MetroLutheran

What if a faith community approached ministry by going out into the community, finding excited and passionate people, and asking them, “How can we, the church, become relevant to you?”
Two distinct Lutheran-based, faith communities are exploring just that. Spirit of Truth, in St. Paul, and Project F-M, in Fargo-Moorhead, both have gone into their communities, read on ..

In Tanzania, less than 13 percent of graduates from the primary school system pass the national exam allowing entrance into secondary school, said Diane Jacoby, interim director of Operation Bootstrap Africa. “Many of the people who pass the exam do not go on to secondary school because they have nowhere to go,” Jacoby said.
Fewer of read on ..

Can there be a worse idea than privatized prisons? There probably is, but I can’t think of it right now.
You may be asking what the big deal is. It is at least debatable whether privatization of the penal system can keep costs down by virtue of decreased salaries for guards and administrative staff and using read on ..

When Mikyoung Park raises her lyric soprano voice in song and sees tears in listeners’ eyes, she knows she’s doing God’s work.
Park didn’t fully understand in the beginning. When she sang “I Come to the Garden Alone” at a church in South Korea, she was a new Christian and didn’t grasp the meaning of the read on ..

Cantor Paul Manz is recognized as having re-ignited the interest in church hymn festivals. He initiated a Palm Sunday Hymn Festival when he was organist at Mount Olive Lutheran Church (ELCA), in Minneapolis.
Metro Lutheran will once again honor Manz’ tradition at Mount Olive with a hymn festival. This year’s gathering, however, will occur on May read on ..

The City of Minneapolis has been named the “number one bike-friendly city in America.” (Sorry, Portland; you are second.) Observers of the local urban scene will have noticed bikers everywhere — on the trails, in bike lanes, wherever it is safe to ride.
And bicycle shops abound in Minneapolis … except on the Northside.
North Minneapolis has read on ..

Almost $700,000 that was denoted for the ELCA Domestic Hunger Grants has been redistributed through synodical hunger grant committees to organizations working on relief, development, and root causes of poverty in their communities, according to the ELCA website.
According to Ed Payne, chair of the Minneapolis Area Synod (MAS) hunger grant committee, the following groups within MAS read on ..

Anyone who reads the names printed under hymns in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal will find the name Gracia Grindal familiar. She is recognized as a translator of hymns originating in other languages. Now, Grindal has compiled an anthology of hymns and spiritual songs from the Nordic countries.
She introduced her new book, Hymns and read on ..

What compels a mother to leave her children at home while she crosses the U.S. border from Mexico in search of work? This is one of the questions to be posed in an upcoming U.S. theatre tour by the Mexican organization El Taller A.C. (pronounced /el TA-yer/, meaning “the workshop, a non-profit”).
El Taller A.C.’s Theatre read on ..

With the theme “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” the 15th Annual West Metro National Day of Prayer Breakfast will be held May 3, 6:00 to 8:00 a.m., at the Grand Ballroom of the Medina Entertainment Center, 500 Highway 55, Medina, Minnesota.
The Rev. Carol Skjegstad of Calvary Lutheran Church (independent), Golden Valley, read on ..

Kierkegaard: A Brief Overview of the Life and Writings of Soren Kierkegaard. Albert Anderson. Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press. Theology for Life Series. 2010. Perfectbound. 100 pages. $15.00. www.lutheranpress.org.
Reidar Thomte came into his “Kierkegaard” class one afternoon at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, shortly after the college’s announcement that he was the most recent recipient of a read on ..

Knowing Rolf: A Wreath for My Son. Kathryn Christenson. North Mankato: Corporate Graphics. 2012. Softbound. 46 pages. $11.95. To order: 800/847-9307 or bookmark@gustavus.edu.
Don’t tell anyone you write poetry. They immediately envision saccharin sweet odes of adoration from one adolescent tween to another. While that maybe is where many poets start, that should not be read on ..

Wisdom About War and Nonviolence: Helping Lutheran Youth Make a Prayerful and Conscientious Choice. Lowell Erdahl; Duane Kamrath, ed. 2012. 36 pages. Softbound. $3. To order: 507/665-6460 or duanekamrath@gmail.com.
Before reading Wisdom About War and Nonviolence: Helping Lutheran Youth Make a Prayerful and Conscientious Choice, I had already started to write it off as an if-we-all-love-each-other-there-will-be-no-problems read on ..

Bonhoeffer. John W. Matthews. Theology for Life Series. Minneapolis: University Lutheran Press. 2011. PerfectBound. 100 pages. $15.00. www.lutheran press.org.
Pastor/theologian John Matthews’ slim volume on Dietrich Bonhoeffer does three important things. It succinctly locates the heart of Bonhoeffer’s thought and life in the centrality of Jesus; it lifts up the essential and critical texts within the read on ..

Ethiopians for Ethiopians bases its mission on helping families who adopt Ethiopian children help their children connect with their native culture. Through their work, they connect these families to Ethiopian Americans, helping to give adopted children a rich understanding of their culture. One way the organization connects American Ethiopians to their heritage is by celebrating read on ..

My friend Kevin is a prolific idea person. He often calls me out of the blue to ask, “Mike, have you got a few minutes?” Most often, I agree because I know Kevin is going to expound on a new idea and he wants to pass it through someone else’s head to see what comes read on ..

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:12-14
After a l-o-n-g, dreary, colorless winter, I chanced to look out the window at my church to see a breathtaking array of color. There in the courtyard gardens were read on ..

Like everyone else, I receive repeated and diverse reminders of the reality of the John Lennon quote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Unanticipated events periodically occur and reroute the roadmap that I have in place for my day, and off I go in a different direction.

Apostolic, or Laestadian, Lutheranism, with its roots in the 19th century revival of northern Scandinavia and Finland, remains arguably the most enigmatic aspect of North American Lutheranism. The small size of this heritage, coupled with the social isolation that is found among at least some of its congregations, has caused many to overlook these Finnish-ethnic read on ..

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, recently announced its vote to call the Rev. Bradley Schmeling as its new senior pastor. He will join the Gloria Dei pastoral staff June 17, according to Claire Hoyum, congregation council president.
“Pastor Schmeling is an extraordinary pastor and an ideal match for our congregation’s needs,” Hoyum said. “He is read on ..

Gustavus Adolphus College sophomore Sandy Xiong has been named a Jay and Rose Phillips Scholar for 2012-14. Xiong was one of six Minnesota college students named a Phillips Scholar this year out of 16 finalists.

Richard Swanson, professor of religion and chair of the humanities division at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has been selected for the Inter-Semiotic Translation Seminar, an invited group of only 15 scholars from around the globe, to explore the role of modern semiotics in the translation and communication of scripture for the 21st century.
The read on ..