“Up until that time, I’d only been a liturgist in the church. I’d never done anything like a reflection. It was very daunting, and I was quite scared. I thought my voice would get high and squeaky and all that. But for some reason, it felt like this was the place I needed to be, and I did the reflection. Afterward, coming down from the podium, I felt in my heart this was what I needed to do. I needed to tell God’s people that God is still here.”

This beautiful story from Ph.D. student Danielle Dokman, shared in the latest issue of Story magazine, is a testimony to God’s faithfulness and to the life we have in Jesus Christ. Our God accompanies us in and through our hesitancy and doubt. Danielle was in her early twenties at the time of this experience. She had traveled to a Lutheran World Federation youth council meeting in Colombia and was in an unknown place with unknown companions. In that moment of vulnerability, she experienced a powerful affirmation of her faith and vocation, and she continues to remind everyone she meets that God is indeed still here.

This season at Luther Seminary has been full of blessings and signs of the life we have in Jesus. As 79 graduates celebrated their commencement last month, they began stepping out into the next stage of their call to follow Christ. Matthew Jewell, recipient of our Old Testament and preaching awards, shares how he has an opportunity “each time I am in the pulpit to point to truth and hope, in all their complexity. I’ve learned that people desperately need this: a space to take off baggage and rest and remember God is alive in and around us.”

Earlier this month we welcomed 120 guests in person and more than 200 online for the 2024 Aus Memorial Lecture, Bonhoeffer, the Gospel, and the Other: A Bonhoeffer Salon. Tripp Fuller and Andy Root’s deeply engaging dialogue led us into new understandings of how Christ draws us into healing, life-affirming forms community in unexpected ways and in spite of our resistance to such openness to the Other. If you weren’t able to join us, I encourage you to watch it and discuss it in your community. The format lends itself to small-group discussion.

This fall, we will welcome the first cohorts in our new Beloved Community and Cultivating New Christian Communities graduate fellowships. These fellowships are leadership development opportunities for small groups of students to explore focus topics and areas of ministry outside of coursework. We are thrilled that the fellows will be taught and mentored by faculty on the front edge of innovative justice and evangelism work, including F. Willis Johnson and Dave Male.

All around us are signs of the life we have in Jesus. God is truly still here.

Peace,

Robin Steinke
President