by Peter James | Oct 31, 2024 | Martin Luther
What prayer is appropriate for Halloween? I considered a line from a 1909 poem by Alfred Noyes, “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us,” but decided against it. October 31, 1517, was...
by Peter James | Nov 4, 2023 | Martin Luther
The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) was sitting in a barber’s chair in Wittenberg, Germany, one day in spring 1535 when his barber, Peter Baskendorf, asked, “Dr. Luther, how do you pray?” Martin took his question seriously. He went home...
by Peter James | Oct 31, 2023 | Martin Luther
Today is Reformation Day, but who are we kidding? Today is Halloween! There’s a division in the house among Christians as to the origins of Halloween. Some contend it has Christian roots since Halloween means “holy eve,” the evening before All Saints...
by Peter James | May 16, 2023 | Martin Luther
“Kindness has become a forgotten virtue,” Barry Corey wrote in his book Love Kindness. I concur! The cause of Christ will suffer if we don’t practice kindness going forward in culture war debates. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) asked in his Treatise...
by Peter James | Feb 14, 2023 | Martin Luther
Katharina (Katy) von Bora was placed in a convent at the tender age of six. She took vows as a nun at sixteen but by her early twenty’s, she wanted out. Reformation principles were already taking hold in her convent, and she was no longer convinced celibacy...