David Bahn – Reflections

Light from the Word and through the lens

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In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations. David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com. He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania. David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”

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  • Today’s Psalms

    On Sunday mornings I love to read the Psalms. Today being the 28th, I read Psalm 28; 58; 88; 118; and 148. Psalm 58 is a challenging Psalm; it is one of the Imprecatory Psalms – those psalms which contain curses or prayers for the punishment of the psalmist’s enemies. It deserves a fuller consideration than…

  • Eternal and Spiritual Perspective

    Mark 8:11-21 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets…

  • I love the Psalms

    Psalm 134 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. My daily devotional practice is to work through a book of the Bible in a manner suggested by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His advise is to take 10 to 15 verses and meditate on…

  • Better Care than for a Sparrow

    Mark 8:1-3 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their…

  • It’s OK to Tell Them

    Mark 7:36-37 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Someone once said that if this man had been a Lutheran, he would have obeyed…

  • Ephphatha

    Mark 7:31-37 And looking up to heaven, [Jesus] sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,”that is, “Be opened.” You might be surprised to learn that I have ever been at a loss for words – especially if you know me and my vocation. As a preacher, I am seldom accused of being short of words to speak. I have a…

  • Early Confusion Gives Way to the First Commission

    John 20:1-18 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken…

  • No silly human tricks

    Mark 7:25-26  But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Some dog owners teach their dogs to beg. Our son’s dogs would…

  • Daughters and Dogs

    Mark 7:27-28 [Jesus] said to her,“Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” The young man was a consistant disruption in the confirmation class. He would make smart…

  • Yokes Now Long Abandoned

    Mark 7:18-19 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) I never give a thought to whether something is kosher or not, whether I…