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How Do We Worship on Easter?

How Do We Worship on Easter?

In less than a month, we will be celebrating Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I didn’t grow up with a strong Christian foundation. I’d overhear comments at church about special days, services, terms, and theology and wonder about their significance. What is Lent? Or Ash...

What Makes Hope, Hope?

What Makes Hope, Hope?

A great part of my job is taking people out for a cup of coffee and hearing their stories. It also gives me a chance to hear people’s impressions of Hope. What brought them here?  What keeps them coming back?  If I had to boil it down to a couple comments that people...

Our Omnipresent God

Our Omnipresent God

Have you ever been out in the middle of nowhere? Like true wilderness? Some place where you can’t hear the hum from the highway and you’re just enveloped in such a complete silence that the silence itself is almost deafening? Sometimes those moments, for a city girl...

Why Hope Loves College Students

Why Hope Loves College Students

In 1996, I had the privilege of being the founding pastor of Hope Community Church, which we purposely started right by the University of Minnesota. I was told not to do this as college students are very transient and do not have any financial resources to help fund...

Gushers & Assimilation

Gushers & Assimilation

You look at the table during snack time at the many different snacks all around you. Your mom of course packed you your favorite crustacean flavored chips.  As each of the snacks are taken out, goldfish crackers, fruit by the foot, and a wide assortment of treats from...

Breaking Shame Narratives

Breaking Shame Narratives

Shame. It’s a heavy word. One, when spoken out loud you can feel that “shame-like” feeling wash over you. It’s a feeling many have experienced and wish they hadn’t. Shame is a feeling that we, as God’s image bearers, weren’t meant to experience. Yet, because of the...