St. Luke's Blogs

Throughout the Bible, great stories of faith are accompanied by acts of fasting. When Jonah brings the word of the Lord to the people of Nineveh and called them to repent, the people of Nineveh responded by fasting and prayer. Just after being baptized, and before Jesus begins his public ministry, Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit so that he could fast for forty days. As Jesus’ disciples began their ministry, they devoted themselves to practices such as prayer and fasting. Perhaps one of the best examples of fasting as part of faith takes place in the book of Esther…

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures for ever!

 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    whom he has redeemed from trouble 

and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

 Some wandered in desert wastes,
    finding no way to a city to dwell in;

 hungry and thirsty,
   their soul fainted within them.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress;

 he led them by a straight way,
   till they reached a city to dwell in.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wonderful works to the sons of men! 

For he satisfies him who is thirsty,
    and the hungry he fills with good things.

I have had the privilege of officiating several weddings. In many of these weddings, the scripture that has been read is 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter is commonly known as “The Love Chapter.” The Apostle Paul did not intend for this to be read in weddings. It was originally part of a letter written to the young church in Corinth. Paul was trying to help the church to see that their religious practices were important, but love was the foundational motivation for the Christian life.

In 1943, Copenhagen, Denmark was under Nazi occupation. The Germans were planning a surprise, mass roundup of the Jewish population of Copenhagen. The plan was to send the Jews to concentration camps. This surprise roundup would have undoubtedly led to the death of thousands of Jews. The Jewish population was in serious trouble. Thankfully, one brave man considered the people of Copenhagen, all of the people of Copenhagen, to be his neighbors.

Lito Mason was in a local retail store, shopping for some new shoes. He was minding his own business when he overheard 11-year-old Zach and his mother talking about a new pair of tennis shoes. Zach desperately needed a new pair, but his mom, a single mother of two, did not have a great deal of money to spend. Zach assured his mother he did not want to spend a lot of money, but he really needed a new pair of shoes because the soles of his tennis shoes were falling off…

Last October, my husband Brian and I completed a half-marathon run as a part of the virtual OKC Memorial Run. This race honors the 168 lives that were lost in the bombing, as well as the countless others affected. We selected our 13.1-mile route to finish at the OKC memorial, but to start at Moore High School, where Brian is the cross country and track coach.  We chose this starting location because of the tragedy in February 2020 where 3 precious lives were lost. We chose to run for all of those who were affected by these two specific events. These 3 Moore athletes were truly amazing individuals. Rachel, Yuridia, and Kolby continue to leave an impact and a legacy on their community. But the challenge and the grief for the families, teammates, classmates, and mentors for losing these loved ones has been considerable…

The cold weather is least kind to those among us who spend their days outside, especially the poor and the homeless. When the stinging cold of winter settles in, its pain is felt by so many. When Robert Magiet was driving to work on a cold Chicago day, he saw an opportunity to bless those who are affected by the cold and hunger.

“Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.” 

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”