Announcements

The funeral for Pastor Phil Hett ’19 and his daughter Abby Hett will be at 2 p.m. Central this Saturday at Bethany Lutheran Church in Lindsborg, Kansas. The service will be available through the Bethany Church Facebook page and the church’s You Tube channel.

If you live in the Twin Cities or the surrounding area, you’re invited to a summer party at Luther! Come and join us at 5 p.m. Friday, July 9 on the lawn in front of Bockman Hall for some food, games, and hangout time. We’ll provide the main dish and drinks; please bring a side dish to share. Residential students, commuter students, staff, and faculty are all welcome. Please bring your families along! We’ll have a few outdoor games to play, but feel free to bring a game to share or a ball to throw. If you’re already “in,” please fill out this form so we can make sure we have enough food.

We can’t wait to see you! Email any questions to CommunityLife@LutherSem.edu.

Be sure to join us at 11 a.m. Central today for chapel on Zoom. Seminary pastor Jeni Grangaard will be preaching. The Zoom link will be included in the community announcements email.

To the Luther Seminary Community:

On behalf of the seminary’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, we are inviting you to participate in an all-seminary book read during July and August. Please note: Due to initial feedback we have shifted the dates forward one week to begin the second week of July.

All members of the seminary community—students, staff, faculty, and administrators—are invited to join together in reading and discussing Heather McGhee’s acclaimed book, “The Sum of Us,” during July and August. (To learn more about the book visit the Penguin Random House website.)

This community-wide discussion of McGhee’s book is a continuation of the honest, useful, and Spirit-led reflection on systemic racism that we began last year in reading Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist.” It will help us to continue to consider ways that individuals, groups, communities, congregations, and our seminary might recognize, combat, and dismantle racism.

Everyone who chooses to participate will be placed in a small group of eight to 10 people. The plan is that each group will include a mixture of students, staff, faculty, and administrators.

Groups will meet on Zoom once each week over a seven-week period, beginning the week of July 11 and ending the week of August 18. Each of those meetings will last 75 minutes.

No one is expected to be an expert in the topic. No one is expected to have it all together. No one has to do homework, other than reading the chapters that will be discussed. The goal is to create space for honest conversation about a very serious and urgent subject.

Assigned co-facilitators will be responsible for guiding each group, keeping the conversation open and honest while working through discussion questions that will be provided to the groups.

When you register, you will be asked to indicate your scheduling preferences. Groups will meet weekly on different days and times, which will make it easier for as many people as possible to participate in the book read.

Other than obtaining a copy of “The Sum of Us,” there is no charge for participating in this opportunity, although we expect that everyone will emerge from the experience richer and challenged.

If you have already read the book, please participate anyway. You will learn and contribute in additional ways from continuing the conversations with others, especially as we consider the topic in light of the seminary’s mission.

Are you interested? Of course you are. Here’s what you need to do to participate:

• Register on our 2021 Summer Book Read page. Please register as soon as you can and no later than Friday, June 18.
• Obtain a copy of Heather McGhee’s book, “The Sum of Us,” as soon as you can. Booksellers frequently sell out of their supply of printed copies, so don’t delay.
• Begin praying for the experience, that it will be transformative for you, for the people you study and work with, and for the seminary community collectively.
• Wait for details regarding the group you are assigned to and read Chapter 1 prior to the first meeting.

Finally, here are three additional things you need to know:

• It is expected that everyone who participates will treat the opportunity as a personal commitment to the work of antiracism awareness and to the other members of the small group to which they will be assigned. To make this experience as effective as possible, therefore, everyone who participates needs to commit to attending at least four of their small group’s six scheduled meetings, including for sure the first meeting during the week of July 11. Even if you cannot be present for a meeting via Zoom (with video), it is acceptable if you join by phone (audio only). That means you can be traveling or otherwise away from a computer and still participate.
• If you are a student who wants to participate but needs a stipend to help you purchase your copy of the book, you can indicate that when you register.
• The co-facilitators for the small groups will not be designated teachers or specially enlightened people. They are participants in the study who will help discussions remain open, honest, respectful, and charitable. If you are interested in being a co-facilitator, you can indicate that when you register.
• We hope you will join us in this opportunity. The work is urgent, and we benefit from doing it in partnership with one another. May God be our encourager and corrector at every step.

Peace,

The 2021 Planning Committee

Tim Schroeder, Admissions Counselor
David Scherer, Contextual Learning Associate
Michelle Edgerton, Student Representative
Jeni Grangaard, Seminary Pastor
Mary Hess, Professor of Educational Leadership
David Fenrick, Dean of Students
Leslie Ortiz, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs

During the summer (June, July, and the first half of August) we will be worshiping together as a community once a week on Wednesdays–still on Zoom–at 11 a.m. Central. Keep watching for details on when we will invite worshipers to join us in Chapel of the Incarnation!

Be sure to join us at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 16. Seminary pastor Jeni Grangaard will be preaching. The Zoom link will be provided in the community announcements email.

The Liturgy of the Hours, by Luther Seminary Chapel, offers prayer for wherever you may be. Zach Busch and Alé Suarez lead Matins, prayer for the morning time for Ordinary Time 12B. Listen on the episode page or wherever you get your podcasts.