A Thanksgiving Prayer

in the Texas Hill Country 2019

Thank you God for red oaks. 

Thank you for flame-leaf sumac. 

Thank you for red. 

Thank you for this moment when rain, dry, heat, cold and time

made  red happen in the Texas Hill Country this Fall. 

Thank you for oak t...

 image: One of the giant jackrabbits of New Life. They may not be angels, but they are magnificent, surprising, and hard to pin down. 

Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019 – Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon: Carmen Retzlaff, New Life Lutheran Church, Dripping Springs, Texa...

At New Life, we welcome everyone to communion. And one of the lines in our welcome to the table that everyone at New Life knows is, "You can't do it wrong." We tell people to dip their piece of bread in either the wine or the juice cup, OR to eat the bread and take a s...

Isaiah 43:18-19 

Do not remember the former things,
    or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert....

I find in this work of being a pastor, that I need to retreat and recharge every now and then. Often we call things retreats that are more like meetings in nice and/or outdoor places. Sometimes, though, I need un-programmed, silent time to rest and to pray. Time in pra...

Easter Sunday Sermon at New Life (posted by request). This coming Sunday, we'll act out the Easter story by serving our neighbors at our Community Service Sunday!

Sunday, Apr. 21 – Resurrection of Our Lord - Luke 24:1-12 - New Life Lutheran Church of Dripping Springs, T...

Fifth Sunday in Lent

John 12:1-8

New Life, Dripping Springs, Texas

John 12:1-8  Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.  There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the...

While we are still in Women’s History Month, I want to write a note about a woman in ministry who greatly influenced my pastoral path, my pastor at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Austin, June Wilkins. I joined St. Martin’s a few years before June came, and left for se...

For 25 days, I had the great privilege of visiting the Lutheran Church in Costa Rica (ILCO). I stayed at the hostel apartment above the main offices in San Jose, mostly, and also a few nights in the house for pastors in Sarapiqui in the north, and congregation members’...

Sermon: Epiphany 2019, New Life Lutheran Church in Dripping Springs, Texas

Pastor Carmen Retzlaff

Gospel: Matthew 2:1–23 

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,  2asking, "Where is the child who has...