St. Stephen Lutheran Church and Preschool

612 Jamestown Road, Williamsburg Virginia 23185 | (757) 229-6688

Across from the College of William & Mary

Is it OK if I’m not sympathetic?

Published in November 30th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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Is it OK if I’m not sympathetic with Al Groh, who was the University of Virginia football coach until yesterday? He was relieved of his duties. But he’s been paid $2 million a year in recent years, and he’s now being paid a severance of $4.3 million, at age 65, for pretty much failing at [...]

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Listening Prayer

Published in November 26th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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Mary Oliver writes this about prayer:
I know a lot of fancy words.
I tear them from my heart and my tongue.
Then I pray.
The deepest prayer is listening prayer. When I say that, folks often think I mean listening for some voice to speak, and they say, “I never hear that!”
Well, I never have either.
To me, [...]

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Catch Your Breath

Published in November 25th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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The day before Thanksgiving three years ago was one of the more dramatic days of my life. I was in the Progressive Ventilator Care Unit. I was off the ventilator, but couldn’t eat or drink anything because of my tracheotomy. The respiratory therapist had told me that a tracheotomy would be taken out in stages: [...]

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Multi-Tasking That Is God Pleasing

Published in November 11th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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I have a friend who runs five miles a day. Every day. Even on this day (when the rain is pouring down ).
This morning, she was leaving the neighborhood as I was driving to work. (No commuting by bicycle today!) I smiled when I saw her, stopped, rolled down the window, and said, “You know, [...]

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Only In Williamsburg

Published in November 9th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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Spotted today: a Colonial Williamsburg historical interpreter commuting to work by bicycle on Jamestown Road, in full colonial costume — topped off by a red and blue bicycle helmet!
Is this a great place to live, or what?

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Balls, Strikes and Christmas Shopping

Published in November 7th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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I really shouldn’t have been surprised — since “Christmas” now begins in October and the World Series now lasts into November — but there it was: a Christmas commercial during a baseball game.
Another first for American culture!

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The Jinx Strikes Again!

Published in November 6th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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I don’t subscribe to Sports Illustrated magazine. That’s because I’ve come to be bored by sports that are played by obscenely overpaid crybabies. (Baseball, of course, is the glaring exception.)
I do get the chance to glance through each issue of “SI” because Patty’s parents subscribe, and they pass the issues along to us.
So — yesterday, [...]

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My, How We Compartmentalize!

Published in November 4th, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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On Tuesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that, since 2001, the New York Yankees have spent $1.6 billion on player salaries.
Yes, sports fans, that word is “billion,” with a “b.”
C. C. Sabathia is making $15,285,714 this year. It’s fun to divide that up, to see what the Yanks are getting for their money.  (My Dad always [...]

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Listening To Each Other

Published in November 3rd, 2009
Posted by Pastor in St. Stephen Lutheran Church
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Ah, another Election Day.  I voted — even though, it seems to me, we are suffering a dearth of quality candidates this year.  I find that I have to vote, though, because our right to free elections is too precious not to exercise.  (I’ve read too much history of the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights [...]

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