Holy Trinity Lutheran Church - Ankeny, IA

  • Home
    • Covid-19
    • Governing Documents
    • Council
    • Staff
    • Mission Partners
    • Church Calendar
    • Building Use
    • Employment
    • Mobile App
  • Worship
    • Worship
    • Devotions
    • Music Ministries >
      • Adult Choir Schedule & Resources
    • Baptism
    • Weddings
    • Prayer Requests
    • Flowers
    • Welcome Card
  • Learn
    • Children's Ministry
    • Middle School Ministry
    • High School Ministry
    • Adult Learning
    • Grace Notes
  • GIVE
    • Realm Giving
    • GIving Funds
  • Participate
    • Sign Up
    • Small Groups
    • Calendar
  • WELCOME
    • Welcome
    • I want to Join
    • Our Mission
    • FAQ
    • Contact Us
  • REALM
    • Realm
    • Realm Tips
  • Food Pantry
  • Home
    • Covid-19
    • Governing Documents
    • Council
    • Staff
    • Mission Partners
    • Church Calendar
    • Building Use
    • Employment
    • Mobile App
  • Worship
    • Worship
    • Devotions
    • Music Ministries >
      • Adult Choir Schedule & Resources
    • Baptism
    • Weddings
    • Prayer Requests
    • Flowers
    • Welcome Card
  • Learn
    • Children's Ministry
    • Middle School Ministry
    • High School Ministry
    • Adult Learning
    • Grace Notes
  • GIVE
    • Realm Giving
    • GIving Funds
  • Participate
    • Sign Up
    • Small Groups
    • Calendar
  • WELCOME
    • Welcome
    • I want to Join
    • Our Mission
    • FAQ
    • Contact Us
  • REALM
    • Realm
    • Realm Tips
  • Food Pantry

REPLACEMENT THEORY

5/19/2022

2 Comments

 
Picture
This past week, a young man went to a grocery store in Buffalo, New York and started shooting. The location chosen, after a prolonged period of planning by the shooter, was in a Black neighborhood. He shot victims for one reason and one reason alone: they were Black. The white shooter was convinced that a vast conspiracy was afoot to “replace” all the white people in his world, including himself, with people of color, immigrants, and Jews. He was driven by hate cultivated by paranoia, fear, and just plain old stupidity. ​


Read More
2 Comments

EXTRACURRICULAR FAITH

5/12/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
​When I left college and started a career (the first one), life seemed full. I had my job. As I was back in my hometown, I had family. I had friends. I was still an active musician and often had a band to play with on a lot of weekends. Life was full. As life became more complicated, I found my way back to church. It seemed a worthwhile extracurricular activity, something to fit in the spaces - when there were spaces. I thought I would meet new friends, or maybe even a cute young woman (that happened later and is a story for another day). 


Read More
0 Comments

feed my sheep

5/5/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
In last Sunday’s gospel lesson, Jesus asks Simon Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Each time, Simon Peter says, “Yes, I love you.” Then Jesus commands him to “feed my sheep” and “tend my sheep.” This lesson is often used at the ordination of a pastor to drive home the charge to tend or care for the flock – the congregation, the people of God. ​​


Read More
0 Comments

are you a mystic?

4/28/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
This week we started an adult learning series on Christian mysticism. If you are like most of us, the first question might be either, “Why?” or, “What the heck is that?” When we use words like “mystic” or “mystical,” it generally makes us think of things “other-worldly” or mysterious. In a sense, this  
would be true. “Mystery” shares its root with “mystic.” As people who think of ourselves as “real,” firmly planted in the “real world,” we may not think ourselves to be mystics by any means. Mysticism, we think, is the realm of monks, nuns, hermits, and those who have visions and weird dreams.


Read More
0 Comments

CALLING A NEW PASTOR – UPDATE

4/21/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Pastor Pam Schroeder has officially ended her ministry at Holy Trinity. Easter Sunday was her last official act. On Passion Sunday we bid her farewell and released her from her service in worship. As I write, I think she is on her way to the Netherlands for a well-deserved vacation. Her office is empty, and her emails are flowing into my mailbox!


Read More
0 Comments

bless the journey

4/14/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Lillian Daniel and Martin Copenhauer authored a book several years ago entitled This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers. I think of this book as I reflect on my years in ministry. Ordained ministry is a wonderous calling. Over the past 30 years I have served in a variety of churches and as a hospice chaplain. There were joys and challenges throughout the journey. Each congregation and setting had its own personality. All have been on a journey to be faithful to their mission. I am blessed to have walked along with them.


Read More
0 Comments

Holy week - unholy world

4/7/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Secularization is a big word used to describe a long-term trend in our culture. It refers to the simple fact that all sense of the Holy has been drained out of our existence. When everything and everyone becomes an object useful only for my enjoyment or my purchase, nothing is sacred or holy anymore. The only subject that matters is me because everything is about me. There is nothing bigger than me, beyond what I can consume or enjoy. Life becomes watered down to a simple hedonism – “Eat. Drink. Be merry (not happy or joyous). For tomorrow we die."


Read More
0 Comments

DIAGNOSIS - ANOMIE (IT’S A THING)

3/31/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of the results of the long night of the Covid-19 pandemic is the way it has accelerated trends that have afflicted our society for a long time. In the church, for instance, any reluctance to embrace technology that connected people virtually was swept away by the necessity to connect when we could not gather. The long-term trend of waning involvement in religious life went into high gear as the pandemic offered the perfect motivation to end the habit of weekly worship or other involvement in the congregation.  ​


Read More
0 Comments

If it ain't broke

3/24/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
As lots of you know, I like to cook. When I find a recipe that works, that produces some tasty delight, many might say that the next time I make the dish, I should follow the cultural advice, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I think this is bad advice. There is always room for improvement. Next time I make the same dish, I experiment. Maybe it is because I was once an aspiring jazz musician who lived to improvise. Maybe it is a faith thing – we worship a God who says, “I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5


Read More
1 Comment

March 17th, 2022

3/17/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
As another St. Patrick’s Day comes upon us, most of the attention will be on the celebration of Irish culture with corned beef and cabbage and green beer. The degrading stereotype of the Irish as “drunks” will play out in pubs and parades that all really miss the fact that this day is a feast day for a saint of the Christian faith. Green beer and drunkenness have nothing to do with it. 
​


Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture

    ​Categories

    All
    Learning
    Outreach
    Spiritual Transformation
    Stewardship
    Worship

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    RSS Feed

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
A congregation of the Southeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
517 SW Des Moines St.
Ankeny, IA 50023
Phone: 515-964-4348

Worship Schedule:
Sundays at 8:30 and 10:00 am
Livestream on Sundays at 10:00 am on YouTube

Picture
Picture