Dennis Sanders

In the end, I believe God gives a damn.
Is God a God of love or of justice?
That has been a question in my mind over the years. Is God the God that loves everyone and saves everyone? Or does he send people to hell?
As I left evangelicalism and wandered into mainline Protestantism, I started to think that God was all about love. God saved everyone through Christ’s death on the cross and so no one gets punished? God isn’t about wrath, just about love.
But I’ve wondered overthe years if there is...

There are legitimate problems with the Interstate Highway System. But they still are vital to American infrastructure.
Note: The following is something I originally wrote in 2010. I’ve added a few points to clarify my views on transportation. My opinion on freeways haven’t really changed in the intervening decade, but I do wonder how best to balance the need for freeways with other modes of transportation such as mass transit.
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been fascinated with transport...

I remember sitting in my dorm room as I tried to finish my story. I was in my senior year in college and I was in the second semester of a journalism class at Michigan State that gives J-students real-world experience as reporters for newspapers and radio stations throughout Michigan.
It was always difficult, worked hard to make sure the story was correct. I had my notes out in front of me as typed, flipping the notepad back and forth to check over and over. It was so hard to remember what wa...

Never Trump Conservatives are angry the conservatives haven’t stood up to Trump. They have, and they lost.
Every so often, I will see a tweet or Facebook post by some Never Trumper or Democrat that is mad that Republicans haven’t stood up to President Donald Trump. The thinking goes that many of Republicans in Congress are well aware of how bad Trump is as a leader, but are too cowardly to say what they really mean. Some, like freshman U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, goes a step farther ca...

It was a late summer day in Minnesota. Since I live in a state that tends to see six or more months of winter-like weather, those fleeting warm days in late September and early October are days you must take advantage of before it’s too late.
My husband Daniel decided this was a great day for a walk and I was game since I love taking walks. We live in Minneapolis, which is known for its many lakes, were Minneapolitans from all walks of life walk around when the days are sunny and warm. But th...

Writer’s Note (January 10, 2021): I wrote this story nearly five years ago in the middle of a job search. I’m in the middle of another job search and I can tell you that things haven’t changed much.
There is a hesitancy on my part about sharing this because I don’t want to complain and I know that race is not as big a factor as it was say 50 years ago. I still want to believe that my skills will speak for themselves. However, discrimination still exists and it would be wrong to not share that...

What happened on Capitol Hill on January 6 is part of a long dark history in the United States. But it’s not all of who we are.
“This isn’t who we are.”
President-elect Joe Biden said these words in the aftermath of Wednesday’s assault on the US Capitol. Politicians like to say this during events like this. I believe that President-elect Biden and others who use that phrase mean nothing but good. They want to say that as Americans we aspire to higher goals and that what happened is something ...

There are many factors that have made American politics so toxic. The 2000 Presidential election. The rise of the Tea Party and later Donald Trump. The Iraq war. The legacy of the Confederacy.
But there is one factor that has changed how our political parties operate, how they look at the world, and how they will govern America. As we enter the last few weeks of the Presidential campaign and in the aftermath of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, we need to understand how two progressive wri...

Ministry Imagination Grants: Imagine. Innovate. Initiate.
It’s not uncommon these days for a congregation to spend time discerning how to do mission and ministry in the 21st century. What worked in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s often no longer works now. What does it mean to be a congregation at this point in time? How are we witnesses to the gospel right now?
Mount Olivet Lutheran Church of Plymouth, like many congregations in 2020, is committed to respond to a radically changing age. After a seas...

Ministry Imagination Grants: Imagine. Innovate. Initiate.
The Twin Cities is blessed with a number of faith communities that openly welcome and affirm LGBTQ people, especially in the Minneapolis Area Synod. “Religion Row” at the Twin Cities Pride Festival is filled with booths from various congregations spanning all faiths, an indication of the number of LGBTQ-inclusive faith communities.
But, safe spaces where people can be who they are, including at worship, are still critical. That’s why t...

by Dennis Sanders, Content Specialist
For the Steering Committee of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in the Twin Cities, the challenge was agreeing on a date.
While their Minnetonka campus had hosted with Beacon’s shelter program for two decades, the Minneapolis campus was eager to host for the first time. The question was when. “We have a pretty strong program here with a variety of different activities and things going on for children and youth and outside groups that use our space,” said Ben Cies...

by Dennis Sanders, Content Specialist
During the fall, many congregations start their annual stewardship campaigns, asking members to pledge for the coming budget year. Many stewardship campaigns ask people to give not just in monetary terms. The phrase one might see is to give of your “time and talent.”
For Dick Patterson, giving of his time and talent is part of what makes a moral life. While some people might be satisfied with writing a check to a cause they love, Dick marries his giving w...

Anyone that grew up in Michigan in the 1970s and 80s now lives with ghosts and zombies. No, there wasn’t a zombie apocalypse in Detroit, but if you were like me and grew up in towns like Flint or Detroit or Saginaw, you know what your hometown was like in the 70s and how it all started going south in the 1980s. The auto industry was king in most of Southern and Central Michigan, but when changes in the industry hit factories closed and businesses moved away. We were left with ghosts of a form...