By Bishop Ann Svennungsen More than any time of year, it seems, Christmas is a season for remembering. The sounds, sights, and smells evoke memories of days gone by. I remember singing carols with my cousins on Christmas Eve – all of us jealous that my older brother got the best solo. I remember my [...]
By Bob Hulteen Breathless, LonRay found me sweeping the porch of my Washington, D.C., rowhouse. “They set out all of Mr. and Mrs. Grant’s belongings on the street,” he yelled from the sidewalk. So, together we ran up 13th Street for a block-and-a-half and, turning left, saw the lives of this 80-year-old couple spread across [...]
By Pastor Kelly Chatman Wishing you God’s richest blessing as we enter this Advent season and new church year. In addition to serving part time on synod staff, I am blessed to serve a wonderfully diverse congregation. Redeemer is a 110-year-old Lutheran congregation and in our Sunday worship we usually number around 100 people. Among [...]
By Pastor John Hulden It’s Cyber Monday! I’m writing a blog instead of Christmas shopping online. You are welcome. We are also approaching the First Sunday in Advent. Sheesh, it’s either really hard or an amazing opportunity for us church-y folk during this time of Advent-waiting and Christmas-shopping. Although being counter-cultural is not easy, it [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen My husband has gotten a record number of “likes” for his Facebook post that includes a picture of me shaking hands with Pope Francis. It was on Reformation Day 2018, a remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. Probably even more emotionally moving was the gift of accompanying the “Together in Hope” choir [...]
By Bob Hulteen “In the beginning, God created … “ What a profound context we reside in – God’s creation. And we are all “the created,” siblings directly with all people, but related as well to all living things. We are all of the stuff that God brought into existence, from igneous rock to sperm [...]
By Pastor Craig Pederson November 6 is Election Tuesday, bringing to fruition months (and in some cases, years) of hard work by candidates and their campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. I acknowledge and appreciate this incredibly hard work that often goes unrecognized. As a democracy, we are strengthened when good people pursue [...]
By Rev. Deb Stehlin One of my colleagues is the Rev. Patricia Davenport. We got to know one another because she has served with me on the “new starts team” for the ELCA. She was recently installed as bishop in Philadelphia. I got to watch the worship service via live stream. Oh, what a celebration [...]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen Raised in a Lutheran home, I sensed that the biggest stumbling block in Lutheran-Catholic relations was the requirement that, if a Lutheran married a Catholic, all the children had to be raised Catholic. It wasn’t fair (and fairness was next to godliness for us). We were good Lutherans. We could raise [...]
By Emilie Bouvier An unlikely group of people gathered at a Catholic retreat center last month in rural Michigan. We were a combination of faith leaders from institutions around the Midwest and frontline activists from Flint and Detroit working amidst the ongoing water crises there. Amidst the aromas of cafeteria-style comfort food, I sat down [...]
