Dear Fellow Congregants of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church: As you may recall, last Sunday, Bishop Curry issued a statement about the situation surrounding I.C.E. and the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, which Pastor Joe read right before services. You may also know that St. Stephens recently formed a Social Advocacy Committee. What you may not know is that there has been some recent I.C.E. activity right here in Woodbury and the surrounding area. Also, a local group, Coo

A reflection on Isaiah 7:10-16 Tis the season, really tis, the season, that we are now rushing around doing the last bits of holiday planning. If you’re like me, you’re woefully woefully behind. I always am. By this point, I should just start in August because by the time I think about all I need to do and certainly want to do, it’s really too late. But here we are. We often think, in the lead up to Christmas, that we can plan for every eventuality, prepare the perfect holida

It all started with a tweet. On March 16, 2020, The user @ikaveri posted a picture from Venice, saying, “Here’s an unexpected side effect of the pandemic: the water’s flowing through the canals of Venice is clear for the first time in forever. The fish are visible the swans returned.” The problem: The photo and its sentiment were fake. The upside: a new même was born! At first, people sympathetic to the original poster (OP) started posting other sorta-made-up photos, one o

Some words need no definition to understand their meaning. “Repentance” is not one of those words. Let’s talk about what repentance is not. It’s not beating yourself up with guilt. It’s deprivation or negative self-talk. It’s not a public declaration that you are a lowly worm, unworthy of the dirt you crawl in. It’s not a simple, “Sorry,” and carrying on with your day, either. Repentance, or metanoia , in Greek means a total change of mind. A course correction. A change of di