Why read Short Dwellings?

How I started writing short reflections on Bible texts and why you might like them…

I am a layperson who really loves thinking and talking about Biblical stories and passages with others. The COVID pandemic hit my congregation, St John Lutheran Church in Fargo, North Dakota, hard. When we could not meet in person, our website and other online ventures connected us. I was asked if I would write some devotions on the selected Bible texts for each week, and I said yes. These weekly encounters with Bible passages have become a spiritual practice for me and have opened me up to conversations with others on those same passages. If you, too like exploring the Scriptures, and if you, too, like thinking and talking with others about important things, I want to share my writings with you, hoping that they might stir something in you that creates conversation in your own circles.

My background…

I have been a teacher since 1971, first in grammar and writing, then in speech and theater, and later still in congregational studies and the work that local churches do to thrive and grow in their missional vocations. I taught at Lincoln and Rosemount High Schools, Brown Institute, and Luther Seminary. I hold degrees in English, Speech/Theater/Broadcasting, Teaching, and Adult Learning.

I worked as the Managing Director of Research and Development for Church Innovations Institute for almost 30 years, where I learned from many extraordinarily talented scholars, pastors, and church leaders how congregations all around the world try, fail, and succeed in following God’s call for them and for their communities.