by the Rev. Dr. Ralen M. Robinson Not every voice deserves a seat at our table. So what do we do with the voices that create a cacophony of doubt? We must discern between feedback that forms us and voices that leave us empty. Not everyone deserves space in our spirit or the right to […]
by Elyssa Salinas-Lazarski I’ve always hated running: the sweating, the backaches, the lungs-on-fire feeling. Every quarter in high school, we had to run the mile and I always dreaded it. All the cross-country kids would be done so quickly while the rest of us trudged around the track until the end of the period. So […]
by the Rev. Emily Heitzman It is really hard to be a preteen or teenager today. I unfortunately know this because as a pastor who works with youth, I have seen this firsthand. I’m not saying that it wasn’t difficult to be that age. I received my fair share of unrealistic and unhealthy messages about […]
by the Rev. Dr. Ralen M. Robinson I recently received some harsh feedback that stuck with me. It stuck with me longer than I hate to admit. It came after worship, flippantly, casually, like it didn’t matter, but it stayed. It weighed on me; it made me reevaluate who I am. This isn’t the first […]
by Saint Browder These are scary times for the United States. The language of division grows louder, institutions are tested in ways they haven’t been in generations, and the public sphere feels increasingly tense and uncertain. In moments like this, it is tempting to focus only on the loudest expressions of political extremism — the […]
by Lee Ann Pomrenke We know when we have it, and we know when we don’t. And we know it’s not something we can muster up when it just isn’t there. During the cold, long nights of winter, after the excitement of Christmas and Epiphany has passed, our lack of passion can be all too […]
by Nola Smith It all started when I read an article in the April 2025 Bold Connections e-newsletter from Women of the ELCA regarding a trip to Arusha and Meru, Tanzania, through their Global Education Travel program. In my retirement from nursing, I was looking for new ways to serve my faith community. I […]
by Joy McDonald Coltvet You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. Any case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it. (Deuteronomy 1:17b) In the animated film A Bug’s Life, a huge colony of ants are used and abused by a few big, bullying […]
by Dr. Crystal L. Hall August can be to the calendar year what Sunday night is to the week. With the impending end of the weekend, it’s easy to experience dread as your thoughts turn to work. You start adding items to your to-do list. Or worrying about an impending project deadline. Or beating yourself […]
by Kamila Gutierrez My earliest memories of God are of imagining God as a teddy bear in the sky, with large black button eyes and a little red bow tie. The diminutive of God in Spanish is Diosito, which sounds like the word for teddy bear: osito.I have always thought of God as my best […]