The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge from KFUO Radio

With Ash Wednesday just around the corner, Sarah’s taking a closer look at 11 “Confession and Absolution” hymns an all-new Hymn Sing episode.

Drawing on a Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook poll to identify crowd favorites in the genre, Sarah covers beloved and not-yet-beloved hymn texts and tunes, including Luther’s gut-wrenching “From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee,” Erdmann Neumeister’s “Jesus Sinners Doth Receive,” William M’Comb’s “Chief of Sinners Though I Be,” and more. Read additional stories on some of the hymn writers in the "Hymn Sing with Sarah: Communion Hymns, Part One" podcast and "Hymn Sing with Sarah: Thanksgiving Hymns!" episodes.

“These hymns are great for Ash Wednesday and Lent, but they’re also great to use as part of your preparation to receive the Sacrament,” says Sarah, adding, “Sometimes we can feel a little lost in how to prepare, or how to even pray when we feel weighed down by sins, and these hymns are a wonderful tool for us to pray through.”

Click to learn more about Lutheran Service Book: Companion to the Hymns or Eternal Anthems: The Story Behind Your Favorite Hymns, Volume 2, both of which are referenced during the episode.

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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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

In this excerpt from their February 10 book club recap episode, the Ladies announce their next pick for the Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club: George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin.

From one of many publisher descriptions:

"When Princess Irene and her nursemaid stay out too late one night and are chased home by goblins, a young miner boy called Curdie comes to their rescue. So begins a fantastic adventure in which Irene and Curdie must try to stop a goblin invasion, helped by Irene's mysterious great-great-grandmother. This much-loved tale was a personal favourite of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien."

Looking ahead, the Ladies also announce their upcoming summer book club read: book three of C. S. Lewis’s renowned Space Trilogy, That Hideous Strength.

Click to learn more about George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin and C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, to see a list of previous Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club picks and runners up, or to revisit past online book club events in the Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook group.

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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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

In this Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club recap episode, Rachel leads Sarah, Erin, and Bri in a deep-diving discussion of Joel Heck’s From Atheism to Christianity: The Story of C. S. Lewis.

What factors cause a person to abandon faith and become an atheist? Which plays the dominant role in conversion: the intellect or the imagination? How do the books we read and the media we consume either strengthen or challenge our faith? Can the phrase "you are what you eat" apply to books and media, as well?

Listen till the end to hear an announcement of the next Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club pick: George MacDonald’s classic fairy tale The Princess and the Goblin.

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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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

Anna Hart is a wife, mother, fellow Lutheran lady, and the expert liturgical seamstress behind Anna’s Threads.

In this “Conversations with Creatives” episode, Anna educates Bri on the various types of ecclesiastical vestment, nerds out with Erin and Sarah about natural fiber fabrics and vintage sewing machines, and offers pro tips to Rachel on how to smooth out a wrinkly chasuble.

Click to connect with Anna Hart on Facebook or shop her products at Ad Crucem.

If you’re keen to follow in her footsteps and try your hand at crafting liturgical vestments and paraments yourself, check out the following resources mentioned in the episode:

• CM Almy
• La Lame Inc.
• Vestments and How to Make Them

To learn more about the biblical basis for liturgical vestments, listen in on the episode of Thy Strong Word discussing Leviticus 8 (which Anna references in this episode).

You can also listen to previous “Conversations with Creatives” podcast episodes featuring singer/songwriter Erin Bode, microfarmer Beth Ritzman, writer/editor Lisa Clark, author/soprano Katie Schuermann, visual artist Kelly Uffenbeck, and designer/entrepreneur Jessie Bell.

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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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

It’s National Lutheran Schools Week—and to mark the occasion, Bri’s hosting an Adventures in Lutheranism episode about this beloved annual celebration of Lutheran education.

Drawing both from social media feedback and her own deep memories, Bri looks at the whys and hows of NLSW—from spirit days to field trips, chapel services to servant events.

Click to learn more about NLSW and discover ideas and resources for celebrating it in your Lutheran preschool, elementary school or secondary school.

Click to see adorable Lutheran school children perform “It’s Cool in a Lutheran School” or download PDFs (below) of the sheet music for NJ Malenke’s anthem (shared with permission).

• It's Cool in a Lutheran School (Chorus & Countermelodies)
• It's Cool in a Lutheran School (Countermelody #1)
• It's Cool in a Lutheran School (Countermelody #2)
• It's Cool In a Lutheran School (performance version, original wording)
• It's Cool In a Lutheran School (performance version)

Copyright permissions:

• "Brothers and Sisters in Christ." Words and music by Terry K Dittmer. Copyright (c) 1983 by the author. Used with permission.
• "It's Cool in a Lutheran School." Words and Music by NJ Malenke. Copyright (c) 1986 by the author. Used with permission.
• Performance of "It's Cool in a Lutheran School" by the children of St. Michael Lutheran School, Portage, MI. 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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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

In this special, long-awaited Wild Card episode, the Ladies warmly welcome Debbie Larson, president of Lutheran Women in Mission (LWML), to the Lounge for a Wild Card interview.

What’s it like to lead the LCMS’s oldest, largest, and most influential women’s auxiliary? How do the missions of the LWML and the Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge align? What’s on the horizons for Lutheran Women in Mission? Why did Debbie get a table saw for Christmas?

And most importantly: will President Debbie Larson throw a pie in Bri’s face at the LWML National Convention this summer?

“I tell all young women (and I’m one of them) that this is your grandmother’s LWML, and I won’t apologize for that. We have an incredible legacy. But it can also be your LWML and your children’s LWML, because you can accomplish the same things that God is asking us to accomplish in a new way.”

— Debbie Larson

Click to ...

• Learn about the LWML
• Register for the 2023 convention
• Find out about becoming a Young Woman Representative
• Download free e-books on the LWML
• Quiz yourself on 80 years of LWML history with Rachel’s Trivia Challenge

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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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

Because it’s January (and let’s face it: January is boring), Rachel and the Ladies need something to entertain them … and this time, that something is a Trivia Challenge all about what Martin Luther said and wrote about women!

Offering riddles, true-false questions, and other trivial queries, Rachel covers a range of occasionally outrageous quotes from Luther’s sermons, lectures, personal letters, and “table talk” discussions. Which biblical women did Luther seem to preach on most often? Should marriage (according to Luther) make life easier … or harder? How did he (and did he not) provide for his wife after his death? How did becoming a husband and father help Luther understand and appreciate women more?

To learn more, check out Luther on Women: A Sourcebook, edited by Susan C. Karant-Nunn and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks.

For those who were curious about the Widow Luther’s male guardian: Sarah was right. It was Johannes Bugenhagen.

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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) 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, Sarah’s digging into the backstories of Epiphany hymns in an all-new Hymn Sing episode.

Drawing from the results of a Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook poll to narrow and order her selections, Sarah begins her discussion with the so-called “Queen of Chorales,” Philipp Nicolai’s “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” (LSB 395). She then covers other beloved Epiphany 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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) 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 two years, Sarah, Erin, Bri, and Rachel are offering blessings, wishes, and prognostications for the New Year.

After revisiting last year’s prognostications to see if any came true (one, at least, came eerily close), each of the Lutheran Ladies presents a good wish or word of blessing along with a wild-and-crazy prediction for what life will hold in 2023.

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

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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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

The Lutheran Ladies present a brand-new edition of Bri’s Radio Theatre—and this time, they’ve all got a part to play.

When Bri gets into a verbal tussle with a BMW driver in a Target parking lot, she’s got some repenting to do. Thankfully, two ghostly figments of her imagination and one very real, very macabre Lutheran Lady friend are there to help her find the grace she needs to set things right.

It’s “A Very Loungey Christmas Carol.”

Merry Christmas!!

Sound effects made by the ultimately talented Bri Gerzevske and sourced 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), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram!

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