by Steve Thomason | Nov 27, 2017 | Devos
Spend Less. That is the simple message of our second week in the Advent Conspiracy. Do we really need to give so many gifts to our children? Should we ever go into debt in order to give gifts? Read our three texts for the week Micah 6:6-8, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew...
by Steve Thomason | Nov 24, 2017 | Devos
Conspiracy is a strange word to associate with Advent, isn’t it? The word has a subversive undertone. Exactly. We will join a growing movement at Easter this Advent that seeks to undermine the rampant consumerism that has overtaken the season and attempt to focus on...
by Steve Thomason | Nov 22, 2017 | Devos
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and the Christmas songs are already filling the airwaves. You can feel the frenetic energy building in our society as the collective anxiety builds in anticipation of the holiday season. Is this how we are supposed to feel as we enter...
by Steve Thomason | Nov 21, 2017 | Devos
We begin a new worship series this weekend called Advent Conspiracy. The idea is to undermine the consumerism that has taken over the Christmas season and completely obscured the spirit of Advent. We begin the series with the first step of the Conspiracy: Worship...
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by Steve Thomason | Nov 20, 2017 | Personal Updates
One of the fun things that I get to do as part of the pastoral staff at Easter Lutheran Church is to record a podcast every Tuesday morning. The four pastors sit around and discuss the theme of worship for the upcoming week. This is a great group of people and...
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by Steve Thomason | Nov 17, 2017 | Guatemala
Guatemala City is shrinking below and behind us. A thick deck of white clouds obscures the earth below as we hang suspended under a bright blue sky. Our band of travelers—Denise, Deb, Sammy, and I—have completed our time in this beautiful country. It was sad to say...
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by Steve Thomason | Nov 16, 2017 | Guatemala
The emerald mountains of Guatemala run crimson for me right now. We have been riding in our bus for twelve hours. A couple hours ago Pastor Karen offered a book to me. It is titled Testimony: Death of a Guatemalan Village by Victor Perera and runs about 100 pages. I...
by Steve Thomason | Nov 15, 2017 | Guatemala
This post has four parts: whiplash, Tikal, Mario, and Finca Ixobel Whiplash I woke up yesterday morning on a hard wood board in the village of Maya Itza and went to bed in a luxurious hotel on a Lake in Flores. This socio-economic whiplash was difficult to process. As...
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by Steve Thomason | Nov 14, 2017 | Guatemala
I’m sitting in the bus, thankful for paved roads. We spent several hours yesterday, and several hours today, riding on terribly rocky dirt roads, pocked with deep holes filled with rain water. I marveled as we traveled from the nice mountain resort of Bombil Pek (that...
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by Steve Thomason | Nov 13, 2017 | Guatemala
The women’s retreat is now over. Some of the women will leave at 5:00am and travel all day. A couple of them have to take a boat for the final leg of their journey. That is how remote their village is. Today was full of wonderful learning experiences for me. I am...
