By Pastor John Hulden Have you heard of the new movie that is causing theological and historical debates? It’s a film about religion and the consequential actions that arise out of a strong belief in doing what is right. The reaction to this film is resulting in essays, treatises, and of course, social media chatter. [...]
By Nick Tangen A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to share a bit about the work of Faith Practices & Neighboring Practices with the Metro New York Synod at their Bishop’s Conference. The first two days of the conference were for pastors and deacons in the synod, rostered ministers serving a variety of [...]
By Bishop Jen Nagel I write this blog in the in-between hours, the anxious times, between All Saints Day and the close of Election Day. Regardless of party or persuasion, our nation is holding its collective breath, waiting, watching, wondering, fearful, hopeful, exhausted. I recognize that taking a deep breath while at-once holding one’s [...]
By Pastor Craig Pederson Last month brought to a close the seven-year experience of our daughter, Nora, playing AAU summer basketball. The past few summers had us traveling to destinations beyond the many weekend tournaments held in the Twin Cities: St. Cloud, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Ames, Iowa, among them. Nora’s final tournament was in [...]
By Jack Hurbanis In June of this year, I had the opportunity to attend a weeklong training hosted by leaders on synod staff and from Street Voices for Change entitled “The World Is About to Change.” The entire week was focused on building skills to more faithfully engage in issue-based community organizing and, while I [...]
By Bob Hulteen In 1985 I was fortunate to be invited by my then-pastor, Jim Ellison, to represent the synod at a national gathering in Chicago to discuss the church that was being formed by the merger of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), the American Lutheran Church (ALC), and the association of Evangelical Lutheran [...]
By Bob Hulteen As Jim Rice, my friend visiting from Washington D.C., and I crossed the parking lot at Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center, seeking the path down to the rocks that mark the source of the Mississippi River, we were welcomed with flies that seemed angry about the coming weather change even though this [...]
By Grace Corbin About a week and a half ago, an ecumenical group of 30 people ventured on a “toxic sites bus tour” of North Minneapolis. This bus tour, led by northside residents, brings people to some of most toxic sites for the water, air, land, and people in the State of Minnesota. The tour [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen In the past seven days, I presided at three ordinations. I’m pretty sure that’s a record for me as bishop. Two men and a woman; two full-time and one half-time; two younger and one mid-career; one called to a rural community, one to a suburb, one to the city. All with [...]
By Emilie Bouvier “FWAP.” There’s something so gratifying about feeling the weight and hard slap of clay against the wedging stone in my kitchen. This is the first step in the process of pottery throwing – wedging out air bubbles, getting the clay pliable and consistent. Then over to the wheel. A final “fwap” of [...]
