Step/Mom, Widow and Pastor reflecting on Love, Loss and Ministry
Saturday night in a pastor's house, especially when that pastor is also a mama, is guaranteed to be the worst night of sleep for said person of God. The last minute details of the sermon keep me awake sometimes, but more often it is the children who seem to need me most exactly when I... Continue Reading →
A Sermon on John 19:1-16 On Wednesday morning, some 200 students gathered in the auditorium of West High School as part of a nationwide walk out to protest gun violence. They spent 17 minutes in silence for the 17 students killed a month ago in Parkland Florida. That same afternoon, about 40 of us sat... Continue Reading →
A sermon on John 11 Already this week, I’ve preached about the confluence of Love and Death in the story of our faith, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that those two themes reassert themselves in our gospel reading this morning. Especially not surprising, since today’s reading follows the one I preached Wednesday in John’s... Continue Reading →
Ash Wednesday 2018 John 10: 1-18 It’s a funny confluence of dates this year, with Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day and Easter on April Fool’s. And while we might not like the idea of celebrating our love for each other and remembering our mortality all on the same day, as Christians we have to admit... Continue Reading →
tir-age tahy-rehyj | noun the act of being so tired that you're angry at whoever is sleeping closest to you, usually your spouse, and you wake them up by yelling at them the sound a baby makes when getting three teeth at the same time, while also trying to drag/crawl across the room to a... Continue Reading →
In my first semester of college, when I still believed my music major would lead to a singing career, I took music theory. The professor was a jolly imp who couldn't have been taller than five feet and had more musical talent in his ivory-tinkling pinky than my entire class combined. His favorite part of... Continue Reading →
“I can’t pray right now,” I told my spiritual director a few years ago. I had words for lots of things, like anger and sorrow, custody battling and trash talking. But when it came to prayer, I had no words. Maybe it was because I was protesting the God who I thought had treated me... Continue Reading →
January 25, 2012: My first husband moves out, beginning the process of getting divorced. January 25, 2017: My second husband and I welcome a baby girl into our blended family. It cannot be a coincidence, these events book-ending the most difficult and life-giving five years of my life. I could not have imagined today from... Continue Reading →
Christmas Day 2016 I recently filled out the hospital pre-admission form for this baby due one month for today, and was careful to check one particular box. “Do you want to listed on the patient roster?” The form noted that if I wasn’t listed, my religious leader might not be notified I was in... Continue Reading →
Sermon from Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mankato, MN November 20, 2016 Two weeks ago, we talked about Isaiah, and I told you that the northern kingdom was being threatened at that time by the Assyrian empire. In 721, the kingdom of Israel fell. Now in Jeremiah’s time, the situation looks even worse for Israel, who has... Continue Reading →
Collette Broady Grund 