{"id":490,"date":"2026-10-05T13:40:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/?p=490"},"modified":"2026-10-05T13:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:40:22","slug":"take-off-your-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/2026\/10\/05\/take-off-your-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Off Your Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;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&#8217;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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have three spaces where we can gather around these questions and bring our joys and fears to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Tuesday<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We will read the text and enter contemplative practice. I invite you to join us in the OCC meditation chapel or on <a href=\"https:\/\/luthersem.zoom.us\/j\/99323264523?pwd=PsJAZP8dDZdU9CBJPfp5Bc2aWbIYk1.1\">Zoom<\/a> to sit in centering prayer or contemplative sketching as we soak in the text for the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Wednesday<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LutherSeminary\/streams\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Welcome alumni! <\/strong>We have invited alumni to visit campus on the first Wednesday of each month. We&#8217;ve ordered more communion bread and snacks in anticipation of your arrival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Thursday<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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 \u201cWhy Jesus?\u201d testimony. You don\u2019t want to miss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s comforting presence filling the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Visual Mediation on the Text<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/files.logoscdn.com\/v1\/assets\/18361935\/optimized?rev=67961124&amp;w=auto&amp;share=ldbBavZSeqns8Tif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy my visual commentary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stevethomason.net\/2019\/09\/25\/from-abraham-to-moses-a-cartoonists-guide-to-exodus-31-15\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}