Knowing that this Christmas would be so very different than Christmases past, and knowing that so many pastoral leaders are not only having to make difficult decisions to keep their people and communities safe but then also explain and sometimes defend those decisions, and knowing that all of us are already pressed at this time of the year, even without a global pandemic… Know all of this, Ben Ciesik and Mary Pechauer (co-lead pastors at Bethlehem Lutheran Church of the Twin Cities) and I decided to publish some resources to help us keep Christmas amid the coronavirus in ways that are joyful, faithful, and safe. The site we...

Like most congregations around the country, we at Mount Olivet are trying to capture and share our worship online. We’re also trying to connect with our folks in a variety of ways, including via written and musical devotions, recording mid-week Lenten messages, and more. But in addition to trying to take what we normally do and put it online, this current crisis and challenge is also inviting us to try out some new things; in particular, to not simply adapt our usual content to the mediums available to us, but to also allow those various media and channels suggest different patterns of connecting (at least different for us)....

Most of us are familiar with the rhythm of Holy Week. Starting with the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday, continuing to the intimacy of the Lord’s Supper and the agony of Good Friday, and concluding with the triumph of Easter morning, we know the pattern of this week well. But amid all our services and reflections, we often forget Saturday, the day in between Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Indeed, in my experience, we give it next to no thought whatsoever, and yet I think it is an important day in its own right. Yes, we can imagine, even if insufficiently, the horror Jesus’ disciples experienced as they witnessed the torture...

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” –John 12:12-13. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover, and it was about noon. Pilate said to the crowd of Jews gathered there, “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him.” –John 19:14-15a. Crowds figure quite significantly in the story of Holy Week. The week starts out with Palm...

Dear Friends, It’s been a while since I’ve posted, I know. It’s been hard to be away from you all, but my current call at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church (Mpls) — which has been the absolute delight and privilege of my career — has made it hard to find the time to keep up the weekly discipline of writing on the upcoming RCL selections (particularly as we’ve moved to a narrative lectionary pattern — more on that, perhaps, in a later post). But… given what we’re all facing together, and because I am not spending quite as much time commuting(!), I thought I would try to resume that...

Whether you call it Veterans Day, Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, November 11th has long been a day on which to remember and give thanks for those who have served their country. This year it falls on a Sunday. I received little training in seminary about how to, even whether to, mark such days in the church; nor, I am afraid, did I offer my students much counsel. (Perhaps that silence was itself counsel.) While I understand some of the typical church/state concerns of highlighting such days in our congregations, it seems to me that on days like this — or, for that matter, on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or Thanksgiving...