By Pastor Craig Pederson “Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to [the eunuch] the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" Acts 8:35-36 “What is [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen Did you get your taxes done? Perhaps, the storm gave you time needed to finish. Perhaps, you just got your Form 4868 done early (and if you’re not familiar with Form 4868, kudos to you). Perhaps, you plan for a big refund, so you mailed your tax return as soon as [...]
By Pr. John Hulden I love cheeseburgers. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved cheeseburgers When I was 8 years old or so, my family stopped in a small town in Oregon for a mid-trip lunch at a main street café. After all of us had ordered, I looked out the big [...]
By Rev. Deb Stehlin Have you recovered from your Holy-Week-into-Easter observance? If you’re leader in a congregation, you’ve probably preached, sang in the choir, and made sure there’s enough toilet paper in the restroom. Today, you might still feel like you’re walking through wet cement. But it’s a good kind of tired, right? Because Christ [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen When I was serving a congregation, I often felt that the pace of Holy Week was similar to that of college finals. Three research papers were due (read: sermons) as well as four oral exams (read: leading worship services). Sometimes I felt like it might simpler to pack a sleeping bag [...]
By Pastor Kelly Chatman I read a recent headline that stated, “Florida teens staged a walkout to protest gun violence in solidarity with their peers, and these future voters are going to change the world.” I want to thank God for the leadership and witness of youth. Young people have been known to carry God’s [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen During our March 5 plenary of the Spring Conference of Bishops, those gathered issued a statement in solidarity with surviving students of the Florida school shooting and supportive of the March for our Lives rally on March 24 in Washington, D.C. March for Our Lives is an initiative calling for legislation to effectively [...]
By Emilie Bouvier Several months worth of large-sheet calendar pages decorate my office wall; if you’ve been by, you’ve seen them. I like how the sheets motivate me to plan ahead and see the momentum that we build through organizing across the weeks and months. But I’ll admit, when I ripped off the calendar month [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen My father liked to hunt pheasant in Montana. My son-in-law grew up hunting deer in northern Minnesota. Though I can’t imagine shooting a gun, I can imagine the suspense and even excitement of waiting in the bushes for a bird to come into view. And I am well aware that the [...]
By Pastor Deb Stehlin Yesterday, a friend and I went to see the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater production of “Make Believe Neighborhood.” It’s a masterful mash-up of the story of the radical Christian, Mr. Rogers, with vignettes of people who are making the Phillips neighborhood more, well, neighborly. That includes Pastors [...]
