This week is Spring Break at Luther Seminary. We will not have our regularly schedule spiritual practices Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Many blessings on students, faculty and staff who may be traveling and/or leading Holy Week services.

I pray that you will be able to take a little time to get alone with God. Breathe deeply. Allow yourself to be caught up in the mystery of this week and the steadfast love of God. Fill your cup before you pour yourself out for your people.

Here is a resource I created to help you dwell in Holy Week this year. Click the image to explore.

We come to our fifth and final encounter in our Lenten journey. Jesus receives word that his friend, Lazarus, is ill. Strangely, Jesus delays and Lazarus dies. Four days later Jesus arrives in Bethany and has conversations with the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. Jesus proclaims that he is the resurrection and the life. He also grieves the death of Lazarus and weeps. Finally, Jesus rasises Lazarus from the dead. What does this story mean for us today?

Join us this Wednesday in the Chapel of the Incarnation, or on YouTube, as Dr. Jennifer Wojciechowski, Associate Professor of Church History, preaches on this text.

This is the final week of our Lenten Practices:

Monday

11:00am | Text Study on Zoom

Tuesday

11:00am | Contemplative Practice – OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom

6:30pm | Soup Supper – Dining Room A

7:00pm | Virtual Vespers – OCC 148 and Zoom

Wednesday

11:00am | Service of Holy Communion – Chapel of the Incarnation or on YouTube

11:45am | Chapel Cafe – Luther Cafe (upstairs)

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church – Dining Room A (this will be our Easter Break sending party!)

On to Holy Week

Since we won’t share Holy Week together, I offer this visual meditation on Palm Sunday. click here for Holy Week reflections.

We come to our fourth encounter in our Lenten journey. Jesus and his disciples are walking the streets of Jerusalem and find a man who was born blind. His society does not recognize his validity and he has been relegated to sit on the side of the road and beg throughout his entire life. The disciples ask, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” How often does our distorted theology make it difficult to see the value in someone who is different from us?

Join us this Wednesday in the Chapel of the Incarnation, or on YouTube, as Rev. Dr. Cody Sanders, Associate Professor of Congregational & Community Care Leadership, preaches on this text.

The campus is closed today due to snow. It’s a good thing that we meet on Zoom every Monday! 🙂

We have many opportunities to connect in community for spiritual practice:

Monday

11:00am | Text Study on Zoom

Tuesday

11:00am | Contemplative Practice – OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom

6:30pm | Soup Supper – Dining Room A

7:00pm | Virtual Vespers – OCC 148 and Zoom

Wednesday

11:00am | Service of Holy Communion – Chapel of the Incarnation on on YouTube

11:45am | Chapel Cafe – Dining Room A

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church – Dining Room A

We come to our third encounter in our Lenten Journey. This week we read John 4:5-42 where Jesus stops at Jacob’s well in the Samaritan village of Sychar. He encounters a woman there in the sixth hour of the day. One of the most fascinating, and longest, conversations in the Gospels unfolds.

Join us on Wednesday as we enjoy our monthly student-planned and student-led service. Danielle Dockman, PhD student, is presiding. Vamsi Kagitha, MA student, is assisting. Peter Okeyo, MA student, is preaching. Carolina Bowen, M.Div. student, Sophie Warnberg, M.Div. student, and Joshua Elias, M.Div. student are leading music. It should be fantastic.

We resume our weekly rhythm of communal spiritual practices after a delightful RFS experience last week.

Monday

11:00am | Text Study on Zoom

Tuesday

11:00am | Contemplative Practice – OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom

6:30pm | Soup Supper – Dining Room A

7:00pm | Virtual Vespers – OCC 148 and Zoom

Wednesday

11:00am | Service of Holy Communion – Chapel of the Incarnation on on YouTube

11:45am | Chapel Cafe – Dining Room A

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church – Dining Room A

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Enjoy this illustration from A Cartoonist’s Guide to John.

It is Monday morning and I am currently teaching a course during RFS 1. My students are doing a small group project, so I’m taking this opportunity to write a quick blog post. It is a delight to share this weekend with students from around the world.

This coming week we have the opportunity to share in communal spiritual practices services of Holy Communion.

Today, Monday, March 2

Dr. Schifferdecker will preach from Genesis 12 and God’s promise to Abram. We look forward to sharing communion with our RFS 1 students and being online via YouTube.

Wednesday, March 4

Dr. Lewis will preach from John 3 and the encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus in Jerusalem. We welcome the students of RFS 2 on campus on Wednesday and are delighted that we get to spend our time together with this service of Holy Communion and those online via YouTube.

Thursday, March 5

Our Lunch Church this week will celebrate our practice of Why Jesus? Joe Squire, M.A. Student, will share his story and answer the questions, “Why am I a Christian? and What difference does Jesus make in my life?” We look forward to sharing this in-person event.

Friday, March 6

We will conclude our RFS 2 session with a service of the Word and Prayer. We will launch our third week of the community art project as we dwell in the story of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. This session will be in-person only.

Our Lenten journey begins this week with the first encounter with Christ. The Spirit leads Jesus in the wilderness to fast for forty days. Then he encounters the Devil who sets three tests before him.

Join us on Wednesday as Dr. Lois Malcom, Professor and Olin and Amanda Fjelstad Reigstad Chair for Systematic Theology, preaches on this text during our service of Holy Communion.

Soup Supper and Virtual Vespers Begins This Week!

Tuesday, February 24, we begin our Lenten practice of Soup supper and Virtual Vespers.

We will gather in person at 6:30 (notice time change from graphic) for a simple soup supper in the Dining Room.

Then we will gather on ZOOM at 7:00pm for a simple time of gathering, checking in, reading scripture, and prayer.

The Community Art Project Has Begun

We Welcome RFS 1 This Weekend

Please pray for all the students who will be traveling to the Twin Cities this week to attend the Spring Residential Focus Session on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We kick things off with a fun-filled open mic night on Friday. Then we will have a Super Simple Saturday Service for everyone on campus, Saturday at 11:00am. This will be a time of singing, prayer, and centering for a great weekend together.

Next Monday, The RFS 1 Service of Holy Communion

We end RFS 1 with communion on Monday, March 2. Dr. Schifferdecker will preach on God’s promise to Abram in Genesis 12.

We will observe Ash Wednesday together this week and receive the symbol of ashes on our foreheads. All are welcome.

Watch this video for an overview. Share it with your friends.

The weekly rhythm begins this Thursday…

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church, in person. We will share a meal, engage the Gospel text for the upcoming Wednesday, then respond through co-creating one part of the banner that will be hung in worship.

Monday

11:00am | Text study on Zoom. We will engage all the readings for the Revised Common Lectionary.

Tuesday

• 11:00am | Contemplative Practice. Hybrid in OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom.
• 6:00pm | Soup Supper in Dining Room.
• 7:00pm | Virtual Vespers on Zoom. This is a time to check-in, read scripture, and pray together.

Wednesday

11:00am | Service of Holy Communion. Hybrid in the Chapel of the Incarnation and on YouTube.

Join the Community Art Project.

There will be an imagination station set up in the OCC all week. You are invited to respond to the Gospel text visually–drawing, abstract colors and shapes, words–and add it to the banner. Each panel will be added to the banner on Wednesdays in Chapel. Use the QR code below to upload your contribution. We will print it and add it for you.

This week we celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus. This is the pivotal moment in Jesus’ ministry. The work of abundance and light in Galilee is over. It is time for Jesus to go to Jerusalem where he knows he will be executed. He invites/warns his disciples that they must take up their cross in order to follow him. That is the journey of Lent we will begin next week.

Things are about to get very dark.

Jesus’ disciples needed a glimpse of hope—a glimpse of glory—in order to make it through this dark time. The Gospel of Matthew (as well as Mark and Luke) tell the story of how Jesus brought Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain where Jesus stands with Moses and Elijah. Here the Law and the Prophets stand embodied next to Jesus. Once again, as it was at his baptism, the voice of God declares him to be God’s son, the beloved, the one to whom the disciples should listen.

The epistle reading (2 Peter 1:16-21) is especially helpful for me this week. Peter’s audience was suffering oppression. Times were dark for them, as they tend to be for the Gospel in oppressive political systems. Peter took his people back to the moment of Jesus’ transfiguration for another glimpse of hope.

May the light of Jesus’ transfiguration give us courage and hope through whatever dark times you may be experiencing this week.

Join us each day for Communal Spiritual Practice

Monday Text Study on Zoom

Tuesday Contemplative Practice in OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom

Wednesday Service of Holy Communion in the Chapel and on YouTube.

Rev. Dr. Rolf Jacobson, Dean of the Faculty, Professor of Old Testament and The Alvin N. Rogness Chair of Scripture, Theology, and Ministry, is preaching this week.

Thursday Lunch Church. In person only. I will be leading a simple reflection on the transfiguration.

We stand in shock and horror at the beginning of this week as yet another Minnesotan was shot and killed by an ICE agent over the weekend.

Lord, have mercy.

Each of the readings in the Revised Common Lectionary this week scream in protest to tyranny, oppression, and evil. Micah is speaking to a nation whose leaders have been oppressing the poor and overtaxing the people and now their kingdom is crumbling. The antidote is humility, mercy, and justice. The Psalmist describes the heart of a true leader; one who is humble and speaks no slander. Paul reminds the Corinthians that the cross is foolishness to the wisdom of the Greeks and weakness to those who consider themselves strong. Jesus proclaims the message of the Kingdom of Heaven in his preamble to the sermon on the mount. Blessed are all the people whom the Empire looks down on as dispensable, worthless, and a threat.

Disciples of Jesus, we are called to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. We are called to stand with Jesus among the poor, the downtrodden, the outcast, the marginalized, the forgotten. We are called not to repay evil with evil, but to do the foolish thing. The theology of the cross reminds us that it is only in humility, love, and truth in justice that the world will ever change.

Pray for us here in Minnesota that we would resist tyranny with humility and steadfastness. Pray for our political leaders that they would let go of pride and power and seek the good of all people, before more people die.

Lord, have mercy.

Student-Led Worship this Wednesday

Pray for our students this week who are planning and leading our service of Holy Communion on Wednesday. Rachel Wyffels, senior M.Div. student, is preaching. You can attend in person in the Chapel of the Incarnation, or watch the livestream on YouTube.

We begin this week with swirling emotions. We are so thankful for a wonderful RFS last week. It is always good to see our distributed learners on campus. We are thankful for the successful experiment of holding RFS 2 at Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and are grateful that all are safe.

We also have heavy hearts as the tensions on our streets continue to mount. We pray for our neighbors who are living in fear and sheltering in place. On this day when we celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. we are reminded how much we need his message of non-violent action.

We pray for our city, our nation, and our world. We pray that evil would be exposed, that truth-in-love would be the standard, that justice and shalom would engulf us. May we, as disciples of Jesus, walk in the way of Christ in the midst of it all.

Back to Our Weekly Rhythm

This week marks the beginning of our regular rhythm of communal spiritual practices for the Winter term. Mark your calendars for 11:00am Monday-Thursday each week (not Monday this week for MLK).

Tuesday | Contemplative Practice. Hybrid in Meditation Chapel and on Zoom.

Wednesday | Service of Holy Communion and Chapel Cafe. Hybrid in Chapel and on YouTube.

Pastor Emily Rova-Hegener will lead us this week as she preaches about Jesus’ ministry beginning and how we are called to break bread together. She will continue the communion table with her Brake Bread practice in the Narthex immediately following the service. This practice is designed to gather us in community and remember the work that God has done and is doing in the physical space of the Chapel of the Incarnation. She is doing this practice as a way to help us begin the transition of saying goodbye to this campus and being open to a new thing that God is doing.

Thursday | Lunch Church. Dining Room. In-Person

Join us this week as Suresh Salam, M.A. Student, shares his “Why Jesus?” testimony.

A Reflection on the Good News

The Revised Common Lectionary readings this week set the stage for Jesus’ ministry as he begins in Galilee. They also fit really well with the state of the world today. Our twin cities and our state have been the focus of attention for the past couple weeks as ICE agents roam our streets. Renee Good was shot and killed, another man was shot. Thousands of people have been dragged from their homes and detained, many of them U.S. Citizens. Protestors are marching in the streets, tear gas and rubber bullets are flying. The Spanish-speaking population and Somali community are sheltering in place, cut off from supplies. Our international students are afraid to leave campus to go to church. The tensions are mounting.

The nation, and the church, is divided over this news and how to interpret it.

The readings remind us that Jesus lived in a similar time and the church has always been embroiled in tension and divided by factions. Isaiah 9 is quoted in the first part of the Gospel reading and reminds us that Jesus began his ministry in Galilee, not in Jerusalem. This was a political statement. The people of Israel had spent centuries living under the occupation of one Empire after another. The Romans ruled the land during Jesus’ life. The puppet Kings of Herod’s dynasty colluded with the Empire and terrorized the Jewish people with exorbitant taxes and unjust governance. Jesus set up his headquarters far from Jerusalem and at the base of the fishing industry in Capernaum.

Jesus came to proclaim a different kind of kingdom. He called fisherman to be his disciples and to reimagine the purpose of their work. He demonstrated to the world that God’s Kingdom was not about dominance and oppression, but about healing and restoration of people who live on the margins. He came to bring the kin-dom—the beloved community—of God for the Shalom of the world.

And it cost him his life.

Psalm 27 reminds us that we are often surrounded by violence, but even in the midst of it we can seek beauty in the house of the LORD. Paul critiques the Corinthians for having petty factions among themselves. He reminds them that the Good News of the cross is foolishness to the systems of the world, but it is the power of salvation for those who follow it.

This week we are reminded that the life of discipleship is an invitation to walk into a world that is fraught with violence and show people a different way. The way of Jesus is the way of healing. It is a way that “shines a great light into the darkness.” We are invited to follow Jesus as he “went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23).”

Let us be the Good News this week.