Drawn into Community

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

Remember

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

Foundation

What goes in to making up a person?  I’m not talking about the biology here…the DNA, chromosomes, and cells.  I’m talking about who you are.  I’m talking about a person’s spirit, their personality, their faith, their very identity. Every single one of us has building blocks that go into creating our sense of self.  Like a Lego set, we grow and … More Foundation

We’ve Got to Talk

There are events that occur that make you absolutely stop in your tracks and say to yourself “I can’t believe that just happened.”   I remember when Lori woke me up in the middle of the night and said with a smile, “I think it’s time.”  And we hustled to the hospital.  Eight hours later, I’m holding Nathan … More We’ve Got to Talk

It is Time

On September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy took the podium at Rice University to speak to a crowd of 40,000 people.  It was a hard time:  Our nation was struggling.  Viet Nam was escalating.  The Bay of Pigs incident had taken place the year prior.  The cold war was heating up, and our nation, … More It is Time

No Filter

Have you ever been a witness?  I mean a real, live, actual legal witness?  Like in a courtroom?  I have.  Years ago, I was on a church summer trip with a bunch of the young people from my congregation when they witnessed a crime.  They did the right thing, and reported it, and the individual … More No Filter

Take a Walk

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

Point

I have a group of good friends who live in California.  They never tire of reminding me that they live in the land of beaches, palm trees and movie stars, while I love on the frozen tundra.  They like to give me a hard time about being from and living in Minnesota. They like to … More Point