Collette Broady Grund

“Ollie, I want to talk to you about something important.” I said, and his eyes got wide as he shoveled a huge spoonful of macaroni and cheese into his mouth. “Did you hear what Marrett and I were talking about this morning at breakfast? About people getting killed?” He nodded, and I took a deep […]

I grew up in a household that was perfectly comfortable talking about demons and the devil, so I didn’t realize until I went to college that such talk wasn’t normal for modern day Lutherans! It never occurred to me not to take the demon-possession stories in the bible literally until I got to seminary. Now […]

A sermon about David, Bathsheba, Brock Turner, a nameless woman and Jesus There are some weeks where the lectionary speaks so clearly to the events we read in the news that’s impossible to ignore, even when it would be easier to do so. So on a week when Brock Turner and his dad have been […]

“Theology begins and ends with real life,” said Matt Skinner of Luther Seminary on his podcast this week, “Something happens that creates a need for new ways of thinking about God.” “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” said Jesus in this week’s gospel lesson, and I […]

Something from the past rose up to bite my family this week, something ugly and destructive, something we thought had long been atoned for. I can’t say more about it right now for a lot of reasons, but suffice it to say that when I gave my children’s sermon on the seven-headed, ten-horned beast of […]

I’ve been holding this journal entry from over 3 years ago, knowing that someday I would want to share it and say more. February 22, 2013 Already and not yet, the phrase I first learned to describe the Christian proclamation of Christ’s reign, the phrase I’ve preached in one sermon after another since, turns out […]

Try walking, my spiritual director said on Monday, when I confessed my inability to sit still long enough to listen to God. She reminded me of a beautiful book I’ve owned for years, Living In the Presence, in which Tilden Edwards writes several spiritual exercises to be done while walking. This morning I took my meditation […]

I was the kid in high school who carried a color-coded day planner. I delight in a neatly stacked linen closet. I try to buy my clementines in the wooden boxes that make such attractive bathroom shelf organizers. I love order. And I need it, to feel calm and centered and ready for each day. […]

Every Sunday, it’s the communion line that gets to me. The rest of worship keeps me a comfortable distance from the people, veritably fenced off by the altar rail, hemmed in by the stone pulpit walls. I can see the congregation and they can see me, but we Lutherans like to sit at least six […]

It’s been a rough week: church people dying and having serious surgery, an email from Ollie’s teacher every damn day about his disruptive behavior, the continued stress of trying to get pregnant. By last night, I couldn’t hold in the grouch anymore, and poor Marrett came to bed silent and tentative, not wanting to draw […]