Associate Pastor at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Husband to Oby Ballinger. Progressive. Math nerd. Gustavus Adolphus College and Yale Divinity School alum.
Today Jesus challenges our assumption that embodying his love and justice is work that we can do at our convenience. It will require more from us than most of us have been willing to give in the past. … More The Road Ahead Will Be Difficult
An imperfect, unfinished church is all the Holy Spirit has ever had to work with, and somehow still good news is proclaimed, babies are splashed with water, and people are fed. … More The Church Is Always Unfinished
True unity—in the church and in society—will only be achieved when we create communities where love is at the center, where differences are honored and celebrated, and all can feel and believe that we are truly one in Christ. … More True Unity Celebrates Diversity
Like the women who showed up Sunday morning, spices in hand, and returned to the disciples with a new story to tell, so too do we receive this day a new story, a new future, a new promise: What was is not what will be. … More Easter Sunday: What Was Is Not What Will Be
What if we could free ourselves from the need to have everything go according to our plans and instead learned to live the lives God has called us to live as faithfully as we possibly can, and then left the rest to God? … More Things We Can’t Control
Javen Swanson 