Herb Brokering, church's poet laureate

"A bridge-builder and a peacemaker," he shared his faith in person and through his writing.

By BILL McAULIFFE, Star Tribune

Last update: November 12, 2009 - 8:58 PM

Herb Brokering's creative ministry broke through the boundaries of religions and nations.

Called the poet laureate of the Lutheran Church, Brokering was a minister who wrote more than 30 devotional, spiritual and health books and some of the church's most familiar contemporary hymns. He nurtured a flock that spread from Bloomington to Japan and even Cold War East Germany.

"Reconciliation, unification and peacemaking, and celebrating what we have in common," were his motivators, said his son Mark, of San Francisco. "He was a bridge-builder and a peacemaker."

Brokering died Saturday of congestive heart failure, after fighting heart and other health problems for more than 20 years. He was 83.

The son of a minister who came to the U.S. from Germany, Brokering grew up in southeastern Nebraska speaking German. He returned to Germany in 1948 to work with refugees, then was a pastor in Pittsburgh, on Long Island and in San Antonio before moving to the Twin Cities in 1960 to develop confirmation curriculum for the American Lutheran Church. He taught at Luther Seminary in St. Paul for 23 years while writing prolifically, traveling internationally and helping stage church festivals around the country, including at St. Stephen Church in Bloomington, where he was a member for many years.

He wrote the well-known Lutheran hymn "Earth and All Stars," and provided the text for an Easter oratorio by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck that was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra in 2003.

Earlier this year Augsburg Fortress published his latest book, "Looking Anxiety in the Face: Wisdom for All Who Worry." At the time of his death he was working on a commissioned choral work.

"In a world so full of prose -- prose behavior, prose writing, prose outbursts -- he was poetic," said the Rev. Peter Marty, also a well-known Lutheran speaker and writer who worked with Brokering. "He had a way of writing with an economy of words and a majesty of phrase that was almost transcendent. I just love the way he could weave the Christian spirit with earthly sensibilities. He could look at a piece of straw and see the kingdom of God."

Beth Lewis, president and CEO of Augsburg Fortress, wrote in an e-mail that Brokering was a "gifted creative partner" with the publishing house. "He had a ready wit but was serious about his faith and loved to share it in person and through his marvelous writing of books, poems, and music."

Mark Brokering said his father used his travels and his personality to find common ground with others. On trips to East Germany, then behind the Iron Curtain, he said his father somehow persuaded the authorities to let him and his traveling companions stay with families instead of in government hotels. During his years in New York, the Brokerings celebrated Passover seders with rabbis. This year, on a visit to Japan, Herb Brokering made a point of having long talks with a Shinto priest.

Brokering was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Lois. In addition to Mark, he is survived by three other children, Beth, Jon and Chris, and five grandchildren.

A service, scripted by Herb Brokering himself, has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Nov. 21 at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, preceded by a one-hour visitation.

"Don't call it a funeral," Mark Brokering said. "We're hoping it will feel more like a festival."

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