Weekly Blog Posts
The following blog posts are written by Bishop Jen Nagel, Synod staff members, and leaders from the Minneapolis Area Synod.
Simple miracles
By Nicholas Tangen I’ve often joked that my large appetite is my greatest intercultural and community engagement tool. It’s not often that I meet a food I’m unwilling to try and, if it’s really tasty, [...]
“Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, …”
In early May, I attended a conference that was simultaneously shocking, challenging, and inspiring. It was called “Neighborhood Economics” and was hosted at a variety of sites in and around Indianapolis. The purpose of the [...]
Have you walked that road?
By Bob Hulteen With apologies to those who use the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), I am writing this week’s blog the week after this text (the parable of the “The Good Samaritan”) appears. You can [...]
The meaning of ‘life’
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen In 1991, the ELCA approved “A Social Statement on Abortion” that provides for our church one of the finest articulations of ethical discernment on an issue that is, once again, [...]
A prayer for a job lol
By Kayla Zopfi With less than a month until my Lutheran Volunteer Corps year of service concludes, I cannot seem to go more than 12 hours without being asked the question, “So, what’s next for [...]
Honoring a holiday
By Bob Hulteen So, I’m probably not the best person to write this blog. After all, in the early 1980s I wrote editorials against having the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday as a [...]
My fullest self
By Maya Bryant My family likes to say that tragedy strikes in threes: If one thing goes wrong, two others (big or small) are bound to follow. And when they happen to you, they’re Tests. [...]
‘Do I stay’
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen I distinctly remember a job interview when I served as pastor at Trinity Lutheran in Moorhead. When I asked the applicant why she wanted to work in a church, she replied, [...]
Funeral feelings
By Emilie Bouvier “Ambient heaviness.” “So disheartened.” “Feeling amped up.” These were some of the comments I heard from colleagues today as we spent time checking in with each other after the long weekend. There [...]
A pandemic for the birds
By Pastor John Hulden One million dead from COVID in the U.S. I know, that’s not a great way to start a blog. But, it is really big news that, well, is not really new; [...]