Announcements

Missed our online workshop? Still having trouble with rooms? Join the in-house experts on Tuesday, December 10 at 12:30 p.m. in OCC 148 for this additional session of reviewing and booking a room at Luther. We will go over how to book a room, how to see rooms available and answer any of those lingering questions (about rooms).

Please welcome Erin DeBoer-Moran as our new director of music in the Chapel. Erin is contracted to coordinate and lead the music for our weekly Wednesday Chapel service of Holy Communion. This is a part-time position as she also leads music in two other local congregational settings. Erin offers the right blend of honoring traditional worship with an experimental openness to how God might be leading us in our worship practice in the future. She will be working closely with Dr. Thomason and the Chapel staff to bring meaningful music and art into the spiritual life of our community.

What happens to us after we die? How do people in your ministry context respond to the foundational yet often confusing Christian conviction that we will be resurrected bodily with Christ after death? And how does this belief shape Christian life and ministry in the present? Professors Pietz and Padgett invite you to explore such questions in “Resurrection,” a new cross-divisional course offered spring term on Thursdays, 12:30–4:20 p.m. in a hybrid format. For course description and other details, see the Spring 2025 course listings in MyLutherNet. Please contact Professor Padgett (apadgett@luthersem.edu) or Professor Pietz (jpietz002@luthersem.edu) with questions.

Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 12–1 p.m. on Zoom (link in email)
As we continue to think about the US elections, we are aware of heightened anxieties and disparate hopes surrounding them. We pledge to bear one another’s burdens, share in one another’s joys, and walk the extra mile for one another’s sake (Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 12:26). We commit to robust, passionate, and respectful dialogue with one another—both those with whom we agree and those with whom we disagree. Please join us one week after the election for circle conversations to express what you are feeling in this context. Rooted in communal forms of knowing and learning, circle conversations are opportunities to listen deeply, share from the heart, and engage in what Martin Luther once called “mutual conversation and consolation.” This is not a moment to try to change people’s minds but rather an opportunity for the Spirit to soften our hearts. Rolf Jacobson and Mary Hess will be co-keepers of this and subsequent circles.

ELCA Horizon is hosting a general info session on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at 4:00 p.m. central (link in email). If you are interested in learning more about Horizon internships in 2025-2026 or beyond, consider attending this session. The Luther Seminary Horizon Internships webpage has all application materials and an explanation of the timeline and process. For the 2025-2026 year, all application materials are due January 10, 2025. Thank you all for your partnership!

In this devotion, Emily McQuillan ‘19 M.Div. helps us turn to God’s peace when the night feels too long and the joy of the season seems out of reach. Read today’s God Pause.