Fall/Winter 2025-26
Volume XL, Number 2
In This Issue
Staying power by Mark Safstrom
For all of you who see yourselves as creatures of habit, who don’t make more changes than you need to, who are unlikely to quit anything once you’ve started it — I want to speak a word of encouragement. You have a secret resource. Perhaps you thought your aversion to drastic change was a weakness or vulnerability. Or maybe evidence of a lack of conviction or boldness. Not so! You may just have a secret resource and a special calling, if you choose to accept it: staying power. This is your ability to endure and remain effective over a long period. It is also indicative of a potential for lasting positive influence, despite challenges, setbacks, and mistakes.
Lessons from an immigrant family by Lauren St. Martin
There’s a lot of Swedish heritage in the room tonight. That’s why we celebrate Julfest, right? Because the Covenant denomination of which this church is a part was founded by Swedish immigrants who came here generations ago seeking a better life.
Partisanship and confession by Kaleb Nyquist
Partisanship in the United States is on the decline. The number of Americans who identify as politically independent has reached historic highs after a decades-long trend of disaffiliation. Among many factors, this appears to be the natural result of an electorate fatigued by national polarization, aggressive campaigning, and an angry divisiveness leading to government dysfunction. It might be tempting to interpret a rise in political disaffiliation as something to celebrate — perhaps especially for those of us who are Pietists with a free-church heritage that affirms the importance of being able to hold independent beliefs.
A Christmas Wish for Little Dala Horse reviewed by Maria Ward
There are pockets of Swedish Christmas all over the United States, including at First Covenant Church in Seattle where author Sonja Anderson raised her family, and they are special sources of light, hope, and joy in this season for all who find them, Scandinavian or otherwise. All families who celebrate Christmas and appreciate learning about world cultures and traditions can enjoy reading and perusing Anderson’s new book, “A Christmas Wish for Little Dala Horse: A Saint Lucia Celebration.”
Jerusalem, Jerusalem by Lynnea Miller
At the heart of this passage is Jesus’s deep and honest lament for a place that is incredibly meaningful and important to him: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” I imagine his tone like that of a parent talking to a beloved child after they’ve done something out of character. Jesus is speaking to and about Jerusalem in a way that any of us might talk about something we deeply love when it is not currently operating at its best, when it’s not living up to all it is capable of, or the way we’ve seen it in the past — the way that we know it can.
Trusting the Lord in the darkest valleys by Ryan Eikenbary-Barber
The Psalms teach us how to speak to God. Psalm 23 teaches us how to declare our trust in the Lord our Shepherd. We turn to this psalm at gravesides for good reason. It is more than just flowery language about God’s provision. It is quite honest that we all face evil, that we all have enemies, and that we all have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Psalm 23 bears witness that God shepherds us in the best and the worst moments in our lives.
I will let winter by Ann Boaden
Kierkegaard’s ethics of love by Erik Paul Bergren
Though often overlooked and ridiculed during his time, Søren Kierkegaard’s unconventional attitude on duty, faith, and love have important applications for us today. Kierkegaard’s life (1813–1855) was marked by a series of combative writings critiquing the trivial culture he saw his contemporaries embracing. One such book central to this article is his treatise “Works of Love” (1847), wherein he grounds love in the Christian faith through unwavering moral obligation; in other words, he understood love to be a divine duty toward another individual, not something one can “fall” into.
Danish pastry (Wienerbrød) by Bonnie Sparrman
Danish pastry, a much-loved delicacy around the globe, suffers from an identity crisis like no other baked good. A bit of history tells us why. In the mid 1800s, Copenhagen bakers went on strike and were temporarily replaced by bakers from Vienna. The Austrians brought their technique of laminating butter between layers of dough to Copenhagen and people loved it. When the Danish bakers returned to work, they incorporated the Viennese methods with their own variation which was richer and sweeter. Ironically, what is called Danish pastry, or “Danish” outside of Scandinavia, is known in Denmark as wienerbrød, which directly translated means “Viennese bread.”
A circle of belonging by Greg Asimakoupoulos
Having just celebrated the 40th anniversary of my ordination as a Covenant minister, I have been reflecting on the five congregations I had the privilege of serving in California, Illinois, and Washington. Now retired, as I look back, I’ve come to see that the secret sauce for church vitality in each parish was small groups.
The Lord’s Highway by Christopher Brown
Chris’s wife, Sandy Nelson, found this story in the Notes app on his phone after he died. She is grateful that she knows the story behind this song and she has a recording of him singing it.
Christopher Lee Brown by Bryce Nelson
Chris Brown was a caring and loving family man, a skilled craftsman, artist, and musician, a friend to many, and a devout Christian.
Who is to blame? What do we need to blame? Why?