Jim was a life-long Lutheran. His wife, Carol, was an adult convert to the Lutheran faith. Their children, Billy, Miranda, and Nicole, were confirmed as teenagers in the Lutheran church.

Jim served on the Church Council and Carol was active in the church’s women’s ministry. Their children were active in the youth group. But Jim daily battled the demons of alcoholism. He lost more than he won. Carol tried holding the family together, while at the same time conducting a daily search for the liquor bottles and dumping out the ones she found.

Do you know anyone who has sat for years in a classroom, taking notes, doing the homework, nodding at the appropriate times … and yet, just didn’t seem to get it? The light was on, but nobody seemed to be home? The head knowledge was there, but it didn’t translate into faith or action?

You may think I’m talking about the confirmands. I’m actually referring to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

I have been coaching soccer at Wisconsin Lutheran School for the past 10 years. Over that time, the parents and players have been able to notice a few things about my coaching style. 1) I am constantly talking to the players throughout the game; 2) the parents can hear me talking (i.e. yelling) to players from the other side of the field; 3) I am always pacing the sideline during the game. I can’t sit down.

At one point early in Julius Caesar’s political career, feelings ran so high against him that he thought it best to leave Rome. He sailed for the Aegean island of Rhodes, but en route the ship was attacked by pirates and Caesar was captured. The pirates demanded a ransom of 12,000 gold pieces, and Caesar’s staff was sent away to arrange the payment.

Ashes on a sackcloth banner. Nail pins on the lapel. Refusing to sing Alleluias. Stripping of the altar.

There is a note of sobriety and somberness about the Lenten season. And that is as it should be. The liturgical silences and the somber worship of Lent serve to underscore the profound tragedy of our sin and the awesome penalty that sin exacted: the very death of God!

In the center of the crowd gathered on Golgotha’s hill, two burly Roman soldiers hold Jesus’ arms to the rough wooden beam. Another holds His legs. The beams are being reused and so they are already stained with dried blood.

A few years ago, my family sat down to watch the movie “Marley and Me.” The movie is about how John and Jenny Grogan, a newly married couple, adopt a yellow Labrador retriever puppy in order to see if the couple is ready to become parents. They name the puppy after the reggae singer, Bob Marley.

You may have heard the story of how Canning, two weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday, moved out of her New Jersey parents’ home. Canning had moved in to her best friend’s home and with the financial support of her friend’s parents, sued her own parents for financial support. 

Comedian Paul Reiser wrote once about mother’s spit: “I saw a kid who had some dried-up food on his face. His mother took out a tissue, spit on the tissue and rubbed it into the kid’s face. This goes on, in communities around our country, on a daily basis. It is disgusting, but it sure does work, doesn’t it? There’s something in Mother Saliva that cleans like nobody’s business.