The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge from KFUO Radio

Dr. Erik Ankerberg joins Sarah, Erin, and Rachel to discuss the latest Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club pick: George Herbert’s The Temple.

An expert on Herbert’s poetry (as well as a longtime fan), Dr. Ankerberg shares a depth of insight as he helps the Ladies unpack this beautiful but obscure volume of devotional verse.

Who was George Herbert? To what extent was his Anglican faith influenced by Lutheran theology? What makes his poetry feel so fresh and relevant for Christians today?

Poems discussed in detail in this episode include the following:

• “The Pulley”
• “The Collar”
• “The Holdfast”
• “Love (3)”

At the conclusion of the episode, the Ladies announce their next book club pick: Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.

Dr. Erik Ankerberg is president of Concordia University Wisconsin and Ann Arbor. Prior to his inauguration in 2023, he earned his Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature from Marquette University (dissertation: Toward a Re-Formed Confession: Johann Gerhard's Sacred Meditations and "Repining Restlessnesse" in the Poetry of George Herbert) and spent many years as an English professor.

Click to learn more about Concordia University Wisconsin and Ann Arbor or to read Dr. Ankerberg’s inaugural address (which includes George Herbert’s sonnet “The Holdfast”).

Learn more about George Herbert and sample his best-known poems at PoetryFoundation.org.

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

Thinking caps on, ladies! Class is in session!

Once again, Sarah’s sharing study notes from her graduate courses at Concordia University Irvine’s Townsend Institute for Counseling and Leadership. In this stimulating episode, she covers:

• Macro cultures and their effect on organizations and communities
• The value of articulating personal values, mission, and vision statements
• A helpful model for engaging in difficult conversations

"What happens when we avoid hard conversations?” Sarah asks. “Things fester, grow, become more of a problem, become more stressful, and become harder to manage, right? So if we have the confidence to deal with something at the start, we can manage things in a better, more productive way. ... We want to ultimately build up relationships and become closer to people, and dealing with conflict in a healthy manner can actually do that. Building up a culture of healthy confrontation means people live in truth with each other rather than avoiding the truth.”

Resources referenced in this episode include:

• “Having Difficult but Effective Conversations” by Dr. John Townsend
• Organizational Culture and Leadership by Edgar H. Schein

Click to learn more about CUI’s Townsend Institute for Counseling and Leadership.

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow

Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

Amy Scholz is director of church and donor relations for Lutheran Braille Workers. She’s also an LCMS pastor’s wife, a fellow Lutheran lady, and a veteran family caregiver, having walked alongside both her father and her husband as they navigated serious health conditions decades apart.

In this One-Question Interview, Amy joins the Ladies to share her story and talk frankly about caregiving. How does God prepare his servants (women especially) for the work of “caregiver”? What are the bad days like? The good days? How can women keep themselves and their relationships strong in a caregiver scenario? How can they stay refreshed and spiritually resilient as they fulfill this calling?

To dig more deeply into this topic, check out Kim Marxhausen’s Weary Joy: The Caregiver’s Journey (recommended by Amy Scholz and available from CPH).

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

Happy Epiphany from the Lutheran Ladies! To celebrate the day, we’re rebroadcasting one of Sarah’s favorite Hymn Sing episodes.

Sarah begins this deep dive into favorite Epiphany hymns with the so-called “Queen of Chorales,” Philipp Nicolai’s “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” (LSB 395). She then digs into the stories behind other beloved lyrics, including “Brightest and Best of the Stars of the Morning” (LSB 400), “As with Gladness Men of Old” (LSB 397), and “Arise and Shine in Splendor” (LSB 396).

Click to listen to an entire podcast episode on Elisabeth Cruciger, the author of Sarah’s favorite Epiphany hymn, “The Only Son from Heaven” (LSB 402).

At the end of this podcast, hear “Arise and Shine in Splendor” (LSB 396), recorded at the LCMS International Center during the Epiphany of Our Lord Divine Service on January 6, 2023.

Text: Martin Opitz, 1597-1639; Tr. Gerhard Gieschen, 1899-1987, alt. Copyright: © 1941 Concordia Publishing House. Used with permission.

Music: Heinrich Isaac, c. 1450-1517. Public Domain. Improvisations by organist and performer Jacob Palmer. Used with permission.

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

As they have for the past three years, Sarah, Erin, and Rachel are offering blessings, wishes, and prognostications for the New Year.

After revisiting last year’s prognostications to see if any came true (spoiler alert: NO), each of the Lutheran Ladies presents a good wish, a word of blessing, and a wild-and-crazy prediction for what life will hold in 2024.

Find LCMS Memory Verse resources at lcms.org/memoryverse.

Click to revisit the Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge New Year’s specials from 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the Lounge – not a creature was stirring, not even a…uh. Nothing really rhymes with ‘lounge,’ here. Sorry, guys, that's unfortunate. ...”

Former co-host Bri Gerzevske revisits the podcast for a hilarious Bri’s Radio Theatre Christmas Special in this festive episode filled with laughter, cookies, and Martin Luther himself.

Part homage to Clement C. Moore’s “A Visit to Saint Nicholas,” part absurdist fever dream, Bri’s script has the Ladies scratching their heads, rolling on the floor, and basking in holiday cheer.

From all of us at The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge: Merry Christmas!

Boom Sound Effect by Denys Kyshchuk from Pixabay. Music by AudioCoffee: www.audiocoffee.net

Music Box from pixabay.com.

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

In honor of the Christmas season, the Ladies are welcoming listener contributions to a new “Write This:” creative challenge, this time featuring original Christmas carol lyrics to familiar tunes.

What makes a Christmas carol different from a Christmas hymn? Can you set a Christmas hymn to the tune of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”? Why are timeless and original Christmas carol lyrics SO HARD to write? And which intrepid Lutheran lady listeners rose to the challenge?

Referenced in this episode:

• Martin Luther Yells About Inferior Anglican Christmas Hymns (youtube.com)
• Horus Ruins Christmas (youtube.com)
• Auguries of Innocence by William Blake | Poetry Foundation
• Carols for Choirs - Wikipedia

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

In honor of St. Lucy’s Day on December 13, the Party Planning Committee is back: this time with tips and tricks for holding your own Saint Lucia Day celebration.

While Saint Lucia (Anglicized: Lucy) is not celebrated everywhere in Lutheran tradition, she is accorded a spot in Lutheran Service Book’s list of church year commemorations—largely due, no doubt, to her outsized place of honor in Scandinavian Lutheran tradition.

After taking a few moments to answer the question: “But isn’t that Catholic?” Rachel borrows Sarah’s story time privileges to share “Twas the Night Before the Diocletian Persecution: The (Mostly) (Maybe?) True Story of Lucia of Syracuse.” Sarah then discusses popular celebratory traditions and introduces several versions of a Sankta Lucia folk song, and Erin brings the conversation to a warm and tasty conclusion with a delectable tray of traditional St. Lucia buns. (See recipe below.)

Deep in the northern sky bright stars are beaming

Christmas is drawing nigh, candles are gleaming.

Welcome they vision rare, lights glowing in thy hair

Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

Child of the holy light, banish the dark of night

Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

Many thanks to Rev. Weslie and Kristina Odom and their children for the Swedish rendition of the Sankta Lucia folk song.

For more history and folklore, read about Saint Lucy on her Wikipedia page and the global Saint Lucy celebrations on their Wikipedia page.

Additional music for this episode from Grand_Project at pixabay.com/users/grand_project-19033897.

St. Lucia Buns

Adapted from: simplyrecipes.com/recipes/st_lucia_saffron_buns

Makes 14-20 buns

Ingredients:

• ¾ c milk (175ml)
• ½ t turmeric
• ¼ cup (50g) sugar
• 1 packet active dry yeast (.25 oz) (check the expiration date on the package to make sure it's still good!)
• 3.5-4 cups (490g to 570g) all-purpose flour
• ½ t salt
• ½ t ground cardamom
• 4 T butter, just melted
• ¼ c sour cream
• 2 eggs, beaten

Finishing:

• 1 egg, beaten
• Raisins (optional: soak them in warm water to plump them up first)
• Sugar (turbinado is especially nice)

Directions:

• Heat milk, turmeric, and half of the sugar, just until the sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture cool until it is warm to the touch, NOT hot.
• Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk, stir briefly, and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy.
• In a large bowl, whisk 3.5 c (490g) flour, remaining sugar, salt, and cardamom. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the yeasty milk, 2 eggs, butter, and sour cream. Mix until most of the flour is incorporated.
• Turn the dough out onto a flour-sprinkled counter and knead. Add more flour, little by little, as needed, until the dough is still a little sticky to the touch, but does not completely stick to your hands.
• Oil the dough ball and place in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.
• Divide the dough into 14-20 portions. Roll each portion into a long snake. Curl the ends in opposite directions, spiraling into an "S" shape.
• Place on a lined baking sheet. Cover and place in a warm spot until the buns double in size, 30-60 min.
• Preheat over to 400° F. Brush each bun with egg wash. If using raisins, place them in the middle of each spiral. If using sugar, sprinkle it on each bun.
• Bake at 400° F for 10-11 min. Turn halfway through cooking to ensure even browning, until the buns are light golden brown.

Eat warm! They are best freshly baked.

Notes:

You can do one or both rises in the fridge, overnight or while you are at work. For the first rise, just make sure the bowl is well covered. For the second rise, make sure the pan is well covered, but also that there is room for the buns to rise. I used an oiled sheet of foil to cover for the second rise, so that I could give it a little extra room. In each case, if you have time let the refrigerated dough sit in a warm place a bit to take some of the chill off before moving on.

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

Happy New Year! As we prepare to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent this week — and with it, the beginning of a new church year — Rachel takes the opportunity to quiz Sarah and Erin on the finer nuances of the liturgical calendar, focusing here on the festival seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter.

What are the three “advents” of Christ that we look for in the weeks before Christmas? Which came first: Christmas or Epiphany? What on earth is Gesimatide (and why don’t most Lutherans observe it anymore)? Why do Orthodox Christians celebrate the Resurrection on a different Sunday from the rest of the church?

Find answers to these questions and more in this merry romp through the first half of the church year — and watch for a follow-up Trivia Challenge covering the rest of the church year (“ordinary time”) in the spring.

Sources referenced in this episode:

• About the Three-Year Lectionary (LCMS.org)
• Want to know the history behind the Feast of the Epiphany? (Catholic News Agency)
• Gesimatide (The First Lutheran Church of Boston)
• Calendar of Sundays and readings in the One-Year Lectionary (lectionary.stanlemon.com)

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].

The Rev. Dr. Scott Stiegemeyer is Associate Professor of Theology and Bioethics at Concordia University Irvine; previously, he served as parish pastor of congregations near Pittsburgh, Pa., and Chicago, Ill. In this Kitchen Table Talk conversation, Dr. Stiegmeyer answers burning questions about gender identity and sexuality in biblical Lutheran perspective.

What is gender? Is it real? Who gets to define it? How do we define gender vs. Sexuality (or is it even “versus” situation)? What does the Bible teach us about gender and sexuality? What makes our current cultural moment so panic-inducing for biblical Christians? How can Lutherans guard young people from false teaching about gender identity — and lovingly speak God’s truth about the beauty of his plan for sexuality to those around them?

“The male / female binary within humanity is beautiful, it's good, and it's true,” says Dr. Steigemeyer. “We should marvel at how God has created us to be and that [our marriage relationships] can be fruitful and ... self-giving.”

Resources referenced in this episode include the following:

• Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body by the Rev. Dr. John Kleinig*
• Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
• “Learning about Sex” series from CPH
• Sexuality Mentality: Creating a Culture of Biblical Integrity by Heather Ruesch*
• Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow
• The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Favale
• Friends for Life podcast season 2 (on Gender and Sexuality)

*For further listening, check out our Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club discussion of Wonderfully Made and our One-Question Interview with Heather Ruesch.

Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram!

Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at [email protected].