iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Michaelmas is a great time to highlight the glorious Coat of Arms of Mora, Sweden, which depicts St. Michael defeating the dragon. Very cool!! 🕯️🇸🇪

The Coat of Arms of Mora, Dalarna, Sweden. The shield has a red background with a golden image of an angel standing on top of a dragon, forcing a spear down its throat.

0111

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

the ELCA’s LGBT bishops! I love this church 🏵️🌈🕯️

ten bishops, both men and women, arranged in two rows. most of them wear outfits with clergy collars.

1293

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Hare 🍉 @haredurer.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Make Falcon Heights Saint Paul

051

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

spent my night standing on the side of the road as people leave the fair telling them to look up at the lunar eclipse lol I love Minnesota!!!!!!

030

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Joshua Eaton @joshuaeaton.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

God became human to break down the gates of hell and bind sin and death in chains. He’s going to reconcile every last atom of this broken world to himself in the fullness of eternity. Wipe every tear. Raise every fallen sparrow. Untie every knot. We get to be part of that! We get a preview!

1264

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Learning today for the first time that How Great Thou Art was originally written by a Swede basically just thanking and praising God for how beautiful summer in Sweden is … he was sooo real for that! Summer in Sweden is pure wonder ✨

120

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Chris Steller @chrissteller.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Today versus last November, looking toward Minneapolis from Saint Paul

Extremely smoggy from wildfire smoke. Can’t see Minneapolis

Minneapolis skyline is clear and crisp on the far horizon.

49218

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Minnesota House DFL @mnhousedfl.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Rep. Aisha Gomez: “To look at people standing up against ICE and see ‘paid protesters’ says nothing about us and everything about you.” “That you cannot conceive of us loving our neighbors so much that we would actually do something for them.”

162267721

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

If Kamala Harris was president, Taylor and Travis would be getting married on the National Mall as part of America 250

061

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I love southern Minnesota’s little chain of counties and county seats Mankato is the seat of Blue Earth County, Blue Earth is the seat of Faribault County, and Faribault is the seat of Rice County

241

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

What a terrible final day of Pride Month! None of them terribly surprising but still heartbreaking. The Queen of TERF Island meeting the Queen of TERFs is sad but predictable. Matthew Vines’ betrayal is personally devastating on several levels.

NPR headline that says “Supreme Court upholds bans on transgender athletes participating in women and girls’ sports.”

Queen Camilla meeting with JK Rowling, famous transphobe

Matthew Vines op-ed in the New York Times titled “I’m Gay, Not Queer. It Matters.”

261

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

One of my favorite things about my house is the hollyhock that lives right outside our library 🌺 She’s really showing off this year!

A hollyhock plant growing along a gray stucco wall. The hollyhock has 6 or 7 tall stalks, each adorned with large, bright pink flowers. Each stalk is 6 or 7 feet tall

A bright pink hollyhock flower. a large, delicate flower with a prominent pollen stalk in the middle.

A bunch of bright pink hollyhock flowers!

230

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

the bear vicar from the cover of the Berenstain Bears church book is basically me 🐻💒🕯️

The cover of the children’s book Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple by Jan and Mike Berenstain. The bear family walks up a path toward a church where a bear vicar waves at them.

A close-up on the bear vicar from the Berenstain Bears church book. The bear vicar wears a black suit over his black clergy shirt with a white full collar around his neck. The bear vicar waves as two other bear people walk into the church.

2170

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Maplehood United @maplehoodunited.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Minnesotans are what Texans think they are

0165

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Saint John’s Lutheran Church in Northfield, Minnesota, has one of my favorite images of Mary Magdalene in a stained glass window. Obsessed with her glorious head scarf and the hoop earrings!! 🕊️🕯️✨

a stained glass image of Mary Magdalene with a look of surprise on her face. She has a head scarf made of bright blue and peachy pink glass and gold hoop earrings. She wears a light pink dress with a red sash.

2131

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I have absolutely zero patience for people from the coasts who insist on saying that the Midwest has no beaches I have a sunburn and sand in my hair, this is enough of a beach

110

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I’m still not over Irvine, CA, beating Mpls and St. Paul in the park ranking. Irvine was created in the 1960s as a planned suburb. It’s not really a city in any meaningful way. It’s like San Jose, CA, being technically the 13th largest city in the US. That’s a suburb!!! www.tpl.org/parkscore

tpl.org

ParkScore - Trust for Public Land

TPL uses ParkScore to evaluate city parks and walkability. Explore our collected data, see city park rankings and find out what cities have the best parks.

110

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Jordan Haynie Ware @godwelcomesall.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Good news: 2,000 years ago we killed God and this happened.

529360

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

it’s unfortunate that Minneapolis and Saint Paul both have kinda ugly flags nobody uses them because they’re kinda ugly both cities deserve better

Flag of Saint Paul. Three horizontal stripes of yellow, blue, and yellow, with a red shield in the middle. On the shield, a log cabin, the Capitol dome, and a wheel with wings. A red banner says “SAINT PAUL” across the bottom.

Flag of Minneapolis. A blue triangle stretched horizontally across a white field. In the triangle is a white circle, divided into quadrants. The quadrants have a building with columns, a cog, a microscope, and a ship steering wheel.

100

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

my friends and I did a cross exchange to celebrate our graduation, and I love the one I got! sooooo beautiful :) it was cool to see how all the crosses matched their recipients so well! 🕯️🕊️💒

a cross necklace. the cross is approximately 2 inches wide and 3 inches tall. the cross has a metal back with a mosaic of light blue glass and red glass

Erik, a white man with dark blond hair and clear glasses, wears the blue and red glass mosaic cross over his black clergy shirt. He's taking a mirror selfie.

3101

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I would kill and die for Julie Blaha indeed

130

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Blessed Feast of Saint Erik, King of Sweden! Last year I got to visit Uppsala Cathedral, the site of his martyrdom and the place where they keep his bones in this golden reliquary. I don’t endorse everything he did (booooo crusades) but it is cool to share a name with the patron saint of Sweden 🇸🇪🕯️🕊️

A stone statue of Saint Erik, King of Sweden

Erik (me) at Uppsala Cathedral with the golden reliquary box that holds the bones of Saint Erik.

Erik (me) with the stone statue of Saint Erik at the entrance of Uppsala Cathedral

1121

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

People in the ELCA often call our primary hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW), the Cranberry Hymnal for its color so I kinda think the ELCA-specific version of “Prayer Book Catholic” should be Cranberry Catholic My congregation is sooooo Cranberry Catholic 🕯️🏵️

0112

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Naomi Kritzer @naomikritzer.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Minneapolis celebrates spring with a parade of giant handmade socialist puppets and a festival where people row the sun across the lake. This year's Mayday festival was today, and I'm going to try to share some photos and videos (many taken by others) to try to explain it for my non-local friends.

151151286

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

over the winter, the seminary chopped down a 60-70 year old maple in my yard and now the roots are trying to send sap to the tree the tree is trying so hard to live and it’s using up all that it has left in the process why am I crying over this sad wet and sticky stump 😭😭😭

a wide stump of a maple tree with wet edges where the sap

240

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Erin Maye Quade @erinmayequade.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Hey, while we’re removing men who sexually abuse children and women from landmarks…

07717

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I hope Peggy Flanagan and Juliana Stratton are friends in DC

070

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

vicarage update: I love preaching

150

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Caroline Casey @cacasey.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

my friend said that the secret to mpls is lutherans + anarchists

415625

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

I still think the best way to think of the ending of US AID is as the single worst genocide committed by any one US presidential administration. even given all the horrific things the US has done, it's not really that close. 750k dead already; expected 14 million.

141615534

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

taylr @taylordahlin.com · 15/02/2026

this message from the lake of the isles pencil on 2/6 is so sweet “Minneapolis, I have been watching over you this difficult month, while ICE agents occupy us and kill us… I have never been prouder to stand among you and to belong to this community.“

lotipencil 180 years ago I was an acorn, and now I'm here among you as a giant pencil. Maybe you have a similar story. Maybe instead you were once a seed, carried in the belly of a bird for a great distance, only to find yourself deposited and growing strong, far away from where your ancestors did. You belong here too.
Minneapolis, I have been watching over you this difficult month, while ICE agents occupy us and kill us and the administration tears the constitution to shreds. I have witnessed you lift the lowest among us up, providing security and refuge in an intricate way, passing resources around like a social mycorhizzal network. Signal group chats replace penciled scraps as the tools of resistance communication. I have never been prouder to stand among you and to belong to this community.
I know that one of my most important functions is as a community touchstone. I exist for you, to help you connect with each other over the absurdity of our shared existence.
We need each other, and to be of use to one another we must know each other. Pencil your neighbor a note. Pencil in a moment to get together and follow through.
I can't wait to see you in June. I expect my tip will be duller than usual, and you will be stronger than ever.
"Know that to care intensively, united, is to carry both pain-dark horror for today & a profound, daring hope for tomorrow." - Amanda Gorman
I love you very much. Thanks for loving me back.
February 6

324261

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Believe it or not, it’s nice here in winter too 🩵❄️🩵

Ice sculptures at the Minneapolis Institute of Art

315119

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12/02/2026

If my followers have been inspired by the fierce resistance the Twin Cities has put up to ICE, you should make it a point to take a trip here (April through October 😬), enjoy the wonderful things MN has to offer and support our small businesses. It continues to be a really tough time for them.

568170583348

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

In better times, Sam was the journalist who interviewed me and Wesley about our silly party when we got the new state flag. Minnesota is supposed to be artsy and quirky and joyful. Now we have journalists in bathrobes rushing to document government violence. www.mprnews.org/story/2024/0...

mprnews.org

These Minnesotans celebrated the new flag with costumes, laser loon earrings and Lutheran sushi

The new Minnesota state flag took its first flight on Saturday. In the backyard of a St. Paul residence friends celebrated the new look, Minnesota-style.

141

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

just like Scandinavia, Minnesota’s social fabric is held together by the Lutherans and the unions (with a LOT of overlap)

010

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Molly Coleman @mollycoleman.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Axios had a story today about how hard Minnesota’s economy is being hit and how slow the recovery could be. So, I’m going to take this opportunity to say that if you want to support the Twin Cities, you should plan a visit for this summer, spend some money here, & see how amazing it is for yourself.

411148331

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Snowden St. @snowden.st · 29/01/2026

we're bringing it back out. keep crying, Lyman.

Joe Cool and the ELCA symbol and "We are the Lutherans The Missouri Synod Warned You About"

67715

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Nissa Mitchell @nissamitchell.com · 29/01/2026

Funny how “love thy neighbor” is central to pluralistic and antifascist societies, and becomes an activist position when Christian nationalists and their fascist buddies take over. One might even say that Jesus’s message is incompatible with Christian nationalism and fascism.

16111

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

I unfollowed a girl I knew from college because I noticed her instagram bio said she lived in “Minne” … one of my greatest pet peeves

011

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Jon Collins @jcollins.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

I know people are just being supportive, but no one calls it "Minne." The real power of the word is the long "O" sound of "Sota."

31329

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Dylan @dyl057.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Minneapolis' "playbook" is not the Viet Cong's; it's the organizational skills you develop as an active Lutheran.

1117952

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

walked out of church amazed how warm it feels today it’s literally 2° I love you forever Minnesota

021

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

This martyr could be any of us. He is doing what so many of us have been trained to do. Standing and recording on his phone, trying to warn his neighbors, and now he’s dead because armed, masked federal paramilitaries are acting with impunity to perform ethnic cleansing.

71893518

Reposted by Erik 🕊️

Kate Knuth @kateknuth.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Morning in Minneapolis. We are on general strike. And we will be out in force this afternoon to say ICE out of our communities.

A screen capture of a weather app showing -20 F air temp with a feels like -41 F.

0246

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

soooo is anyone going to run for governor or

210

Erik 🕊️ @varbergensis.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

the Swedish word “varandra” is truly one of the prettiest words I’ve ever heard. it just means “each other” but the word varandra is just so pretty to say and here. say it out loud. varandra. sounds like the name of a beautiful iconic evil witch. varandra

120