First Presbyterian Church
- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneApril 15, 2026With a groan, Pastor Paul rolled over in bed, startled by the ringing of his cellphone. He groaned again when he saw the time was 5 a.m. With shaking hands, he picked up the call and did his best to sound wide awake. The voice on the other end of the line was chipper, “Yes, Pastor, this is Frieda Falter. You’ll never guess where I am.” With concern in his voice, Pastor Paul replied, “I hope…
- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneJanuary 14, 2026In their 2023 book, The Great Dechurching, Jim Davis and Michael Graham point out that 40 million adults used to go to church in the United States but no longer do. They list a plethora of reasons people used for quitting church, including bad experiences with church leadership, mingling of faith and politics, loss of faith, simply not looking for a new church after a move, intolerance of…
- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneDecember 09, 2025Like most Christian pastors, I was frustrated with the commercialization of Christmas and the lack of spiritual meaning expressed during the holiday, UNTIL I served as a U.S. Navy Chaplain and understood, for the first time, that there is more than one correct way to celebrate Christmas. After all, President Ulysses S. Grant made Christmas a Federal Holiday in 1870, the only U.S. Federal Holiday…
- By Pastor Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneSeptember 17, 2025A certain hunter in the community, not this community, but one far away, believed that he should have the right to hunt anywhere he wanted. He railed against people posting their property with “No Hunting” signs. He led public protests and published “op-ed” articles in the newspaper. He organized petitions to remove “No Hunting” signs from private property since they were an eyesore and a public…
- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneJune 25, 2025“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16) This is No. 9 on the list of things God hates most; that list being the Ten Commandments. Most often, this commandment is framed in a legal context of testifying falsely in court, but there are many additional ways people can bear false witness against a neighbor. All of those ways involve lying. Lying is the core sin in…
- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneApril 02, 2025I’ve been thinking a lot about parables these days. Parables have mostly been neglected as a genre of literature through the centuries, even though Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity have used parables to promote spiritual transformation in the hard of heart. Parables function most effectively when they “shock” people into the realization that what they have previously thought and done…
- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneOctober 23, 2024Halloween is approaching. That’s good and all. I’ll probably eat too much leftover Halloween candy and help the grandchildren with their costumes. Anything involving grandchildren and fun can’t be all bad. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend $11.6 billion on Halloween this year. That averages to about $103.63 per family, making Halloween the second biggest American…
- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneAugust 07, 2024The modern rejuvenation of the Olympic Games happened in 1896 in Athens, Greece, as 14 nations brought their best athletes to compete in sporting events and to strengthen ties between peoples. Through the years, the Olympic ideals have been honed to this taken from the Olympics website, “The three values of Olympism are excellence, respect, and friendship. They constitute the foundation on which…
By Lori SorensonJune 12, 2024A group of worshippers gathered atop the Blue Mounds State Park Saturday evening for a modern-day version of Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount.” The Rev. Steven Voris of Luverne’s First Presbyterian Church delivered the sermon to a small gathering at Eagle Rock, formerly the state park interpretive center. “Standing on the Blue Mounds, we can see for miles and miles,” he said. “Jesus wants us to…- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneMay 22, 2024As a U.S. Navy Chaplain who served the sea services from 2006-2014, I officiated at funeral and memorial services of active duty U.S. sailors and marines plus those Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack survivors who chose to be buried with shipmates at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, rather than be buried with loved ones in their hometowns. A few of those services were for troops killed in action. Memorial…
By Mavis FodnessNovember 08, 2023Rev. Steve Voris and his wife, Becky, want Christmas to be a happy time for everyone, and they’re hosting a retreat to show how that’s possible. “So many people have sadness around Christmas because they have a fixed idea of what that tradition is and if they can’t do their normal tradition,” said Voris, interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Luverne. “This leads to guilt and sadness…
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