What does a cup of cold water really mean?
What is Jesus talking about? When Jesus says, “and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I…
Discipleship Danger
Today on Father’s Day, when we want to be together and celebrate with love and family, we’ve got Jesus coming along saying “For I have come to set a man…
Weekly Pastor’s Note | Difficult Conversations
A couple weeks ago, I attended the Solidarity March in downtown Madison sponsored by the African American Council of Churches. I haven’t been to many marches like this, but my…
Jesus Christ, Our Propitiation
Translating the Good News The Christian Church on earth is being called on to take up the challenge of translating what it really means in this time to confess allegiance…
Creation
Where are you from? A number of African-American women spoke to the public at the end of the Black Lives Matter Solidarity March on Sunday evening. Madison Alder Barbara Harrington-McKinney…
How to prepare Holy Communion at Home
Instructions to Prepare for Holy Communion Before worship begins, set a table with enough bread and wine/grape juice for each person present. During our live-streamed worship service, a pastor will…
God’s Language of Grace
Holy Trinity Sunday Today is Holy Trinity Sunday on the church calendar and confession time, since becoming a pastor this has not been my favorite church holiday because today we…
Pastoral Letter From Pastor Chris Enstad
Dear friends & family at Good Shepherd, In the last two weeks our nation surpassed over 100,000 individual lives lost to the pandemic. In that time, grief has compounded grief as the death…
The Holy Spirit Has Left the Building
The First Pentecost The story of Pentecost from the Book of Acts has so much going on, that it’s hard to pick a highlight for our attention. Still, here’s what…
The Holiness of God and us
Unknown Caller The other day my husband answered his cell phone and had an interesting conversation. He doesn’t usually answer numbers that he doesn’t recognize, and I could tell he…