MainStreet Covenant will be gathering Sunday evenings at 5-6:30pm this Lent to watch season 5 of The Chosen. Season 5 is a slow dramatization of the last week of Jesus’ life. We hope you’ll join us at St. Martin’s By the Lake for this experience. Here’s a brief review by Kate Luck of Christianity Today. … More Join us for The Chosen this Lent
American church attendance might be in decline, but spirituality is up. And, according to Nick Pompella, this is likely surprising for the onetime followers of New Atheism. New Atheism was an explosive social trend that ran rampant in the 2000s and early 2010s, defined by its most popular intellectuals and a fire-eater style that attracted young people as New Atheists actively picked fights about religion. … More Why New Atheism Crumbled
Stephen Colbert hosts outspoken Christian seminarian and Texas State Rep. James Talarico for an online-exclusive interview that touches on the issues raised in Talarico’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for Senate including the separation of church and state, the dangers of consolidated corporate-owned media, and the fabricated culture wars pushed by Republicans in states like Texas. … More Rep. James Talarico Talks Christianity & Politics on Colbert
I’m (blessedly) trapped in a blizzard in Two Harbors watching angry waves crash onto the shore of Superior. The 60+ mph wind gusts are ominous, but the snow piling up reminds me of the Lenten truth that “Though our sins be as scarlet, [God] will make us white as snow.” I’m reposting this piece to kick off Lent where I ask the same question as Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Ooh, What’s that Smell?” … More Ashes and Armpits
Introducing a short video and podcast conversation that revisits my urgent 2019 theological essay arguing that ethnic diversity should be viewed as a spiritual gift essential for the health and witness of the global Christian community. I challenge believers to move beyond nationalism and tribalism toward a “most excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31) defined by suffering in solidarity with marginalized groups. … More Ethnicity and the Church: A More Excellent Way
What we are witnessing is not merely a political failure. It is a spiritual crisis. Why isn’t every Christian in the United States asking with a broken heart, how has the church arrived here? It reveals how easily American Christianity is tempted to trade its witness and its integrity for proximity to wealth and power. We are watching faith be hollowed out and repurposed, not to follow Jesus, but to shield cruelty, excuse racism, and sanctify domination. … More National Prayer Breakfast: A Den of Thieves
Tripp Fuller, born and raised a Southern Baptist with a love for Jesus and the Bible, like many, has watched in disbelief as very same people who taught him that “character counts” have become the most willing to defend and rationalize the immoral behavior of Trump and his movement. If you want to make sense of how we got here, this is one of the clearest and well-researched presentations I have seen. … More The Moral Collapse of White Evangelicalism
I intentionally seek out and share sources that cannot be simply be dismissed as woke, mainstream media propaganda, and here is another example. I stand in support of the National Association of Evangelicals’ statement, “Standing With Our Immigrant Neighbors in a Time of Crisis” and invite you to do the same. … More I Stand with the NAE
Jesus is meddling in politics again. Why doesn’t he just preach the gospel? To “go and do likewise” in this moment for many Jesus-followers in Minnesota means moving toward those who are being harmed and mistreated, showing mercy and standing in solidarity with them, being the healing presence of Jesus and bearing witness to those being left devastated (and sometimes dead) by the side of the road. … More Being a Neighbor, Showing Mercy in Minneapolis
We have set up an Immigrant Neighbor Crisis Fund to collect donations to go directly to the immigrant families in our partner church. Why? Because we are part of them, and they are part of us. To continue applying the metaphor, “The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” just as the white part of the Body cannot say to the black or brown part, “I don’t need you.” “All of you TOGETHER are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (12:27). … More Help Heal Our Hurting Body
today I began my campaign of flooding the Facebook zone, not partisan talking points or angry rants, but the words of Jesus with a bit of commentary. We’ll see what becomes of these gospel pearls as they land on the wet, mucky ground of the Facebook pigpen. Here’s my first post. … More Casting Pearls
I’m not prophesying the imminent downfall of the political establishment or the nation as a whole. I am offering a timeless warning that reckless, animal-like behavior and a lack of “humanity” in places of power and influence can set in motion a slow downward spiral into self-destructive chaos—personal and societal. Exchanging “the mind of a man for the mind of an animal” is, after all, Paul’s diagnosis of sin-infected humanity in his great letter to the Christians in the capital city of Rome. Where does this lead? Read on. … More Planet of the Apes & Politicians
I reject dismissively labeling a fellow Christian as “woke” or “brainwashed by mainstream media” or a “lefty” just because they may critique the Right or fall left of center on certain issues. Why? Because many like me have come to hold their views by virtue of being a faithful Bible-believing, Evangelical Protestant upholding the conservative value of standing on the ancient text and testing (and often changing!) one’s views in light of the teachings of Jesus. … More Drinking the Kool-Aid
My wife and I moved to the Twin Cities 20 years ago. It’s the place where we’ve lived the longest, where we’ve raised our kids, where I have taught theology and pastored churches and grown rich in friendships. People sometimes ask me: Do you ever want to move back to Texas? Get out of that Minnesota weather? I always answer the same way (with no offense to my Texas roots). … More A Timely Word
On this MLK Day, we are reminded how badly we leaders of moral character and wisdom. This generation of well-meaning protesters filling the streets of my city lack the training in non-violent resistance that MLK taught and embodied. If we don’t hear words like following these days coming from our political leaders, maybe we should be turning our ears again to preachers like MLK. … More Our Need for MLK
Jesus was no stranger to bad weather. Once he criticized a first century weather forecaster, saying: “You can predict the weather, but not the signs of the times” (Matt 16:3). It doesn’t take a spiritual sage to read the signs of our times. A societal storm is raging and one scene in the Gospels seems to resonate with what we’re feeling. … More Remaining Calm in the Societal Storm
Over the weekend dozens of refugee families in Minnesota who have fled war, violence and religious persecution were cruelly and unjustly detained. U.S. federal immigration agents, some in plain clothes, deceitfully lured them — including children — from their homes. They were placed in detention, many transported to holding facilities out of state. Every one of these families used legal pathways under the Refugee Act of 1980, completing one of the world’s most rigorous vetting processes. … More The Least of These Are Crying Out
Both Jesus and John the Baptist begin their preaching with the same word: “Repent.” The “R-word” has lots of baggage and needs a second look and more expansive understanding. For repentance is good news, not a gloomy indictment. Listen to the words of Bishop Kallistos Ware today. … More On Repentance
A trusted ministry partner of the Northwest Conference and MainStreet Covenant, Transform MN, has put words to this moment in which we find ourselves in the following essay, “This is Why We Pray.” Mission Friends, let’s seek the Lord together in our time of need … urgently, fervently, continuously, desperately. … More This Is Why We Pray
My faith was tested a couple years ago sitting in the ICU as our son battled for his life. I leaned friends and family who showed up with visits, cards, meals, and words of love. But I’ll be honest: words alone felt impotent. Even Scripture rarely penetrated my soul. What did minister to me powerfully was Apostle Paul’s handkerchief. Let me explain! … More Paul’s Handkerchief
Nothing can provoke anger quicker than mercy, when it’s directed to the wrong kind of people.
Marking the church’s Year of Jubilee, Pope Leo XIV invoked biblical language calling for kindness to migrants as human beings made in the image of God. There’s nothing the least bit controversial about this. It’s what the Bible says, what Christians have always believed, what official Catholic teaching makes explicit. Some people didn’t like this. … More No More Mr. ICE Guy
Years ago a therapist prescribed for me the daily practice of praying the famous Serenity Prayer to help me navigate anxiety. While this prayer is usually associated with recovery groups, it has much broader application for many other personal afflictions. I was asked to look up the “full version” which I didn’t know existed. It is medicine to the soul. … More Soul Medicine: Full Serenity Prayer
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from our family getaway on the north shore. … More Merry Christmas!
I’m a pastor in a multiethnic denomination of immigrants, where my brothers and sisters are being terrorized by ICE raids and growing hostility and fear caused by this administration’s rhetoric and tactics. Our immigrant churches are half empty on Sundays, as families are afraid to leave their homes. No presents are under the tree, and cupboards are growing bare as they are afraid to go shopping. … More Beware of ICEy Conditions
Do you think the magi would be welcome in our churches if they showed up this Christmas Eve? I suspect these ouija board playing, crystal ball rubbing, tarot card reading visitors would be met with suspicious looks and hushed whispers, brushed off and awkwardly avoided. They certainly would not be invited to come forward and play a central role in the worship service. … More Blessed Are the Horoscope Readers
Jeremy Berg 