Holy Week has always lined up with my children’s spring break. As a pastor, this means that while others fly, drive, retreat out and away for the week, we stay put and tackle larger-scale events and services second only to Christmas week. This has been my rhythm for most of my working life as a…
Dear Church, How we spend our time, energy, and money matters. These big three items chart the course for our journey through life. They also tell others about what is most important to us. As we plan to re-open our doors to the Hub, we would ask you to consider how you would like to…
Dear Church, One year ago, we all hit pause. We bought all the toilet paper and two by fours. We made makeshift desks all over our homes. We zoomed. We foolishly told ourselves that this was temporary. Silly us. One year later, we are older. Seriously. I’ve got more wrinkles and rolls and grey hairs and…
Crying evolved as a signal. A misty and salty droplet speaking of dust, sadness, or joy. Tears lubricate, cleanse and release. Some tears travel to the nose, protecting it and providing hydration. Other tears are filled with stress hormones, stimulating our endorphins when they leave the eyes. When sociologists study people groups, often it is…
Dear Church,Once upon a time, a tragic prophet, demoralized by his captors, had a dream. In his dream, he was lifted up by a Spirit and flown towards a wide field far away from his captors. In the field, the Spirit and the prophet landed together in a valley of sun-bleached bones. Together, they walked…
Church in and of itself can be messy at times. Throw in a pandemic in the mix and that mess gets a little deeper and slightly wider. As a pastor I’ll get asked “Does so and so go to your church still?” and my answer most of the time is “I don’t know?” It’s true,…
Growing up Lutheran, I recall that blue flannel board propped up on scratchy brown carpet. Every week, a gentle woman in a floor-length skirt would read from a tall book and put the characters on the board. She taught us about Adam and Eve, about Noah and the Ark, and my favorite, Moses and the…
As my good friend Drake says,“They sayin I’m back, I agree with that.”Well, friends, Kris Sauter is back for the weekly email…at least for this week. No longer do you need to cry yourself to sleep, shaking your fist to the skies screaming “Why God did you take Kris’s unquestioned intellect and complex puns from us!!!!!!!!!!!!!” And what…
Dear Church, A new dawn appears for us this week as our nation welcomes a new president. However joyful or grievous this event is for you, we are all united under the continued shadow of a global pandemic. I know so many of you are weary and tired and digging deep to keep up hope. You…
Hello church,January marks the new year and the mid-winter gloom. I comment to my family often that my autobiography will be titled, “Living Under the Cloud.” Growing up and living my whole life here in northern Minnesota means that I’ve spent 40 years with a deep knowing that the cold, dark, and grey days and…