I only remember having one conversation with my father about race. When his enlistment in the United States Marine Corps was complete, he returned home to Minneapolis, found work, and married my mom. As a veteran, he was eligible for benefits that included the GI Bill, which he used to purchase their first home. Mom and dad … More Critical Race Theory: Nothing to Fear
Dear friends, I’m sure many of you were very excited to hear of the changes in guidelines from the CDC and Governor Waltz regarding the wearing of masks in public places. I too was very excited to read of these changes. It has been a long time coming! While they are welcome, the changes came … More Update on Masks in Worship
Dear friends, On Sunday, Trinity’s congregational council made the decision to carefully re-start indoor worship in the sanctuary. This will begin Sunday, October 18 and will take place only during the 10:45am worship hour. We are excited for the opportunity to worship together again! Believe me when I tell you that no one has missed worshipping together more than your … More Trinity Goes Back to Face-to-Face Worship…Carefully
As human beings, we sometimes miss things. We just do. We’ve all done it. We are supposed to see, or do, recognize something…and we just don’t. I think we can all admit that it happens to us. A few examples of what I’m talking about: A colleague of mine at my last congregation was doing … More Take a Walk
Dear Trinity friends, We have made the difficult decision to cancel, postpone or reshape all programming at Trinity through Friday, March 27. This is a bold act of love that aligns us with the best efforts of our larger community, state and nation to ensure the health of all who live here. Here’s what that … More A Trinity Update on the COVID-19 Health Crisis
Growing up, our family would occasionally road trip. Sometimes it was to visit the grandparents. Other times it was to spend a few days at a lake somewhere, trying (and failing) to catch fish. Wherever we were headed, once my brothers and I were loaded into the far back seat of our family station wagon … More How Much Longer?
Tragedy most often feels distant. Bad things happen: Perhaps a hurricane, or a tornado, or an accident, or a mass shooting, and we feel sympathy, and we wish it hadn’t happened, and we talk about it and we think to ourselves “I wish there were a solution,” and then we go on with our lives. … More One of the shooting victims in Thousand Oaks sang at Trinity last year…
Americans head to the polls tomorrow for an election that many believe will be one of the most significant elections held during a non-presidential campaign year. Our nation has become increasingly polarized, and this election will be critical in determining the future course of our national policy. Stepping into this election, there are two important … More Why We Vote…Not How We Vote
This summer, a lot of us are going to load up planes, trains and automobiles and hit the road. We’ll go to the beach, to the lake, to the cabin, to a theme park, to the mountains, to a foreign land… The goal is both to recreate, and to re-create. That is, to go and … More Taking Church With You
I remember the first time I was called in to a hospital room where the patient, an elderly gentleman, was dying and his family was, understandably, in crisis. I was doing my student chaplaincy at Unity Medical Center in Fridley, and while the man lying unconscious in the hospital bed was around 80 years old, … More With Full Confidence
Test Driving Theology 