We come to week three of our eight-week series in the Old Testament. I look forward to leading Chapel this Wednesday as we explore Exodus 16:1-15. The children of Israel are confused, scared, and angry. They complain against God and Moses. God shows up in their perplexity, meets them in that space and provides the food they need. They call the bread manna, or “What is it?” God provides, even when we don’t understand.

We will share a contemplative liturgy this week. I invite you to enter the space with an open heart. My prayer is that through hearing scripture, experiencing silence, lighting candles in prayer, gentle music, and eating the Lord’s supper together, we will find comfort and healing for whatever perplexity we are experiencing in this moment.

We have three spaces this week where we can gather around this text and bring our joys and fears to God.

Tuesday

We will read the text and enter contemplative practice. I invite you to join us in the OCC meditation chapel or on Zoom to sit in centering prayer or contemplative sketching as we soak in the text for the week.

Wednesday

I will lead us in worship. We will celebrate Holy Communion and enjoy fellowship in the Chapel Cafe. Join us in the Chapel of the Incarnation or on YouTube.

Thursday

Join together for Lunch Church in the Dining Room. This is in-person only. Chapel Staff, Carolina Bowen and Arnold Swai, will lead us in a simple communal reflection on the text this week.

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enjoy this sketch from my 365 Daily Devo Doodles

This is the second week in our eight-week series from the Old Testament. We are looking at stories of people who have encounters with God that shakes and stretches them.

This week we look at Exodus 3:1-12. It is part of the story when Moses encounters God in a bush that is burning but not consumed. God has heard the cries of the people and sends Moses to confront Pharaoh. Moses feels unworthy and ill-equipped for the job.

Let’s be clear. We are bringing a particular lens to these texts. We are reading them as a community that is experiencing a massive transition this year. We are full of all the feelings. We don’t know exactly how to process them. It is my prayer that exploring these texts in community will cultivate a space for us to wrestle with our year of transition. We are moving to a new campus. We have mixed emotions about it. How do we discern what God is doing in the midst of this level of change?

The LORD told Moses to remove his sandals, because this is holy ground. I hope that this is holy ground where we can encounter God together this week.

We have three spaces where we can gather around these questions and bring our joys and fears to God.

Tuesday

We will read the text and enter contemplative practice. I invite you to join us in the OCC meditation chapel or on Zoom to sit in centering prayer or contemplative sketching as we soak in the text for the week.

Wednesday

Pastor Emily Rova-Hegener will lead us in worship. Dr. Cameron Howard, Associate Professor of Old Testament, will offer a sermon on the text. We will celebrate Holy Communion and enjoy fellowship in the Chapel Cafe. Join us in the Chapel of the Incarnation or on YouTube.

Welcome alumni! We have invited alumni to visit campus on the first Wednesday of each month. We’ve ordered more communion bread and snacks in anticipation of your arrival.

Thursday

Join together for Lunch Church in the Dining Room. This is in-person only. This week Pastor Tim Coltvet, Director of Contextual Learning, will share his “Why Jesus?” testimony. You don’t want to miss it.

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I will be out of town this week, attending a conference in Chicago. It will be sad to miss these important times of community. May you feel God’s comforting presence filling the place.

A Visual Mediation on the Text

Enjoy my visual commentary here.

We celebrate a wonderful RFS last week. It was good to be together for seven days of learning, worship, laughter, prayer, and food! Now, it is time to begin an eight-week rhythm of community life on campus and in our hybrid spaces.

This is a special year in the history of Luther Seminary. We mark the final year on our current campus. I have been working with members of the faculty to craft a worship series for the year that will help us seek the wisdom and consolation of God to navigate this transitional time.

We begin our journey with a four-week series from the Old Testament. These are stories of how people followed God’s call to unknown places. I hope that we can spend the whole week wrestling with these texts in community.

On Tuesdays we will read the text and enter contemplative practice. I invite you to join us in the OCC meditation chapel or on Zoom to sit in centering prayer or contemplative sketching as we soak in the text for the week.

On Wednesday we will hear a sermon on the text, celebrate Holy Communion and enjoy fellowship in the Chapel Cafe. Join us in the Chapel of the Incarnation or on YouTube.

Here’s the Wednesday Chapel schedule with the text and the preacher:

• 9/20 – Genesis 28:10-17 – Dr. Jennie Wojciechowski
• 10/7 – Exodus 3:1-12 – Dr. Cameron Howard
• 10/14 – Exodus 16:1-14 – Dr. Steve Thomason
• 10/21 – Joshua 1 – Dr. Shamani Shikwambi

On Thursdays we will discuss the text and the sermon around a community meal in Lunch Church. Join us in the Dining Room. This is in-person only.

Reflections on Genesis 28:10-17

We begin with the story of Jacob. He just stole the birthright and blessing from his brother, Esau. His father, Isaac, tells Jacob to go back to their homeland in Paddan-aram to find a wife. This is the place where Abram began his journey in Genesis 12.

Jacob stops along his journey to sleep for the night. He has a dream where he sees a ladder/stairway that reaches from earth to the heavens as angels of God ascend and descend. The LORD appears to Jacob in the dream and reestablishes the covenant that God had made to Abram. The promise ends with, “and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.”

Jacob wakes up and says, “How awesome (yarah, invoking fear and awe) is this place!” He built an altar and named the place Bethel (the house of God).

I invite you to dwell in this story throughout the week, both in the quiet of your heart and in community each day.

This is a sketch I did during my 365 Daily Devo Doodle experiment. Enjoy!

This is a big week in the life of Luther Seminary. We celebrate the 161 students that have been on campus all weekend for classes in RFS 1 and we look forward to 168 students being on campus Wednesday – Friday for RFS 2. We pray for safety in travel, stamina in mind, body and spirit for learning, and hospitality of heart to meet new people. I enjoy meeting our new students SO MUCH!!! WELCOME!

Here is what to expect in chapel this week:

Monday | Convocation (Hybrid)

Join us at 11:00am in the Chapel of the Incarnation and on YouTube to officially launch the 2026-27 academic year. Our faculty will arrive in full academic regalia. The Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Terri Elton, will preach. The Dean of the Faculty will bless new staff and faculty and officially pronounce the beginning of our academic year. Students, alumni, and staff are welcome to attend. Watch the livestream.

Wednesday | Service of Holy Communion (Hybrid)

We begin RFS 2 with a service of Holy Communion in an ELW liturgical style at 11:00am. Dr. Craig Koester is preaching. Dr. Rolf Jacobson is presiding. Community lunch follows. Watch the livestream.

Thursday | Lunch Church (in Person only)

I will guide our RFS community through a simple lunch church experience. Lunch church is a fresh expression of the church that we practice every Thursday throughout the academic year. This week we will have an opportunity to reflect on Dr. Koester’s sermon around our tables and join in community prayer.

Friday | Sending Service and Spiritual Direction (In person only)

The RFS community will gather one last time at 11:00am in the Chapel of the Incarnation for a service of the Word and prayer. The Fleshpots of Egypt will lead us in music. I will bring a short meditation on Romans 12:1-2 and introduce the student body to our spiritual directors. Many of our spiritual directors plan to join us in person. They will make themselves available to have lunch with any students who are interested in learning more about spiritual direction. These meetings will happen outside of the dining room, so those not interested will have the freedom to enjoy lunch together in an unstructured atmosphere.

Pastoral Note

Please know that I am praying for you, the Luther Seminary Community, as we do this important work of equipping Christian Public Leaders. I pray for safety as our distributed learners travel home from RFS. I pray for strength, courage, and stamina as we all prepare to faithfully engage a Fall semester of learning and growing in community.

Welcome Back!

This week marks the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year. Syllabus Day is Tuesday. Students will be traveling from all parts of the world to attend classes on campus on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

I am excited to get thing started!

Our Dean of Faculty, Dr. Rolf Jacobson, is going to get the season started in Chapel this Saturday with a sermon from Genesis 12:1-4. This sermon and this text is the beginning of a year-long series that we are calling “Following the Spirit.”

Let’s be honest. This is a BIG year at Luther that will go down in the history books. This is our last year on our current campus in St. Anthony Park. We are all experiencing a wide range of emotions.

• You may be very sad that we have to say goodbye to this campus. Many of us have memories of significant, formational moments that happened in this place.
• You may be angry that the decision had to be made. Our anger is part of our frustration that higher education, and culture at large, is changing so rapidly. It can be overwhelming.
• You may be confused about why the decision had to be made.
• You may be worried about what will happen to this campus.
• You may be grateful that the Board of Directors made the tough decision and are leading us into a new era.
• You may be excited to be part of something fresh and new.
• You may be hopeful that God is leading us and working through all of these things.

AND…you may toggle through ALL of those emotions on a daily basis.

I have been working with members of the faculty to shape our spiritual life together this year. We decided to focus our attention on Old Testament texts this fall that have to do with discerning God’s call, leaving places, stepping into the unknown, and wrestling with the painful emotions of loss and change. We will shift our focus to the New Testament in the new year and begin to anticipate the resurrection life and beginning new things.

My prayer for us this year is that we can gather together on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 11:00am in spiritual community to seek God in prayer and worship and cultivate a space where we can process all these emotions and receive the consolation of the Good News of Jesus.

A Meditation on the Text

I was dwelling in Genesis 12:1-4 this morning and was reminded of an aspect of the story that I usually overlook. Look back to Genesis 11:27-32. Terah, Abram’s father, was a descendent of Shem, a son of Noah. Terah had already begun the journey from Ur to Canaan. Terah had three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran died. Terah took Abram, Sarai, and Lot and started moving to Canaan (It seems he left Nahor behind). When they arrived in Haran, they settled there. Terah did not continue the journey. We don’t know why.

God’s call to Abram did not come from left field. It was a call to carry on the work that Terah had started. This was a good reminder to me that all of us are simply part of a much larger story. People before us started the journey. God calls us to keep moving in faith. I wonder what you make of this family tree.

I type these words on the morning of Memorial Day. Let us take a moment to remember those who gave their lives in service of our country…May God grant peace and comfort to their families.

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This week we turn our attention to endings and beginnings.

Final Contemplative Practice

Let’s gather one more time for Contemplative Practice on Tuesday at 11:00am in the OCC Meditation Chapel.

Wednesday Service of Sending

We invite anyone who is about to start their internship, summer CPE, or a summer of service in some way, to join us for Chapel on Wednesday. Emily Rova-Hegener and Ashley Wheeler have put together a beautiful service of Holy Communion and Sending to offer blessings to those about to start this new chapter in their lives.

This service is our final Wednesday Chapel for the 2025-26 Academic year.

Final Lunch Church

This Thursday we will gather at 11:00am in the Dining Room for our final Lunch Church of the academic year. Let’s get together one more time for good food, good conversation, a focus on the Holy Trinity, and prayer.

Saturday is Baccalaureate

We are very excited to welcome our 2026 graduates, their friends and family to campus on Saturday. We will worship God in a service of Holy Communion at 2:00pm, then gather on the front lawn for social time with refreshments immediately following the service. Thank you to everyone who has helped prepare the campus for this important event.

Sunday is Commencement

The Commencement service takes place at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis at 3pm. Congratulations to all of our graduates. We will miss you! Many blessings on your ongoing journey of serving God by serving your neighbor.

Special Thanks

It has been a great year of ministry in the Chapel, filled with many challenges. Many thanks to our beloved Chapel staff who worked tirelessly, week after week, to cultivate a space for the people of Luther Seminary to worship God and be in community.

We celebrate Pentecost this week. Luke tells us the story in the book of Acts. Pentecost is the Greek word meaning fiftieth. It is the Greek name for the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks. It was a harvest festival that happened fifty days, or seven weeks, after the Passover Feast. The purpose of the festival was to give thanks to God for providing for the needs of the nation. The people were supposed to bring the first fruits of their harvest to offer as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.

Jesus’ disciples were gathered in a room, waiting in Jerusalem like Jesus had told them to do ten days earlier. The city was crowded with Jewish pilgrims from around the world. The Spirit came upon the disciples like a mighty wind and tongues of fire. They had the power to proclaim the message of Jesus in such a way that everyone heard them in their own language. Wow!

Luke is the only Gospel writer to associate the giving of the Holy Spirit with the Festival of Pentecost. Compare Luke’s version of the story with John’s in the Gospel reading this week. John’s Jesus appears quietly in the room with his fearful disciples. He gently breathes on them. His breath flows like the Spirit hovered over the deep in Genesis 1. He is the Word who spoke all things into being. It is the breath of God that animated the lump of clay in Genesis 2. Now Jesus tells his disciples that he is sending them the way that God sent him. They have the power of forgiveness, which is what will set people free.

Matthew and Mark don’t mention the giving of the Spirit at the end of the story. Matthew’s ending shows Jesus promising the disciples that he would be with them to the end of the age. They are to make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, to have the Spirit is to have the Father and the Son. God will be with us, Jesus’ disciples, to the end.

Perhaps the Spirit of God comes upon each of us in different ways. The 1 Corinthians 12 reading reminds us that we have each been given different gifts. It is important that we never force people into experiencing the Spirit in a particular way. We gather on Pentecost to simply give thanks to God for the promise and giving of the Spirit to all of us.

I want to highlight one phrase from Acts 2 that stands out to me this year. Acts 2:13 says “but others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” In other words, “they’re drunk! Don’t listen to them.”

The Gospel of Jesus is foolishness to the world. We can never forget that. Our world is driven by a competitive, power-grabbing, fame-seeking, hate-driven, me-first market mentality. A message that proclaims Good News for all people, including the “least of these,” forgiveness, and mutual flourishing is just the blabbering of drunken idealism in their ears.

Don’t lose hope. The Christian celebration of Pentecost reminds us that God has poured out the Spirit on all flesh. Jesus promised his disciples—that’s you—that you would have the power to be his witness to the ends of the earth. Jesus is with us. God is for us. Let us continue to love God and love our neighbor as Jesus taught us to do.

We will observe our normal weekly rhythm of spiritual practices this week:

Monday

11:00am | Text Study – Zoom

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

11:00am | Service of Holy Communion – Chapel of the Incarnation or on YouTube. We celebrate Pentecost. Rev. Dr. Steve Thomason is preaching. Pastor Joyce Ngandango, M.Th. Student, is presiding.

11:45am | Chapel Cafe – The cafe is being absorbed into the community meal. Stay for lunch!

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church – Dining Room A

We celebrate the ascension of Jesus this Sunday. Historical note: This event was traditionally celebrated on Thursday, the 40th day after Easter Sunday. Many congregations observe it on Sunday so that more people will be in attendance.

The ascension was a necessary part of the incarnation. God became human (the incarnation). Human life is limited. We are finite creatures. We live in one body, in one particularly moment in time. We are born, we live, we die, then the next generation carries the torch of life. We received life from our ancestors and we pass it on to our descendents.

Jesus was a particular human in a particular moment in time. He was born, he lived, he died, AND he rose from the dead. His resurrection was a foretaste of all our hope. Yet, we are still here, in this life, awaiting death. Jesus had to pass the torch to us so that we would carry on his mission in the world. The church is the ongoing incarnation of God’s love in the world, empowered by God’s Spirit.

Without the ascension we would still be stuck staring at the clouds, not doing anything. Poof! Jesus left. His physical body is gone. The messengers said, “Why are you standing around? Get to work!”

Jesus prayed that his disciples would be unified as one body, so that the world would see the love that the God has for it. Our unity in love is the witness of Jesus to the world. This is our work to do in the world. This ascension Sunday, may we remember that we are called to love God and love our neighbor in the way that Jesus showed us how to do it.

We will observe our normal weekly rhythm of spiritual practices this week:

Monday

11:00am | Text Study – Zoom

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

11:00am | Service of Holy Communion – Chapel of the Incarnation or on YouTube. This week our service is planned and led by students.

11:45am | Chapel Cafe – The cafe is being absorbed into the community meal. Stay for lunch!

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church – Dining Room A

We welcome the Class of 1976 to join us in worship on Wednesday as part of their Golden Reunion celebration. 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 from Psalm 16. Watch livestream HERE.

There is a community lunch following chapel. Everyone is invited.

We will observe our normal weekly rhythm of spiritual practices this week:

Monday

11:00am | Text Study – Zoom

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

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

11:45am | Chapel Cafe – The cafe is being absorbed into the community meal. Stay for lunch!

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church – Dining Room A

Do not let your hearts be troubled. That’s what Jesus said to his disciples on the night that he was betrayed and arrested. How could he say that? Their world was about to be torn apart. The readings this week are troubling. The first reading tells the story of Stephen being unjustly accused, dragged outside the city and beaten to death with rocks. Peter is writing to a group of people who were being severely persecuted. The Psalmist cries out to God in a time of trial.

There are two key truths that this week’s readings remind me of:

First, life is hard. The domination systems of the world operate through fear, intimidation and violence. Standing up for truth, justice and righteousness will almost always bring persecution. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

Second, the LORD is our refuge. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He went to the extremes of persecution, forgave his executioners, buried our sin and shame in the tomb, and rose to new life. There are many dwelling places in the house of God. The grace, love, and power of God are expansive.

Children of God, remember this. You are a royal priesthood, called to be the love of God in the world. God’s got you. Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Gather with us in Chapel on Wednesday to lean into the shelter and refuge of the LORD as we practice a contemplative liturgy and Holy Communion. We will hear scripture, sing, pray, light candles, and sit in silence together.

We will observe our normal weekly rhythm of spiritual practices this week:

Monday

11:00am | Text Study – Zoom

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

11:00am | Service of Holy Communion – Chapel of the Incarnation or on YouTube. Rev. Dr. Steve Thomason, Dean of the Chapel and Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Discipleship, will lead a contemplative liturgy.

11:45am | Chapel Cafe – Luther Cafe

Thursday

11:00am | Lunch Church – Dining Room A