The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge from KFUO Radio

How much do you know about Valentine’s Day? In her latest trivia challenge, Rachel’s quizzing the Ladies on the holiday that everyone seems to love (or hate, or not actually care about ... as Rachel says, “There are only really three options.”).  Was Saint Valentine real? What’s his story? Is it romantic? If now, where did all the lovey-dovey stuff come from? (Hint: the answer will probably surpri...

On February 9, 2024, people across the nation are celebrating their love of the pizza pie on National Pizza Day. In light of this tasty festival, Sarah is asking the Big Question: Does pineapple belong on pizza? Taking the opportunity to share her love of Detroit-style pizza (and why it's the best, in her opinion), Sarah then takes the ladies through the history of Hawaiian pizza, why she thinks p...

It’s an Iron-Ladle Challenge, and this time, the Ladies are tackling budget-friendly recipes.   The rules are simple:   Make a balanced meal that you and your family will actually eat.   Spend as little money as possible.   Pantry items* are freebies.   *Shelf-stable foodstuffs that you buy in bulk and regularly keep on hand.   Will Sarah, Erin, and Rachel each rise to the creative challenge and b...

Dr. Erik Ankerberg joins Sarah, Erin, and Rachel to discuss the latest Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club pick: George Herbert’s The Temple. An expert on Herbert’s poetry (as well as a longtime fan), Dr. Ankerberg shares a depth of insight as he helps the Ladies unpack this beautiful but obscure volume of devotional verse. Who was George Herbert? To what extent was his Anglican faith influenced by Luthera...

Thinking caps on, ladies! Class is in session!  Once again, Sarah’s sharing study notes from her graduate courses at Concordia University Irvine’s Townsend Institute for Counseling and Leadership. In this stimulating episode, she covers:  Macro cultures and their effect on organizations and communities  The value of articulating personal values, mission, and vision statements  A helpful model for...

Amy Scholz is director of church and donor relations for Lutheran Braille Workers. She’s also an LCMS pastor’s wife, a fellow Lutheran lady, and a veteran family caregiver, having walked alongside both her father and her husband as they navigated serious health conditions decades apart.   In this One-Question Interview, Amy joins the Ladies to share her story and talk frankly about caregiving. How...

Happy Epiphany from the Lutheran Ladies! To celebrate the day, we’re rebroadcasting one of Sarah’s favorite Hymn Sing episodes.   Sarah begins this deep dive into favorite Epiphany hymns with the so-called “Queen of Chorales,” Philipp Nicolai’s “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” (LSB 395). She then digs into the stories behind other beloved lyrics, including “Brightest and Best of the Stars of...

As they have for the past three years, Sarah, Erin, and Rachel are offering blessings, wishes, and prognostications for the New Year.  After revisiting last year’s prognostications to see if any came true (spoiler alert: NO), each of the Lutheran Ladies presents a good wish, a word of blessing, and a wild-and-crazy prediction for what life will hold in 2024.  Find LCMS Memory Verse resources at lc...

“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the Lounge – not a creature was stirring, not even a…uh. Nothing really rhymes with ‘lounge,’ here. Sorry, guys, that's unfortunate. ...” Former co-host Bri Gerzevske revisits the podcast for a hilarious Bri’s Radio Theatre Christmas Special in this festive episode filled with laughter, cookies, and Martin Luther himself. Part homage to Clement C....

In honor of the Christmas season, the Ladies are welcoming listener contributions to a new “Write This:” creative challenge, this time featuring original Christmas carol lyrics to familiar tunes.   What makes a Christmas carol different from a Christmas hymn? Can you set a Christmas hymn to the tune of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”? Why are timeless and original Christmas carol lyrics SO HARD...

In honor of St. Lucy’s Day on December 13, the Party Planning Committee is back: this time with tips and tricks for holding your own Saint Lucia Day celebration.   While Saint Lucia (Anglicized: Lucy) is not celebrated everywhere in Lutheran tradition, she is accorded a spot in Lutheran Service Book’s list of church year commemorations—largely due, no doubt, to her outsized place of honor in Scand...

Happy New Year! As we prepare to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent this week — and with it, the beginning of a new church year — Rachel takes the opportunity to quiz Sarah and Erin on the finer nuances of the liturgical calendar, focusing here on the festival seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter.   What are the three “advents” of Christ that we look for in the weeks before C...

The Rev. Dr. Scott Stiegemeyer is Associate Professor of Theology and Bioethics at Concordia University Irvine; previously, he served as parish pastor of congregations near Pittsburgh, Pa., and Chicago, Ill. In this Kitchen Table Talk conversation, Dr. Stiegmeyer answers burning questions about gender identity and sexuality in biblical Lutheran perspective.   What is gender? Is it real? Who gets t...

In honor of St. Michael and All Angels, Halloween, and the End Times readings for the last Sundays of the church year, Sarah’s offering “spiritual warfare ammo” in the form of hymns that rebuke the devil in Jesus’ name.   Lyrics featured in this Hymn Sing episode include “A Mighty Fortress” (LSB 656/657), “O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe” (LSB 666), “Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure Eternal” (L...

Thanksgiving is coming — and that means it’s time once again to put on our eating pants and enjoy some delicious “hot fat carbs.”   In this Iron Ladle Challenge, the Ladies discuss and share favorite recipes for what they consider the ultimate comfort-food Thanksgiving side: stuffing.   Do we call the dish “stuffing” or “dressing”? Should stuffing actually be stuffed into an uncooked turkey? Shoul...

Nadine Grayl is a licensed clinical social worker, a trained deaconess, a pastor’s wife, a mom of three, and a fellow Lutheran lady. She’s also a survivor of postpartum depression who now has a passion for helping and treating other women suffering from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.   Between one in five and one in seven pregnant and postpartum mothers suffer from depression, anxiety, and...

Sarah’s going back to school — and we all get to go with her!  In this episode, the Ladies inaugurate a new series on the podcast: “Sarah Goes to School.” Drawing on study notes from her graduate courses at Concordia University Irvine’s Townsend Institute for Counseling and Leadership, Sarah shares what she’s learning about organizational leadership, vocation, character, and how relationships real...

Author and musician FLAME joins Rachel, Sarah, and Erin in a recap discussion of the latest Lutheran Ladies’ Book Club selection, Extra Nos: Discovering Grace outside Myself. The show bounces back and forth between host questions and reader questions (submitted via the Book Club Facebook event page). How did FLAME become FLAME? How does a theological biography differ from an ordinary life story? W...

It’s a question every Lutheran woman — indeed, nearly every human being on the face of the planet — gets to ask every single day. And in part two of her Big Question episode, Rachel’s once again asking it on air:   What should I wear?  Rachel begins by interacting extensively with a blog post by Reformed Evangelical writer Mary Kassian entitled “Does God Care What I Wear?” The Ladies then discuss...

It’s a question every Lutheran woman — indeed, nearly every human being on the face of the planet — gets to ask every single day. And in this Big Question episode, Rachel’s asking it on air:   What should I wear?  Beginning with a Wikipedia-level introduction to who wears clothes and why, Rachel then plunges into a range of relevant Scripture passages — Genesis 3, Isaiah 61, Ezekiel 16, 1 Peter 3,...

Our intrepid kitchen scientist Erin wanted to know: Which is the undisputed queen of dessert bars on the Lutheran potluck table?   So, using Maximum Science™, she took to Facebook to help her find out. Beginning with a call for nominations that resulted in dozens of entries, she whittled the list of competitors down to eight, then used a series of polls to determine the ultimate winner. Throughout...

Inspired by Bri’s Greatest Hits and the 200th episode of The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge, Sarah, Erin, and Rachel are each revisiting their own favorite episodes from the past four years of podcasting.   This week, Sarah looks back (laughing) at her all-time-favorite Trivia Challenge, in which she got to show off her rarefied knowledge of how to spell “pączki.”   It’s Episode 22: Rachel’s Trivia Chall...

Inspired by Bri’s Greatest Hits and the 200th episode of The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge, Sarah, Erin, and Rachel are each revisiting their own favorite episodes from the past four years of podcasting.   This week, Erin revisits an unforgettable conversation with Elizabeth Entenmann, recorded in October 2021 to commemorate Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.  It’s Episode 105: Erin’s One Questi...

Inspired by Bri’s Greatest Hits and the 200th episode of The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge, Sarah, Erin, and Rachel are each revisiting their own favorite episodes from the past four years of podcasting.   This week, Rachel takes us back to May, 2020—the height of the pandemic lockdown—remembering with appreciation an episode that not only brought laughter to lonely days but also epitomized a classic fe...

As Bri Gerzevske prepared to leave The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge after nearly four years as a cohost, she took a little stroll down memory lane, revisiting and recording new intros for five of her all-time favorite episodes.   It’s Bri’s Greatest Hits — #5 BONUS. The Lutheran Ladies’ Aid Brigade  In this April 1, 2022 episode, Anthems of Zionauthor Katie Schuermann joins Sarah, Erin, Bri, and Rachel...