Rally Sunday and Hotdish!

I hope you are having a wonderful Labor Day holiday! I want to talk about another annual end-of-summer event...

This coming Sunday (September 13th, 2026) is Rally Sunday at Living Word Lutheran Church. This is the start of our education year, the kickoff for adult and children's Sunday School. All members are encouraged to attend and all visitors are welcome!

This year (with Pastor's impending retirement) features what may be the final episode of the "SONflower Sermon" series. A long-time annual tradition here at Living Word. Following service there will be games and activities for the kids and a potluck dinner.

Speaking of potlucks, I want to talk about a Minnesota classic... the tater tot hotdish. Tater tot hotdish is not a casserole. Do not call it a casserole. A casserole is something people in other states make on purpose. Hotdish is what Minnesota makes because there is a funeral, a potluck, a hockey tournament, a blizzard, or a Tuesday.

Every Minnesotan knows this without being told, but for you out-of-towners here are the specifics...

The formula has three parts. A starch on top, which is tater tots, arranged in rows by somebody with strong feelings about it. A binder, which is a can of cream of "something" soup, usually cream of mushroom, or cream of celery, and occasionally cream of chicken, and if somebody uses more than one kind there will be discussion. And a protein, which is ground beef browned with onion, plus green beans,  peas, or corn, and which vegetable you use tells everyone exactly where in this state your family is from. Remember that these vegetables can be canned or frozen - never fresh.

That is it. Five ingredients, all of them available at the Cashwise in Willmar at 10:00 at night in case of emergency. 

If you are in mood to really spice things up, you can add some black pepper. Never try to be creative by adding things like cheese or sour cream... that is unacceptable and downright sacrilegious.

The tot placement is where personality shows. Some people dump the bag. Some people line them up in tight concentric rows like they are shingling a roof. That second group is not doing it for aesthetics. They are doing it because their grandmother did it and they can still hear her.

The pan is 9x13. It has always been 9x13. It goes in the oven at 350 and comes out when the tots are brown, and anybody who pulls it early and serves pale tots has failed the household.

It travels. That is the actual genius of it. Foil over the top, dish towel underneath, straight into the back seat, and it arrives at the church still hot.

The Minnesota congressional delegation holds an annual hotdish competition in Washington. That is real. Our elected officials go to the nation's capital and compete at this.

Every other state has food. We have a delivery system for grief, celebration and winter, and it comes in a rectangle.

So join us at Living Word Lutheran Church on Sunday, Sept 13th. (There might even be a tater tot hotdish. 😋)