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09/07/2026

Rev. Sue Lynn White, M.Div., ’17
Pastor, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Salisbury, NC

Genesis 50:15-21

Forgiveness is probably one of the hardest things to offer, especially when we have been emotionally or physically harmed. Joseph’s brothers feared retaliation for all the suffering they had caused him. Yet, in looking back, Joseph could see how God was using his circumstance to provide a way to save people during the famine.

In Prof. Lois Malcolm’s seminary class, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, one of the books for required reading was Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower. The first half of the book tells the story of a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp, to whom a dying N**i soldier confesses a wrong, asking for the Jewish man’s forgiveness. The second half of the book relates responses from prominent people who are asked the question “What would you do?”

Granted, these two men were strangers. But for Joseph, this is his family. Joseph does more than forgive them. He welcomes them and their families to ensure they are provided for.

Forgiving God, sometimes it is difficult to forgive when we have been wronged. Yet we know you want restored relationships. Help us to see where you may be at work in the situation and open our hearts for conversation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

09/04/2026

Joe Jorgensen, M.Div. ‘23
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Faribault, MN; Gol Lutheran Church, Kenyon, MN

Matthew 18:15-20
"Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

I often hear these words spoken as a promise about worship, about Sunday mornings. But Jesus says these words right after talking about confrontation and reconciliation. He's not just promising to show up when we sing. He's promising to show up in the hard conversations, too. He promises to be present in moments where someone has to say "you hurt me" and someone else has to hear it.

And that is good news, because this work is hard—reconciling, speaking truth to those who've wronged us, forgiving. We need God’s presence to turn our hearts from hurt to restoration. We need the Holy Spirit to give us the words to speak.

None of this is meant to be done alone. Not the confrontation, not the forgiveness, not the restoring. Christ is in the room for all of it. Thanks be to God.

Lord, meet us in all our gatherings—especially the hard ones. Amen.

09/03/2026

Joe Jorgensen, M.Div. ‘23
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Faribault, MN; Gol Lutheran Church, Kenyon, MN

Matthew 18:15-20
What happens when someone wrongs you? Maybe you pretend it didn't happen. Maybe you post about it on social media. Maybe you rant to family or friends.

But Jesus says, first go to the one who wronged you and point out the fault. Privately. Directly. To their face, not behind their back.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like hard, uncomfortable work. It would be easier to talk about the person than to them. But Jesus treats the relationship as worth more than our comfort. "If you are listened to, you have regained that one." Not defeated them. Not proven a point. Regained them. The relationship is something precious that was in danger of being lost.

Only if that word goes unheard does the circle widen, first to witnesses, then the whole community. Confrontation, Jesus' way, stays as small as it can, because the goal was never to win, but to restore a broken relationship.

Lord, give us the courage to go to one another in times of conflict, and to seek restoration. Amen.

09/02/2026

Joe Jorgensen, M.Div. ‘23
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Faribault, MN; Gol Lutheran Church, Kenyon, MN

Romans 13:8-14
Paul offers a clear instruction to the Romans: turn toward love. "Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law."

When you look at the commandments, it’s easy to see that many of them coalesce into this one instruction. Not because the rules stop mattering, but because love was always what they were pointing to. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. It's not a soft substitute for the law. It's the whole point of the law.

And Paul’s invitation to love is an urgent one: "the night is far gone; the day is near." Wake up. This isn't a task for someday, it is a task for today, now. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” today, see the shape of his way, and speak his message to the world. In today’s ordinary rooms, to today's ordinary neighbors: love, and love now.

Lord, wake us up and send us to love, today. Amen.

09/01/2026

Joe Jorgensen, M.Div. ‘23
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Faribault, MN; Gol Lutheran Church, Kenyon, MN

Psalm 119:33-40
The psalmist doesn't ask God for a script. The psalmist asks to be shown the way, to see the shape of God’s design, and for their own heart to be turned.

"Teach me... give me understanding... lead me... turn my heart... turn my eyes." Each of these phrases is a request to be changed, not to be handed answers. Before this voice can speak a word to anyone else, it wants its own self to be reordered from the inside.

So, if we are to be sentinels of God’s call to repentance, it’s worth sitting with these words from the psalmist. It's tempting to hear "speak the word you hear" and rush straight to speaking. But first, it is wise to ask God to shape what we're even capable of hearing. Turn my heart from selfish gain. Turn my eyes from vanity. Then, maybe, I can truly discover the word God would have me speak.

Lord, teach us your way before you send us to speak it. Amen.

08/31/2026

Joe Jorgensen, M.Div. ‘23
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Faribault, MN; Gol Lutheran Church, Kenyon, MN

Ezekiel 33:7-11
God calls the prophet to be a sentinel—one who keeps watch and raises the alarm—and then God gives this sentinel a clear task: speak the word you hear.

But this is no simple task, and the stakes are high. What the sentinel says—or doesn't say—becomes part of someone else's story. That voice might be the difference between someone turning around and someone wandering further into the dark.

So what message does God want delivered? Not condemnation, but words of grace and invitation. "Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" God takes no pleasure in anyone's demise, but rather delights in their turning, their living.

We, too, are given words to speak, often to people we love, in rooms where silence would be easier. But the sentinel's call isn't to stand over others in judgment. It's to stand with them, and say the hard, hopeful thing: turn back. Live.

Lord, give us the courage to speak, and the wisdom to speak rightly. Amen.

08/28/2026

Phil Rue ’72 M.Div.

Mt. 16:21-28

It is intriguing, this call of Jesus to “take up (one’s) cross.” Certainly no one can add to or enhance the cross of Christ. That is a gift that is one and done. Perhaps the two verbs that accompany this call offer a clue for us: “deny” and “follow.”

To “deny” oneself is not to denigrate oneself. But embraced by Christ's love there is the call and the freedom to live beyond oneself and to see the neighbor.

Perhaps then to “follow” is to be lost but totally found in the love of Christ, and thus to find oneself where Jesus is: proclaiming the good news of God’s near presence and reign, curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons. Those places of need abound yet today, and Jesus often chooses to be there through our hearts and hands!

Take up your cross…again today. Lose yourself—find yourself—in the love of Jesus and your neighbor.

Today I seek to offer you all that I am and all that I possess to be used by you, Infinite Creator and Gracious Redeemer, in whatever way you choose. May your life-giving, healing grace abound…also through me. Amen

08/27/2026

Phil Rue ’72 M.Div.

Matthew 16:21-28

“You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Jesus’ rebuke of Peter is not a rejection of creation or of Jesus’ incarnation. It happens when Peter’s vision and understanding of what the Messiah should look like superseded God’s. Jesus did not let Peter get away with it—nor does he us. In his love for Peter he calls Peter out, reminding him he still has much to learn.

So what are “divine things?” Peter had heard, yet had lots of growing to do. He is invited to listen again and measure what he hears over against what he wants. The “divine thing” looks like Jesus, freely going into unsafe places, suffering at the hands of other-minded powers, death—for the love and sake of others. But from it all will come new life—resurrection!

For Peter it was a call to move beyond his narrow, absolute certainties and to grow in the wonder of the “divine things” that God was revealing and doing in Jesus. Here is life that not even death can destroy.

Thank you, gracious one, for embracing our humanness while showering us with divine love. Nurture us in that love so that we can grow in faith and live with good courage in those places where humanity and all creation long for your life-giving peace, justice, and hope. Amen.

08/26/2026

Phil Rue ’72 M.Div.

Romans 12:9-21

“Let love be genuine.” Paul has just reminded his readers that they are more than individuals. They are individuals who are members of one another, with differing gifts that contribute to the whole. Love finds its full expression in community, where people share life together with its joys, its pains and wrongs, its sorrows.

“How can I take a personal tragedy and turn it into a way to make a better world?” A news story shared this inspiring response of Alicia, who had lost her daughter to De Barcy Syndrome—premature aging. Her pain led her to other families who may be experiencing similar circumstances. She now enthusiastically teaches children facing numerous life illnesses and special challenges, caring deeply for each child in ways that open them up to joy and possibility. Her empathy and deep care “makes the children feel seen,” her principal relates. Genuine love, loose in our world, reducing pain, doubling joy!

“Take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.” In a tit for tat world, it is love and grace that prevail in the new creation. Thanks be to God!

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew in me a right spirit, that genuine love might flow in and through me and your church for the healing and wholeness of our world. Amen.

08/25/2026

Phil Rue ’72 M.Div.

Psalm 26:1-8

“Vindicate me for I have walked in my integrity.”

Dr. Herman Diers, former religion faculty and chaplain at Wartburg College, Waverly, IA, died recently at the age of 97. Years ago it was written of him, “He has a passion for fair play.” In the words of the psalmist, he “walked in [his] integrity.” “How do you hold your piece of bread when other people at the table are hungry and have no bread to eat?” Herman once wrote. In his early years his walk of faith created discomfort among many in the church family. But because of his “walk in integrity,” he was in the end honored, often, from many corners of the world.

For many in our world life is about power, sowing distrust a way to gain an advantage through intimidation. Herman’s faith and life were in sharp contrast to this. The psalmist reminds us, as did Herman’s life, that God’s steadfast love ushers us into a new way of life as we walk in God’s faithfulness. Here is healing grace for each of us and for our world.

Fill our hearts and our eyes with your steadfast love, gracious God, that we may live with integrity and with a passion for fair play—doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with you. Amen. (In grateful memory of Dr. Herman Diers)

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