By Bishop Ann Svennungsen There are a varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. Just as the body is one and has many members, so it is with Christ. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12) At our office, there is no time when the above [...]
By Rev. Craig Pederson At the change of each season, I relish the opportunity to return to the campus of my alma mater, Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter Minnesota. I have the privilege of serving on the college’s Board of Trustees. Meetings of the board are generally held over the course of two very [...]
By Rev. Deb Stehlin I grew up in a faithful Catholic family. Being Catholic as an Augsburg student was never really an issue until one Sunday when the choir sang at a Lutheran worship service. When it came time for Holy Communion, all my sister sopranos went forward, but I stayed seated, saying under my [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen Thanks to the thoughtfulness of a fellow Concordia College alum, I attended last Saturday’s world premiere of “The Passion of Jesus Christ” by Rene’ Clausen. Commissioned for the 125th anniversary of the college and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the composition draws the listener into the profound emotion, the moral [...]
By Bob Hulteen Over the years, I’ve been to more than five dozen church conventions. I’ve probably been a voting member at a couple dozen; and an observer, first with my parents and then on my own, at more – in Western North Dakota, Eastern North Dakota, Northwestern Minnesota, Metro DC, and the Minneapolis Area. [...]
By Pastor John Hulden Today I had the privilege to take four pastors out to lunch so we could talk about – can you guess? – starting a Peer Group! Hey, how’s your peer group coming along? Isn’t it amazing to pray, support, and learn together? (By the way, my offer still stands: I’ll take [...]
by Bishop Ann Svennungsen Occasionally, I am free to worship at the church where our son, John Amos, is interred. The columbarium is next to the baptismal font; as I dip my fingers in the water, I remember the promise, “if you have been buried with Christ in a death like his, you shall also [...]
By Rev. Craig Pederson, Assistant to the Bishop The Prayer Vigil and March held at Luther Seminary last July to remember Philando Castile – the black man who was shot by police at a roadside stop – was a powerful and poignant event for the hundreds of people who attended. This memorial service came just [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen In the midst of 95 degree heat and under cloudless skies, some 30,000 Lutherans gathered for a five-day annual conference in Demsa, Nigeria. Arriving in vehicles of all sizes and kinds – including pick-up trucks with families sitting on top of their belongings in the cargo bed – attendees set up temporary shelters to house them for the week. . Bible studies, prayer, [...]
By Bob Hulteen, Director of Communications, Stewardship, and Organizing I had always “prided” myself on not having traveled internationally. While all my friends were headed to other countries for service or learning or vacation, I bragged that I didn’t have a passport. (Though I might have actually been jealous, I used it as an opportunity [...]
