by Peter James | Dec 3, 2023 | Johann Wichern
Today’s story is about the man who invented the Advent Wreath. Johann Wichern (1801-1882) was born into an impoverished family outside Hamburg, Germany and devoted his life to missionary work among the poor. He started a home in Hamburg for neglected children...
by Peter James | Dec 2, 2023 | Lucy Larcom
She was a “mill girl,” one of the many who worked in the textile factories of Lowell, Massachusetts, in the early nineteenth century. Lucy Larcom (1824-1893) was born into a family of ten children. Her dad, a retired sea captain, taught his children in the...
by Peter James | Dec 1, 2023 | Nerses
I knew nothing about Armenia before I met Eli Takesian, who was Armenian to the core. He had served as Chief Chaplain for the Marine Corps before he joined our pastoral staff. I still recall something he said in a sermon, “You never know who you are...
by Peter James | Nov 30, 2023 | Thomas More
Lawyers have been the punchline of jokes since the time of Shakespeare. According to one Stanford law professor, 60 percent of Americans regard lawyers as greedy while only 20 percent regard them as honest and compassionate. Thomas More (1475-1535) was a reputable...
by Peter James | Nov 29, 2023 | Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was an astronomer who believed God created order in the universe to understand and put to good use. So, what’s the problem? The leading scholars of his day were convinced the earth was the center of the solar system–that the...
