A New Beginning!
April, 2024
Few of you likely preached, and therefore few of you likely heardโeven in this, the โYear of Markโโthe Easter narrative from Markโs Gospel this past Sunday. Preachers remember from seminary that Markโs original ending was…
Reflections from Sabbatical
March, 2024
Iโm a processor. Perhaps to a fault. While I can and do make some decisions that call for quick decisions, I much prefer to ponder, pray, simmer all possible perspectives in the potโespecially those not…
Called to Sabbatical
February, 2024
Dear Ones, I am reminded of the best thing I did in the first year of my first call some twenty years ago. I noticed the fatigue and weariness of the lay leaders who had…
The Peace Child
January, 2024
We, as North American Christians, take so much for granted. Most of us were born into a Christian home. Many of us had parents and grandparents who passed along the faith. Few have ever been…
NovusWay Needs Our Help
December, 2023
I hope youโve been reading about recent changes at NovusWay Ministries. Weโre grateful for all Dick Peterson did as Interim CEO in Phase 1 of the interim plan, and now weโre extremely grateful that Mike…
Both+And
November, 2023
Lutherans have always loved a good paradox. In a world that would seduce us into either/or campsโus vs. themโweโve always known that we areย saint AND sinner, already AND not yet, justice AND mercy, law…
The World Is about to Turn
October, 2023
A couple of dozen bishops recently read the book by Gil Rendle titled Countercultural and discussed it at some length at last week’s Conference of Bishops in Chicago. Itโs one of the more helpful and…
Never Alone
September, 2023
Why? WHY? Anyone with a toddler knows how this question echoesโor anyone who practices science, philosophy, theology, politics, or just relationships in general. Why implies purpose, cause and effect, and meaning. When people donโt have…
A Seed from that Fateful Apple
August, 2023
First of all, I know very little about Artificial Intelligence, or AI. I do know that I have bishop colleagues in other synods who have picked a random selection of lectionary assigned textsโletโs say the…
God First
July, 2023
โThis Is My Songโ (ELW 887), a poem by Lloyd Stone set to the tune Finlandia by Sibelius, was one of my dadโs favorite hymns. In this time of emerging Christian nationalism and resurging American…
Astounding Giftedness and Blessing
June, 2023
As I write this, the 2023 NC Synod Assembly ended just late yesterday afternoon. It was wonderful really. Lots of visiting between sessions and during meals, joyful worship, and presentations that were not only informative…
Polity & Process
May, 2023
Maybe itโs because just a few weekends ago I led an intensive, nine hours of instruction on the riveting topic of โELCA and NC Synod Polity and Governanceโ for our first cohort of SAMs (Synod…
What Is a SAM?
April, 2023
So what is a SAM? It stands for โsynod authorized minister.โ Usually, itโs a layperson who applies to the synod’s program of lay preaching under the larger category of Advanced Lay Ministries and then goes…
Your Voice Matters
March, 2023
One of the things I hear with disturbing frequency goes something like this: โThis is a top-down church. The ELCA churchwide expression, the churchwide assembly, and the synod make decisions that are completely out of…
A (Very) Personal Word
February, 2023
Sharing can be risky and can evoke undue anxiety in systems. So can not sharing. Youโve played โGossipโ or โTelephone,โ haven’t you? The intended message gets altered, embellished, etc. One observation Iโve made through the…
Holy Light, Holy Darkness
January, 2023
In the strictest sense, white is the absence of color. You canโt mix any colors together to get white. Conversely, black is the sum of all colorsโwhat you obtain by mixing all colors on the…
Jesus: Baby, King, Refugee
December, 2022
One of the dominant themes in all of what we refer to as the Old Testament is hospitality. And little wonder, since it largely recounts the story of the Hebrew people and their relationship with…
Our Enacted Prayer for the Future
November, 2022
Itโs that time of year again. Yes, the strange conflation of Thanks-oween-mas, but also election time. Iโm always bewildered that so few people voteโalmost always fewer than half of the eligible voters and often for…
Theodicy
October, 2022
Isaiah 43:1-2 has long been one of my go-to verses. I do find it a personally comforting reassurance, but it provides a hopeful context in response to the giant โWhyโ questions when we suffer. Surely,…
Burnout
September, 2022
Thereโs a word that has resurfaced with a vengeance during COVIDtide and even more so in our gradual realization that we havenโtโand wonโt soon, if everโreally emerged from it. The word describes a paralyzing and…
Holy Spirit, Guide Us
August, 2022
Hereโs a riddle for you. What used to happen every other year and lasted for a whole week or more but now happens every third year and lasts not even four full days? (Some of…
God Bless America
July, 2022
โThere are three kinds of patriots: Two bad and one good,โ theorized the Rev. William Sloane Coffin while preaching at Riverside Church in New York. โThe bad ones are the uncritical lovers and the loveless…
Like a Family Reunion!
June, 2022
It was like seeing family for the first time in three years. Synod Gathering, I mean. Worship was glorious, and the required masks couldnโt stifle the songs in our hearts that finally, together, rose from…
Jesus is Risen! The Church Follows
May, 2022
In 2019, we voted at our Synod Assembly to move to an every-other-year business synod assembly. We determined that since one of our guiding principles is cultivating whole and healthy leaders (lay and clergy), we…