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Redeeming suffering
by Ryan Eikenbary-Barber
The Olympic Games are being held this year in Paris. The ancient Olympic games happened every four years, just as they do today. The first Olympic sports were running, jumping, discus, wrestling, boxing, martial arts, and horse racing. There are 329 medal events these days, including skateboarding, rock climbing, breakdancing, and surfing in Tahiti almost 10,000 miles from France. Do you think the ancient Greeks would be mesmerized by the Paris Olympic games? What would they make of breakdancing?
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Archetype of the Christian celebrity athlete: Lessons from Christy Mathewson
by Mark Safstrom
Even as religious participation is on the decline in America, Christian celebrity athletes still seem to be as easy to find as ever. Gathering teammates for a pre-game prayer, pointing a grateful finger to the sky after a touchdown, or making the sign of the cross while stepping on home plate — these familiar aspects of American sports are one of the few displays of religiosity in the public square that are still given some respectful space.
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Poetry
Fire Tender
by Ann Boaden
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Taste and See
Semlor
by Bonnie Sparrman
Imagine it’s Fat Tuesday (Fettisdag), the day before Lent begins, and you are visiting Sweden. Be prepared to experience Swedish food culture at its best. Head to the konditori (bake shop), take a number and stand in line. When it’s your turn, order an extraordinary Nordic pastry; a semla, and of course, a strong cup of coffee.
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Stories of Faith: Jairus and Veronica
by Donna Ahlberg
In our gospel passage we hear about these two intersecting stories—a Jewish leader with a very sick daughter, and a woman who has a hemorrhaging disorder. The stories are similarly structured, but with two contrasting characters. Jairus is an esteemed synagogue leader, and the nameless woman, whom I’ll call Veronica, is a social outcast, a woman, a nobody. They both, however, believe in Jesus’ power to heal disease and restore life, so their stories begin with them separately seeking him when they hear he is nearby.
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A Man of Letters: Tim Botts
by Greg Asimakoupoulos
If you called Timothy R. Botts a man of letters, you’d be right. He is known far and wide in the evangelical world by his expressive renderings of scripture and hymn texts. His frameable prints, calendars, and greeting cards grace many a Covenanter’s home.
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Oscar Ahnfelt: Troubadour of the Swedish revival
by Tim Hanson
For most of my life, I had noticed Oscar Ahnfelt’s name in hymnals as the writer of tunes. I learned those hymns and they were some of my favorites. As my interest in Swedish hymnody grew in the last decade, I became increasingly curious about the Ahnfelt story.
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The Making of a Reader
Codes of the Hebrew Bible
by David Hawkinson
In this essay I pick up the thread I left hanging in the first part of this series on reading the codes of the Hebrew Bible (Fall/Winter 2023-24). My study is based on Edward Feld’s writing: “The Book of Revolutions—the Battles of Priests, Prophets, and Kings that Birthed the Torah.”
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Poetry
To the Bats in the Sanctuary
by Ann Boaden
Last fall, the sanctuary of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Rock Island, Illinois, became home to a community of bats. Because bats are a protected species that mates in the fall, the sanctuary was vacated while the bat-babies were born and nurtured. Worship services moved to the social hall. Parishioners were encouraged to show eco-hospitality by learning about and celebrating these fellow tenants of our church and our world. This poem is one of the responses.
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From Chaos to Order
by Bob Blomgren
Chance and necessity have failed. In his book, “Return of the God Hypothesis,” author and philosopher of science, Stephen Meyer, leads us deftly through the long and fascinating history of scientific inquiry into the Big Bang, the fine tuning of the universe and the DNA ordering. He shows us how, over the last century, knowledge of the Big Bang proves that the universe is not eternal, that the existence of the fine-tuning of our universe depends on the values of necessary, specific fundamental constants, and that the discovery of the DNA ordering for proteins cannot result from chance.
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Post: Readers Respond
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Tributes
Eloise V. Nelson
by Philip J. Anderson
It is a privilege to know people who excel in every way. They enrich not only their own lives but also the lives of those fortunate enough to have been touched by their presence. Eloise Nelson was a multidimensional exemplar of this quality, a gentle inspiration to live good and useful lives that matter and, just as importantly, embody kindness, graciousness, creativity, integrity, hospitality, love of family and friends, and generous faith.
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Tributes
William A. Safstrom
by Steve Elde
Bill Safstrom was born on March 27, 1950, to William and Harriet Safstrom in Seattle, Washington. He grew up at the First Covenant Church in Seattle, and attended Seattle Pacific College, graduating in 1973 with a BS in Biology. He later completed a master’s degree in educational leadership from Seattle Pacific in 1985. In 1982, Bill married Janet Pampeyan, whom he had met in a singles group at the Mercer Island Covenant Church. Together they raised three children. Bill served as a high school principal at Landgren Christian, Seattle Christian, and most recently at Bellevue Christian High School for 21 years. For 6 years, Bill worked as a supervisor of teacher interns in the education department at the University of Washington, a role he continued to serve in at Seattle Pacific for the past 20 years. For many years, he also volunteered with the Nicolás Fund for Education to create libraries and train teachers in the Ixil region of Guatemala. Bill is survived by his wife Janet, daughter Julianna (Peter), son Michael (Dani), grandson Bridger, and son Greg, as well as his siblings.
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Tributes
Manuel “Mac” Martinez
by Jeni Pfeiffer and Linda Johnson
Manuel Martinez was nicknamed “Mac” because his classmates thought he resembled a character from the newspaper comic strip called, “Tillie the Toiler.” Mac grew up to be a champion boxer and popular speaker. Three scripture readings were the foundation of his motivational speech, “Fear, Faith, and Perseverance”: Psalm 27:1, Philippians 4:13, and 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
