While I was in Oklahoma last weekend, I visited two very significant museums: the museum and memorial commemorating the Oklahoma City Bombing of April 19th, 1995; and the Greenwood Rising museum and Reconciliation Park in Tulsa, which commemorate the Tulsa massacre of the Black community [often known as “Black Wall Street”] in the Greenwood neighborhood…… Continue reading Remembering Yesterday, for the sake of Today and Tomorrow
Category: History
Reflections from the Augustana Hochschule
I am back in Neuendettelsau at the Augustana Hochschule, where I studied for a year as an exchange student from Wartburg Seminary during the academic year 1994-1995. Before this trip, I had only been back to Neuendettelsau one time since then, and I hadn’t really spent any time in the Augustana itself. So, it is…… Continue reading Reflections from the Augustana Hochschule
Joseph Anton/Salman Rushdie
As most people remember, on August 12th, Salman Rushdie was stabbed multiple times as he was preparing to give a lecture in Chautauqua, New York. According to CNN, “the author suffered three stab wounds to his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on…… Continue reading Joseph Anton/Salman Rushdie
Abundant Life as an Integrated Life
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” I wanted to share some reflections from a homily I gave at our most recent faculty retreat, and share a book recommendation in the process. I’m starting with this declaration from Jesus in John 10: “I came that they may have life, and have…… Continue reading Abundant Life as an Integrated Life
My Grandmother’s Hands
I didn’t really plan on doing another book review so quickly, but I wanted to share just a few thoughts about this book [suggested to me by a friend], which was really interesting and different than any other book I have read recently about racism and society. Menakem focuses on our bodies, arguing that we…… Continue reading My Grandmother’s Hands
It’s OK to be Wrong
A month or so ago I wrote a post about a book that I read and have really taken to heart: Dolly Chugh’s The Person You Mean to Be. As I described in that post, she describes a growth mentality, which basically means adopting the disposition and attitude of someone who is always learning, always…… Continue reading It’s OK to be Wrong
The Holy Innocents, Wounded Knee, and Fear
Yesterday was the Festival of the Holy Innocents, the day the Church commemorates the murder of all the boys two years old and younger in and around Bethlehem, at Herod’s order, once he realized that the magi had deceived him and Jesus–infant threat to his power–had escaped. The children are memorialized as the first Christian…… Continue reading The Holy Innocents, Wounded Knee, and Fear
Fareed Zakaria and a Post-Pandemic World
Have you been thinking about what it’s going to be like to come out of the pandemic? I have, but I admit that I have been thinking about it really on a very microscale: I’ve been thinking about what it means for me personally, and my ability to travel and get together with friends and…… Continue reading Fareed Zakaria and a Post-Pandemic World
The Cost of Demonization
Perhaps you are familiar with one of Shakespeare’s more famous sonnets, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” In that sonnet, he repeatedly violates our expectations of love poetry by rejecting traditional–and exaggerated–claims of loveliness in describing his beloved: “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; if hairs be wires, black…… Continue reading The Cost of Demonization
Sowing for the Future
Last week, John and I returned from a much-needed vacation in the Finger Lakes. It was an area we hadn’t visited before, and we had a great time–I highly recommend it, even if you’re not a huge wine drinker, which we are not. There are lots of interesting things to see in the region, including…… Continue reading Sowing for the Future
Happy Lutheran 