Testimonial

Voices of Faith

Look toward the light

Editor’s note: This article originally ran on July 3, 2020.  “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father…

Voices of Faith

Perspective: Have we been keeping Jesus’ greatest commandment?

When I was 12 years old, my father came home from a church council meeting a bit disheveled. The church members were torn, he told me, over allowing same-sex marriages…

Voices of Faith

Good hope road

Siblings in the faith, I have a confession to make. I have no sense of direction. Zero. I can get lost anytime, anywhere. During my teenage years, my father promised…

Voices of Faith

I’m a Lutheran: Rico Martinez Gonzalez

Luther Place Memorial Church, Washington, D.C. Artist and musician, member of N Street Village Ambassadors of Praise, and of Luther Place’s choir and Community Craft Collective ministry My favorite Bible…

Voices of Faith

Dignity, details and In the Heights

Early in the screen musical In the Heights, matriarch Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) describes the velvet gloves her mother purchased when she immigrated from Cuba to the Manhattan barrio Washington…

Voices of Faith

We belong to God

How do you deal with your critics? We’ve all got them—family, friends, co-workers, bosses, customers, next-door neighbors, internet strangers. Life with other humans inevitably involves conflict, debate and even division….

Voices of Faith

Juneteenth 150 years later

Despite our progress, we still face the challenge of racism.

Voices of Faith

Fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers

Do you hear that great whooshing sound in your congregation? It’s supposed to be the sound of the Spirit rushing in like a mighty wind during the season of Pentecost…

Voices of Faith

A trail of altars

A lot has changed in the decade-plus since I co-wrote They Are Us: Lutherans and Immigration (Augsburg Fortress, 2009) with Ralston Deffenbaugh. In the book, we attempted to build a…

Voices of Faith

The pain of the world

Series editor’s note: Throughout 2021, “Deeper understandings” will continue to engage the ELCA’s commitment to authentic diversity. —Kathryn A. Kleinhans, dean of Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio At…

Voices of Faith

My faith journey: An ongoing circle of love

Lutheran summer camps are scattered across our denomination. In fact, in seminary we would joke that our introductions frequently included the Lutheran outdoor ministry sites where we went as kids,…

Voices of Faith

Victory over death

For many, Memorial Day weekend signifies the start of summer. But the holiday’s true meaning often gets lost in the three-day weekend of backyard barbecues, beach parties and sales. Memorial…