Articles
Your Hands Care for Us
AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS from the Treasure Valley Cluster of Churchesof the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America This letter first appeared in two local Boise, Idaho papers, The Idaho Statesman and The Idaho Press on October 1, 2021. Though we would wish it otherwise, it remains relevant, and we hope it…
Dear Samson: To A New American
We swore this is not who we are … you swore to defend the constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in hopes of what we may yet become.
The People’s House
It is the people’s house. We built this house to serve a nation, and to build a nation to serve the world. It is the servant’s entrance you entered.
On Freedom and Love in a Time of Pandemic
Freedom. There is hardly a more soul-stirring word in America, since the Declaration of Independence named “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is the bottom-line last word for every argument, or at least the last word for not listening to one. In these pandemic times liberty,…
The Last Minstrel Show
We didn’t even know what a minstrel show was. Seventh grade English always put on a play every year, chosen and directed by our teacher. Apart from the Easter parade (bonnets for girls, rabbit ears for boys) in kindergarten, I’d never been in a play before. Now it was our turn, we were excited. “Here’s…
On Being a Shepherd
Why do I even care? I always thought I would find a way out of this. I never wanted this job, and I always thought that sooner or later something else would come up, another door would open, and I’d take it. I’d get out of this, if I could, leave the flock behind, let…
Paul Olsen 