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In this devotion, Don Knudson ’70 M.Div., encourages us, when facing a confounding challenge, to ask God for an understanding, wise, and discerning mind. Read today’s God Pause.

Join us Tuesday, September 22 on the Luther Seminary campus or online for the 2026 Fretheim Lecture in Biblical Theology with Craig Koester—The Death of Jesus and the Message of Life: According to the Gospel of John. This year’s Fretheim Lecture on Biblical Theology explores how, through the crucifixion, God conveys the fullness of his love for the world in order to evoke the faith that gives life. “Life” is the heart of the gospel John proclaims, Koester says, and it defines who God is and what God gives. John presses us to see how God, through the death of Jesus, does indeed give life. John’s Gospel takes us beyond popular notions of sin and sacrifice to present a more radical message. Learn more and register at luthersem.edu/fretheim/26.

If you’ve been in conversation with Contextual Learning about starting your internship in February 2027, we need your internship application submitted by July 31. If you think you should be starting your internship in February, please reach out to the Context Learning team, contextuallearning@luthersem.edu to begin this process. You can apply for internship using the online Student Internship Application.

Students, faculty, and staff, on Wednesday, August 5, there is an opportunity to experience an agricultural, rural gathering at Farmfest in southwestern Minnesota. We will leave Luther Seminary at 7 a.m. in a van whose cost is covered by rural ministry grants. Tickets will also be covered for participants. Morgan, Minnesota, is a couple of hours out. We will arrive at the fest around 9:30 and return home in the early evening. It may be closer for you to meet us at the Farmfest site. Parking is free. We will still pick up the cost of entering and lunch. This trip is an opportunity to learn about the opportunities, challenges, economics, politics, and lifestyle of rural and small-town people and communities in this part of the Midwest. Candidates for governor and senator in the state of Minnesota will be in candidate forums that day too. If you are interested in participating, email janderson008@luthersem.edu or sign up here. We have limited spaces.

The Business Office will be closed from Tuesday, August 4 through Monday, August 10.

During this period, we will not be processing any financial transactions—including payments, invoices, voucher requests, or reimbursement requests. To ensure your requests are processed before the closure, please note the following deadlines:

• All invoices, voucher requests, and reimbursement requests must be submitted to the Business Office by noon on Tuesday, July 28.
• Any requests submitted after this deadline will not be processed until the week of August 11.
• Online student account payments made after 3:30 on Monday, August 3 may experience delays and will not be posted to accounts in a timely manner.

We encourage you to plan ahead to avoid any disruptions in your operations. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

As we transition into the new fiscal year, please keep the following important updates and deadlines from the Business Office in mind:

• Specify the Fiscal Year. When submitting payment requests, please clearly indicate which fiscal year (FY26 or FY27) the funds should come from. Note: The Business Office will make the final determination to ensure compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
• June Credit Card Transactions. All transactions made in June must be fully completed and processed by July 20th.
• FY26 Deadline. The deadline to turn in all FY26 payment requests is July 31.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping us close out the year smoothly! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Business Office.