I’ve had a few folks reach out of late to ask what I’m reading these days. Truth be told, in recent years I haven’t had nearly as much time to read as I wish, and that has only been more true while leading my congregation through this present crisis. But…. I have been trying to carve out a little more time for books, especially reading a bit at the end of the day if only to clear my head. And so I thought I’d share three books I’ve enjoyed immensely, one fiction, one non-fiction, and one theological (though not necessarily in that order 😀). The Grace of Dogs You’ve likely seen one or more of the memes that describe...

I am spending a lot of time in the Rockies of late. Last week it was several days with pastors in one of the Denver metro conferences of the Rocky Mountain Synod on retreat to talk about preaching in a changed and changing world. This week I am visiting with pastors of the Alberta Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada to discuss similar issues. With both groups the question has come up regarding how we might view and speak about our current situation not just as a problem – that is, defining it wholly in the terms of numerical decline – but also as an opportunity. One set of conversations has been particularly interesting to...

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure whether to put this post under the category “Good!” or to invent a new one called “Cute!” – because it certainly is that. But I also think there is something good and true about the interaction between this mama dog and a young boy with Down Syndrome. His name is Hernán; the dog’s, Himalaya. They live in Buenos Aires, and the video was posted by Hernán’s mother, Ana, who writes in a comment to someone who set an edited version of this video to music: Hernán, is a bit withdrawn and flees from physical contact. He does not like be touched, but Himalayan (the dog) insisted so patiently, and...