A couple of weeks ago, I preached a sermon where I quoted statistics about homelessness in our community: In the sermon, I talked about things that break our hearts. These statistics break my heart. After the sermon, one person came up to me and said “Pastor Todd, that sermon…those numbers…they make me really uncomfortable.” And … More The Uncomfortable Church
Dear friends, I pray for your joy and excitement as we enter the season of Advent together. We look forward to the gift of Jesus, and the love and hope that he brings. I am writing to invite you to a special congregational meeting to be held at 12pm on Sunday, December 11. Our call committee has been working … More Congregational Meeting to Call New Pastor this Sunday!
This morning I finished the next in my series of sabbatical books to read. Beyond Church Walls: Cultivating a Culture of Care by Rick Rouse. Trinity has worked hard in the last couple of years to think about how we connect and serve within our community. We were working to connect individuals to serve at … More Beyond Church Walls
“A man and a woman were walking along a crowded sidewalk in New York City. Suddenly, the woman, who was a zoologist, said, ‘Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket,’ but the man could not hear the sound. He asked: “How can you possibly hear a cricket, in the middle of all of this noise, and … More What We Listen For
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus, our Savior, who calls us into deep waters. Amen. Our Gospel story from the book of Luke is the calling of the first disciples. These are fisherman. These are just ordinary guys who are going about their work, minding their own business, cleaning, and repairing their … More Going Deep
On September 28, Pastor Cindy completed her work as a visitation pastor at Trinity. In addition to her part-time work at Trinity, she has also worked for two years for an organization called LeaderWise. LeaderWise works to support congregations and pastors from many different Christian denominations. They provide counseling, coaching leadership development and conflict resolution. For awhile … More Thank You and Godspeed Pastor Cindy!
As I write this, we have daffodils blooming in our garden and the crocus plants are popping up out of the ground in front of our home. It’s a sign of spring. As I write this, our middle-school and high school students are back together in the school building, all together, for the first time…in a … More Signs
Dear friends, I hope you are well and healthy! During this strange time in our life together as a community, I wanted to give you an important update on the state of Trinity Lutheran Church. We’ve been living together in this time of the pandemic now for well over a month, and as the church, … More An Important Update on the State of the Church
A number of years ago, I was in New Orleans for a continuing education conference. I was in the hotel lobby, deep in conversation with a colleague after the evening session when we witnessed an interesting exchange. A man who looked to be homeless shuffled into the lobby and approached the front desk. I don’t … More A Turn in the Story
At our sophomore day away about a month ago, we spent time talking about our faith questions. We had great questions from our 10th graders! But we couldn’t get to them all. I promised the group that I’d answer their questions here on my blog. This is the final in a four-part series to try … More 10th Grade Faith Questions Part IV
Test Driving Theology 