writer | neighbor | public theologian
If you talk with me for more than a few minutes, you’re likely to learn that Dietrich Bonhoeffer has had a significant influence on me and my work in the church. In particular, his book “Life Together”, which he wrote after his time living in community with seminarians as a part of the Confessing Church,…
Kristin and I have lived in Northeast Minneapolis for over a decade, and in that time, like many of our neighbors, we’ve observed the ways that our neighborhood and many across Minneapolis have increasingly gentrified. Minneapolis is a great city, and folks want to live here, but unfortunately as neighborhoods are redeveloped many long-time neighbors…
This past Sunday’s Gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary (John 4:5-42) sits firmly in my top five stories in the Bible. Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well has it all; deep theological tangles, historical symbolism, the crossing of societally imposed boundaries, and an incredible story of conversion and evangelism. Though not named…
The congregations I’m working with in my day job at the Minneapolis Area Synod have been recently exploring ways in to incorporate the neighbor in worship. For churches, worship is the central practice of community life and the language, rituals, stories, and symbols we center there form and undergird a community’s culture. So finding ways…
