The Winter RFS is finished and the short term is begun. It is time to step into the bright and cold rhythm of the Epiphany season. The new year is a great time to think about new starts. Our mission at Luther is to educate leaders for Christian communities called and sent by the Holy Spirit to witness to salvation through Jesus Christ and to serve in God’s world. This world in which we serve is rapidly changing and one of the key skills leaders need is to be able to experiment with new approaches to ministry that fit the context in which they have been called to serve.

As Dean of the Chapel, I feel that it is part of my call to model this type of leadership as God has called me to cultivate spiritual community at Luther. This Winter and Spring we are going to experiment with a new rhythm of worship that more accurately reflects the diversity of our student body, staff, and faculty.

Each Wednesday of the month we will gather to worship God and share in Holy communion, as usual, but each week we will practice a different style of liturgy.

First Wednesday | ELW Liturgy

We honor the long-standing and beautiful liturgical practice of the ELCA, following the liturgy as it is prescribed in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship Hymnbook.

Second Wednesday | Contemplative Liturgy

This is a simple, quiet, reflective liturgy where we speak less, expand silence, bring our prayers to God, and listen for the still small voice.

Third Wednesday | International Liturgy

Two-thirds of our residential students are citizens of another country who have left their homes, their cultures, and their style of worship to live on the campus of Luther Seminary. This third Wednesday will be led by our international students so that they can have space to worship God in a form that is familiar and an expression of their cultural context. This will create space for all of us to expand our understanding of how God’s church gathers around the world.

Fourth Wednesday | Contemporary/Experimental Liturgy

Our student body, staff, and faculty is increasingly ecumenical representing multiple modalities of worship styles. We want to give space for this difference in worship style. Additionally, the contexts in which our leaders serve is increasingly secular and filled with people who have either no church background or have experienced great church trauma. This week is a laboratory for how we might find new ways to gather people around word and sacrament that will be contextually relevant in multiple contexts.

I ask you to join us in prayer as we experiment with this new rhythm. We are one body, one spirit, and we do all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.