The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge from KFUO Radio

In Rachel’s latest Trivia Challenge, she quizzes Sarah, Erin, and Bri on all things Lenten.

What does the word “Lent” actually mean? How and where do our Lenten observances tie in with Scripture and Christian history? What made Lenten fasts in the Middle Ages so hardcore? How do Lutheran, Catholic, and Orthodox attitudes and practices differ today? Perhaps most intriguingly: what happens when one of the Ladies turns around and stumps Rachel?

Play along at home and learn more about this reflective, penitential season.

Sources referenced in this episode include:

• “What are the origins of Lent?” (Religion News Service)
• “What does the word ‘Lent’ mean?” (Aleiteia)
• “Think Lent is tough? Take a look at Medieval Lenten practices” (Society of Saint Pius X)
• “Great Lent” (Wikipedia)
• “Just in time for Lent: Martin Luther on fasting and mortification” (World Wide Wolfmueller)

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

Erin Bode is a lifelong Lutheran lady, a pastor’s daughter, and a celebrated jazz performer known for her pure voice and impressive phrasing and style. To date, Bode and her band have released eight albums and toured the United States, as well overseas to Italy, Japan, and South Africa.

In this inaugural “Conversations with Creatives” episode, Bode joins Sarah, Erin, Bri, and Rachel to share with them her about personal story, her musical career—and how her Lutheran faith has shaped both. She discusses how the global pandemic has affected professional musicians, explores her favorite hymns and songs, and opens up about her latest business venture: Your Song for Always, a creative collaboration with Victor Krauss offering custom songs, arrangements, and recordings for individuals and special occasions.

In the episode, listeners are treated to a luminous song performed by Bode: “The Moon Is Ours Tonight," a poem written by Bob Hellrung for his wife Cheryl, who always dreamed it could be a love song for her. Used with permission.

Click to learn more about Erin Bode and her new project Your Song for Always at yoursongforalways.com, or to browse albums on her website erinbode.com and on iTunes.

Music heard in this episode, performed by Erin Bode and her band. Used with permission.

"The Moon Is Ours Tonight," a poem written by Bob Hellrung for his wife Cheryl, and always dreamed it could be a love song for her.

“Christ Be My Leader,” arranged and recorded for Unity Lutheran Elementary School in East St. Louis, IL.

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

Events in 2020 and 2021 have left many Lutheran women questioning their relationships with (and heavy reliance upon) social media. In this “Wild Card” episode, Sarah, Erin, Bri, and Rachel take an honest look at their own attitudes toward digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, paying special attention to how their habits and perspectives have evolved over the past decade and a half.

What is there to love about social media? What is there to hate? How can we set healthy boundaries around our social media use? What happens if and when we walk away from our social networks? And what might be coming next — both for the digital landscape as a whole and for the Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge in particular?

Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

In this jam-packed “Hymn Sing with Sarah” episode, Sarah leads Erin, Bri, and Rachel through a celebration of African American hymns and spirituals in honor of Black History Month.

Beginning with the story of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (often referred to in the U.S. as the “Black national anthem”), Sarah discusses the remarkable lives and creative work of brothers James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson, who penned the hymn’s lyrics and music, respectively.

The Ladies then dive into a broader discussion of African American spirituals—their history, meanings, and ongoing contribution to American faith and culture.

Watch the African American Spirituals of the Civil War concert from the Library of Congress at youtu.be/PQviOAz5584. Learn more about the history of spirituals from the Library of Congress, The Spirituals Database, and Britannica.

Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

In this Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge short, the Ladies discuss their options and announce the next book club read: C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold.

Click to learn more about or order Till We Have Faces, to see a complete list of 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 follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erin.alter), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

In this episode, Rachel leads Sarah, Erin, and Bri in a recap discussion of a Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club “Ladies’ Choice” selection: Ellen Raskin’s Newbery-Award-winning middle-grade mystery The Westing Game.

How do children’s authors create surprisingly complex works that respect the intelligence of readers young and old? What can a story about a diverse group of people sharing an apartment building teach us about the Body of Christ? How does confessing the truth about ourselves and our secret shame set us free to find peace with God and with each other?

At the end of the episode, the Ladies choose their next book club pick from a list of “Rachel’s Regrets” (previous runners up that deserve a second look):

• Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis
• Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us by Murray Carpenter
• The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
• Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler

Which book will they pick? Listen to the end of the episode and find out!

Click to learn more about Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game, to see a complete list of 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 follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

This February, as winter and the global pandemic alike drag on and on and on, why not enjoy some good old fashioned comfort food?

In this installment of Erin’s Recipe Card, the ladies share their favorite recipes for “hot fat carbs,” from savory red beans and rice, to crowd-pleasing meat loaf, to “ooey-gooey” peanut chicken curry—and beyond. Whether your comfort food of choice is lasagna or stew, cookies, pizza, or even coffee, you’re sure to end this tasty episode feeling hungry and inspired.

“When we feel like we need a little hug in our bellies,” Sarah so aptly says, “we eat something that we love.”

Click to learn more about Erin’s go-to cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, or to take a peek at the peanut curry recipe Rachel modified for this episode.

Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

Stanisława Leszczyńska (May 8, 1896 – March 11, 1974) was a Polish Catholic midwife and member of the Polish Resistance who was incarcerated at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. During her time in the notorious death camp, she provided obstetrical and other medical care to her fellow prisoners and delivered over 3,000 children — most to certain death, a precious few to life.

In this heartbreaking-yet-hopeful Story Time with Sarah, the Lutheran ladies both celebrate the sanctity of human life and commemorate the Nazi Holocaust as they honor the remarkable legacy of this valiant, faithful woman.

Resources referenced in this episode include:

• Stanisława Leszczyńska’s 1957 “Midwife’s Report from Auschwitz”
• “’Give Me Your Children: Voices from the Lodz Ghetto” (Holocaust Encyclopedia)
• The United States and St. Louis Holocaust museums
• “This Midwife at Auschwitz Delivered 3,000 Babies in Unfathomable Conditions” (com)
• “Stanisława Leszczyńska: Midwife in Auschwitz” (Polish News)
• Stanisława Leszczyńska: The Miracle of Life in a Death Camp (video lecture)
• The Midwife of Auschwitz: Extraordinary life of heroine who delivered 3,000 babies in horror death camp to be told in new documentary (The First News)
• The War within These Walls (illustrated novel on the Warsaw Ghetto and Uprising)

Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

Thinking back over the year since “coronavirus” entered their collective vocabularies, Sarah, Erin, Bri, and Rachel revisit the subject of social distancing (first covered in March 2020) in this all-hands-on-deck conversation.

Taking an honest (and occasionally uproarious) look at the joys and woes of life in lockdown, each of the Lutheran Ladies offers her own heartfelt answer to the following prompts:

• The thing I hate most about social distancing is …
• Something that has surprised me about a socially distanced lifestyle is …
• The thing that has kept me sane during social distancing is …
• One new habit or practice I hope to keep going after social distancing ends is …
• The thing I’m most looking forward to after the pandemic is …

Listen to the March 2020 “Socially Distanced Episode” here, and offer your own answers to the episode’s conversations prompts in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge).

Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

Beginning the New Year with what has now (officially) been branded a “Wild Card” episode, Bri celebrates physical, mental, and spiritual by offering her heartfelt paean to a program that has helped her achieve greater measures of all three: Concordia Plans and its Vitality® wellness benefit.

Extoling the virtues of this virtual tool that incentivizes participating church workers to track their health and fitness activities in exchange for real-world rewards, die-hards Bri and Sarah do their best to convince skeptics Erin and Rachel to give it a try.

The episode ends with three hilarious short radio dramas (each written, performed and produced by Bri) riffing on various aspects of the Vitality program.

Click here to learn more about Concordia Plans’ health and wellness benefits for enrolled church worker families or to take a online wellness quiz from Vitality® and learn your “Vitality Age.”

Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erin.alter), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.