Robert Hasselblad

#PacificLutheranUniversity Resisting Christian Nationalism Dr. Seth Dowland

Thursday, September 25, 2025 4:00pm PDT
Dr. Seth Dowland, scholar of American religions, will discuss the dangers of growing Christian nationalism, strategies for resistance.

Register at calendar.plu.edu/event/resist...

There is no going back. The past for which we may be nostalgic will not return. Our task is to take what we have now and transform it into something that will take us to a hopeful future. We are in the process of recreating ourselves. Let us do it with faith and imagination.

“ Write it. Write. In ordinary ink
on ordinary paper: they were given no food,
they all died of hunger. "All. How many?
It's a big meadow….”

Szymborska wrote this after WW2. What changed? Starving people is a war crime. Starving people is a war crime.

t.co/9Elc3lTWud

A. Krieder's PATIENT FERMENT OF THE EARLY CHURCH provides insight into the Church before Constantine.
which grew not by evangelism but creating communities of committed to radical patience, even during persecution, and yet grew in ways that may seem odd to us centuries away and often too impatient.

And also from this poem, near-biblical words:

Consider the world and its poor, its suffering--
you see how it is when something speechless
begins to think into you, to manifest, to bear down

on you as our doubles-self dissolves?
Shall we cower and beg together now?

This morning, I read the necessary poem for these days: From #TessGallagher poem I WANT TO BE LOVED LIKE SOMEONE'S BELOVED DOG IN AMERICA

Oh America, allow me one day
of your righteous disdain
of poverty; I have a longing, a passion
to belong to something heedless and full
of mock conscience.

I send my energy against chaos. All that I do has a single intent: to calm and strengthen. I direct the authority Spirit has given me at the center of the conflict. And when I do, I feel the chaos diminish, even if only slightly. Join me. Focus on the core of chaos and release your love.

Wish this could be attended remote.

A haven for creative joy. Very glad to have found this little bright flame of collective positive awareness!

A graphic depicting both version of Rep Mary Miller's deeply xenophobic tweets. The top says "Fact check: The United States was not founded as a “Christian nation.” We have no official religion. And this xenophobia and racism has no place in Congress." The original version of Rep. Miller’s tweet incorrectly referred to Giani Surinder Singh as Muslim. She then updated it to clarify that Giani Surinder Singh is Sikh. The tweet was deleted, but Rep. Miller still has not apologized. The bottom says "Rep. Mary Miller must Apologize to both the Sikh and Muslim communities and for attacking religious freedom!"

Shame on Rep. Mary Miller for this disgraceful xenophobia.

No, America was not founded as a "Christian nation" — in this country we have freedom of religion for all people of all faiths and beliefs, including in the halls of Congress.

Christianity has long revered saints who would be called ‘transgender’ today (The Conversation) — There are at least 34 documented stories of transgender saints’ lives, three of which had widespread popularity in medieval Europe.

OPINION: Christianity has a transgender history to pull from and many opportunities to embrace transness as an essential part of its values.
religionnews.com/2025/05/28/c...

In a similar vein, Rev. Andy Yee reminded attendees at recent NW Washington ELCA synod convention

OUR SOCIAL IMAGINATION EMBODIES OUR THEOLOGY

NW Washington Synod / ELCA
‪@lutheransnw.bsky.social‬

This is true now and at all times. Reach within for God's abundance that is already ours. We are greater joined in common hope than separate...and if we don't stand together, we may fall apart.

I will be attending in support of neurodiverse creatives in my own communities (family and faith) and for greater awareness that our common humanity is great enough to embrace and connect us in diversity.
Location Mount Vernon WA Library Community Room
Time 1 pm on Saturday May 31

I am thrilled to welcome, on May 31, Daniel Bowman Jr, author of “On the Spectrum: Autism, Faith, & the Gifts of Neurodiversity” and upcoming graphic novel “The Autism Journals.” Join Daniel as he shares about neurodiversity in the arts.

Wisdom like Charleston's provides Sabbath encouragement for me today.

Live into the assurance that this truth is wider and deeper than we can ever fully know.

One kind act can heal a hundred hurts. We do not have to be rich or powerful to help. What we do adds up; it makes a difference. Your help may be the tipping point. So roll up your sleeves and joyfully do what you can. You are Spirit’s partner in change.

"[Pope Francis] did more than any of the other popes combined for LGBTQ people," says Father @jamesmartinsj.bsky.social.

stateofbelief.com/2025/father-...

Is this not the original meaning of the cross, the instrument of death by which the Roman Empire tried to rid itself of every troublemaker and speaker of truth?

So True Sir! And then this from April issue of #PoetryMagazine

A wonderful tribute to Mary Oliver from neurodivergent poet #RoseZinnia

Read the whole poem here:
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rose-z...

Today (April 9th, 2025) marks the 80th year anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s death at the hands of the Gestapo on April 9th, 1945, just two weeks before his concentration camp was liberated by American soldiers.

A sign in the colors of trans Pride says "love thy trans neighbor." The Interfaith Alliance handle is in the righthand corner.

As religious Americans, it is our moral obligation to join in solidarity with our trans siblings and rebuke attacks on their very right to exist!

#TransDayOfVisibility #TDOV

Lutheran World Relief Since 1945, Lutheran World Relief has been at the forefront of effective, transformational global development. We break the cycle of poverty so families and communities can thrive.

Lutheran World Relief is an international aid and development organization that partners with communities to help them develop productive and stable economies, improve resilience in the face of a changing climate, and respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises.
lwr.org

Share this message with as many as you can: there is a community where people are very different from one another, but they still care for one another. Compassion without conversion. Unity without conformity. Just knowing that this is still possible is healing. Hope is subversive. Pass it on.

The Celebrate Neurodiversity speaker series starts this Saturday, March 29 at 1:00 at the Mount Vernon Library with Lei Wiley-Mydske of Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network. All are welcome. #neurodiversity #celebrateneurodiversity

April 2, 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific @interfaithalliance.bluesky.social will host leaders of #moveon and #Indivisible for a National Call to Action for #Faith Communities
@convocation.bsky.social @mccdenomination.bsky.social @um-insight.bsky.social
support.interfaithalliance.org/a/national-c...

After college (PLU Tacoma) I served as janitor at Immanuel. Pastor Nyer Urness and congregants welcomed us as the confused young idealists we were, without judgment or expectations. Immanuel's place in the work of compassionate witness to a God of Love remains an anchor.

Poem is from Wrigley's book The True Account of Myself as a Bird, published by Penguin Poets, Random House, 2022.