Lent has begun, and many of us will have heard the words of Psalm 51: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.”
You may be reading this message weighed down with the worries of the day, or struggling with health or family concerns. Perhaps you are wondering, as we all do at times, if the new life Jesus promises is for you too.
The invitation of Jesus to a life of discipleship is to confess, repent, and indeed to receive the promised new life in him. We praise God for this goodness.
Our community prays and worships together, and we create many devotional materials that we share with the public. If you’re seeking a meaningful Lenten practice, I commend to you Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song, Luther Seminary’s 2024 Lenten devotional, for personal or congregational use. It is a free download from our website, including in large-print format.
Faith+Lead’s ecosystem of trustworthy theological resources continues to grow and this month launched How to Take Your Next Faithful Step, a free video series to help navigate the challenges and opportunities of doing ministry in today’s complex contexts.
In January, we welcomed renowned New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine to campus to deliver the 2024 Fretheim Lecture in Biblical Theology. Her talk—“The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector: Why Knowledge of Jewish History Matters for Christian Preaching and Teaching”—is available to watch via YouTube, if you weren’t able to join us in person or online. Dr. Levine spoke of Luther Seminary’s “international faculty with a fabulous reputation” and how grateful she is that this seminary trains preachers to listen carefully to Jewish history and tradition in preparing to proclaim the gospel of Jesus.
I mentioned in my January update that we are living into several key “pivots,” and I’ll share more about each pivot in upcoming messages. Our first is a pivot of posture—from positions of wanting to fix problems to gestures and practices of wondering together what God is up to and experimenting our way into a new future that addresses problems but also anticipates and develops opportunities.
Trusting that God is always lifting up new leaders for the church, we are continually considering and testing curriculum innovations to meet these leaders’ needs, including accelerated certificate programs and new concentrations for degree programs.
In the midst of enrollment challenges across theological education, we continue to explore ways to address the full costs of what it takes to attend seminary and complete a theological degree. And we are thinking deeply about additional ways the church can walk with and support creatively everyone who would seek out education as a Christian leader.
Lent is a good time to wonder. To quiet our hearts, open our lips to praise, and then listen carefully. In this season of reflection, may you hear anew the good news of God’s promise of new life to us in Christ Jesus.
Peace and blessings,
Robin Steinke
President