Weekly Blog Posts
The following blog posts are written by Bishop Jen Nagel, Synod staff members, and leaders from the Minneapolis Area Synod.
Christmas blessings
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen "Where Shepherds Lately Knelt" is a hymn from All Creations Sings (#909, with text by Jaroslav J. Vajda and music by Carl F. Schalk). I invite you to listen to and [...]
Advent behind the curtain (or church desk)
By Jeni Huff I’ve been working at the synod office for more than ten years and I’ve been on staff at my home congregation for two-and-a-half years. While I worked only at the synod office, [...]
Called by God … and a Sunday school teacher
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen At the end of Sunday school one day, 12-year-old Tom Zarth was stopped by his teacher who said, “I think you would make a good pastor someday. Have you ever thought [...]
No matter how strong the storm
By Pastor Wondimu Sonnesa For our prayer life to be a peaceful journey with God, it is crucial to recognize and maintain the divine-human boundaries. No matter what our position is or which part of [...]
All Aboard!
By Pastor John Hulden Can our congregations work like an Amtrak dining car? I’ve travelled on Amtrak’s Empire Builder between Minnesota and Montana since my college days and again last week. What a ride it [...]
A river of wax
By Bob Hulteen Each week when I kneel at the altar for communion, I not only see my beloved fellow congregants gathered near me, I think of those saints who have shared that sanctuary and [...]
The care and feeding of a bishop
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen In fewer than six months, the Minneapolis Area Synod will elect a new bishop. (Simply writing those words evokes so many deep feelings: gratitude, grief, uncertainty, wonder.) Our synod constitution limits [...]
Tree of resistance
By Johan Baumeister In front of an ancient, timbered house in Eisenach stands an apple tree. I’ve never seen it in person, but it can be viewed as it looked when Google last drove by [...]
I am where I should be
By Mercy Zou Taithul While I was in college, I couldn’t wait to get out of college and start my adult life. And then, within a blink of an eye, I am in my senior [...]
Practicing presence while playing with puppies
By Nicholas Tangen This year, my wife and I accidentally adopted a puppy named Wendell. Friends of ours, overwhelmed with the attention a puppy requires, asked if we could help find a new home for [...]