Funeral for Glen Nordgaard
2025-10-28 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Visitation: 10 a.m.
Service: 11 a.m.
Reception: noon
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Obituary

Wednesday Night Bible Study
2025-10-29 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-11-05 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-11-12 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-11-19 18:00 - 19:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Join Pastors Peter and Stephanie for the fall’s Bible study on Stories of Home in Scripture. The season begins on October 1 at 6 p.m. This offering is available both in person and online, so join us in whatever setting is best for you.
The next four weeks of Bible study focus on the Stories of Home in the Gospels. Jesus, in the many places he called home, reminds us that home is more than a place, it is a feeling of belonging and community. Join us as we explore a few of the key stories of home in the Gospels.
Join us as we read and study the many ways we find our home in community and in Jesus Christ. These Bible studies are created so that you can come in person or online, every week or when it fits your schedule, so plan to come whenever you can.
Study Guide
Zoom Link

All Saints' Weekend
2025-11-01 - 2025-11-03 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
You are invited to a beautiful weekend of All Saints’ remembrances during worship on November 1, 2, and 3. We will light candles and read the names of those saints who have died in the past year. Additionally, during All Saints’ Weekend you can expect:
Saturday Bell Tower Tours: Meet a tour guide at the Welcome Desk at 3 or 3:45 p.m. to start your tour. Be sure to wear appropriate shoes and clothes for six flights of stairs to the Carillon cabin. Everyone must be able to walk the stairs on their own. Children must be accompanied by an adult and cannot be carried up the stairs. There will be a short demonstration of the workings of Central’s carillon. Experiencing the bells from inside the insulated carillon cabin can be a powerful reminder of the cloud of witnesses who surround us on All Saints Weekend.
Sunday Adult Forum: Reconciling grief after loss requires exploring a new “home base” for daily life. Emotional, relational, and spiritual practices will need to be adjusted in order for healing to take place and new patterns of living to emerge. Pastor Brian will explore the grief process, share insights for coping with loss, and encourage the opportunity to come out on the other side more resilient. Adult Forums meet at 9:30 a.m. in the Lower Narthex.
Special Music at 10:30 a.m. Worship: As we remember those who have died during the last year in our church, the Central Choir and members of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra will offer John Rutter’s poignant Requiem, featuring texts from the requiem mass, and Psalms 130 and 23. Note that the 10:30 a.m. service will be slightly longer than normal, around 75-80 minutes.
All Saints’ Booklet

Realm Database Support
2025-11-02 09:30 - 12:00, 2025-12-07 09:30 - 12:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Realm is the church’s database, online payment system, and so much more! The staff use it regularly to keep track of all our members and groups here at Central. It is very important that your information is up-to-date and correct. Pat Hansen will be at the Welcome Desk this Sunday (and every first Sunday of the month) to help you update your profile. She can even take a new picture and upload it for you! As always, you can email Pat with any of your Realm questions.

All Saints' Requiem
2025-11-02 10:30 - 12:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
As we remember those who have died during the last year in our church, the Central Choir and members of the Metropolitan Symphony orchestra will offer John Rutter’s poignant Requiem, featuring texts from the requiem mass, and Psalms 130 and 23. Note that the 10:30 a.m. service will be slightly longer than normal, around 75-80 minutes. (As a shorter option, the Saturday 5 p.m. and Sunday 8:30 a.m. worship will still include the All Saints’ liturgy, including the reading of the names).
Prelude: Rhapsody No. 1 in D Flat Major Herbert Howells
Choral Mass: Requiem John Rutter
Postlude: Cortège et Litanie, Op. 19, No. 2 Marcel Dupré

Funeral for Tonia Perkins
2025-11-03 13:30 - 14:30 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Service: 1:30 p.m.
Reception: 2:30 p.m.
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Fix-it Clinic
2025-11-08 12:00 - 16:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Saturday, November 8 is a big day at Central. We are hosting a Hennepin County Fix-It Clinic from noon to 4 p.m. The C3 (Central Cares for Creation) Team has been planning for this event for years and is so excited to finally host!
Fix-It Clinics offer free, guided assistance from volunteers with repair skills to disassemble, troubleshoot, and (hopefully) fix small household appliances, clothing, electronics, mobile devices, and more. Fix-It Clinics teach valuable troubleshooting and basic repair skills, build community connections, and reduce the number of repairable items that are thrown in the trash.
The Clinic will take up the entire Great Room and will bring in hundreds of folks. Please consider helping that day (more info in the Spirit as we get closer) or plan on bringing your favorite toaster that just needs a new cord for a little fix-it action.

Central Book Club
2025-11-13 13:30 - 15:00, 2025-12-11 13:30 - 15:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
The Central Book Club will begin reading again in September.
We welcome new members. If you have questions or need to request Zoom (we need a three-day advance notice), please contact Carol or Cathy.
Find Out What We’re Reading Next!

Sabbath to End Homelessness Weekend
2025-11-15 - 2025-11-17 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Our congregation will observe the Sabbath to End Homelessness at Saturday evening worship, Sunday morning worship and forums, and on Monday during worship and the community meal. The Align Central Team is planning multiple activities to highlight both the challenges and the successes of our ongoing efforts to house all of our neighbors. Play a special edition of the classic Candyland board game during Adult Forum. Stay for Empowering Conversations, where we will hear from David Hewitt, Director of Housing Stability for Hennepin County.

Empowering Conversations
2025-11-16 12:00 - 13:30 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Another place in which adult formation is nurtured by story is through the monthly Empowering Conversations.
Empowering Conversations occurs on the third Sunday of the month, following the community meal. A guest speaker is invited to come share stories about our community and the things that we and our neighbors are facing. Generally, those gathered are invited into discussion on the topic.
February Empowering Conversations
Join us for a unique Empowering Conversations as we welcome artist Sean Garrison. Sean Garrison is known for his live painting events, in which he creates an abstract painting in the presence of a group of people. Mr. Garrison’s art is currently on display here at Central. For this Empowering Conversations, he will talk with us about his call and his process to create art as a spiritual practice.

Generosity Ingathering Weekend
2025-11-22 - 2025-11-23 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
“Stories of Home” shapes our fall generosity appeal this year. The promise that God’s home is with us and our home is in God brings comfort and hope in complex times. Gerhard Frost, a Lutheran poet and writer of the last century, taught the importance of “homing in the presence of God.” Reflecting on what it means that our home is in God, Frost wrote, “God offers himself to us; we, in turn, share what we receive from him. This is the meaning of the Christian story. In a graceful cycle of faith, we move from God to each other and back to God again. Our movement is both personal and communal. It binds together the past and future, and through it we come together in the presence of the Father, Son, and Spirit” (Homing in the Presence, 121).
Below, you will find the Stories of Home brochure and the Ways to Give sheet. The faith promise intention card is in the brochure as a tear-off page. The Ways to Give sheet is an added resource as you plan to fulfill the intention that you will make to God as an act of worship on Saturday, November 22, or Sunday, November 23. We will make our faith promises, our financial intentions, as an act of worship. It is a hopeful response for us to process to the front during worship and place our faith promises in the cornucopias as a corporate act of faith.
Make Your 2026 Faith Intention

Stories of Home Brochure
Ways to Give

Thanksgiving Meal
2025-11-24 11:30 - 12:30 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
This year, the annual Thanksgiving Meal will take place on Monday, November 24. All are welcome to join us for worship at 11 a.m. where we will offer up our gratitude for God’s abundance. Then, at 11:30 a.m., we will enjoy a feast of all our favorite Thanksgiving foods (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pie, and more!) gathered together with our beloved community.

November OWLS Trip
2025-11-25 11:00 - 17:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Minnesota History Theatre for Rollicking! A Winter Carnival Musical
Join us for a quick drive to St. Paul where we’ll visit the History Theatre for a whimsical performance about a snowy adventure at the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Clarence “Cap” Wigington is whisked away into a magical world that drives this Minnesota festival. Join us for a history lesson and great entertainment! You must have registered in advance for this event in order to attend!
Sign-up at the Welcome Desk: November 2, 9, and 16
Cost: $35
Schedule:

Bus leaves Central at 11 a.m.
Lunch arrangements: TBD
Arrive at the theatre at 1:30 p.m.
Performance from 2–4 p.m.
Return to Central by 5 p.m.

Holiday Closure
2025-11-27
The Central building is closed on these holidays:

New Year’s Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Easter Monday
Memorial Day
Juneteenth Freedom Day
Independence Day (4th of July)
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day
Day after Christmas Day

Advent Fair
2025-11-30 09:30 - 10:30 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
The Advent Fair is scheduled again this year as an intergenerational learning event on Sunday, November 30 at 9:30 a.m. This Central tradition is a beautiful way to launch your Advent season with displays, activities, treats, and crafts. In keeping with our theme, Stories of Home, we are inviting members to bring in items that capture the essential stories of home in your Advent tradition. We’ll have a large display of Nativity sets again this year and invite you to bring an item to share at a display table or to share at tables over coffee and cookies. Bring your stories, your imaginations, and your curiosity for sharing Advent traditions and memories, and join us on November 30 as we begin a season of waiting for Jesus’ birth.

Advent Bible Study
2025-12-03 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-12-10 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-12-17 18:00 - 19:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Beginning December 3, join us for a three-week Bible study series, “Advent Stories of Home,” as brought to us by Isaiah. Isaiah is a book of longing for a home that has been taken away and seeking redemption from a God that wants to make their home in the midst of the people. We will spend our time with Isaiah’s people in exile and with God’s promises to them and to us. You can join us in person or on Zoom.
Study Guide
Zoom Link

Augsburg Advent Vespers
2025-12-05 19:00 - 20:15, 2025-12-06 14:00 - 15:15, 2025-12-06 17:00 - 18:15 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
For more than four decades, Augsburg University has ushered in the Advent and Christmas seasons with Advent Vespers, a magnificent experience of music and liturgy focusing on the theme of preparation and culminating in the joyful celebration of the Incarnation. We invite you to join us on December 5 or 6 at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis for the 46th annual Advent Vespers: “Guide Our Feet Into the Way of Peace.” In times like these, God sends prophets to point us in a new direction, to remind us of God’s loving intentions for the world. While peaceful times may feel far off, we join the defiant song of Zechariah that points towards a future day when the fullness of God’s shalom dawns once again in our lives.
Reserve a Ticket

New Member Welcome Info Session
2025-12-07 11:30 - 12:30 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
If you are interested in joining, you are invited to a gathering in Fireside to meet with available pastors and staff, learn about Central, and ask any questions you may have. Please email Sara Stensaas to let her know you’re coming!
Please consider yourself invited into membership at Central Lutheran Church! We have a fluid understanding of membership here. If Central is a place where you are experiencing God and participating in how the congregation seeks to care for all, then please consider yourself a “member” already! Yet, it is good to officially join, begin to make connections, and learn about the ministry of the congregation.
We will celebrate New Member Welcome Weekend on June 13-15. This is when we take the time to officially celebrate and welcome new members to Central Lutheran. If interested, connect with Pastor Peter about membership.

December OWLS Event
2025-12-09 11:15 - 13:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
OWLS Annual Christmas Luncheon
Join friends old and new for this annual tradition. We’ll gather for a lovely Christmas program at 11:30 a.m. followed by a warm and delicious lunch at 12:15 p.m. Don your Christmas best and gather with your Central family for this delightful annual tradition. You must have registered in advance for this event in order to attend!
Sign-up at the Welcome Desk: November 16, 23, and 30
Cost: $25
Schedule:

Arrive at Central at 11:15 a.m.
Christmas Program at 11:30 a.m.
Lunch served by 12:15 p.m.
Lunch ends at 1 p.m.

Wedding of Sophie Newcomb and Brett Erickson
2025-12-13 15:00 - 16:00 | Central Lutheran Church, 333 South 12th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55404
Service: 3 p.m.
Reception: 4 p.m.
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Homeless Memorial March and Service
2025-12-18 16:45 - 20:00 | Plymouth Congregational, 1919 La Salle Ave, Minneapolis, MN, 55403, United States
For 41 years, hundreds of community members have come together for the Homeless Memorial March and Service. Join us on this milestone anniversary as we honor the memories of individuals who passed away in 2025: people who died while experiencing homelessness, who were previously homeless, or who were advocates.
On Thursday, December 18 at 4:45 p.m., we will gather at Plymouth Congregational Church for the silent march and vigil and return to the church for the memorial service. The service will be livestreamed on the Simpson Housing Facebook page for those who cannot attend in person.
Learn More
