The season of Advent often feels like you’re standing just at the edge of dawn. Have you ever been up in the morning for a sunrise? Then you know exactly what I’m talking about: The sky is still dim. The world is quiet. Yet there is just enough light on the horizon to tell you that morning … More Hope Refines
This time of year always draws me back to the heart of the Christmas story. It is a story full of angels and shepherds and songs of peace, but at its core it is about a young family on the move. Mary and Joseph were traveling because they had to. They were vulnerable. They were … More Christmas is a Time of Welcome (Not Fear)
Jerry Buegler. Elmer Buegler. Gertrude Buegler. Grace Moody. Elliott Moody. Lyle Tjosaas. Carol Tjosaas. Phillip Moody. Charles Moody. Jim Campbell. Kimberly Devine-Johnson. Tom Hunstad. Matthias Meester. Robert Roubik. These are my names. The names of people, precious to me, who over the years I have lost. These are my names. You have your names. Your own list of people that you have known and loved, and who have died in faith. When … More For All the Saints
When I was a kid, my family had one of those big, clunky console televisions. People of a certain age will remember them. They weighed as much as a small car. The screen was this big, but the heavy wooden cabinet was this big. Every so often the picture would get fuzzy or the sound would cut out. We’d … More Together for Good
226 years ago, in the year 1799, a twelve-year-old boy named Conrad Reed, skipped Sunday School to go fishing. He found a place to fish along Little Meadow Creek on his family’s farm in North Carolina. While standing by the creek, young Conrad saw what he thought was a “yellow rock shining in the water.” … More The Generous Life
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom you belong. Amen. A friend of mine up in the Twin Cities once told me about his attempt to join a local pickleball league. (Anybody here ever play Pickleball?). He had seen the game, thought it … More Rooted in Love
I recently read a story about a family that left their church one Sunday, and as they got into the car, the critiques started rolling in like they were filling out a review on Yelp: The list of pros and cons just kept coming. Finally, their eight-year-old piped up from the back seat and said, “Well, what … More To Be Trinity
Beloved Trinity family, This week, our hearts are shattered as we joined our sisters and brothers in Minneapolis in mourning an unspeakable tragedy. It has taken me a couple of days to even get my head wrapped around what happened. 50 (plus) years ago, I grew up in a home about 6 or 8 blocks … More Faith, Grief, and the Call to Action
Have you ever noticed that there are rules in life that seem like they were designed just to drive you crazy? Maybe it’s a traffic law…maybe some policy at your work…or perhaps it’s a social expectation. There are rules and laws that don’t make a lot of sense to us. For instance: Rules and laws. Some of … More Free to Love
When I read the story of Jesus calming the storm, I can’t help but think about those disciples in that boat. Remember, this was not a luxury cruise ship with shuffleboard and a breakfast buffet. They were on a small boat…it would hold maybe 8 or 10 of them. Most of them were fishermen, sure, so … More When the Winds Won’t Quit
Test Driving Theology 