Newsletter

When the poor ones, who have nothing, still are giving; when the thirsty pass the cup, water to share; when the wounded offer others strength and healing: We see God, here by our side, walking our way; we see God, here by our side, walking our way. – José Antonio Oliver, ELW #725 Beloved of […]

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. – 1 Corinthians 3:6-7     Beloved of God, The Letter of Call from the Lutheran Board of Home Missions was dated January 14, 1944, and […]

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him.  When he saw then, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground.  He […]

“We sing the glories of this pillar of fire, the brightness of which is not diminished even when its light is divided and borrowed. For it is fed by the melting wax which the bees, your servants, have made for the substance of this candle.” – From The Exsultet, sung each year at the Great […]

There in God’s garden stands the Tree of Wisdom, whose leaves hold forth the healing of the nations: Tree of all knowledge, Tree of all compassion, Tree of all beauty. Thorns not its own are tangled in its foliage; our greed has starved it, our despite has choked it. Yet, look! It lives!  Its grief […]

“Thus says the LORD: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you perceive it?” – Isaiah 43:18-19 Beloved of God, We know them—people dominated by narratives from their past; narratives that hold them captive; narratives from which […]

“Judging others makes us blind, but love gives us sight. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship Beloved of God, Their names run the gamut from the 16th century English poet John Donne to […]

“Oh, the house of denial has thick walls and very small windows and whoever lives there, little by little, will turn to stone.” – Mary Oliver  “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall…” – Robert Frost Beloved of God, One of the great motivations for us to move forward with our plans to “refresh” […]

Dr. Eldon Olson, retired pastor and member of Peace, is the author of this month’s Pastor’s Pen column. “Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come!” I was staying for few days at our Seminary in Oakland, California several years ago and happened to be there for the first weeks of Advent. On the first […]