By Bishop Ann Svennungsen In the past seven months, what special event(s) have you missed because of COVID-19? In the synod, five new pastors were ordained recently – in worship services completely different from what they had anticipated. Some were outside, all were physically distanced, and all had smaller crowds. I’ve led installations that were [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen Should I vote by mail? Should I vote before November 3 at Early Vote Center? If I vote on election day, will I risk getting COVID-19? When can I expect the election results? The questions surrounding November 3 seem to grow more complicated by the day. Christian Century notes that at least 500 [...]
By Emilie Bouvier Last year, while living in the Cascade mountain at Holden Village, I spent a lot of time thinking about mosses. I had a ritual of getting up at daybreak at least a couple of mornings a week (I’m not an actual morning person, let’s be honest) to read in early morning light [...]
By Bob Hulteen Let’s be honest: Christian community on its best days is challenging. And, the authors of the scriptures seem to be aware that it is virtually impossible when economic inequity is a lived experience within communities. The Hebrew people knew that accumulation of wealth by fewer and fewer people would make them even [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen If you google “images for Jubilee,” you get balloons and party hats, streamers and fireworks. Jubilee means party! Scripture describes something more nuanced. Depending on where you sit, Jubilee can feel like good news or bad news, liberation or loss. It’s a radical reordering of things. Scripture’s Jubilee includes forgiving of [...]
By Brenda Blackhawk A few years ago, a friend and I were asked to lead the Palm Sunday service. We chose the readers, wrote the prayers, and – in lieu of a traditional sermon – performed a spoken word piece we had written. The sermon at core questioned some traditional life choices and highlighted the [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t want to reform our country’s immigration system. The question is how. In thinking about Lutheran teaching on immigration, I can almost hear Martin Luther use the ancient catechetical method of question and answer: What does this mean? What does just and compassionate [...]
By Pastor Craig Pederson I first saw the phrase on a billboard a couple of months ago: EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE. “Huh, maybe it will,” I thought. I felt better for a moment; it was a welcome respite from the constant problem-solving, low-level-anxiety mode I had been in for several weeks. Versions of that message [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen Are you still washing all your groceries before putting them away? Do you still set your mail aside a few days before you open it? It’s been more than five months since COVID-19 was declared a Global Pandemic. And, still, the ground keeps shifting. The rules keep changing. Wear masks? Stand [...]
By Meghan Olsen Biebighauser I don’t know what it’s like at your house, but in my house the kids are running wild. Frances, my seven-year- old, changes out of her PJs maybe every other day, and spends her time alternating between throwing birthday parties for her dolls, interrupting my work Zoom calls to say [...]
