Posts - The Electric Gospel

Oct

2026

Living by faith, like those who came before us

Focusing our desires on a better homeland

by David Sellnow

Recently, I was asked to speak at the annual commemorative service for a church cemetery. The church, dating back to the 1880s, remains as a historic building, next to the cemetery. The congregation and a neighboring congregation merged their ministries in the 1940s.

I’ll share here a version of the message from that day.

Scripture readings:

There is a provision in Minnesota state law that says: “When a person dies … [and] it is determined that the person did not leave sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses of a funeral and final disposition, nor any spouse of sufficient ability to procure the burial, the county board shall pay for cremation of the person’s remains” (Minnesota Statute 261.035).

In my current employment, with a county human services agency, one of my responsibilities is helping people with those sorts of requests. Sometimes, a father or brother has been estranged from their children and family for years. But at the time of their death, it falls to family to deal with final arrangements. Sometimes, a mother or grandmother has been in nursing home care and has depleted all her own resources and has been on public assistance. She’d not set up any pre-paid burial plans. When her time comes and she passes, the county needs to assist. There have been cases where a neighbor or friend was the only close contact for a person at the time of their death. There have been times when the medical examiner’s office reached out to county workers because there were no family members coming to claim the body of the deceased.

As a society, we pay respects to all who have died in our communities. We show our respect to life itself by the way we treat people in the time of death.

As people of faith, in the church, we have even more reason to show respect to those who have died, knowing that “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13). We have the utmost regard for our forebears who have walked in faith before us and have gone on to be with the Lord. We are deeply grateful for the faith of our fathers and mothers, our grandfathers and grandmothers, who passed down to us the hope of life that maintains us in Christ—in this world and the next. We remember the faithful lives of those who came before us, and we carry on their tradition of faith still today.

Our earliest ancestors in faith prioritized having a place to bury their dead in respect and remembrance. We are heirs of the faith held by Abraham and Sarah. Trusting in the promises of the LORD God, they had relocated across the Middle East to the region of Canaan. They lived as nomads on the land. They had flocks and herds and traded with the local peoples. Throughout their lives, though, they never really owned any piece of the land as their own property. When Sarah died, nothing was more important to Abraham at that point than securing a plot of ground to be used as a family burial site. He spoke with the Hittite people, among whom he was living, asking to buy the cave of Machpelah and the field surrounding it. Ephron, the owner, offered to give the field and cave to Abraham, whom the Hittites regarded highly as a guest in their territory. Abraham insisted on paying in silver the full price the property was worth (cf. Genesis 23). It was important to him for that place to be seen as entirely their own—their family’s resting place. And so it was. Sarah was buried there. When he died, Abraham also was buried in that cave. His son and daughter-in-law, Isaac and Rebecca, were buried there also. Their son, the patriarch Jacob (also known as Israel), was buried there along with his wife Leah. (Cf. Genesis 49:31, 50:13.) [Jacob’s wife Rachel, who had died during childbirth (the birth of her second son, Benjamin), was buried near where they were traveling when that had happened, between Bethel and Bethlehem.] (Cf. Genesis 35:16-20.)

We have inherited the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families. We may own homes and land on this earth, but our deepest deepest hopes are not rooted in anything of this earth. Like our predecessors in faith, we look forward “to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Like the ancient patriarchs, our own parents and grandparents and great grandparents who now rest in the ground of this earth died in faith without having received the fulfillment of God’s eternal promises. “But from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.” They weren’t thinking just of a homeland on this earth. They desired “a better homeland …a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:13,16).

We have that same desire ourselves. Our faith home is a heavenly home. Our deepest hopes are not of the stuff of this earth. We know that the things of this earth are not permanent—even the churches we establish and build. We’d like to think they will stand the test of time, but things change. A church building that was a treasure in its time now stands as a memory of what it once was. The faith history of a congregation may go through many ups and downs, mergers and changes over the years—but the faith remains the same. We walk in that same faith still.

Across the country, changes keep occurring for churches. One mainline denomination, for example, has 2400 fewer active congregations today than were active 26 years ago. A survey of three dozen Protestant church groups, done every five years, showed that in 2019 there were 1500 more churches that closed than new churches that were started. In 2024, there were 200 more closures than new openings.

Yet the promises of God, on which we base our faith, have not diminished, and our hope is not diminished. We endure in hope as did our ancestors in the faith, even when it appears to us that things are shrinking and our future is uncertain. In the years when the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire and the southern kingdom of Judah was threatened by those same powerful forces, Isaiah spoke words of reassurance to God’s people. The LORD held out hope for them. Even through times of exile and uncertainty, he would bear and carry and save them, even to their old age (Isaiah 46:4).

We stand today upon the shoulders of the people of God who came before us, and experience the path of faith in ways similar to their path. The temple that the people of Israel built in Jerusalem did not last forever. It was destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again. Today, there is nothing left of that temple but a wall or remembrance and prayer. Many of the churches built across the centuries since then, in places around the world, did not endure. The landscapes of our lives on this earth change—where we live, how we live, where we worship. But we are reminded by our Savior, Jesus—the anchor of our hope—that our faith and worship ultimately are not about where we are or in what building we gather. As Jesus said, it is not about whether we worship in some particular place, at some specific location or temple or building. “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,” Jesus said, for “God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23,24).

We will continue to believe and pray, to serve one another and our neighbors, to worship in spirit and truth. This is the heritage of faith and hope and love that our forefathers and foremothers in the faith have given us. This is the gospel, the mercy, the truth that we will talk about with our children and grandchildren in our homes and away from home, when we lie down and when we get up (cf. Deuteronomy 6:7), and whenever we share time together in whatever churches and gathering places we find as homes for faith today.

Sep

2026

This is not the best of all possible worlds

Thoughts on the anniversary of 9/11

by David Sellnow

When the attacks of 9/11 happened in 2001, I was teaching at a ministry college. As the news shattered everyone’s thoughts that morning, the decision was made by the campus leaders that we would go forward and continue to have classes, because“we had important theological work to do.” I didn’t entirely agree with that decision, but I did what I was told.

My scheduled class was Introduction to Philosophy. The semester had barely begun, and nothing on the lesson plan for the day spoke to the moment of what our nation had just experienced. If we were going to sit in a classroom on that day, we needed to talk about something pertinent. I pulled up a reading we would have done later, from an 18th century German thinker, Gottfried Leibniz, from a book that he called Theodicy, or “justifying God.” [As if God needed us to provide justifications and explanations to validate his goodness.] Leibniz argued that because God is supreme and ineffable and perfect, the universe we live in—his creation—must be the best of all possible worlds. Otherwise, certainly, he wouldn’t have created things as they are. Leibniz even went so far as to say this: “If even the smallest evil that comes to pass in the world were missing in it, it would no longer be this world, which—with nothing omitted and all allowances made—was found to be the best by the Creator who chose it.”

9/11 attack on Pentagon (Wikimedia Commons)

I asked the young ministry students, “Is that the kind of message you would bring to a world where terrorists have hijacked and flown planes into towering buildings, killing thousands?” People who are scared and confused and suffering because of the ever-so-many evils that occur in this world don’t want some lofty attempt to explain why God must be good even though horrible things have happened. I had students in history classes at the college who would say things similar to Leibniz. They’d say that the Holocaust must have been in accordance with God’s will because it happened.(In their minds, everything that ever happens is God’s will.) They deflected blame away from unimaginable human sinfulness and tried desperately to make sense of tragic events.

Our logical (and illogical) theological attempts to justify and explain good vs. evil and God’s divine sovereignty do little to help hearts and minds that are in the midst of anguish. The French satirist Voltaire scathingly lampooned Leibniz in his tale of Candide (1759). Candide’s life was a progression of one misery after another. But he kept saying what his mentor, Professor Pangloss, had taught him: “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds!” That is clearly not what we should say when horrific crimes are committed or dreadful harm befalls us.

Even Bible passages can be grabbed and used glibly in ways that are of no help to the hurting. Imagine visiting a family in the hospital waiting room outside of surgery, after their loved one has been hit by a drunk driver (or whatever other calamity) … and you say, “Don’t worry. ‘All things work together for good to those who love God’” (Romans 8:28). Would the family be comforted? They’d be more likely to scream in pain, “You show me how any of this is good or is ever going to be good!”

The students in the classroom asked me what, then, they could say. I asked them to remember the central truth of our faith—that there is nothing more important for us to know than Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Go to the cross with people who are suffering. Go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus himself felt the weight of all the world’s sin and ugliness on his shoulders—the worst of all possible worlds. In that moment of agony, Jesus poured out prayers earnestly, “and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground” (Luke 22:44). Our God is not one who needs us to defend and explain him to ourselves or others. Our God is the one who came to us in the midst of this world’s pain and death and experienced the suffering with us and for us. Jesus knows what it’s like to cry out, “God, where are you? Why have you forsaken us?” (Cf. Mark 15:34.) God did not respond to the problem of evil in the world by giving us lectures and textbooks to explain his ways. He responded by placing himself in the midst of humanity’s evil, incarnate in Jesus Christ. As prophecy had foretold, “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity” (Isaiah 53:3). He was mocked and scorned, beaten and abused and killed. He bore our infirmities and carried our diseases; he was wounded and crushed for us, to heal and make us whole (Isaiah 53:4,5). Since we, the children of God, live in flesh and blood, God himself came to dwell with us in flesh and blood, so that he’d confront death for us and free us from death and all the evils of this world (cf. Hebrews 2:14-15).

That is our message to share with one another and others, in a world filled with grief and anguish. The best of all possible worlds is not what we’ll experience in the world as we know it here, but the hope and certainty we have in Christ. And we walk with one another and our neighbors, sharing our pains and supporting one another through the hardships and heartaches of this life. If one member suffers, all suffer together with their fellow souls who are one family under God (1 Corinthians 12:26).

May we not be insular in our approach to faith and life in this world, huddled in our classrooms discussing fine points of doctrine while neglecting opportunities to be engaged in daily life with others in our communities. Our God, in Jesus Christ, was committed to meeting people where they’re at and facing with us the problems of life as we encounter them. Christ was the embodiment of God in our world. We are called to be the embodiment of Christ to our neighbors.

Aug

2026

The voice of a prophet

Zechariah’s words for today

by David Sellnow

If a prophet were to arise in our country today, what would you hope he would say?

Maybe you hope for a prophet to speak out against the immorality and lies and corruption that prevail all around us. The powerful call what is evil good, and what is truly good they say is evil. You’d like a prophet who would set the record straight, who speaks up for godly values—for loving our neighbors, for walking in righteousness, for mercy and justice.

Maybe you hope for a prophet who would speak to the sluggishness and indifference that exists even inside God’s church. The people of God seem to have given up in defeat, or given in to worldly concerns, or given out in exhaustion. They just want to sit in their own comfortable homes, live out their lives, stop working so hard for God’s priorities in a world that doesn’t seem ever to align with God’s priorities anyway. You’d like a prophet who would speak to godly people who are tired, who are weak, who are worn, a prophet to the weary and frustrated.

Maybe you hope for a prophet who would speak out against the nations (including our own) that pursue wars and aggression and claim they are doing so with God’s approval—as if God wants war and will bless them for inflicting violence. You wish someone would challenge the bullies and grifters who increase their riches and advantages at the expense of everyday people and then dare to claim that their greater wealth and power is a sign of God’s blessing. You hope for someone to expose the false preachers and misguided philosophies that battle against genuine Christian hope and faith.

You want a prophet who will speak for you because you don’t know what to say, a prophet who reminds you that you have a Savior, that Christ will bring you more life and truth and fullness than this world can offer … and that waiting for him is worthwhile, no matter how long you have to wait. You hope for a prophet who would remind you that you are not forgotten, that the LORD remembers his promises, and he has promised you salvation.

About 2500 years ago, a prophet arose in the nation of Judah and reminded God’s people that God does remember his people and his promises. The prophet Zechariah’s own name was a reminder; his name meant “the LORD remembers.” Zechariah ministered after God’s people had gone through centuries of history, had been carried off into exile and back again, and had returned to a pattern of life in their home country that was nothing special, quite mundane, not at all glorious. It was not the high-powered kingdom of David and Solomon anymore. It was a leftover kingdom, a remnant, an afterthought. They needed to be renewed in hope that God indeed still was remembering his promises. And Zechariah provided that reminder.

Often in our lives under God today, we need the same sort of reminder. We need reminders and promises for our own souls. We are so easily entrapped and enslaved in our own sinfulness. We keep on doing evil, even if we don’t want to or try to avoid it. We keep failing to do good, even as we try to be good (cf. Romans 7:15-20). Our pride gets in the way, because we’re confident that we can do the things God wants us to do… but we really can’t. We do not do the good we want, but the evil we do not want is what we keep on doing (Romans 7:19). We need God’s deliverance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ (Romans 7:25).

We need reminders, too, about our country and world. We get tired, frustrated, discouraged. The world seems to be in chaos. Our country seems to go from one crisis to the next. Our leaders’ supposed solutions seem more often to make things worse. We find ourselves wondering if we’re going to be ok. We wonder if the ultimate kingdom of our LORD will ever come in answer to our hopes. The word of a prophet like Zechariah—indeed the Word of our LORD through all his prophets and apostles and from Jesus himself—is what we need to reawaken our hopes, reinspire our confidence, and spur us on in faith.

Prophetic voices like that of Zechariah remind us that the LORD remembers. No matter how much our hopes are challenged and burdened—by what happens in our history, in our nation, in our world—we can know that God does not renege on any of his promises. The Messiah is real, not imagined. The promises are true. The day of the Lord will come. And when that day comes, the LORD will remember us as his own.

The fact is, we are in the last days, the end times, the final chapter in human history. How do I know that? Because Jesus has appeared on this earth once already. The events of his birth, life, death, and resurrection were the inauguration of “these last days” (as the Bible terms them). Everything that has been happening since the Son of God became a man is a part of the final chapter of the human story.

The history of time essentially consists of two chapters. There was the old testament, the beginning chapter, the ancient time in which people who hoped in God looked forward to the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah that God had promised. Humanity had no answer to its own sin and problems, to death and isolation from God. Only God himself could solve the human condition. Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the incarnate God, came and fulfilled the ancient word, living and dying in the place of frail humanity, rising out of death and ascending again to heaven as the hope of our future.

Now we live in the new testament era, the concluding chapter, the days in which we wait for Christ to come again. We know he is the Savior, the King, the Lord of all things. Before he ascended into the clouds, he promised us, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus is Lord over all things that happen—even when it appears to us that he couldn’t be further away and this world couldn’t be more of a mess.

Before he ascended into the clouds, Christ also commissioned us: “You will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We have a calling, a purpose, to extend the promise of Christ’s name to others while we can, while this earth still endures in its broken state.

Zechariah spoke of the last days in the way that prophets of old saw the time Christ would come to the world. They saw the arrival of Christ and the end of time like mountain peaks in the distance, appearing as if they were very close together. Zechariah’s prophecy wove images of Christ’s first coming—such as his Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem—together with images of Christ’s second coming—his judgment of all nations. Zechariah encouraged the people to rejoice because their true King and Savior was coming to them. When he first arrived, the Messiah would come in humble fashion, yet at the same time triumphant and victorious. The coming of Christ’s kingdom cuts off the horses and chariots and weapons of war. His kingdom extends over all the earth and he calls for peace. He promises to those who have placed their hope in him will be set free from bondage and restored to strength in double measure (Zechariah 9:9-12).

Zachariah’s book of prophecy also includes messages of Judgment Day. At Christ’s second coming, those who have opposed the Lord will be caught in his judgment like persons caught in a lightning storm. They will be destroyed like Goliath was brought down with a stone from David’s slingshot (Zechariah 9:14-14). At the same time, there is peace and hope for God’s people. When Judgment Day comes, Jesus is bringing redemption to those who have struggled and suffered. “On that day the LORD their God will save them, for they are the flock of his people” (Zechariah 9:16).

God gives great beauty and glory forever to his people, who are his in Jesus. They—we—will sparkle like jewels for eternity. No matter how oppressed we may feel in our days of earthly existence, no matter how many enemies we encounter who oppose God and the faith we have in him, God is our rescuer. The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

And so meanwhile, in these last days, what do we do? We proclaim the message that Christ himself proclaimed. He proclaimed peace to the nations. He breaks the battle bow and takes away chariots and warhorses. He is the King who came to his people in lowly fashion, riding on a donkey—indeed, on a colt the foal of a donkey. The sword our King has given us with which to fight battles in his name is not a weapon of war, but rather the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 NIV).

In these last days, we yearn for and lean on the word of the Lord, which empowers and strengthens us, lifting us up out of hopelessness. In this world of uncertainty and sin and confusion, we rely on our humble, gentle-of-heart Savior to be with us. “Come to me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens,” he said, “and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). That’s the word of our Lord on which we rely. And we go forth with his goodness and promises, trusting that he indeed is the Lord and is in control, confident that he, the LORD, remembers his promises and will safeguard his people … all the way to the very last day, all the way into eternity.

Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Jul

2026

God reveals his truth to the least of us

“Comfort yourself with the Word of God, the pre-eminent consolation.”

– Martin Luther (Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, Theodore Tappert, translator)

Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Matthew 11:25-26).

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Did you have any favorite books as a child? Do your children or grandchildren have some favorite books now?

When my kids were little, they liked Dr. Seuss books. Hop on Pop was a particular favorite (since they liked to hop on their pop.) They liked Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, as well as The Rainbow Fish, The Napping House, and Love You Forever. They also had a fun favorite called The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, which took famous fairy tales (such as “The Gingerbread Man”) and twisted them around into funny, different stories.

There was a time in my life when I was asked to teach college students about philosophy, about the deep thoughts of deep thinkers throughout human history. The primary textbook assigned for the course was called Western Philosophy: An Anthology. The book collected excerpts from the writings of deep-thinking philosophers from all the way back in ancient Greece up to modern times. Probably not a book that would be a favorite with your kids and grandkids. It’s heady stuff. When I was asked to teach that class, I added another book as a supplemental text to help myself and the students along. Looking at Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter included pictures to help make things a little easier to think about.

When my own kids were in college, at times they’d email me papers they were working on, for another set of eyes to proofread and see how well things flowed. I was glad to do that. Then, of course, came the day when the papers they were writing went beyond my scope. I could only admire (but barely comprehend) the research on treating Parkinson’s disease that went into a dissertation on “Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia: From Aberrant Presynaptic Signaling to Maladaptive Postsynaptic Plasticity.”

The Bible is a big book. Even simplified editions like the New International Reader’s Version or children’s Bibles aren’t exactly easy reading. Do you need to be a deep-thinking philosopher or a scientist with advanced degrees to get to know the message God has for you? No, as Jesus said, oftentimes God’s truths remain hidden from people who are the most wise and intelligent, and yet are revealed to and treasured by the littlest of children (Matthew 11:25).

I will admit, there are a lot of complicated truths in the Bible. There are difficult ideas and challenging stories. It can happen that some of the smartest people in the world lose their way and turn away from God. But we hold onto the promises that God has given us with simple faith, trusting God the way that children trust their parents. [God refers to himself as our Father for that reason.] When we’re children, we have that kind of trust. Then, as we grow up, life gets more complicated. We ask why, why, why—to everything. A devout believer named Job, going through horrendous struggles of life, asked, “Why, Lord?” The Lord’s answer was to point him back to who he, our God, is. We can’t always understand why, but we do know who cares for us. When we must go through fires or floods or even the valley of the shadow of death, he will be with us (Isaiah 43:1-2, Psalm 23:4). “You are precious in my sight and I love you,” he says (Isaiah 43:4).

Paul, who himself was the most widely educated and scholarly of the apostles of Jesus, once posed the questions (1 Corinthians 1:20): “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? … Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” The message of Christ may seem foolishness to many and be a stumbling block for others. But to those who are called to faith, Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).

May we keep holding onto Jesus, keep holding onto God’s promises, trusting and believing. Even if you don’t understand all things, know for sure this one thing: God loves you and redeems you.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

May

2026

“What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23)

This message is based on one of the readings from this past Sunday (Easter 6, year A)
– David Sellnow

So many beliefs. One truth to proclaim.

You’ve probably heard the statistics about Christianity and religious participation in America. The statistics, in one sense, show religion in decline. In 2007, 78% of U.S. adults identified as Christians of one sort or another. By 2024, it had fallen to 62%. Two decades ago, an average of 42% of U.S. adults attended religious services every week or nearly every week. Now that number is at 30%. Half of Americans seldom or never attend religious services in person. Meanwhile the percentage of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has grown from 9% in the early 2000s to 21% today.

Don’t think, though, that people are becoming more unspiritual in general. What seems to be happening is that our society is becoming less religiously active while still having all sorts of spiritual beliefs. Other studies show that:

86% of U.S. adults believe they have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body.
83% believe in God or a universal spirit.
79% believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we can’t see it.
70% believe in an afterlife.
30% say they have personally encountered a spirit or unseen spiritual force.*

There’s still a lot of spirituality out there in the communities around us. We are a society with all sorts of religious (as well as antireligious) ideas, all sorts of gods and idols, all sorts of beliefs full of all sorts of inconsistencies and contradictions.

Greek society in the first century was like that. Greek civilization and culture had various religions and beliefs. Greek thought was divided and unsettled, a myriad of moral and philosophical perspectives. On the far end in one direction were the Epicureans. Epicureans said there is no God. For them, the highest good in life was personal comfort. Seeking the most happiness and contentment one could find—that was the meaning of life as far as they could see. On the other end of the spectrum were the Stoics. Stoicism put forward virtue as the highest value in life. Be patient, endure pain, discipline your own body and mind, they advised. Stoics believed God was in everything—an impersonal force, the logic of the universe, a part of every creature and object around us. In the middle fell the rest of the Greeks. The common crowd still held to the old Greek religion. They were polytheistic. They trusted in many gods: Zeus, Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite, and more. They envisioned a god or goddess for every earthly need. But in all Greek thought, no god, no philosophy, was really there to help you beyond this life. Their perspective of the afterlife was that all went to Hades—the gloomy abode of the dead—without much hope beyond the grave.

When the apostle Paul traveled to Athens, the cultural melting pot of Greece, he could see that people were very religious, believing in many things. But they did not have a strong connection to who the real God really is. Paul wanted to speak to as many of them as he could, telling them about the Lord God who came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, about Jesus’ resurrection and our hope of resurrection with him, about the faith that the Spirit of God produces by his word.

Paul’s activity in the city attracted the attention of the city’s leaders. That’s how Paul came to stand before the Areopagus. Areopagus is a Greek name meaning Ares’ Rock or Ares’ Hill. Ares was one of the gods of the Greeks—their god of bravery and battle, the god of war. Ares’ Hill became the common name for the Council of Athens, since they originally met on that hill. At the time of the apostles, the Areopagus mainly dealt with major trials such as murders, plus the censorship of religion and education in the community. Since Paul was preaching a religion strange to their ears, the leaders of the city felt they had better hear him out.

Paul gave them an earful. He commented on the fact that religious thought of all kinds abounded among them. He pointed out their monument to an unknown God. “This is the God,” Paul said, “that I’d like to tell you about it. This God whom you don’t know is the true God.”

Paul explained who God, the Lord of all, really is. Paul said, “The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth. … He himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:24,25).

The Athenians, who thought their ancestors had sprung up out of the ground, did not know the full truth. Their profound philosopher, Aristotle, too, was mistaken, when he proposed that humanity simply always has been, is eternal. The Epicureans theorized that all life started with a simple atom and eventually grew to be more complex. These people made up their own ideas about divine origins, and how human beings came to be, not recognizing the greater truth about their creator. People still do this today, trying to make God in humankind‘s image—as though we could fit him into our minds and understand him, as though the creation could grasp the vastness of the creator. God is too great for that. God’s ways are higher than our ways as much as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:9). He is the source of life for us. As Paul described to the Athenians (Acts 17:28), “In him we live and move and have our being,” quoting their own poets who sensed that larger truth, saying, “We are his offspring.”

Worshiping the real God begins with acknowledging him as our creator and preserver, the one who truly governs this universe and guides all life in it. He is the Lord of our history. The lives of all people are in his hands. As Paul said to the Athenians, “From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God,” seeking to find him (Acts 17:26,27).

The true God is not just some impersonal force, as the Stoics believed. He is a living, thinking, personal being, very much invested in what happens to our lives. History is his story. Nothing happens without his awareness of it. He is personally involved with his creation. He knows you and wants you to know him. He loves you and wants you to love him. He reaches out to you and wants for you to be held by him.

He is not far from any of us, as Paul said (Acts 17:27). He is right there, overseeing our lives. But though God is so close, you can’t see him or find him on your own. You can’t make a statue and call it God. He “does not live in shrines made by human hands” (Acts 17:24). You can’t just speak prayers and hope somebody hears you. God, in truth, invites you to call him by name, approaching him in the name of Jesus Christ. That name is God‘s saving revelation to people. All of God‘s plans for human lives are intended to guide people toward the discovery of his name—the name of Jesus—and bring us toward repentance and salvation in him. On our own as human beings, we “fumble about” in our search for God (Acts 17:27). But God is leading us toward the day when Jesus Christ is revealed as judge of all the world. On that day, he will show us that he is truly the God in whom we find our being.

As Paul proclaimed, “God has set a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed” (Acts 17:31). Jesus is the one who provides saving justice; God has given assurance of this to all by raising Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:31). Trusting in Jesus—the living, resurrected, Lord—we have life in him and will be resurrected ourselves. As Jesus himself promised us, “Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:19-20).

When Paul spoke of his faith in Jesus’ resurrection and ours, many in the Athenian audience were skeptical, “When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed, but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’” And some did hear him further and became believers (Acts 17:32-24).

Believing in resurrection—that there is life beyond this present life—is hard. It’s not something we can see evidence of when we stand in a cemetery or go to a wake at a funeral home. Yet it is our greatest hope. As Paul said on another occasion in his ministry, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. … If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died” (1 Corinthians 15:17-20). That core truth of Christian faith is what Paul sought to share most of all. And that core truth of Christian faith is still what enlivens and invigorates us today, giving us the hope and strength to get through days of our lives on this earth that are dark or difficult.

Like the Athenians, we also live in a country where knowledge of God is often clouded and people follow misconceptions. We ourselves are tempted to look in the wrong directions for help and hope so many times. But while there may be all sorts of paths to worldly success and wealth and prestige, the real truth, the real hope, the real blessing, is in Jesus Christ. His life-giving message that extends to eternity.

Yes, the world is already full of religion and belief of all sorts. Everyone has some god or gods that they follow, some hopes or philosophies that they think will give them reassurance. But so many have not found the confidence and comfort that is found in Jesus Christ. The God we have come to know and trust is a God who, throughout time, has done miracles for those who have trusted in him. He has put bread on the table when people had no idea where their next meal was coming from. He has brought healing of sicknesses when everyone thought there was no possible cure. He gave children to parents who thought they could not have children. And even with so many miracles that he has done, Jesus said you will see greater things than these (cf.John 1:50). The greater miracles that God provides for us are the love he brings us into together as families, the hope that he provides for us when hope seems lost, the forgiveness and grace he showers on us when all we could feel was guilt and shame, the life that he promises that overcomes death and will never end.

Those are truths that we know in Jesus, that we can speak about in our present day and age, rooted in the good news of his resurrection from death. Those are the truths in Jesus that inspire us to act in love to our neighbors.

*Sources of statistics:

May

2026

Mother’s Day thoughts

I had the opportunity this morning to lead a children’s devotion at church, and will share it with you here.

The faith of our parents

Do you know the story of our first parents, back in the Garden of Eden? It was the most beautiful place, and everything was wonderful. But then everything changed, and things weren’t wonderful anymore. They weren’t in the Garden of Eden anymore. Life was going to be fragile and often difficult. Having children and getting through life in this world would come with pain and sweat and all kinds of challenges. And they’d face death someday too.

But even though they knew all that, do you know what they did? The man gave his wife the name Eve. That name means “life”—because, as the man said, “She would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). The man we call Adam. That was a word in Hebrew that means man. He was the first man. Eve was the first mother. They are our first parents.

It took a lot of faith for Adam and Eve to believe that they would keep living and that bringing children into the world would be a blessing. They believed something God would later say to his people: “Surely I know the plans I have for you—plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Adam and Eve trusted that God was still with them and would watch over them. They believed God’s promise that a child one day would be born that would be their Savior, someone to rescue them from their troubles in this world. They held onto hope and clung to God’s promise with faith.

What you see here is a picture of my parents, from when they got married. My parents had five kids—I was the middle one. It took a lot of faith for them to raise a family and get through all the bumps and bruises and bigger difficulties that we all went through. The same is true for your mom and dad. Faith is what keeps them going—trusting God to keep them and you safe, and to get you through life when things don’t seem safe.

Of all the influences on you in this world, do you know has the most influence on your faith—on your spiritual life and beliefs? Surveys consistently show that it’s your mother.* That’s something to give your mom a hug for today on Mother’s Day. It takes great faith to be a mother, bringing up children. And along with your moms, your dads are guiding and shaping your faith day by day too. More than what you read in books or see on TV, more than your friends, more than teachers at school or other people you know—more than pastors, even—it is your parents who shape your faith. They share God’s love with you and help you to trust in the promises of God.

This is something God told us to do in our families—telling parents that they are to take the words and promises he has given and impress them on their children. God wants us to talk about his truths when we sit at home, when we go for walks together, when we go to bed at night and when we get up in the morning (Deuteronomy 6:6-8). So, keep doing what you’re doing at home in your families, talking about God’s promises and growing in faith.

God bless you and your mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers on this Mother’s Day and every day.

For additional thoughts on this topic, see this previous post: https://theelectricgospel.com/eves-faith-and-ours/

* S. Joseph Kidder and Natalie M. Darisme, Who Has the Most Influence on Your Spirituality? Andrews University Faculty Publications 2024

Apr

2026

The Lord leads me to life that lasts forever

On the church year calendar, this Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday. I’ll share here a story that I wrote to illustrate a truth from the Good Shepherd psalm—Psalm 23. If you’d like to read more, you can find additional commentary and other stories in The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts about Psalm 23. The book is available in Kindle e-book edition or also paperback.

The LORD is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need. (Psalm 23:1)

**********

The story of Larry

Larry struggled in school. He had a hard time remembering things. He passed his classes in high school, but his grades were below average. Larry’s parents were in poor health and did not have great jobs. They struggled to make ends meet. Larry could not have afforded university tuition, and he doubted he’d get accepted by most colleges.

Larry ended up at the community college, where classes were cheaper. He got a two-year degree which helped him get a job with a heating and air conditioning company. That went well for a while, but during a slump in the nation’s economy, the company went out of business. Larry found himself out of work. He had a series of odd jobs over the next few years. Most were temporary or seasonal positions. Finally, he landed a full-time job at the local meat-packing plant. The work was a chore, but the pay was good. Larry was able to save up for the down payment on a house.

Larry never got married. He was awkward and shy about talking to people. He lived alone in the small house he had bought … until his father died. Then his mother came to live with him, and Larry cared for her. A year or so later his mother also died. So now, in his forties, Larry was alone and barely keeping ahead of house payments and medical bills that he had taken on for his mother in her last months.

Then the meat-packing plant got new owners. The new owners had new ideas on how to run the plant. They fired a large number of the full-time workers and hired people for part-time and temporary positions instead. The new bosses were great at cutting costs to the company—but this also cost people like Larry their jobs and security. Larry had no success finding another solid job. He collected unemployment checks for as long as he could, but eventually that money ran out.

Larry lost his house. He couldn’t make the monthly payments anymore. He rented a small apartment, but soon couldn’t even afford that. Larry was now 50 years old and homeless. He found a sheltered spot under a railroad bridge where he set up camp for himself. He wondered what he would do when winter came.

An old stray dog kept coming around Larry’s campsite. Though he didn’t have much food, Larry always shared some with the dog, whom he decided to call Rufus. Larry was glad to have the little bit of companionship that Rufus provided. It was about all he had left.

Larry did have one other thing left—something which he’d had with him through all the years, in good times or bad. Larry had his Bible. It was nearly worn out from daily use over the years. Larry treasured the book and kept it wrapped in plastic when not using it, to keep it from getting wet or damaged.

Larry read a chapter in the Bible every day. Lately he’d been reading several chapters a day. He marked verses that really grabbed his heart. He held onto God’s promises with all his heart. He believed the Bible’s promises that God was watching over him no matter how life looked. He knew God was preparing a place in heaven for him and for all those who trust in Jesus.

Sometimes Larry would flip through his Bible and reread favorite verses that he had marked, verses like …

Come to me, all of you who are tired and are carrying heavy loads. I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
The LORD gives strength to those who are tired. He gives power to those who are weak (Isaiah 40:29).
Can trouble or hard times or harm or hunger separate us from God’s love? … Nothing at all can ever separate us from God’s love because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done (Romans 8:35,39).
“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus said. “There are many rooms in my Father’s house. … I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

Larry longed to go and live with Jesus in the Father’s house in heaven. Life on earth was hard.

Winter came, and Larry hadn’t found steady work or a place to live. He slept in homeless shelters at night, but would go back to his campsite during the day to check on Rufus and bring him food that he collected from garbage cans. Larry had built a doghouse for Rufus out of stones and old bricks, lining it with torn blankets.

One afternoon, Larry brought Rufus some steak bones he’d found in the trash behind a restaurant. The temperature that day was in the low 40s, so Larry spent the afternoon with Rufus. While the dog chewed happily on the steak bones, Larry sat reading his Bible and praying for the Lord to see him through, no matter how hard things got. Rufus snuggled up next to Larry. Larry was tired and fell asleep. As night fell, a cold front blew harsh winds. Temperatures dropped into single digits. Rufus crawled into his doghouse to get out of the wind. Larry didn’t wake up. He froze to death that night.

The Lord whom Larry loved had not abandoned him. Larry had prayed for the Lord to see him through life, and that’s just what Jesus did. Jesus carried Larry through all the days of his life, holding him extra close on the hardest days. And he carried Larry on into eternal life when life had worn him out.

Larry’s most favorite Bible verse of all was Psalm 23:6 — I am sure that your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will live in the house of the LORD forever. Surely God’s goodness and love had been with Larry every step of the way. And now he is living in the heavenly Father’s house. Never again will Larry be homeless. He is forever at home with Jesus.

**********

Additional commentary on the story available in The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts about Psalm 23.

Apr

2026

A message for Holy Week

I came across a message in my files. For Holy Week, I’ll share this devotion that my father preached in the spring of 1998. It is fitting for a Good Friday observance, and for our contemplation at any time of year.

Christ’s words of forgiveness

by Donald C. Sellnow

Holy Week is the time of year we go up to Jerusalem with Jesus. For him, it was a journey to the cross. For us, it is a spiritual journey that reminds us how completely our Lord was willing to give himself for us. It is a demonstration of God‘s amazing grace.

We have made this journey to Jerusalem often over the years, as we have listened to the Passion history and found joy and strength in the gospel of our Lord. It is a journey we will want to make again and again so long as God gives us the opportunity to do so.

When we go to Calvary, to stand in spirit beneath the cross of Christ, we listen to our suffering Savior speak. He spoke seven times from the cross. His words tell us what his mission there was all about. His words give us guidance, comfort, and hope for our journey through this life to the life that never ends. The first words spoken by Jesus from the cross were words of forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

It had been a long hard night for Jesus, from his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to his trials before the Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate. Now it was Friday morning and time for the execution of the death sentence imposed upon him. The Romans had not invented crucifixion, but they had perfected it as the cruelest and most hideous punishment they could devise. It was never inflicted on Roman citizens, but was reserved for slaves, pirates, and political or religious rebels—whose deaths were to be a public warning to others. On that Friday morning, the Son of God incarnate was crucified at the place called “The Skull” (Golgotha in Aramaic, Calvaria in Latin). Roman soldiers nailed his hands and feet to wooden beams and then lifted him up to hang him there on that cross, between two criminals, until he was dead, while they gambled for his clothes.

How did Jesus respond to what was done to him? We might expect someone in his situation to scream in anger, to curse his executioners, to ask God to rain down punishment on them. Who in the world would blame Jesus if he wanted revenge? Who would say that he wasn’t justified if he asked God to damn his abusers to hell? After all, he was innocent. He had been framed, falsely accused. He had been beaten, bruised, crowned with thorns and crucified—though he didn’t deserve any of it. Why not lash out at those who had done all of this to him? Why not vent his rage at them?

But wonder of wonders, the first words that Jesus spoke from the cross were not words of anger and revenge, but of love and pardon. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And let’s be sure that we know who Jesus means by “them.” “Them,” of course, means the soldiers who hammered spikes through his flesh to affix him to the cross. But it also includes the men higher up, such as Pilate and Herod and Jewish leaders and judges who condemned him. Peter, the apostle, later told his countrymen that they had crucified Christ, as they had clamored for his execution. “This man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed” (Acts 2:23). “You rejected the holy and righteous one …. You killed the author of life” (Acts 1:15). Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive them,” includes all of them—all who in any way brought the Messiah to the cross. And the Savior’s prayer includes also you and me. For what, after all, was it that laid the Lamb of God upon the altar of the cross? What was it that moved him to endure sufferings and crucifixion? It was the enormity of sin that we in this world had fallen into. Each of us says, along with the hymnist: “Ah, I also, and my sin wrought your deep affliction. This indeed the cause has been of your crucifixion.”*

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Thus Jesus prayed for forgiveness for the soldiers who were carrying out orders, but didn’t know that they were crucifying the Lord of glory. Thus Jesus prayed for the people and their rulers who did not recognize him as the promised Messiah. Thus Jesus prayed for us, who also were by nature enemies of God and of Christ and his Spirit.

Not only do we see Jesus praying for our forgiveness, we also see him achieving our forgiveness, redeeming us by his sacrifice. We don’t have to wonder whether there are sins and offenses that remain on our record and separate us from God. Christ took upon himself every sin every one of us has committed. Hanging on the cross that day, he was enduring all judgment for the sins of all the world. He was taking our place. He was suffering for us, dying for us. “Upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

What a great exchange we see taking place there at the cross! Jesus took on all of our infirmities, all of our weaknesses, all of our sins … and we got all the good, all the blessings, all the grace that brought us forgiveness, life, and salvation. One writer put it well when he said, “Jesus suffered, that we might be comforted. He was rejected that we might be accepted. He was separated from the Father, that we might be forever with him. He wore the shame of our sin and suffered the death of the cross that we might be rid of sin and shame forever. His garments were taken from him that we might wear the robe of his righteousness.”

Jesus died that we might live. And so we say, “Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, dearest Jesus, unto thee!”**

********

“Father, forgive them.” The Savior who spoke those words wants us to speak such words too. We find that hard to do. Our sinful nature rebels at the thought of forgiving others. We want to take revenge. It seems more natural to nurse a grudge, to keep score of someone else’s faults, to rub it in, to be spiteful, to find a way to get even. In the home, on the job, in our private and professional lives, in our immediate family and in the larger family of church and community, it isn’t easy for us to pray, “Father, forgive them.” We want the Father to forgive us our trespasses, but we struggle to forgive those who trespass against us.

Yet though forgiving isn’t easy, it is something we can do, through Christ. When we look at Christ on the cross, we see our sins and all of their consequences, and we know in faith that Jesus covered our sins with his holy, precious blood, and with his innocent suffering and death. In turn, the love of Christ compels us to be forgiving. From now on, therefore, let us regard no one from a human point of view, because God has reconciled himself to us in Christ. We have been reconciled to God, and through him find reconciliation with one another. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.)

May we daily look to the Savior and his cross for the forgiveness that we need so very much. May we keep on hearing his word and partaking of his sacrament—through which our faith is strengthened, our love grows, and we are enabled to forgive one another, just as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us.

“Father, forgive them.” Thank God, for this word from the cross—a word that is a continuing comfort and a powerful motivation for us, the forgiven, to forgive.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, you have forgiven me all that I have done. Every sinful word, thought, and action is cleansed by the blood of Jesus. So often I pray, as Jesus taught me, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”—but forgiving others is not easy. Work within my heart that I may willingly and joyfully forgive others. Forgive my spirit of revenge and help me overcome it. Draw my attention back to the cross of Jesus, that I may learn to forgive as he did. Amen.

*From the hymn Jesu, deine Passion, by Sigismund von Birken (17th century), translated by August Crull.
**From the hymn Jesu, meines Lebens Lebe by Ernst Homburg (17th century), translated by Catherine Winkworth.

Mar

2026

12 years of The Electric Gospel

A dozen years of blogging

The Electric Gospel blog began with its first post on March 15, 2014 (on the Blogger platfrom at that time). It was a continuation of sorts, going back to email messages I’d written for church members and other subscribers during my days as a pastor. The blog project was a part of my mentoring students in their spiritual writing when I was teaching at a ministry college, using it to post some of their devotional pieces. You can read more of the “origin story” of The Electric Gospel (if you want) at the “About” section on this website.

In observance of the blog’s anniversary, I’ll share here links to a dozen items from the past dozen years. I scrolled back through things and selected one from each year to highlight here. If a particular title catches your eye, click whichever link you’d like and read on.

Player Development on God’s Team (2014)
Life as a Child of Divorce (2015)
Forgiveness Brings Peace (2016)
Precious Lord, Take My Hand (2017)
Forsaken … But Not Forsaken (2018)
Still Standing (2019)
The Bible is not a Prop and Religion is not a Drug (2020)
Finding Meaning in our Work (2021)
Love for All, Good News for All (2022)
A Creed for Personal Confidence (2023)
A Starry Beacon Up There for the Rocky Road Down Here (2024)
What Does it Mean to be a Witness for Faith? (2025)

– David Sellnow

Mar

2026

“Love your neighbor” means more than being nice

Niceness isn’t enough

by David Sellnow

In Minnesota, where I live, there has long been a reputation that people are “Minnesota nice.” There are mixed emotions about what that means. Positive connotations point to politeness, courteousness, and goodwill. But there are negative undertones: sticking to small talk and surface-level relationships while burying deeper concerns, keeping people in their place and leaving inequities unchallenged, exhibiting airs of judgmentalism and passive-aggressiveness. It can be more about the appearance of niceness—wanting others to think we are nice people—than it is about genuine commitments to kindness.

“Minnesota nice” was deeply challenged recently, as thousands of federal immigration enforcement agents descended on the Twin Cities and their suburbs, and then expanded to Saint Cloud, Rochester, Mankato, and other cities in Greater Minnesota. Many Minnesotans were motivated to move from being “nice” and avoiding conflict to standing up for their neighbors and their communities. Niceness isn’t enough when people’s lives are at stake. Mutual aid networks sprang up in neighborhood after neighborhood, to get groceries to people scared to leave their homes, to do laundry and run errands for them, to give rides to work and medical appointments, to raise money to help affected families pay their rent.

Niceness isn’t enough in a world where the poor, the marginalized, the outsiders are pushed down and shoved out When persons in power have overstepped their authority and have begun to abuse and demean and dehumanize the people underneath them, God‘s prophets have not kept quiet or stayed passive. Prophets like Micah spoke out forcefully to heads of state and rulers, saying, “Should you not know justice?—you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin off my people and the flesh off their bones” (Micah 3:1,2)? He excoriated them for abhorring justice and perverting all equity, for building their country with blood and wrongdoing (Micah 3:9,10), warning that by practicing cruelty and heartlessness they would cause the ruin of their nation. Zechariah set before the people the right path: “Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy, do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against others” (Zechariah 7:9,10). Isaiah added: “If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10).

Scripture’s instruction to us is not, “Be nice and non-confrontational.” Rather, we are asked to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31). That command concerns all neighbors—all the persons around us, not just those who look like us or share the same heritage. God told his people, “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33,34).

God’s people too easily can forget that once we were not his people, but were welcomed by him. Once we had not received mercy, but were brought into his mercy (1 Peter 2:10). We ourselves were “aliens and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11), but have been brought into his kingdom by God’s limitless compassion. God demonstrated his love for us “in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God’s glory is seen most evident in Christ’s ultimate act of sacrifice on the cross. Jesus did not enter our world proclaiming religious nationalism or asserting a dominant group’s position and beliefs over all others. The way of Christ is much different than the way of those who would push out or push down minority groups and individuals whom they view as substandard. The way of Christ is one of giving ourselves to others. In Christ, we seek to lift all up equally as fellow human beings, all of us together having value as objects of God’s grace.

Let this Lent be a time not just for giving up some bad habit to make ourselves feel nicer or more virtuous. Niceness isn’t enough. Let us embark on a pattern of committed love in action, guided by the love we have known in Christ. Let us love not merely “in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).

A recent blog post here that you may have missed: What’s in a name?

For a previous Lenten message here on The Electric Gospel, see:

Giving up something for Lent (and more)

* “A Point of View: I Am Uncomfortable with ‘Minnesota Nice,’” The Inclusion Solution (5/8/2017).
** “The Eeriness of Minnesota Nice,” CrimeReads (10/12/2021).
*** “In Minneapolis, Community Care is the Model for Resistance,” Prism (2/16/2026).

“Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Focusing our desires on a better homeland

Thoughts on the anniversary of 9/11

Zechariah’s words for today

“Comfort yourself with the Word of God, the pre-eminent consolation.”

So many beliefs. One truth to proclaim.

The faith of our parents

Christ’s words of forgiveness

A dozen years of blogging

Niceness isn’t enough

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