2023-11-20 18:35
One of the reasons the Benedictine tradition speaks to me is its commitment to a spirituality of stability. Benedict says, “The workshop where we are to toil faithfully at all these ta… Read More
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Nicholas Tangen Blog
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Nicholas Tangen is a writer and community organizer in Minneapolis, MN. He is a graduate of United Theological Seminary and works in an ELCA Congregation near the University of MN.
Nicholas writes about community organizing, social justice, politics, and spirituality through a Lutheran theological lens and is committed to transforming the way we do church together.
2023-08-07 14:30
Jay-Z famously had 99 of them and they often animate our actions as individuals and communities – problems. Problems dominate our media, our social change frameworks, and a lot of comm… Read More
2023-07-31 14:30
On Tuesday, thousands of neighborhoods across the United States will host block parties and community events as a part of National Night Out, a community building campaign that has been in e… Read More
2023-07-03 18:42
When I was in Germany with international partners from 16 different countries, part of our task was to introduce one another to our home countries. We shared our national flags and discussed… Read More
2023-06-26 13:48
My wife and I just returned from a two week visit to Saxony, Germany for a few days of vacation and a week-long conference with representatives of international partner churches. It was an i… Read More
2023-05-29 21:55
Last week my friend Eric and I hiked the entirety of the Centennial Trail in South Dakota, 125 miles over the course of seven days. We started our hike in Wind Cave National Park and ended a… Read More
2023-05-08 11:30
A report released by the US Surgeon General finds that “…loneliness is more widespread than other major health issues in the U.S.” and that this epidemic of loneliness and… Read More
2023-04-24 13:10
I read an article this past week from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) about a study looking at the connection between what they call place attachment and physi… Read More
2023-04-10 13:31
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
This Easter, I was struck by all the narratives in Scripture of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. In Matthew’s Gospel, the angels at t… Read More
2023-03-27 14:00
If you talk with me for more than a few minutes, you’re likely to learn that Dietrich Bonhoeffer has had a significant influence on me and my work in the church. In particular, his boo… Read More
2023-03-20 21:27
Kristin and I have lived in Northeast Minneapolis for over a decade, and in that time, like many of our neighbors, we’ve observed the ways that our neighborhood and many across Minneap… Read More
2023-03-13 12:22
This past Sunday’s Gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary (John 4:5-42) sits firmly in my top five stories in the Bible. Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well has it all… Read More
2023-03-06 15:32
The congregations I’m working with in my day job at the Minneapolis Area Synod have been recently exploring ways in to incorporate the neighbor in worship. For churches, worship is the… Read More
2023-02-27 17:30
If you’ve lived in Minnesota for any amount of time, you know that neighbors and snow removal are intimately connected. Following a big snow, like the one we experienced last week, it… Read More
2023-02-20 21:26
I had this moment in the middle of the pandemic’s height, one that I heard from many of my friends and family, where I realized that this virus had forced me to slow down, to stop doin… Read More
2023-02-13 16:25
Full disclosure, I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. I kept an eye on the score, and watched some highlights this morning, but I chose some other ways to occupy my time on Sunday. But one t… Read More
2023-02-06 17:32
The amount of time I’ve had the opportunity to spend with faith communities has convinced me that churches are eager to connect with their neighbors. There is a deep and profound desir… Read More
2023-01-30 13:26
In her incredible book, “Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God”, Kelly Brown-Douglas writes, “Essentially, a free black person contests the notion that the… Read More
2023-01-23 14:26
There is a constant question within the church about how to practice Christian community well. What does it mean to follow Jesus in this time and in this place? What does it mean to speak a… Read More
2023-01-16 16:48
Today the United States honors the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. We remember his leadership, his powerful voice, and his vision for the world as it should be. We remember his pro… Read More
2023-01-09 17:55
Each Epiphany, Christians all over the world remember the journey of the Magi and the gifts they presented to the infant Jesus. Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar are for us a reminder that hos… Read More
2023-01-02 15:29
When churches decide to renew or establish a relationship with their neighborhood and neighbors, the tendency is to go immediately to action. We may launch a listening campaign, organize a s… Read More
2022-12-21 19:30
Again and again in the work of the church, I find that it is the unremarkable things, the simple things, that lay the groundwork for the remarkable things. We underestimate informal conversa… Read More
2022-12-21 02:29
We live in an incredibly complex world. There’s no getting around that. When we look at some of the most pressing issues we face as a country this becomes abundantly clear. The climate… Read More
2022-04-23 19:30
Hello friends!
This site has been such a gift for my own writing practice and has given me a platform to experiment, imagine, and create. Writing platforms are always changing and writers… Read More
2022-02-09 15:41
As much as I try, I can’t comprehend the fear that Amir Locke must have felt moments before a Minneapolis Police Officer shot him. Locke had been sleeping on a friend’s couch whe… Read More
2022-02-07 13:33
I love a good reset. I’ve always been someone who loves setting up systems and structures, and undertaking big organizational projects. New Year’s resolutions? Yes. Spring cleani… Read More
2021-12-21 13:34
More than any time in recent history, I am sensing a significant flash point approaching in the life of the church. I know that many people have said this before, and in fact so many books a… Read More
2021-11-29 14:46
Advent is one of my very favorite liturgical seasons, with practices focused on preparation and the announcement that Christ the Messiah, is about to show up. My wife and I have a large, mak… Read More
2021-11-19 22:09
I was in a meeting the other day when someone asked us to reflect on a time when we experienced the church at it’s best. I thought for a moment about all the incredible ministry I have… Read More
2021-09-06 17:20
In March of this year, I began working as the Director of Faith Practices & Neighboring Practices at the Minneapolis Area Synod. This Lilly funded project focuses on bringing congregatio… Read More
2020-11-30 18:57
Anticipating the joy of the coming Christ in the season of Advent is one of those liturgical, communal, and contemplative opportunities that I relish every year. The way that the light of wi… Read More
2020-11-04 00:27
It is Election Day. This is the day that so many of us have been anticipating and dreading since November 4th, 2016. It may have felt like many decades since that all to memorable election… Read More
2020-10-13 18:43
2020 has been a year mired in political and social unrest, an unreal and devastating pandemic, and perhaps most significantly, a year of high-profile cases of police brutality and murder. In… Read More
2020-10-05 14:10
Last Friday President Donald Trump announced that he and the First Lady had tested positive for COVID19, sparking a flurry of reactions across the country and the globe. There was some irony… Read More
2020-04-15 16:19
One of the perpetual questions posed to churches goes something like this:
“Would your neighborhood notice if your church closed tomorrow?”
We’ve all encountered this… Read More
2020-04-03 13:41
It feels like we’ve been fighting COVID-19 for a lifetime. So many across the country are under stay at home orders, or otherwise encouraged to remain at home. Many have lost jobs and… Read More
2020-03-27 13:38
We’re entering the fourth week of major COVID-19 concern in the US,
and in many states, including Minnesota, stay at home orders have been
implemented to manage the almost certain real… Read More
2020-03-23 18:56
It’s hard to believe, but it’s only been a couple of weeks since
most of our congregations and faith communities suspended in-person worship and
moved to meeting and connecting t… Read More
2020-03-16 16:44
Two weeks ago, if you had asked folks in the US what worried them
most about the Corona virus or COVID-19, many of us would have said, “Corona
what?”. But what felt like a curios… Read More
2020-02-18 14:55
I know how to be angry.
I have these well-worn neurological paths that snap to attention at the slightest twinge of resistance or inconvenience, and I grew up in a culture, like many of… Read More
2020-02-10 20:06
One of the factors that led to the tragedy of the 2016
election is an ever-growing distrust in public institutions. In 2015, Pew found
that “…only 19 percent of Americans trust… Read More
2020-02-03 16:27
Most of the churches that I have spent my time in (middle to
upper class, white, European decent) have been focused on direct service as
their entry point into the world of social justice. F… Read More
2020-01-24 15:00
In August of 2019 congregant at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
voted to declare the denomination a sanctuary churchbody, committing to
providing guidance and support for congregations and syno… Read More
2020-01-03 15:14
I’m barely back from a short vacation over the New Year, a few days of rest and the company of my spouse, and I am already trying to hold fear at bay. Our world, my work, and the colle… Read More
2020-01-03 15:14
I’m barely back from a short vacation over the New Year, a few days of rest and the company of my spouse, and I am already trying to hold fear at bay. Our world, my work, and the colle… Read More
2019-12-27 14:50
Presidential nominee, Pete Buttigieg kicked off a firestorm of sorts on Twitter by posting a Christmas message that asserted a few things about Christ’s identity:
Today I join mill… Read More
2019-12-17 15:49
In September President Donald Trump issued the “Executive Order
on Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement”, restricting
the resettlement of refugees in the… Read More
2019-10-14 22:33
Over the last month I’ve been attempting to reorient and
reorganize my relationship to the technology I use. A lot of this stemmed from
a sense of deep anxiety and disconnection from w… Read More
2019-10-09 02:04
I feel fairly certain that if we were to survey 100 ELCA
members, asking them to define or articulate the doctrine of justification,
well over half wouldn’t know what we were talking a… Read More
2019-09-12 20:47
When I was in seminary a professor of mine was fond of
saying that the bulk of ELCA members were, what he called, “functional atheists”.
He argued that broadly Chri… Read More
2019-09-05 16:05
Below is my sermon from Outdoor Worship on August 25th, 2019 at University Lutheran Church of Hope.
Luke 13:10-17
People of God, grace and peace to you through Christ our
unending dis… Read More
2019-08-12 16:32
I just returned from a week in Milwaukee at the ELCA’s
Churchwide Assembly, the triannual gathering of rostered and lay leaders to
conduct the business of the Churchwide body. We accom… Read More
2019-07-01 13:56
Our help is in the
name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. – Psalm 124:8
The first exercise of God’s power in scripture is the
creative act. God creates from a formless v… Read More
2019-06-13 16:31
Christianity in the United States has held a significant amount of social and political capital since it first colonized North America, and the Christianity that has evolved from this mi… Read More
2019-06-07 15:57
God has spoken once,
twice have I heard it, that power belongs to God. – Psalm 62
The limited exposure I had to Christianity in my youth had
me quite convinced that what Christians… Read More
2019-06-04 12:48
Then Boaz said to his
servant who was in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman
belong?” The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is a
Moa… Read More
2019-05-28 21:26
Mockingbirds have this way of filling the air around you with rich and otherworldly sounds, and the variety of their song weaves together both a sense of urgency and the complexity of a care… Read More
2019-05-20 19:32
I watched a video the other day of a MN constituent confronting her state senator about letting the 2% provider tax sunset, flushing millions of dollars down the drain that had long ensured… Read More
2019-05-06 20:55
I’m grateful that I didn’t grow up in the kind of fundamentalism, or even just regular church attendance, that many of my friends and colleagues did. I’m grateful that I ne… Read More
2019-04-11 14:05
I am an impatient person. It is something I am coming to grips with, and finally feel ready to admit. I don’t like to wait. I don’t like to take my time. I don’t like when… Read More
2019-03-04 21:22
We enter Lent this week with Ash Wednesday and spend 40 days
(give or take) in preparation for Holy Week, for the crucifixion of Christ, and
the conquering of death in his resurrection on Ea… Read More
2019-02-20 18:10
He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had co… Read More
2019-01-22 15:37
Last week I spent four days with folks from congregations in
the ELCA’s Minneapolis Area Synod, learning about the powerful ways communities
of faith can engage the work of community o… Read More
2019-01-01 17:34
In the Prologue to the Rule of St. Benedict, our holy father
instructs us, “…every time you begin a good work, you must pray to [God] most
earnestly to bring it to perfection&rd&hell…Read More
2018-11-05 19:34
I don’t think I’d be the person I am today if it hadn’t been for Donald J. Trump…
Ok, I need a shower after typing that sentence, but I can’t deny that in a ve… Read More
2018-07-18 02:22
I was honored to speak to my fellow Oblates at St. John’s Annual Oblate Retreat about how we can show up as Benedictines in movements for justice.
July 15, 2018. 8:45am.
Oblates… Read More
2018-07-17 19:11
Oblates in Movements for Justice
Each time I visit the Abbey I make it part of my practice to read through the Rule in its entirety. I like to read the Rule straight through because I feel t… Read More
2018-05-08 12:47
On May 6th, I was invited to preach at University Baptist Church in Dinkytown, a partner with University Lutheran Church of Hope in the University Area Sanctuary Coalition.
“This is my… Read More
2018-03-02 17:43
On February 25th I spoke at the University Area Sanctuary Coalition’s monthly prayer vigil. The University Area Sanctuary Coalition is a collection of faith communities near the Univer… Read More
2018-01-24 04:03
Last week I was invited to speak about the spirituality of community organizing at a training titled “The World Is About to Turn”, organized by the Minneapolis Area Synod ELCA. B… Read More
2018-01-01 03:43
My goodness, 2017 really got away from us, huh? Just me? I haven’t written a word on this site since January, evidence of this year’s disorienting nature. Luckily, this one&rsquo&hell…Read More
2017-01-30 21:55
God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
The readings for th… Read More
2017-01-11 02:40
As January 20th approaches and confirmation hearings begin for the Trump administration’s cabinet appointments, people all over the country are organizing and preparing to resist any d… Read More
2017-01-03 21:42
“One day a hunter in the desert saw Abba Anthony enjoying himself with the brethren and he was shocked. What kind of spiritual guide was this?
But the old monk said to him, ‘Put… Read More
2016-12-28 01:42
The Christmas season is upon us. We waited and waited in the agony of Advent. We anticipated Christ’s immanent arrival on Christmas Eve, singing Silent Night at candlelit services. We… Read More
2016-12-20 23:28
Christmas is just a few days away and for people like me, the race is on to find those last-minute gifts on Amazon and pray that they will arrive on time. I do this every year; I think, &ldq&hell…Read More
2016-12-20 19:53
Christmas is just a few days away and for people like me, the race is on to find those last-minute gifts on Amazon and pray that they will arrive on time. I do this every year; I think, &ldq&hell…Read More
2016-12-13 22:55
I woke this morning to news that pro-Assad forces were leading an assault on the city of Aleppo in Syria, in the hope of wresting control away from rebel forces who have held part of the cit… Read More
2016-12-06 22:02
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaia… Read More
2016-11-29 23:14
But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in tho… Read More
2016-11-22 21:17
I’m not really good at waiting. Once I’ve decided I want to do something, I want to do it right away. I’ve always been this way. So here comes Advent with all its language… Read More
2016-11-15 22:38
It has been a very difficult week, and I don’t think I have any new words for how people are feeling. For myself I’m feeling grief, anger, and sadness. I’m feeling guilty a… Read More
2016-08-23 18:25
I became an Oblate candidate at St. John’s Abbey in January of this year. An Oblate is someone who is “living in the world according to the Spirit of Saint Benedict”. It&rs&hell…Read More
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