Archives for May 2025

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, the Office of Inclusion and Belonging together with Kristofer Phan Coffman invite you to attend a celebratory lunch after chapel on Wednesday, May 14. Join us for good food, trivia, and the chance to learn more about our international students from Asia as well as our Asian American neighbors here in the Twin Cities.

Today, Wednesday, May 14, our service of Holy Communion will include a blessing and sending of interns, CPE students, sabbaticals, and new calls. If you fit in one of these categories, we would love for you to join us either in person or online for us to bless these next steps in your journey!

Looking for faith-inspired literature to provide a break from your studies? If you’re a lover of great fiction, be sure to check out Luther Seminary Library’s Online Guide to Literature and the Arts. We feature classic Christian authors from Dante Alighieri to Frederick Buechner, Flannery O’Connor, and Marilynne Robinson—with her new book “The Beauty of Souls“—and many more. With this guide, you will also find the latest books on art, culture, and film as they relate to Christian faith.

In this devotion, Shawn Schneider ’23 M.Div., notes that even mosquitoes praise the Lord! Read today’s God Pause.

We gather at 11:00 a.m. CT in the OCC Meditation Chapel and online (link in email) for contemplative practice of your choice—mindful sketching, centering prayer, or however you choose to engage silence. Facilitated by the Dean of the Chapel Steve Thomason, we will read the Psalm of the day and then practice in silence for 15 minutes. Afterward, you are welcome to sit in fellowship or go about your day.
Share your prayer requests.

Come and celebrate the completion of the 2024-2025 Beloved Community Fellowship, named in honor of the vision of Martin Luther King Jr’s “Beloved Community.” We will gather in OCC 10 on Tuesday, May 13, 3:00–4:30 p.m. and on Zoom (link in email) for a late lunch, snacks, and drinks and to hear from our fellows. Areas of focus in the fellowship include understanding MLK’s vision of the Beloved Community from the point of view of pastoral care, understanding secular and theological approaches to justice, and applying the above to our sociocultural and historical contexts. Each Beloved Community Fellow will be given 15 minutes to present a summary and discuss key highlights of their capstone paper, as well as answering questions from the audience. Presentations include:

1. “Self-acceptance and creative maladjustment in the ELCA” — Erik Nelson
2. “The Beloved Community and its resonance with Pakistan” — Alyssa Saleem
3. “Leadership for Justice” — Daniel Tsokpor
4. “Martin Luther King’s Beloved Community in relation to people who are marginalized in the special needs population in the United States” — Annette VanZeyl