Last week, Lori and I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark to spend a few days with our youngest son, Sam, who has been studying there this semester. It was fun for us because A) we got to spend some time with Sam, and B) he had been living there for 12 weeks, so we had our … More Permanent
Today, after 12 weeks of rest, renewal and learning, I return to the office. I loved these 12 weeks. They were a wonderful opportunity and a gift. At the same time, I’m glad to be back to Trinity. I’ve missed the people and the work. I wrote a summary of my sabbatical experience for the … More A Sabbatical Summary
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
Today is the Festival of Pentecost. It is the day that we remember and celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, which comes to all of God’s people in the waters of our baptism. In the church it is also our practice to mark important life milestones. And so today we also recognize and bless our high … More A Letter to my Son at his Graduation
He is risen! He is risen indeed! On a normal Easter Sunday, before the worship begins, the pastors and the choir would be gathered at the back doors, the lights would be darkened. There would be a brass fanfare in the balcony and then I would shout out the words that Christians have been saying … More Not Your Average Easter
Guest blog: Pastor Cindy Halverson, our amazing and gifted visitation pastor, shares a word today… “Pray for our country. This will be the first Easter in the history of our nation that churches will not be fully operational.” The ache in his voice was real. The loneliness for worshipping together in the ways he had … More A Word of Hope
I just have to pause and reflect on this past weekend at Trinity. It was crazy-fun. There was so much stuff happening here that it was hard to keep straight what was going on and when. Let me just share with you the brief rundown: On Thursday, the setup in Fellowship Hall began for the … More A Weekend in Fellowship Hall
One of our favorite family vacations has been to a place called St. George Island. It is a small island, a couple of miles off the coast of the Florida panhandle, connected by a long bridge that comes ashore near the small town of Apalachicola. St. George Island is a quiet place full of small … More Our Connectedness
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
There are these moments that occur in our lives when we see the church at work…the church as we think God intends it to be. I believe we catch these glimpses of the Kingdom of God at work all of the time, but we don’t always recognize them for what they are. So when we … More A Glimpse of the Church
Test Driving Theology 