On any lazy Saturday, or Sunday afternoon, if I have a little bit of time to kill, I may turn on the TV, just to see what’s on. The answer is usually: nothing. But there is this small sub-set of movies, and regardless of how many times I’ve seen them, if I find one, I’ll always stop to watch. I don’t know … More All In
28 of us were driving up the North Carolina coast in two large vans. I was a youth minister and Habitat for Humanity was moving our youth group from one work Habitat site to another. Our two vans stopped at a drawbridge that had been raised to let a boat through…we were in a line of … More The Things That Unite
Pastor Amy Starr Redwine, a pastor in Richmond, Virginia, tells a story about a class she took while a student at the seminary. The class was called: Confession and Forgiveness from a Pastoral Perspective. Pastor Redwine wrote that the class was incredibly popular, and the 45 slots filled up as soon as registration opened. On the first … More Drawn into Community
I remember as a kid, on warm summer nights, my Dad would ask me if I wanted to go out and play catch. I know…cue the “Field of Dreams” soundtrack music here. As we’d throw the baseball back and forth, my Dad would constantly tell me, “keep your eye on the ball!” (Anyone else ever hear that … More Keep Your Eye on the Ball
The older I get; the faster time seems to move. Does it work that way for you? I mean really…today is Ash Wednesday, it’s already the beginning of Lent. Didn’t we just celebrate Christmas a couple of weeks ago? It sure feels that way. It makes sense when you think about it. When I was 10 years old, a year? It … More When Time Slows Down
Have you ever traveled somewhere new…somewhere different… maybe somewhere outside of your comfort zone? In 2015, I traveled to Wittenburg, Germany with a group of Lutheran pastors to experience the sites of Martin Luther and the reformation. Being there was amazing. The history…the architecture…the culture…I loved it. But at the same time, I felt, a lot, … More Crossing Borders
I was baptized at Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis on June 6, 1965. Don’t bother doing the math. There is nothing particularly remarkable about that day…it was just a day like any other. June 6, 1965 was the 21st anniversary of the D-Day invasion in World War 2. On that day, the top 3 songs on … More Remember
Deer Island is a fishing village off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada. Small fishing boats head in and out of the harbor, into the North Atlantic every day. The island is so small, that it doesn’t have a lighthouse. And in the days before GPS systems fishing boats would regularly wander into dangerous waters, hitting the rocks, … More A Light Brighter Than Any
For the shepherds outside of Bethlehem, the night of that first Christmas was just like any other night. All the sheep had been gathered in and there was nothing left to do except to keep watch, talk with one another, and stay stay close to the campfire, keeping warm. That night, however, their quiet routine was … More Hear, See and Go
On November 15, 2017, arsonists set fire to the Masjid Al-Salaam mosque, in the town of Petersborough, in Ontario, Canada. No one was injured in the fire; thanks be to God. The fire was set around 11pm, which was just 30 minutes after the building had emptied out. The building experienced significant damage and would be closed … More When the Walls Come Tumbling Down
Test Driving Theology 