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The Light Bursts Through
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, whose resurrection shook the world! Amen. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! There is just something about Easter morning, isn’t there? You can feel it before worship even starts. There is anticipation. People show up a little earlier. The sanctuary looks brighter. Janean has…
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God Knows
There are some days in the life of the church when words ought to come more slowly. Good Friday is one of those days. This is not a day for rushing. It is not a day for quick reassurance or easy optimism. It is a day for standing still long enough to see what love…
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Turning Toward the Light
Five years ago, I had emergency surgery. On a Sunday night, the retina in my left eye detached. And in an instant, I lost 90% of my vision in that one eye. I called my eye doctor here in town. He said, “Be in my office at 8 am tomorrow.” I was. And by 8:30 am, I was on my way…
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God in the Shadows
One of the interesting things about shadows is that they change the way we see things. In the bright light of day, we see and understand things clearly. Edges are sharp. Colors are vivid. We know exactly what we are looking at. But when the light fades, and shadow grows, the world feels different. Familiar…
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Even Now, There is Light
I don’t know about you, but there are days when it feels like the world has turned the dimmer switch down just a little too far. You wake up, scroll through the news, and before your coffee has even kicked in, you are thinking, “Well, that is not encouraging.” We are at war. Our nation…
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With Gratitude for Pastor Susan Li
Dear Friends, This Sunday, we will mark an important moment in the life of our congregation as Pastor Susan Li concludes her interim ministry with us at Trinity. For the past seven months, Pastor Susan has served faithfully among us during a season that required both flexibility and care. When Pastor Amanda stepped back to…
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Naming the Shadow
There is something unsettling about shadows. When I was growing up, our home on Oakland Avenue in south Minneapolis had a streetlight in front of it. The light would shine directly into my bedroom. And I remember sometimes waking up in the middle of the night, to see shadowy shapes on my wall. It might have been…
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Where Unity Begins
In a time when it feels like almost everything is contested, one of the deepest longings I hear from people is simple and heartfelt: a desire for unity. We want our community to be a place where neighbors trust one another, where differences do not immediately turn into divisions, and where people feel safe, seen,…
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Welcome is a Verb
Over these past few weeks in worship, we have been talking about becoming people of invitation. Not simply people who hand out invitations to worship or invite someone to attend a class or an event here at church, (though those things are important), but people whose lives quietly and consistently say, “There is room for…
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Tanzania Day 7: That day you find you have hundreds of new friends
Today was an incredible day. This morning, Trinity member Dave Chatelaine and I climbed aboard one of the Land Cruisers and made our way back out to Kimpungua Lutheran Church, our partner congregation. There, we attended worship with the community. The worship service was beautiful. The people of Kimpungua have an incredible heart. It is…
Test Driving Theology
Sermons and thoughts from Pastor Todd