Persistence
Posted: June 2, 2026The friendship began with the kids bringing me dead cicadas. I’m not sure why they thought I would be interested and I hoped they weren’t killing the bugs for my benefit. My mind quickly went to work figuring out how I was going to re-direct my two new-found Honduran friends. Our synod team was at a national park in Honduras holding a first aid training for the local health workers in our companion synod. I had stepped outside because I was not on the agenda for some time, and I had work to do to get ready for synod assembly.
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Change Bucket
Posted: May 28, 2026At home, we have a “change bucket” that we have thrown change into for many years. In fact, when we started our change bucket, people were still using change quite commonly! We were also much younger and fresh out of school; so, it was not uncommon to dig into the change bucket to pay for a fast-food meal or an overdue library book. Sorting through our bucket felt a bit like time travel, as I discovered several Chuck E. Cheese tokens from when our daughter was young. There were a few German marks from a trip we took in 1999, just before the Euro was introduced. There were some Canadian coins and even a “coin” from a Mardi Gras parade. I’m wondering what others found in their change jars.
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The Picture Never Does it Justice…
Posted: May 19, 2026The picture never does it justice. When I am with you on Sunday mornings and I try to get a picture of the gathering, the foreground looms large and you all seem so small in the background. The picture does not capture that moment accurately. Additionally, we can talk about how the picture does not give testimony to power of the singing, the depth of God’s Word spoken to us, and the deliciousness of the meal that reminds us that right in the middle of this, Jesus is with us.
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Holy Week
Posted: March 31, 2026Holy Week. It is the oldest Christian observance — far older than the celebration of Christ’s birth. The Great Three Days (Triduum) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter — these are God’s gift to us.
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How Much Snow?!
Posted: March 24, 2026After a week of true Northern Michigan winter, where communities saw several inches of snow accumulation, fierce winds, and drifts reaching multiple feet high, one story coming out of our synod was nothing short of inspiring!
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Worthy of Praise
Posted:The Pigeon on the red rocks is hanging out in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs. The black bird sitting on the snow is an Alpine Chough, which I met on the top of Nordkette, a mountain in the Austrian Alps. Honestly, I don’t know that I would have paid much attention to either bird if it weren’t for one of my young parishioners from Hope, Rockford who is passionate about birds. His love and knowledge have inspired me to pay more attention to the feathered friends around me.
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Fast for the Eyes
Posted: March 17, 2026This photo was taken at the Cathedral of St. James in Innsbruck, Austria. I was there last year near the end of Lent. Every one of the churches I visited had some piece of temporary artwork hung in front of the reredos (the panel behind the altar). Many also had pieces of purple cloth covering the cross. This is a widespread practice in Roman Catholic churches, and even among a few Lutheran churches. At the very least, this happens on Good Friday in many of our churches. The instruction in the Roman Catholic church is that this begins on the Fifth Sunday of Lent through Good Friday, but I don’t want to get too far into the weeds about the particulars of this practice!
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An Embarrassment of Riches
Posted: March 10, 2026Have you heard the expression, “an embarrassment of riches?” It’s this idea that you have so much that it’s almost too much — more than one person should have. When I think of living in Michigan and the water arounds us, the phrase “an embarrassment of riches” comes to mind. This past week, as I gathered with the Conference of Bishops, with all of the bishops in the ELCA, I may or may not have teased my colleagues from Ohio about their serious lack of lakes.
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From Above
Posted: March 6, 2026On Sunday, we heard this in the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus: Jesus answered [Nicodemus], “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.” Hopefully at some point you have heard your pastor talk about how that phrase can be translated “born from above” or “born again.” If you haven’t and you would like to know more, please ask your pastor. I’m going to go off in a different direction from here.
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Dove of the Holy Ghost
Posted: February 24, 2026This is an art piece in the Tirolean Museum of Folk Art in Innsbruck, Austria. It is entitled “Dove of the Holy Ghost” and is from the first half of the 19th Century. To me this looks less like a holy dove and more like a crazy chicken.
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