gatekeepers of chronos — especially the relentless news cycle — to define our reality. Chronos keeps us busy; kairos keeps us awake. Hold that tension as you enter the readings this week.

*Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337 CE)*

And, here is some background on the next season in our church year. Lent — from the Old English lencten, meaning springtime — has deep roots in Christian practice. The 40‑day season took shape after 313 CE, when Constantine embraced Christianity, and the Council of Nicea in 325 helped solidify its rhythms. The number forty echoes through Scripture: Moses on Sinai, Elijah’s journey to Horeb, Jesus fasting in the wilderness. On Wednesday, many of us will receive ashes in the sign of the cross, a gesture of humility and mortality (Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris). Luther himself kept Ash Wednesday, even as some early reformers dismissed it as too “Catholic.” Today, the Day of Ashes is observed across much of Western Christianity. Like many of you, I grew up with Lenten customs –classmates giving up chips or soda, small acts of self‑denial that sometimes felt more dutiful than transformative. In my home, the emphasis fell less on “giving something up” and more on tending the inner life. I once heard Lent described as “spring cleaning for our souls,” and that phrase has stayed with me. It suggests clearing space for kairos — those openings where grace can slip past the noise and do its quiet work.

*Eternity (Terra Antigua)*
*by Shirley Jones*

As we step into this season, I feel the pull of chronos more than ever — the rush, the headlines, the constant sense that whatever just flashed across a screen deserves my whole attention. Lent invites something different. It asks us to slow down enough to notice the openings, the preparation, the quiet work of God that rarely announces itself. In a world shaped by chronos, Lent remains one of the church’s oldest ways of reclaiming kairos.

Thanks for visiting this space and my hope is that the blog helps you frame the readings each week! I am experimenting with formatting, and it remains a work in progress. Please feel free to contact me with any feedback. My contact information is included on my homepage.

Jeffrey Bilbro’s book, Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News, provides that backdrop for my introduction this week. He is helping me understand how to navigate news in these challenging times!

(Note: Check out the short video in “Going Beyond” for more on these time dimensions in our lives).

Marcus Aurelius’ well‑known reminder — “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think” — captures a truth that aligns closely with the Christian beginning of Lent. Genesis 3:19 offers its own stark wisdom: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Both statements call us to live with clarity, humility, and a deeper awareness of what truly matters.

The links to the right allow for easy navigation of the various components of the blog. Enjoy!

This Week’s Readings

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17

Psalm 51: 1-17

2 Corinthians 5: 20b-6:10

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21

The readings are linked.

Themes and Connections

The readings for Ash Wednesday call God’s people to return with honest hearts—turning from pretense, self‑reliance, and public displays of piety toward the mercy that alone can renew us. Together they remind us that true repentance is an inward turning shaped by God’s grace, a way of life that endures hardship yet trusts that now—this moment—is the acceptable time for transformation.

1 Lent

Genesis 2: 15-17, 3: 1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5: 12-19
Matthew 4: 1-11

The Readings are linked.

Try the Four-Question Approach to the Readings

What is something NEW?
What is something that made you REFLECT?
What is something that RELATES to prior knowledge?
What is something you would like to further DISCUSS?

Themes and Connections

The texts for 1 Lent trace the deep human struggle with temptation –from the garden’s first turning away to Jesus’ faithful resistance in the wilderness — and reveal how sin distorts our desires and burdens our lives. Together they proclaim that God meets us in our weakness with forgiveness and new possibility, so that in Christ’s obedience we are drawn from hiding and fear into restored relationship and renewed life.

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week

*“Christ in the Wilderness” by Russian painter Ivan Kramskoy (1872)*

Explore Kramskoy’s Painting Here

This Week’s ELCA Commemoration

Martin Luther, Renewer of the Church
(1483-1546)

WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY: MARTIN LUTHER

Martin Luther died in the early morning hours of February 18, 1546, 480 years ago this week. He was in his hometown of Eisleben, where he had traveled to help settle a local dispute. His final hours were lucid and peaceful, marked by confession of faith and the presence of his longtime colleague Justus Jonas, who recorded the details to counter later rumors. After his death, Luther’s body was taken back to Wittenberg, where large crowds gathered to honor the reformer who had reshaped the Christian world.

Musical Meditation

“Jesus Is a Rock in a Weary Land” is one of roughly fourteen African American spirituals included in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, a small but meaningful witness to this tradition within the hymnal. Emerging from the late‑19th‑century spiritual repertoire and carried into wider circulation by groups like the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the hymn draws on vivid biblical images of God as refuge and strength — images born from both Scripture and the lived experience of Black communities seeking hope amid hardship. Its rhythmic, refrain‑driven character places it at the crossroads of spirituals and early gospel, making it deeply singable across traditions. In ELW it appears among the Lenten hymns (#333), a placement that highlights how its central metaphor — the “weary land” — speaks to themes of vulnerability, endurance, and trust in God’s sustaining presence during the church’s season of reflection and return.

I hope you will enjoy this interpretation of the song performed by the combined choirs of The Middle Church in New York City.

Middle Church is a lively, justice‑driven congregation in Manhattan’s East Village, known for its big‑hearted, multicultural community and its commitment to what it calls “revolutionary love.” Under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, it’s become a spiritual home for people across backgrounds—deeply rooted in Christian tradition while fully embracing LGBTQ+ inclusion, anti‑racism, and social healing. It’s as much a movement as a church, with worship, activism, and digital ministry all woven together to create a community that reaches far beyond New York City.

Visit Their Website for More Information

Prayer Meditation (Ancient Text)

And Ancient Prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary

O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright, grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Some background . . .

The Gelasian Sacramentary is one of the earliest surviving Western liturgical books, compiled in the 7th or early 8th century and traditionally (though inaccurately) attributed to Pope Gelasius I. Rather than a single author’s work, it represents a collection of Roman and Gallican prayers that were gradually shaped into a usable liturgical resource for priests. It later influenced the development of the Gregorian Sacramentary and helped form the backbone of Western eucharistic and pastoral prayer traditions.

Source: A Barclay Prayer Book (2003). This is a compilation of prayers for the liturgical year.

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

Further Exploration

Find the Balance Between Chronos and Kairos Time

And, check this out from the Lutheran World Federation!

Lutherans and Catholics explore deep ecumenical potential of Augsburg Confession

Access the Homepage of Two Worlds here
(linked to the picture).

I offer more background there and also the entire archive of the first three years.

Also, join us Sunday for in-person discussion of the Lectionary in the church library from 10:45-11:00. All are welcome!